jasonfranks

2008 has been a weird year for me. I was abroad for almost a quarter of it overseas and telecommuting has kept me closeted in my house for the rest of the time. I have been making a big effort to finish old projects, and I've accomplished quite a lot in that regard, but it's been a slog. For me, the joy is in starting new projects: not the planning of them, but the starting of them. The initial first draft where the ideas all come together, where the characters and situations manifest as structured words on the screen instead of jumbled nonsense in my head. I should have FAERIE APOCALYPSE finished, complete, closed off and done by the end of January as well as the pencils for McBlack, and I will finally be able to return my attention to some fresh stuff. I'll be looking for a new job once my current position ends late in January, but I am hoping to get a bit of time off in between.

I have a lot of projects on the backburner and I'm looking forward to getting them going again as I jump back into the New. Here's a peak at what my 2009 looks like:

1/ KAGEMONO #3. Maybe the last issue, maybe I'll do another one after that. It's looking healthy at this stage: 2 completed stories, three guest writers, lots of pages. #2 has had a particularly strong response (I think because the material is freshest) and I hope to top it next time out the gate.

2/ New comics project with J. Marc is nicely underway. I don't want to say anymore just yet. We wrote probably a quarter of the script last year but there is a lot more still to do and it's really inspirational to see how it's coming together on the page.

3/ Comicbook pitch with Nic Hunter. It's an older piece fo work of mine, but reformatting it for comics and for Nic has proven a challenge in all the best ways. 

4/ XDA ZAI: a novel about a dimension-hopping assassin that I started late in 2006, but whcih I have mostly put aside in order to wrap up the other projects. I'm about 2/3 of the way throguh the first draft and I'm dying to get back to it: I think it's a killer concept and it's fast and easy to write.

5/ Some other stuff I'm talking to different artists and editors about that it's too early to discuss. I'm buzzing with new ideas that I want to get stuck into.  A pulp noir novel called MANNY THE QUICK. A surreal prison drama... either a screenplay or a comic mini. A revenge-fantasy piece called HELL BENT, which is kind of an inside out version of THE CROW. A 'literary' drama about some goth kids in a small Australian town. And so on and so on...

Looks like I have my work cut out for me next year.

Oh, did I mention I need to find a new job?

-- JF