Zooniverse at Image Comics

When working on projects I prefer to stay quiet until everything is officially announced, a habit I picked from decades of working in Hollywood. This is one announcement that I've been holding my breath for, now I can finally talk about it ...

At the 2015 Image Expo, Brandon Graham and Emma Rios revealed that Island Magazine will begin it's ongoing publication this year!
[Read more about it here] 

Promo for Island, a comic magazine. Click to enlarge

The line up of artists and stories is impressive, it's an exciting project and one that I'm immensely proud to be a part of. The Magazine will be a larger format (Heavy Metal magazine size) than the regular US comic and my original 1986 Zooniverse story will begins it's run in about six months. Give or take.

Here is a look at the panel that was included in the middle top of Brandon's promo above. I'll be recoloring the whole series and finally do justice to the old art.

A panel from the 1986 Zooniverse comic digitally recolored.

Now where does that leave my self published Zooniminis? I'm still publishing them, I'm currently up to issue #4 and I intend to keep going as artwork is completed for Island. I love the format. I have to decide whether I publish them in black and white to complete the run or print exclusively in color once my stock is sold out. Which is considerably more expensive.

Which brings me to my Patreon account. It's like a tip jar, tip me as little as $1 a month and you will have access to my creative world. I have completely committed to comic work, I don't have a day job, this is my only source of income and it doesn't pay well, in fact it's like living on a knife's edge. But it means that I'm always doing something interesting, every day and you will be part of an exclusive club, my patrons get to see work no one else will have access to. Plus you'll have a  ring side seat  on all of the projects that I'm working on, with 8house: Yorris and Zooniverse due out later in the year, what could be more enticing.

Zoons! Zoons! Zoons! : A Four Page Short

I originally did the four page comic "Zoons! Zoons! Zoons!" in 1995 as an experiment with short Zooniverse stories that was hoping to self publish. It was eventually printed in issue #10 through my Australian company's magazine, Artopia Quarterly, in 2001.

A panel from "Zoons!" published in 2001

It will be reprinted through Image comics on the 22nd of Feb appearing in the back of Prophet issue #22 which Brandon Graham has been working tirelessly to make a success. Brandon has been a great source of encouragement and support in my efforts to get back into comics. I wish him all the best with this title and his own creation King City.

The cover from Prophet issue #22 by Simon Roy

... the fans made me do it!!

Honest! The fans I tell you! There I was, minding my own sedentary business, wallowing in the folds of depression, lamenting a techno savvy world that had passed me by and feeling that Hollywood had shunted me neatly off to the sidelines. Then THEY happened into my periphery.... YOUTH! New brained and staring at me with their clear, blinky eyes, seeping horizonless optimism... believing in me! It began with Saeko Igarashi she actually sought the six issue mini series, the musty comics she held gleefully in her hands had been on this earth as long as her! With me, a little faith goes a long way, so Saeko's enthusiasm and determined attitude to her own work served to help me revisit comics again. I discovered a new style and with it a fresh look at my own project.

Then, years later, Brandon Graham cold emailed me. A fellow professional cartoonist, who embraced my comic at the tender age of ten, and went on to establish industry contacts that he was now willing to share with me. That one email helped me turn a page in my life and embrace a new era. I dedicate this blog to all those who cared enough to tell the world about the work I did half a lifetime ago. I was 24 when the last issue of Zooniverse came out, now I am 48 and about to start anew, let's see what the old boy can do, huh?

My deepest gratitude to those who kept the light on for me to find my way home ....
Saeko Igarashi
Brandon Graham
Elena Steier:
Zander and Kevin Cannon