Friar & Brimstone launches

Friar & Brimstone, created by artist Owen Gieni and I, launched on Keenspot.com today. http://friarandbrimstone.keenspot.com/

We conceived the idea in late-summer 2010 and had intended to launch in early 2011 but Owen got a sweet gig with Image Comics so our project was put on hold. I was confident we would get back to our project some day, and sure enough come October 2011 I got word from Owen that his schedule had opened up and he and Keenspot wanted to launch before the end of the year. I was definitely onboard.

There has been a few changes. First, the comic is now called Friar & Brimstone and not Fire & Brimstone. Chris Crosby, the big-wig at Keenspot, suggested the name change. Owen and I loved it right away, and feedback from those who knew about the project since its early days was equally positive. Second, we’ve added E.T. Dollman to the team as letterer. He and I did some work together recently and I suggested to Owen and Chris that Dollman would be a great letterer for Friar & Brimstone. And he has proven to be so!

So check out http://friarandbrimstone.keenspot.com/, and if you like it be sure to tell your friends.

A new page is added every Sunday!

Fire & Brimstone delayed

Production on Fire & Brimstone has been delayed. Usually an announcement of this sort would make me sad but I am, in fact, very excited because the project is delayed for a wonderful reason: Artist Owen Gieni has been called in for art chores on a high-profile project, the details of which I am not able to divulge. What this means is art on Fire & Brimstone is on hold for a few months while Owen focuses on this other project, which has a strict schedule. I am very happy for Owen. He deserves this opportunity. Plus I know he will return to Fire & Brimstone because his love for the property matches my own. You’re still going to see Fire & Brimstone on keenspot.com in 2011. Stay tuned.

Fire & Brimstone Character Sketches

The development of Fire & Brimstone is going very well. I have 30+ pages of script written and Owen has drawn a half dozen pages or more. The series is still scheduled to debut on keenspot.com in early 2011. To whet your appetite for the main event, I have decided to post some character sketches by artist and series co-creator Owen Gieni.

These are a selection of characters from Fire & Brimstone. The two main characters are NOT depicted above. Those will be revealed closer to the debut of the series on keenspot.com.

Become a fan of Fire & Brimstone on Facebook. We update the page on a regular basis, posting character sketches and providing information about the development of the comic, its plot and its characters. There is already a bevvy of information to be found within. Become a fan today.

Announcing Fire & Brimstone

I am one-half of the creative team of Fire & Brimstone, a new Web comic debuting on Keenspot.com in early 2011. My partner in creative crime is Owen Gieni, an artist with numerous credits to his name, including the Web comics Sore Thumbs (now in its sixth year) and WickedPowered on Keenspot.com.

Owen and I both live and create in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada. This is the first time I have worked with an artist living in the same city as me. I’ve worked with people from various corners of the world, communicating through email and Skype, but never having a chance to sit down across a table and look them in the eyes while we develop an idea. This first is a big thrill for me.

Owen and I met eight or more years ago when Owen was just dipping his toes into the comics industry. I went to my local comic shop for Free Comic Book Day. Owen was there signing copies of a preview of Landis, a series he was illustrating. I wasn’t a writer at this time. Sure, I dabbled in creative writing but it would be a few more years before I started focusing on my writing, taking it seriously and trying to get something published. Anyway, I thought Owen was pretty darn cool– a local guy drawing comics. Awesome.

When I finally did start writing comics and after I had some success, I caught wind that Owen was still in Regina and that he was a full-time comic artist. This was a bit of community gossip but I eventually found out it was the truth. We swapped Facebook pleasantries, but left it at that for many months. As luck would have it, we both started craving a local collaboration– the desire to be face-to-face with someone, drinking beverages, and hammering out ideas in real-time. In the summer of 2010, we started talking about getting together to talk about being comic creators, but it would be a few more months before we actually sat down to talk. By then Owen had expressed interest in working on something together, which was music to my ears. Owen was a big success in my eyes and a very talented chap so I was hoping we could work together some day.

We met in early September outside a local coffee shop. We met outside because the shop was not yet open. We hoofed it down to a bagel shop, where we got coffee and comfortable in deep arm chairs. We talked for almost two hours, about creating comics and the ups and downs of our careers to date. (Owen impressed the hell out of me with his list of credits.) He then pitched me some ideas and I tossed in a few of my own. We walked away from that meeting both buzzing about a mind tidbit of Owen’s that would eventually become Fire & Brimstone.

And that, folks, is how it began.

As with all my projects, stay tuned to this blog for development updates.