10 years, 30 products published (not including merchandising), dozens and dozens of new creators getting their work published for the very first time through Futurius; I gave it a good fair run but now is the time to accept defeat and move on. I will still be putting out books including the Concept Core line, though they will no longer carry the Futurius logo on the covers. I’d also like to say that Fut, the company mascot, will still be appearing from time to time in Concept Core and other books too, along with his buddies the Timebots and all their friends.

A sincere THANK YOU to EVERY SINGLE PERSON who spent money on Futurius over the last ten years! Every sale has been a genuine giddy thrill to receive for me and I thank you warmly for your time, attention and enthusiasm!!

I don’t even know if anyone’s reading this but if you are, please join me – don’t worry, you won’t have to post anything! – in raising an imaginary glass to Futurius, a wonderful little company full of life and energy that sadly couldn’t make it into its second decade. 10 years is a fantastic amount of time for it to’ve kept going though. I’m proud of the company!

I love you, Futurius. You’ve been the dominant force in my life throughout the last ten years and closing you is closing a part of myself. I’m deeply going to miss you.

- DANN
NEW CYBER-HOME: http://planetdann.tumblr.com – FOR NEW ART AND COMIC PROJECTS FROM ME!

Fut's Goodbye from the final issue of Tales From The Plex

]]> http://futurius.com/2012/futurius-end/feed/ 4 http://futurius.com/2012/dann-on-tumblr/ http://futurius.com/2012/dann-on-tumblr/#comments Sat, 07 Jan 2012 04:20:41 +0000 Dann http://futurius.com/?p=1821 As previosuly mentioned, Futurius.Com will be shutting down this year when it comes up for renewal. That’ll be the end of Futurius as a company but I’ll still be putting stuff out without a studio/publisher name.

I’m now on Tumblr at PlanetDann.tumblr.com posting art pages regularly. Please, if you’re on Tumblr yourself, follow me or add me to your friends list or whatever. I’m new to Tumblr and still figuring which way up it goes, but it seems pretty good so far. I tried starting one last year but Dann.Tumblr was taken. Got the “Planet Dann” title from Saints Row The Third’s “Planet Saints” stores. Been playing that thing WAY too much lately!

I’m still sad to lose my beloved Futurius but trying to think of it not as losing a company but gaining a planet.

My favourite bit:

Described as X-Men meets Police Academy, it’s the story of a bunch of mostly teenagers who have been through various genetic engineering experiments that have altered their DNA and given them fantastic powers, and have been sent (or is that “exiled”) to a private island, dubbed “Metaland”, where they can be themselves. One particular group has been training to learn to use their powers as a special police force, called Meta Force (obviously). Another fun book, Lundie seems @ home writing youthful heroes and, despite the large cast and it being a single issue, he manages to cram quite a bit of info about each of the main characters.

Giggity-goo!

The very first anthology from Futurius: Formatted like a DVD, Tales From The Plex includes main features (the comics) at the front and a multitude of special extras at the back including prose stories, character design sketches, pin-ups, tutorials and more! Showcasing stories in various genres such as Superheroes, Sci-Fi, Horror and Slice-Of-Life stuff with a quirky slant! With works by Dann, Chris Bell, Chad Nevett, Jesse Farrell, Sergio Calvet, Cassie Summer, Damien Wood, Mike Murphy, Stephen Sharp, Blake M Petit, Russell Hillman, “Scary” Larry Williams, Zé Troia, Wilson Dela Fuente, King Yen Lee, Matt Weldon, Ryan Broussard, Celina Hernandez, Dave Richardson, John Nelson, Rob Larsen, Darren Schwindaman, Nate Thompson, Dave Rothe AND MORE! Edited by Dann Lundie, Chris Bell and Ronée Garcia Bourgeois.

Featuring 13 full comic strips, 2 prose tales and a bundle of extra features, Tales From The Plex [TFTP] is a visual literature anthology series showcasing work and characters by brand new creators. The stories in this volume include BABY BOTTLE, the story of a half-human baby monkey trapped in a jar; PERSONAL JESUS, which plays out like a madcap infomercial for a robotic messiah; FISH DRINK, a sci-fi tale about the hunt for ordinary people who have mysteriously disappeared into wormholes on the streets; MURDER FROM BEYOND THE STARS, about the death of a President and the grizzled detective trying to find the killer, even if it means blowing the head off a few more politicians to do it; BAD LUCK INC, a sci-fi horror play on what it means to give your soul to your work; and JIM REAPER, the misadventures of the cutest l’il grim reaper you’ll ever see! TALES FROM THE PLEX 2 is edited by Dann Lundie, Youri Zoutman, Stephen Sharp and Nick St Amant. For more information visit www.futurius.com.

Tales From The Plex 2 is a 160 black and white paperback retailing for US $13.99 plus shipping exclusively from Lulu.com.

You can buy a copy from Lulu HERE.

The very first anthology from Futurius: Formatted like a DVD, the book includes main features (the comics) at the front and a multitude of special extras at the back including prose stories, character design sketches, pin-ups, tutorials and more! Showcasing stories in various genres such as Superheroes, Sci-Fi, Horror and Slice-Of-Life stuff with a quirky slant! With works by Dann Lundie, Chris Bell, Chad Nevett, Jesse Farrell, Sergio Calvet, Cassie Summer, Damien Wood, Mike Murphy, Stephen Sharp, Blake M Petit, Russell Hillman, “Scary” Larry Williams, Zé Troia, Wilson Dela Fuente, King Yen Lee, Matt Weldon, Ryan Broussard, Celina Hernandez, Dave Richardson, John Nelson, Rob Larsen, Darren Schwindaman, Nate Thompson, Dave Rothe AND MORE! Edited by Dann Lundie, Chris Bell and Ronée Garcia Bourgeois.

Tales From The Plex: OGN is a 240 black and white paperback retailing for US $18.99 plus shipping exclusively from Lulu.com.

You can buy a copy from Lulu HERE!

The printers have done a bang-up job and seeing the barcode on the back of the book is a giddy thrill. The tpb will be available in bricks n’ mortar stores (providing they order copies) as well as available in Indyplanet.com’s online store so it’s pretty exciting knowing it’ll be out there.

It’s been a tough road since we started in 2004 with the Robin Node comic posters. I’ve still got a lot of them in packaging taking up space! Too sentimental to get rid of ‘em though. Then we did the two big volumes of Tales From The Plex, reformatting that title into the ongoing series, as well as the first Darkling mini. And now we’re finally getting to the proper superhero universe stuff. It feels strange. Some of the stuff coming up has been planned since I was a child, which I guess makes it a life-long dream. The original plan was to become a superstar creator with DC and work on Superman, Wonder Woman and the Legion Of Superheroes before breaking off and starting my own company. If I’d waited for that though I’d never have gotten anything of my own out.

I still don’t feel like I’m fully ready to bring this stuff out when there’s such a small fanbase in place for it. But then Superman came out without a fanbase, and through hard work and a couple of decades of amazing, awe-striking adventures he came to mean something to people. I keep wondering if someday these characters will mean something special to someone too…

Writer Corey Brotherson has provided a short commentary on his Tales From The Plex #13 cover-feature story, “A Twilight’s Promise“, over at his blog.

Check it out for some background details on this heart-rending short story about the brief nature of life.

They’ve been available to buy since last month but they’re officially 2010 product, with a Jan 2010 and Feb 2010 inner-cover date, respectively.

You can get your personal, specially made-to-order copies of Tales From The Plex #14 HERE and Tales From The Plex #15 HERE. Stories include the final two parts of the Fut multi-epic “Fut Vs A Broken Heart” by Chris J. Powers, as well as sci-fi noir crime thriller “Murder From Beyond The Stars” by “Mad” Chad Nevett and “Nice” Brice Hall, superhero murder mystery “End Of An Era” by Preston “The Trooper” Cooper and “Sarky” Mark Lauthier, politically (not to mention socially!) incorrect comedy strip “Re: Tarded” by Devon “Man-Slinky!” Winkey, a bit o’ pin-up goodness from Chris J. Powers “That Be” and “Rabbid” David Richardson plus a final tear-jerking goodbye strip from Fut and the Timebots we simply called “Fut’s Goodbye”.

A LOT of people put their heart n’ their art into this series, so give it a go next time you want something interesting to look at. I can honestly un-biasedly say there’s some really excellent, exciting and fun strips throughout this 15-issue series, and it’s well worth a read through.

And to honor Tales From The Plex, our maiden voyage into ongoing series, here’s a bit o’ music to send ‘er on her way into the darkness. G’bye, TFTP. Rest ye well.

Good reviews for both series. Hoo-Hah!