OPP - Other Peoples Projects

Recently, Caine asked me why the Flashback Universe has been so quiet on the comics scene, in that it's been a while since we've made any new comics around here.

Usually when asked such a question, homegrown comic creators like myself fall on the sword of economic and/or health related problems. And while I suppose I could place some blame on the economy - the real answer is way more positive. I've been involved working on project for other people.

Currently, I've got about three other projects I'm working on. One is a cool comic featuring a lot of new and Public Domain superheroes coming from our friends at Popbox Entertainment - the name of the comic is called The Agency, and I'm lettering the pages for them. The story is by Clayton Neal (who has written articles for this blog before) with art by Celso Ricardo of Rascunho Studios




I've been enjoying lettering this comic as the dialogue and characters have a nice bronze age feel to them.

Another project I'm excited about is from FBU Contributor Trey Causey. It's an Roleplaying Game based on a rather interesting concept. The idea is a RPG world based on the tropes of the Weird/Hard Boiled Pulp Era rather than traditional Sword and Sorcery. It's called Weird Adventures, and my role in the project has been as sounding board, logo designer and graphic designer (typesetting)





This project in generating a good bit of buzz about it as Trey has been posting teaser text, snippets and artwork for the project on his blog. One such piece of art was cool Doc Savage homage from FBU friend Reno.

Finally, the last project I've been helping out with is Five Dollar Mail - an ongoing Romantic Adverture set on a Pony Express Station. My wife Gina is the author of this story, and while Romance stories aren't really my cup of tea, I've been amazed at how may people come to her blog every week to read a new chapter. Currently, Gina's written a staggering 85 chapters so far, with a few side chapters contributed by fans. My assistance in this project has been as art wrangler as Gina wanted art for the story, but didn't really know how to handle working with artists via the internet. Here is illustration from Diego Candia of Saint, one of the characters from Five Dollar Mail.




Current plans are to take the first storyline (which should wrap up in another 15 to 25 chapters) and roll it up into a book from a print on demand site. Because of the awkward way blogger formats text, I suspect she'll need my help formatting the book when that time comes.

So, between Pierre's promotion (which has saddled him with a good bit more work) and these extra projects, we haven't gotten around to working on any new comics here at Flashback Universe. However, I think as things settle out and our plates clears up, I'm pretty sure Pierre and I will be itching to work on a new project!

Have a great day!

- Jim

More League of Monsters

On the production side of things here at Flashback Universe, we've sort of hit a weird downtime. Gina is currently working on an iPod comic project, so she's tied up there and Pierre may be getting an animation job, so he might be sort of busy for the next few months. (Never sure how long those animation jobs last...)

However, Pierre is working hard on what he wants to be our next Zuda pitch - a League of Monsters story featuring the LoM vs The U-Bolts. Here is a scene from that proposal.

You can click it for a high rez version.

Pierre is also still working on our Kharon, Scourge of Atlantis comic, and we are about half way done with that comic.

Speaking of Kharon, check out this pinup image drawn by the awesome Chaz Truog and colored by Ray Chipp

Finally, if your a donator on the site, then you know we like to put Homages to old comic covers in our extras section. Here is one Pierre is working on now...

Have a great weekend!

Pierre Speaks: And sometimes he draws...

We are sort of inbetween Pierre Speaks articles currently, so I thought I'd share some new images from upcoming Flashback Universe stories Pierre is working on.

First up is a another page from Kharon, Scourge of Atlantis, our Zuda entry from last month. This page takes place a little later in the script, but it makes a good splash page. (Click to enlarge)

Next is a glimpse of World War II as it was fought in the Flashback Universe - Here we see The evil U-Bolts as they fight the Purple Puma, Red Death, the Crimson Cossack, The Paladin, the GA WildCard, Doc Nomad and the Fearless Five, and Saturn King and Saturn Kelly.

Click image to see full size version

btw - I want to thank everyone who offered their opinion about which color scheme to use for Red Death's Costume!

Finally, Pierre has worked up two sketches of Monster Mansion - the League of Monster HQ. Currently, we are undecided about which version to use, so feel free to chime in.

Stone Version



Tech Version

Which Red Death is Better

Today is a short post because like a character in a Jack London story, I've gotta build a fire and keep it going (our heater is on the fritz.)

Anway, I mentioned the Wayback Universe a while back, which is our Golden Age Flashback Universe. One of the characters in this universe is a guy we are calling The Red Death. He's our tip of the hat to The Black Terror. Pierre's whipped up a pretty nice costume for the character, but we are both waffling on the color scheme.

Below are two images Pierre did with the character as a test. The images are from a story we are working on called The Trial of the Red Death. If anyone has a preference, please let us know.

Black and Red?

Or All Red?
Have a great weekend!

New Flashback Comic Previews

So if you are a loyal Flashback Universe fan who has been patiently waiting for the next FBU comic since we released The Paladin, you're probably wonder what the hell is up with us not releasing any new comics lately?
Well, what has happened is that for several reasons we had a couple of artistic hiccups that have slowed us down.

One you know about if you've been reading this blog, and that's Pierre's long engagement working on the Arthur cartoon. That took a good bit of his time over the past year. However he has been able to work on a few Flashback related comics during this time.

Aside from Arthur, Pierre was also working on our Zuda submission.

Kharon: Scourge of Atlantis





Pierre is also working is Saturn Knight: The Knight Before Christmas, which we hope to have ready for you by this Christmas. Written by Chris Sims, this story features the a ton of Flashback Universe characters and I expect everyone to really get a kick out of it! Check out this preview page from this story...




Chris Sims actually is responsible for two more upcoming Flashback Universe comics. The other is the amazing Flashback Two-In-One featuring WildCard and The Creature with art by Gentleman Jerry Hinds. It's been a long time coming, but I think everyone will like the work Jerry is doing on this comic. Check out these two pages...







Chris is also working on a Kondorr comic with a new artist who goes by the moniker of Cornfed Cannibal (long story...) Check out these pages from Kondorr - Once Mighty!







And last but not least, we are very near completion of a comic featuring Amanita and Prometheus written by Chad Bowers and illustrated by Chris Nye and Don Jackson. Check out this great cover by Don and colors by Liezl Buenaventura and interior page by Chris.







So look for some great Bronze Age excitement to be coming from us very soon!

Flashback Update: Prometheus

I've got Strep throat today, so I'm afraid in lieu of a Paper Comic Deathwatch post, I'm going to have to tied you over with this update on the Prometheus/Amanita comic.

One of the things I wanted to do with this comic was have an adventure with both characters which had the same sort of feel of the old Tales of Suspense comics.

I've always been a sucker for a comic with two characters on the cover whether they were working together or in separate split screens like the one below.

I think part of the charm of such comics is that for the price of one comic, you get art from two different artists.

So for the Prometheus comic, the Prometheus story will be drawn by Flashback stalwarth Chris Nye and the Amanita story will be drawn by the newly discovered Donald Jackson.

The caveat is, I like all Flashback stories to be done in one issue, so rather than short change you the reader with half a story in each comic, writer Chad Bowers has whipped up an amazing story that uses both characters that I think you will really like. The title is Double Date, Double Doom!

Check out some of these panels from Chris Nye's half of the comic...

Prometheus carrying Amanita

The villainess of our story...Go Go Godiva

And the villain of the story...LoveLorn - sketch by Donald Jackson

I think you guys are really going to like this when you see the finished product!

That's all for today. I'm gonna run down to the local Doctor's Care and pick up some amoxicillin. :P

- Jim

Preview: Flashback Two In One

Gentleman Jerry Hinds, artist extraordinaire, has been working on So Falls The World, a Flashback story featuring The Creature and Wild Card written by Chris "ISB" Sims.

Here is a sneak peak at some of the pages - click to enlargemotize.

Joe Staton challenges Ultrax

The Creature says hello

WildCard springs into action

WildCard missing an important date



Have a great weekend!

Sick Today: Artifact Backstory Preview

I'm sick today, so I'm just going to post this one sneak preview page from Pierre today.

From the upcoming Artifact Backstory...

- Jim

Preview: Saturn Knight: The Knight Before Christmas

Many of you may remember the Lady Nemo Christmas Card I posted back in December. Well, that image is going to be the cover of a story that Chris Sims has written that we hope to have ready by Christmas. Pierre is hard at work on the story now, so I thought I'd share some of the pages he's sent in already...

[ click here to see the preview ]



Hope you enjoy them!

- Jim

Christmas Break

I'm headed home for the Holidays, so I don't know how much posting I'll be able to do, so in the meantime, Pierre and I would like to wish everyone a safe and happy holiday!

Behold! The Power of Prometheus!

Chad Bowers happened to send me some of the great artwork Chris Nye has been working on for their Prometheus story...so I thought I'd share a few of the pages here.

For those of you just joining us, this particular Prometheus story is going to guest star Amanita and picks up from the last* issue of Prometheus where he was at the mercy of that Hoodoo Powered Heavy Metal band Blood Money.

This is Chris' first time at coloring a comic in Photoshop, and the results are looking great! Check out these pages...

Here is the Opening Splash page with Prometheus being strangled by a Sonic Serpent. (Which is just what I'm calling it. btw...)



Here we see Amy Nettles slipping off to a discreet place to change into her superpowered alter ego - Amanita.



And here we have Prometheus and Amanita ready to wail on Blood Money.



I actually saw quite a bit more pages than this and they all had that awesome 70's vibe about them that you see here, so you can imagine how jazzed I am about this comic!

Maybe Friday, I'll show you some more pages from Chris Sims' So Falls The World comic...

*Note: The *last issue* thing is just a joke. Please don't email me asking if there really are any other issues of Prometheus. :D

Creature/WildCard Preview pages +LOSH homage

Note: Sorry this post is late. I'm involved in a rather complicated Sharepoint site Deployment for Microsoft, so feel free to blame Microsoft. :)

Following up on Monday's Paladin pages preview, I thought I'd show a couple of new pages Jerry Hind's has turned in for the upcoming Creature/WildCard story that will soon be appearing in Flashback Team-Up.

This first image is the splash page where UltraxThe Unconquered makes his grand appearance...notice the excellent details Jerry put into the crowd behind Ultrax. Also, check out the Counselor coming out of the space ship. Notice how the colors of both aliens uniforms seem to match. Really nice touch by Jerry on that! Jerry thinks of all these details I (and Chris) just don't think about. He's really quite brilliant!



This page shows two recent battles between Ultrax and the champions of other planets he's invaded...



Now, if you look carefully at the bottom half of the page, AND you are a fan of the old Bronze Era Legion of Super-heroes, I think you'll see a couple of familiar *faces.* It sort of looks like Ultrax is giving the Mon-El of that world a huge beatdown!

That single panel is pretty much an allegory for how the legion has been treated since Crisis On Infinite Earths. :(

start RANT tag...
What we can learn from the Legion of Super Heroes' decline in popularity and how it relates to comics in general...

It's funny because in many ways, what has happened to the LOSH over the years is really representative on a grander scale to comic books in general.

In the 60's, with innovative story telling and the introduction of a wide cast of characters, Jim Shooter managed to give readers a long run of stories that to this day cast a huge shadow on all writers who take a turn on the title. But as the Silver Age began to wain, so did the popularity of the title.

That was until Dave Cockrum and Mike Grell stepped up as artists on the title, reenvisioning the costumes of the classic characters, and bringing a slick look to the comic. This inspired the writers to bring their A game to the title as well. So in the 70's the book started to climb again in popularity (up until Grell left, then it sort of wandered a bit...)

Then in the 80's Keith Giffen and Paul Levitz reignited the Legion with the Great Darkness Saga. What they did wasn't so much a total shakeup of the legion or their mise en scene, but a nudge forward into recognized DC Continuity. Really, examine the Great Darkness Saga and specify the one exact moment where it completely outstrips the previous 20 stories before it...I argue, it's ONLY the inclusion of Darksied that makes that story special

After that story, we have one where Karate Kid is killed, and then Princess Projecta kills to avenge him. Then the series sort of meanders its way into oblivion...

So, back to my original hypo, Levitz and Giffen *really* only ignited some fire in the Legion by realigning it with the DC Continuity. After that card was played, they had to resort to a round of deaths to keep readers excitement going.

DC Countdown analogies can begin now. ;)

- Jim

Paladin Preview Pages

I've gotten quite a number of e-mails asking me about my opinion of Zuda. And while I do have my thoughts on the project, I'm going to defer comments to Heidi MacDonald's The Beat Zuda Reax for the time being because she's doing an awesome job keeping tabs on the Zuda pulse.

So instead for today, I'm going to post some of the first couple of pages of Pierre's Paladin artwork. Enjoy!

Here's the cover (yes, it's a Steranko tribute.)



Here's Page 1 - The Vanguard returniong from a successful mission!



Pages 2, 3 and 4







And our tribute to Hulk 181!



Hope you enjoyed those! Maybe Wednesday I'll do a big Zuda write up. ;)