A Special Announcement:

Red’s Planet will be returning to this screen on May 2 with the conclusion of Chapter Two!

What happens when Red awakes to find herself on a giant space ship millions of miles from home?  Will she be discovered? And who the heck are the mysterious Aquilari?  And what’s up with this buying spree they’re on?

Find the answers to these questions (well, maybe not all of them) in just two weeks, when Red’s Planet returns with new pages updating twice a week on Mondays and Wednesdays!

A Personal Note to Fans:

Thanks everyone for the support and encouragement over the past few months. Though my time away has been much longer than I anticipated, I’ve made some slow but steady progress on Red’s Planet and I’m very ready to jump back in full force with the exciting conclusion to Chapter Two.

I also thought some of you might like an little creative update on the from the behind the scenes.

Over the past weeks, not only have I been scripting and designing the rest of the current chapter, but even more important, I have been writing the entire story. I can now say that the first draft of Red’s Planet is nearly finished — with only two or three scenes left to complete.

Since my influence and area of study is film, I like to write in screenplay form as it’s easier for me to visualize the story and the story structure. From that point, I adapt the script for comic pages. For a movie script, it is still a little long at 127 pages, but after a rewrite, I think it will balance out at 120 pages — perfect screenplay length.  Now the first act of the story (roughly chapters One through Four), have been locked for some time. It was the remainder of the story that I needed to tie-down and really know where we are going.

Following the rewrite, my plan is to find some trusted individuals — hopefully  colleagues of mine in the film and animation industry — to read it and give me honest feedback.

And for those who are curious  — if you were watching Red’s Planet the movie, chapter Two begins somewhere around 15 minutes into the film and ends near the 30 minute mark.

Just sayin’.

Many of you have seen it, but to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day, here is the story reel to the unproduced animated short film, Lucky.

In my brief absence,  I have gotten way behind in telling you about one of the most exciting developments, not only Red’s Planet, but for comics in general: A new online store for digital comics and picture books started by my colleague —the very talented Dani Jones—called the Illustrated Section.

You can pick up a digital copy (pdf) of Red’s Planet #1 (with all the extras of the print edition) for $1.99 as well as great books like Dani’s brilliant My Sister, the Freak and Mike Maihack’s awesome Cleopatra in Space. There perfect for your iPad and loads right into the iBooks app for easy reading.

The Illustrated Section has over 100 comics, picture books, art instruction books and more! Until April 1st, you can get Power Packs which feature multiple comics packaged together at a terrific value!

If you pick up a copy of Red’s Planet, please make sure you leave a review!

Also, be sure to take a few minutes and vote for My Sister, the Freak at Comic Mix March Madness!

Well, I have to say I’m more than a bit stunned, but it looks like Red’s Planet has won The Webcomic List Awards‘ Best Comic. Considering the amazing work of the other nominees — Gunnerkrigg Court, FreakAngels, Questionable Content, and  The Meek — it is truly an honor! Thanks so much to everyone involved.

And also congratulations to all the category winners:

Best Writing Award – xkcd
Best Color – Dresden Codak
Best Black and White – The Abominable Charles Christopher
Best Non-Traditional – Romantically Apocalyptic
Best Longform – The Abominable Charles Christopher
Best Gag-a-Day – Bug
Best New Comic – Scenes from a Multiverse

And special congrats to my friend Mike Maihack for his well deserved win for Best Character with his wonderful comic Cleopatra in Space!

Well, I’m afraid the rigors of creating one new page of Red’s Planet every week (which has essentially been the equivalent of a part-time job) has finally caught up with me. With my work and family schedule pretty full, there has been much less time for drawing comics and even less energy when the time was available.

I’ve been questioning the webcomic model for long form comics for sometime now. Unless it’s a full-time gig — and that would imply a substantial income being generated from the comic — it’s virtually impossible to achieve any level of quality storytelling and art and still maintain balance in life (and by balance I mean things like eating, sleeping and showering). I also believe that the weekly schedule has the potential to make the work suffer and, as a result, the reader as well.

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