In the last few days, two new projects have come into my life: new comics collaborations with two friends who are both very talented writers.
First, I’m going to be illustrating/designing a 16 page story called TO IRELAND, written by Damon Hurd. It’s a soft and quiet tale full of heart and beer and rich with nuances. With very few characters and one actual location… TO IRELAND feels like stageplay written to be drawn. I remember arriving at my brother’s house upon my return to New York in 2003 and reading the mini-comic edition of Damon’s MY UNCLE JEFF… and being MOVED by it. Not depressed or upset, but a complex range of human emotions that left you *knowing* his characters completely. It’s exciting to be asked to work with him. This short piece will be published by Origin Comics in limited quantities and will premiere at the MOCCA Festival this June. The story will also be included in Damon’s as-yet-untitled short story collection in 2007.
Second, I’m going to be co-creating a back-alley group of ordinary Metrocard-carrying citizens turned razorwire-and-spraypaint ghettosplat superheroes in THE 718 with GABAGOOL! writer Chris Radtke. Done as a 16pg done-in-one series format similar to Warren Ellis’ FELL, the heroes of THE 718 will exist in dense painted grids of story. Chris and I met for drinks in Brooklyn the other night and he had me sold in his description of the first sequence; watching his eyes light up as he explains the script totally suckered me. That and the knowledge that Radtke’s wicked/wrong sense of humor combined with own grinning splatter-fu will set this apart from the typical hero-fare; I could *see* THE 718 in my head while we were talking… down to his explanation of the opening sequence and my intuitively guessing which subway stations it took place between. Why work on things you don’t love, I ask you…? We’ll premiering THE 718 at this year’s San Diego Comic-Con, so keep your ears to the subway tracks for this one.
And there we have it: in the last few days, two new books to work on. This is doubly exciting because these books couldn’t be more different, letting me equally flex my jittering simian lobes in completely different types of stories and storytelling.
Life is so amazing, isn’t it..?
