Mister Crimson @ Flashback Universe!

A few months ago, longtime Flashback Artist Diego Tripodi was fortunate enough to have a second project picked for the Zuda contest. The entry was Mister Crimson, a time lost costumed adventurer co-created by Diego and Seth Sherwood (or Tanklab as he's known on the Zuda boards.)

Well, the Zuda site is a tough nut to crack, and Mister Crimson did not win the contest. However, it did win a place in my heart, as I felt the core concept was similar to the sort of things I like to see in the Flashback Universe.

So, I contacted both Seth and Diego, and asked them would they be interested in finishing up the comic at Flashback Universe in the form of a weekly web comic.

They agreed and the first installment will begin next Tuesday, here at Flashback Universe!

To get you ready for the series, here is some background on Mister Crimson (which I originally ran back in June) and a new interview with Diego about Mister Crimson and Zuda:

Who is Mister Crimson?

Mister Crimson is the story of a pulp-era superhero that has been abducted through time. Taken from the 1930s, and sent 200 years into the future he is forced to take up fisticuffs against a rebellion that hopes to overthrow the city's leaders.

Mister Crimson is used to scraping his knuckles on shifty criminal types-- but here, he is forced to take on mutants and cyborgs who have powers that match his own. But Crimson was selected for this task specifically. His futuristic handlers know that in a word, he is unbreakable.

Fighting criminals has always been Crimson's bag-- but soon he realizes this future is not what it seems. The city leaders are corrupt, and those mutants and cyborgs that have been branded as malcontents, are actually fighting the just cause. Does Crimson join them?

Or does he continue to fight for the men who have the ability to send home?

Crimson left the past at the worst possible moment. His arch-nemesis, Ace of Spades, had finally deduced his secret identity, and kidnapped Crimson's wife and son.

Crimson had found Ace, and their final encounter had just begun when Crimson was snatched into his future.

Mister Crimson faces his biggest dilemma. Does he quell the rebellion, and earn his ticket back in time to save his family?

Or does he do what he has always done-- fight the good fight to protect the innocent? Even for a man that has no limits to his strength and invulnerability, this adventure could break him.

New Interview With Diego Tripodi

What was the the inspiration for this series?

Our main inspiration probably came from characters such as the original Sandman, the Shadow, the Spirit, the Crimson Avenger... and we also wanted to throw a science fiction element in the mix.

So pulp characters and science fiction are quite possibly the biggest influences on Mister Crimson, but I think it also has other elements from genres such as western and noir/detective stories.

How do you feel about the Zuda competition process?

The competition process is alright with me. I think that even before submitting, most competitors may have an idea of what to expect once your series is online. You are going to receive support from the readers who like your work, critiques from the ones that don't like it, but most of all, I think that with this being a competition it depends a lot, for a series to win the contract, that the competitors spend a good amount of time promoting their work and getting their friends/relatives/contacts voting for their comic. So, besides being a writer or an artist, for a competition process such as this, it's very important that you're a good self promoter as well.

What would you tell other creators who are considering sending a project to Zuda?

I don't really have any advice to give anyone. But if I have to give my opinion, I would say that you have to make sure you feel that your 8 pages are good enough, that's probably the most important thing and what will most likely determine if the series is going to enter the contest or not.

What projects do you have on the Horizon?

Drawing new strips of a series I've been working on since 2006, called Bert Stroud, with writer Mike Schwalke.

Another project is re-working a series called Mexican Death Trip, that I had originally started about 2 years ago, also with writer Seth Sherwood.

We always liked the characters from that comic, so we plan to do something with them once again and try finding a publisher for that series.

And I'll be working in short stories and illustrations for a book which will be an anthology of 2, with stories written and drawn by my friend writer/artist Norman Mallory ( http://www.ncmallory.blogspot.com/ ) and myself, but it's a project that, as I'm writing this, it's still on it's very early stages.

Be sure to check back Tuesday for the first installment of Mister Crimson!