Zuda submission revealed

The Thunderchickens logo as conceived and designed by 3!LL

Way back in June, I posted that I was collaborating with 3!LL on a submission for Zuda. I have kept quiet on the topic even though there is a lot of story development discussion, character sketches and rough page layouts I could have posted. I was hush on the topic because I am saving that background material for blog posts I will put up if and when our submission is accepted by Zuda. That is correct; we have completed and submitted our project. We did so on October 4.

Zuda is an online endeavour started by DC Comics. It is an American Idol for comics creators. Creative teams create and pitch eight completed panels of an online comic. If DC Comics likes the pitch the eight panels are entered into a monthly contest. The contest has ten such projects competing for votes from the public. The project that receives the most votes is given a contract by DC Comics. It is possible to become an instant winner, meaning DC Comics likes the project so much that the creative team is given a contract without needing to compete in the monthly contest.

I am not going to reveal much about our Zuda submission at this time. I will post more when the project is accepted by DC Comics. (If it does not get accepted we would likely continue the project on our own and seek another publishing venue.) I will tell you though that the title of our project is The Thunderchickens. I will also say the artwork and colors from 3!LL are the best I have seen him produce to date. We are both very excited and optimistic.

Bohemian Zen Season 2 begins

With 52-pages of Special Edition excellence collected and now available in print form, we now turn our collective minds to the second season of comics and short fiction that shall appear on bohemian-zen.com. After a month hiatus to work on other projects, 3!LL and his writers are back and hard at it. Here is the line up, all of which features artwork, colors and letters by 3!LL:

- The introduction to “The Bell Hill Beast”, featuring Frank Balon, as written by Chad Boudreau.

- “The Bathroom Attendant”, a violent 10-page yarn from Josh Wigler.

- The much-anticipated 14-page origin of Spax Dexler, one of the costumed do-gooders featured in “Hero for the Ages”. Mike Colbert is the writer.

- The main feature in Season 2 is “The Bell Hill Beast”, one of Frank Balon’s early adventures. This tale is set in the past, a time before Frank had his dead man’s eyes and prior to him meeting Ogar.

- Chad Boudreau goes to a dark place with an as-yet untitled episode that introduces The Romantics, the most ruthless and vilest gang in the Special Edition universe.

- The much delayed continuation and conclusion to “When Rodney Met Dickie”, a short fiction. The first installment was published in July 2009.

The comics mentioned above will be published online at bohemian-zen.com as pages are completed. The finished material will then be collected in a print edition in the summer of 2010.

Whatever happened to The Three Princes?

Near the end of August 2008, I became involved in a crime comics anthology project. My comic that would appear in the anthology was The Three Princes, the creation of which has been covered extensively within my blog. The last post on the topic was March 15, 2009 in which I stated the artwork had been completed.

I was very excited about the project and very fond of the story I had written, which was then illustrated expertly by Manoel Magalhães. You might think the lack of updates means the project is dead, but it actually is still very much a reality.

The Three Princes is one of four stories that will appear in the anthology. It was also the first to be completed. Artwork on two of the remaining three stories was completed this summer and the final story’s artwork should be wrapped up before winter sets in. All of us involved are still very excited about the project. We had hoped to have the anthology published before the end of 2009, but it is looking more likely that it will be an early 2010 release. I can also say we originally intended to self-publish the anthology but due to the quality of the finished material we are now looking for a publisher.

I am sure I will have further updates in the near future.

Black Salt #2 has begun

A rough sketch of the cover for Black Salt #2. Art by J.C. Grande.

I heard from Owen Ratliff a couple weeks ago that Black Salt #1 had gone to pre-press. That means the artwork, colors and lettering had been completed and the book was being prepared for printing. Blackline Comics is still marketing Black Salt #1 as a Fall 2009 release though I heard recently they weren’t going to release issue #1 until issue #2 was halfway complete. That way there isn’t a long wait between issues.

I can’t argue against that logic if that is indeed the case. I’d like to see Black Salt issues published on a regular schedule– a new issue each month or every second month. Blackline feels the same way. They have outlined a schedule for the production of Black Salt #2. If all goes according to plan, Black Salt #2 will be completed in six weeks!

The first steps in that process have already taken place. Artist J.C. Grande worked on and finalized the cover art for issue #2 while the colorist and letterer were wrapping up issue #1. I started the script for issue #2 before I went on holidays in August. Once I returned and was settled I picked it up again. I turned in my third draft this evening. The latest set of revisions was a small one. I wouldn’t be surprised if the script was approved.

I suspect later this week or early next week, J.C. Grande will start working on character sketches and rough pages for issue #2. As always, keep an eye on my blog for production updates.

Living Dead Boy

Living Dead Boy is now available at bohemian-zen.com. It is the latest comic installment in 3!LL’s opus. Living Dead Boy is written by Josh Wigler and features the art, colors and lettering of 3!LL. It continues the story of Sly Grennel, who you first met in the Lethal Injection comic.

Enjoy.