Hello faithful readers, today, instead of posting a new dead pitch, I wanted to take the opportunity to introduce you to something new – a new project coming to Kickstarter that I’m running with my buddy, artist Steve Mardo. Presenting…

WOLVES OF A FEATHER

A Lovecraft/Cthulhu Mythos inspired crime story, Wolves of a Feather follows a gang of thieves looking to make a major score on a new heist, only to accidentally stumble onto the end of the world.

This is being published through my little vanity imprint, Quick & Dirty Comics, so I’m psyched about that as well. This is the first of 2 issues that tell a fun, terrifying story of otherworldly chaos and real-world crime.

Here is our Pre-Launch page – the campaign goes live on May 1st, but signing up at the pre-launch helps us immensely, please consider signing up to be notified when the campaign starts: https://tinyurl.com/t6k9pe45

Steve Mardo is the artist, you can find him at https://www.instagram.com/stevemardoart?igsh=ZXNhNXVqaHUxYnNi

Rick Joseph is the letterer, you can find him at https://www.instagram.com/lightamatch?igsh=MTR4b2lnaTVpYnQycA==

We have some amazing rewards available – digital comics, the physical book, exclusive bookmarks, postcards, and sticker sets – even remarqued comics, creature illustrations and full-on cover quality commisions by Steve! Great value retailer bundles as well.

Oh, also – here’s a sneak peek at the exclusive variant cover, illustrated by Valentin Ramon (the IDW D4VE series) and colored by our very own Mr. Mardo – ONLY available through this Kickstarter campaign!

I hope you consider checking the campaign out, this type of crowdfunding lives and dies with the help of people seeing the value in the work and wanting to help support it. Bringing new comics to the market isn’t easy, but it’s a worthwhile thing and I will never get tired of doing it. Cheers!

Greetings Earthlings! I’m back with week eleven of my ongoing series of “dead” comic book pitches – ideas that were created and pitched and never found a publishing home. I never realized just how much work I’d created with my artist friends until I started this. This is week eleven, I have a LOT more to come.

Without further adieu, I am proud to present…

Dead pitch week eleven – FISTICUFFS

Ah man, sometimes looking back at these, I realize just how much I REALLY wanted to make this into a real comic. Fisticuffs was going to be super fun. I was describing it as “X-Men meets Fight Club”, and it’s basically both of those things smashed together.

There’s an underground fight ring where supervillains and disgraced superheroes go and fight while onlookers place bets. The fights can be with or without superpowers, depending on the fighter’s agreement. This illegal fight club was run by a former patriotic superhero called Captain Conquest, but he’s an old letch now. One of the fighters, a demonic-looking science-villain called Doctor Diablo was placed undercover in the fight club by the US government to get info on the illegal doings that Captain Conquest and his henchmen were up to.

It would have been a fun conspiracy-filled, superpowered brawl, but we never got to do more than what we have here.

Note: this pitch contains one of my most favorite conceits ever – the idea of the “trading card” showing the character at their peak, compared to how they are now. I always loved that idea, and have plans to use it again in another story.

There was a cover once, but unfortunately it’s been lost to time and multiple computer moves. But the pages are here for your enjoyment.

Art by Ademir Sabic, colors by Matt Northrup, letters by Micah Myers.

Ten weeks! Boom goes the dynamite, or something like that, right?!

Okay, today, we’re going to pull out a pitch that I absolutely LOVE and I wish so much that it had found a home and a publisher and an audience.

DEAD PITCH WEEK TEN – PIG HOUSE

Oh man, Pig House! This one was awesome, and would have been so much friggin’ fun. Here’s the scoop: a pair of internationally known badass hitmen, who specialize in the impossible, are hired to break into the world’s most secure prison (the aforementioned Pig House) and kill the world’s most dangerous serial killer. However, something goes horribly wrong, and all the inmates in the prison manage to escape, so the two killers feel it’s their duty to bring them back. Or kill them, whichever is easier.

Lots of fun stuff (at least, to me) in this pitch – the title, Pig House, is the title of a Melvins song. The two main characters are Jim Fear (the title of a Dillinger Escape Plan song) and Tom Violence (the title of a Sonic Youth song). I love the idea of a bad guy being forced, either internally or externally, to do good. It’s a theme I’ve gone back to multiple times in my work.

I had a really cool miniseries planned out for this, and the artwork was stellar. I wish we’d been able to make more of this. The snakeskin boots on page 2! The little Pulp Fiction nod on page 5!

Anyway, at least you get to check it out here. Please enjoy responsibly.

Pig House, written by me, illustrated by Steven Austin, lettered by Micah Myers.

I’m back! Did you miss me? Did you even recognize that I didn’t post a new dead pitch last week? Or that the week before I posted 2 to compensate?

Aw, you’re killing me here. Just pretend at least, okay?

Alright, week nine! That’s crazy, but man, there are so many more of these dead pitches to come. That’s the crazy thing, how much work was created and never seen or used or anything. But let’s get to it:

Dead pitch week nine – HEAVY HITTER

Oh man, I really loved this one (I feel like I say that about them all, but they’re all my children, you know?), but it never connected because it really strayed into the same territory as my Darby Pop miniseries Bastard’s Waltz, just this one didn’t have superpowers in it.

Meyer Henry is the Heavy, a legendary hitman, and when there’s a change made at the top of the organized crime group he did a lot of work for, they decide to cut off any loose ends, including him. So he’s on the run from the mob, the law enforcement they own, and even his underworld friends and contacts. It could have been fun, but alas, it never got picked up anywhere.

One of my favorite parts of this happens on page 13, panel 4 – the baby in the stroller. You’ll see it when you get there.

Written by me, illustrated by Josh Thompson (who also did all the hand-drawn FX, which I absolutely friggin’ love), colored by A.H.G. and lettered by Micah Myers. Enjoy!