Beautiful people,
mas tiempo no verlo! A much needed holiday hibernation is the norm for me as I tend to work in solitude while visiting friends and family for festivities. With our first issue of the year, I thought I’d talk a little about my annual process of working on comics, as it’s easy to get lost in the day by day which allows for the year to catch up with haste. Here are some ways I try to keep organized for my projects and personal time throughout a 10 month period..
So, let’s get to it!
Throughout the year I tend to keep a thought pad handy as I’m constantly thinking and creating new ideas all day, everyday. But, in order to get the idea down but not out, I place the idea in my thought pad so that when I’m ready to start a new tale, I’ll have concepts ready to be expanded upon. At the beginning of each year, I take a look at what’s done from the previous year, and what needs to be done to any books in progress.
For instance, with a completed script for Ronin Craftsman: Legend of Jacob Sriracha as well as completion of editing from the editor, a project like this is essentially waiting on the artist: from illustrations to lettering and covers. Whereas, American Bane: A Western Graphic Novella’s script is completed, so the next phase for said book will be locating an editor. So, if I know what I need to get done for this year to be a successful one, I timeline it while creating deadlines for myself as well as the team members working on the projects.
From payments to development, the year is planned before stepping into another story, to which at that point, I even make a timeline and deadlines for the new story as well. This newsletter along with mini series’s like Wei and Extraordinary Adventures of Average Joe are also put into plans for the new year, with more of a broad approach to writing their scripts, as I work on those stories within a day or two and in between being ahead of schedule of full graphic novels.
With that said, this year we’ll be getting some new issues of Average Joe as I prepare shorts for Wei: The Anthology for 2026 as well as the new upcoming graphic novel, now in the works.
Don’t think because I haven’t spoken on nor posted about new comics in months, mean that I haven’t been reading.
Oh, I’ve been reading AND absolutely loving the state of comics these days as we’re still seeing refreshing takes on some old tales, as well as some new books with compelling characters to get lost with.
Now, I’m not usually a big reader of Robin comics from the Batman series, no particular reason besides never got into them, until recently that is. When Dick Grayson is framed for the kidnapping of children and the murdering of their parents, Nightwing fights to clear his name while also struggling with his own past tragedies and the death of his parents. Picking this arc up during the Thanksgiving season, this story was just right for the holiday as Nightwing found family within his friendships and furry friends while also featuring one of my favorite, obscure DC characters, Deadman. Ran as a four part book during Dawn of DC’s Nightwing, I recommend Nightwing’s Fallen Grayson, for anyone who loves a good orphan/family story.
NIGHTWING: Fallen Grayson 5/5 Stars
I’ve also had the pleasure of reading such great comics like; DC’s Plastic Man No More, Batman: The Long Halloween The Last Halloween, which has been phenomenal lately as It takes Batman back to his detective origins, Image Comic’s Sam & Twitch, Ahoy Comics’ Toxic Avenger, but my all time favor series from 2024 will have to be DC’s HellBlazer: Dead in America.
From the artwork and language, to the overall message and tone, Simon Spurrier has done an excellent job at keeping Alan Moore’s voice and vision for an unapologetic anti-hero who may seem like he can care less about the people of this world, yet sacrifices all he has for them.
2024 EncinoMane All Star goes to HellBlazer: Dead in America.
If I had a New Years resolution…
it would be to read and review more indie comics on here. Though I love my Marvel, DC, and Image comics, mostly because it’s what I grew up too, I also do read a lot of random comics, so you’ll be hearing more on those in the upcoming years!
As always, I appreciate each and every one of you, rather you stopped by or not. With empathy and compassion as the foundation, until next time!