Colossians- INKS COMPLETED

I'm embarrassed to admit it has taken me, get this, four years to complete the inking on Colossians #1, with a large chunk of it getting done in the past six months. This was the final panel I had to knock out, from page 11 of the first issue. In this shot, the Manx is leaping onto a rooftop to surprise some unsuspecting thugs.

I love working with ink. If my fingertips are black, I've had a very, very good day.

Working on Kneon's pencils has been a real privilege and learning experience. His work is tight and precise, an odd blend of cartoon and old-school classic style, which is what convinced me to ask him to do the work in the first place. His art sets the right tone for the book- it's fun but gritty, and very creative. I used a blend of pens, brushes, markers and quills to make his work pop.

Now that the inks are done I can move onto perhaps the toughest part of the project- believe it or not, there's NO SCRIPT for issue 1. Seriously. Not kidding you. Kneon drew these pages based on a loose plot synopsis that was about 3 pages long (including character descriptions). So in classic backwards Megazeen fashion, draw first write later.

It's not that there's no story of course- the story is actually a very involved and detailed mythology that will take these characters in a lot of weird directions, should it become the series I've envisioned. It's just the dialogue and narrative that I've got to get going on, so I can add the letters and get it off to the printer. And just as I've dipped into some of the best Megazeen talent so far (Kneon, Mark Melton on colors, and Jeff Slemons on the cover), I'll be tapping into the best writers I know to help be finish my baby.

Oh, by the way, I finished the inks on Tuesday. Wait till you find out what showed up in the mail on Wednesday... it makes completing this issue a lot more urgent.