Back in Black (And White)

Well, that took forever, didn't it?

I'm sure a lot of you thought Riot Comics was dead and gone after that last post I made. What actually happened was, well, a whole butt-load of things, but I'll describe them one at a time.

The first thing that happened was that Miguel Barriga, the artist on "Bay Side Blues," got busy with his day job (he cleans pools in California) during the summer season and couldn't continue working on the project. Steve Oaks, the colorist on the project, also dropped out due to his obligations. So there I was, with three pages of art, a cover, and nowhere to take them.

After a long, LONG process that took over a year and involved two different artists (neither of which produced any artwork), I am happy to announce that "Bay Side Blues" is back on track and in the steady hands of manga artist Mike Banting (kurasato.deviantart.com), who is known for drawing the indie manga "Drop Dead Dangerous," which you can find on Drive-Thru Comics for around $1.99/issue. Mike is currently hard at work on character designs for Issue #1, so stay tuned to this station for the latest updates!

I'm also working with artist Dani Phoenix Thomas, a good friend and compatriot in the indie comics scene, to produce a 13-page one-shot story titled "Casket Case." To the left is one of Dani's character designs for the lead character, Garrett Lloyd, who loses his job, his home, and gets separated from his wife and son all in one day. Down on his luck, he decides to visit a fortune teller named Gypsiana, who reads his palm and tells Garrett that a bright future awaits him...but when she tries to warn Garrett of another, darker path, our hero makes a hasty exit and heads into the street, where he is hit by a speeding car and killed...

...but that's not the end of the story. For some inexplicable reason, Garrett can still see and hear everything that's going on around him, even though his body is very much dead. As Garrett starts to go crazy inside his casket at his own funeral, he wonders what his fate will be, and what horrors await him if his soul is ever put to rest.

 Dani and I are hoping to have "Casket Case" out in March or April of next year, and it will feature a full-color cover (not sure by whom yet) and a black-and-white interior. It will be released digitally on Drive-Thru Comics and other digital comic book sites for free (that's right, FREE), which will hopefully entice more people to give it a chance and become interested in the work we're doing here at Riot Comics.

Below you'll see Dani's designs for Virginia Lloyd, Garrett's widow, and Kevin Lloyd, his son. I think Dani is doing a fantastic job on these, and I can't wait to see what he does with the fortune teller, Gypsiana!

I'm also in search of an artist for a 14-page western story titled "Blood Stone," which is the name of a fictional wild west town in Colorado in the year 1902. I won't say much about the story for fear of giving it away, but I will say this: it's a great western yarn in the tradition of Hang 'Em High, A Fistful of Dollars, and the original Django with Franco Nero. I'm hoping to use a manga style on this comic as well, and hopefully it will lead into the four-issue "Blood Stone" mini-series I have planned!

I also have a one-shot Sherlock Holmes comic planned in the future that's based on a short story I wrote for Sherlock Holmes Mystery Magazine that was eventually rejected...because it pitted Sherlock (and his brother Mycroft) against the vampire of all vampires, Count Dracula! "Sherlock Holmes vs. Dracula" is written like Sherlock is scribing a letter to Watson (who was ill and couldn't make the trip) as he describes his encounter with the invalid Count at his castle in Transylvania. It's Sherlock's job to find out who is poisoning Dracula and his blood, which is keeping him alive via a crude transfusion machine. If everything works out the way it should, "Sherlock Holmes vs. Dracula" will be released sometime in late 2015, with a 6-page "ashcan" preview coming out just in time for Free Comic Book Day.

And that's all the news that's fit to print on this blog, ladies and gents! Feel free to post any comments and/or questions, and don't forget to click "subscribe via e-mail" to always get the latest news and updates from Riot Comics!