“Cutter’s Reward” and Special Edition: The Printed Edition now available

September has been a good month for releases of projects in which I am involved. We’ve already seen the release of Black Salt #1 in downloadable form and the publication of my short story “Friday, 3 AM“. And now I am thrilled to announce the back-to-back availability of the Halloween 2009 edition of IF-X in which my short comic “Cutter’s Reward” appears, and the release of Special Edition: The Printed Edition, which is all the comics from bohemian-zen.com collected in print form.

The Halloween edition of IF-X can be purchased from the Hamtramck Idea Men Web site.

Special Edition: The Printed Edition can be purchased from IndyPlanet.

Cutter’s Reward due out in September

Michael Marcus of the Hamtramck Idea Men contacted me recently to say they are planning to release the Halloween edition of IF-X in September. The idea is to build up interest leading into October and up to Halloween. As such, he asked for some biographical information to be included in the edition, which I happily provided. As you may recall, a short comic I wrote, Cutter’s Reward, will be appearing in this particular edition of IF-X.

He also mentioned there was advertising space available in the issue. I asked some questions and decided to purchase a 1/4 ad for Psychosis and a 1/8 ad for Bohemian-Zen.com. 3!LL and I are always looking for new ways to get additional eyeballs on Bohemian-Zen.com, and my hope with Psychosis is that the ad will help me reach the 100 issues sold mark. I’ve sold 76 copies to date. 24 more to go! I think I can do it. To that end, if you’ve not yet picked up your copy head on over to http://www.lulu.com/content/1354018.

Approved

A quick update this evening to let you know Cutter’s Reward has been approved by Hamtramck Idea Men for inclusion in an upcoming issue of If-X. The latest lettering changes made were a success. I was also told Cutter’s Reward would likely appear in the Halloween 2009 edition of the publication, which goes to print in October.

Cutter’s Reward is a six-page horror / Western written by me and drawn and lettered by Steve Smith.

I had thought Black Salt #1 would be my first published print comic, but delays in that production likely means Cutter’s Reward will be my first. My previous works were either self-published (Psychosis) or published online (Ghost of the Skid).

The third time is a charm… hopefully

As mentioned in an earlier post, Cutter’s Reward was accepted by Hamtramck Idea Men for publication in an upcoming edition of If-X. There was a stipulation: The font used for one of the character’s dialogue had to be changed. Artist S.T. Smith (aka Steve Smith) had used a stylized font for the dialogue, which was a great idea used to great effect, but the selected font was thought to be difficult to read in parts.

Steve was nice enough to make the changes. I sent the revised pages to the Idea Men last week. The response was quick. The changes didn’t make the cut. Michael Marcus of the Idea Men provided detailed feedback this time, including an attachment showing a revision he made to one of the pages to better illustrate what he was looking for.

Steve made the revisions. The latest pages came to me this evening and I promptly zipped them up and shipped them to Michael via yousendit.com. I have my fingers crossed.

The original lettering used in Cutter's Reward.	Steve's revised font. Looks to me like he changed the font type.
Michael Marcus provided this example.	Steve's latest revision. He stuck to the font he used in the second submission, but increased its size.

As you read this you might think this is a lot of effort for six measly pages of comics, but I disagree. What this process has shown is the Idea Men take their publication seriously. Here are two guys (I think there are just the two of them running the show) who are organizing, contributing to, producing and printing a themed comics anthology on a set schedule. These guys are professionals. These are the kind of guys and this is the kind of publication with which I want to be associated.

Accepted

Michael Marcus of the Hamtramck Idea Men got in touch to let me know Cutter’s Reward has been accepted for inclusion in a future issue of IF-X. He said he liked the “artistic style” and the “spooky feel”. Kudos to artist Steve Smith for doing such a great job on bringing my comic script to life. He nailed the atmosphere I had hoped to create.

The acceptance comes with one provision: We need to change the font used for one of the character’s dialogue. Mr. Marcus found it difficult to read at times. I have contacted Steve Smith to let him know the good news and to ask him to make the lettering change. He is in the midst of a move but I am confident he will find the time to make the changes.