Breaking the silence

Boy – have we been a couple of lame-o bloggers this last few weeks!

You don’t care if we’re nuts-deep in ‘real’ work and ‘real’ life – comics should ALWAYS come first and we know that as well as anyone.

I know we said ‘a page a week’ but… deadlines? I’ll show you deadlines, sonny-Jim!

Ok… so we might have been a little bit busy updating our CVs and planning world-domination. You gonna hold that against us?

Whatevs. We’re a couple of busy bastards.

Here’s an actual panel from the actual comic with some actual dialogue. And it’s still only Tuesday, which makes us a DAY EARLY by my reckoning.

Quick Mack Attack

Comin’ atcha like an art-ninja, flinging out his scribbles on an unsuspecting mob…

Yeh – we’re all snowed-under and work-deadliney again. Don’t worry, though – we’re still firing all-guns on the comic.

First up this week: Jian got a haircut…

Jian & topknot

Next up: light roughs of pages 6 & 7. Very much a work-in progress, these ones, but Mack has sent me this pic twice, so I guess he’s fairly eager for me to post it.

page 6&7 roughs

See you in a week, if I tear myself away from Twitter long enough to order a Chinese, clear some junk off the PVR and write some all-new crap

Coverage

We’re back!

After a much-needed break, it’s all hands on deck, nose to the grindstone and other anachronisms standing-by as we lurch headlong into the new year with the first roughs of the covers.

That’s Jian, Shiv, Jo and The Corsican gracing the fronts of Iss. 1-4.

There’s one character noticeably absent from these covers, and that’s the City of Urbn itself. Mack assures me that she’ll be there in the final versions.

And for more of Shiv, here’s some early costume notes.

Like one of those actors who has to find the right shoes before they can find the character, Mack often works from the outside-in. “Clothes make the man” and all that jazz.

Mack said “Neon Gothic.” I fired back, “Victorian Punk.” Let’s see where that leads us…

Jian

Full name: unknown
Age: unknown
Origin: Unknown
Weapon: sword

Twelve years aboard a prison ship have barely left a mark on his skin, but have left a great many scars on his mind. He returns to the City of Urbn to find that it has hardly changed, but that he is unrecognisable.

He’s certainly not the man he was twelve years ago.

He’s been away for so long that his previous life is only half-remembered – like an incomplete thought – a sentence cut-off mid flow. He feels as if his whole life was lived aboard that flying hulk of a prison ship. All that he’s left with are a few old memories, old haunts and old habits.

He was once a man of great standing and wealth and now he has nothing. He was once the greatest swordsman of his generation, but he hasn’t touched a weapon since he was snatched from the city streets and thrown in gaol.

That’s all about to change.

Aboard the prison ship, the Doctors called him “Sword 94”, but here on the streets of Urbn, he is Jian – and he has unfinished business.

A ghostly figure…

Help! Someone has stolen Mack’s crayons and only left him with a pencil.

At least I think that’s what’s happened. But what do I know? I’m just in charge of the words.

So, consider this Page 1 of the “URBN colouring-in book.” Bring your own crayons to the party. Remember – try to keep within the lines.

A first look at the leads

The preliminary work is coming along a treat, so I’ve managed to wrestle another page out of Mack’s sketchbook.

I found this one buried under a pile of crayons, while he was off playing with his industrial strength grey-green finger-paint.

For your entertainment: costume/palette tests of the leading man (Jiàn) and leading lady (Jō).

Enjoy!

Opening the Sketchbook

An early offering from Mack.

He says I have to tell you this is merely a “work in progress,” but I’d be happy to put it straight into the damn comic.

Like so much of his work, it’ll probably end up on whatever the comic-book equivalent of “the cutting room floor” is (“the Editor’s bin?”). Mack is his own harshest critic.

(which saves me the job)

So, here’s your (and my) first look at URBN’s leading man: Jiàn