HERE WE ARE AGAIN

Back at the beginning.

Well, the numbers for ‘StarHenge: A Kiss For Atticus’ issue 2 are in. Just over half the issue 1 orders, so not great, sadly. Though I also have to say I’m not overly surprised.

Which leaves me back in a situation where the future remains a foreign land without a reliable map. My dream would be, at this stage in my career, to write and draw material I have a passion for, and that is entirely my own creation. Reality demands otherwise. So I must again go looking for work that sells, and likely with another writer to add the ‘name’ factor.

I think the frustration, more than anything, is that I see people bemoan a lack of creativity in our medium. They opine that there are no books out there that push the medium artistically, or creatively, not since the 80s. That there’s nothing to make you think, and that the artists today don’t have the skills of the heroes of the past.

With my StarHenge work I feel I have addressed that. That I have put four decades of work into providing something unique, and, I hope, beautiful. But in reality people do just want Batman. I stood in a comic shop yesterday and just listened. And it’s the iconic characters that people talk about. That or manga.

(BTW, if you didn’t get a copy of my ‘Tattered Wings’ story in ‘The Savage Sword of Conan’ there are still multiple signed copies in Derby’s ‘Forbidden Planet’ store. Go snag one! They are hard to find!)

And so yes, I’m back at the starting point, not quite sure what to do next, how to change things, and how to continue to follow my creative dreams. I’m not bitter, and I’m not angry. I saw this coming. But I hoped I might be wrong. That is what hope is for. To keep you reaching and trying new things. To keep you dreaming.

Reality so often has other plans.

Page from ‘StarHenge: A Kiss for Atticus’ issue 2.