Hello, everyone!
Last time I emailed, I was reflecting on 2022 — it was a pretty great writing year for me. I wrote 171 pages of published comics, and did work for a few different publishers.
2023 is off to a good start, too:
I wrote the Grimm Tales of Terror Quarterly: Valentine’s Special (Previews code FEB231885 - out 2/8/23). We’ve got the requisite just desserts for awful people, ravening cherubs, and a revisiting of Lupercalia. Here’s a little peek; inks by Juan Juan Francisco Mota and colors by Leonardo Paciarotti.
I’m also working another Grimm Tales of Terror Quarterly: Heart’s Desire (Previews code FEB231885 - out 4/19/23), which is (haunted) art-themed!
And I’m writing the Myths and Legends Quarterly: The Black Knight Fate of Legends (Previews code JAN232001 - out 3/29/23). This is the first full book I’m writing featuring established, long-running characters and worlds, and it involved lots of notes and mulling and reading and re-reading, but I’m thrilled about how it’s coming along.
A Terror Tale short I wrote for 2000 AD, Rites, was also published last month, in Prog 2316! The artwork is by Steve Yeowell, which was a trip to see. It’s about a professional exorcist who has a very bad day:
A piece of short fiction I wrote was published by Ahoy Comics in Billionaire Island: Cult of Dogs #2. It’s a very funny series; I highly recommend checking it out!
And then, few weeks ago, Lee Milmore gave me a nudge about continuing the story from Relict, the Future Shock story about a time-traveling genius mouse named Stephen that was published in 2000 AD last year. (He provided the artwork for the story, as we both won the 2021 ThoughtBubble competition!) I excitedly sent along a pitch, and am writing a three-part story following Stephen and company on a new adventure! No date on that one yet.
Aaaand the trade paperback version of New Rat City from Scout should be out in September of this year! Scout distributes through Simon and Schuster, so it’ll be in bookstores.
(Assuming everything that’s in the works hits shelves, that’s 238 pages of newly written comics so far for this year! It’s February! What is happening!!)
A few other bits and bobs:
I’ll be a guest at the Wicked West Comic Expo in Loveland, Colorado on April 15th and 16th! Come say hello — I’ll have a table and will be running some kind of panel, which I have yet to plan!
It’s down to the last two days to back Junior #1, a fantastic-looking comic from comedian and writer James III! Junior is about a recently dead guy who gets a job in the Netherworld Post Office. And it turns out that his boss is his estranged father!
2000 AD is running an Art Stars competition through April 30th: if you’re an artist (or know an artist) who hasn’t worked in the comic industry before, write and draw a one-page Judge Dredd story for a chance to be featured in 2000 AD!
So good to hear from you! Keep it up! I submitted a pitch to a comic story contest so fingers crossed! Was curious to know of any other comic contests out there?
Congrats, my friend! Happy to see you getting so much work out there.