First of all I want to thank everyone who came by my table at Wondercon, it was a great time. I hope you enjoyed the convention. For those who have purchased issue #1 and #2 of BTGC, here is the latest on my work on making it a graphic novel.
The official draft for my Visual Manuscript of Beyond the Great Chimney: the trip beyond is done! I used Wondercon 2006 as an excuse to get it ready. And so I printed out 215 pages at Kinko’s in San Francisco that comprise a fairly clear roadmap of the final Graphic Novel as it will appear in 2007. To see my MS in “action” click here (Quicktime is required)
2007!! But I want to read it NOW!
Well, after a lot of thought and debate, I decided to finish this first adventure as a Graphic Novel. There are lots of reasons to do this, as discussed in my post last year. My reasons?
1) Beyond the Great Chimney is an epic and lengthy story, and it would just not do it justice to cram the ending into a third 36 page pamphlit. I was going to have to cut out all the wonderful bits that made the story good and speical to me. Fitting a story into a small amount of pages can make the story feel rushed, and make the pace like abridging a novel.
2) People just are not buying single comic very much anymore. People want a complete story that they can read as they wish.
3) Graphic Novels can be made available at Libraries and Book Stores where as a Comic Magazine can not.
4) Graphic Novels are more accepted by the average non-comics readers.
GREAT! I think? What will be diffrent in the Graphic Novel version of BTGC?
The art of the first issue (now over 4 years old, yikes!) will be inhanced to match my current look of painted art. I use delicate washes of watercolor to give the art more depth and emotion. There will be story that comes before and after the current issues as well as some bonus reference material and pin-ups. More of that will be revealed her on the blog in the coming year.
So what happens now?
Well, I begin creating the new material to complete the story this year. Along the way I will post pages on-line for folks to read right hear on this Log(blog). You can always help by commenting and letting me know when you think about something. Artist need feedback to make their work better.
So when will it be available? I can’t wait!
I am aiming for Christmas of 2007. I will not tell more till I know something definite.
Can I still purchase a copy of issues #1 and #2 from you.
Sure you can, there are pay-pal buttons on most of the comic pages, and a new store will be open for buisness real soon.
Tag(s): Beyond the Great Chimney|btgc|comics|Brian Kolm|Atomic Bear Press|AtomicBearPress|ABP|
