Merry Christmas. Let's build a universe.

I mentioned last time about the new job. Of course I still got to finish up some orientation for it all, and they can't schedule me for it until after they get the information from the background checks back... And the holidays are here, so you just know that threw a monkey wrench into it all. But it's not like they're going to find anything suspicious. Outside of telling off one of my professors in art school, I've lived a pretty boring life for the last decade or so. So it just means I get to have a peaceful Christmas before rejoining the workforce.

Last time I also mentioned that I would be talking a bit about the new projects. Well, it's still on the drawing board a bit, but I'll just come out and talk about it all. For the last few years, I've had some story ideas, and it's really a long term plan I've been wanting to do. You've might have noticed over the last few months, I have been mentioning various projects here and there, including something called Firecracker and another project called the Black Banshee? Here's the deal. There's a certain kind of stories I've been wanting to tell for the last few years, and in order to tell those stories... I need to establish a bigger universe. So the comic I'm going to be working on isn't just a comic, it's a series of comics. All with finite endings. (Perfect for preventing creative burnout and for later collections into trade paperbacks!) Some will be longer, graphic novel type of stories, and some will be short stories. Some will be in black and white, and some will be in full color. Some will be all ages stories and some will be for mature readers. Some I will try to work with other artists on, and some I might work with other writers on. Some will just be posted here, as they're just short little tales, and some will be posted on their own webcomic site, as they're much longer. But in the end, they all share the one unifying element: They're all in the same universe.

Now you may be wondering if the fore-mentioned Firecracker project is the first comic on deck. It's not. I know I've talked about it, but it's going to be a central series. (Much like how in the DC Animated Universe, though Batman: The Animated Series was first, it was the Superman series that really set the foundation for the universe and the stories to come.) It's coming, but I need to lay some foundation work for it all first. And the first brick laying for this universe began with this story I did for Shadowgirls last Spring: 'I am Providence'. The next story that's being worked on right now is a graphic novella (The same length of pages as the Mad Love story I was lauding earlier. Coincidence?) called the Black Banshee. Which is a love letter to Golden Age movies and films, as a young woman (see the banner at the top of the blog) finds herself inheriting a house with a mysterious legacy which gives her the keys to the secret history of the 20^th century. Somewhere around this time, before or after that, I plan to do a slew of shorts, similar to the old early Silver Age Anthology comics, like Vault of Horror, Weird Fantasy and Planet Comics. These will most likely be all B&W stories. But before I even put the comic out there to be read, I want the ENTIRE STORY COMPLETED. So before I make a webpage for Black Banshee, I need to have the entire story drawn and colored first.There will not be a set schedule, until the book is complete. I'm doing the novelist approach. I'm not going to put a story out until it's complete and I want to take my time and make these comics truly the best comics I can make. This is a multi-year plan I got here. I'm keeping it open, honest and flexible. But like I said, it's all in the same universe. (For those asking about Shadowgirls being part of this, I can give you a pretty good guarantee that a certain black hair, blue eyed girl with a thing for collars will pop up in time here.)

So there we go. So that's the tentative plans for 2012. I hope you're interested, and if you have any questions at all, just ask, and I'll answer 'em.

Happy Holidays.