What's Happening - April 2025
Printer woes, Below the Depths, and other fun new projects.
Welcome to my monthly newsletter, giving you updates on the things I’ve been lettering, reading and writing this month.
What am I writing?
Last week the print order for Hero of Legend #3 came in and, unfortunately, was a complete mess. I don't need to get into the specifics, but the basics are that the pages that should have been on the back and inside covers of the book got shuffled around with what should have been the final 4 pages of the story, creating a ton of comics that are completely unusable. Luckily I was able to get a refund on the print order and am moving forward with a different printer for this (and future) issues.
These sort of set backs are always a bummer, but they also got me thinking about how smoothly things have gone so far with creating Hero of Legend. Not to pat myself on the back too hard, but Niccolò and I have been pretty solid and consistent since we first started putting out episodes on this newsletter early last year. And even with a completely botch print run (speaking of which, anyone want a big box of messed up comics? Not really sure what I should do with these things) we're still on track for fulfilling this campaign on time. Needing to reprint them just means that we aren't going to be early. I'm pretty proud of that. It's not easy to put out a book this regularly, and frankly there aren't many creators that have put out as many issues as we have in the same time period. And on top of that, the books are pretty good! Listen, not trying to be too self-congratulatory, but when you get a big box of messed up comics, you can either wallow in the shittiness of that situation or try to find some way to look on the bright side.
Anyway, once those copies of Chapter 3 get out to folks, it'll be onto the Kickstarter for Chapter 4. Our last episode brought our heroes right up to the mouth of the Dragon Queen's cave, and I'm super excited for May's episode where you finally get to meet her. As a little teaser, check out these covers for Chapter 4 featuring the Queen of the Dragons by the always amazing Laura Todisco and our other variant cover artist for this issue, Valentine Smith:
If you haven't yet, make sure you're following the prelaunch page for Hero of Legend #4. Love how both of these covers show off the scale of the Dragon Queen, but in completely different ways. Can't wait for y'all to be able to pick them up!
Last thing in this section, I've set up the prelaunch page for the follow up to my graphic novel Into the Deep with Felipe Trindade, Below the Depths, which you can check-out here.
Both Into the Deep and Below the Depths (which I've decided are part of the Irulian Chronicles, for branding purposes) started with a few specific scenes and images. If you've read Into the Deep, those scenes were: Sai's introduction, Kor's conversation with the Imperator, and Kor's final use of The Current in the climax of that book. And if you have no idea what I'm talking about, hey, go grab a copy of Into the Deep over at my Kofi shop today.
I say all this because what got me thinking about setting up this kickstarter page was Felipe hitting one of those important scenes in Below the Depths. Here is the smallest of sneak peaks:
It's been just about a year since we finished Into the Deep, and the more time that passes, the more that I realize it's a book that I feel really feel proud of. I think Felipe and I learned a lot making that book, but we also made something really special. But I also think that the sequel, when we're ready to show more of it off, is even better. That still won't be for a little bit, though. But if you want to make sure you're ready for when that does happen, go ahead and click on that "notify me" button on the prelaunch page.
What am I lettering?
Since the 4th issue of Wild Wisps is currently live on Kickstarter, I thought it might be fun to show off a section of my lettering template in this lettering section of the newsletter. So, here is the portion of my lettering template where I keep all of the different dialogue styles for the different Wisps looked like once I was finished working on Issue 3:
I don't know that anyone is paying attention to it, but I think that for a book where each type of creature has it's own speaking style, it's important for those things to be consistent. It's one of those things that shows you care about the world you're creating, and one of those fun pieces of world building that you get to do as a letterer.
So, every time a wisp pops up in the script, I always check my little gallery here to make sure I haven't already done something for them. And if I haven't, I make sure the new style I put together gets added to my lettering template for next time. This makes setting up the pages take a little bit longer than it does for most of the books I work on, but I generally think it's worth it. Wild Wisps is one of my favorite comics I work on, and I definitely think it's worth checking out if you haven't yet, even if it's just for my lettering.
Wild Wisps #4
Like I said above, Wild Wisps is one of my favorite books to letter. It's one of the books I'm the most proud of my lettering work on, and one that I think I can fully recommend if you're someone who likes my writing as well. Here's the synopsis, from the Kickstarter page:
WILD WISPS is an ongoing, epic fantasy comic book series for adults about a world that humans share with incredible creatures known as Wisps. Wisps are magical monsters with elemental powers that can be either commonplace or god-like. Some Wisps can help with household chores by using their water-based powers or load-bearing strength. Others have great and terrible abilities to control the weather or even read human minds. And others still are turned into weapons of war.
We follow a would-be knight, KINO and his Wisp TONKAREX. When we meet them, these two have lost everything. Their family, their purpose, and their hope. All they have left is a plan: to join QUEEN RAINA'S Guard. However, they harbor a secret that could tilt the balance of Raina's 20-Year War if it gets discovered. Kino knows the truth about a MYTHIC WISP: a special kind of Wisp born out of one million hatches that has an incredibly rare Tri-Element ability, which gives this extraordinary Wisp the power to alter reality itself. In the wrong hands, Kino's secret could lead to the end of existence as they know it.
If you haven't yet, be sure to check it out!
Some other prelaunch comics:
What am I reading?
My Neighbor Necromancer #1-2
My Neighbor Necromancer is a YA fantasy comic on Kickstarter. I backed the campaign for issues #1 and #2 a last year and just got around to reading them. It's a really fun book! The highlight for me is definitely the art by Jason Piperberg and the colors by Luca Romano. The book looks great. There is such a high level of quality and detail to the artwork that makes each page a just gorgeous. I was a little surprised when reading it just how much of a YA book this really is. Not many YA or all-ages books do well on Kickstarter, but this is definitely a YA book! For that reason, I don't have a ton to say about the story. Just doesn't quite feel aimed at me. But the art? Definitely worth checking out!
Anything else?
Nope! Bye.