|
Things have been a little nuts, for reasons that I'll get into below, but just a quick overview of what's been going on
-TIME BEFORE TIME VOL 1 is off to print! All the files were approved last week, really happy with the whole package. More on the below.
-I was on the radio! Was delighted to appear on the Dermot & Dave show, a huge radio show in Ireland. Go to talk about my latest projects on it. You can listen to the segment here
-Marvel announced I'm writing a story for ELEKTRA: BLACK WHITE & BLOOD. I mentioned this in the last newsletter, I've since sent off an outline will be getting into the script soon. This John Romita Jr cover certainly helps get one inspired to write! I'm getting to work with an artist whose work I really love, so very excited about this.
|
|
|
-I've finished inking the first installment of PROJECT BLACK CIRCLE,. Feels great to have a set of story pages done. Have handed pages over to the letterer who has started developing the lettering style of the project. Already looking really cool. I'm going to colour it too, but it'll have to wait as I have some paying work I need to get to asap.
|
|
-We've nailed down the 3rd arc of TIME BEFORE TIME. I say 'we' but moreso Rory. We had a great story meeting about where things will go, but there's a lot going on in Vol 3 and Rory's done all the heavy lifting.
-I'm trying to develop a new series idea to work with an artist to draw. I love this artist's stuff and we've been bouncing ideas back and forth. A lot of worldbuilding with this one, so it's taking a while to form in my head. I'm really excited to get moving on this, though (once the artist is available).
-I finally got another cover-level commission done. Really hard to get to these when I've so much on, but getting through them as best I can. This one was a lot of fun/work, but I had a hankering to draw this guy so when asked for this, I really wanted to give it my all.
|
|
|
But anyway, on to the main event...
|
|
|
Trying to think if I have any newsOH YES I JUST REMEMBERED I'M DOING A NEW X-MEN BOOK!
Yeah, as you probably know by now, Marvel have relaunched the Marvel Unlimited app with original digital comic content, in the form of INFINITY COMICS. Spearheading this line is X-Men UNLIMITED, illustrated by myself, and written by one Jonathan Hickman. I had been vaguely referring to it in this newsletter as PROJECT GRAVITY.
|
|
|
|
X-MEN UNLIMITED INFINITY COMIC trailer
|
|
|
X-Men editor Jordan White approached me back in January (on my birthday, as it happened) about the possibility of working on this project. Essentially, these are vertically-oriented comics, made exclusively for the Marvel Unlimited app. To be honest, I was a bit unsure as to whether to take on this gig, I had made a promise to myself to write/draw going forward, to invest in myself over working with other writers. However, this was a chance for me to draw an X-Men book (a bucket-list goal for me). Not only do that, but to do it with Hickman... the X-Men writer of our current time, and the architect behind all the innovative work from the X-line in the last few years. Pretty sweet deal. Marvel were also open to me colouring the story too and I was involved with how the vertical stories were assembled, etc (ended up doing them myself for the last 2 chapters), etc. They've been really accommodating and gave us a lot of freedom to work all this out.
|
|
|
The thing that initially gave me pause was really the format. I'm not that much of a digital comics reader, it's not a format I generally like to read. It's VERY limiting in a lot of ways... there's not a lot of room to play with, no splash pages, no double page spreads, no wide shots. I love all that stuff, and it was not possible to use those tools, which I felt would be very limiting. On the other hand, there was this opportunity to innovate, to do something very different, and to play with a tool I never had before which was this vertical scroll. While the reader would control the pace of how they scroll, I would have full control over the direction of how the story is read in that format, and the real estate was potentially limitless. So, while it was frustrating for me to lose techniques I enjoy and was comfortable with, it did give me the opportunity to do something like this...
|
|
|
Myself and Jon were on the same page as to how to work with the format. We both wanted there to be the option to print the story someday, he had given thought to how it might work in both formats and I dug into that more. Even just from a practical point of view, since I work on paper, I had to figure out a way for the storytelling to work on the page, and also work as part of a digital-format scroll. He suggested working in 'columns,' and break the script into those sections, and work within them. I took the script and broke it down into just square panels to see how that might work.
|
|
|
|
Breaking the story down to a basic panel structure, to see if it would work visually. Note the page consists of two columns
|
|
|
From there, I worked on my layouts to try accommodate for both mediums, also working out my overall approach to how I would colour the story.
|
|
|
To be sure it would work visually, I also played around by hacking up my layouts and assemble them as I would have to assemble the final pages to see how they worked in the vertical format. A test run, of sorts. I downloaded them onto my phone so I could see how they read by scrolling...
|
|
...And it worked!
As you can imagine, #1 was a lot of work to figure out, but I have to credit Hickman, the concept of the story itself really leaned into what we were doing in a cool way, he really did write towards the medium. Jordan White, my editor on the project, was hugely helpful too, we had a lot of freedom on this and he gave is the space to do some really cool stuff. There was a lot of problem-solving to be figured out with this, but as with any story, that challenge is very rewarding once you crack it.
As of yesterday, all four issues of the arc have been released. It's been really cool to see the stories just drop online, with no preview pages, or solicits or anything like that. It has meant I've had to sit on this secret all year, but at least I was still releasing public work via Time Before Time, so I haven't felt like I've been hiding under a rock while working on it. The last 2 parts were even more interesting, as I worked from a more broad outline of Jon's and the nuts and bolts of what happens was more on me. This last half was more 'Marvel style' which was interesting as I'd never really worked like that before. As it happens it was was a good foundation for what comes next...
While part 4 is the end of my arc with Hickman, I'm writing/drawing a follow-up arc that will continue the story. I've just started drawing it, so it'll be released in a few months, once it's all done. I've been referring to this as PROJECT GRAVITY PART DEUX. Because again, this is a specific format, I'm working on this in the same way I worked on the last two chapters, where there's an outline (that I've written) and am 'writing' the various beats in the layouts. Normally, I'd write out a whole script, but I think what works to my benefit on this project is that the visuals really have to be carefully considered, and instead of trying to construct it in my head for the page, it's just more pragmatic to work it out ON the page. I have the whole arc laid out so now I'm getting stuck in to pencilling.
|
|
|
I can't lie, it's been really cool to work on an X-Men book like this, to work with Jon and also write for myself, to take full control over the storytelling and art, it's been (and still is) a great experience, and to have it released this way has been a very different experience, which I think is a good thing to happen in one's career. Creatively/ commercially, it's kept me on my toes. The main weird thing is that I teased this only two weeks ago just before it launched and now, the whole arc has been released. It slips by pretty fast and I wonder if it's made any mark in such a short space of time? Probably too soon to tell, though it feels pretty weird.
Anyway, if you haven't checked it out yet, what's wrong with you!?! You can read all of #1 below. To read more, you'll need to get Marvel Unlimited, which I've been hearing great things about for years.
|
|
|
Oh, and for those interested, the original art for #1 and 2 is now available via Cadence Comic Art. The art for £3 and 4 will be available on Thursday!
|
|
|
|
This one's already sold, sorry!
|
|
|
Making some plans to celebrate TIME BEFORE TIME VOL1 release. Some bookplates and yes, possibly even a signing may be in the works.
|
|
|
As I was saying above, Vol 1 has been sent off to the printers, immaculately designed by Sasha Head. Because this isn't an original graphic novel, we opted to not do a spot gloss or anything more exorbitant for the collection, that was an expense I made for Bog Bodies and Savage Town because those were the original formats. This is a collection, so going with the same treatment as Injection, though we've splashed out a little by going full colour with the inside-covers, and giving Sasha an opportunity to use that space for more design elements. It's a really lovely looking collection, I can't wait to see it in print.
Joe has wrapped up TIME BEFORE TIME #8 and it's looking GREAT. He's also handed in layout for #9, I love seeing how this guy's brain works. You'll see when the issues come out, but I've really been enjoying seeing Joe incorporate more texture work into his inks. Here's a peek at some of the lovely work he's doing.
|
|
The FOC for #6 is NEXT WEEK, which is the issue I drew myself. I URGE you to make sure you have ordered a copy as we have no current plans to reprint this in the regular trades.
Lastly, I've made a digital copy of the TBT Process.Collector Edition available on my shop.
|
|
|
To be clear; This is NOT the €5 b+w Digital Pod from the original campaign, this is a €10 PDF of the fully extended version. I still have a handful of the print editions that I may sell at some stage, but I'm going to hold on to them for a while. In the meantime, if you missed out on the extra material, well here's a chance to read it all.
|
|
|
GRIP OF THE KOMBINAT
by Simon Roy & Damon Genrty
Recommending someting from the wild mind of Simon Roy , the fantastic writer/artist of books like FIRST KNIFE, THE FIELF and PROPHET. This new book, GRIP OF THE KOMBINAT is a collection of seven short, Black & White, sci-fi comedy adventure tales. I was previously unfamiliar with Gentry's work, but if you enjoy Roy's work, there's a easy crossover here, Gentry's work is filled with the vast epicness and frantic expressionism contained in Roy's work, leading to a very symbiotic partnership with what's on the page. I really enjoyed this, just some good old fashioned deep space surreal insanity.
This is made possible via Kickstarter with what is a pretty short campaign, as of today there's only one week to go, so head over to their Kickstarter campaign asap and bag a copy. Some great rewards being offered up too.
|
|
|
THE CHAIR
Directed by Daniel Gray Longino
Created by Amanda Peet & Annie Julia Wyman
I just blasted through this faster than I meant to, a witty, biting comedy/drama by Amanda Peet (swoon) & Annie Julia Wyman starring a captivating Sandra Oh and utterly charming/witty Jay Duplass. A very prescient story revolving around ever-boiling controversy in the English department of an elite American university. It's quite cutting, moving and had me laughing out loud every episone. Each episode is a nice, tight 20ish minutes too, which is refreshing.
|
|
September 29th
BRZRKR #5 (VC)
DARKHAWK (VC)
BATMAN: REPTILIAN #4 (VC)
October 20th
TIME BEFORE TIME #6 (W/A/C)
TIME BEFORE TIME TP VOL 01 (W)
November 3rd
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #78 (VC)
November 17th
TIME BEFORE TIME #7 (W/C)
|
|
|
|
|
