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.
Little Tweaks
Hey folks! As some of you’ve already seen, we’ve got the Dynagirl site up, running, and updating twice a week with brand new pages of the all new unlimited series Dynagirl! Written by Cary Kelley, with Art by Harold Edge, and Colors by Lisa Moore and Splash this series is already turning some heads! Check it out. It’ll be a blast!
Update wise around here we’re getting into full swing as convention season really heats up! Red Handed is going to end up catching the later season this year as we’re going to be sidetracked just a little bit by the birth of a brand new baby boy right in the midst of the SDCC and Chicago Comic Con time frame. Don’t think this is going to keep us out of the game for long though! We’ve already confirmed a table at the Champion City Con in Springfield Ohio, and our applications are in for both the NYCC and Wizard World Texas in Austin this year! If you catch us at any of those shows you’ll be able to see our brand new convention set up, which is looking to be something out of this world! You’ll also get ot meet some of the creative teams, check out the cool stuff we have for sael which will include the brand new forthcoming Fallen Justice Trade paperback edition, and have a great time! More convention updates coming shortly folks, so keep an eye out for all of that.
Lastly in the Red Handed store you may notice we’ve added links to each and every issue of Fallen Justice giving folks yet another way to get our books. In partnership with the Indyplanet service we’ve made all our books available through them as well for a number of reasons. For one, it helps us keep our back stock down so we don’t have to store a ton of books. Plus, they take care of all the shipping concerns, and you get the same exact comic as you’d get right from Red Handed Central! That, my friends, is a win win scenario. So scoot on over, check them out, and if you haven’t picked the books up yet get on it!
In addition to the Indyplanet news, we’re also looking for any and everyone to tell your local comic shops they can order Fallen Justice from the distribution arm of the company, called Comicsmonkey! That’s right, your retailer can now get the entire Fallen Justice series at retailer discount and shipped right to the store! They simply click onto the Comicsmonkey site, sign up, and order away. You can’t get much easier than that!
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!
Issue #2 in the house!
That’s right folks! Issue #2 of Fallen Justice has arrived! We got pushed back a little bit by the fine folks at UPS, but they came through and got the books here looking awesome! For all subscribers, your books have been mailed so you should get them here very soon!
Also in the news, we’ve held our very first drawing for subscribers! That’s right as you well know if you’ve looked at the subscription page, subscribers get cool stuff! Since we’re on the second issue we held not one but TWO drawings this time around, and selected our winners at random from the subscriber pool! The lucky winners this time around are Lawrence Roach and Richard Case! Lawrence gets a beautiful looking print of the cover to issue #1 of Fallen Justice, and Rich gets the print from the cover of issue #4. So congrats to you guys, those are in the mail as well and you’ll be enjoying them shortly!
We attended a convention last weekend called Comicpalooza at the West Oaks Mall in Houston and had a WONDERFUL time! A huge thanks to all the folks who came out and talked with us, bought the book, and made the show so much fun! We met lots of cool folks and had a great time. And I will say right now that while the Houston area isn’t the most vocal crowd of comic creators, there sure is a TON of talent around here! I think you’re going to see some things really begin to explode out of this area in the next few years, so keep an eye out!
Normally I’m a big fan of the work my friends do, and tend to shout that to the rafters, so get used to it. First off, since I get inside scoops on this stuff it’s easy for me to get excited! Second, it’s really good stuff! Jason Berek-Lewis is doing a follow up to his Tikki’s Phayrie series called Tikki’s Giant, and the stuff looks amazing! Hit those links and check this stuff out, you won’t be sorry.
Next up, is something I rarely do, and that’s pimp a competitor’s work. But I have to say, after reading both the trades of Atomic Robo plus the FCBD issue for 2009…you have to read this book. It’s funny, irreverent, and really quite topical when you boil it all down. Robo is a must read, so go get that book! It’s done by a company called Red 5 comics, and you can find it in the Haven catalog. So go! Get this book! It rocks!
Ah, even more news! Virginia Mills-Barfield, who previously graciously agreed to take on the Kansas Hit project is also working on something a little different these days! Don’t worry, the Kansas Hit is still rocking, we’re just tweaking up some of the story to give it more punch and deliver some extra pages to you guys, so trust me when I say we’re making it better all the time! Currently, Ginny is rocking something called Ignition! which puts her character Bandit in a team up with our very own Dynagirl and tosses both of them into the deep end of the pool without floaties! So what’s better than a strong female lead character kicking major ass in her own book? How about TWO of them fighting side by side to battle tyranny! Woo! You can’t beat it. The Ignition Graphic Novel will most likely be out later this year and looks to be followed by a sequel if all goes well. These girls are a blast to write and Ginny makes my job crazy easy, so you may well be seeing even more of these team ups!
If you haven’t been checking out the Zone 4 podcasts we’re doing every week over at Comic Related…you should be! We’re having a blast doing them and even though we have to work through the occasional technical issue and random otter, we seem to be getting a good reaction. You can subscribe to the cast through itunes or go over to the Zone 4 page on Comic Related and catch it there. Also, feel free to leave feedback if you want, we’d love to hear from you!
And that’ll do it for the moment folks. More scripts to write, pages to letter, and monsters to slay!
Short skirts and utility belts!
You know, I’ve pretty much always been a comic book fan. I have memories prior to turning 2 years old, but they’re fuzzy things, incoherent and clipped. So pretty much ever since I can remember with any clarity, meaning the age of 4, I’ve loved comics. And it wasn’t long after I fell in love with comics that I wanted to make my own. Started out with little doodles, school projects and the like, and that’s taken me through a twisted path of starts stops and restarts to the point where I’m now making my own comics. But it always goes back to the beginnings. Always. Any good story does, really.
I have a point, trust me. I’ll get there. Let the writer write would ya? Sheesh.
Anyway, in my making comics adventure, I’ve made it a point to surround myself with some of the most talented people out there. At the same time, mostly by pure luck, I’ve also found that those same people are lifelong comic book fans just like me! Some of them not dating back to the stone age of comics necessarily, but still. They dig comics and pay homage to what’s come before without a doubt. You can see it in so many places in Fallen Justice. From the characters, to some of the scenes, even in the colors and the Easter eggs Ross leaves you…we’re comic lovers making comics. And I think that’s important. First off, if I didn’t love comics, I wouldn’t bother. Second, the people who read the book get it in so many subtle ways. It resonates with comic book fans almost unconsciously. To me, that’s the ultimate reward, to know we connect like that. Brings huge smiles to my face! But I’m also cognizant of the huge responsibility we have as creators to stay true to the work, honor the story, and tell the truth. That might sound funny when you consider we’re telling fictional comic book stories, but there’s a truth there regardless and if you aren’t telling it, it shows.
So this week marks a lot of changes or advancements rather at RHS. First off, if you haven’t read the previous post get down there and read it silly! We’re announcing all manner of convention appearances this summer so that should kick off some fantastic fun for the whole team! Now in addition to the Seppuku Blues news (honestly, not rhyme intending here!) we’ve got some exciting Dynagirl news! Harold Edge, who you know already from the Fallen Justice series, and I have begun principle production work on the Dynagirl series. The scripts are written through issue #8, and now we’re working up character designs for some of the new characters you’re going to be spending time with!
Now I’ll tell you a couple of things about this new series while I have the chance. It’s going to feature Dyangirl of course, but it’s also going to have a lot more in way of supporting cast than a single hero book might normally show you. Why? Well because I dig team dynamics first off, and so does Dynagirl. That doesn’t mean she’ll get lost in the shuffle by any means, it just means she’ll have plenty of backup when it comes time to kick some ass!
Also, Harold will be flexing his artistic muscles a little with this book. Like he hasn’t already, right? But see while you’ve been out there reading the books, Harold has been in school working his hindparts off getting better every day. And I can tell you without a doubt, it shows. For someone who was terrified when he mentioned changing his style…I have to say you’ll be blown away when you see the results. He’s taking things to a whole new dimension.
Ready to tie it all together yet? I told you before the whole team is made up of long time comic book fans, right? So Harold sends me some sketches the other day of two of the new heroes that will be teamed up with Dynagirl in the new book. Mindfire and the Knight. Those paying close attention will see them cameo in issue #7 of Fallen Justice, but we’ve refined them for the new series, grown them up a little bit, which makes sense as the series starts five years later. I could give you a breakdown on powers and such, but I won’t. I’ll let you see for yourself. But what I will do is show them to you, because in doing that I can show you what I mean by long time comic book fans. Check out Mindfire. (click the thumbnail to see it full sized)
Hot. Yes. WAY hot. She as that innocent look going on, but she’s also mentally hard. There’s nothing of the soft naïve kid in there. Plus I dig the short skirt. Makes me think back to the 70s Neal Adams stuff where Marvel Girl barely covered herself up in that green costume. (That’s still one of my all time favorite looks by the way, goofy yellow mask and all.) There’s just something about this design that immediately screamed ‘hell yeah!’ to me. You’ll also see a couple of Ms. Anarchy elements in there as well, which makes good sense as Mindfire is her oldest daughter.
On the Knight, we’ve got something else entirely. He’s got even more edge than his wife (yep, another husband and wife team. Think that will end badly?) and he’s just dynamic as hell. We wrestled back and forth with the whole cape/no cape thing, but in the end it was the cool jumping off the building thing that sold me. I’m a sucker for capes, Incredibles be damned. But the cape was so far down the list of things to mention when I saw the pouches. Now anyone who knows me knows I’m a lifelong Batman fan, and I make no apologies for that. In fact, I’ve got a Batman script in the drawer waiting for the day when those DC guys call and ask me to pitch something! But one of the things I always wondered was how he got all that cool stuff in that little bitty utility belt! The Knight won’t be having that problem. Way I see it he could be carrying the kitchen sink in that thing! So stay tuned because if you think you’ve seen cool gadgets…you ain’t seen nothing yet.
So there you go. Some cool as hell sketches, an update of sorts, and a little behind the scenes peek into the mind of madness.
Oh and I’m making a movie. But more on that later.
And to wrap it up, check out the AWESOME review/coverage we got over at Comic Related today! Huge shout out to Bill Gladman, Brant Fowler and Chuck Moore for treating us not only with a huge amount of respect but making us feel like part of the family. Can’t say enough good things about this group of folks. Comics needs more places like Comic Related.
Till next time folks!
Wicked update!
Wow. What a difference a few days makes! I’ve told you about the new book we’re doing here soon called Seppuku Blues, right? Well let me tell ya some more. First off, the team consists of Scottie Ray Watson on pencils, RD Hall and myself (Cary Kelley) on writing chores, Peter Palmiotti on inks, and Jeff Balke on colors. I’ll be wrapping things up with the letters and we’ll be out the door. But that’s not the cool part. The cool part is a big part of the team will be attending the Chicago Comic Con this summer! Woo! Scottie and I are sharing a table in artists alley, an d RD will be out on the main floor, where we’ll be doing some special signings and showing off this phenomenal book for all to see! What we plan to have is at least a 12 page primer to the series fully completed and ready to rock. We may even do a WW Chicago exclusive if we can get it ready in time. So there you go. all the news that’s fit to print! You got it here first! And here’s a taste!
And that’s a wrap!
Whew! Well, STAPLE is over and done with for another year and we had a total blast! We ran into old fans, new fans, and hopefully brought lots more folks who had never heard of Fallen Justice into the fold as well! Everyone seemed to really like the book and were incredibly supportive. The people in and around the Austin area are the best! I guess that’s yet another reason to put in the plus column for moving here! A huge thanks to everyone who came out, talked with us and checked out the book! Stay tuned, because we’re just getting things rolling. You won’t be sorry you did!
Check out the Red Handed Podcast!
Chuck Moore over at Comic Related was kind enough to spend over an hour talking about not only Fallen Justice but pretty much everything Red Handed! We also shoot the bull about comics in general, my day job, and the works! Check it out: Comic Related Podcast #82
Heading out West!
Well we’re gonna make it to STAPLE this year and it is gonna be a blast! STAPLE is held in Austin Texas on March 7, and if you’re anywhere near the area you should come on out! It’s a great show with some of the most talented Indy creators you’re likely to find anywhere! Plus, we like the atmosphere!
Also, we’re looking at making a couple of other cons this season too, but we’re still not sure of the schedule just yet so bear with us as we line all that out! Till then, come on out to Austin and see us!
