Unseen Flashback Universe Art

Recently, I was contacted by a company that wanted to use some of the art from the Flashback Universe as material for a pitch meeting for a television series. After signing the appropriate contracts, I then reviewed loads of artwork Pierre has sent me over the years and sent the company what I thought was some very nice images to use for their pitch. While doing this, I found several pages of art that readers of this blog may have never seen before, so I'm going to post them today for you all to enjoy.

First  up, this amazing battle scene with the Golden Age Flashback Universe characters (who I often refer to as the Wayback Universe) versus the U-Bolts. This image actually appeared in our zuda pitch in a smaller version, but it's easier to see the neat details Pierre put in with this version.

Next up, here is a cover of a Flashback Super Villain Two In One based on an idea from Jason Wright.

At one time Pierre and I talked about doing a Flashback Backstory for the Artifact. Here's a page Pierre created for that story.

While not a Flashback Universe creation, Mister Crimson is definitely one that I wished I had created which is why I was glad to host the web comic here. Seth Sherword and Diego Tripodi really put a lot of nice work into that web comic, and did a outstanding job hitting their weekly deadlines. However, on the occasion that they might be running a bit late, I would get other creators to step in with a piece of art. Here is one Pierre did which is a homage to the classic Dr. Fate/Hourman Showcase story.

Finally, here are two pages from our first Zuda project Kharon, Scourge of Atlantis. Looking through the file folder, I was surprised at how far we got with this project before circumstances caused forced us to stop. I could see picking this project back up again in the future.

I have quite a bit more, but I'll save it for another post someday.

Bonus: In honor of Memorial Day (which we will be observing tomorrow in the USA), enjoy this older Free Comics Monday post dedicated to the spirit of the holiday.

- Jim

Our League of Monsters Zuda Pitch

Due to extenuating circumstances, I don't have a regular post, but have something different to enjoy today. Before Zuda called it quits, Pierre and I were planning to submit a new League of Monsters story to Zuda. Click the image below to see the first 8 pages.



These first 8 pages were all created without any script or plot by Pierre, who sent them to me to dialogue as a sort of project kickstart. Having to devine a a story and dialogue from sequential pages of art was actually pretty hard, but after sort of letting the pages *talk to me* for a while, the story materialized.

Unfortunately, Zuda is no more, so while Pierre and I won't be able to see how it would have done in the contest (which was always a fickle thing anyway) we have every intention of finishing the story ourselves.

So consider this a preview! I hope you enjoy it!

- Jim

Zuda News

If you haven't heard, Zuda's competitive arm (if you can call it that, since it was really a popularity contest) has been shut down for good. The imprit seems to still exist for now, with established Zuda creators and books leaping over to DC's new iPad store (High Moon, Night Owls, & Bayou) through Comixology.

I'm still waiting for Azure, I'll pick that one up at any price!

So what now? Well it's been stated that some Zuda books/creators would stick with the imprint but others won't. What about all of those creators who won a competition but hadn't had a chance to really get going with their comic? What about all of those creators who had a pitch submitted previous to the shut down?

Believe it or not there are people out there listening.

Bleeding Cool is reporting:

"But what happens to the abandoned creators, the abandoned properties? I understand that wevolt, a digital online comics hub bought up by Wowio has made a number of aggressive moves towards these creators, offering them complete ownership of their work, an established audience and a chance to keep their dreams going." ~BleedingCool

WeVolt seems like a good home for the Zuda comics creators, not only is it flash based, there are all ready more than a few cool comics there now:

Multiversity Comics is reporting:

"This morning, we received the press release for a company that up until today we had never heard of: Killing The Grizzy. What is this, you might ask? Well, according to their press release, they're a brand new agency that hopes to breathe something new into the comic community. This includes both funding and marketing for unknown works with the basic idea being to forge a better community. What is really eye catching about the press release, though, is the big bold "Alternative To Zuda" comment. To quote the press release, "We’re in the process of putting together the pieces for an alternative to the now quashed ZUDA, and it won’t be a competition structure, but something far more organic, open, and fair and it will go far beyond what ZUDA ever did." Supposedly this will be up in a matter of weeks."~MultiversityComics

Neither posting really gives any concrete details regarding how they'd structure any sort of competition hosted on their site. Now multiple members of the extended FBU team have submitted comics to Zuda, or were just about too, so we've definitely got opinions to spare on how we'd run a new replacement to Zuda but we'd like to know what you think.

How could a replacement be a true competition? How would you set up the rules, guidelines, and standards? What would you like to see as at least one a key factor of a successful replacement?

Converse! :)

Have a great weekend,

Caine

One Fans Opinions

I wonder how many blog posts have been devoted to Zuda over the last 2.5 years? People previewing a comic they or an associate created? People promoting a comic they or an associate created? Reviews? Commentary? Rage filled rants about not getting in or loosing (come on you know there have been a few at least)?

There have been a few here at Flashback Universe.

Today there will be one more.

A few days ago Zuda posted the following on their blog:

"About two and a half years ago the very first ZUDA COMICS competition went live. The goal was to engage the community, bringing them into the editorial process in a way that had never been done; shifting the ability to green light a project from the publisher to the public.

Those of you familiar with the history of the competition know that we’ve had our ups and downs. While I don’t think anyone can argue with the quality of previous competition winners like HIGH MOON, SUPERTRON and others, I’d be remiss if I didn’t acknowledge that there were clearly great series that, for one reason or another, didn’t win.

The format absolutely has merits; engaging the community and giving them real decision making power, giving creators a level of exposure that they might not have otherwise had and encouraging an ongoing dialogue about storytelling, quality and what makes good comics. However it’s also had its shortcomings; accusations of cheating, confusion about the process, spamming in the the name of promotion and argumentative, dismissive or even aggressive behavior.

Is there a better way to achieve the former without having to endure or encourage the latter? I think so. The comic industry needs a steady influx of new creators and new ideas. We should consistently explore the medium, looking for new ways to tell great stories. I think that if we, as a company, are committed to those goals we would be foolish not to pursue them.

However, from this point forward, we wont be using the competition format to do it.

In the next few weeks you’ll notice some changes to the site as we eliminate the competition and retool the submissions section. We’ll do our best to keep you updated through our blog, our Twitter and Facebook page; however, if you come across something buggy please leave a comment or send us feedback and let us know.

I’d like to take an extra minute to personally thank everyone that’s ever been in a ZUDA COMICS competition. It takes an amazing amount of passion, dedication and effort to run that particular and often peculiar gauntlet. If you’ve got any specific questions please feel free to reach out to me via email or on my personal Twitter."

There is plenty to dislike about that statement. Sure there were difficulties with the previous format, the biggest of them were listed. There were also benefits from the program as well, namely getting accepted into the competition even if you didn't have the best production values. All sorts of books got in, and they all had an equal shot and achieving a popular status (at least in the begining of each month) so that they might take home the prize.

While I don't have any facts about what Zuda's new system will entail it's going to have to be judged somehow. Judges require guidelines to judge by. Guidelines of any type will surely require production values of a certain level to get in.

The end of an era? That's not for me to decide, and it may be too early to tell just yet but one thing seems fairly certain: fewer applicants, not more, will be getting in from here on out.

In other news, when one door closes and another one opens...

Digital Webbing:

"Digital Webbing Presents, our very own homegrown anthology, is returning!

Many (if not most) of you are familiar with DWP and the roster of established and new talent who have graced it's pages. Not to mention the guys who had some of their earliest work published in DWP and are now "rising stars". Guys like Yildiray Cinar (Legion of Super-Heroes, Ravager, Noble Causes), Mahmud A Asrar (Siege: Young Avengers, Atom, Nova, Dynamo 5), Ryan Ottley (Invincible, Haunt) and Kody Chamberlain (Sweets, 30 Days of Night: Bloodsucker Tales, Beowulf) to name a few. Go check out a list of creators in DWP here.

DWP 2.0 will be taking advantage of current technology to publish as first-run digital content on mobile devices like iPhones and iPads, as well as online. Options for printed editions/collections are being discussed as well.

We're looking for quality work, the kind of work that built the reputation that had editors from the big boys sending promising creators to DWP to "get some real work under their belts." We'll need both short stories and serialized stories. Shorts or chapters should be in the neighborhood of 8 pages, content should be PG-13 at most.

I'll be helping Ed run things so you can ask questions here in the thread and one of us will answer you."

Here at least is a new publishing platform to possibly fill the void of Zuda for those who's Zuda pitch was nearly ready....

Caine

The PitchBot 3000

If your like me, you probably spend long sleepness nights trying to come up with that perfect story idea to pitch to Zuda, Image or the SyFy channel - well, now you can rest easy as I have automated the process with the creation of the The PitchBox 3000. Click the banner to use the PitchBot to help you today!

NOTE: Just like real writers, PitchBot makes no claims as to the originality of his ideas.

Thanks to Trey Causey for help in coming up with all the cool Pitch ideas!

Dead Projects from 2009

Looking back on 2009, I wish we had gotten further along with a lot of projects. There are reasons we didn't have any new Flashback Universe comics last year, some financial and some logistical - what's hard for people who don't make comics to understand is that for every completed comic you see someone make, there are probably 4 or 5 that died along the way.

Here is some art from several of our dead projects from 2009...

First Up - a character sketch for a Zuda project I always refer to as Tempus Fugitives. This was going to be a sort of Dreadstar meets League of Extraordinary Gentlemen type of comic, and depending on how I feel from month to month, it's either still in the works or DOA. Design by Pierre Villeneuve.



Next we have this fantastic illustration of The Artifact from what was going to be a sort of Science Fiction Prison Break story set in a far distant future. Art by the amazingly talented Alessandro Ceccarelli, Colors by the Pantone Princess, Lizz Buenaventura



Finally, here is a cover for a Saturn Knight BackStory which Pierre pitched to me in the way of a storyboard - we would probably work on this story except that Pierre pitched an even better League of Monsters story to me which we decided to work on instead.



That's all for today - trust me, I have tons more, it's just a little depressing to poke around in the Dead Projects folder.

- Jim

Check out Villain on Zuda!

Editor's Note: Today we present a special early weekend edition wherein Caine interviews Greg Smallwood, whose comic Villain, is the best Super Hero story we've ever seen in a Zuda Contest. I strongly encourage everyone who frequents this blog to check out Villain!



Can you introduce yourself to the FBU readers? Have you participated in comics that we may have experienced in the past? Anything on Zuda?

Greg Smallwood: I currently live and work in a little town outside of Kansas City, Kansas. Villain is actually my first comic book work. Prior to this, my only professional illustration work has been done as a freelancer for advertising agencies and various local businesses.

Can you tell us about your comic? How much development went into the concept as a whole? Upon reading the 8 pages on Zuda it looks as if you may have a mini superhero universe of your own supporting Villain. Did you produce all of it: art, writing, colors, etc?

Greg: For the unitiated, Villain is about a smart-assed super villain, Shockwave, who is sent away to a prison planet for all of the crimes he's committed. The planet, Atticus, has no guards, no indigenous life, and is home to hundreds of exiled super villains like Shockwave. The most obvious inspiration is Escape from New York but I was also heavily influenced by other films and books like No Escape and Lord of the Flies. It's familiar ground but I think what will set Villain apart from the rest is the focus I'm putting on the main character itself. At it's core, the story is about a nihilist being forced to confront the black and white world that we live in and make a choice. All he ever sees is the gray and I really want to explore what happens when he is forced to abandon his apathy.

Check out the Villain Promo Video on YouTube!



I've done quite a bit of planning for Villain. Planning is my form of procrastination. And thanks to that procrastination, I've got a story outline that could cover several issues. It'll be great if I get to tell that story.

Part of that story is the mini-universe that Shockwave exists in. I really get a kick out of creating characters so I'll have no shortage of villains for my prisoner population. I felt it was really important to flesh out these characters in the development stage so that when the reader sees them for only a few panels, there's a feeling of authenticity there. I want these characters to look and talk like they have a history and personality and I feel that all of that comes from planning. I remember hearing that Michael Mann (director of Heat and Collateral) will assemble whole books of background information for his actors so that they REALLY know their character and, in turn, feel real to the audience. That always stuck with me and I applied the same approach to Villain.

As for the writing and art, all of it was done by me. It's a pretty even combination of hand-drawn and digital art. I wanted it to look like a mainstream superhero book and sticking to the traditional methods of producing comic art was essential to that.

While some superhero content does appear on Zuda it's definately dwarfed in comparison by other genres. Did this fact play a factor in your decision making process on what to submit?

Greg: If anything, the lack of superheroes on Zuda almost discouraged me from doing Villain. I wasn't sure if it was the Zuda staff itself that didn't like the genre or if the votes just weren't there for superhero stories. But being accepted into the competition and receiving such positive feedback from readers seems to suggest something else. I think the lack of superhero comics on Zuda is more indicative of the comic book industry as a WHOLE rather than just the website. Independent creators and companies seem to shy away from attempting superhero stories and view the genre itself as a "cornered market" for DC and Marvel. But in my opinion, the superhero genre is just as viable, open, and free as any other genre and I feel there's a lot left to explore in it. Hopefully, more future Zuda creators will begin to feel the same way.

Mugshots from Villain



Can you take us through the general process of submitting the comic? How long did it take to complete the pages? What kind of communication do you get back from Zuda once you click "Submit"? How long does it take to find out if your accepted?

Greg: Once you hit that "Submit" button, you can end up waiting anywhere from a week to three months to hear anything. For me, it was just about a week shy of three months. It might seem like a long wait to hear any kind of confirmation but at least everyone who submits gets an answer. It may not be the one they want but it's more than most publishers offer. For untested writers and artists like myself, it's a wonderful platform and opportunity.

Do you have plans for Villain beyond Zuda? Whether you win or loose? Will people be able to stay up to date on your Villain blog?

If winning the competition doesn't happen, I'd still like to continue Villain somewhere else. Whether that be in print or online, I'm just not sure. Whatever the case may be, I'll continue updating the blog to keep everyone posted. I'd love to take my new fans with me wherever Villain ends up.

What your doing, if anything, to attract a fan base and get the word out?

Greg: My marketing campaign so far has consisted of a LOT of e-mailing. I've started the Villain Comic blog as well as a Facebook fan page. I've relied heavily on my friends and family getting the word out (specifically on social networking sites) and their support has been invaluable. My next step will be getting the word out to the local comic shops, specifically, Clint's Comics in Kansas City and Astro Kitty Comics in Lawrence. Only time will tell how well my promotion is working but at this point, I'm just doing what I can.

Greg: If Zuda sent you an email stating that they wouldn't accept Villain but gave you a free pass to submit something else what would that have been?

If an instant win was a guarantee, I probably would have done a steampunk superhero story. Both genres fascinate me and, other than Gotham by Gaslight (which is more Victorian than steampunk), you really don't see them mixed together. I originally thought about going that route but wasn't sure how well it would be received. Maybe I'll make that my next project!

Thank you for the interview Greg and GOOD LUCK!

Have a great weekend,

- Caine

Is Zuda the Devil?

Over at ComicsWorthReading Johanna Draper Carlson has this to say about Zuda:

I thought I’d stop by and check out this month’s Zuda entries, which made me wonder about how similar they were all becoming. I noticed that many of them were tagged either Super-Hero, Action/Adventure, or Horror. There were smart-alec animals, girls in their underwear, bloody fights, talky conspiracies, and always, too much time spent waiting for the viewer to load. The content reminded me of what I can already get elsewhere.

Now, on the surface, this statement is perfectly fine and true, as there ARE many comics at Zuda tagged in the ways she describes. But I think she's done Zuda a disservice by implying that those are the only type of comics you will find on the site.

I actually think that on any given month, you can find a wide range of comics in the contest. And several have been picked by either the judges, or *gasp!* the viewers as winners.

And to me, this is the real problem with some of peoples disdain for the Zuda system - outside of where you stand on the whole Flash as a Web Comic Viewer issue, the second biggest issue I see people bring up about Zuda is that they hate the idea that the unwashed masses have a hand in picking the winner. That strikes me as a bit elitist.

To people who at odds about the nature of the contest, I would say: I understand that you are upset that your Michael Chabon wannabe friend from the coffee bar with his web comic about quirky customers got beat by a vampire comic by some guys from *horrors!* outside of Soho, but dems the breaks, you know? If your friend is really upset, he can return the $500 Zuda gave him for his entry. :D

Look around - Books, movies, TV shows, and web comics are all market driven. To say that - as one person on the comments section said - that All comic book fans are idiots, really says more about you and less about comic fans.

At the moment, Zuda is probably the most egalitarian system out there - that actually pays money. If Ms. Carlson (or other people) are upset about what comics have gotten picked, then might I suggest you find one of the entries that lost and sponsor it on your site, like I did with Mister Crimson? :)

So, to sum up:

Is Zuda the devil? No.

Does the Flash Viewer suck? That's for you to decide.

Will we be overcome by horrible web comics picked by ignorant Superhero loving groundlings? Unlikely.

I suspect Zuda will continue to surprise us each month, just has it has done so far, and I think that's cool.

Have a great weekend,

- Jim

Pierre Speaks: Making Covers

As you guys know now, we had a comic at Zuda.com last month called “Kharon: Scourge of Atlantis” - while we didn't win the contest, we are going to complete the comic and will present the finished version here on Flashback Universe! :)

When we started making our Zuda proposal… there is one thing that we could not help but think that was missing from some Zuda comics…… a cover.

I may be misremembering… but I can’t recall seeing any Zuda project with a cover.

So we were all set to submit our comic with this cover.

But at some point, Jim decided to split one of the pages I had drawn into two pages. So we had one page too many for our proposal. We could either take out the cover…. Or take out page 08 and end our proposal on page 07.

We decided to take out the cover and use it as a promo piece instead.

Splitting a page and making two pages with it is something that we often do in our Flashback Universe comics.

Sometimes it is me who will take something that was scripted as one page and will split it in two pages if I feel there is too much material for a single page.

Or sometimes it is Jim who will take a page that I drew, and he will take it apart and make multiple pages with it. Sometimes he will make more then two pages with one page that I have drawn.

That is one of the advantages when we are making our Flashback Universe comics. We can add or remove as many pages as we see fit.

Here is a rough Kharon drawing for when I was looking for a pose for him for the cover.

Also sometimes, I will make a rough drawing and play with it in Photoshop.

And very rarely,….. rarely enough that what I really mean is pretty much never do I draw directly in Photoshop. I have no idea how some people can do it. I have a lot of respect for those who can do that because I find it extremely frustrating when I try to draw directly in Photoshop.

So the following sketch will be an obvious example of why I never draw directly in Photoshop.

Ouch!

I can tweak an already existing drawing with Photoshop. But drawing from scratch in Photoshop is beyond me at this point.

So I will keep on drawing by hand and scanning/editing my drawings in Photoshop for the near future. ;)

Until next time.

Pierre Speaks: Kharon… Part 02

As you guys know now, we have a comic at Zuda.com called Kharon: Scourge of Atlantis.

What made us start developing this project?

Eons ago, I was reading/contributing to a thread on the Image board about how to present an idea in a single sentence (or something like that).

For the heck of it I came up with some sort of example to see if I understood how to do such an exercise, and I kind of liked the idea I came up with. Some of the other posters did seem to see some potential in such an idea.

So once in a while I would come up with some notes sketches thinking about that idea.

Then later, during the summer of 2007, I finally met Jim at HeroesCon where we had our Flashback Universe booth.

While Jim and I were at Heroes Con, we started to discuss possible projects for Flashback Universe.

I told Jim about the idea that I had after reading/contributing to the Image board

Although Jim made some changes (Jim hates Vampire for some reason ;) ), Jim took what we discussed and came up with not only one proposal, but two based on the idea I had to begin with.

Heck if I had let him….. he was ready to come up with no less then 6 different proposals..


But I told him he was crazy.


Already developing one project is a lot of work…. developing 6 was nothing short of madness.

Luckily… Jim listened to me and agreed not to develop all them 6 projects.

So we started developing the first project (no I won’t tell you what it is, although we decided to do the Kharon project first, we WILL make the other project at some point).

But after some time….. Jim decided to put that project aside and sent me a small flash movie to sell me the idea of making Kharon: Scourge of Atlantis instead.

I can’t recall when or why we finally decided to submit our project to Zuda.

I seem to recall that we had various possible options on what to do with that project…. But I can’t recall why Zuda won us over in the end over the other options that we had (or still have in some cases). I guess Jim will have to fill you in on that one. ;)

That’s all for now.

Until next time.

Evolution of a Zuda Project

Jim: Zuda, which continues to defy my understanding in many ways, never fails to challenge me.

Trying to figure out what would be the perfect Zuda pitch is constant source of inspiration. A while back, after a conversation about The Secret Saturdays and Challengers of the Unknown, I got an embryonic idea for a zuda pitch...here's what I came up with.

Our story begins in the 1950's where a Santanic Cult in New Mexico opened up a portal to another dimension. The portal grew to about a mile in diameter and then stopped.

For the most part, the portal is dormant, but occaisionally, horrible creatures emerged to terrorize neighboring towns. The government's response was two fold. They controlled rumors of such creatures by funding the sci-fi monster movies of the 50's like the The Wasp Woman or Them. Then they also used a specialized strike team to dispatch the creatures.

The government funded strike team consisted of seven WW 2 vets (5 guys and 2 girls) who had fought together during WWII. The media dubbed them the Destroyers of the Demonic.

The vibe of the series was intended to be sort of Ultimate Challengers of the Unknown with the 70's pychedelic flair.

At this point, I wasn't really sure what direction to take, so I sent the idea to Trey (Planet X, Bronze Age Spotlight) to see what he thought of it...

Trey: That was in late October, sort of timely, with Halloween approaching. Anyway, I liked a lot of thing's about Jim's idea, and they spurred me to think on two different (intially unrelated) tracks. I emailed Jim back:

The whole concept just screams to be Wild Bunch/Dirty Dozen/Inglorious Bastards - inspired comic done by Atlas-Seaboard in the '70s. I see there being a team archetypes: the Leader (a George Peppard-ish cigarillo smoker), the Black Guy (Jim Brown, of course), the Ladies' Man,and the Woman, and the Crazy.

One could always be dropped in favor of splitting the Woman into The Smart Woman and the Badass Chick. Think of things like The Professionals...or The A-Team.

The other thing was setting it in another time period. I felt sort of like the fifties and the seventies had been overplayed lately in comics. Having already thought of the Wild Bunch, and recently having been on a Spaghetti Western kick, I suggested it be set during the Mexican Revolution--probably 1913 or 1914.

Jim: As you might guess, Trey's A-Team analogues really appealed to my old school aesthetics, so I was sold on that suggestion right off the bat. I also liked the idea of goosing the concept in a more Wild Bunch direction. Like most people, the level of violence in your average Stephen J. Cannell produced television show feels a little quaint in this age of 24 and Sopranos.

What I wasn't sold on was the time period. Trey, why did that time period appeal you versus a more established western period like post-civil war era wild west?

Trey:
Like I said, its the era of the Wild Bunch--but also its the era of the so-called Zapata westerns--Companeros, A Bullet for the General, and Duck, You Sucker! A somewhat lawless era perhaps (at least in Mexico), and perhaps a more idealistically charge one than the traditional West.

More importantly for the purposes of this story, it was a place where you could really see the old west becoming the modern world. There are still bandits on horseback, but the Great War looms. The southwest still beckons, but to oil barons and foreign spies, not ranchers and cowpunchers. The iconic pistol is still a Colt, but its the .45 automatic, not the Peacemaker.

And did I mention it was a place of extreme violence? Watch The Wild Bunch, or for extra credit, read James Carlos Blake's novel, The Friends of Pancho Villa.


Jim: So at this point, we had a setting, a premise and a cast of characters. We decided to call the project hell-bent.

The next thing we needed to do was look for an artist. Pierre was tied up with Kharon, so we went to digital webbing and placed an ad for an artist interested in working on a Western/Horror title.

We got a ton of great responses which left with the task of finding one out of the bunch. How we did that was an interesting process in of itselft.

We'll cover that in another post.

- Jim

Pierre Speaks: Kharon: SOA part 1

As you guys know now, Jim and I have a comic at Zuda.com called Kharon; Scourge of Atlantis (if you did not know… now you do, so go vote NOW!! Heck get your mother, sister, cousin, neighbor to vote as well ;) ).

Jim already showed some rough designs of Kharon a while back… now it’s my turn. ;)

Let’s start with Kharon himself.

This is what we finally decided that Kharon would look like.



But what you guys don’t know is that he almost looked like this;



Although we kind of liked that color scheme…. We decided not to go in that direction. I guess for my part I felt that it made him look too much like some sort of druid-like/nature lover kind of character or something.

Although this was not the only version, here are a few variation attempts made.






When we started developing the project…. What I had in mind from the various talk I had with Jim, was Elric of Melniborne. Not sure why… but that is the image that I had in mind at the time for some reason.




I was not trying to copy the Elric character… but try to capture the feeling that the Elric character evokes.

Other then keeping him somewhat thin…. I think I moved away from Elric enough to make Kharon visually distinctive.

In the very early process, I gave him 2 shoulder pads and a sword, but as we started tweaking the character, we gave him only one shoulder pad and replaced the traditional sword with some sort of club.

What made us start developing this project?....

You will have to wait for another Blog for the answer to that one. ;)




Yes I am EEEEVIL!!

Mouahahahhahahahhahhah!!!!

Sorry.

Until next time.

Welcome to Planet X!

Last week I mentioned I had spent all day working on another Zuda pitch/project. The most interesting thing about this project is that my sole creative involvement in the pitch is pretty much the lettering. Outside of that, I'm only acting as producer of this pitch, which has been an exciting change in perspective for me. Let me explain.

To begin this story properly, let me introduce Trey Causey. Trey is a fantastic writer who combines a vast knowledge of literature and film with a poet's ear and a director's eyes. Using a gift of language I rarely see anymore, he paints elaborate vistas that harken back to the grand days when pulp writers were honing their craft in such magazines as Weird Tales and Amazing Stories.

You can check out an example of his storytelling technique here in a story from the the Sword & Sorcery e-zine Flashing Swords:

[ God of the Catacombs ]

Trey has pitched a couple of ideas for FBU to me on occasion, and while they are always interesting, usually they just weren't what I could use at the moment (usually because someone else was working on a story with the same character.) He *did* pitch a sort of Faster Pussycat Kill, Kill idea for Terrorsaur Rexx story which might get a green light one day. ;)

Well, one day, in an offhand discussion of crazy ideas talking about genre blending in comics, Trey throws out what I think is a genius idea: A James Bond type of character on a Barsoomian Martian world!

Now, I happen to be a BIG James Bond fan, having seen all the Connery films when I was kid with my folks either in the theater or as ABC Friday night movies.

The earliest one I remembering seeing in the theater was Diamonds Are Forever in 1971. I think that was my first exposure to a movie that wasn't animated or strictly for kids, so it made quite an impression on me.

After that, I was hooked, and saw every James Bond movie that came out right up until Timothy Dalton took over the roll. (Nothing against Dalton, he just happened to inherit the mantle when I was a starving heavy metal guitarist, so I really didn't have enough funds to see movies in those days.)

But that was just one component of the idea that excited me. The other side was Mars. As one might guess, I'm also a big Edgar Rice Burroughs John Carter of Mars fan.

My mom was a fan of the series and introduced me to the first book on a rainy afternoon at the beach when I was 12. I think I finished the whole book that afternoon, and spent the rest of the week begging my parents to take me to the Book Nook, so I could see if they had any more in the series.

That Summer I burned through all of the ERB Martian books and was a little disappointed to discover that there were only about a dozen of them.

What I was not aware of was the vast library of books by other writers like C. L. Moore and Leigh Brackett who also used Mars as a environment for High Concept alien adventures, much in the same flavor as ERB.

Trey told me that it was his vision to combine the hip 60s proto-psychedelic super-spy style with the exotic imagery, and baroque pulp flair distilled from the best of these fantasy Marses.

I loved the idea and told Trey to work it up as a pitch, which he did. However, as I read the pitch, I realized it really didn't quite fit into the Flashback Universe.

We talked about some options, which ended up with me encouraging Trey to turn the comic into a Zuda pitch. Trey liked that idea, but asked if I would help him find an artist and help shepherd the project given my experience with digital comics.

So, after a post on Digital Webbing, and a couple a weeks of viewing artists submissions, Trey and I picked Chaz Truog, who some of you may remember from Animal Man and Chiaroscuro: The Private Lives of Leonardo da Vinci both of which he worked on at DC.

Chaz brings a nice style to this project because he has a strong knowledge of history and historical designs evident in his other work, and really seemed to grasp the feel we were going for.

As Chaz worked up designs based on Trey's character concepts, I really became interested in being creatively involved in the project. Eventually, my yearning turned into a request to letter the comic.

More recently, we just started getting completed pages in from colorist Blake Wilkie and seeing the colored versions of the pages is a real blast.

I can't wait for everyone to see the finished results!

Check out Mister Crimson

I want to take a break from Paper Comic DeathWatch post today, since Heidi MacDonald seems to have done a good job covering this weeks omens of doom, and direct your attention to Mister Crimson!

Mister Crimson is a Zuda entry by artist Diego Tripodi, who was the artist on the Terrorsaur Rexx Backstory.

Fans of genre bending old school comics will get a big kick out of this comic!

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.

Flashback Fans:

I encourage fans of Flashback Universe to go and check out the Mister Crimson on Zuda and vote for it!

Our Zuda Pitch: Character Designs

So last Summer while at HeroesCon in Charlotte, North Carolina, Pierre starts talking about how John Byrne said comics should be like Big Summer Movies (or something like that. I have only the vaguest recollection of the conversation as it was a long, fun weekend...)

Anyway, Pierre says he's been posting pictures on a messageboard where other artist hang out and he's got this story idea and he hits me with it...

...Now, I'm not going to tell you what the idea was, because, well, Pierre might want to use it somewhere else one day -

- but let me say this - the idea contained one of those *concepts* I just can't stand - like for instance, Cheerleaders who fight Werewolves! (but that wasn't it) so when Pierre told me his idea I was like, "huh...let me think about it."

Pierre also showed me the pictures he drew for the concept - the first two to the left were among those pictures.

While I didn't like the overall concept so much, I was fascinated with the pictures. I kept asking myself - "Who is this character?"

So with the pictures in hand, I told Pierre I'd find a way to work with his ideas.

So I went home and promptly began to figure out how to take Pierre's story (the good parts) and replace the part I didn't like with something I might have an easier time working with.

Here was the crux of my problem with the story (still using the Cheerleader analogy)

Cheerleaders who fight Werewolves is played.

Werewolves are okay.
Cheerleaders are okay.

But together, they are played.

So, I asked Pierre if we could separate the two main parts of his concept into two different ideas. Pierre - who've I've got to say is just such a trooper when I ask for such changes - agreed. With that, he drew a newer version of the character. (see the third picture on the left.)

When I saw this picture - everything started clicking. I new exactly who this guy was and where he had come from. He was undoubtedly some badass barbarian king who had fought his way to the top of some long forgotten mystical country.

That guy sounded interesting to me.

But it also sounded like we had come in late in the story. I started thinking it might be more interesting to see just how such a guy takes control of his country.

So, I had Pierre whip up another design for me, this time with a younger version. That's the fourth picture on the right.

This one looked great - I've never been 100% sure what Imperious meant, but I *think* this guy's look is about as good a definition as your gonna get.

You'll notice that in this version Pierre ditched the the cape and added this interesting sort of Bone Shoulder pads.

Initially, I wasn't sure of the shoulder pads - they were a little to Football looking.

Still, I sort of liked them.

I also wasn't sure about the chainmail hanging over the arm.

But I did like the idea of a chainmail half shirt - it just makes for a neat visual.

So I suggested a few more tweaks to the character. Then we went through color tests. Always a torturous part of the process, but it can be a lot of fun too.

Pierre also added a neat looking club for the character to use as a weapon.

Eventually, we settled on this final version - a character who has evolved past the barbarian king idea I initially came up with into something quite a bit different.

I've been telling people the concept is basically Deathlok, if Ronnie James Dio had written Deathlok. I don't know how entirely accurate that is, but it's a fun analogy. :D

That's all for today. Next time I'll discuss the painful process of naming a character. :D