I have to admit, I lied. I shan’t be putting any more pictures up, not because I have nothing to be proud of (in fact, I have a poster/promo now that will kick your ass), but more because I don’t want to give away the story ahead of time.
I’ve been sending out preview pages to folks, finishing tweaks to the story and lettering. Twenty pages in the can, and we’re ready to go live. I leave you with one final hint, tongue half in cheek:
All right. So, I’ve teased with hints of story, I’ve teased with hints of what the title means. But until now, I haven’t been able to show you the entire Team, for several reasons you’ll be privy to in most of a month.
Today, in my inbox, I got this sketch of what will eventually become a promotional piece. It’s missing a few things (one carefully placed focal point), and a tagline (which would spoil the story’s beginning), but for now, you can get a feel of the group of people we’ll be meeting:
(It’s blue because it’s a rough scan. That’s intentional. It’ll make the final product pop more, trust me).
Enjoy this next-to-last tease. On Friday, one last post, and then Monday…
WE GO LIVE.
So, we have a proxy site up, and we’re learning how to put up two blogs on one server, and the goal is to go live next Monday. Yee!
I have more sketches from Dex as we refine characters, and that gives me the perfect opportunity to show you the first picture of the hero in color:
We’re leaning more toward the left, but this picture is of a Charlie that won’t see your peepers until, oh, say, 100 pages from now. That’s fine, though, because it’s gonna be his team outfit, as odd as that seems. What team? Stay tuned.
And if you eat all your vegetables this week, and behave, I may show you the baddie of the piece. Well, one of the baddies.
SOON.
Hank’s apartment? What does it mean? Who the hell is Hank? Why is he in Paris? Why this particular angle on the Eiffel Tower?
All good questions. Kristen says I should tell you to embiggen the picture so you can actually see the Eiffel Tower.
So, I didn’t update last night, but I have a good excuse. My aunt died. Second aunt this year, fifth relative in two years. It’s getting crazy.
First Marcus, my gal’s brother, after a prolonged thirty year battle with Spina Bifida, then my Grandmother, of old age and the flu, then my uncle, Robert, of a heart attack, then my Aunt Gloria, then my Aunt Lilly, of cancer.
The funeral was at 2, but it took my mind completely off the ball for the night. That said, I don’t really have much new to share that I didn’t have going on Wednesday, beyond the fact that we’re now locked into a tentative time table.
My thinking is, this weekend I’ll get a temporary site up, (with Sion’s help… I say “I” like I’ll actually be doing any installation, which is false), and we’ll goof with that, and then after that, we’ve set a one-week deadline to have the site up and running, because right now (thanks to Dex going above and beyond the call of duty) I have a sufficient buffer to start the site.
This puts the start date for the comic at the first Monday in November, which is also the first day of November, and I like that. Good for easy anniversary remembering.
The initial plan was to start that week and go promo the piece at the Bell-Con with a promo card, but unfortunately they didn’t want to offer me a guest space, and I don’t have any money to pay for a table, so I shan’t be attending, though I wanted to.
I will, however, be doing a personal publicity tour/blitz to local comic book shops with a printed promotion in the first few weeks. If you live in Washington on the I-5 corridor, I’ll tell you when and where the shops that support the work are, and how to find the exclusive piece by Dex that will be on the card/promo piece. Or, barring that, it’s gonna be a postcard, so if you want, I can just mail you one of the danged things, if you want. More on that as it develops.
Either way, not this Monday, but the next.
Get ready!
Well, technically it’s Thursday, but when I say I’m updating Wednesday (at least until the comic starts) that can mean anywhere from 12-4 in the morning Thursday. Rest assured, once I start throwing up pages, that’ll be set regularly at a given time (probably 9 AM on Monday, Wednesday, Friday, automated into rotation way ahead of time).
I spent the last few days doing a wide variety of things. I saw EXOHXO, and I can’t sing the praises of the band any higher (GO BUY THE NEW ALBUM), and Gogol Bordello, with its sixteen encores and crazy batshit dancing and festivities. I’ve never felt a venue literally SHAKE that hard. It was like the Village People on crack… a member of the group from every color and nationality throwing out shit that makes your heart thump, coupled with the dude from Boondock Saints playing the violin. Rock and roll.
I have page 14 and 15 in my possession now. Dexter is producing above and beyond the call of duty, getting way ahead, and for that, you will have a comic sooner. For that, when you enjoy said comic, we should fill his tip jar all the more faster.
Sion, this site’s designer, sat down with me and we worked on design. We’re going to set firm deadlines, and I’m guessing I’ll have test sites for you for the Monday update.
I am low on sketches (I burned through most of them, and others I simply can’t show yet), so the visual component of today’s show will be absent, but I’ll make up for it in hints. It’s tough on me, because if I don’t throw out images, those of you reading this won’t be as potentially enticed as you could be, but at the same time, those of you who bookmark and read in will thereby benefit when the work presents itself and the surprise hits you, right around page 10 and hopefully not letting up until the “pilot” finishes around page 132.
I just finished page 100 last night in a flurry, so the story is written WAY ahead, which is nice, because then if I decide to change a story element I can before it’s drawn. It also gives me the long view on some story problems. It also makes this officially the second longest comic story I’ve written.
Things are getting very exciting. I’m looking forward to a long weekend of lettering, and hey, maybe on Friday I’ll show some nonessential panel or some beautiful piece of non-spoilery background art…
But first, a question (feel free to email with an answer). What kind of webcomics do you like to buy? Do you buy trades (like with Girl Genius), or would you prefer single issues at cons? Do you buy prints? Do you prefer a tip jar? What would be the most appropriate way to monetize this thing (provided you like it) from the perspective of a potential reader? I’ll ask this question again, but here’s my first poke about it.
A lot of the reason why Charlie is such a compelling character is because he regrets what his life’s become. He wanted to be something he’s not, and that eats away at him. He would probably have this conversation with much the same sadness and frustration, which is why he’s named after Hugh Everett:
He started his life wanting to be an actor, and instead he was pressed, by circumstances within his control but nonetheless circumstances that he was not brave enough to fight, and he became a mirthless guidance counselor in some lonely inner city.
I’ve posted this video before, but this is the song I play when I think of Charlie’s life before he begins to find hope, a place I very much was in the deepest parts of my depressions last year:
If you picture that song over this bit of script, you’ll have the beginning mood of this story. Here’s the first panel on the first page:
PANEL ONE
CHARLIE EVERETT, our hero, walks down the center of a street lined up and down with a long lane of parallel trees. Their leaves fall all around him, and they are scattered all around on the street. It’s fall.
His hands are in his pockets. He’s dressed in a beaten tweed jacket over corduroys. His head is down. This is a man depressed to the point of suicide.
Any surrounding cars are ancient and in a poor state of repair. The houses have bars on the windows and large metal fences. We’re looking at an inner city, crime-ridden neighborhood that was once what you might call a fifties suburban paradise.
He’s got an average body, but skinny average. Not too much muscle, but no fat. Not a skinny guy, either, per the geek stereotype. More like he’s an average build person who hasn’t been eating well lately.
1 CAPTION: Thirty years.
2 CAPTION: Thirty years I’ve been alone.