I’ll start with a couple of projects coming right here, to this website!
This website needs more comics, and I’ve been sitting on a small pile that I haven’t really known what to do with. In the course of learning the craft and developing what would become the series ‘Night Craft’, I’ve drawn quite a few. The problem is that they aren’t all that great. But they’re not all that bad either.
I’ve toyed with many ideas for putting some of these books out, but nothing really felt like the right approach. I didn’t really want to ask people to pay for work that was below the standard set in ‘Night Craft’. My ego didn’t really want to show this early work either.
Another part of me is very affectionate towards these old comics, and I think people could really enjoy reading them. Part of that enjoyment may include laughing at them, but that’s quite OK. They aren’t too word-heavy, so it won’t take too much of an investment in time to read them.
So my solution is something of a web comic series: ‘Ancient Comics with New Covers’. As the title suggests, I’ll revisit each story and produce a new, full-color cover. In some cases, it will be the first cover, as I didn’t always draw a cover for these old stories. Hand lettering has always been my weakest link, so that will also be redone digitally, and should fit nicely with the high quality scans.
A second project coming shortly to this website is the return of an adventure series called ‘Leena Raze’. ‘Leena Raze’ was a science fiction serial similar to ‘Barbarella’ that ran in the pages of ‘Rap Sheet’, an anthology put out by the Small Press Syndicate. When the SPS folded a few years ago, I stopped doing the series as I considered options for a new home for it.
And what better home than jessethomascomics.com? Since the chapters are only 2-5 pages long, I’ll be adding color and digital lettering. After the early chapters are all up, I’ll start posting new chapters until the series is finished.
Three print projects are also coming soon. The fourth issue of ‘Night Craft’ is getting close to completion. That will be debuting at HeroesCon in Charlotte this July.
I’m a few pages away from completing the pencils and inks on Roger Crooks’ ‘The Karentha Chronicles’. I’m not handling the coloring or the publishing of the book, so I don’t have a release date, I would guess it should be out this year.
Finally, I completed a short story featuring the character Mandy, the monster hunter for an anthology put out by Hellhound Media. I’ll let you know more when it comes out. When their marketing campaign begins I should be able to have some images to show too!