The Issue #3 Kickstarter was a smashing success! Thank you all for your support on this project. This run was my best yet in funding and number of backers. This has really been a big boost for me. You’re going to enjoy this issue and the next! Issue #3 brings to greater light the odd relationship between Aneksi and Sabanion. Issue #4 is a look back at the final heroic days of Aneksi when she lived in ancient Egypt. Issue #4 is going to blow you away, I promise!
What I’m Reading
I just finished up A Head Full of Ghosts by Paul Tremblay. It’s a possession story about a down-on-its-luck family that decides to make the eldest daughter’s exorcism a reality TV show because they need the money. Yeah, it’s pretty intense with a twisty ending. Check it out if you’re up for a good read. It is, of course, on it’s way to becoming a movie also.
After quite a lot of writing, agonizing, coordinating, and organizing… the Kickstarter Launch Date for Issue #3 of Spectress & Sabanion has finally been set:
I am so excited to take this next step. I know I’ve grown as a comic book writer and I’ve got so many great things in store for you. Unique and strange stories, weird situations, and shocking revelations. Gritty heroes and terrible villains! I LOVE IT! I’m so glad that you’re on this journey with me. I truly hope you enjoy it.
I had a great time in Minneapolis, my first show in over a year! If this is your first Cagey Comic update, WELCOME TO THE MOON CREW!!! Been a while since my last update and there’s a lot going on…. but FIRST! A GREAT STORY!
Sports! Are you a sports fan? I am definitely not. I like to exercise and watch the Packers on occasion but my head doesn’t have enough room for sports (too much other weird stuff swirling around in there). There are lots of great stories that come out of sports though, and I love a good story. Check out the story of the First (and only) FAN To Be Inducted Into the NBA Hall of Fame.
Father’s Day! It’s coming up! For all those Dads out there, take the day off, read a comic, have a BEER! For all the kids out there, give your Dad a pat on the back and tell him he’s the best. My Dad passed on a while back, but I often think about our relationship (on weekends mostly) and how we clicked and didn’t click. It’s funny, but the generational differences are huge now.
I think about the things he was often trying to say but couldn’t really come around to it. One thing, I laugh about it now, was his relationship advice. It was non-existent for the most part but I always remember him chuckling fondly every time PARADISE BY THE DASHBOARD LIGHT came on. It’s a cheesy song that tells a great story… a duet between two teens fighting their primal urges. Not sure if it holds up well today but, I think this was his way of warning me not to be too hasty.
There are a number of irons in the fire right now:
Issue #3 of Spectress & Sabanion is in coloring and lettering. Really, really proud of this one and I can’t wait to get it to you! This will launch on Kickstarter soon.
Ruxy Vampire is still being scripted and is almost complete. So excited for this. Vampires, deadly-sin demons, gorgons, gangsters, prohibition, tommy guns, more than a dash of naughty, and other surprises. It’s going to be a blast!
Ruxy Vampire will tie into the Sandsverse. Expect to see Spectress and/or Sabanion!
Ruxy Vampire Cover artists have been engaged, check em out:
Art for Issue #4 of Spectress & Sabanion is about halfway done. This reveals the tragic last living days of Aneksi and her final service to Cleopatra. I guarantee it will blow you away.
This is going to be an exciting year. I have 4 scripts in various stages of development (S & S issues #3 and #4, Ruxy Vampire #1 and #2) and conventions are starting up again. I’m going to shorten my Kickstarter launches to 3 weeks instead of 4 so I can pack more of them in! I also have to study for more IT certifications… GROSS! (but it pays the bills)
Let’s talk some fun stuff:
What have I been reading? Not much, LOL! A lot going on but I’ve had time to discover a bit of new music. Have you heard of the Dead Pirates? Click the pics and check em out:
If you like it a bit more rockin, like I do, check out WOOD:
If you like it a bit more spooky and bizarre, like I do, check out UGO:
How about you? Any good rockin and/or spooky & bizarre music recommendations? Send em my way.
Other News…
Oh, hey! Rob Zombie might reboot The Munsters. Yes… THAT Rob Zombie:
Click the pic
Rob Zombie doesn’t really scream COMEDY to me but the guy is a devotee of the show so we shall see. Same could be said of Peter Jackson (former shlock-horror movie director) and Lord of the Rings (fantasy epic) so anything is possible.
Todd McFarlane’s Spawn Universe launches in June with 4 titles. He’s an ambitious guy… he’s looking to create enough characters and titles to get up there w/ Marvel and DC. I haven’t kept up much w/ Spawn lately but the artwork is generally top notch.
Click the pic Hmmm… think there’s room in there somewhere for the tale of an ancient Egyptian ghost assassin and wrath demon?
McFarlane is also working the new SPAWN movie as well. That seems like a lot. What do you think? Can he get a Spawn Universe together big/good enough to compete w/ Marvel + DC? That’s a big undertaking.
Hope everyone is doing well and keeping healthy. Starting to see a few lights at the end of the tunnel and I’m getting my vaccine today! YES! That means I’ll be back on track for conventions this year.
Fingers are crossed for C2E2 and Emerald City Comic Con.
Spectress & Sabanion, Issue #3
Is in the final stages of coloring and lettering. Can’t wait to get this out to you on Kickstarter! Now that I think about it, the launch will probably be LIVE when I’m at AniMinneapolis and I might just have to work out a deal for people at the show that back the Kickstarter. I really can’t wait to have a table at a show again, meeting Kickstarter backers will be a bigger bonus!
Here’s page 1, which shows the binding of the Witanemetowa (Evil Owl Spirit) on the grounds where CONFAC-4 would be built centuries later. More gorgeous art here by Topper Helmers and colors by Wesley Wong. I love how Topper worked the CONFAC-4 Moon Crew symbol into the scene:
Spectress & Sabanion, Issue #4
The script is currently with my editor. It’s most likely going to to through some revisions but… that doesn’t stop Topper, LOL! He’s already cranked away at the first few pages and I’m definitely not disappointed:
Ruxy Vampire
The script is about 20% complete. This is going to be a story separate from Spectress & Sabanion but still part of what I’m calling the “Sandsverse” (Spectress & Sabanion…. S&S… SandS… you get it). I’m tweaking the vampire myths because everyone knows them and they’re a bit cliche’ and boring…. and also becausesimple just isn’t me. Ruxandra will be a member of a unique strain of vampire called the Cel Rau. The Tepes family is the only strain of the Cel Rau and Ruxandra was born one in a set of triplets. Traditional vampires hate the Cel Rau because of their unique abilities and powers. It’s going to be intense, crazy and sexy. I think you’ll enjoy it.
I still do have a number of things to be thankful for. I was able to successfully fund 2 Kickstarters!
Not only that but I got to connect and work with some great cover artists, Mog Park and Chris Ehnot. I hope you like their stuff because you’re going to see more of it!
In 2020, I also retired after a long career in the WI Army National Guard. I’ve been working at least 2 jobs since I was 17 and it’s hard to believe this one is done now. I already miss it. I started getting into comics years ago for fun, but also as a way to fill the space that I knew would be there after leaving the National Guard. Busy hands are happy hands. I worked with some really wonderful and competent people, some of whom have been through some very difficult experiences. The character from my story, Sorn, is a bit of a nod to them.
Coming up in 2021
I have lots of goodies I want to get to you in 2021. 2 more issues of Spectress & Sabanion are currently brewing and I’m thinking of expanding my Chicago Overcoat one-shot story into another potential series. I’m going to call it Ruxy Vampire and it’s going to be intense, action packed, and sexy! Yeah… I’m going to try dipping a toe into the risque genre a little bit. Ruxy is short for Ruxandra Tepes, the granddaughter of Vlad Dracul. After going into a self-imposed sleep, she wakes finding herself in 1920s Chicago caught up in the violence and glamour of gangster life. It’s going to be fun, fierce, and racy! I can promise you though, I will always provide you with a great story and great characters. I can’t help but think of some of my favorite shows like Banshee, Spartacus, and Warrior… great stories, great characters, great action and great sex. What would life be without those things? Pretty damn boring!
Last but not least…. CageyComics.com is Shiny, New, and Improved!!!
The money I make on Kickstarter goes back into the business. My website was in desperate need of an upgrade and now it’s where I want it to be. If you missed anything during the Kickstarter campaign you can find it here, including:
Metallic Covers (including demo video, have a look)
Hope you’re all doing well and staying strong. Thanks again for joining the Moon Crew. Stay tuned for the next Kickstarter launch and other craziness from Cagey Comics! In the meantime, enjoy the B&W/color versions of the cover for Issue #3 of Spectress & Sabanion.
I’ve only seen 2 of the Hellraiser movies and really enjoyed them. There are 10 Hellraiser movies and I avoid #3 – #10 because I hear they are not so great.
If you’re wondering why we’ve never gotten a good Fantastic 4 movie, it’s pretty much the same reason why the Hellraiser franchise went downhill. There’s a great video on YouTube that talks about the franchise and why it went in the direction it did:
I’m 2/10 on Hellraiser so am I a real fan? I read an article on this years ago and I haven’t been able to find it. With all the franchises and sequels out there there can you be a fan if you like less than half the entries in that series? You can easily map this out. Here’s where I am:
Hellraiser – 2/10
(the comic book series is pretty good though, highly recommended – it’s on COMIXOLOGY)
Star Wars – 5/11
Predator – 1/6
Alien – 2/8
Marvel – 14/23
Toy Story – 4/4
Die Hard – 1/5
Pirates of the Carribbean – 1/5
Wow… I’m batting a thousand with Toy Story, maybe I need to reassess my genres!
What are your numbers? There are a bunch of other franchises I didn’t bother to figure out (Indiana Jones, James Bond, The Bourne movies, LoTR, etc). Maybe fans at conventions should get together and say, “I’m 2/5 on Jurassic Park, here’s why…” Maybe they already do, in a way.
What I’ve been listening to/checking out lately
So, if you’re a fan of Pinhead it’s most likely because of the actor playing him, Doug Bradley. Check out his YouTube channel. He reads Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and The Telltale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe. I dig that shit.
If you’re a fan of martial arts/action movies, definitely check out Scott Adkins’s Art of Action series where he interviews great martial artists from the movies: Tony Jaa, Kane Kosugi, Michael Jai White and even Jeff Speakman. One of my faves is Epidsode 10 – Mark Dacascos, who became a monk at the age of 17 after watching Jet Li in Shaolin Temple.
It all fell apart 6 months later when his uncle swung by as a part of a dance troupe filled w/ Hawaiian hula girls. Transcendence is tough where there are girls in the world, you know? I get the feeling that was a smart but underhanded move by his dad.
That’s all I got for now. Hope you’re doing well… stay CAGEY.
After a brief hiatus, I’m back! I took a break from social media and the email list for a while… maybe too long. Fulfillment is about 88% done, with just sketch covers left and Chris is nearly there. If you’re a Kickstarter backer and you just signed up for my email list, WELCOME! If you’re a long-time Cagey Comics subscriber, HELLO AGAIN!
Lots of things to discuss, I’ll try to keep it brief and interesting… first:
Comic Book News or… Don’t Meet Your Heroes
Comparatively, I haven’t been in the comics game for long. I enjoyed comics in high school (I still have my old Inferno series) and fell out of the scene until about 2015 – 2016 when I started getting interested in some indie titles. Southern Bastards from Image Comics was the big one. Brutal and personal, it just blew me away. A great title, written by Jason Latour. Read it if you can. After reading that I thought anything was possible and I got moving on Spectress & Sabanion. Now… I haven’t actually met the guy but, through the magic of social media, we can get all kinds of GREAT TIDBITS!
So, needless to say, it’s disappointing. It’s happened multiple times… everyone always kind of knew about it… blah, blah, et cetera, et cetera. We’ve heard about these things so many times before and I’m afraid they’re going to keep coming. Comics is such a niche business. Your success depends a lot on the connections you make. Unfortunately, there are those out there that will take advantage of that power when they can. Kinda shitty. Can’t understand it. Southern Bastards was being looked at for a movie and/or TV series. Now… who knows?
Liking Castlevania? Me too, but… Don’t even get me started on WARREN ELLIS!
I’m glad Kickstarter is an outlet where just about anyone can get a foot into the door of the comics world on their own. This might be the best way for people (women creators) that want to operate outside the (somewhat creepy) professional world of comics. Ah well… things are changing. Some women just aren’t putting up w/ the shit that they used to and I don’t blame them. Which leads me to…
Cancel Culture
So now that we’ve determined there are a some creepy elements (people) out there… what next? Do we shut them down? Throw heads of lettuce and tomatoes at them? Cast them out forever? I don’t know. I think things like this should be learned from. The question is… can they genuinely learn enough to turn a corner? If you look at a guy like Warren Ellis who has had incredible success in comics/tv/film while manipulating and victimizing women over a period of over 20 years… maybe not. Maybe Jason Latour can recover, I don’t know. I hope so.
Is that even possible? How many of you know Tim Seeley? He’s an artist/writer most known creating Hack/Slash and has written a number of titles for DC and Marvel. My hat is off to this guy because he had the same problem, figured it out, GOT HELP, and had the balls to admit it. On TWITTER, of all places!
Me? I guess I try to be a gentleman and that might seem a bit dry. BUT! At least if I find some measure of success with Spectress & Sabanion, women won’t be coming out of the woodwork with “HE GRABBED MY ASS AT GALAXY CON!“
Redemption, Mercy, Forgiveness
I think Tim Seeley earned a bit of redemption there, so it is possible. Problems can be fixed, it just takes a bit of self-awareness and willingness to take that step.
Nick Cave is… I’m not sure how to even describe him. Singer, musician, badass, philosopher… just in general a pretty deep guy. His music might not be your thing (many people know Red Right Hand from Peaky Blinders) but the guy has an amazing way of looking at life. He wrote about the extreme lengths that Cancel Culture has reached and why it’s not healthy.
Sorry, getting a bit deep here! I don’t usually do that. Let’s get back to comics!
The Kickstarter for Spectress & Sabanion Issue #2 is coming up. Most likely in late October! A Halloween release, how cool would that be? Watch for more updates…. looking at more alternate covers from Chris Ehnot and Mog Park!
Next update: Issue #3 update, Hellraiser, and the idea of being a fan. Stay tuned!
The script for Issue #3 is complete, edited, updated, and off to Topper Helmers to be translated into more tremendous art. SO EXCITED to see this next stage of the story! The feedback I got from the editor was fantastic. I found her on Fiverr.com, a website that has been extremely useful for finding the expertise I needed but didn’t have time to learn on my own (mainly my project video, but then I found a comic script editor… perfect). A freelancer’s paradise!
I got some feedback on Issues #1 and #2 also. I might streamline the writing for those in the future and get them re-lettered. Maybe for the first story arc omnibus perhaps….
For Issue #3, I streamlined the dialogue and narration, and added 2 pages at the beginning to tell a bit more of the story of the Witanemetowa (Evil Owl Spirit) and CONFAC-4. Here’s a sneak peek at the first 3 pages of script and rough drawings I get from Topper as part of our process:
So thrilled to see this come to life. Honestly, this is the best part of comics as a writer… seeing your story come to life! There’s nothing quite like it.
It’s July 3rd at around 11pm…. I’m 60 minutes away from the end of my first Kickstarter. What a ride it has been! I learned a lot. The ups and downs can be very extreme. The high you get after you first start is amazing. That initial boost is intoxicating. You start to bottom out after that and the worry starts to set in. The dry spell gets to you after about 10 days of little to no activity and then some people drop out and withdraw their pledges. Yeah… nerve-wracking! You can get here very easily.
But, I’m sitting on a very successful run: 125% funded right now, with my first shot at YouTube Live coming up at 11:30. Will be interesting to see how many will sign on.
I’m going to copy/paste my email updates during the campaign below… in case you’re reading my blog and want to see the continuation of the story. Have a great 4th of July weekend and enjoy:
The DC / DIAMOND Saga continues!
As with most news on the Internet, there’s a brief moment of calamity after news of any big changes comes out. Talked about those in my last few emails. There’s a big announcement, followed by a bold statement of defiance upon which heaps of further outrage and criticism are not-so-delicately sprinkled. Eventually cooler heads prevail, give it a little thought and do a little analysis. The best article I could find on the whole situation was here on Den Of Geek:
A great article but, to boil it down, here are the main points:
DC Comics has pulled out of Previews and will no longer use Diamond Distributors
DC Comics will now arrive at your LCS on Tuesdays instead of Wednesdays
Since many comic shops are still closed, the true impact has yet to be seen
This is most likely going to hit Diamond Inc pretty hard
Facebook LIVE!
If you’ve forgotten what I look like… you’re lucky! I’m going to try giving Facebook Live a try for the first time. It will be tomorrow, June 24th at 7PM Central Time. You can link to my page here:
I’ll be talking about Spectress & Sabanion, the story, the artists, the Kickstarter and the ongoing adventures of Aneksi (aka Rasha Rashed) and her gentle associate, the fiery, whirling, imperious demon – Sabanion. I’ll even field questions if I figure out how it works.
Comic Book News!
Robert Kirkman, along with Charlie Adlard, are bringing The Walking Dead back for a one-shot called NEGAN LIVES!
The best thing about it is HOW they’re doing it. It’s FREE for your local comic book shop to stock! Image Comics isn’t charging retailers for the book. Buy a copy on Wednesday, July 1st and help out your LCS. Comic books shops are a bit on the ropes right now. I don’t read The Walking Dead regularly, but I will certainly be picking up a copy of this.
Puttin’ on the FRITZ!
Thought I’d change gears a bit here for a special spotlight focus on someone very important in my life: Fritz the Dachshund. Also known as Fritzy-Boy and Little Fella. He’s a good boy and my little buddy and, like every other dog out there, he’s the best dog in the world. He just wants to do the right thing.
… and he’s WAY INTO Spectress & Sabanion!
Who knows? Maybe he’ll make an appearance on FB Live tomorrow. The next Dachshund Spotlight will feature his older stepsister, ZOE. Don’t miss it!
A Topper Helmers expose’
I can’t really say enough about my artist, Topper Helmers. He’s a great guy. He’s shown nothing but imagination, enthusiasm, and determination when it comes to bringing my scripts to life. Honestly, I struggled when it came to finding an artist. I lucked out a few years back when I had a table across from him at a small show in IL and he needed some IT assistance with an uncooperative tablet. The rest is history. Now… he’s drawing my books and offering up some great art to help me have a successful Kickstarter. What else can I say? Well… there’s a Frank Frazetta connection too. Maybe a small one but I’m still going to talk it up!
Heavy Metal Magazine just did an article about the famous fantasy artist, Frank Frazetta, and an upcoming new book of his art.
Click the pic to see the article. If you watch the YouTube Video at around the 14:18 mark, the page turns and you’re met with a red bearded viking. Somehow, he’s missing the furs, tankard of ale, and gleaming battle ax but you can’t miss him. Topper Helmers, ladies and gentlemen!
