Hell Yeah!!! Options

[G-Man]

Twilight Star Becomes Convention Exclusives.

After a good deal of discussion with the core members of the studio at our last two meetings Twilight Star officially announces that for the foreseeable future we will be trying out a new and somewhat different marketing plan as far as conventions go.

We will be appearing exclusively at Champion City Comic Con and Gem City Comic Con. One show in the Spring and another in the Fall.

We hope to draw extra attention to both of these great local shows by making them the only two conventions (at least in Ohio...but more on that later) to meet the entire crew from the studio.

We also hope our aggressive approach of getting our books into twenty or more comic shops on a monthly basis will also pay off , but at the same time we hope to leave our fans hungry for more. So when they see us it's more of "HEY, IT'S THOSE GUYS AGAIN!!!" and not "oh....it's those guys again."

As long as we meet our production goals there will be at least ten new books on the table every time we make a personal appearance at these two shows and this convention schedule works well with the personalities involved within the studio and their work schedules.

Does this mean Twilight Star will not have books at shows like Mid-Ohio and S.P.A.C.E? Of course not. Chad Strohl will be attending those shows and all the latest issues of his "Hero" series will be available as well as back issues...and quite possibly other Twilight Star books and prints.

We will also want to focus our "personal appearances" at the local comic shops that support us so there will be book signings in between these two shows in which we will be promoting whatever show is closer at the time. We want to concentrate our time and effort on these stores, hoping to draw attention to them and yes,,,to the studio as well. We also want to fully support the smaller cons...where the loyal fans, friends, and followers, of Twilight Star don't have to take out a small loan to pay for gas, pay for parking, sell their first born child for the cost of admission, sell blood to buy food at the food court....just to support us. Doesn't seem fair to them. We know our fan base...and like us we know their funds have an upper limit that's a lot closer than they really want it to be.

This is our way of saying thank you to all of them. Our way of thanking the shops that support us, and our way of thanking the two greatest local comic conventions Ohio has to offer.

Will this work as well as we hope it will....I guess only time will tell. Until then ....see you at Champion City and Gem City.

[G-Man]

Jack the Rabbit celebrates tenth year anniversary!!!!!

That's right. Back in November 2000 I released the very first issue of the Jack the Rabbit comic book from my ill fated Pandemonium Comix (company?). Things when it came to printing up a comic book was much different ten years ago. I had to go with a minimum purchase order of 1,000 books!!!!! (I've been giving away copies of this book for ten freakin' years...they're almost gone now)

I sold over four hundred copies of that book but never made the money to make the changes I wanted to make. I wanted full color covers. I hated the fact for the money I had to print the books I had to have them printed on newsprint, and I actually had to cut out the last six pages of the book and the extra features that were supposed to be printed in the first issue. So that means the entire first issue of Jack the Rabbit has never seen the light of day.

Plus I had to hand letter the book. And honestly....my hand lettering sucks @$$. I had to do everything on this book..I wrote it, drew it, inked it, and lettered it...because I didn't have the support network I have today. I was completely and what appeared to be hopelessly on my own.

And although response to the book was pretty good (despite the fact I drew it), and issue #2 of the series was completed on schedule...I never released it. I just didn't see the point of it..after all....the first issue didn't turn out the way I wanted it to...the second issue just seemed like a half baked (smoked) pipe dream.

Like I said...a lot can certainly change in ten years.

October will see the release (or actually the re-lease) of Jack the Rabbit #1...they way it was intended to be. High quality paper. All the art restored to it's original state (once again I do have one or two fans of my artwork and I pay them well). The book get's a brand new cover , which will be colored by Oscar Pena.

And no more horrible hand lettering...that's gone. Thank God! The book will be lettered by Andy Berry. All the extra features (and all the damn pages) that were supposed to be in the book to begin with will also be there...for the first time ever!

Jack the Rabbit #2 will appear in November....with issue #3 set for release in early 2011. Jack the Rabbit is a three issue limited series that tells the very first chapter of the very first book of the Jack the Rabbit:Living Legend of the Purple Plains novel series. (in production now) in comic book format.

There are four Jack the Rabbit novels slated for release through Twilight Star...possibly every year for the next four years, maybe sooner.

These books follow the Book of Noheim novel, already out and still for sale on amazon.com

http://www.amazon.com/Book-Nohiem-Bill-Gla...2634&sr=8-1

The Book of Noheim is also scheduled to be released through Twilight Star in 2011.

And before anybody points it out, yes I know east and west are reversed in the above logo.....there's a reason for that...but you already know that if you've read the Book of Noheim, right?

[G-Man]

Here's something you probably were not expecting. Are you ready for a New Comic Day spin off available only through Twilight Star? Well..it's in the works.

I will be teaming up with "Gapo The Clown" writer, artist,creator Tony Meillo for a two page comic strip simply entitled "Bill and Gapo".



The story itself has been "banned" from both the regular NCD web comic that appears here weekly on the Comic Related web site and the NCD collected edition that will be debuting at Champion City due to it's "blue nature" and "adult (for lack of a better word) humor". But once Tony saw the script which I sent him before it was banned the second time around (even after a re-write)..he loved it and immediately wanted to work on it.

I wanted the strip to appear in the NCD collection (52: And Then Some) but after being told no a second time around I thought if I could talk Tony into doing it...in a full one page format...it would work great as a one page feature in the second printing of of Tales From The 'Field #1.

But there was a problem. The second printing on T.F.T.F is set to go to print in late September and Tony would not be able to work on this until October at the earliest. Because he's hard at work on illustrating Gapo the Clown #2 (which features a six part story I wrote for him).

And once reading it he wanted to expand the page count to two pages...so "Bill and Gapo" will appear in Pandemonium Spotlight #2 instead.

This is set to be just an one time deal, but who knows...if Tony enjoys working on this enough and there's a demand for more...it might appear regularly in Pandemonium Spotlight or Tales From The 'Field as an added feature when the page count allows it.

You know me, you know Tony. You know the NCD version of me and you know Gapo The Clown.
You know what's coming.

Good Times, man, good times.

www.gapotheclown.com

[G-Man]

Twilight Star and Gem City Comic Con team up for an exclusive deal that just can't be beat.

Twilight Star will be offering an exclusive book at Gem City Comic Con this April . The print run will only be about thirty issues and the book will only appear at this show. It will feature the GCCC logo on the cover of the book and a signed copy of the book along with many others will be available at the Gem City charity auction in 2011 that will once again be hosted by Frank Raynor and I with help from my daughter Raichal.

A two page preview of the book will also appear in the Gem City program guide and the cover of the program may also be tied to this story.

Right now it looks as though the special book may be a special edition of Did Somebody Call For A Hero that will unite the entire crew of Twilight Star for the very first time.

This book will be written by Bill Gladman and Frank Raynor with interior art by Chad Strohl and cover by Gary Church and Derron Church. There is also the possibilty of a brand new Legacy story appearing as a back up feature in the book also by the "Brothers Church".

And that's everything I have for a while.............(whew).

Twilight Star

(you know the rest)

[G-Man]

I wasn't going to post anything tonight but a couple things happened that I thought I should mention in an update.

First one of the comic shops Gary and I missed on our road trip this past weekend (Bell Book and Comic and actually we didn't miss stopping there..we were there, the store owner wasn't) contacted me today. Store owner Peter Bell was sorry he missed us Saturday and was interested in getting the book in his store as soon as he could. I agreed to drop off copies tomorrow and while I'm in the area I plan to hit Fearless Readers as well.

We will have to dive into the books we had stashed back for this weekend's Live Art Show at Super Fly Comics and Games but we think it's worth it to cover these other two stores.

I have also been contacted by another retailer who already has copies of all the "Hero" books and Tales From The 'Field #1 and wanted a clearer picture of Twilight Star's production schedule and release dates. There are no real "release dates" on any of our books....and as anybody who is involved in producing indie books know there is always monkey wrench throwing gremlins waiting around every corner to muck up the best laid plans of mice and men.

We have several books in production right now and have kept our promise to release at least one new Twilight Star book each month for the last few months....

Did Somebody Call For A Hero #3-June 2010
Tales From The 'Field #1-July 2010
Did Somebody Call For A Hero #4-August 2010

And here is the current production plan for the rest of the year......barring no problems along the way these books should be coming your way in the next few months.

Tales From The 'Field #2-September 2010
Pandemonium Spotlight #1-September 2010
Tales From The 'Field #1 (second printing)-September 2010

Jack the Rabbit #1-October 2010
Did Somebody Call For A Hero #5-October 2010
Un-Naturals Source Book-October 2010
Necrotrancer: Shades Gray-October 2010

Prodigy #1-November 2010
Jack the Rabbit #2-November 2010
Pandemonium Spotlight #2-November 2010

Did Somebody Call For A Hero #6-December 2010
Tales From The 'Field #3-December 2010
Un-Naturals #1-December 2010

And that's just the beginning......

See you soon with updates about the stops at Bell Book and Fearless Readers as well as news of how the art show goes.

Until then..........TSHY.

This post has been edited by G-Man: Aug 13 2010, 05:31 AM

[G-Man]

I almost feel the need to apologize for all these Twilight Star updates, but right now this is the area the most activity is happening in, as far as all the collective projects I try to keep updated here in the "Rabbit Hole" forum. And stuff just keeps happening, it never seems to stop. Matter of fact 99.9% of the creative stuff that I'm doing at the moment is being channeled through Twilight Star.

Spent a long, hot August afternoon traveling I-70 and I-75 to ensure we got Tales From The 'Field #1 in the remaining Dayton area stores. As I mentioned earlier Peter Bell called yesterday saying he would like to get the books into his shop and seeing how I was in the area I decided to drop off books at the shops Gary and I didn't make it to last Saturday...as well as taking care of some other business....again with the muti-tasking. Glad to say the complete Dayton area is now blanketed in books, the final details on the Champion City Award trophies and nomination certificates are taken care of, over 60 art prints were made up for the Twilight Star appearance at the Live Art Show at Super Fly Comics tomorrow August 14th....and spent some time talking to some new friends in West Carrilton Ohio.

This does cut into the supply of books we will at at the art show by about half, but I thought it was best to pursue the "guaranteed" sales...and we still have enough for the show (I hope). Champion City stash has not been touched.

The first comic shop I stopped at was Heroes 4 Sale in Vandalia Ohio.



Store owner Bryan Honeycutt was very happy to get copies of the book. I also talked to Bryan about Champion City, giving him a new poster to promote the show and some flyers. It does look as though Heroes 4 Sale will have at least one table at the show. Yet another vendor that was not there last year joining the show.

While at the shop I asked Bryan if he had a copy of a certain book I was looking for. Invaders #30.....guess what. He did!



Thanks Bryan!!! This completes my Invaders series. Not only do I own the entire series now, but every appearance the Invaders have ever made in Marvel Comics. A few weeks ago it was the Guardians of the Galaxy with the help of Paul Lee and his shop...this week the Invaders....

Maybe the comic book you've been looking for is in Vandalia Ohio...at Bryan's shop. If it's Tales From The 'Field #1...he can hook you right up.

Heroes 4 Sale
328 N.Dixie Drive
Vandalia Ohio
937-898-2794

[G-Man]

Next stop on the Hotter Than Hell Friday the 13th tour through the remaining comic shops in the Dayton Ohio area....Bell Book and Comic.

Gary and I left one copy of T.F.T.F. #1 at the shop last week for store owner Peter Bell to look over once he returned to the shop from vacation. He loved the book once he got the chance to read it and wanted copies in the store right away.

Just check out the Big Cheese on this guy's face!



Although Peter liked the entire book, his favorite story was "Business As Usual" written by Frank Raynor. Chalk yet another one up for the "Rock Star" Big Frank Raynor. I told Pete I thought it was very cool to see the shortest story in the book receive so much positive attention (despite the crummy art work). and people starting to understand that Frank can write. (yeah he's good for something other than nipple jokes)

"Man I loved that thing" Peter replied about the story. "That whole part about the super hero and super villain stopping what they were doing to have lunch together at Chipotle's was just freakin' hilarious!"

Peter wasn't the only person at Bell Book interested in T.F.T.F. #1. As soon as I finished signing all the books I was dropping off (at Pete's request...and we at Twilight Star do special requests all the time...especially Frank)....a regular customer named Bethany picked the book up. It had been on the counter less than two minutes. For real....and Peter flipped it very easy at full cover price, no questions asked. Pretty awesome!



Here's a picture of Bethany checking out the book along with her boyfriend...or husband...or some guy that just likes checking out comics with cool comic collecting chicks.

I think that together Pete and I sold them on attending Champion City Con as well.

Speaking of special comic events in September...don't miss out on Bell Book and Comic's 7th anniversary celebration!!!



And after that....Pete and I discussed the possibility of a Twilight Star book signing in October sometime around Halloween which should coincide with the release of Necrotrancer:Shades of Gray by Gladman and Pena!

Can't wait until then to check out Bell Book and Comic? I'm sure Pete will not mind if you dropped by any time.

Bell Book and Comic
458 Patterson Rd.
Dayton Ohio
937-643-9006

www.bellcomic.com

[G-Man]

The last stop of the day (and three ice cold Pepsi Throwbacks later....yeah I know...I live very dangerously) I ended up at Fearless Readers.

Had a great talk with store owner Bill Thade, always great talking to this guy. Gave him his updated poster and flyers for Champion City. Bill is one of the two guys that bring us Gem City Comic Con each April...the show that was the inspiration for Champion City in many ways.

Bill opted to take the photo of T.F.T.F. #1 as it found a new home in the last of the comic shops in the Dayton Ohio area...and the other Bill (that would be me) just held the damn thing and looked stupid.



I think Bill decided to pick up the book...believe it or not...because of the Frank Raynor story. (I'm never going to live this down. I talk the guy into writing something for the very first time about a year ago...and all of the sudden he' a comic book writing super stud!!!!)

Well ....all you Frank Raynor fans out there...Big Frank has the feature story "Dead Money" in T.F.T.F. #2 (with art by Chris Martin) and he has the feature story in T.F.T.F #3 "Perfect Day" with art by Gary Church and ...that Gladman guy (don't worry..I'm just inking this time around)

Check out Tales From The 'Field #1 at Bill's shop...and he has a couple of other goodies laying around as well (was that really a copy of Amazing Spider-Man #1 and Incredible Hulk #2 I saw in his show case...I do believe it was)

Fearless Readers
1613 Huffman Ave.
Dayton Ohio
45403

937-252-3036

fearlessreaderscomics@yahoo.com

[G-Man]

That's it for now...be back soon with photos of the Live Art Show at Super Fly Comic and Games.

I would yell "Hell Yeah", but I think everybody's asleep.

[ChadStrohl]

It's morning now. Time for everybody to get up...

HELL YEAH!

[G-Man]

Here we go again....another round of updates on the latest things going on from Twilight Star Studios. Yesterday was the Live Art Show at Super-Fly Comics and Games in Yellow Springs Ohio. Gary and I was there representing the studio for four hours or so along with a group of other very talented artists also invited to participate in the event. A very talented group of guys...but I'm sorry...I spent so much time at our table I didn't get to mingle with the guys at the table the farthest away from us.

I know one of the guys was Zane....I'm blanking on his last name here....he's from the Yellow Springs area and has worked for Super-Fly and Dark Star in the past. I've watched this young man grow as an artist for about three years now and he's become a force to be reckoned with. He's doing great work...and I believe he's working with Tony Barry (one of the owners of Super-Fly) on a project. Really looking forward to that.

Frank and Gary did take pictures of all the other guests and when I get those along with the names to go along with those photos I'm share them here as well.

I was concerned about selling off half the books he had stashed for this show on Friday, but it looks like that was a good call. We had a great day, working live art, fielding questions about the studio and the projects we are working on, answering questions about what tools we use to draw and ink with, getting involved in a discussion with the other artists there about the inking styles of Scott Williams, Klaus Janson, and Terry Austin.

We made a couple of very important connections, actually worked on art while we were there, promoted the Hell out of Champion City and yes we made some sells...just not as many as we thought we would. Foot traffic throughout the day varied due to off and on thunder storms all afternoon...one was quite severe. The shop even lost power for about twenty minutes at one point.

After the lights came back on Gary and I decided to head home, about an hour before the show officially ended and the Zombie Walk was scheduled to start (an hour after the show's end). I get home and find I have a couple of e-mails from people who came to Super-Fly and wanted to meet us, but we just left. Damn. One guy had a copy of the Book of Noheim that he wanted me to sign.

Double Damn.

But all in all....a fun filled day. We want to thank Super-Fly for inviting us and want to thank everybody who stopped by to support us.

How about some pictures?



Getting into the spirit of a live art show, I took the time to finish inking "Painkiller". A character that appears in the upcoming Un-Naturals comic book series scheduled to be launched in December. The book is is penciled by Derron Church and inked by me, but this illustration was by Gary Church and will appear in the Un-Naturals Source Book.

I also found time to work on another illustration for that same book (the High-Demon Dante Nigerious also known as the False Prophet Isiah). This picture has been sitting on my drawing table untouched for weeks. I got a good portion of it done yesterday and believe I should be able to finish it before I go to work tonight, some time after this afternoon's Twilight Star meeting at the studio.




Gary took the time to finish the pencils on an out side project he is working on for good friend of the studio...Tim Hagans. I think this was the last of several illustrations that Gary promised Tim he would do for Tim's upcoming Cowboy Coon book. Tim ( a talented artist in his own right) will be doing the inks on these pictures. With Gary's commitment to Cowboy Coon finished he is free to start the pencils on "Perfect Day" the feature story in T.F.T.F. #3 written by Frank Raynor and inked by me.

Gary and I also worked on a piece of exclusive art for the 2010 Zombie Walk which turned out rather nice.



Rumor has it I will be playing the role of "The Fonz" in an upcoming New Comic Day strip...so I thought I would try to get into character a little. "Heeeeyyyyyy!"



This gentleman's name is Joe Pruitt and sitting across from him and getting to know him better was definitely one of the high points of the day as far as I am concerned, and I think Gary would agree. Gary and I (not yet working together as Twilight Star) both met Joe briefly at Champion City last year...and I actually ran into him the Friday the day before seeing him here again...but I didn't recognize him...but I guess he recognized me. Poor guy had to wait in line behind me at the printer as I ran off art copies for this event...took a while.

Joe does web comics with another Champion City die hard, Josh Benton. Joe also does a weekly comic for one of the Springfield News Papers entitled "Brit & Ivy" Which is really cool because I too once did two different strips for that same paper when it first launched a few years ago.

You can check out more of his work here.

www.facebook.com/pohgo

Joe is literally living in our back yard...and technically could be called one of the "Boyz From The 'Field" very easily. Many people thought Joe was one of us....we were at the same table and we all interacted so much through out the day. But guess what? By the time the day was done ....I'm sure you will be seeing more of Joe through Twilight Star.

I talked to him about our website that would be launching in the fall and asked if he would be interested in working together on an exclusive weekly web comic for the site. He sounded very interested. He can also letter...can never have too many letterers around....and the guy is an incredible inker!!!!


Check out some of his past ink work....








Joe's a great guy...a big fan of everything we have going on at the studio at the moment and the two of us have the same taste in music...a lot of talk about music yesterday, Joe himself being in a few different local bands over the years. He already knew one of the artists working on the Un-Naturals Source Book for us...that being Dan Matthews. Gary and I (along with our friend Chris Metzger who went over Joe's work with us) think he would be a perfect addition to the studio.

Speaking of Chris Metzger...he dropped by to give me the art work he was working on for the Un-Naturals Source Book. This is "Buff" the bar tender who works and owns the Liberty Belle...a hard rock night club that pops up very often in the Un-Naturals and Necrotrancer stories. Buff is based on our friend Darrel Buffington who passed away in 2000 and with the help of last year's Champion City charity auction we were finally able to give the man a headstone.



Chris and I also had the time to go over the ten chapter illustrations for the first Jack the Rabbit: Living Legend of the Purple Plains novel. This book is the first of four novels scheduled for release through Twilight Star and follows the Book of Noheim currently scheduled to be re-released through Twilight Star. I was giving out free copies of the Jack the Rabbit 2000 "ash can" edition all day and as always interest in this project seems to remain very high.

Other people stopping by....Big Frank Raynor and Andy Berry....seen here hanging out with Gary.



Andy picked up the art work for Jack the Rabbit #1 and Prodigy #1 to scan and start lettering. Jack the Rabbit #1 should be out in October and Prodigy #1 should be out in November. Both books will have full color covers colored by Oscar Pena.



This guy was awesome!!!!! He was producing live mixes of incredible music all day. I believe his first name was Jarrod...once again I apologize for not getting his last name.....but man he was great. Gary and Chris were just amazed with the stuff he was putting together and got contact info to pick up mixes of his music.



Another happy Twilight Star customer! Chris Basham was one of the people picking up the book yesterday. Chris was one of the few that bought the book from us at the table. Other customers interested in the book but wanting to pay with credit card bought their's from the ones Gary and I sold to the shop last week. For picking up the book at the table Chris also got two free art prints...Powerslave done by Gary Church and Moonshadow done by Derron Church. Both characters appear in the Un-Naturals book and we were giving away free prints of these two characters with every purchase of T.F.T.F.#1

Chris...don't forget to e-mail your comments to us for the letter's page going into issue #3!



My daughter Raichal and her boyfriend Levi dropped by and hung out for a while. They hung out for about an hour allowing Raichal and I to get caught up with things going on in our lives. The two of us have been very busy on the "real job" front and the creative front as well. Raichal's story "The Tree" appears in Tales From The Field #2 and she got a chance to meet Andy...the artist that will be drawing "Denial". Denial appears in Pandemonium Spotlight #2 and the story is written by me, but inspired by a short story of the same name that Raichal wrote for a writing assignment while in college.



Meanwhile Levi and Gary was sharing a laugh about the fact that they first met, here at Super Fly Comics...almost a year ago to the day as part of the Wild Wolf Book Tour and the Wicked Tales Summit. An event that was very important to the formation of Twilight Star.


And that's it.....quite possibly for a while as nothing else seems to be looming on the horizon.

Until next time...

Scream For Me Long Beach!!!!!

Hell Yeah!!!

This post has been edited by G-Man: Aug 15 2010, 03:40 PM

[Ron Fortier]

Wowser, but again, I honestly believe Ohio is the comic book center of the universe....or at least this country. There are just so many cool comic shops in Ohio. Makes me wonder why I'm moving to Colorado. Aagh,...yes, Valerie, now I remember.

[G-Man]

Twilight Star Adds Two New Members

We are pleased to announce the addition of our two newest members to Twilight Star Studios.

First up….Joe “PohGo” Pruitt.



Joe will be joining the studio as an inker. The guy’s inks are incredible. But that’s not all Joe will be doing. He writes as well. He can also pencil, color, letter and help with post production if need be. Keeping true to nature that every member of the studio can mutli-task into any direction that they may be needed.

Joe and I will also be working together on a brand new weekly web comic that will appear exclusively on the Twilight Star web site which launches later this year.

Joe may be joining the G-Code production team. Actually I believe this is pretty much a done deal. G-Code appears in every other issue of Tales From The ‘Field and is written and penciled by fellow Twilight Star co-founder Gary Church. The next installment of G-Code appears in Tales From The ‘Field #3 scheduled to be released in December.

Welcome to the show, Joe!

The other member joining the “Boyz from the ‘Field” is Springfield writer/artist Tim Hagans, seen in this picture with his better half.



Tim is joining the studio as a writer, penciler, inker, letterer, and additional tech support. Tim has created and written “Cowboy Coon” a book not scheduled to be released by Twilight Star but does include pencil work by Gary Church which Tim inked. Saw some of that work at yesterday’s Twilight Star meeting and it looked great!

Tim has a very interesting cast of creators that he has come up with over the years and has several ideas for many of them that include appearances in Tales From The ‘Field, possibly Pandemonium Spotlight and even their own on going books.

Tim will have his own table at Champion City Comic Com…stop by to check out his work and meet him. I believe Tim will also be participating in a round of disc golf at Wittenberg with me and a few other guests for the show the day before Champion City.
Welcome aboard, Tim!!!

With the addition of Joe and Tim we at Twilight Star feel we have completely stacked the deck in every possible creative and technical aspect possible and will not be looking for additional members for the time being.

Twilight Star is:

Gary Church-founding member, writer, artist, letterer, promotion.
Bill Gladman-founding member, writer, artist, inker, editor, promotion.
Derron Church-founding member, writer, artist, inker, promotion.
Frank Raynor-founding member, writer, promotion.
Chad Strohl-writer, artist, letterer, colorist.
Oscar Pena-artist, inker, colorist, logo design.
Brant Fowler-artist, inker, letterer
Richard Fritz-artist, logo design.
Andy Berry-artist, inker, letterer, colorist, lead tech.
Joe Pruitt-writer, artist, inker, letterer, colorist, tech support
Tim Hagans-writer, artist, inker, tech support

Creative Contributors:
BJay Johnson-letterer, networking, promotion.
Chris Hoskins-artist, inker, book formatting.
Chris Martin-artist, inker, letterer
Lisa Moore-letterer
Ron Fortier-writer
Raichal Gladman-writer
Dustin Carson-writer
Mike Watson-artist
Sean Forney-artist
Josh Werner-artist
Dan Matthews-artist
Scott Riley-artist, inker
Chris Metzger-artist, inker
Brain Latimer-artist
Tony Miello-artist
Mannie Abeleda-artist
Jef Price-writer,artist,inker, letterer


Twilight Star
Hell Yeah!!!!

This post has been edited by G-Man: Aug 16 2010, 04:23 PM

[G-Man]

Just a brief update. I will try to do one of this a week, unless there's nothing at all going on.

PRODUCTION UPDATE

Things still look on schedule for the next have of Twilight Star books.

September-
Tales From The 'Field #2
Pandemonium Spotlight #1
Tales From The 'Field #1 (second printing)-there has been a slight change with this book. Chad Strohl's three page story will not be a Captain Awesome story but something.....completely different.

October-
Did Somebody Call For A Hero #5
Jack the Rabbit#1
Necrotrancer :Shades of Gray

The Un-Naturals Source Book has been pushed back until November.


JACK THE RABBIT: TEN YEARS IN THE MAKING !

Jack the Rabbit #1, the first issue of a three issue limited series gets closer to becoming a reality with each passing day. Set for release early October the book features a full color cover by Bill Gladman and Oscar Pena. (just finished)

Story and interior art by Bill Gladman
Lettered by Andy Berry
Additonal art work (special features) by Oscar Pena, Chris Metzger, and Darrell Buffington.

HERO OF THE DAY

This is the title for the Did Somebody Call For A Hero special edition book that will be available at Gem City Comic Con in April 2011. Spent over two hours today on the phone talking over the story ideas with Frank Raynor and Chad Strohl...this thing is coming together real nice.

The book will only be available at the Gem City show and once it's gone...it's gone. Make sure you grab a copy at the show before your chance to do so goes up in smoke.

Despite the fact I like to flap my gums a lot...I'm staying pretty tight lipped about this one. Believe it or not. I will say YOU WILL NOT WANT TO MISS THIS BOOK! If you are already a fan of Chad's "Hero" books (and I hope you are) you already know Chad likes to tell two stories at the same time as these same two stories play off each other. One set in Hero's past as a young man, and another set in the present. The two stories always somehow inter relate.

This book will be done in the same manner. Frank Raynor and I are co-writing this together. I will be writing most of the parts set in Hero's past, and Frank will be writing most of the part's set in the present.

Interior art by Chad Strohl. Extra Hero pin up by Andy Berry. Cover by Gary Church and Derron Church.

TWILIGHT STAR CELEBRATES FIRST YEAR ANNIVERSARY!!!!!

And you're invited!

That's right Twilight Star turns one year old Saturday October 23rd. And we're celebrating by appearing at TWO local comic shops!

We are talking to the Bookery Fantasy in Fairborn Ohio and Bell Book and Comic in Dayton Ohio about this joint appearance. It looks like we may be at Bell Book from 2:00-4:00 that day and then we pack up and move over to the Bookery for a 5:00-7:00 appearance.

We will be signing books all through the day and selling art prints. Available for the first time ever on that day....the long awaited release of Necrotrancer: Shades of Gray by Bill Gladman and Oscar Pena. What a great way to celebrate an anniversary and the perfect time to release this book....right before Halloween in Fairborn Ohio....HALLOWEEN TOWN U.S.A.!!!!

All our other books will be available as well including

Tales From The 'Field #1-2
Did Somebody Call For A Hero #1-5
Pandemonium Spotlight #1
Jack the Rabbit #1

Twilight Star creators on hand during the day will include.....Bill Gladman, Gary Church, Frank Raynor, Joe Pruitt, Chad Strohl (?) and Tim Hagans.....and who knows who else may show up!!!


Twilight Star...when we rock we rock and when we roll...........we roll.

HELL YEAH!!!

[G-Man]

THE BUMTASTIC FOUR ARE COMING!!!!

Mr. Craptastic
Boozie Suzie
Johnny the Flamer
Ben Grime

Gladman
Pruitt

Weekly From Twilight Star

Fall 2010

NUFF SAID

This post has been edited by G-Man: Aug 18 2010, 01:54 PM

[G-Man]

LATEST UPDATES AT TWILIGHT STAR

CHRIS METZGER "OFFICIALLY" JOINS THE STUDIO

I know...it wasn't too long ago that I mentioned that with the addition of Joe Pruitt and Tim Hagans to the studio that we at Twilight Star felt that was enough. We didn't need to add anybody else for the moment.

Too many people in the mix just gums things up, and we felt that we were stacked very deep in every possible need that the studio would have.

But I was looking at the number of members we had. Eleven. I don't really like that number. Wouldn't twelve be a better number? Of course it would. And the number twelve is divisible by the number three...eleven isn't. And we all know that three is the universal constant and is a magic number, right?

So we decided to add one more member before we closed the doors for now. What is really cool about this whole thing....we never really actively recruited any of these twelve people...they came to us. And the the latest guy is no exception. As a matter of fact in many ways he has been there since the start.

It gives me a great deal of satisfaction to announce that Chris Metzger is now a member of Twilight Star. Chris is one of the most talented artists in the area and in the "Field. I've known Chris for the better part of twenty years now , when the two of us first met when I recruited him for Dragon Sound Studios in the early 90's.

Twilight Star to a large degree is modeled after Darrel Buffington's Dragon Sound Studios and it feels great to have an old Dragon Sound cohort in the mix.

This does not mean Chris is an exclusive member of the studio...if you are one of the writers Chris is currently working with....don't worry we are not adding anything to his already busy schedule to slow him down. Chris has been at every appearance and important event that Twilight Star has made so far. He has already did a lot of work for the studio including illustrating N.I.B. (the feature story in Pandemonium Spotlight #1)





and doing artwork for the Un-Naturals Source Book.



He has also illustrated the cover to my novel "The Book of Noheim" which will be re-released through Twilight Star in 2011 and he is also illustrating the cover and chapter illustrations for the Jack the Rabbit Novels....the first of four is in production.

There is a story entitled "Foreclosure of a Dream" that will be appearing in Giant size Jack the Rabbit #1 in July of 2011 that Chris has also started and will finish after seeing other non-Twilight Star projects completed.



He has also worked with writer Ron Fortier on the story "Grass Roots" which will appear in Visions of the Macabre from Studio Akumakaze...there's a good chance this story will also be run by Twilight Star at some time in the future. With that, a possible preview of a story he is working on with Dustin Carson...and later down the road perhaps some of Metzger's own story ideas...it only made sense to make this an "official" decision.

Welcome to the show, Chris!

MORE ON THE BUMTASTIC FOUR

The Bumtastic Four is going to be a weekly web comic that appears exclusively on the Twilight Star web site when it launches later this year. Serious work will begin on the web site after Champion City and Andy Berry will be spear heading that project.

The Bumtastic Four is written by myself and illustrated by Joe "PohGo" Pruitt and is based on a "cast of characters" that would hang out in the parking lot in front of the Main Street Comics and Games shop, back when I was the glorified wing man for the store.

These four "homeless people" for lack of a better term of description were ALWAYS getting into stuff so I just started taking down notes...I mean this stuff was funny. And thought one day I might make a comic about four people who acted like they did, and at the same time...actually thought they were the Fantastic Four.

What? Don't worry all will explained in the "origin" story. Joe and I are already working on this, I have yet to start typing stuff up but once I do I will work much like Eric and I do with New Comic Day and send him about 12 scripts at a time. He is already doing character sketches.

We want to have as much of this in the can as possible so we are already ahead of the game when the site launches. Also like NCD we hope to print a collected edition once a year.

The cast of characters include the Bumtastic Four:

Boozie Suzie
Ben Grime
Johnny the Flamer
Mr. Craptastic

their arch enemy...Dr. Issue Zero

Riley-the comic shop owner.

Stanley Simmons....one of the comic shops must regular customers.

And a very tall bald gentleman who likes to refer to himself as "The Voyeur". He likes to "watch" the important events the Bumtastic Four gets involved with and at times acts as a narrator for the strip. He pops up in the origin tale.

As a nod to New Comic Day....the comic shop in question in this strip will also be named Comic Kaze. Does that mean a New Comic Day/Bumtatsic Four crossover? Only the Voyeur would know the answer to that.

TWILIGHT STAR INVADES TOLEDO AREA COMIC SHOPS

Labor Day Weekend will see copies of Tales From The 'Field #1 going into two different Toledo area comic shops. Sales of the book did not impact our inventory as hard as I thought they would at the Super Fly Live Art Show last weekend and we have a few extra and seeing how my wife and I are going to be in that area Labor Day weekend, why not kill two stones with the same bird.....or something like that.

Look for more information and photos coming soon.

GOODBYE, ANDY. WE'RE GOING TO MISS YOU!

Twilight Star member Andy Berry has accepted a new job offer and will be re-locating to the St. Louis area this week. Andy formats all our books, letters most of them and is an incredible penciler and inker. He will also be the guy behind the development of our web site among other special projects.

Andy's relocation does not affect his status with the studio as most of the stuff he does for us is handled over the internet anyway. Andy will become the second "long distance" member of the studio ( Oscar Pena being the other member. Oscar lives in Texas)

Had a nice long talk with Andy this Friday as we met up at Super Fly in Yellow Springs. We discussed a lot of different things and talked for about 90 minutes before I had to head to Columbus Ohio for the weekend. Everything went great, all is well and still very much on track.

Andy will be coming back in town for Champion City the week end of September 11th and may be at the Twilight Star One Year Anniversary event in October.

This post has been edited by G-Man: Aug 22 2010, 07:47 PM

[G-Man]

Had our latest Twilight Star Meeting yesterday afternoon....this is what was discussed.

#1. Official welcome to the studio to new Twilight Star Studio members Tim "Tim Shady" Hagans and Joe "PohGo" Pruitt.

#2. Reviewed the proof copies of Tales From The 'Field #2 and Pandemonium Spotlight #1, both of these books as well as Did Somebody Call For A Hero #4 debut at Champion City Comic Con Sept. 11th. Everything going as planned. Everybody was impressed by the proof versions of the book.

#3.Went over the details of the Tales From The 'Field #1 second printing. The book is in production now and set for a late September release. If you missed the first printing of Tales From The 'Field #1 this is your chance to get a copy, if you already have your copy of issue #1 the second printing is different in the following ways.

Full color cover, by Richie Fritz and colored by Oscar Pena, will not be a wrap around cover.

A double dose of Derron Church's "Legacy" on-going serial featured in T.F.T.F. will replace the "Flatworld" five page story that appeared in issue #1 plus a pin up of Legacy by Andy"Superman" Berry.

Gary Church's first installment of "G-Code" will have art finishes and be re-lettered by Joe Pruitt.

A brand new story written and illustrated by Chad Strohl entitled "The Problem With Units" will be added as the last story in the second printing.

Back inside cover will be a dedication page from the members of Twilight Star.

#4 Production Overview for the next few books from Twilight Star:

Jack the Rabbit #1-cover is done, added features is done, currently being lettered. Set for an October release-this book is ahead of schedule.
Necrotrancer: Shades of Gray-interior work currently being inked. Set for October release-on schedule
Did Somebody Call For A Hero #5-interior art being illustrated. Set for October release-on schedule

Prodigy #1-cover ready to be colored and final post production adjustments made. Ready to be lettered-due out in November. This book is ahead of schedule.
Pandemonium Spotlight #2-feature story "Denial" in lay out stage, back up story "Blue Morning" interior art almost complete. Due out in November. On Schedule
Un-Naturals Source Book-five more pieces of art to complete and this book is done. Due out in November, on schedule
Jack the Rabbit #2-interior and cover art done...ready to be lettered. Cover needs colored. Due out in November. This book is ahead of schedule

Did Somebody Call For A Hero #6-story is complete. Due out in December. On schedule
Tales From The 'Field #3-pencils for five page Un-Naturals preview almost done. (great work by Derron Church), Pencils on feature story "Perfect Day" has begun...best art I've seen from Gary Church yet. Due out December. On schedule.

#5 Champion City

Joe and Derron will be the artists at the table the most during the day but all members of Twilight Star will be at the table some time during the course of the day. Commission work will be available.

Twilight Star Members Brant Fowler, Bill Gladman,and Chad Strohl will be appearing at the very first panel of the day. Gary Church and Chris Metzger are on the last panel of the day.

There will be 25 copies of Tales From The 'Field #1 at the table as well as 40 copies of Tales From The 'Filed #2, 25 copies of Pandemonium Spotlight #1 and copies of Did Somebody Call For A Hero #1,2,3 and #4. There will also be at least 10 to 15 copies of the New Comic Day:52 And Then Some Collected Edition at the table as well as 50 free copies of the Jack the Rabbit ash can.

There will over 30 different color prints available and over 60 black and white prints. Free black and white print with the purchase of Tales From The 'Filed #1, Did Somebody Call For A Hero #1, and Pandemonium Spotlight #1

T-shirts-should be done Friday. Gary and I checked out the proofs today. Look Great!!! You're going to want one of these!!!

Twilight Star donation to the charity auction for Josh Medors will include
10 art prints (all signed)
Signed copies of every book on the Twilight Star table
Twilight Star t-shirt
2 music cd's

Champion City Award-Twilight Star is up for an award for best anthology "Tales From The 'Field"

Members of Twilight Star will be attending the pre-con dinner at Tumbleweed with guests Ron Foriter, Tim Seeley, and Daniel Liester Friday Sept. 10th 6:00 p.m...Bill Gladman, Brant Fowler, and Chris Metzger will be playing disc golf at Wittenberg that same day 4:00 p.m Members of Twilight Star will also be attending the after party at The Horseshoe the day of the show featuirng the bands Somewhere Between and Nine Volt.

# 6 Twilight Star One Year Anniversary-current plans are to celebrate this event at two Dayton Ohio comic book retailers Saturday October 23rd. Jack the Rabbit #1 and Necrotrancer: Shades of Gray will be released on this date. All our other books, prints, and t-shirts will also be available.

#7 Gem City: Big Plans for this show!!! As if the Gem City exclusive edition of Did Somebody Call For A Hero: Hero Of The Day wasn't big enough...details will be revealed a few weeks before the show next April (see I CAN keep a secret)

#8 Free Comic Book Day 2011. Hey they call it Free Comic Book Day for a reason! Twilight Star will have an exclusive Free Comic to give away that day and we will be releasing or new annual book "WTF?" #1 on that same day. WTF? will come out once a year, every year on Free Comic Book Day. Members of Twilight Star will be at six different comic shops in the Springfield, Dayton, Columbus, Lima Ohio areas.

#9 New web comic "The Bumtastic Four" by Bill Gladman, Joe Pruitt, and Oscar Pena in production. Due to launch in October.

#10-New top secret music project featuring several members of Twilight Star and a few friends already in the serious planning stage....out in 2011.

#12 Funding options-two outside sources has asked to "invest" in the company. We have agreed to one and thinking the other option over.

Here's what new member Joe Pruitt had to say about his first Twilight Star meeting.

http://pohgo.blogspot.com/

The early bird does indeed get all the worms.

I will be posting more art and photos relating to this meeting's agenda items real soon, when I get more time.

Until then..........

Twilight Star
Hell Yeah!

This post has been edited by G-Man: Aug 30 2010, 06:42 PM

[Dustin]

This is all awesome, Bill. Glad to see the studio pumping out material.

[G-Man]

Thanks Dustin...and thank you for all your help with Pandemonium Spotlight #1, just got the call from the printer and the books are ready for pick up. You and Chad of course have comp copies coming your way as do BJay and Hoskins over at Studio Akumkaze!!

These books would not have seen print without the help of you, Strohl, Bjay, and Hoskins....you guys rock!!!

[G-Man]

Here we go.....newest updates!



Here is the cover for the second printing of Tales From The 'Field #1, due out late September.

Features:

Cover by Richie Fritz and Oscar Pena

Legacy Part One and Part Two-by Deron Church, Lisa Moore, and Andy Berry
Legacy Pin Up-by Andy Berry
A Matter of Life and Death-by Bill Gladman, Gary Church, and Derron Church
G-Code Part One-No Turning Back-by Gary Church and Joe Pruitt
Business As Usual-by Frank Raynor, Bill Gladman, and Lisa Moore
The Trouble With Units by Chad Strohl