Josh's Blog

COMIC CON FREEBIE! *UPDATED!*

Stop by my booth (J7) or the Viper Comics booth (1903) wearing a Dead @ 17 shirt and receive a free set of buttons! (also available to purchase for $2)

 

UPDATE: Not going to Comic Con but still want a set of buttons? Good news! Just go to Sketch 86 and pre-order the brand new Dead @ 17 shirt and get the button set for free!

WRITING 'AFTERBIRTH' Pt. 3

Warning: this post contains spoilers for Dead @ 17: Afterbirth #2.

Last time I talked about introducing the Zodiac into the Dead @ 17 universe. Now here's the (almost) complete guide to who's who, where they come from, and what they represent.

COLOR: Green. Represents life, the beginning, Garden of Eden.

Eve: Aquarius - the water bearer. Water representing life, with Eve being the 'bearer' of the earth's first children. First appeared in The Lost Books of Eve.

Enoch: Aries - the ram, or the agrarian worker. The same Enoch of the bible. Never physically died, but was taken into Heaven. Also see The Book of Enoch. Spent time in the Garden of Eden according to apocryphal sources such as the Book of Jubilees.

 

To be revealed... (NOT Adam!)

 

 

COLOR: Blue. Represents servitude.

Jonah: Pisces - the fish. The same Jonah swallowed by the "great fish."

Samson: Scorpio - the scorpion. Scorpio is often associated with Orion - according to Wikipedia "a Greek giant who was a hunter and the most handsome man in the world. By no means impervious to the charms of females..." Samson is known for his slaying of a lion and his weakness for females, i.e. Delilah.

C.S Lewis: Capricorn - the goat fish. This is one I threw in for fun just because of  I'm such a huge fan of his writings. I chose Capricorn because of his affinity for hybrid creatures like fauns, mermaids, minotaurs, and centaurs.

 

 

COLOR: Pink. Represents leadership.

 Malachi: Leo - the lion. Was the leader of the Zodiac until his death in The 13th Brother. Not meant to be the same Malachi from the bible. However, I always imagined that he was perhaps one of the people resurrected by Christ (making a direct line from Christ to Malachi to Nara). Other than that, I wanted him to be a mystery.

Nara & Asia: Gemini - the twins, the 2 that are 1. Currently, the only 'active' agents on Earth.

To be revealed...

 

 

COLOR: Red. Represents wrath, vengeance.

Zaya: Libra - scales, balance. First appeared in Black Harvest.

 

 

 

Nyah: Cancer - the crab. Nyah is the daughter of Hazy and Elijah. Her complete story and why she is wearing red has not been revealed. All that's known is that she was captive to the servants of Belphegor for a time. Named after Nara and Elijah.

???: Sagittarius - the archer. This is one that I will probably never reveal. I know who it is, but what's life without a little mystery?

COMIC CON INFO! *UPDATED!*

 

UPDATE! As if that wasn't enough, I've got one more surprise. Jason Martin (Super Real Graphics) will be debuting his new anthology project called PULP GIRLS, featuring an all new 7 page story written and drawn by me (and colors by Frank Rapoza)!. You can check out a preview below and be sure to visit the official PULP GIRLS website for more info and the lowdown on all the great indie creators involved!

 

UPDATE 2! I will also be at the Outlaw Entertainment booth Friday and Saturday at 10-11 AM to sign a couple of the covers I did for them.

AFTERBIRTH #2

Dead @ 17: Afterbirth #2 arrives in stores this Wednesday! You can check out a 5 page preview at Comic Book Resources.

Also, check out a new interview with me at Comic Related!

WRITING 'AFTERBIRTH' Pt. 2

First introduced in The 13th Brother, the Zodiac is the group of supernatural warriors that Nara found herself a part of upon her 'merging' with Asia (now together known as Gemini). Although I had originally planned to introduce them all in The 13th Brother, I felt it was such a rich concept that it was worth saving and highlighting them in the following series.

Once of the first ideas I had for Afterbirth was that I wanted to open the story somewhere other than Earth. For the last 4 series there's been a lot of talk about the other side, but we've never seen it. Since things are nearing the end, it seemed like a good time to finally go there. Originally, my idea was to have the Zodiac all sitting in a boardroom like they were having a corporate meeting, but of course somewhere in time and space. But it didn't really convery the 'otherworldliness' that I wanted, and I was worried it might be a little confusing. I figured the best way to get the point across was to just put them on some planet that may or may not be in the spiritual realm. It leaves things open to interpretation, plus gets the point across that they're not on Earth.

Anyway, on to the fun stuff.

Probably the biggest revelation in Afterbirth was the inclusion of my characters Eve and Zaya, from my other books Lost Books of Eve and Black Harvest, respectively. This is an idea I had been toying with for a while, and have even been dropping a few hints along the way, the most obvious being the origin of Nara's nemesis Bolabogg in Lost Books of Eve. Beyond that, there are 3 specific instances of the books referencing the others.

In Black Harvest, there is 1 reference to Dead @ 17 and 1 reference to Lost Books of Eve. In The 13th Brother, there is 1 reference to Black Harvest. There may be others, but those are the ones I remember intentionally including.

First person to correctly identify all 3 will get a free sketch or a signed book, your choice! Please post your guesses in the comments!

Next up in Writing 'Afterbirth' pt. 3: Who's Who in the Zodiac!

WRITING 'AFTERBIRTH' pt. 1

Hopefully by now everyone has had a chance to read the latest installment in the Dead @ 17 series, Afterbirth #1. I thought I would do something different and offer a little insight on what went into the creation of the series and kind of show my thought process and hopefully answer a few questions along the way.

When I began talks with Image, I was suddenly faced with a monumental decision for the series, and potentially my career. The dilemma was: do I continue the series as is, picking up where I left off, or do I do a fresh "reboot," essentially restarting or resetting the series fresh to take advantage of a wider audience and hopefully bring in lots of new readers.

It was not an easy decision, and it was one I was actually wrestling with even before I knew Image was a possibility. So it was something I thought long and hard about over the course of a few months. It seemed obvious that the smart decision would be to got with option B, the reboot, in order to maximize sales and audience. But then I began to think about the story I had crafted over the past five years. Despite the various missteps and and growing pains, I was still pretty proud of the work I had put into it and was still very passionate about seeing the story all the way through to its conclusion. I didn't want the story I had built to go to waste, or to tell longtime fans to throw everything they knew out the window. I tried to think long term. Years from now, when it was all said and done, would I have a complete story with a beginning, middle, and ending that rewarded readers for sticking through to the end, or would I have a disjointed experiment, with a 4 part series suddenly ending and then beginning again with a new storyline with little or no connection, or perhaps completely contradictory, to what had come before. (in other words, a typical ongoing mainstream comic book)

You can see the direction I was leaning as I was beginning the conversation with Image. What tipped the scales though was when they asked to reprint the entire series so far into one volume. It seemed like the best compromise. Continuing the story, but allowing new readers the opportunity to get caught up.  Granted, some people still weren't happy. Some didn't want to plunk down $25 just to get caught up, which I can sympathize with. Other people just didn't want to bother and jumped right into Afterbirth and left feeling lost, confused, and dissappointed, something you never enjoy hearing as a creator.

However, I feel I did the right thing for the series in the long run. The decision has allowed me to map out the remainder of the series all the way to its final conclusion, something I couldn't be more excited about. Partly because I want to move on to other things, but mainly because I can't wait for you to finally read it. Following Afterbirth, there are only 2 more mini-series to go until the grand finale. But there are still some wild things ahead before we get there. The conclusion to Afterbirth is guaranteed to make your heads explode. Or knock you flat on your butts, or take your breath away, or some other similar physically damaging analogy.

Coming up in Writing 'Afterbirth' pt. 2: The Zodiac!