Hey all, I just got back from the last two stops of the 13-city Sigler Stank II book tour to promote my hardcover horror novel CONTAGIOUS.

People asked many questions about writing, podcasting, the publishing biz, but the questions that kept coming up were about Addictive Comics, Mark Hester’s THE ROOKIE graphic novel adaptation on AC.com, and BLACK JACK JUSTICE on AC.com. There seems to be a serious underground buzz about Addictive Comics and our podcast-to-graphic-novel strategy.

To be honest, I feel the same way I did after the first few months of podcasting EARTHCORE back in 2005 — that is, I feel like we’re really onto something here. Now that BLACK JACK JUSTICE finished the first “episode” and we have one complete title (there’s more BJJ to come, don’t worry), Mark and Paul and I know we can do this, we will do this, and you can expect dozens of titles and hundreds of free pages in 2009 and 2010.

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We want to appologize for the lack of a new Rookie page last week. This time it wasn’t the fault of “the World’s Slowest Comic Artist.  We actually had page 10 ready to go but Mother Nature had other plans. This is one the really does fall under the “Act of God” catagory.

Be sure to read the entire frigid story — with Photos — over at the Addictive Comics Blog.

And don’t forget to visit the Art of Addictive Comics Blog. It also suffered from the Winter Storm of 2009, but should have new content very soon. So be sure to pay it a visit frequently.

VERY SPECIAL NOTICE

This is the last page of The Rookie for a few weeks.  

It’s unfortunate that it comes just after we missed a week for snow and were postponed a couple of times due to my work load (outside of the comics.)

But this is the End of Chapter One and this has been planned all along.

Scott is back from touring and we are going to take a while to discuss the upcoming storyline and things that went right and wrong in our first few weeks.

I (Mark) also want to take the opportunity to “retool” the artwork a bit.  I’m really not as happy with it as I would like to be.  I enjoy pencilling and inking (I ink the Black Jack Justice comic.  If you haven’t checked that out yet, now is the perfect time) but I’m not liking what I am producing when I pencil and ink together.  I am taking too many “shortcuts.”

With that in mind we are bringing in Bill Nichols to handle the inking chores on the next chapter (and possibly further.)  Bill is a good friend of mine and a 20 year veteran of all aspects of the comic field.  He is  currently the editor of the comics magazine, Sketch (which this month features one of my favorite artists, Ryan Ottley of Invincible) and a beautiful inker. 

He may even be professional enough to make my pencils look good.  We’ll see.

We’ll be introducing Bill more fully in the coming weeks here at The Rookie Blog and on the Art of Addictive Comics Blog.  Even though we won’t have any new pages for a while, we will have things for you to enjoy.  So be sure to keep checking the Blogs.

We ain’t going away — just slowing up to get a better start.

Now, please let us know what you think of page 10 — and Chapter One.

Mark and Scott

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Brief Expanation for those who just want the facts –

First off, I want to appologize for not getting a page up for this week.  Once again, real life and earning a living has intruded upon our fun.  Thankfully no one has the flu (like two weeks ago) but other things have been happening.  Nothing bad, thankfully — just busy.

Look for The Rookie Page 10 — the Last Page of Chapter One — Next Week.

Longer Explanation –

I’m not a real fast artist.  I think I have mentioned this several times. 

But even I ought to be able to do a page a week.   And most weeks it’s no trouble.  Even with earning a living and raising a son, I still have extra time.  Most of us are never really quite as busy as we think.  Even this week, as hectic as it was, I had some spare moments. 

That’s why I was able to ink the Black Jack Justice page, letter it and get it up on the site.  That’s also why I was able to start The New Art of Addictive Comics Blog (more below) and get it put up.

It’s not really time — it’s QUALITY TIME that matters.

For me, at least, the difference between drawing and doing most everything else on the website (inking, lettering, posting) is sorta like the difference between writing a song and singing it (or writing a play and acting in it.) 

Inking, lettering or the easy conversational tone of the writing of these posts are like singing or acting — they involve a bit of creation, intrepretation and concentration, but NOTHING compared to the intense dedication it takes to draw. 

So — I can ink for 20 minutes between work and fixing supper, or letter a page when I first get up at 4 am (as I did yesterday morning) or add to these posts in 5 minute spurts all through out the day. 

But to draw requires much, MUCH more from me.

Of course if I ever hope to be a professional artist, this will need to change.  But then again, if I am making a living at artwork, I’ll have a bit more time to do it and a bit more incentive to make the time.

This is not meant as a complaint.  I love drawing The Rookie and all artwork.  I have a pretty good life right now.  I just wanted to share the reasons.

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There is something else happening with the artwork on the Rookie — but I’m gonna save that for next week.  Be sure to watch the blog. 

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We have been promising it since day one — and it’s finally up and running

The Art of Addictive Comics Blog is LIVE!

We’ve wanted to do this even before we started the comics, but we weren’t sure if there was really a need for it.  As creators we love to discuss the story and artwork amoungst ourselves, but we didn’t know if the readers would be interested or not.

But the comments on the Blogs have convinced us that at least a few of you would like to delve more deeply into the creation process. 

So we’ve created The Art of Addictive Comics Blog.

Some of you may note that we only have one Art Blog when we have mentioned before that we would be doing individual ones for each book.  We decided that one would be better.  That’s all.

You might also notice, when you visit, that it looks a little sparce.  We’ll be fixing that as we go along. 

Our first post is all about the Black Jack Justice page for this week - Justice Served Cold - Page 8.  But don’t worry– The Rookie and other Sigler stuff will get its fair time.

If you are interested in Artwork, the creation process or you’re just wasting time at work until the whistle blows — Check out The Art of Addictive Comics Blog by CLICKING HERE NOW. 

Mark

PS - Be sure to read Scott’s post just below this one. 

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Howdy Addicts, I’m back from my tour to promote my hardcover novel CONTAGIOUS. We had an awesome time, an 11-city tour that took me from San Francisco to finish up in Washington D.C. And yeah, the whole way I jibber-jabbed about Addictive Comics. It was thrilling to hear from people, face-to-face, how much they are enjoying THE ROOKIE and BLACK JACK JUSTICE. Check out the picture at left — just a few of the awesome ROOKIE fans that came dressed in Kraken’s gear!

I’m back in San Francisco, and digging the art that Mark is kicking out for this book. I hope you’re digging it as well.

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Many of you are probably getting sick of seeing me post everytime.

And the Black Jack Justice fans will have read and enjoyed several posts and comments by BJJ writer, Gregg Taylor and artist, Sami Kivelä.

But many of you Rookie fans will have noticed an strange absence of the otherwise VERY talkative half of the Addictive Comics team, Scott Sigler, during the opening weeks of the site. 

There’s been a very good – and very bad — reason for this.

On our opening day, December 16th, Scott received some very serious news about a family member and informed me that he could not take part in the opening.  

Unfortunately, everything was scheduled, planned and announced.  So we had to go forward with the opening — even though Scott could not be involved.  Scott gave his full support to me and the rest of the Addictive Team to speak for him (thus the “Scott and Mark” at the end of some posts.)

Out of respect for his and his family’s privacy, we did not even reveal the problem.

However, I are happy to report that the news now is all good!  Out of respect for him (and a fear of getting something wrong), I’m still not gonna go into it here — but you can read about it on Scott’s own site at http://www.scottsigler.com/ and leave some comments of support for him. 

As soon as this crisis is fully over I am sure that General Siglerisimo (is that how you spell it?  For crying out loud — who talks like this?!)  will be back and as active as ever.

See ya soon,

Mark   

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Welcome.

We are VERY EXCITED.

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

WHAT’S THE DEAL WITH THE ROOKIE 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 comment 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.

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 Rookie Blog often between Tuesdays (the update day for The Rookie Comic) to check out what’s new and to read the comments left by other readers.

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Before we get to your comments — here are a couple of added bonuses for you from The Rookie Creators, Scott and Mark – Up first is a small introduction to The Rookie novel which never made it onto the podcast.  It gives a bit more insight into the mind of Quintin Barnes – and is worth a look.

Some of you may have seem this on the “leaked” sample pages Scott and Mark were using to experiment with the webcomic idea — but for most of you this will be brand new.

SOCIAL LIFE? HE HAS NO FRIENDS AT ALL? NO ONE TO SAY GOODBYE TO? NO ONE TO MISS WHEN HE’S GONE, TO FEEL HOMESICK FOR?

 

Chapter One: The Game

Teammates walked around the locker room, sat on the bench next to him, all preparing for the game. Muscular men in their physical prime, their bodies covered with religious tattoos, their eyes wide with and nostrils flaring from subdued pre-game thoughts.

He didn’t see them.

They talked strategy. Talked about what they needed to do on the field, who they wanted to smash, who they wanted to shut down. Low conversations and barking boasts, alpha-male sounds droning through the room like audible adrenaline.

He didn’t hear them.

A silent holocast played in the center of the locker room: the Purist Nation Army Devout squaring off against the Stewart’s Landing Chosen. The translucent image sparkled colorful and vibrant as a red-clad Devout free safety blitzed and sacked the orange-jersied Chosen quarterback.

He didn’t even know the game was on.

His vision, his entire world, narrowed down to one small patch of mud-stained floor. On that patch, he laid his jersey. The block number “10” was a slash of silver-grey against the jersey’s black Kevlar-bead fabric.

He then laid the leg armor, flexible black fabric covered with thick silver-grey alloy plates, curved to match the contours of his hips and his muscular thighs. The jersey’s bottom touched the top edge of the leg armor, as if someone fully dressed had lain down, then vanished, leaving only the clothes behind.

He saw himself in that uniform, on the field, destroying the enemy, crushing their will, turning their carefully planed strategy into frustration and shame. He set one shoe down in front of each leg. Half-inch long mud cleats jutted from the bottom in orderly rows, the teeth that would eat up the field already gnawed with a season’s worth of games.

The Corsairs. His enemy, who the hell were they? Who were they, to think that they could stop him?

He put a sock in each shoe.

They would get theirs, oh yes they would, the fucking Corsairs would get theirs.

Finally he picked up the helmet. Silver-grey, with a black stripe down the middle and a black anti-shock facemask. He looked into the empty shell for a moment, then set it gently down atop the jersey, completing the vanished-man’s uniform.

Neat.

Orderly.

He rolled his shoulders a few times. Joints cracked and popped, loosening up. He shook his head. BLINK … the locker room seemed to reappear around him. He heard his teammates, saw them preparing, some of them with their own little pre-game rituals that were just as strange as his.

He began to dress, starting with the socks – always the socks first – and felt the controlled anger and biting anticipation swelling inside his soul.

It was Sunday.

Game day.

His day.

Pretty cool, huh?

And here’s something else that’s pretty cool that all you Sigler fans may enjoy from The Rookie artist, Mark Hester –

Again a few of you may have seen this already — but we wanted everyone to have the chance……and to know — THEY’RE COMING!——————————————————That’s all for now.  We open the first comment area for your comments on –

• The first five pages of The Rookie Comic
• The Rookie Blog
• Quentin, Stedmar and the Quyth
• Mark’s Artwork
• Scott’s Story
• Addictive Comics
• ANYTHING ELSE YOU WANT TO TALK ABOUT

Thank you for joining us and PLEASE participate,

Scott, Mark the whole Addictive Comics Gang

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