Thursday, July 12, 2012

SLIPSTREAM coming December 2012!

NOT AT SDCC ANNOUNCEMENT #1

So, I'm not at SDCC. To keep myself from being too depressed about it, I'm going to be announcing a few projects that I have, until now, kept hush-hush about. The first announcement is...

SLIPSTREAM: ORIGIN

You heard it here first - this is my first superhero comic, my first work with Big Dog Ink, and my first time playing in the Critter universe! For those unfamiliar with Critter, check out this brand new superhero universe from Big Dog Ink right here. Created by Tom Hutchison, the ongoing Critter series is the flagship title of Big Dog Ink, and it is putting the fun and adventure back into superhero comics.

Slipstream: Origin, written by me with art by the wonderful Owen Gieni, is the latest in a series of one-shot Critter spinoffs. It'll hit shelves in December 2012 (for those keeping up with the things that've been announced so far, that's the same month as Robyn Hood #4, Unannounced Project #3, and probably Super Unannounced Project #??). A cover will be coming soon but, until then, here is a Critter cover by Slipstream: Origin artist Owen Gieni.



Slipstream captures the same sense of fun that Critter embodies, but with a sci-fi twist. I won't spoil anything, but when I started plotting the comic, I was inspired by how much freedom Tom was letting me have with Slipstream, so I decided to make the comic about Slipstream building herself up from nothing and becoming the hero that we see in the monthly Critter title. It's completely standalone, but I hope it'll make folks eager to read more of Slipstream's adventures, because that character has been in my head for a while now.

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Now, because I'm a fan of hearing about the writing process, I'll give a bit of background on how this comic came to be. It's funny that I'm announcing this in my Not at SDCC blog, because this tale proves how important it is for freelancers to go to cons. I met Tom Hutchison at NYCC 2011. I had only had one comic published at that point (Angel: Yearbook at IDW), but my work on Zenescope's Grimm Fairy Tales Holiday Edition 2011had already been solicited. Wanting to showcase my first work in the industry, I made a business card that had my contact info and little images featuring cover art from my soon-to-be-published comics. I found the Big Dog Ink booth, and was fascinated by their titles. I gave Tom my business card, and he recognized the Grimm Fairy Tales comic on it - funny sidebar, Zenescope editor and all around great dude Raven Gregory was checking out the booth too, and heard us talking about GFT. So I met Tom and Raven at the same time! Anyway, I asked Tom if I could pitch stories to him, read up on Critter, and wrote some ideas for one-shot stories. Tom dug Slipstream, and the rest is history. Moral of the story? Cons are important. If you can go, go. I hope to see you at NYCC 2012, and surely SDCC 2013.

More tomorrow!

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PATRICK SHAND writes ROBYN HOOD, GRIMM FAIRY TALES, 1000 WAYS TO DIE, and more for Zenescope. He has written ANGEL for IDW, SLIPSTREAM for Big Dog Ink, and short stories published in various anthologies by Pill Hill Press, Rainstorm Press, and Wicked East Press. His plays have been produced in Manhattan and he currently teaches screenwriting and scriptwriting at Five Towns College.