2009 - The Year That Was

2009's not quite over yet, but since I'll be out of town with my family for the holidays, I'm doing this post a little early. I made a post at the start of the year that looked ahead to 2009, so I thought I'd see how things shook out.

Right off the bat, I notice that the super-hero book that Yildiray Cinar and I were planning to do never happened. You can probably guess why: Yildiray has been getting work from DC. It started with a couple fill-ins, and led to the Ravager co-feature in Teen Titans, and when that wraps up he's got a big gig lined up. I can't wait until it's announced, because it's the perfect fit for him. I'm hoping to work with Yildiray again, but chances are very slim that it would be on a regular series that we co-created. What's more likely is that I'll twist his arm to contribute to a short story or something like that, in between his DC work.

It's painful to see that Jon Sommariva and I still haven't wrapped up GEMINI. We managed to etch out one issue in all of 2009. Not good.

The crime mini-series that I mentioned with Koray Kuranel is still in the works. He's drawn the entire first issue and is working on the second. I don't feel bad about this one not being out yet. It hasn't been solicited, so we're not late. There's no schedule we're trying to keep. Koray has a busy career as a storyboard artist, so this comic book project is just something he's doing for fun in his spare time.

DYNAMO 5 #25 marked the end of the series as a regular, ongoing series. And it also marked the departure of Mahmud as the regular series artist. But as co-creator of the book, Mahmud will still be involved. He'll be drawing covers and character designs, and he sees all the art for the book as it comes in. As readers of this blog know, the book is far from dead. Julio Brilha is hard at work on DYNAMO 5: SINS OF THE FATHER, an all-new 5-issue mini-series that will debut this summer. It features the Dynamo 5 kids in their new super-hero identities, and the story stems from an important battle in Captain Dynamo's life, which we'll see in flashbacks. And there are lots of cool guest stars.

I also got my first work for DC Comics in a long time in 2009, writing a short Batman story for their latest Holiday Special. My editor on that story was Eddie Berganza, the very first DC editor to ever give me work, way back in 1998 (I think -- it might have been late 1997). It was great working with Eddie again, and I hope to get a chance to work with him again soon.

I contributed to a few Marvel comics in 2009, starting with two stories for their "War of Kings" cosmic event. These two stories (focusing on Lilandra and Crystal) were originally published online, and then collected in the 2-issue WAR OF KINGS: WARRIORS mini-series. My editor on those stories was Ben Morse, an assistant editor in the Digital Department. Ben's a great guy and my stories (along with two written by Christos Gage) were the first stories he actually edited. You couldn't tell, though. Ben handled himself like a veteran editor. And by that I mean he rewrote my story and didn't return my calls. No, no -- I'm kidding, of course. On both counts. Working with Ben was great, and hopefully that wasn't the last time.

Ben actually commissioned me to write another story that hasn't been announced yet. It's too bad he had to pass it off to another editor, because it features characters Ben and I are both especially fond of, and it would've been fun to see it through to publication together.

The editor who ended up with the story is Daniel Ketchum, who I had never worked with before. Daniel's a great guy, and very easy to work with. As this still-undisclosed story takes shape, Daniel also hired me to write a short X-MEN Christmas story which will be published as part of Marvel's Digital Comics line next week.

2009 also marked what I hope is the start of my screenwriting career. In the past six months I've written a movie screenplay, a pilot for a proposed TV series, and started work on a second movie screenplay. I should clarify that these are all specs -- meaning, no one paid me to write these, and for now, at least, no one has bought them. But I'm represented by Circle of Confusion, the same Hollywood management company that reps guys like Robert Kirkman, Ed Brubaker, and Brian Michael Bendis. So these guys know what they're doing, and with any luck we'll see some interest from production companies in the stuff I've written. And while I'm clarifying things, I should also clarify that my interest in screenplay does not mean I'm leaving comics. It just means I'm interested in diversifying, and broadening my horizons.

So that's 2009 in a nutshell. In a few weeks, I'll post my plans for 2010...