Please let us know what you think of Page 12 of Justice Served Cold.

The End is Near

Next week is the conclusion of the first story.  Be sure to read below the artwork and visit the blog for all the information about where we go from here.

Lettering

Well, I may not be getting any better ARTISTICALLY — but I am definitely getting better LOGISTICALLY.  I don’t think I could have done this page 10 weeks ago. 

Whew. 

Going around the cars in panel #3 and fitting everything in panels #4 - 7 was a lot of fun.  (Right…) 

On the plus-side I only had to cut 2 short lines from the script (Anyone know what they are?  Gregg?) and panel #2 might have been the easiest of the story so far.

Mark  

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Did you catch the names of Sami and Gregg that Sami threw in.  Thank Goodness – after the “Hester Union” last week. 

I’m having a really good time doing the lettering.  I just hope that I am getting a little better at it.

Mark  

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Yesterday I noticed that an ad for Anthony Bourdain’s Travel Channel Show, No Reservations, was popping up occasionally on the right side of the Blogs and Comics (it’s automatic — we have nothing to do with it — so it may be there or not when you look. And I have NO IDEA what it’s doing on a COMIC site. But I ain’t complaining.)

I just wanted to say that I LOVE this guy.

He is so REAL.

Anthony has one of the coolest jobs ever. He basically does whatever he likes (travels the world and tries EVERYTHING — not just food) and makes up his own rules as he goes.

For those unfamiler with Mr. Bourdain — he was a high-end chef in New York (he worked at Top of the World in the World Trade Center at one time.) He started writing fiction on the side and had some success. Then he turned to non-fiction and hit the big time with Kitchen Confidential - the uncensored story of what really goes on behind the scenes of 5-star restaurants. This led to more books and shows on the Food Network and Travel Channel. You may have also seen him on Bravo’s Top Chef (”What kind of crack joint are you running here?”)

Best part of his books and show (and personality) is that he doesn’t take any sh## off anyone. You’re either totally real or you ain’t worth his time.

He has worked very hard to get where he is (read Kitchen Confidential if you haven’t), but now that he is there, he intends to enjoy the hell out of it.

Good for him.

He reminds me a lot of another guy I like, Sammy Hagar. I like Sammy’s music — quite a bit — but I absolutely love listening to interviews with him. Sammy and Anthony are two of the luckiest, most blessed guys on earth — and they KNOW it. That’s what I like. They are so totally thankful for their lives. Lord save us from another “poor old me — life is so difficult for me” millionaire star.

We should all be so lucky to get to do what we want. And those of us who do, should feel totally grateful to God, fate or whatever you believe for that chance.

THAT’S what I am shooting for anyway.

Thank you to each of you.

Mark

PS - To any Sammy fans out there — Doesn’t it seem lately like he is transforming himself into Jimmy Buffet? If you don’t believe me — check out “Mas Tequila” on YouTube.

Hey, that’s totally cool with me. I would love to be 60 and go see a 70 year-old Sammy live in Cabo. Yeah, baby!

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Happy New Year. 

I hope everyone had a happy and safe New Years and that you’re ready for a very good 2009.

Since this is our first post on the Black Jack Justice Blog of 2009 (I took yesterday completely off and just watched Football.  I hope you did the same.  At least the “took off” part.  The football was pretty crappy.  I have high hopes for the Florida/Oklahoma match-up though.) — where was I?  Oh yeah…

Since this is our first post on the Black Jack Justice Blog of 2009, I thought I would give you a few teasers about what we are working on for ol’ Square Jaw and other Decoder Ring Theatre properties for the coming year.

BLACK JACK JUSTICE

We’ve been very pleased with the reception that Justice Served Cold has gotten from the DRT fans and the many new fans that have clicked over from The Rookie to check it out. 

So, we plan to continue adapting the Black Jack Justice stories.  Some of you may have assumed this was the plan (and in many ways it was) but it really did depend upon the reception we got.  So thank yourselves for this if you love Black Jack Justice.

Stories #2 and #3 are already in the works.  The Rookie Artist, Mark Hester (who still thinks it’s weird to type in the third person) will be drawing #2 — in a very different style from the one The Rookie fans are use to.   BJJ artist extrodinaire, Sami Kivelä, will be returning with #3.  He is also doing the adapting of the story himself (from Gregg Taylor’s script) — so you know it will rock.

We’ll be searching for some outstanding artists to work with us on future stories and may even do some “comic-only” (or “comic-first”) stories.

THE RED PANDA

The great reception for Black Jack Justice also convinced us that we should do The Red Panda.  We won’t kid you here — naturally we planned (hoped) all along to do The Red Panda — But the reception and the comments really did make it a done deal.

Again we are looking for the right artists to bring RP and TFS to life.  If you know someone — or you ARE someone — please, PLEASE visit our NEW TALENT SEARCH PAGE.

ADDITIONAL DECODER RING THEATER STORIES

I’m really not suppose to say anything about this (seriously!) but that’s never stopped me before. 

We had a mind-blowingly good artist contact us recently (look for a sample of his artwork on the Art of Addictive Comics Blog — Coming soon!) and he wants to do… well, let’s just say “another of DRT’s Podcasts” – they might DECK me if I use this SPACE to announce it. 

It just so happens that Scott is good friends with the author of this particular story (we have been discussing some of his other stories — I don’t think we have FAILED in our MONOLOGUES with him — but I can’t tell you who it is yet.) so it has a better than equal chance of happening.

If it all comes together — it will KICK SERIOUS A**! (that’s not a hint.  Just capitals. ) 

Personally, I would like to see us do some of the Decoder Ring Theatre Showcase stories down the road.  Let us know your favorites.

OTHER COMICS and BLOGS   

Naturally we are happy with our readers from DRT and Black Jack Justice and hope you will continue to support all of the stories that AC and DRT team-up to do.

But don’t forget to check out all the other stories and blogs we have planned.  I won’t go into all of them on this post (it’s long already) but we will keep you informed. 

Not everything will be everyone’s cup of tea — but you may discover something you like. 

So be sure to give everything a look. 

See ya,

Mark

  

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Dear Black Jack Justice Fans,

I was looking around for some crap…Uh…GOOD STUFF I could throw up on this New Year’s Post.  It would be nice if I had something “New-Year-sie.” You know — Trixie in a evening gown — or Sabien as Old Man Time — or something.

But I don’t.

But I did find this for you to enjoy –

The Spirit by Mike Wieringo

Not a blessed thing.

Except….

I came across this picture when I was researching the “look” for Jack — back when I thought maybe I was gonna draw the first script (after Gregg had signed on – but before I found Sami.) 

I remember thinking, “YES!  That is EXACTLY how I picture Jack Justice (minus the mask and gloves, naturally.)  A bit disshelved, a bit beat-up, — but ready and itching for a fight.”  If I could capture just a bit of the “spirit” (sorry) that Mike did in this drawing, I knew we’d have a winner.

Sami has gone on to give us a wonderful Jack Justice (and a quite beautiful Trixie, too!) and his characters are full of spirit and life.  We are lucky to have him.

But I still kinda see this drawing in my mind when I think of Our Jack.

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Sadly, one of the nicest guys in comics, Mike Wieringo, passed away last year so we’ll never get his wonderful art on Addictive Comics. 

I know he would have done one hell of a Black Jack Justice, though.

Mike’s Home Page is still up, with more drawing and notes  – http://www.mikewieringo.com/ 

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Sorry — didn’t mean to make this sad. 

I really just wanted to share this wonderful drawing with each of you and wish each of you a –

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Mark

The Spirit is copyright by someone.  Maybe the drawing is too.  We make no claims to them.

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We would like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

The Addictive Comics Gang.

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Hey, we’re glad you could make it. 

This is where you can comment on Page 3 and read the comments made by other readers and the creators.

To view the rest of the blog click the BJJ Blog Home link in the top left corner.

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Page 3 really taxed my almost-non-existent lettering skills to the max.  I had to move and squeeze and move some more just to fit everything in.  Those fans of Black Jack Justice who have the shows memorized (you know who you are!) will see that we still had to cut a little bit of the dialogue.  Sorry.

It wasn’t much — but if you want to hear the complete text, visit Decoder Ring Theatre and download the wonderful Podcast of Justice Served Cold.

I am even more sorry that I had to cover up so much of Sami’s beautiful artwork.   After the Holidays are over we plan on creating another blog to feature and highlight the artwork of Black Jack Justice and other artwork by the Creators.  We’ll probably include the “pre-word balloon pages” each week for anyone interested in them.  But until then here is a special little treat.  

I HATED to cover these legs up –

Pencils by Sami - Inks by Mark - Legs by Donna

Let us know if this kind of stuff interests you (”discussions about the artwork” not the girl )

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While you’re here, don’t forget to have a look around.  There is a gorgeous picture of Trixie by Sami on the post for December 19th.

Mark
   

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Welcome.

We’re glad you could make it because we are VERY EXCITED.

We have quite a bit of ground to cover in this first post so let’s get started. 

GREGG TAYLOR — THE MIND BEHIND BLACK JACK JUSTICE & TRIXIE DIXON 

First up, Black Jack Justice creator and writer, Gregg Taylor has a few words of welcome for everyone.  Take it away Gregg —  

“Over at Decoder Ring Theatre, we’re in our fourth season of providing all-new, full-cast audio drama in the tradition of the Golden Age of Radio. Our detective series, Black Jack Justice has always been one of our most popular offerings, fuelled by my lifelong love for all things Noir, Pulp and Hardboiled.

“Audio Drama fires the imagination as few other forms can. It is not a passive medium, but requires the active artistic participation of the listener to create the world along with us. Every listener has their own image of Jack Justice, Trixie Dixon and the inhabitants of their world, and giving them physcial form at last was not something to be undertaken lightly.

“Thank God Sami Kivelä was there to perform this alchemy for us. His feel for the characters, their world and the classic elements of noir storytelling has amazed me, and I know you will feel the same as the weeks go by.

“With Mark Hester’s inks providing dramatic shadows and graceful light, it’s easy for me to forget that these stories weren’t created for a visual medium at all and get lost in another time, another place and the ‘Stuff That Dreams Are Made Of.’ “

Thanks Gregg. 

WHAT’S THE DEAL WITH THE BLACK JACK JUSTICE BLOG?

Glad you asked.

It might be a long time — maybe never — before webcomics rival the biggest offline comics in terms of readers and reach.  But one thing we have them beat on, hand’s down, is the ability to interact with the readers — almost real time.

Addictive Comics plans to take full advantage of this!

That’s the main reason we have created this blog — and similar blogs for each of our comics.  At first we envisioned having a comments area below the artwork on the actual comic pages.  But experiments with this proved that it was far too limiting for what we wanted to do.

We want, encourage and NEED the readers to comment on anything and everything.

And the Wide-Open nature of a Blog is PERFECT for this.

IS THAT ALL – JUST COMMENTS?

Heck no!  Although comments from you ARE the MOST important part of every blog, we also love the blog as a place to present some of our other work and air some of our thoughts. 

Expect to see extra artwork and writing by the creators, more of our thoughts on the pages and much more.

To get us rolling in the right direction — here is a bonus piece from Black Jack Justice Artist, Sami Kivelä, proving he’s not just a one-of-a-kind detective artist –

Spider-man, Iceman and whatever the woman is called — Copyright Marvel Comics

ONE LAST IMPORTANT NOTE

The comics are on a Page-a-Week Schedule (for many reasons), but we have no such constraints on the blog.  We plan to post more frequently — whenever the mood hits us.  Possibly daily.

We’ll always start a new post for each new Comic Page but there may be several posts between them.

Plus the comments are always available and we hope that you will use them frequently. 

So be sure to hit the Black Jack Justice Blog often between Tuesdays (the update day for the Black Jack Justice Comic) to check out what’s new and to read the comments left by other readers.

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That’s all for now.  We open the first comment area for your comments on –

• The first two pages of the Black Jack Justice Comic
• The Black Jack Justice Blog
• Black Jack Justice and Trixie Dixon
• Sami and Mark’s Artwork
• Gregg’s Story
• Addictive Comics
• ANYTHING ELSE YOU WANT TO TALK ABOUT

Thank you for joining us and PLEASE participate,

Scott, Mark, Gregg, Sami and the whole Addictive Comics and Decoder Ring Theatre Gangs

PS — You thought we forgot, didn’t you?  Here is the Flying Squirrel drawing by Black Jack Justice inker, Mark Hester, that we promised you. 

      

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