New Lands, New Heroes

Today I did an exciting thing: I sent a book off to the printers. As the mail clerk stamped "First Class" on the package, and after I attached a strip of Priority Mail tape on the back for safe keeping, the cushioned mailer slipped from my fingers into the transom of the U.S. Postal System. In one month's time I should get back a slim (but power-packed) comic book featuring the latest chapter from Kid Beowulf & The Song of Roland, ready and primed for Comicon 2006 and the eager fans awaiting therein.

The image before you (click on it for a larger and even more exhilirating view) is the striking wraparound cover to the book illustrated by yours truly and brought to dazzling life by colorist extraordinnaire, Brian Kolm. Brian did the color work on the first Kid Beowulf book and I didn't think he could top it. He's proven me wrong with this one and I can't wait to see what he does with the cover to the actual graphic novel. The book is subtitled New Lands, New Heroes and it is in fact chapter 3 from the upcoming graphic novel. It's the most completed work to date and introduces the principle characters in the new book as well as Beowulf and Grendel's first journey away from home. It's a good read.

I've sent books off to printers before and it is a balancing act between excitement and nausea. You're always second-guessing yourself: did I fix all the typos? are the page numbers in the right order? have they been trimmed correctly? does the cover have to be CMYK or RGB? did I put in the crop marks? are the margins wide enough? the art big enough? glossy finish or matte? will it look like rubbish when I get it back?

Even though you've done your best to proof the work and come up with some sort of composite of what it should look like, it's all one big crapshoot until the book arrives on your door. And then you know for sure whether you fixed all the typos and if the gamble was worth it, 'cuz print doesn't lie.

This particular book is just slightly more exciting than the other books I've done because this isn't a reprint or new edition of Kid Beowulf (of which I've done at least three different versions). This one is brand spanking new and it's important because this little comic book is the precursor to the rest of the Kid Beowulf series. Every panel, page, chapter or book that comes after this, is in service to the 12 book series as a whole. Kid Beowulf is not a one hit wonder. This graphic novel preview of book two is testament to that.

And so comes another wave of nausea and excitement....

UPDATE: You can now preorder the book; it will only be availble online and at COMICON '06!