Updates and Milestones!
Just like that, issue one of Dynagirl is complete! This coming week will see the beginning of issue #2, and I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised at how quickly we progress from here. Harold and Lisa have been burning the midnight oil to make sure this thing comes off seamlessly and they’re doing an incredible job!
We’re also reworking things just a bit around here at the RHS site, fixing some annoying little bugs that cropped up (which were TOTALLY my fault! argh!) and getting some of our new comics on the roster as well! We’ve added three new ones and should be following that here shortly with some more as we expand a bit. Before you get too excited, don’t worry, we’re not getting too big for our britches around here, believe me! What we’re doing is getting things lined out to promote a sampler book in the coming months which will showcase some shorter stories we’ve done here and there that never got to see print for one reason or another. What happens after we put out the sampler? There’s no telling. If we get some excellent response and people make some noise about one story or another, we’ll absolutely take a hard look at listening to the fans! More info on this as we get it.
I’ll also take this opportunity to say thanks to everyone out there who has supported us in our work. As we go forward with the various comics and such it means a LOT knowing folks are supporting us and enjoying the work we’re doing. So THANKS!
The 4th of July is upon us!
Man it seems like time flies faster all the time, doesn’t it? Crazy! As usual, we’ve got some updates for you!
First off, The Dynagirl series is about to wrap up the first issue already! We’ve had an amazing response to the series and we’re gaining fans all the time to get on over there and check it out!
Next, you just gotta see this to believe it:
That, is Ellabeth, and she’s the star of an upcoming series of books we’re going to be doing under the title “Dead Reckoning”. It’s a sci fi western type story with a female lead who’s mean as a rattlesnake. It’s gonna be fun! keep your eyes on the comics section of the website and as we get more I’ll keep you updated.
We’ve also seen some excellent progress in other areas, such as alternative media! I can’t make any official announcements as of yet, but suffice it to say there are exciting things about to break loose for Red Handed Studios! More on this as soon as the contracts get done!
And just today I got word about another cool project, not really associated with Red Handed Studios per se, but still very cool! Check out Miss Masque:
She’s a public domain character being showcased in a new series of web videos by Travis Legge and the preliminary stuff already looks incredible! Check out the link and help support another Indie creator!
Convention update wise, we’re making some changes. As of now we’re looking at attending Champion City Con, Wizard World Texas, and The Up Fair, depending of course on applications and all being accepted. We’ll have more info on that in a month or so as plans finalize. Sadly the NYCC fell through for us, but we’ll do our best to get there next year and connect with all our East Coast fans!
Have a great Summer out there folks, and spend some time at the pool!
Summer is upon us!
And just like that, Spring is a thing of the past. Is it just me or is this year literally FLYING by? Madness. But that just means it gets us to the fall and our convention appearances all the faster!
As of now Red Handed Studios is planning to attend three very exciting conventions this fall! The first, on September 11, will be the Champion City Con and we’re super excited about that show! It’ll be a smaller venue but crammed full of exciting creators offering a huge variety of great books for sale.
After that, our plans are to jump over to the New York Comic Con in October! Right now that’s still a tentative plan as no one has received confirmations yet, so we’re soft on that date right now. If we don’t make that show we might have a fill in, so stayed tuned for more on that.
And then we’re back home in November for the Wizard World Austin show! This one goes down just minutes from the house, so you know we couldn’t pass it up!
At all these shows we’ll have various members of the RHS crew front and center, signing books, offering prints, sketchbooks, and other items for sale and generally promoting the stuff we’ve got out now and will be coming out with in the near future. If you think you’ve seen all we’ve got to offer you…think again! We’ve got some really exciting stuff coming down the line here in the next 6 months, so hang in there and we’ll release all that as we get the info and dates all firmed up.
The Dynagirl series is on fire these days! We’re growing by leaps and bounds in terms of our readership, getting more viewers and page views every week so it seems like people are enjoying the story we’re putting out there! A more detailed report of our viewership this week revealed we’ve got readers in Japan, Russia, France, Belgium, The UK, Canada, The Netherlands, Australia, and many other countries! That is especially exciting as we go forward to know we’re reaching people not just here at home but half a world away! So thanks, to everyone! And stick with us. We’re going to knock your socks off in the coming weeks.
I have also updated the RHS store today with the latest and greatest links to get your hands on Red Handed books! As of this week all RHS books are exclusively available through the Indyplanet system on demand. That means there’s no waiting whatsoever. You want one issue (or several), you order em up, they print and they go out the door. It doesn’t get any easier than that! Plus, the beautiful part is they never run out of stock!
The Fallen Justice Trade paperback is officially printing as we speak. It should be in hand sometime in the next few weeks so I anticipate that my initial guess of mid-June still holds fairly accurate. Once we get them in hand we’ll have them up for sale in the store, and we’ll of course be carrying those bad boys with us as we make our convention runs, so if all else fails get to one of those shows and get your hands on this monster! The trade weighs in at 208 pages with a full blown wrap around cover designed and produced specially for this edition. Included in the book are all 160 pages of story from the original Fallen Justice series as well as 48 pages of extra material! We’ve got character bios, a huge sketchbook section, behind the scenes info, the works! It’s going to be something special without a doubt. More info on that specifically when it hits the street!
Lastly, we’re incredibly excited to announce the availability of the Fallen Justice series on the newly created Comicsmonkey Distribution system! This system works in conjunction with the Indyplanet and Kablam sites to form a true triple threat aimed at leveling the playing field for independent creators, only this time they’re bringing the brick and mortar comic stores into the mix! How it works is a retailer signs up for an account, orders books, and BAM here they come! It’s that simple! Comicsmonkey has a discount scale comparable to other distributors and is extremely easy to work with, so we’re expecting good things from this move. If your local store isn’t carrying the RHS books direct them to Comicsmonkey and get them in the know!
And that’ll do it for the time being. We’re getting ready to make some truly HUGE changes around here, so hang tight. I think you’re gonna really dig what you see.
And now…Dynagirl!
That’s right folks, it’s time! As of tomorrow the Dyangirl series officially begins! What does that mean? Well it’s all the fun, action, and striking visuals you came to expect from Fallen Justice, with a slightly more hopeful tone! Dynagirl is an unlimited series and will feature Cary Kelley on the writing and lettering duties, Harold Edge rocking the art, and Lisa Moore making it colorful! In addition, we’ll also have supplimental colors by SPLASH, and a number of guest writers popping in to put their own spin on the world of Dynagirl!
We’ll be doing a combination of things with the Dynagirl series. First, it’s a webcomic. That means you can check it out completely free! We’re not holding anything back, so you can read the whole thing in its entirety. We will also offer our newsletter subscribers some little special features now and again, so if you’re interested by all means sign up! The special features won’t have to be seen to get the full imact of the story, but they will add a little extra flavor now and again, which is always fun!
In addition to being on the web, at the completion of each issue, roughly every 22 pages of story content, we’ll be offering the hard copy issue for sale via the Indyplanet system. The goal is to have the issue ready and up for sale the day the last page goes live, so we’ll keep everyone informed of that!
But that’s not all! We’ll also be collecting every few issues into trade format and offering them for sale via the RHS store and at comic conventions near you! So you can come on out, meet and greet the RHS crew, and get some Dynagirl goodness all at the same time! You can’t beat that!
Oh…and if that’s not enough for you…
We’re bringing scary back.
So check it out!
www.dynagirlonline.com
Every Tuesday and Thursday!
Fallen Justice #7 has arrived!
It is with a bittersweet bag of mixed feelings that we announce the release of Fallen Justice #7, the 7th and final issue of the Fallen Justice series. On the one hand, we’re completely stoked to have this book get out there and into the hands of our fans, but by the same token it’s with a bit of sadness that we find ourselves at the end of the road and moving on with new and different projects. Steven Forbes, the co-writer on Fallen Justice will be out and about, working on his Bullet TIme series as well as MANY other projects. You can keep up with Steve, or at least try, at his blog. Ross too will be leaving us now that the work on this series is done. He has a ton of new work lined up and won’t be a stranger by any means as he makes his way deeper intot he mainstream comics industry and shows off his mad coloring skills. For those of you who want to track his every move, check out his DA account here.
Meanwhile, Harold and I have begun the next step in the journey we started years ago with these characters! That’s right, the Dynagirl series is right around the corner, and the coolest part is, it’s going to FREE as a webcomic! That’s right you’ll be able to check out the story in its entirety right on the internet over at the official Dynagirl Website! We’ll be updating that twice a week bringing you the adventures of our hard hitting no nonsense heroine as she navigates some pretty treacherous waters coming out of her retirement. There will be all manner of challenges as she deals with the past, present, and future trying to make her way in a very different world fromt he one she remembers. She’ll have a brand new team of friends to help her, and there will be some new villains as well as a couple of old ones tossed in there to give her some trouble! We hope you’ll stick with us and follow along as we tell her story! It’ll be fun, I promise!
For a great review of Fallen Justice #7, head on over to Comic Related and check it out! Brant Fowler tosses us some love and Bill Gladman chimes in via the comments to heap even more praise on top. Indy comics is a fairly small community of people and having guys really get what you’re doing like this means a lot.
And don’t think we’re done by any means! We’ve got some great stuff from the Talon team coming down the pike very shortly, and we’re just under a month from the debut of Dynagirl! So keep your eyes glued to Red Handed Studios folks, because we’re just getting warmed up!
Moving and Shaking!
Give me a few days, and I’ll turn the whole thing on its ear! For those at ground zero, the original plan was to configure this site, make some changes, and incorporate the Dynagirl webcomic right into the parent site. After struggling, fighting, wrangling, and no small amount of cursing, I changed my tack and started from scratch. Sometimes, you have to completely change directions to move forward, and this was one of those times.
So having said that, I give you…
Dynagirl!
It’s a whole new domain name. It’s a whole new look. It’s where everything Dynagirl is about to break out. So check it out. We’re beginning the Dynagirl book on 4/27/2010, so hang onto your hats!
Spring Cleaning!
What a difference just a few weeks makes, eh?
Well if you’ve been paying attention you’ve noticed some moving and shaking going on around here! So lets go down the list and get you updated!
First off, Fallen Justice #7 is at the printer as we speak. We’re looking at a late March or early April release on that at this point, depending on how things go with the printer folks. Anyone who has ever printed this time of year knows, it gets a little hectic! But we’ll roll with it and get the book out asap.
Next, Fallen Justice #6 is SOLD OUT! Thanks to everyone who subscribed and bought the issue! Seeing a sell out like this really gives us a great outlook going forward and we fully understand it’s the fans making it happen! So thanks! For those of you who missed out, don’t even sweat it because you can still get the book printed and shipped right to your door via the Indyplanet system! This makes it far less stressful on us and keeps us from having to hold mega back stock, and still gets you a copy of the book just like you’d get directly from us! So if you’re looking to get Fallen Justice #6, get it here!
Convention season this year may be a little spotty for the RHS crew. With a pending addition to the family we’ve pretty much got to be planning around the projected birthdate, and since that’s currently looking like July…we’re going to be a bit busy this summer! RIght now the tentative plan is for RHS to be hitting the NYCC and Wizard World Texas, with the Texas date far more firm. We’ll make with dates, times, and table locations as we get em.
Also, don’t forget you can still get Fallen Justice 1-3 on the iPhone! Kyle and the guys over at Graphics Lab 2 are hard at work converting the rest of the issues and we’ll keep you apriased as those release this year! The new reader looks wonderful and they’ve done a great job bringing this out. In addition, you might hear mumblings about the iPad. Just saying…
And if that wasn’t enough…Fallen Justice is coming to ComicsXP! This is an online comic service specialising in digital content distribution and they’ll be handling the whole lineup of RHS books as they become available. This is a great system for both creators and for fans and makes getting and reading your digital comics a snap! So check it out! Fallen Justice will be live on the ComicsXP system in the coming week, with issues 1-6 going straight up and issue 7 releasing as it prints.
Whew. That about does it huh? Not likely. Now lets talk Dynagirl! Some of you may have heard we’re shifting the Dynagirl title to a webcomic model. That’s not a rumor, it’s a fact. After printing each issue of Fallen Justice and handling all the shipping that went with it, we’ve decided to streamline things as much as possible. In keeping with that strategy, we’re eliminating the traditional single printed issue model completely. What’s this mean? Once the single issues of Fallen Justice sell out, we won’t be stocking them or even printing them anymore. They’ll remain available through Indyplanet of course, but beyond that we won’t be doing anymore printing of that series in the singles format. We will be printing and maintaining a stock of the tradepaperback, and sellingt hat at conventions, via Haven, and right here in the RHS store. What this move does is free up storage space here at Red Handed central as well as gives us far less to carry around to the various conventions we’ll be hitting.
So, how’s it gonna work? Well first of all we’ll be setting up a dedicated Dynagirl page that you can bookmark, RSS, or whatever so that when we update you know! We’re planning to update twice a week or so, with a projected output of 3 pages a week. Once we get enough pages to print a trade, we’ll do that and offer that for sale in the RHS store. This way, the fans can read the story as it’s produced rather than waiting for months while we collect enough material to begin another printing run. After looking at it from all angles, we feel this is a win for everyone. So keep it tuned here for the official release date and watch out because Dynagirl will knock your socks off!
Fallen Justice #6 is on the street!
That’s right folks, you read it right! Fallen Justice #6 is printing and should be delivered shortly, meaning there’s just one issue left of this limited series before we wrap it up!
In addition, we’re also very happy to announce the release of Fallen Justice #3 on the iPhone! The guys at Graphics Lab 2 worked their tails off to get the brand new reader 2.0 in place for this release, and we’re so pleased with it we can’t wait for folks to try it out!
Keep it locked in to Red Handed as we bring Fallen Justice to a close next month with the release of the final, double sized blow out issue!
Making changes!
Red Handed Studios Announces A New Addition
Indy publisher expands with key property acquisition
Red Handed Studios announced today that in addition to their already popular Fallen Justice and forthcoming Dynagirl titles, they’ve added another exciting book to the stable in the form of the Small Press Idol 2007 winning title ‘Talon’.
Careful observers will note that Scottie Ray Watson was added to the Red Handed Studios family back in March of 2009 as he and RHS founder Cary Kelley embarked on ‘Seppuku Blues’, their collaborative title about a futuristic ronin’s fight to stay alive long enough to save the life of a child she barely knows.
“We discussed Talon at the time,” Kelley recalls, “but because of obligations on both sides there were a lot of things left hanging, and Talon was one of them. Now that some of those things have resolved themselves, we’re very pleased to bring Talon under the Red Handed banner and we’re extremely excited about the chance to work with Scottie and the rest of the team on this incredible project.”
Watson and company are already hard at work on the forthcoming Talon graphic novel after having completed the origin story from Small Press Idol 2007. “We’ve been through the ringer,” Watson explains, “So many times we thought Talon wasn’t going to happen because of life issues and setbacks. It was a rough time all around, but we pushed through it and came out the other side stronger for the experience. Now we’re firing on all cylinders and ready to show the world what Talon is all about. Being a part of Red Handed Studios and seeing the energy there, I couldn’t imagine a better fit for what we want to accomplish. We’re having a blast!”
Currently the release schedule is still in revision as Kelley and his group put things in order for the coming year and what looks to be an exciting convention season.
“Right now, we’re focusing on the two things Red Handed Studios has always been known for: quality and honesty. First and foremost, RHS books have to be good, balanced books giving the fans top-notch art with the very best story we can bring to the table. Next, we release the books when we say we will, meaning if it’s solicited from Red Handed, you know it’s going to be there.” From what Kelley and Watson can discuss, it also appears that Talon will have access to a wide variety of options through it’s association with Red Handed Studios, only increasing exposure even further.
“At this point, the sky’s the limit.” Kelley confirms, “Talon is a full fledged Red Handed title, with everything that implies. It will get the same treatment as any other book, including listings in Haven, porting to digital media devices, the works. You’ll see Talon everywhere you see Fallen Justice or Dynagirl, and in some places you might never expect.”
Kelley is also very clear on the past as he discusses Talon‘s Small Press Idol history. “Make no mistake this move does not remove Talon from association with Dimestore Productions in any way. What it does do is give Talon and Scottie the home they’ve been looking for in terms of collaboration and camaraderie. Red Handed Studios has an excellent relationship with Dimestore Productions and we fully intend to continue that relationship, making it stronger going forward.”
Talon #0 is currently available in a 24 page black and white format through Dimestore Productions and in the Red Handed store directly. While fans wait for the forthcoming graphic novel, they will soon be able to get the original story in full color when Red Handed releases an as yet untitled compilation book in the summer of 2010, showcasing the wide variety of talent and stories available from Red Handed Studios.
Seasons Greetings from RHS!
That pretty much says it all, doesn’t it? Merry Christmas and many thanks for your support!
