#Sistrenday

[mkllpz]

DECEMBER 2022 (Part 2)

Part 1

Book of Fuligin

Editor Ramón Perales recently announced the final list of participants for Book of Fuligin, “a sequential anthology” inspired by Gene Wolfe’s science fiction novel Book of the New Sun. It’s quite the list of contributors. I’ve written a sci-fi/horror story for the anthology titled “A Column of Ashes” which H. Berlin is illustrating. In the story, a merchant hires a gardener to bring an old garden back to life, but neither gardener nor garden are quite what they seem. (I’ve yet to master making the story-in-a-sentence enticing, but I promise the story is weird and contains a sating quantity of blood.) The title is taken from a line of dialogue in a play-within-the-novel:

“You are a ghost and less, a column of ashes upheld by the wind.”

Book of Fuligin will be be crowdfunded and published by Strangers Publishing.

● “A Column of Ashes”

▼ A panel from “A Column of Ashes” by H. Berlin ▼

▼ Book of Fuligin ▼

After the End

“Lápida” (’tombstone’), written by me, illustrated by Tim Fischer, and lettered by Tim and @andriylukin​, is set in a near future where a journalist with a deteriorating memory travels through a post-apocalyptic South America, writing about a world which now revolves around sports. “Lápida” was created for the anthology After the End, “a 350+ page post-apocalyptic comics anthology featuring an exciting group of 23 emerging artists and writers”, successfully funded on Kickstarter a couple of weeks ago. A beautifully designed and eclectic collection of stories. After the End is the first book published by @jakereevesart’s One Shot Books and will be available to buy once backers have received their copies.

You can read a 4-page preview of “Lápida” here.

● “Lápida”

▼ Two panels from “Lápida” by Tim Fischer ▼

▼ The cover of After the End by Casper Manning)▼

Big Hype

The first crowdfunding campaign of the year I was involved in was for Big Hype Vol. 2, a massive anthology published by Doug Wood���s Jumpstart Comics. The anthology includes “Sistrenday” by me and Julian Adkins, a fantasy story in which two sisters steal from a family of deities who transform the older sister into a bird. “Sistrenday” was intended to be a pitch for a longer story in which the younger sister goes on a journey to find a way to reverse her sister’s transformation. Unfortunately, nothing ever came of it, but may revive the project some day. This was also originally in color, so it may reappear elsewhere in color.

● “Sistrenday”

▼ Five panels from “Sistrenday” by Julian Adkins ▼

▼ The cover of Big Hype Vol. 2 by Jimmy Kucaj ▼

Part 3

#comics #science fiction #sci-fi #scifi #gene wolfe #post-apocalyptic #post-apocalypse #after the end #fantasy

[stilleatingoranges]

The making of a comic page. This is page four of "Sistrenday", an eight-page comic pilot that our artist completed recently for writer Mikael Lopez. In 2016, Lopez and our artist collaborated on the short piece "David Loses His Head", published in Sliced Quarterly and praised in Broken Frontier this year. "Sistrenday" is an ambitious new step in their partnership; and, with luck, it will mark the beginning of a lengthy new series.

In order, the steps pictured above are:

Completed page

Finalized artwork

Refined colors

Rough colors

Refined pencils

Rough pencils

Thumbnail

"Sistrenday" is a fantasy adventure story, set in a magical land roamed by huge, enigmatic gods. In the page above, sister-protagonists Enh and Tuh are hired to steal from Mother Ember—the most powerful of these gods. By the end of "Sistrenday", the terrible consequences of this decision are made apparent.

Since last month, Lopez has been posting teasers and concept material from "Sistrenday" on his blog. Those interested may find more of this project, including an unused test page, there.

Still Eating Oranges

#Comic #Sistrenday #Mikael Lopez #Festivals #Parasols

[mkllpz]

Still Like a Statue

Another great panel by @magicalseaside featuring the Menestrel from the pitch story for our fantasy series Sistren! 

#still like a statue #sistren #sistrenday #julian adkins #magicalseaside #stilleatingoranges #artists on tumblr #mikael lopez #mkllpz #writers on tumblr #fantasy #comics #illustration #menestrel

[mkllpz]

Enh & Tuh

One final panel by @magicalseaside featuring the two protagonists from the pitch story for our fantasy series Sistren. It'll hopefully be available to read in the not-too-distant future!

#sistren #sistrenday #julian adkins #magicalseaside #stilleatingoranges #artists on tumblr #mikael lopez #mkllpz #writers on tumblr #fantasy #comics #illustration

[mkllpz]

The Market

The temple has become a market in this panel by @magicalseaside from the pitch story for our fantasy series Sistren.

#the market #sistren #sistrenday #julian adkins #magicalseaside #stilleatingoranges #artists on tumblr #mikael lopez #mkllpz #writers on tumblr #fantasy #comics #illustration #temple

[mkllpz]

A Temple of the Grandmothers

A panel (with text removed) by @magicalseaside from “Sistrenday,” our pitch for a fantasy series!

#sistren #sistrenday #julian adkins #magicalseaside #stilleatingoranges #artists on tumblr #mikael lopez #mkllpz #writers on tumblr #comics #illustration #fantasy #temple #forest