BRUTE

First off, I wanted to thank all of you who responded to my prior post ‘Feeling like a Fraud.’ The outpouring of love and support was both unexpected and very welcome. You guys are the best fans out there!

Secondly, some great news – All the colored pages for Brute issue #0 are now in. If you’re a Patreon member, or already purchased #0 – you’ll be the first to see it in beautiful full color.
I still have to recompile them into a full comic but that will happen soon. After that it’ll also become available to purchase everywhere(now in color). Thanks again to Owen Keenan and Brooke Newhart for making it possible!

Secondly – I have a treat for you all today – a sneak peak into Brute #2. Owen has given me permission for share some of the pencil work for this and I can’t wait for you all to see it! (But now, I’m going to make you wait… he he… Wait, no scrolling!)

Thirdly, the book I’m currently reading, Dirk Manning’s ‘Write or Wrong’, has me reflecting on the collaborative nature of comics. Having had the benefit of writing articles, novels, children’s books, comics and having worked as an actor on stage and screen, I’ve a pretty rounded perspective on what it’s like to work with collaborators versus on your own.
Really, it’s the collaboration of working with others that really draws me to write in the comic format (and to act). There’s something magically about someone else loving what you’re doing and then layering their own creative talent on top of that to create something greater than the sum of it’s parts.

It does have it’s plus and minuses – like any relationship. It’s always a delight to see what I’ve written, visualized and brought to life. Especially when the artist thought of something I didn’t, and adds it in – what a wonderful surprise – at least, usually. Of course, there’s times when as the originator of the concept, someone else’s re-interpretation rubs me wrong – or what they drew just doesn’t work, story-wise (this happened in a Captain Canuck story I did). Or at least, it wouldn’t if I didn’t tweak the scripting to make it work. But really, that’s part of the joy of it.
I love my wife. She’s an amazing person and I couldn’t be more proud of who she is in the world – but I don’t love every… single… thing… she does… Somethings we have to work on (of course, that goes both ways) and some things are just the way she is. I just have to take the good with the… less-than-good.
My relationship with Owen is the same. I couldn’t be more thrilled that he, my childhood friend, has jumped on this journey with me and that his style is perfectly suited to the subject matter. It truly is a dream come true. I wouldn’t want Brute drawn in a hyper-realistic way, or Rose drawn with generous (and unlikely) proportions and posed as if she’s always taking a selfie. It wouldn’t be Brute. And story-wise he’s hugely helpful in helping me keep the tone of the series on track.
Brooke, our colorist, is also proven to be totally in sync with the tone and styling of Brute and sometimes she even adds in little details that help bring it to life. I feel very blessed to have them as creative partners and very proud of what we’ve created so far. Doesn’t mean I love every single thing they’ve done, or that they like every story or scripting choice I’ve made, but by combining our talents, we’ve brought Brute to life and can now share it with all of you.

Speaking of sharing – here’s a sneak peak in Brute#2. For those of you who missed Brute #1 (and what are you waiting for? Grab a copy now!) it ended with Rose and Brute meeting for the first time. This picks up a little later in #2.