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 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

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

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

Here’s a little amalgamation of my favorite bits and pieces that came out. I was afraid I’d lost my line a few weeks ago, but I think it’s coming back full force. Now it’s just a matter of knocking out a script I can be happy with (besides Battlerock or El Segundo) and getting down n dirty on some bristol board. It will happen sooner than we all think.

And before I go pass out, let me plug the Supertron livestream and the Azure livestream. Both absolutely full of pants-shittingly delightful people, and Peter Timony.

Good night you horrible monsters.

Cute chicks and goofy schoolboys

Thinking over it, I’m not too upset. I think it’s got a great story, but it might not be the best for that format and I’d like to give it another shot in a medium where I could give it the pacing it deserved. Maybe a single trade or something along that length. It’s important for the first part of the story to be slow and deliberate, as the characters are faced with situations where the timeline is out of their control and impatience is a big part of the emotional landscape.

Whew, that sounded pretentious.

I’m going to set it aside for a bit while I shore up my next submission, but for now you can check out the whole 8 page epic right here!

RIGHT HERE SERIOUSLY

Hope you enjoy it, the story will continue in the near future, once I get this other beast out of the way (hint: it’s a blast from the past).

I’ll be working on the Comics page this week to get it in better shape. Keep an eye out for an updated layout for both id and Stewards and I’ll get back to you soon with some bloggage!

Thanks for stopping by.