The End

The title of this post says it all. I've been thinking about it for a while now, and I've come to the decision to give up writing. It's been a hard time, but I think this will be the best thing for me and my family.

...

Nah, just screwing with you. Things are actually going really well! In fact I'm working on a lot of stuff at the moment, and as I promised the other day I want to share some news with you. Awesome news!!! <---see, three exclamation points worth of awesome.

Four or five years ago I started working on a concept for a story, a comic book. I'm a comic nerd from way back, and I've always wanted to try my hand at one. With some excellent feedback and a few very clever ideas from some close friends, I came up with a conceptually finished product. A story. More, a storyline planned out for at least a hundred issues. I even worked with an artist friend of mine to create a fully finished comic, but he was unable to complete more than the first stages. You know how that goes; family duties, full-time work, etc.

I thought the comic was dead for about two years, but recently reconnected with another old friend who was aching to do some comic book art. After some discussion he agreed to take it on, and he has been working on the blue lines and finalizing character designs for more than a week now.

Once the comic is penciled we'll start looking for someone to digitally ink and color it, and after that we'll print up physical copies for submission to some comic companies. If that doesn't work out we have other plans, but I'm hopeful. Not expecting miracles, but hopeful anyway.

As for the title of this post, it's the name of the comic. The End.

It's a story that grew from my love of villains, good villains, complex and damaged people with reasons and layers for the terrible things they do. I don't want to give it all away, but my hope is that once we've got some finished product I can convince my artist to do a few pages for an ashcan book, a sort of sneak peek at the story. I want to share it with you. I want to capture your imagination. I want you to fall in love with the characters as readers just as much as I have as a writer.

Worst case scenario, I don't get a publisher. That's pretty likely given how many submissions Image, Dark Horse, and the others who accept them receive. Don't worry: one way or another, you'll get to read The End, no matter what else happens. It's very near and dear to me. Work on the first issue is at very early stages, as I said, but I'm hoping to go farther with this. Cross your fingers, wish upon a star, and all that jazz.

Josh