Black Salt #5 update

The development for Black Salt #5 is progressing nicely. Owen Ratliff and I recently approved the first 14 penciled and inked pages. Artist J.C. Grande is currently working on the final 8 pages and the cover art. Below is rough pencils for page 6, which is a one page panel depicting an explosion.

Black Salt #4 ready for lettering

The production for Black Salt kicked into high gear in the winter of 2010. J.C. Grande finished the pencils and inks (including cover art) and new colorist Mai proved to be a worthy addition to the team, turning out great looking pages on a tight timeline. Owen and I were concerned about color continuity (skin tones, color of clothings, etc) so I put together for Mai a color reference document. The effort was worthwhile. I think Black Salt fans will be pleased with the results on issue #4.

We received the high resolution pages and cover for Black Salt #4 today. That package will be in Ed Brisson’s hands in short order, ready for him to start lettering.

Black Salt #6 approved

The script for Black Salt #6 was approved a week ago after four rounds of edits. I have to send a big thanks to Ed Brisson for stellar proofreading and making some suggestions that strengthened the issue. So that’s it for me from a writing perspective. The miniseries is complete. That said, I am not yet done with Black Salt. I will be involved in the proofing of the artwork as J.C. Grande continues to work on it. Related, artwork continues on issue #4.

Black Salt Update

My last post about Black Salt was in February 2010. At that time, the creative team was working on issue #3 and we were waiting for issue #2 to become available online. A lot has happened since February…

- Black Salt is no longer at Blackline Comics. There were a number of reasons for this. The details aren’t that important so I’ll just say the parting was mutual. Owen Ratliff, creator of Black Salt, has been looking for an online distributor and a publisher that would be willing to publish the print version of Black Salt.

- Ed Brisson is back on Black Salt as letterer. He lettered issue #1, but then Mike DeLepine of Blackline Comics took over lettering chores for issue #2 and #3. With Black Salt and Blackline parting ways, Ed is back on letters. He has re-lettered issue #2 and has lettered issue #3.

- Issue #3 is complete. J.C. Grande finished the artwork a few months ago, and Santosh Kumar Rath turned in the colors. Ed was back on lettering duty, so he did the lettering this summer.

- Issue #4 has been written. The 22-page script was approved yesterday (August 29).

- Script writing for issue #5 will begin in a couple days. I’m taking a couple days off to work on a project I’m doing with Manoel Magalhaes, who you will remember as the artist on The Three Princes, and then I’ll get started on issue #5 of Black Salt.

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.