Art keeps coming in as Kav makes progress on Rapid City Book I.
This is the sketch for part of page 10.

Learning the ropes

Kav asks very pointed questions about the pages and I can usually give him very specific answers. I am very proud of that.

Having a beautiful copy of Rapid City #11 in my hands cements the fact that Kav is the artist with whom to move forward with this project.

Actually, I made that decision a while ago. But in comics, things don’t actually happen unless you have pictures of them happening. So, here are the first two panels of the first page of Rapid City #1.

Because I actually started with issue 11, I guess this means that I am launching with a retcon. Fine. So be it!

The script for the twenty-fourth issue of my superhero comic book, Rapid City has just been posted.

Panel 3. Glyph smiling and proud, Kinetic looking up at him curiously.

GLYPH
Audiomancy.

KINETIC
What?

GLYPH
It’s a way of letting the universe tell you things. Finding patterns, not predicting the future.

Panel 4. Glyph gesturing around himself.

GLYPH
In a random shuffle, your mind will make meaning out the order of symbols.

KINETIC
You mean a tarot reading?

Panle 5. Glyph holding up his MP3 player.

GLYPH
Not that kind of shuffle.

Read and discuss this issue of Rapid City, plus all of the previous issues, for free here.

I am starting to work on my 24th issue.
At 1 issue a month, that puts me two years in to this project.

That means I have been producing a new comic book script every month for two years now.
Well, the truth is that I had a slight mis-step around the third issue and did a kind of re-launch. I am not sure how much that put me off schedule. Then I completely missed a deadline last spring. So, these 24 scripts don’t equal exactly 24 months. But I think I would rather count the birthdays every twelve issues. That way I have the big issue numbers to track my progress.

Anyway, I have something special planned for this next issue.
I am going back to my musical roots as well as trying something I have never done before.

If you have been paying attention to the story, you will know that my main character, Kinetic, has been through some rough stuff recently. His ambition to go out and be the guy who takes heroic action has left him as the guy who is constantly surrounded by pain and tragedy. So, the question he faces is, how does he move forward from here?

And I really don’t know the answer. I have a good idea where he is going, and what will happen to him….but I am not sure how he will get there.

I hope that you will be there with me to find out.

The script for the twenty-third issue of my superhero comic book, Rapid City, has now been posted.

In this issue, Coil’s plan to steal an ancient artifact unfolds with terrifying consequences.

Panel 1. Everyone looking toward the Captain with surprise.

GUARD 1

Sir!

SCIENTIST 2

What have you done?

KINETIC

What’s wrong with you?

Panel 2. The Captain yelling back at Kinetic.

GUARD CAPTAIN

Not me. Them. Look what this scum does with the power they have now. They hurt, steal, and kill.

GUARD CAPTAIN

More power will mean more people hurt and more people killed. That’s not happening on my watch.

GUARD CAPTAIN

The vault stays closed.

Read and discuss this issue of Rapid City, plus all of the previous issues, for free here.

The script for the twenty-second issue of my superhero comic book, Rapid City, has now been posted.

This issue is the second part of story in the style of Crime Noir. Villains brought together to steal a powerful artifact face the lives they have chosen as they await the final heist preparations. Coil pulls Kinetic’s strings to push him into action, but for what purpose?

Panel 1. Kinetic over Coil and shouting down at him.

KINETIC
You don’t ask about her. After what you did, you don’t even get to say her name.

COIL
I did….

Panel 2. Close on Coil looking up at Kinetic. He is slightly sneering.

COIL
I did what I had to do.

Panel 3. Coil starting to stand, Kinetic still over him.

KINETIC
You set her up. Attacked her. You tortured her. That’s what you had to do?

COIL
They would have killed her.

Read and discuss this issue of Rapid City, plus all of the previous issues, for free here.

The script for the twentieth issue of my superhero comic book, Rapid City, has now been posted.

This issue is completely silent and marks the start of a dark new chapter of Rapid City.

Page 15
Panel 1. Close on KINETIC touching and testing the cuffs. The WOMAN’S wrist is red and scraped.

Panel 2. Shot of the broken-out window. The BAD GUY is just starting to climb up through it, back in to the house.

Panel 3. The WOMAN speaking to KINETIC and touching her very pregnant belly.

Panel 4. Still speaking to KINETIC, she points toward the open door.

Panel 5. The WOMAN is still pointing, but now she is actually looking where she is pointing and her eyes are wide with fear.

Read and discuss this issue of Rapid City, plus all of the previous issues, for free here.

The script for the nineteenth issue of my superhero comic book, Rapid City, has now been posted.

SWITCHBOARD

Just keep your eyes open, ok?

VECTOR

For monster tracks?

KINETIC

It’s not a monster, ok? It’s a gorilla. Can we stop making this into more than it is?

Panel 4. Desperado turning to face Kinetic. Not quite “in his face” but certainly confrontational.

DESPERADO

Hey, you get face to face with one of these hairy bastards….

DESPERADO

you look him right in the eyes….

DESPERADO

and then you tell me there’s a difference between a monster and a gorilla.

Panel 5. Kinetic pausing on the embankment, stunned, as Desperado walks away to catch up with the other two.

Panel 6. Switchboard looking at Desperado, surprised. Kinetic is coming up behind them.

SWITCHBOARD

Have you fought a gorilla?

Read and discuss this issue of Rapid City, plus all of the previous issues, for free here.

The script for the eighteenth issue of my superhero comic book, Rapid City, has now been posted.

HARTBORN

So this is revenge for you?

Panel 2. Kinetic posed and shot just like Octane on page ten. He looks a little frustrated.

KINETIC

No, that’s not what I want. Besides, what revenge? Maxwell died right along with her.

Panel 3. Hartborn watches Kinetic talk, but Kinetic is not looking at him. He is looking at the glove box.

KINETIC

No, it’s not that. It’s like this, she asked me for help….. and then she died. I still owe her.

Panel 4. Just Hartborn.

HARTBORN

She’s dead. This isn’t helping her.

Panel 5. Just Kinetic

KINETIC

What else can I do?

Read and discuss this issue of Rapid City, plus all of the previous issues, for free here.

As a result of my auction campaign I have been talking to an artist named A. Kaviraj about drawing some of my comics.
His art is very cool, very expressive, and has an “indie” quality that I really like.

He has already begun doing some sketches, like this one. He has a clear vision for the character, which is getting closer and closer to my vision for the character.

Ok, so you know that with this project, I have been using Kinetic’s journey into the life of a superhero as a proxy for my own journey into the life of a writer of superhero comics.

If you have been paying attention to recent issues, you will note that Kinetic has been reaching out and developing a support network…. and look what is happening in real life! A support network is developing. I didn’t plan that, it just happened.

And then there are all these weird coincidences with Champion City Comics. I am not a huge believer in symbols and the like, but sometimes it just hits you over the head.

This is the right place to be, and the right direction in which to be moving.