My next comic project

Hey blog. It's been awhile.

Like almost a full year.

A lot has happened since then. Most notably I moved from coast to coast with my family for a great work opportunity and experienced my first year of fatherhood. As if that wasn’t enough, I even made it out to see Jurassic World more than once. 

I've kept a list going of blog post ideas, always with the intention of getting around to them, but other projects took priority. I may have let this piece of internet real estate take a back seat, but never stopped writing.

So if there's anything worth breaking my silent streak for, it's this -

I'm writing a sci-fi comic being published by Heavy Metal.

Art by Singh, Chapuis, and Esposito

I've waited a long time to say that. The journey leading up to this point began just over two years ago when I first was put in touch with the British writer/director of an indie sci-fi movie, which was in post production and titled Dreck at the time. Justin Trefgarne and I spoke at length about his movie and his desire to expand the property into comics. He sent me the script and from there I began crafting an original story that would work alongside the movie as a companion piece. Playing in this world, of what would later become known as Narcopolis, was exactly the kind of storytelling I wanted to be apart of, but there was still a long way to go to see it all come together. I needed an art team.

Enter Ralf Singh, who being based in Germany, I still to this day have yet to meet in person, but I instantly loved his art I saw him posting samples of on twitter and we connected soon after. The material immediately clicked with him the same way it had for me and he was soon cranking out character designs based on the cast. I can’t wait for you all to see more of it.

To make a long story short, once we got the official greenlight from the film’s distributor, we assembled the rest of the team. Taylor Esposito of Ghost Glyph Studios is not only one of the best in the biz but one of the nicest too so I looked no further and he’s gone above and beyond really showing off his skills with this one. Ralf pointed me in the direction of colorist Nic Chapuis (a fellow German) and I’ve always felt strongly that colors can make or break the art and his colors combined with Ralf’s art is just… well see for yourself (not to mention Taylor’s expert graphic design to make it complete).

And to help keep the quality high and make sure the team gels together and hits our deadlines, I happily employed the talents of editor supreme Valerie D’Orazio who is the definition of professionalism and a fantastic sounding board throughout the process.

“So what’s the name of this comic and when can I pick it up?” I imagine you asking, followed by, “Don’t put words in my mouth!” Great questions and concerns.

I’ve already gone on long enough so I’ll be brief. Or as brief as I can be (I’m clearly not into the whole brevity thing).

The comic is titled Narcopolis: Continuum. It’s a 4-issue mini-series and you can pick up the digital copy as early as end of September (same as the movie)! But if you’re like me and you enjoy the incomparable experience of reading you comics in print, the print edition of issue one is hitting early November and you can pick it up from you local comic shop (don’t forget to order it).

Still can’t wait until then to check it out? Well, you’re in luck because the first 10 pages (that’s half the issue!) are in the August edition of Heavy Metal Magazine along with an interview with some of the creative team. I highly suggest you pick it up anyway as there’s always a ton of great artwork in the magazine which Heavy Metal is known for.

Anyway, if you’ve made it this far, congratulations! You deserve something for sticking it out with me and reading all this when you clearly have other things you need to be doing so here’s another little teaser as a reward.

Thanks for reading and if you feel like reading a little more, here’s the official announcement over at The Hollywood Reporter where Justin and myself talk to kickass journalist Graeme MacMillan about the actual story itself. 

I'll be updating this blog a little more often as anything worth highlighting comes in, but if you'd like to follow updates in real time, you should maybe consider following me on Facebook and Twitter as I'll be updating those with more info on the comic semi-regularly.

I’m super excited to see this finally become a reality and hope you’ll come along for the ride.

Happy reading!

~Scott