A status update!

Issue 1 of Volume 2 should wrap up within the next week or so!

Things are moving along quite well! I owe a lot of that credit to the convenience and intuitiveness of Manga Studio. Most of the processes have taken less than a week to do 22 pages each, and that stat is still blowing my mind…!

And since artwork and final compositing for that first issue will be done pretty soon, we needed to have issue two scripted so I'd have something to jump right into for Februrary (wondering now if I can beat the calendar and have artwork for #2 finished in 29 days; I'm thinking yes).
And as of tonight, I have a complete issue two script! Needs a little fine tuning, but it's got 22 pages of comic paced quite nicely, so there should only be a few wrinkles to iron out…

And with that, I'll leave you with a preview panel from early in the first issue of volume two (don't worry! Hoping to have an actual subtitle fairly soon!) which offers a WIP glimpse at how I'm handling the backgrounds in this arc.

And one final word before ending this entry: Thank you to anyone who donated to Comic Creators for Freedom this year! I believe somewhere in the neighborhood of $7500 were raised, to help fight human trafficking!
Special thanks to Andrew Leslie (@dethfilm) of the Freakin' Awesome Network for interviewing me earlier this week and helping spread the word about the donation drive!
I look forward to being able to contribute to the cause next year, and I hope you will too!

Interview and Giveaway Announcement!

I was interviewed this weekend by Andrew Leslie over at the Freakin' Awesome Network. That interview went live today, and you can find it here: http://www.freakinawesomenetwork.com/2012/01/comic-creator-interview-michael-mayne-comic-giveaway/

I'm questioned about writing a strong, female character, my participation in Comic Creators for Freedom's 2012 donation drive, and some of my karaoke standards, among other minutia!

There's also a giveaway. All you have to do is share a link to the interview on Facebook or Twitter (also include the hashtag #BonnieFAN for the latter) and you're in the running to win all four copies of Bonnie Lass: The Legend, signed by both Tyler and myself.
As an added bonus, Andrew will donate another $50 to CCF on Friday if you all can tally up at least 100 shares of that interview across Facebook and Twitter by then! So get crackin'!
Free comics? Helping out a great cause? You've got nothing to lose!

New adversaries…

Readers of the first arc may recall that the main villain remained mostly enigmatic throughout the first half of the story. While he is briefly introduced to readers at the end of the first issue, he barely manages to squeeze in his intro to Bonnie and crew by the end of issue two. This is fine and dandy for how the story of The Legend progressed, but this time we thought we'd try something different, something more in-your-face.

So in volume two, issue one, we're throwing a couple of brand new adversaries Bonnie's way, and having her actually encounter them herself early on, in a sort of "good cop, bad cop" situation.

One of those characters is Rubens. I'll just tease you for now with a rough panel from an early page. Watchers of my deviantART page may recognize him from a few concept sketches from last year (and before that, he was originally a very early design for the character that eventually became Trick). Well, he's made it into the comic proper, so we'll all eventually get to see just what he has to offer!

The cool-headed Rubens faces off against hot-tempered Bonnie.

And here's that early concept sketch from, oh… 2008.

…back when the whole comic had a different style. Rubens!prime is quite reminiscent of Trick's build because… well, that's the role he was originally designed to fill. Rubens now is a little bulkier, and not as ratty looking as Bonnie and the gang. Still working a punk hairdo, though!

Ready to Begin Artwork for Volume 2, Issue 1!

What's a finished script for an issue of Bonnie Lass look like?
Something like this…

That's a full 22 pages of comic book scripted in about 13 pages of a Word document.
If I can help it, I'll get a few thumbnails started tomorrow, so I can still say I'm getting started on interior artwork before 2011's out!

Merry Christmas!

Bonnie poses for a cover shoot

Here's a look at an early design for the cover of volume 2, issue 1. It's already drastically changed, but since I got pretty far along in this sketch before deciding to go more dynamic, I thought I'd share this "abandoned" concept. The flora and the little design touches actually are in the current work-in-progress, and were actually added in after this pose was already nixed.

Comic Creators for Freedom

The next installment of Bonnie's legend may be a ways off, but she'll be staying busy between now and then! Next month Bonnie will proudly be part of a collaborative effort to bring awareness to human trafficking and provide support for victims of it—Comic Creators for Freedom.

The collaboration is simple: if you're a comic artist with a female character in your roster, have her join the sprawling snowball fight! She'll be facing off in a free-for-all flurry of fluffy fury with dozens of other gals, all brought together in one epic collage! In January there will be a fundraising campaign to benefit Love 146 and Gracehaven, two organizations dedicated to helping those victimized by human trafficking, and a desktop wallpaper of the epic snowball fight will be offered as a humble thanks to anyone who donates.

Human trafficking is an all-too-real, all-too-deplorable vex on the world today. Thus far Comic Creators for Freedom has raised over $15,000 to help fight back, and this year I'm proud to be a part of the stand. Please check out the Comic Creators for Freedom website for more information on the issues at hand and what you can do to help. Artist submissions need to be in by December 31st!


As for Bonnie, here's the image of her I contributed to this year's collaborative image!