New industry aka Dig Lazarus, Dig
I've returned to work, and after a couple of rusty weeks and a Monday where it took me nine hours and ten - TEN! - failed versions to draw a cover, I have achieved a sort of creative equilibrium. You'd think after nearly 28 years I would have a sense of where I am going. Alas, the not knowing is part of the process. When I have things too laid out these days, I get the heebie-jeebies (some might say the screaming ab-dabs - though I consider that an overstatement of the condition).
So: all-new material will return on August 18th, which seems a long way off, but I have to build up my comic buffer again. There will be a six-page story called "Struck Off" which is best not discussed until it runs, and following that, a new Esther de Groot Destroy History adventure called "Blight" which should thrill and delight all the way until Christmas, as much as a story about a mysterious bovine disease can please. It's scheduled to run for an upsetting 47 pages, a prime number no less, which annoys me so much that I can almost guarantee I will insert an extra page somewhere just to lower my heartbeat between now and Noël.
I can't really share any sketches yet as they will spoil it, but I will post a big pile of them when it runs, as I have drawn a lot in preparation.
With that work underway, I need to look at what I'll do in 2027. I think Solver has run its course as a project for now. I worked up a number of stories for a prospective third volume but they all felt like they were trying to answer a question I'd now addressed from every possible angle, so they'll go back on the slush pile. I really enjoyed seeing the Bad Machinery friends back together in the final chapter, and that may be a direction worth pursuing. It only works if it feels new. I have a strong sense that I must go forward, not back, even with our old friends. I have to push myself, or it's not worth doing any more. Something inside me will always refuse to cruise.
We shall see!
Comments (20)
That is a fabulous and elaborate drawing! Auction that one off for charity, I enjoyed looking at each face in tern and the characters expression the economy with which you convey expression is so impressive.
I am very excited for some Destroy History!
Looks just capital!
Maybe it's finally time for Robert Cop to shine!
47 pages could provide a prime opportunity for Hype Box/Checklist updates on Robert Cop, Poutine, and many of the rest of the awesome Scary Go Round titles. 🤞
I'd love to see more of the Tackleford-Mystery-(No-Longer)-Kids, and judging from their recent appearance together, I fully trust you to move them forward into something new, rather than doing Bad Machinery Part II. You might want to deal with all the current loose ends right at the beginning, though, so they don't tie you down too much, and you have the freedom to create entirely new loose ends.
I like the characters from about 9 o'clock down to about 7 o'clock on the page. They feel like people we haven't met before. Will we meet them?
47 pages is highly upsetting
It's awful, isn't it?
Prime numbers don't faze me but I do have to sort things in multiples of three...
Glad you found your groove again! I'm also surprised that Destroy History was the thing that caught fire for you, but I've learned not to doubt your instincts. I continue to be intrigued by Fresh Chard.
Finally! Time for "Worse Machinery"!
Welcome back John! Thank you for this tantalizing view of projects to come!! I'll be on board for all of them!!
Christmas is whenever you decide it is, John
Yay, more DH! More EdG! Running until Christmas? No, that *is* Christmas! "On the 47th day of Christmas, John Allison gave to me..."
I think Solver could warrant having another volume or two sometime down the road if there’s a good idea in there. The only one I can really think of would be discovering who killed Mr. Grote, but that also feels like the kind of thing you aren’t ever meant to know a concrete answer for, like the identity of Laura Palmer’s murderer (before they were forced to reveal it). Surprised Destroy History is coming back so soon, given how much more research goes into writing those.
But hasn't it been established that Mr. Grote died in a sewer accident?
Looking forward to everything and anything! Enjoying the Nick Cave reference, but I thought you didn't like his oeuvre?
I like the ideas, but rarely the music, it's just "not for me" you know?
Yay Destroy History!