The test copy of the new Darkling Series One TPB arrived recently. It’s looking fang-tastic (see what I did there?). A previous copy arrived a few weeks back and there were printing problems but everything’s 100% perfect in the new one and it’s that which’ll be out to buy veeeeery very soon! I wanted to bring it out late July/early August but now I’m seriously considering an earlier release by a couple of weeks.
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…
