Entry 51: Kingbreaker

 Well it's been a few weeks now since Rebellion 16 came out and my name isn't on any of the solicitations for up coming Star Wars comics. So just what the heck am I up to? Well, I took a little time after Rebellion to work on a short story with Jeremy Barlow (writer for Star Wars and former Editor at Dark Horse). The story will appear in Outlaw Territory: Volume 2 from Image next year. It's a story that we've created together and I think it's going to be really cool. I also developed a creator owned story with Rob Williams (writer of Rebellion and Indiana Jones and the City of the Gods). The story was developed as a pitch to become an online comic for a television network. It's fate is still up in the air. And I've been trying to figure out what my next project will be.

 It seems that, for the first time, I'm getting to make decisions about what to do next. It's a nice change. Before now I've just taken what I could get. My goal is to eventually have the freedom to do just creator owned stuff. So I've had to consider what is the next step towards that goal.

  So the step that I've taken is I've started working on an X-Men 4 issue mini series called X-Men: Kingbreaker. The story deals with Havok, Polaris, Marvel Girl, and the Starjammers in the Shi'ar empire up against Havok's brother, a former X-men and now Shi'ar emperor, Vulcan. It's got epic space battles, aliens, super powers, and a lot of action. It's really not to different from what I've been doing in Star Wars. It even has a guy with a glowing sword.

 I'm pretty excited to be working on this book. The first comic that I bought that really pulled me into comics and made me a comic fan was Uncanny X-Men #277 which was the last issue that Jim Lee and Claremont did involving the Shi-ar and the Starjammers. Those issues are still some of my favorites and are very nostalgic for me. So to be creating and working in that universe feels really good, and I hope I can capture even a fraction of the magic of those old issues.

 Given the connection this material has to my becoming a comic fan and its similarities to what I've been working on for the last couple years I think this series is a great fit for me and a natural next step.

 Hopefully some Star Wars fans will check it out and hopefully the X-fans will be gentle with me. Wish me luck!

 The piece I've posted is a sketch I did of Vulcan. It's just my first go at the guy and I'm still feeling out these characters and their looks. He may end up looking a little different in the comic.