What's In A Name

Here are the headings of two stories from Omnibus #1. As you can see, I've been pretty busy today! Things are progressing nicely with the book and I think I WILL hit my deadline of Jan 2010 -- certainly an achievement for a non-artist like myself :D! Stay tuned and keep cre-8ing!

Back to the Drawing Board!

Here's a reworking of the North Star-6 title heading, I was looking around at some new fonts and found a few that left me unsatisfied with what I had done before. I think diehard fans will be able to discern my inspiration for this one -- the classic "Wild West in Space" cartoon, Bravestarr! I've still got a bit more work to do, but I'm pretty happy with what I've got here!

Works in Progress

Just wanted to give an update on what I've gotten so far -- here are a few of the title headings I've created over the past few days, including a brand new logo for WizWorld Inc! All of the pieces were originally constructed in Adobe Illustrator with some slight color adds in Photoshop.

Omnibus -- For this logo, I wanted something that would really look good on a stark white cover -- I'm not saying that's what I'm going to have, but that was my idea. My visual guide was the title heading for Marvel Comics' Avengers Forever (Busiek/Pacheco).

Xeric Jackson/North Star-6 -- I kind of wanted something that was sci-fi, but not specifically anything like Star Wars or Star Trek. I must confess a slight inspiration from the Stargate series, though. Kudos if you catch the self-publishing nod in the title (winks)!

The Charger -- I wanted more of a pulp magazine feel and while that was specifically my plan for all of these, I think this came the closest to really feeling that way. If I do any more stories featuring The Charger, I like already having the title piece ready. I'm a BIG Kevin Smith fan, so yes, I did name The Charger's alter ego after a character of his -- hopefully he won't mind!

Recount -- I wanted something that felt like a boxing match title card. I'm considering adding a box frame around "Recount" with possibly 3 gold stars filling the arch. I do like what I have here, I'm only spit balling a bit.

For the new WizWorld Inc logo, I looked at the work of fellow Ohioan, Paul Pope's heading designs for his self-published pulp mag "THB," and like THB, I can't say that the logo won't change with each issue...but at least this one is standing for now!

Hope you guys like what I've got so far, I may post up some pinups of the 3 main characters from these stories a bit later. Thanks for watching, stay tuned and keep cre-8ing!

*(sorry for the strange formatting, my attempts to edit the paragraphs has failed repeatedly.)

Press Release Preview

Just to keep everyone updated on my progress, I wanted to preview the press release naming the title I will publish in the bounds of this challenge:

WIZWORLD INC PRESENTS: OMNIBUS!
An active experiment on the bounds and requirements of self-publishing.

In response to the views and comments shared during the Indie and Small Press Panel at this year’s Mid-Ohio Con, Victor Dandridge, chairman of WizWorld Inc, wrote a rebuttal article, challenging the assumed practices and obstacles inherent to self-publishing. While the article sparked a measure of discussion/debate from the onset, it was one of the latter commentaries that suggested that the ideas from the article be put to the test. In an effort to comply with the challenge and truly showcase the merit of the ideas within his article, Victor Dandridge dutifully accepted!

This coming January (2010), published through WizWorld Inc, Victor Dandridge will release Omnibus, a 28-32 page, full color anthology, featuring more than 7 original stories (both in comic narrative and prose)! Printed through online print-on-demand company Ka-Blam, the book will be published following the plans laid out by Dandridge in the article, with a few modifications, all of which will be catalogued on his blog at www.wizworldinc.blogspot.com.

If successful, this would create a model that aims at immediate profits through a lack of required financial investment, ideally impacting the self-publishing practices for generations!

And just to keep the interest flowing, below are synopsises for a few of the titles featured in this first anthology from WizWorld Inc:

The Samaritan – Waging a quiet war against mankind’s inhumanity, a lone, super-powered drifter opts to affect individual lives over grand scale heroics. (Some mature themes; parental guidance suggested)

Grand Commander and the Planet of Heroes – The super-powered population of a distant planet police the cosmos, with the spirit and charm of a Saturday morning cartoon. (All ages)

Wonders of the Great Beyond – A family of eccentric explorers work to keep Earth safe from threats of the unknown and fantastic. (All ages)

Stay tuned for more updates including character sketches and more! And keep cre-8ting!!!