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 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

I am very excited to announce I have been hired to write the first issue of Black Salt, a martial arts and action comic based on the screenplay by the same name.

Actually, that’s not entirely accurate. I was hired is more like it. I was hired in February and have already wrote the script, revised the script, had the script approved and received payment. I would have made this announcement earlier but I wanted to wait until my script was finished, and I wanted to get permission to talk about the project from Owen Ratliff, the brains behind the Black Salt franchise.

Owen’s Ratti Entertainment Inc. has been working on the Black Salt intellectual property for the past five years. The franchise includes, but is not be limited to, an apparel line, comic books, trading cards, toys, animated series, video games and feature film trilogy.

An excerpt from my approved script for issue #1 has been distributed to a handful of artists Owen has selected for his short-list of potential illustrators. The artists were asked to draw one of the pages from the script. JC Grande turned in his finished page earlier this week and I quite like it. Perhaps I will be able to post the test pages on this here blog when the artists have finished them.

Owen is also looking for a colorist, and has a handful queued up to color a test page. The project also needs a letterer, but it looks like Ed Brisson got the job based on a recommendation from me. I also heard from Manoel Magalhães this week and it turns out he had responded to Owen’s ad for artists. (Manoel recognized my name on the script!) Owen liked his work and asked him to do a test page, but Manoel isn’t sure if he was going to or not. Manoel said his style of artwork might not fit the story.

That’s all the news I have about this project for now. I’ll keep you informed as it progresses.