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.
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