Thoughts on a Future Kickstarter

Juan and I were both swamped this week, so no new page. Instead, I thought I’d ramble a little about some of my plans for the immediate future of PROTEGE, namely a trade paperback. If all goes according to plan, we’ll have all five chapters — the complete first story arc — wrapped by late this year. For now, I’m planning on launching a Kickstarter in November February 2014 to help fund a print run, and I’ve been taking notes on successful (and failed) comic book crowd-sourcing campaigns. Here’s my initial thoughts:

  • The fundraising will be about putting a high-quality, good-looking book in your hands for a fair price, bottom-line.
  • The TPB will include all five chapters, plus an exclusive backup story featuring art by Kay (COMPLEX). The image above is a sneak peek from one of the panels.
  • Various pledge rewards will include: high-quality color giclees of the covers to issues 1-4, original character sketches, an appearance in the comic as a background character, and a personalized “Person of Interest” dossier.

I’m still in the early planning stages, so I’d love to hear any thoughts and suggestions on what else you’d like to see included in a PROTEGE TPB and crowd-sourcing campaign.

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At Long Beach Comic Con – May 11

LB-Comic-Con-logoNo update this week, as I’m swamped prepping for the Long Beach Comic Con and obsessing over rewrites of a new play. If you’re heading to the LBCC this Saturday, be sure to stop by my table (#8003) and say hey. I’ll be stocked up with issues of PROTEGE 1-3, an anthology of stand-alone comics I’ve written, and some other cool stuff. — Terence

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Casting PROTEGE

We all do it as we write our scripts: pretend we’ve landed that studio deal or show-runner gig and need to figure out which famous actors we get to hire.  Sometimes it helps us better realize a character we’ve created; sometimes it’s just fun to play. So, here’s my partial dream cast for PROTEGE:

tranecast

Lance Reddick (Fringe, The Wire, Lost) most resembles the Trane in my mind, but Giancarlo Esposito (Breaking Bad, Revolution) is one of my favorite actors, and I think he’d bring some interesting depth to the character.

allumettecast2

If we decide to go authentic and cast an Algerian woman to play Allumette, Leila Behkti (A Prophet) would kick ass. If we go for bigger name recognition, Rooney Mara (Side Effects, Girl With the Dragon Tattoo) is one of the best young actresses around, and I’d love to see her in an action role. UPDATE: I’ve started watching the BBC series Orphan Black and Tatiana Maslany has jumped to the top of my dream list. Not only does she have the perfect look for Allumette, she is an impressive actor, too.

zander-uzicast

Give John Francis Daley (Freaks and Geeks, Bones) some glasses and he would be great as our resident weapons expert/hacker. I don’t watch True Blood, so I have no opinion of his acting, but I’ve seen Joe Manganiello in person and at 6’5″ he’s the perfect size to play Uzi.

lanois cast

Jonathan Rhys Meyers (The Tudors, Mission Impossible III) is a perfect fit to play the scarred, myth-obsessed antagonist Lanois.

 

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No update this week

mathersJuan has been very busy with his talented self and we need to rebuild the pages buffer, so no update this week. Here’s a glimpse of the pencils for the upcoming pages — as you can see, the mysterious big man Mathers returns. And if you’re interested, I’ve posted the script for PROTEGE #1 on my tumblr. Peace!

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Download “Tabula Rasa”

PROTEGE issue 3 is now available for download in glorious high-res PDF, CBZ and CBR formats. As with all PROTEGE items, you can name your own price — just head over to The Depot or send an email to protegecomic@gmail.com.

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Alternative Press Expo – Oct 13th and 14th

I’ll be setting up shop at A.P.E. in San Francisco next weekend! I will have awesome-looking print issues of PROTEGE #1 and #2, stickers and postcards for sale, plus a special APE-exclusive comic as well. This will be my first time at A.P.E. and I’m looking forward to being a part of what I hear is a really cool con.  Look for the Madjoint Productions table: 404B.

— Terence

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Digital Downloads

PROTEGE #1 and #2 are both available for your downloading pleasure in PDF, CBZ and CBR formats… and you can name-your-own price to get ’em. I know the market value for digital books is still evolving (I’m selling PROTEGE at Graphicly for a buck/issue), and I like having having the freedom to leave it up to you guys to decide how much a downloaded version of this book is worth to you. And I know there are some things worth more than $, so trades from comic creators, fan art and promises to spread the word about PROTEGE are also accepted! Click over to The Depot to get your copies or send an email to protegecomic@gmail.com.

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To BRAOOOOM or not to BRAOOOOM

Comic book sound effects are funky things. Some writers embrace them in all their KER-CHOW glory, others ignore them altogether. I gave this weighty matter a lot of thought after many tweaks and re-designs of the sound effect on pg 9 — which I ultimately decided to go without.

Yeah, it’s not the greatest BRAOOOM I’ve ever seen. But regardless of the design, I felt like the text kept getting in the way of the art in this panel and didn’t add any impact to the image. As I’m learning, a big part of lettering is like sound in film — you’re doing a good job if viewers don’t notice. In film, if you wonder why the dialogue sounds so garbled or why there’s a random buzz in the background, the sound guy has failed. Same thing in comics if the reader wonders why a word balloon is hanging across a character’s face or a sound effect doesn’t fit within the layout of a panel.

To read an interesting post dissecting comic book sound effects by a dude much smarter than me, check out Martyn Pedler’s great article in Full Stop.

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Beginnings

Even though chapter one is wrapped up, it feels to me like things are just starting. As I write the next chapters (mid-way thru chapter three right now) and look back on End Job, I’ve been thinking about the challenges of a first issue. Especially when it’s for a story meant to unspool over a long period of time. The first story arc of PROTEGE runs 3 issues/chapters (although I might split up #3). And, if you good people keep reading, I’ve sketched out the story for another 30 issues or so.

So the first 24 pages of a long narrative are tricky things. I wanted to throw enough to clearly introduce the characters and setting, but leave out enough so you want more. I wanted to set things up so I could tear them down, and leave you either wondering or anticipating how the story would rebuild itself. Of course, I didn’t succeed with everything. But if you’re reading this, chances are you’ve stuck it out through the first-issue fumblings.

We may hardly know each other, I know, but trust me on this much: we’re working hard to make PROTEGE an action comic — hell, a story — worth reading. Stay tuned!

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Protege Wallpapers Now Available

Get some PROTEGE wallpapers for your desktop, laptop, iPad or iPhone! They’re available for a one buck suggested donation, but no one has been turned away for lack of funds (as long as they take a blood oath to talk up the comic).

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