Post 262: Poor Conner Kent

This week, in the latest issue of Action Comics, there is a scene of Lex Luthor standing in front of the statue that was created when Superman died. However, it was now next to a statue of Superboy, seemingly having died in Infinite Crisis... BEFORE the final issues of Infinite Crisis were to come out.

A quick commentary on this thought process...this would technically be the first POST SUPERBOY era issue, thus making it the clear collector's item, however, it won't be...the issue of Infinite Crisis where both Superboy (E1) and Superboy Prime collide and die will be the collector's issue.

What I wonder is...does anyone really care about Conner Kent? The fact that he was a clone of Superman's DNA mixed with Lex Luthor's DNA was a huge shock element, and the fact that he turned on his peers due to the words that Luthor hid in him was cool. Mix that with the fact that him and Wondergirl just had their first sexual experiences together (thus leading to the possibility of a child) and more, this character was getting interesting...but getting interesting is not BEING interesting.

I worry that this happening was too early, since the character had only been created when the death of Superman occurred, meaning, he hadn't been around that long.

When the FLASH died in Crisis on Infinite Earths, he was a character with twenty years of TRUE history, and 50 years of Legacy. This Superboy was 10 years old (MAYBE) with no real established Legacy to anything other than the S wrapped in black.

Maybe I'm being hard on the creators, but this one seemed like it was done at the wrong time.

And the last one. This one is of Batman in the background, but with his former protege, Jason Todd in the foreground. This one was about ten minutes of drawing JT and only about 3 minutes of rendering Batman. I think this would be a great convention sketch, but really disappointed me it how little of my thought I was able to make into an image. 

Just more doodling at work with this one. I don't even have a name for it, so I called it "Drawing." I look at the character as a possible Legion of Super-Heroes character for DC. Decided to play with different color inks, too...since its all I had available. 

Bored at work today, so I have three new drawings to post. This first one is of Marvel's character, NOVA. I was discussing a possible 30 minute DRAW OFF to JK and while he was trash talking, I was drawing. So here was my first attempt at a 15 minute drawing...I really like the composition and even the proportion. PLEASE...go ahead and send comments on it...I'd really like the feedback. 

Post 258: Boredom

I'll probably have the first three issues of Tagger's Tale done within therest of the week, the way work is going. I find it crazy that sometimes I can write for two or three hours and really put good work down, and then sometimes I'll go weeks or months without it...like THIEF. I wrote two issues with NO trouble...then "the fever" struck. I couldn't write anymore of it. My own personal hypeon the story just showed that it was TOO GOOD of a story for me to write, that I started feeling like I was cutting corners rushing to keep the flow right...and I just didn't have it.

THIEF is a story I want to have completed before I do anything with it, and Eric knows this. He's been patient with me, and I've been patient with him. We've been working on it close to a year already with just a little more than 30 pages penciled (not near completion, yet).

Its no wonder that writers like Bendis have to phone in issues and mess up a well written title or five...and that's sad. It also makes me wonder how Geoff Johns can write five or six QUALITY titles all the time and never slack off.

So JK and I are going to attempt our string of 30 minute broadcasts again as soon as both of us are caught up on our weekly wrestlings...which means me this time. We're probably going to do two 30 minutes a week when we are able to, but we'll probably start with one.

On all the other stuff, I'm looking at working in a different word and pictures format to work with, since I'm not nearly as skilled with action panels and such. Very early stages...not sure what it'll amount to.

Post 257: Back from AC...yeesh.

Well,

I had a LOT of fun while in Atlantic City NJ, but I also had a lot of NON-fun... I Lost A LOT of money in the machines, may have lost some just by losing it, and on top of all that, my cell phone was either stolen right off me ($300 phone) or I lost it at the casino.

Well, anyway, with all that, I'm back home, ready to sleep in my own bed and get back to working, so I can make some money...since when I got back I was welcomed with 1)Mortgage payment (this one's covered), credit card payment (also covered) and...CAR INSURANCE...(NOT COVERED YET)...

you ever get that feeling that you knew it was going to be harder than you initially thought, but you do it anyway? I said to my buddy Fubar (that's his nickname), "The only thing I'm worried about coming home to is my car insurance bill..." and then it was there...BOOOOOOOO.

oh well, at least tomorrow I get to get back into my writing and being on here a little more often.

Post 256: Letter from the publisher...

Hey everyone,

This right here is the email I received from Chris this morning explaining why the LOST PILOT is being shown without letters. I have deleted ANYTHING that may be confidential information, as is part of my creator agreement with Keenspot.

---------------------------------

Rob:

Heya! Sorry for being so untalkative lately, been crazy busy. Just
wanted to let you know that I'm running LANDIS: THE LOST PILOT sans
lettering, for these reasons: 1.) I don't have the script and I know
you and Owen probably don't either.. 2.) It's cool to see Owen's
original art without words covering it. I figure this can be a
special treat for web fans, and we'll run the story with lettering
(you may have to rescript it) in the print collection. 3.) I wanted to
cycle through all the available LANDIS material before starting in on
the ARDY stuff, {Deleted}

Thanks!

Your Pal,

Chris Crosby

---------------------------------

So if anyone was wondering if Owen could tell a story without reading the words, you'll soon know.

And not to worry, I WILL find a copy of the script...SOMEWHERE. This way the print edition WILL still have something new and special for everyone (not to mention, I've been told the whole first story WILL be full color).

Post 255: Commissions Anyone?

I haven't done this before, so I'll just go ahead...if there is a character that you would like an 8.5 X 11 drawing of from Landis, or in general (as you've seen, I like to draw a lot of different characters on here), let me know. I think I'm going to do Head shots for $5 and Upperbody shots for $15.

All commissions will be on cardstock, and I'll cover shipping. I take paypal, and right now I'd probably be able to take like 5-10 commissions without too much wait time...

If you are interested, hit me up by email to RPOTCHAK@GMAIL.COM...

Also, if you'd like either JK Radtke or Eric Kent to do a commissioned piece for you, let me know...their pricing may be higher, but you can still ask.

Post 254: Tonight, I give you the SECOND winner in the Landis contests! This is Ernie, and along side him is the sexy lead of my favorite online comic, LANDIS...if you look in the top left corner, there's a head sketch of Ardy on there as well.

Ernie says he's going to frame it at some point, and that he'll send us new pics when he does!

Doesn't this make EVERYONE want to sign up to win the prize next time? I even paid for Shipping =). 

Post 253: Last UNSEEN LANDIS arc...

It seems Chris decided to go with the final LANDIS story before going into the ARDY City That Never Sleeps, and that's cool with me.

It kind of came as a surprise. This single issue (22 pages) was actually the very first Landis script I wrote, as well as being the first Landis ART pages that Owen did. I'm not sure if Owen wanted them seen or not...

As a heads up, this does not really take place in the continuity that you saw happen already. It has nothing to do with the world being destroyed or anything like that... I would just say sit back, enjoy where Landis ORIGINALLY was going to go before we went with the story we did...

This is LANDIS: THE LOST PILOT!

Post 252: What's better than a 252 on St. Patty's day?

Heh...I love a shot of rumple and 151, making the classic 252 proof shot.

Anywho...I was thinking about this today, and what's better than fighting immortals? How about a BLIND immortal? Even better, what if his special Immortal gift is that when his sight was taken he can now see the amount of energy that is contained in other immortals he comes in contact with?

That's a character named Jin in the third issue of TAGGER'S TALE. He trains other immortals and explains to them how to maintain their energy, thus becoming more powerful. I just really liked the idea of a tragic flaw with him, and that's his blindness to the normal man. However, he's not nearly as incapacitated as you'd like to believe...

I'll probably be designing Jin this week myself and sending it to Eric for approval.

Alright, drink responsibly!

Post 251: The start...

Well,

We're now over 250 blog posts here, and I have got to say that it's been real fun. I've enjoyed it. No, I'm not going to stop them, either.

So everyone knows, Chris is responsible for the updates on the website, currently, though that may change as soon as we go into TAVA, so currently, he has all these gorgeous Landis pieces that were to be the covers that he wants to show off. As I stated earlier, I have uploaded ALL the City That Never Sleeps files to him, already, so they can be put online at any point.

Since I know nothing about web-publishing or anything, I'm kind of at the mercy of an extremely busy guy, but as I told him, if he wanted someone to head up the Publishing (print) end of Keenspot, I'd be able to do that, since I like laying out pages like that.

Aynway, all I can say, is that I know he has the pages available to him, something I don't have anymore, due to the bad HDD, but at the same time, I understand his wanting to show off these great pieces, too.

And because I want to make it an extra special Thursday for people who come here on a day without a comic update, here is my favorite panel that JK has drawn for The Ardy Vanstarr Adventures, so far.

JK and I have been a tad worried about the action sequences, since we were both knowing that a funny comic would be easy, but a more COMIC comic (like Landis), is much more difficult. This panel came off extremely fluid, which is the best way to describe movement in a static picture. No need for movement lines or anything, you just know that he just popped the IGP officer in the chops.When this panel is finalized, I may take that Ardy upperbody and create the next great ARDY T-shirt out of it (maybe with a silly slogan like, "Karate Chop!" on it for kicks).

I'd really like to see people's opinions on these things...and also...

I've been considering getting a MYSPACE page for NO other reason than to have a much larger outlet for the blog...anyone have an opinion to chime in on that? 

Just so everyone can see the difference in look and feel Eric is going to bring to the Landis table...here's his first sketch of her.

He's told me he's going to use a model for her likeness, but as you can see, she's definitely looking different than Owen's version.

I liken this to the announcement of Joe Madureira returnnig to comics to draw Ultimates AFTER Bryan Hitch leaves. Anyone who reads full comic BOOKS realizes what I mean, with Hitch being a very realistic style artist (like Eric), and Madureira having a very manga influenced style (like Owen). Both artists are great, so when Eric finds the time to start these new scripts (he has not told me what he thinks, yet), I'll update everyone like I have with JK's Ardy sketches and such.

Oh, and for ALL the Elisa fans...don't worry too much, she has a very strong role in TAGGER'S TALE. A lot of the time, I have felt that her character is stronger when she is influential in the going ons, rather than being the centralized point. I know the story is named after her, but I think the idea that the story shows her affects and influences on the people she meets is much more interesting that showing how she defeats a giant monster...though don't get me wrong, Shadow of the Collosus is awesome, too. 

Post 248: TAGGER update and more.

Ernie, your prize was shipped today. It was a Landis print, featuring the art of Owen Gieni, colored by Studio makma, autographed and sketched (Ardy) from me... if you have a digital camera and would like it to be seen on the blog, send me a pic :).

Today's piece was a painted would be cover for one of the issues of Landis, had it been a monthly series. The name isn't in my head of the artist (SORRRRRRY!) but its a gorgeous piece (that I'd LOVE to get the original for).

A couple days ago, I posted here how I was writing a new story called Tagger's Tale, and that I was already 12 pages into scripting it. Well, with my new writing format, witnessed by both JK and Eric (and Chris, I didn't forget you, boss!), and my trust in them as artists, I'm now 48 pages into Ardy and 44 pages into Tagger (Ardy is done in 48 page story arcs, Tagger/Landis is being done in 22 page issue arcs).

What that basically means is that I'm going to have the possibility of finishing this next arc of Landis, which tiptoes around the aftermath of LANDIS volume 1, and really touches on Tagger's character, including his first meeting with our red-haired hottie. I don't normally tend to believe it when I'm onto writing something good, but in this situation, *I* know I've written a REALLY good first two issues. I just want to keep the momentum going and finish this arc (probably another four issue one, so 88 pages in total), and then I'll get back on THIEF to finish it's initial arc...when that is completed, hopefully I'll talk Chris into getting the rest of LANDIS colored so we can move onto a print version, which he sounds a lot more positive about.

Lots of stuff going on, and to anyone wondering, I WAS able to get my hands on a licensed copy of Photoshop C2, so I've now replaced almost ALL the program software I had lost. NOW, I just need to get those scripts back from the artists so I can see where they are going.

Trust me when I say that the TAGGER'S TALE is honestly one of my favorite written stories thus far, ever...I put it right up there with the unfinished SPRING BROKE Ardy story, which will see its way onto the webcomic.

I think that's about everything today...and yes, I'm thinking about posting SOME of the new TAGGER script online, but I don't want to ruin the surprises just yet.

The Ardy piece that I started before the harddrive broke. This is probably going to be the center panel of my first ARDY page that I draw myself.

I have to give it to JK, since he's letting me do the art for a few strips in between the story arcs to give them a little more seperation. This one is my favorite recent piece I've drawn, considering it's probably the closest to complete. Also, thanks again to Keenspot for giving Landis another ad...especially since it was the final current post.

ON ANOTHER LANDIS NOTE: I have begun writing a story called TAGGER'S TALE which is about Janus. It will start 6 months after the events of what happened leading to the end of the current Landis arc, but will really deal with his first encounter with Elisa, and how their relationship came to be where it was...so lots of Flashback sequencing, leading up to a strong revelation of Tagger's character, and where he will go from there.

I've already written 18 pages of the story, and I'm quite impressed with how easily it was flowing today. I would expect it to probably run 96 pages in total...the only down side is do not expect it for a while, since Eric, the artist on THIEF will be doing the art, he will probably be finishing up that engagement first. 

Post 246: Welcome!

Hi to all the folks that have never checked out LANDIS before. Hopefully if you read from first part to today's, you'll see that there is A LOT that happened in such a short time.

Though this story is coming towards its en, there are two stories lined up for everyone to enjoy, followed by the launch of the SECOND Pots and Pans Ink title, The Ardy Vanstarr Adventures, starring the private eye, Ardy, seen here in Landis.

Please, either comment here on what you thought of from reading Landis...or on the Forum! I look forward to ANY feedback.

Rob

Post 245: Success...kind of.

Well, just as a quick update...my desktop IS running again...now with the new harddrive, so I have to replace some software, but after that's complete, I'll probably be able to start posting more drawings here and everything.

just figured I'd let everyone know that to fully restore the drivers on a computer is a total bitch...but at least now I can be in my computer room and typing on a full sized keyboard, rather than always on the laptop.

Thanks again to those that helped, and Ernie...you are the winner of the LANDIS print plus the sketch. I'll be doing the sketch ON the print, to truly make it one of a kind. email me your address at rpotchak@gmail.com to have me send the prize!

Have a nice night, all...and only two weeks til I'm in Atlantic City...I love gamble.

Post 244: More LANDIS retrospective. and MY GOALS...

Last night I wrote up a lot of where Landis started...today, I'm going to go more into that, because it really brought back some memories.

I remember when Chris first showed me Owen's samples for Landis, both he and I said, "This is our guy." And that's when Chris went crazy..."We'll do it in full color!" I was shocked. I applauded, with big YAYS! because I knew that this is how my goals in life went...

1) Write comics...(done)
2) Write a comic book that gets published...done when I turned 13, with CITY OF ILLUSION with 5th Panel Comics...the first appearance of Ardy. This was also my second published piece of art, as I drew the cover, and Jeremy Phillips drew the interiors.
3) Write a comic book that cracks the top 300...hasn't happened yet (technically), though honestly, the orders for LANDIS #1 would have been, since it would have been ranked #265 the month it would have come out, had it been profitable...not to mention, the FREE issue did 22000 copies, which back then would have easily broken a top 75...but since it was FREE, it did not show up on that listing. SCORN HEATWAVE sold 6000 copies when it shipped, so technically it was in the top 150 Black and White comics the month it came out...so that was a pretty big step.
4) Get ARDY seen....done. Ardy has been on a T-Shirt of Peter Parker in Sensational Spider-man #21, as well as on a coffee mug in Major Bummer #6, AND his name was on the wall in Uncanny X-Men #346 thanks to Mike Wieringo, Tom Nguyen and Tim Townsend respectively! (You guys all freakin rock, BTW).
5) Get a COLOR Comic published....done as of why this was originally started.

Now the lofty goals...

1) Write a comic for Marvel OR DC.
2) Write Highlander for Dynamite Entertainment (obviously, hehe).
3) Cartoon DEAL for Ardy...
3A) VOICE Ardy...or another character in said cartoon.
4) Movie Development deal for LANDIS.
5) Self-Publish THIEF, though I may strike a deal with Keenspot for that title, as well.

Back to what I was talking about earlier...I want to discuss Owen and his talent. Owen is not just your everyday artist that swipes poses from other artists, and he des not seem to cater his style to what he always wants...he's a true professional. He easily was able to take EVERY written page (except one, hehe) and create a landscape, a horizon and ultimately...the whole picture. I didn't have to give full page descriptions most times with him, I just said what I wanted to see, and he took my vision and made it a beautiful piece of work. I truly don't believe LANDIS would be as successful as it is if he hadn't been doing his top notch art on it. Not saying the story couldn't holdup by itself, but like a movie...it isn't just the actors, its the plot, and the cinematography...and Owen gave it ALL of that.

I was truly rewarded with him on this project. I would probably give a kidney to work with him again.

I would like to also say that I'm sorry I wasn't able to work with Ryan Stegman on #5, since the series had been cancelled for print long before that. He's an extremely talented artist that is doing his own great work on Midnight Kiss from Markosia, and continues to tell me if I get my Marvel book...he "better be" the artist that draws it.

More to come later...gotta get back to work.

Post 243: More of the different

Hey all,

Hopefully you enjoyed the total turn for the worse the world took in Landis, as Tagger, Ardy and her were unable to fix the problems at hand. It is great that the feedback that I have received has been nothing but positive. I was afraid that the way people would take this spot, where little kids get infected (and Allegedly attack a mother) so well. I really want to take this time to let everyone know that this story would never have been done if not for the fact that an audience WAS out there for a story like this.

Personally, Chris Crosby and I knew the project was onto something when I was able to talk a guy named Ethan Van Sciver into drawing a cover for us (for a LOT less than what his going rate would be at this point, since he's drawing Superman/Batman at DC Comics...though he did recently state to me at a convention that if it weren't for his exclusive deal with DC, he'd be on board with doing more covers for the book, which made me feel REAL good). After that, Chris asked me to go ahead and plot and write out a four issue headstart and we'd look for an artist, and even do a talent search. He was always REALLY supportive of the story, I guess seeing something in the concept.

Elisa cam a LONG way since she was created in the Bad Girl craze of the comics industry (part of what led to its downfall in the mid to late nineties). She was originally one of the bad girls...someone created in an issue of SCORN for SCC Entertainment, and then was to receive her own comic. That didn't pan out. This was 96.

I chat with Chris in 2002 and tried to talk him into launching LANDIS again when Ethan wasnow working on a small indy title called X-MEN (hehe). Realizing if our cover artist was working on a high profle title, we should jump at the chance to push a book out.

We knew Free Comic Book Day was coming, and we knew we had something that could work.
Chris and I were looking for a name for a new company. I suggested "A-BOMB" because with an A and a - at the beginning, it should be at the forefront of the independent section of PREVIEWS, where the direct market orders comics.

In October, we knew we were going to do the FCBD book. We were thinking did we want a stand-alone story, or did we want something that was totally new, that led into the already written and drawn series. Owen wanted a new book to draw because he wanted to show how much he had expanded his art style since he began, so I got to work.

The first script was rejected...too campy is what I was told from Chris. He gave some insight to it and said, "why not include some cool backstory, and lead into where the other four issues will take us?" And I thought about it...and then I started to research it...and I think Chris suggested that she would be Nostradamus' mistress, which I didn't like using someone that popular in history, so I did more research...and found Jean Ayme...a real person, without much written about him...turns out, he actually became the mayor of his hometown before dying alone...which I would find out about a year ago.

That's why if you re-read Landis from the VERY beginning of the website, it holds a totally different feel and pace. It isn't until those three lead in pages to "CHAPTER 1" that you actually see the pace, feel, and look really become what I wanted it to. What I ask you to do is this...re-read Landis. You will see the change, and you will feel it flow differently.

I saw this when I wrote it, and I think everyone saw the difference, and the popularity picked up after that.

Now folks, its your turn...with the end coming up real soon...(I can't recall if this was the last page and I don't have a harddrive to read the script at the moment), I ask you to review it. IF you want a paper copy of it, send replies...lets try to get Keenspot to move forward with the print version of it.

ARDY is around the corner. A character I created 10 years before Elisa, and have more love for than just about any of my characters...the story will be different, and there will be more humor. This story is going to be fun, and much brighter...but I PROMISE...to come back to LANDIS, since I know people want more.

After THIEF is completed, if I can talk him into it, Eric will draw LANDIS. He's one of the few I'll trust with her return. There's one more Landis story to come back to...and then hopefully I'll get BOTH stories (Landis and ARDY) rolling at the same time...or rotate them.

Thanks again, because I know I want to return to her...and I can see from the responses I've been getting, that you want her to return, as well.

Good News....VERRRRY BADDDD NEWWWWS

Good news:

I have a new 200gb harddrive which I was going to use as a slave drive and have a total of 280gb on my current desktop...Awesome, right?

Not quite.

VERY BAD NEWS...

I may have installed it incorrectly, and when I tried to fix it, the cheap ass cable that came with it broke off, and two of the harddrive pins FROM THE OLD DRIVE THAT RUNS MY COMP, fell into the drive and probably now need to be resoldered on...thus meaning unless I can pull the spindle off and copy it (I know I've heard that places CAN do that, I just don't know how much it costs), the drive may be fully lost. Meaning...

No scripts from me...no art from me or the other artists...and only able to post to the blog from work.

This is a terrible day to be me...heh.

my latest sketch.

This is another of Wolverine, on purple paper and drawing with pencil, ink, and whiteout. The lighting is all wrong and the proportion is off, but heck, I'm just sketching for fun, right?

I find it difficult to stick to certain proportion levels and anatomy, because with a comic, the characters are supposed to be larger than life, and I hope I caught that here.

On another note, dealing with Landis, I know Eric probably will read this before I get a chance to discuss it with him, but I'm going to ask him to take over for LANDIS after we complete THIEF, which I will probably jump back into writing until JK gets where we want to be with Ardy (though he is about 15 pages in, which is awesome). Even though I'm figuring to ask Eric to take over for Landis, I may actually change it to a solo story for Janus Tagger, because I had a really cool story in mind for Janus, and just hadn't gotten it done...who knows, maybe when I'm back into writing THIEF, I'll just want to stay with that story instead...just rambling...

and now I have to decide WHO out of the two folks that signed up to win the contest will in fact win...Thanks Jenna and Ernie, you guys probably are two of the best five fans the story has =)... 

The piece I'm pretty proud of. Captain America, here, is unfinished, and like Marv, was drawn on a steno notebook, which isn't great quality, thickness or anything, but for a sketch done at work when I'm supposed to be trying to earn commission, taking less than 30 minutes to complete and such, this is a pretty slick drawing. With it, I'm trying to give the look that he's holding the shield with his right arm, and I really like the composition. If I were to attempt to ink this piece, I'm not sure if I would go for a darker, more striated art look, ala Stephen Platt, or if I would go for a "as few lines as possible" ala Mike Avon Oeming look.

Either way you slice it, I'm enjoying the fact that I'm getting my drawing chops back, but as you can see, I haven't really explored other mediums, so I may go back to the different colored paper with black, paper color and white inks, to really give it a positive and negative space feel. Maybe I'll begin liking my stuff enough to once again attempt a comic...

ehh...probably not. 

The first of some new sketches by me. This one is of Marv from Sin City. I still don't understand HOW Frank Miller is able to make a complete black and white contrast, but I attempted to emulate some of that, here.

I always think that I draw heads better than bodies, and this is a prime example. I wanted to give the impression that he's grabbing for a gun inside the coat, and I'm not sure I accomplished that task...anyways, any feedback? 

Post 238: Marvel?

Well, I just received a response from Joe Quesada at Marvel, and it read, "Thanks for the suggestion, Rob."

That's all, hehe. It's cool though, that's not a "We will be going another direction."

It's also not a, "No thanks."

Post 237: Marvel.

Well,

I haven't done this in like two years, but I pitched Marvel Comics a story today that I think would be a guaranteed sales increase for the title in question, but that's about all. I'm not sure how many comic BOOK readers are out there, but this story has gotten nothing but praise from comic fans since I first mentioned it, and even though the pitch is rough, I think that my sales skills will help it at least get looked at.

Can't get too into details on it, in case it gets greenlighted, but I'm not holding my breath. More when I hear it...either way, you'll hear the response.

Played around sketching a bit myself, today, and this is what I came up with. I'm very sketchy, whereas JK is extremely clean with our art. It'd be interesting to have him draw something and then have me ink it, because I'd almost definitely throw in ink marks where they almost wouldn't be necessary.

I hope you have all enjoyed my more present appearance here, as of late. Hopefully in the next two weeks or so, I'll have POTCHAK.COM up and running so that you can see some of my art in gallery style. I'll probably also have a mirror of elisalandis.com on ardyvanstarr.com for the time being, as well, so that both sites are up and available to see.

I hope everybody is enjoying where Landis is going, because I feel its safe to say now that it doesn't have a happy ending...and I think that's one of the things that truly seperates it from where everyone WANTS a comic to go. I try to live in a more modern sci-fi realm, and must admit that I liked Empire Strikes Back more for the fact that the bad guys won. I just seems more real, that the good guys COULD lose. Only a couple days left.