Black Salt #2 update and Black Salt #3

Owen Ratliff, creator of Black Salt, asked me yesterday to get started on Black Salt #3! The production on Black Salt #2 has progressed according to plan. Blackline Comics (the publisher) and Owen wanted Black Salt #2 completed in 5 – 6 weeks. The whole team is proud to say Black Salt #2 is almost complete, with a digital version of the comic scheduled for release in early December.

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.

Black Salt press release

What a way to start the morning! I opened up my email and there was a message from Owen Ratliff, creator of Black Salt. The message directed me to a Web site where a press release about Black Salt had been posted. The press release is from Blackline Comics, telling the comics reading world it will be publishing Black Salt #1 this fall.

This press release is exciting for a few reasons: First, it means Black Salt does indeed have a home. Second, it tells when Black Salt #1will be published. Third, it reveals one version of the cover art. Fourth and lastly, this is the first professional industry press release in which I am a named participant. Needless to say I was grinning like a loon for the remainder of the morning.

The press release was posted on comicrelated.com and you can read it there, but I have posted it below as well.

BLACK SALT: THE LAST HEROES LEFT
One of our latest acquisitions, Black Salt is a multi-media project in development by Ratti Entertainment Inc. out of Columbus, Ohio. Owen Ratliff, President of Ratti, has created the Black Salt property as an action-packed thriller merging the dark world of modern-day espionage and political intrigue with the even darker world of the ancient, forbidden martial arts of the Shaolin Temple. The Black Salt franchise consists of a motion picture screenplay, a cartoon series, an apparel line, a video game and a comic book series, entitled Black Salt: The Last Heroes Left, currently all in development. Through exclusive arrangement, Blackline Comics will be publishing the Black Salt comic beginning in the fall, as created by writer Chad Boudreau (adapting Owen Ratliff’s screenplay), with artwork by J.C. Grande and colors by Santosh Kumar Rath. For more information about the Black Salt franchise, please visit www.blacksaltfilm.com.

Black Salt: Tremendous Progress

I have a number of exciting things to tell you about, but will start with a progress report on Black Salt, a project that could very well be one with a large profile should everything fall into place the way creator Owen Ratliff hopes.

Artist J.C. Grande has turned in a half dozen pages and two covers in less than a month. Some are pencilled and inked, some are in the proofing stage, but nonetheless J.C. is working his ass off. The danger of working on such a tight schedule is that quality gets sacrificed, but that is not the case with J.C. He has risen to the challenge and has created some very impressive artwork. Everyone on the team is cheering him on, thoroughly impressed by his craft.

Santosh, the colorist, turned in his first colored page and it was a stunner too. Deon made some suggestions– small but effective additions of shadows– which proved to me that coloring a comic is as detailed and thoughtful a process as drawing. I also learned a great deal about cover art by following the feedback passing between J.C. and Deon. I thought I learned a lot during the making of Psychosis and The Three Princes, but I learn something new each time an email from one of the creative team lands in my inbox.

I wish I could share with you the artwork in progress and the notes passed between J.C., Deon and other members of the team, but this project is a lot more hush hush than the other works with which I have been involved. I am saving all the sketches and notes though. They would make great material for the back pages of a trade paperback!