I also wanted to talk a little about the whole Zuda closure and how it affected my work and this project. Scroll down past said big ass picture and click on the Keep Reading link for wall-of-text ranting! YOU KNOW YOU WANT TO KNOW, IT’S IN YOUR RACY NATURE.

Click to read the original submission!

Man, what do I say about this? I want to take a minute here and just explain how this whole thing played out.

So let’s talk about this project. I’ll do a post on influences and development later, suffice to say there was a lot of music involved. ME started sometime in the middle of September 2009, when I was trying to figure out what to work on. I knew I wanted to do a weekly and I was itching, like many, for another run at the Zuda deal. So I started work on it and finished over the course of the next couple months, pretty standard stuff. In the middle of it I realized that even if Zuda didn’t want it, I still wanted to do it. I really like this story a lot.

So I turned it in at the end of November, maybe the first week of December, I can’t quite remember. At that point, I knew it would be a wait so I sunk into some celebration. I did what I think a lot of newer creators do, and I didn’t work on anything for a while. That’s the thing I regret most now, but hey, you gotta learn sometime right?

And then the 3 months came up, I saw other comics that I knew had been submitted after mine coming into the competition. I figured, well they’re just looking for the right place for my comic now, it’s not right for the current competition. I sent a few emails to their feedback form to make sure my sub hadn’t gotten lost like some others I’ve known, but I never got a response. Right around February, I started getting antsy, but I wanted to be patient. That’s something that has to be expected in a business like this, with so much material going through so few people.

I had decided to let things ride with Zuda to see where it went. In the meantime, I started up another comic with a friend in the hopes for another contest entry. It was a fantasy/sci-fi thing based on a really old comic of mine. It was right in the middle of that that I found out about the competition end. They told us they were reviewing submissions in the queue, and I believe they did just that. But it meant another 3 months of waiting to see if mine would make it through to their new format.

Obviously, as with so many other really amazing entries, it did not.

And now I’m left knowing exactly what I knew 6 months ago. Mourning Electric needs its own site. It needs to be mine and mine alone, broken free of the Zuda format, the need for ultra-compressed storytelling. It needs to be its own comic.

So I’m hard at work on the new script, I’ll be redoing the pages in a new book-style format that will allow for more decompressed storytelling.

I appreciate the hard work of the Zuda staff and I’m definitely sad to see them abandon their efforts in such a hasty manner, but I want to thank them for giving me and so many great creators the inspiration to get moving on those projects they’d been sitting on. I hope you keep all em comin.

As a special treat, I’ve also decided to post the original Zuda submission that I did way back when. It will be up later today when I get the pages setup.

COMIC UPDATE!
Go read the new pages!.

Click the picture to read the newest pages!

Thanks everyone for reading, stay tuned for more Mourning Electric!

100 DAYS TALLY – END OF DAY 66
PNN Issue 01 – Layouts – Pg 1-8
Mourning Electric – New script – pg 1-14

The 100 Days project continues on unabated, for the most part. The last few days have been full of writing for the most part, with little time to put pictures on paper. That’s what Lindsey‘s for right?

COMIC UPDATE!
Pages 9-12 are available today, with 4 pages being posted next Wednesday and the one after that. Go check it out!.

Click the picture to read!

Make sure to check back next Wednesday for the exciting continuation!

100 DAYS TALLY – END OF DAY 59
GBM – Scripts for 66
PNN Issue 03 Script – completed
PNN Issue 04 Script – p1-3 and some plotting

As many have already noted, this week marked the closing out of Zuda‘s slush pile and I was among that group. It’s an unfortunate thing, but one I was well-prepared for. I wish them luck on whatever it is they’re going to be doing. After waiting 7 months for a reply, I had pretty much assumed that Mourning Electric would not be continuing on as a weekly with DC.

However, that means I can do pretty much whatever I want with it, so it’s going to be getting it’s own site. I’m working on getting a back-stock of pages finished for it so that I can release it this fall before Long Beach.

Pages 5-8 are available today, with 4 pages being posted next Wednesday and the one after that. Go check it out!.

Click the picture to read!

Make sure to check back next Wednesday for the exciting continuation!

100 DAYS TALLY – END OF DAY 53
GBM – Scripts for 63-65
PNN Issue 02 Script – first draft done
PNN Issue 03 Script – p1-14

Now then, go on and take a gander at the comic. Pages 1-4 are available today, as the subject implies, with 4 pages being posted every Wednesday until July 7th (total of 16 pages for you kids keeping score at home).

Click the picture to read!

I’ve also taken the liberty of redoing my Comics page for easier access. Take a peek!

Make sure to check back next Wednesday for the exciting continuation!

100 DAYS TALLY – END OF DAY 46
Mourning Electric side story – complete!
GBM 60-62 finished
PNN Issue 02 Script – 10 pages

Somehow at 3 in the morning I am not thinking about taking snapshots of what I’ve been drawing for the last 4 hours. My bad.

I’m up to my neck in this short comic and planning for some upcoming changes in the daily life. After that it’s back to work on the Pins N Needles script and some planning on what to do with Vapor Trails now that its original destination has shuttered its doors.

The Mourning Electric short will be going up by the end of next week, I believe. 16 pages of black and white suspense. Get excited! The actual story will go up…some day. I’ve waited so long for a reply from Zuda at this point, it feels like a waste to pull it back and stick it on its own site. We’ll just have to continue being patient.

100 DAYS TALLY – END OF DAY 20 (21′s still goin!)
Goodbye Blue Monday #59 script – Complete
Mourning Electric side story – Pencils Pass 1 p1-16 – Finished
ME side story – Pencils final – 60% done (backgrounds and shadows)

The Mourning Electric short is on the way! In a heck of a way. It’s gonna be 16 pages of crazy black and white mindtrip. I’m going through with red pencil for all the characters first to get a grip on the emotions of the scene. After that I’ll be doing the backgrounds and laying out shadow blocking. Then it’s on to INKS.

100 DAYS TALLY – END OF DAY 9
Goodbye Blue Monday #58 script – Complete
Mourning Electric side story – Pencils Pass 1 – Page 1-8
Finished reading SHARKNIFE!! (that counts right?)

Hey my desk! Thumbnails and character sketches and a script to read from…this is how we comics

Jacob looks at a thing and complains about it, there is wrongness in him

Look at that kid! That is a kid.

With the fate of Zuda, and therefore 2 of my comics, up in the air, I’ve decided to focus on some new things and some side projects. I’ll talk more about that stuff later when it’s a little more sure. Until then I wanted to show off some sketches I was doing for a Mourning Electric side story. It follows the effects of ME’s events from the other side of the country. Maybe one day you’ll all actually get to know what that is!

So I’ve decided to launch into a project with Lindsey…100 Days of COMICS. Every day, for 100 days, I will be making comics in some capacity.

Here’s where we’re at!

100 DAYS TALLY – END OF DAY 3
Free Comic Book Day! Reference books acquired
Goodbye Blue Monday #57 script – Complete
Pins N Needles Issue 01 Script first draft, 22 pages – Complete
Character Designs for Mourning Electric side story – Complete (below)

I’m working on the two main characters, really trying to capture the averageness of office workers. Wolverine popped in there too I guess, but he does not wear business casual…

The scummy side of the story, a trampy little girl and a cross between Jack Nicholson and Rip Torn

We’ll be selling stuff for Goodbye Blue Monday and Pins N Needles, so you should come by and say helloooo. It is important to me that you emphasize the oooo on that.

We’re at table 1065 with our good buddy Zen. He will have comics about hot broads in pink. I know you much you people love that shit.

You better come or ELSE OR ELSE

I’d also like to announce that, while Zuda is deliberating over the fate of my dear Mourning Electric, I’ve decided to embark on a new minicomic sidestory. How exciting is that huh? A sidestory for a comic you’ve never read! Woooo. Check back next week for an update!

And lastly, if you’re a Fringe fan, go check out my Fringe comics on Twitter. They are an excellent waste of 5 minutes.

I finished up a promo image for the new comic series I submitted to Zuda in November.

If you like teenagers, angsty ghosts, and cyber mysteries, it’s time for you to get hyped about Mourning Electric! Go check out the production blog over at http://mourningelectric.tumblr.com!

Mourning Electric – Coming April 2010