If there’s one thing having dinner with a group of talented, successful cartoonists will do, it will make you get your ass in gear. That’s why as soon as I got home last night from my and Robyn‘s dinner at the home of James Sturm and his wife Rachel Gross (with fellow diners Alec Longstreth, Gabby Schulz (AKA Ken Dahl), Joe and Becca Lambert, Chuck Forsman (AKA Chuck McBuck), Melissa Mendes, and none other than Seth), I hit the drawing board.
I worked later than usual, imbued as I was with the sense of urgency that only comes in the afterglow of clinking glasses with much more accomplished artists in the same field. That, and the dawning realization that MoCCA 2010 is creeping up faster than expected.
I gathered my scattered sketchbook beats and translated them into a raft of too-too-detailed thumbnails until I reached the end of the climax and the beginning of the resolution. Reaching that milestone was more satisfying than I can say.
Bolt should be a fun and fast-paced little ride—a nearly-wordless sprint in the shoes of a quirky new character that will, I hope, give readers a junk-food thrill without recycling tired clichés. I don’t want to build up any unrealistic expectations, but this may be the greatest single comic book you or anyone else has ever read or will ever read, ever. That, or it will help pass the time while you’re on the can. Either way, I’m easy.
