sketchbook: October 2010 Archives

Well, maybe you should. If you did you might see a special treat or two. If you were paying attention, a while back, you might have seen me mention in passing that Max and I had a couple of ideas for a few Hellcats related projects OUTSIDE of the main comic here. Well, this is the first one. 

One of the most common questions I get at comic book conventions the first time someone picks up a copy of Hellcats is "hmm, this is interesting, but I thought it would be a little more... well, you know, adult oriented? Have anything like that?" Well, the answer was no. WAS. I'm trying to change that. 

Obviously the Hellcats universe is very large. This was intentional. It gives us the opportunity to introduce different types of characters (like the Starfoxes for instance and The T.E.D.D:IJAµ (that's Kennedy and the other Bears from "A Giant Mess" if you don't remember), but also to tell other types of stories, that while still in the same "universe" might be of a different vein.

And that's what Katt and Dawg is going to be. An explicit content comic for mature readers (well, knowing me, it'll be for immature mature readers). Dark, grim, gritty, lots of sex and violence and definitely not safe for work. And yet with much of the same kind of humor you see here. It should be interesting. Yeah, that's a good word for it. Interesting!

I've very much been looking forward to this project, as it'll be the first full length comic that I will be publishing that I drew by myself. By convention I generally write and color the comics while Max pencils and inks them, but it had always been our intention that both of us would get the opportunity to do both. It's something I've been working on since 24-hour comic day. I actually completed the comic as a quick and dirty 24-hour comic back then and I'm now in process of refinishing it to make it nicer for publication. It's not a webcomic, because unlike the main strip here, it's meant to be read in one sitting, straight through, but I hope to have it done before next April (when Pittsburgh Comicon occurs, which typically represents the beginning of our convention year), and of course it will also be available in the Hellcats Bookstore, like our many other fine comics (cheap plug!).

You might have also noticed the current pirate story, "The Curse of the Kommodore's Courtesan," that's been running through some of the Saturday Hellcat Cosmoses for the last couple weeks. That's a solo project of Max's that will be occurring here and there in place of the regular Cosmoses, whenever he has time to work on a longer strip by himself. So keep tuned for more of those as well. 

Anyway, so here you go, the first sketch of Katt & Dawg, that I'll be releasing to the public. Let me know you think. Let me know if you'd be interested in reading such a thing, and if you'd be interested in even more Hellcats Universe expansion stories outside of the webstrip. Once this arc is over, I'd love to do a Starfox story and a TEDDIJAµ story for instance. (Someday. In the future. When we have more time. What I wouldn't give for my own Bullpen of artists. You know if anyone has some artistic talent and always wanted to draw a comic written by yours truly for the great wage of FREE, feel free to drop me a line),

Hmmm, so is anyone still reading? I should offer some sort of prize to people who register and comment. I wish I knew. I guess that's how Marvel came up with the fabled No-Prizes. Hey, if you come up with something feel free to comment about that too!

Make mine McGuffin!

-Mav

∑8x)