Tag: The Crimebusters #120

Posted on

The Numbering Question

I’m excited to announce that The Crimebusters #1 has reached a major milestone: I’ve sent it off to the printers! Right now, I’m waiting to get a physical proof copy so I can make sure it looks okay. If there are any necessary corrections, I’ll make those ASAP, but my hope is that by the time my Kickstarter campaign begins on June 11, the book will be approved and ready for printing. Then, by the time the campaign ends on July 3, I’ll have an idea how many copies are needed and can place the order and begin fulfillment as early as the end of July!

Of course, things happen, which is why I have scheduled into the campaign some extra time, with fulfillment not scheduled to start until September. if I can beat that estimate and get things out earlier, though, all the better!

Speaking of things happening, though, you may have noticed something different up in that opening paragraph. Yes, it’s true: I called this first issue #1 instead of #120.

It’s true: the first issue will now be numbered #1.

But it’s also true that this issue is still #120!

Let’s dig into it.

The Legacy Conundrum

Back in the day, it was industry belief that first issues sold worse than higher number issues. Conventional wisdom was that fans liked higher numbers because it was a sign of quality: if a title had run for 50, 100, or 200 issues, it must be good to last that long. So higher numbers were a signal to readers that they could trust they would receive quality.

As a result, publishers used different tactics to disguise new titles. DC, for instance, would often publish first issues with no number at all so readers wouldn’t know it was a new title, only adding the numbering to later issues.

Other publishers were even sneakier. Ziff-Davis, for example, would begin their titles with #5 or #10 and only revert to the real numbering once the book was established, which is why Cinderella Love for example has no issues #1-3, but has two #10s and two #11s!

Fast forward to now, though, and things are exactly opposite. On the one hand, collectors and speculators are more likely to buy a #1 for the perceived value of a first issue. And on the other hand, conventional wisdom holds that modern readers are turned off and intimidated by continuity. A high number is seen as a barrier to entry — nobody wants to jump into the middle of the story, and with most books being written for the trade, you’re almost always going to end up in the middle of some story if you pick up a random issue.

As a result, publishers like DC and Marvel are constantly rebooting their titles back to #1, searching for easy first issue money, but also as a way to try and provide jumping-on points for new readers. It’s a signal that it’s okay to start reading here.

Is this conventional wisdom actually true, though?

Well, nobody really knows. And that’s where my problem comes in.

Cutting the Gordian Knot

One of the reasons I began working on The Crimebusters in the first place is because I loved the adventures of Chuck Chandler in Boy Comics and wanted to continue his stories.

The first thing to go, though, was the title itself, as Boy Comics just wasn’t representative of what I was writing, especially with the introduction of Trixie Trouble.

But I really wanted to hang onto to the numbering. I personally have always been drawn to higher numbers titles, both as a reader and a collector. The promise of continuity, of mythology, of backstory — that’s the good stuff! And since I am keeping Chuck’s backstory — and referencing it at times in this very issue! — it just felt right to start The Crimebusters with #120.

Yet… I also want the book to succeed. The fact is, there are only a handful of people in the world who know or care about Chuck Chandler, or will buy The Crimebusters because they are fans of Boy Comics.

I’ve done everything I can with the story to make it accessible, as it’s a self-contained mystery adventure. Each issue is going to be a jumping on point, because each issue is it’s own complete story. And yet… if new readers don’t even pick up the book because of the number on the cover, they may never find out that the stories are right for them.

Conventional wisdom may be wrong, but it’s conventional because people believe it — including potential new readers.

The more I thought about it, the more I had to conclude that I was limiting my audience by have the number 120 on the cover instead of 1. Even if everything else is exactly the same, the frustrating fact is that some percentage of fans, however small, will pass the book by just because of what they think that number means. On the flip side, though… I think almost anyone who would buy the book with a #120 on the cover will still try it with a #1.

Even after all that logic, though, I was stuck with one fact: I personally want the comic to be #120 and have a #120 on the cover! And that’s when I came up with this elegant copout solution: I’m just going to have both.

Now, Marvel tried something like that once with their legacy numbering, where they just had both numbers on the cover of each issue. It worked. But it was also kind of ugly. And besides, I didn’t want the lower number on my copy! I only wanted the higher one. So it was a compromise that didn’t really fully satisfy either group.

With that in mind, I’m happy to announce that I’m just going to print some copies with a #1 on the cover, and some with a #120, allowing you to choose which number you want.

In fact, I’ll announce now that there will be four different covers to choose from!

  • The regular cover will be numbered #1
  • The Legacy Number Variant will be a Kickstarter exclusive cover; it will have different artwork (to be revealed soon!) and will be numbered #120
  • The Trixie Trouble Mysteries Variant will be numbered #1 and will feature new artwork (to be revealed soon!)
  • The Boy Comics Variant will feature the classic Boy Comics logo, it will feature new artwork (to be revealed soon!), and will be numbered #120

The regular cover and the Legacy Number Variant will be the same price, so you can pick whichever number and cover you like better — or get one of each if, like me, you can’t decide! The Trixie Trouble Mysteries and Boy Comics variants will be a little bit more expensive, but only a few bucks.

Anyway, that’s why the regular cover has a #1 on it now, and why I’ll be officially calling this issue #1 going forward.

But between you and me, I still think of it as #120 in my head — and I’m planning to do a Legacy Number Variant for each issue going forward, primarily because I want to have the covers with classic numbering in my own personal collection!

In the next week or two, I’ll be sharing the art for the three variant covers. There’s less than three weeks left now before the Kickstarter campaign launches on June 11, so there will be a lot of reveals between now and then!

Thanks for reading, and I’ll see you soon!

p.s. Don’t forget to sign up for the newsletter to make sure you get all the latest updates sent directly to your inbox!

Posted on

The Home Stretch

Feels like it’s been awhile since I’ve had the time to sit down and write out a proper update. But that’s because I’ve been keeping my nose to the grindstone. And let me tell you, that’s a really good way to lose a nose.

But it’s also a good way to get a lot of work done! I’m in the home stretch now: 26 out of 30 pages are completed, leaving just four pages to get the inking and textures. I planning to have the story completed by Monday, which is almost hard to believe considering I’ve been working on the art almost every day since October.

Now that I’m down to the final pages, though, I suddenly have a deadline. That’s because I need to submit my comic to the 2019 Massachusetts Independent Comics Expo on Monday in order to be considered for a booth at MICE this October.

I’ve previously related how inspiring it was to attend the 2018 MICE show, so it’s been a goal of mine ever since to bring The Crimebusters to this year’s show as sort of a coming out party. Of course, I’ll also be bringing the book to Kickstarter in June, but MICE will be my first show as a creator. Since it has limited space available, though, it’s actually a judged show – they accept comic submissions and review all the applicants’ work to decide who gets in or not. So I really want to have the entire book done in order to show them it’s ready to go.

Mystery! Adventure! Suspense!! A panel from page 21 of The Crimebusters #120.

Once the main story is done, though, there’s still a lot to do. I am hoping to have a four page Squeeks backup story, which I have a plot for but haven’t yet started. I also need to design the inside front cover — which will have character bios and such along with the credits for this first issue — as well as two text pages to round things out.

I also have a number of tasks waiting for me to get things ready for Kickstarter. I’ve been working with the Comix Launch group, headed by Tyler James, which as been very instructive. The main things that need to be done before I launch for Kickstarter are:

  • get the book compiled in PDF/comic reader form for digital sales
  • contact and work with a printer so the book is ready to go to print as soon as the Kickstarter ends
  • draw two variant covers
  • finish this website
  • design the Kickstarter page, including promotional art, videos, and more
  • design the Kickstarter bonus rewards and get them ordered
  • and most importantly: start a mailing list and get as many people on it as possible via social media and other avenues

That’s a lot of work! Which is why I am planning to wait until June to launch the book on Kickstarter even though the art will be done next week.

I’m fairly confident I will be able to hit my goal (I am tentatively aiming for $500, with a real target stretch goal of $800), but there’s a ton of work still ahead of me between now and then. Still, it will be fun — especially finishing the book itself.

A whole comic book! That I made! How cool is that?!

Next time, I’ll hopefully have some Kickstarter rewards or Variant Cover artwork to share. Talk to you then!

Posted on

First issue sneak preview now available!

I’m excited to announce that the sneak preview of the first issue is now available to read!

Right now, I have completed the first nine pages of the 30 page story, while the other 21 pages only need inking to be complete. I’m currently expecting this process to take me another three weeks, at which point the main story for the first issue will be complete!

Of course, there will still be things to do — I am planning to do two variant covers, as well as a four age backup story starring everyone’s favorite crime fighting monkey, Squeeks.

Still, I thought this would be a great time to show people what I have been working on. With an estimated completion date forth story of around April 21, I am currently aiming for the first eek of June to launch my Kickstarter efforts. When the Kickstarter goes live, it will include a 6 page preview of the story. But since those first six pages are already done, I thought, why wait?

You can read the sneak preview here!

Andi fhat grabs your fancy, feel free to hit the “Contact Us” button above to drop me a line and get added to the Crimebusters mailing list. or, you can also follow The Crimebusters on Facebook either by clicking on the Facebook icon to the right, or following this link.

I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I have enjoyed making it!

Posted on

Project Update!

Well, it took longer than I expected — or hoped — but I have finally finished the initial linework for all 30 pages of The Crimebusters #120!

When I originally began the linework at the beginning of November, I hoped it would take me two months. My initial timeline had me finishing at the end of January.

Three things slowed me down. First, I took a 16 day vacation overseas, where no work was getting done. Secondly, I have had some health issues over the last month that have slowed me down. And third… well, this stuff just took longer than I expected!

I also added to pages in the middle of the process, going from 28 to 30, and those pages added more time because I had to do all the layouts as well.

Still, the linework is all done now. So what’s next?

Well, the next step of the process is adding all the dialogue. I’m going to go through the entire issue and add all the dialogue and caption boxes, and possibly some sound effects.

I may also add a few special effects — speed lines and such — because once this phase is done, I am going to print up a few ashcan copies to distribute to friends in the hopes of getting some feedback on art and dialogue changes that may be necessary during the editing process. I am particularly concerned with the storytelling — I want this to be a clear, clean, and easy read from start to finish, so making sure there’s nothing confusing in terms of panel layout, artwork, dialogue, or plot is paramount. I know my art has limitations, but telling the story clearly is more important to me than looking cool.

While my first readers are going over the issue, I will be taking a small break from the panel to panel artwork and change gears to do some other projects that need to be completed before the book goes to Kickstarter and gets published. Things like the Kickstarter promo image and the cover(s) for this first issue, as well as character bio artwork for this website need to be done. I’d also like to work on technical things for the website like the mailing list and the storefront, as well as write up bios for the rest of the characters.

Once I have gotten feedback, I will then proceed with rewriting the dialogue and, most time consumingly, finishing all the artwork with inking and special effects. I originally had planned on a month for inking and a month for preparing the Kickstarter campaign. I suspect the inking will take longer than a month, but I don’t know how long the Kickstarter campaign will take to set up, so for now I am tentatively still aiming for a May 1st live date for the Kickstarter, with the understanding it could be pushed later in the month, or even as late as June 1.

As always, I’ll be giving updates each step of the way, and I look forward to sharing more — and more complete! — art and pages as we get closer to finishing this first issue.

I’m excited!

Next time around, I will dive into the thrilling world of fonts. But for now, here’s a look at the linework for Page 26:

Posted on

Asking for Trouble (part 3)

Before I get to the conclusion of my three-part look into the character creation process behind the development of The Crimebusters co-lead Trixie Trouble, just another quick progress update. I’ve had some health issues that have slowed me down some, but I am plugging away nonetheless, and am currently working on page 24. My best guess is that the linework will be completed the last week in February. My hope at this point is to also get all the first draft dialogue and word balloons in place before March 1st. Fingers crossed!

Okay, so in the previous installments of Asking for Trouble, I covered the process of designing the character from the ground up in terms of personality and history. That leaves the most basic thing, though: what she actually looks like.

In a visual medium like comics, coming up with the right visual design is key. With that in mind, I again looked at what I already had, which is the visual design from Crimebuster.

What I wanted to do was come up with a visual look for Trixie that worked on its own, but also which complemented and contrasted with Chuck’s design. And what immediately jumped out to me was less color and more light and dark.

Though Chuck’s colors are all bright, they are also all on the darker side: deep red, deep blue, navy pants, black hair, etc. That immediately suggested to me that Trixie should be on the light side.

The first thing I settled on was that Trixie would be blonde with blue eyes. Then I took a look at the color scheme for her clothes. I wanted to use classic, simple colors that could have been in use during the Golden Age of comics – primary colors mostly. The four color printing process wasn’t really great at doing things like coral or magenta or teal – it’s for blue, yellow, red.

I eventually came to the conclusion that I wanted Trixie to have the same colors in her costume as Crimebuster, just with different emphasis. At first, I considered giving her a blue top, but as Trixie is also a bit of a tomboy, I planned to dress her in jeans. Since I didn’t really want to do blue on blue, I finally hit on the idea of a white top, with blue and red accents, as opposed to Crmiebuster’s red top with blue and white accents. Giving them the same color scheme would help them visually fit together as a team (on the covers, that is, since the interior is going to be black and white), but having white be Trixie’s primary color would further the visual contrast in terms of light and dark shades.

There was still the issue of what she as actually going to wear, though. I wanted something graphically simple and bold. Again, I derived my main inspiration from Chuck’s costume. Originally the C on his chest was supposed to stand for Culver, the military academy he was attending in his first appearance. Later, it supposedly stood for Curtiss Tech, the college he is current attending. But in both cases, of course, it really stands for Crmiebuster.

I realized I could use this same conceit to give Trixie her own letter T – for the Tech in Curtiss Tech. As it happens, monogrammed letters, and letterman sweaters, were a big fashion trend in the mid 1950’s, when The Crimebusters takes place, so giving her a letterman sweater with the Tech T on the breast was thematically perfect.

I finished the design with a pop of color via the red shirt underneath, and some hints of her rebel nature with the offset rolled of pant legs and the saddle shoes.

And that’s it! No doubt going forward, design tweaks may present themselves as the characters and situations evolve — these outfits are fine for the fall of 1956, but n a couple issues, winter will be approaching and something warmer might be needed. For now ,tough, I’m pretty happy with how Trixie’s design turned out!

Thanks for reading, and check back next week for another update!

Chuck Chandler and Trixie Trouble are… The Crimebusters!
Posted on

Inspiration

This time around, I want to talk about inspiration and motivation. But before I get into that topic, time for my regular weekly progress update. I am currently working on the linework for Page 18 of 30, and expect to finish it later today. I expect Page 19 to be a fast one, so when the calendar turns to February, I will likely be working on Page 20. I originally hoped to be done with the linework for the whole issue at that point, but between my two week holiday and the decision to add 2 new pages to the story, things got a bit backlogged. Still, things are moving along, and I expect the linework to be completed some time in the week after Valentine’s day.

So… inspiration!

I’ve already talked some about the direct inspirations on this project, like Scooby Doo, the original Life with Archie, Archie’s Weird Mysteries, the Three Invesitgators and Trixie Belden, Lois Lane and Veronica Mars. But this time around I want to talk about inspiration in general — what I find inspiring, what recharges my creative juices, what excites me and makes me want to make comics.

Early on in the process of creating The Crimebusters #120, I attended MICE 2018 – the Massachusetts Independent Comics Expo, which is filled with dozens of self-publishing comics creators. In a very real sense, indie comics are the lifeblood of the medium. Not only are self-published comics done for the love of the craft, but they also provide a fertile forum for new talents to develop their skills. Many comics professionals began in self publishing, where they often had far more creative freedom than is possible working for a big publisher on licensed properties.

Because of this, self-published comics have an incredible breadth and scope. Anything you can think of — anything they can think of — has a comics about it. And while the skill and talent levels vary wildly, that’s also part of the charm. There’s little artifice in indie comics. Nobody is phoning it in or faking it. You only self publish comics if you love comics, and love making comics, and that spirit I found tremendously inspiring. Opening a self published indie comic is a thrill, because you never know what you’re going to get, but it’s guaranteed to be someone’s dream come true.

Comics I bought at MICE 2018.

I also recently had a chance to travel to Berlin, Germany, where I visited an amazing art collective called NeuroTitan. Part gallery, part art shop, and part interactive experience, NeuroTitan was like the ultimate embodiment of the artistic vibe we found throughout the city. Berlin is a place that seems to have really embraced street art, from the murals on the remaining sections of the Berlin Wall to the graffiti in the subway tunnels.

Nowhere was this more evident than at NeuroTitan. Located in a hidden courtyard, the entire approach to NeuroTitan is covered in intricate street art, with paintings, graffiti, and stickers covering every surface. Up a flight of stairs is the store itself, which is a collective of art prints, postcards, t-shirts and — of course! — self published comic books. And through the store is the gallery, where the artists in residence display their works in interesting exhibits that cover a range of social and political issues.

Leaving NeuroTitan we couldn’t help but be jazzed about making stuff, making art, and making comics in particular. It was an energizing experience.

In the NeuroTitan courtyard.
A self-published German comic I bought at NeuroTitan in Berlin.

Finally, earlier this month, I also attended the Boston science fiction convention Arisia. Dancing, gaming, and singing take place side by side with a fantastical art show, and a dealer room filled with novels, art prints, and strange creations. Plus thee were dozens of interesting panels touching on creativity in different ways, such as the panels on Writing for Comics and Writing with Tarot Cards.

But there are also hands on workshops. Want to learn how to make chainmail, or play the theramin? No problem! This year, the highlight for me in terms of workshops was the blockprinting workshop, where we learned how to carve stamps out of blocks of rubber and then hand-make prints.

And most of all, there’s the cosplay, and the community it creates. Seeing fans dressed up in elaborate costumes they built themselves simply out of love for the character is the perfect mix of creativity and geeked out fan joy, which is how I feel about comics when I love them most.

It’s inspiring to be around people who are passionate about things. Passionate about creating things, passionate about the creation of things, and passionate about the creative process.

Now don’t you just want to make a comic book?!

Posted on

Asking for Trouble (part 2)

Before I get to the second part of this exploration of the creative process behind the design of my co-lead character Trixie Trouble, just a quick progress update on The Crimebusters #120: As of today, I have completed the linework on page 13, and am starting in on page 14. There will be a slight delay, as I am taking the weekend off to attend the Arisia science fiction convention in Boston, but my hope is that by this time next week I will have completed page 15, which will put me at the halfway point now that the story is set to be 30 pages.

Okay, so back to Asking for Trouble! In the first installment, I looked at why I felt it was necessary to create a co-star to appear alongside Chuck Chandler. This time around, I’m going to look at the process of actually creating the character that became Trixie Trouble.

The first thing I had to do was look at the dramatic necessities of a co-star. With Chuck Chandler, I had a defined quantity. Chuck has certain character traits: he’s smart, honest, dedicated, loyal. He has a sense of humor in that he appreciates other people’s jokes, but he’s not a jokester himself — he’s serious, straight laced. He’s also very self-confident, a man of action: he’s not introspective, but has a very strong sense of wrong and right, and doesn’t question himself when it comes to what is just and unjust. Above all, his paramount principle is fairness.

In order to have dramatic tension between Chuck and his partner, the partner had to challenge Chuck. The partner had to be someone who wasn’t like Chuck — someone who would call him out on his shortcomings, and push him to think about things.

In other words, I felt Chuck needed a partner who he could argue with, rather than agree with all the time. At the same time, though, the new character had to be a true partner, rather than a sidekick. Watson challenges Holmes all the time, for instance, except Holmes is always right and Watson is always wrong, so they don’t have an equitable partnership. I wanted a true partner, which means someone who has a point of view which is different from Chuck’s, but equally correct. Both Chuck and the reader have to respect the partner, or else it doesn’t work.

I quickly identified some traits I wanted my character to have. The most important was a sense of fun and adventure, which brings with it a sense of humor. Chuck, bless him, is a great straight man, but he embarks on most of his investigations out of a sense of duty. I wanted someone who enjoys mysteries, who embraces the unknown, who gets excited about cases — someone whose enthusiasm will drag both Chuck and the reader along for the wild ride.

A panel in progress from page 8 – Trixie enlists the help of her roommate Vera Veritas for some investigative skulduggery.

Since I had already decided I wanted to add some hint of the supernatural to my stories — ghosts, ghouls, creatures, and whatnot in the best Scooby Doo tradition — the idea of a Mulder and Scully type relationship quickly presented itself to me. Chuck isn’t the type to believe in any of this nonsense, but more important than being a skeptic is the fact that his curiosity is limited by his need to take action. What I mean is, if an alien kidnaps a cub scout, Chuck’s priority is going to be rescuing the kid; the fact that it’s an alien isn’t important.

I wanted someone who could act as the eyes and voice of the reader and express a sense of wonder and excitement at the weird cases they encounter — someone who would be amazed and thrilled to see an alien. Heck, she would much rather it be an alien than not. Just as Chuck is less of a skeptic and more of a pragmatist — if it’s not germane to the case, it’s irrelevant — the partner would be less of a believer and more someone who wants to believe.

As I mentioned before, I also pretty quickly decided that the series needed a strong female voice, something that Chuck’s previous adventures in Boy Comics were sorely lacking.

That gave me this list of traits for Chuck’s new partner:

  • adventurous – brave
  • sense of humor
  • excited by mystery – curious
  • delighted by the unknown
  • female

These all felt reminiscent of the classic girl detectives like Trixie Belden, especially the idea of a character who loves mysteries so much she just wants to believe everything is a mystery — to the point of it routinely causing trouble for her and everyone around her.

But these traits also seemed to me to have a lot of overlap with another classic literary trope from the same 1930’s-1950’s time period: the girl reporter. Lois Lane is the perfect example of a character who has all of these traits — rushing headlong into danger because she needs to solve the mystery is pretty much her entire schtick.

With that in mind, I started to craft an identity for my character. As an homage to classic teen detectives from the same time period that Chuck Chandler originated from, I decided to give her the first name Trixie. But I also wanted her to be a reporter. Starting from there, I worked out a backstory: as a youth, my Trixie was a rambunctious tomboy, athletic and adventurous. But two big events as teen had a big impact on her: her parents divorced, and then she was stricken with a serious illness that left her bedridden for a year.

A panel in progress from page 9, as Trixie mentally switches gears to plan B.

Confined to bed, she had to turn to reading so she could experience adventures vicariously. She voraciously read detective magazines and crime novels, as well as newspapers. By the time she fully recovered, she had gained an encyclopedic knowledge of detectives both real and fictional, as well as a love for the written word. She decided to attend college to study journalism, with the aim of becoming either a private detective or the next best thing — a journalist.

Along the way, she couldn’t help but insert herself into all sorts of situations where she didn’t belong, solving crimes and getting herself and her friends into massive amounts of trouble.

Which is where the name came from, of course. I wanted a name that had the classic comic book alliteration of a Chuck Chandler or Peter Parker. So I began a list of words and names that began with TR to go with Trixie. I soon narrowed it down to two: Trueheart, and Trouble. Trueheart sounded more like a person’s actual name, and was nicely evocative of her spirit, but I liked Trouble as well, so I decided to just give her both: real name Trixie Trueheart, but her nickname is Trixie Trouble, because wherever she goes, trouble surely follows.

And this brought me back around to the idea of someone who could challenge Chuck. One thing that struck me reading through Chuck’s adventures is that, unlike most superheroes, Chuck was never really a vigilante. Very early on he became a protege of Loover, first when Loover was at the FBI, and then when Loover was the New York City District Attorney. So Chuck has always had the benefit of working with the authorities, meaning he’s never really had to think about or question his belief system. But what would he do if he had to work outside the system — like Trixie? Would the ultimate boy scout actually choose to break the law in order to serve a greater good? What’s ultimately more important, order, or justice? The ends, or the means?

Chuck has never had to think about that sort of thing. He’s someone who has always seemed to think there’s simply a right way and a wrong way to do things. But with Trixie on board, she’s about to bring him somewhere he’s never been: the moral grey area. And I can’t wait.

Thanks for reading! Next time I will discuss some of my inspirations, both for this issue and series, and just in general as a creator. And then the following week, I will conclude the Asking for Trouble series with a look at how I designed Trixie look! See you then!

Posted on

Progress update, Steranko, and the Soviet montage theory

Next time I will return to my extended look at character design and how I came to create our leading lady, Trixie Trouble.

For now, though, I wanted to give a short progress update, and explore one of the pages in progress.

After taking two weeks off for a trip abroad, I’m back at work on the line art for The Crimebusters #120. It’s taken me a couple of days to get back in the swing of things, but I just completed page 10 or 30, meaning I’m officially one third of the way through the line art.

You may note that I said 30 pages, as opposed to the 28 pages I referenced in previous posts. One thing that has slowed me down a little bit is the decision to add two pages to the story.

These pages were actually part of my original plot, but I later cut them because I felt they weren’t strictly necessary to advance the plot and I wanted to streamline the narrative as much as possible. However, upon reflection, I decided the pages were necessary for character reasons. Stories, after all, aren’t just about plot, they are about people, and these two pages I think will provide valuable character moments that will strengthen the story overall and make it a better read. Sometimes slowing down is better than speeding up.

This has meant a slow down in my process as well, though, as these pages, unlike the other 28, hadn’t been thumbnailed and laid out already. Still, that process has now been complete, and the linework for the first of the two new pages is done, so by the end of this week I think I will be back to the spot in the story I was at previously — only it will be page 12 now, instead of page 10.

For today’s preview, though, I wanted to backtrack a bit and give you a look at page 4 in progress. This is a page that I think will look significantly different once I get to the inking stage, as it takes place primarily at night and in the dark. So the blacks and shadings will add a lot of texture, as will sound effects. But here’s what it looks like at the moment:

The middle of the page, where Chuck sneaks out of his dorm room to investigate the crime scene, was a sequence I particularly enjoyed working on. This sequence is going to be wordless, though it will have some sound effects.

This sequence is heavily influenced by the work of the legendary Jim Steranko, who often used these sort of quick, small panels to create a narrative — or just set a scene — letting the art guide our mind into putting 2 and 2 together to get 4.

Originally, I planned a typical panel sequence here, but felt constrained, as in order to fit this much plot into such a small space felt like it would require a lot of exposition. Though original Crimebuster writer Charles Biro was far from shy about using dialogue data dumps, I wanted to avoid this when possible in favor of something more visual and dramatic — which is what Steranko is all about.

Here’s a look at his famous wordless love scene from Strange Tales:

Throughout The Crimebusters #120, I tried to utilize various storytelling techniques from masters like Steranko, both to keep the book fresh as well as to see which techniques work for me, and which don’t. This sort of wordless montage, which artists like Steranko borrowed from the film work of greats like Eisenstein, is something that I think is absolutely great in specific, small, and restrained uses. You can’t just do this for any sequence, but when you use it for the right sequence, it just all clicks. I will definitely be keeping this in my arsenal going forward!

Thanks for reading! Next time, I will be back for part 2 of my exploration of the character design process for Trixie Trouble.

Posted on

Asking for Trouble (part 1)

The original impetus behind this project was my love of the Golden Age, public domain character Crimebuster, and a desire to continue his comic book adventures. It wasn’t far into the development process, though, that I realized I need to create a new partner for Chuck to work with, which is how I ended up creating the all-new character Trixie Trouble. 

I thought it might be interesting to take a look at the character creation and development process from start to finish, so in this first installment, I’ll look at the reasons behind the creation of Trixie Trouble and how I slowly drilled down to the character I have now, and who will be making her debut in The Crimebusters #120. 

Though it ran for 117 issues over 14 years, there were surprisingly few recurring characters in the pages of Crimebusters series in Boy Comics. There was Crimebuster himself, and his sidekick Squeeks the monkey. There was also the district attorney Loover, Chuck’s mentor, and the villain Iron Jaw, Chuck’s arch enemy. 

And… that’s it, until Chuck went off to school in #107. At that point, writer Charles Biro introduced a whole new group of supporting characters in the form of other students at Curtiss Tech. Stu was Chuck’s new best friend and roommate, Jabbo was the new archenemy, an Iron Jaw toned down for the college set. And there was also a sporadic love interest name Annie, who appeared in a whopping three issues. That, however, also made her the only recurring female character in the entire series history. 

When I began developing the story that would eventually, after years of work, morph into The Crimebusters #120, I felt the biggest problem was actually Squeeks. Now, don’t get me wrong, I love Squeeks. But there were three big issues with Squeeks:

1.  First and most obviously, Squeeks is a monkey, which means he doesn’t talk. This means when Chuck is working out cases, he can monologue at Squeeks, but he can’t have a conversation, which severely limits the writing options. I felt Chuck needed someone not just to talk to, but someone who would be able to challenge him (more on this in the next installment), and that’s not Squeeks.

2. Secondly, as a monkey, and Chuck’s pet, Squeeks is inherently subordinate to Crimebuster. I felt that what Chuck needed, though, was a true equal and partner rather than a sidekick. Squeeks is always going to be a sidekick — a great one, but a sidekick nonetheless. 

3. Finally, my choice to pick up the original continuity presented a problem, because Squeeks was essentially written out of the series when Chuck went to Curtiss Tech. He does appear in a couple Curtiss Tech stories, but for the most part, he’s absent, which makes sense: the school isn’t likely to let a student keep a pet monkey in the dorm. If I wanted to use Squeeks, I’d have to really come up with a weird rationale to have him around. 

Once I ruled out Squeeks, it was also pretty easy to rule out Stu. Stu doesn’t have the same problems as Squeeks; Stu is an equal to Chuck, he can talk, and he’s at Curtiss Tech. But he has a different problem Squeeks does not have: Stu is boring as hell. I do have plans for Stu that I think will prove interesting, but he just didn’t fit.

With all those factors in mind, I settled on the idea of creating a female counterpart to Chuck. I felt this worked thematically very well. By the end of his series, Chuck was firmly operating in the classic teen detective genre, and that is filled with great female characters like Nancy Drew, Trixie Belden, Veronica Mars, and many more. It also filled a major gap in the storytelling. Annie, god bless her, was about as nondescript as possible in her handful of appearances. Boy Comics, after all, was aimed at boys, and didn’t really consider girls much. 

That doesn’t appeal to me, though. I wanted a strong female character, a detective who could match Chuck as an equal partner. Someone who could stand on equal footing as a main character in her own right. My story, I realized, would need to be as much about her as about Chuck.

And once I realized this, the parameters for actually creating Trixie became clearer. With Chuck, after all, I had a known quantity. After reading 117 issues worth of Crimebuster stories, I had a good idea of his personality, strengths, and weakness. For narrative and dramatic reasons, I needed to create a character who offered something different — who had different strengths, different weaknesses, different quirks. Someone who could challenge Chuck, and vice versa. 

But she couldn’t just exist as a compliment or foil to Chuck — she had to be interesting enough in her own right to pique curiosity, command attention and carry the narrative. She had to feel like she had her own 14-year backstory of adventures and experiences. 

In classic comic book terms, this had to feel like Power Man and Iron Fist teaming up for the fist time: two leading characters who just happen to work even better together. 

The process of designing that personality, and the process of designing Trixie’s look, are things I will explore in the next installment.

Posted on

Return of the splash page!

First, a quick update. I am now done with the line work through page 6, and am beginning page 7 today. The line work is taking me a little longer than expected, but at the present rate I should be done with it around February 7, so we’re still more or less on target with my original estimates.

Today, I wanted to share a first look at some of the internal art, beginning with a the splash page — which is still very much in progress. 

Take a look!

First, the in progress parts. This has the line work, but I haven’t yet added in the inking and effects. For example, Death Mask’s black cloak will be getting a lot of inking, there will be a darker background behind Death Mask, and Death Mask’s crystal ball will actually look like a crystal ball instead of just a circle — I’m going to be adding some texture elements and effects to it that should hopefully make it look like a glass globe. 

Another thing still in progress here are the fonts. I like the font for the speech inside the scroll. But the other fonts, particularly the dialogue font, need to be changed. And there need to be some alterations to the word balloons, as they shouldn’t touch the edges of the panels like they do now. 

Overall, though, I am pretty happy with how this page is looking!

I did want to discuss the layout of the page in a little more detail, though, as the design for it intentionally harkens back to the Golden Age of comics. Nowadays, opening splash pages (when they are used) are part of the narrative. But for many years, splash pages had a slightly different purpose, dictated in the large part by the fact that most comics in the Golden Age were anthologies. 

As a result, the splash page essentially served as an internal “cover” for each feature in the book. Take Action Comics for example: while Superman was on the cover of every issue after a certain point, there were still other ongoing features within the book, like Zatara. Since these second fiddles didn’t get a cover spot to hype the character and tease the story, the splash page would serve this function. And since these features were often limited for space, with just a few pages to tell a complete story, often these would be half splashes, like I am using here. 

These splashes would also often be symbolic, showing thematic elements from the story rather than narrative ones. So frequently, the scene shown on the splash didn’t literally occur in the story, but instead would give readers a feel for the tone of the story. 

For my purposes, in addition to those general Golden Age guidelines, I also wanted to continue the tradition from Boy Comics of having an introductory speech from the writer laying out the moral of the tale. This is something Crimebuster’s creator, Charles Biro, did in every issue of the series, and I wanted to carry on this tradition, in part because I think it helps set the tone for the story. As the whole concept of the teen detective has a bit of a retro feel to it, I think having a classic Golden Age style splash page is an important and useful way to get readers into the mood of the story before being hit with plot and the exposition that necessarily comes with mysteries. 

So there it is! To close, here’s a look at a classic Golden Age splash page from Boy Comics starring Crimebuster. See you next week!