It’s Halloween Season!

My favorite, needless to say, and finally some dreary weather! I find as I get older I’m less tolerant of hot weather and sunshine. South for the winter? Hell no, send me north for the summer! My enthusiasm for gray skies and a cool, light drizzle knows no bounds.

Egad, am I becoming Gomez Addams? Put me down for fencing lessons.

Spectress & Sabanion Update

The Issue #6 script (2nd draft) is w/ my editor, James Powell. Not sure why this one was so painful but just want to make it right for the end of the first story arc. Interior/cover artist Topper Helmers has been asking and I hope to have it for him soon. Congrats to Topper for his successful Kickstarter too!! He’s sketched out a rather gruesome cover concept for this issue, even scarier than his Evil Owl Spirit cover for Issue #3.

Issue #6 Sneak Peak:

• Yikes, 38 pages (40 w/ the epilogue). I hope to shorten that down for issues in the next story arc. That’s a lot.

• Picks up right where Issue #5 left off… bloody and horrible.

• Some new Sabanion lore & backstory.

• The return of Sorn.

• Here’s a script sample, Page 10. This might change as it is w/ the editor right now but we’ll see. Madness continues and our soon-to-be-retired night watchman, Jerry Pepper, is caught up in the fray. Aneksi has possessed her friend (?) Cheska again, mostly out of necessity as everything is going to shit.

  

• And here’s a cover preview from another great artist I met at MADEX in Madison, Jordan Gunderson (soon to be colored by the great Wesley Wong).

Media I’m Currently Absorbing…

Movies: Good Boy. Believe the hype. Creepy, effective, unsettling, and heartbreaking. So well done. It’s PG-13 so not a gorefest but it delivers effective scares and a wild emotional ride. Go see it and trust me, I wouldn’t send you to anything awful. Trying to hint at something w/o spoiling it here but… ah hell, the entire internet is asking if the dog dies in the movie. Google it if you want to know.

Stick it out for the post-credits scene too.

Also, very light on the special effects and CGI. For me, there’s not much better than low budget, practical effects in a horror movie that really work. It was totally there for The Changeling. There’s a great interview w/ the director on AVClub where they talk about the techniques used to get an amazing performance out of a dog that… doesn’t really know he’s in a movie. Great quote: “In an era where, with digital effects, anything is possible, now nothing is impressive.” Practical effects are so rare now that they’re amazing to see. LOL, ok… I’ll shut up about Good Boy.

Podcasts: I’ve really been enjoying Off Panel w/ David Harper.  I’m slowly dipping a toe into the podcast water. My commute is an hour each way, sometimes more. Audiobooks are great but sometimes you need something conversational. Very knowledgable host who gets some amazing interviews. My favorites so far are Brian K Vaughan and Si Spurrier. A lot of other great interviews too, including Robert Kirkman, Kyle Starks, Chip Zdarsky, Heather Antos, and Jonathan Hickman.

News & Links

• Break out of the comics bubble? I’d love to but it takes some staying power according to Todd McFarlane.

• Peaky Blinders fans rejoice! The creator, Steven Knight, is currently doing another show on Netflix called House of Guinness that I haven’t been following. Seems to have that Peaky flavor though.

Thank you again for your time, attention, and support! I hope to have more news and a Kickstarter page for Spectress & Sabanion #6 soon! Stay tuned and have Happy Halloween!