SIGNAL vs. Noah’s Ark

Do you believe in miracles? I have come to accept them as part of my everyday life. It’s a rainy Easter weekend, so I thought I'd share this missive…
 
I set out to make SIGNAL Saga – and this was about 30 years ago, now – when I had no idea that its creation would be as much of an odyssey as the book’s adventures would recount throughout its pages. I have lived so much since then.
 
And now, so close to home, so close to self-publishing issue #1 in a final format via my own company, my sails have caught a wild wind and now I’m ‘lost at sea’ once again. For those of you who follow me closely, the expression ‘lost at sea’ may seem familiar… I grew up on bande dessinée, anime [Manga in motion] and American comic books, and have tried so hard to meld the lot into a cohesive – possibly Canadian – style. Being equally bilingual French and English, this makes sense, but it has also been a barrier to finding a proper publisher on any continent. My approach is all of these things and so it is none of these things.
 
And yet, finding a publisher is the new adventure I am seeking out at this time – yes… again. To some, this will seem shocking, or not, depends, as they know that I’ve been down this road before. I have come close to releasing SIGNAL, either alone or with a proper publisher, many times since the founding of Mirror Comics Studios in 2015. Many, many times.
 
My new secret ally wants to help me achieve just this. We found each other somewhat by chance, but it helped to have good SEO on www.mirrorcomics.com, and superior design throughout. Good comics helped too. This ally will help me bridge the gap between my dream of SIG reaching a ton of people and help make it a reality – which will ultimately be better for the comic book series in the long run. As much as I’m a comics purist, I still draw comics for people to actually read them.
 
I’ve been getting new inks from Marvel/DC inker Craig Yeung, lately, and I have to tell you that his work is stellar. I’ve been colouring pages, and even have a colourist in place if I can start to make some real money at this. I’ve ALSO been lettering pages, and I have to tell you that the characters are leaping off the page in strange, wondrous, realistic, exciting and human ways. They feel so real. They’re so real that it’s almost strange to imagine that they are only ink, colours and a few fonts in a formal composition. So far the feedback from my inner circle is all systems go. They love it – hopefully you will love it too.
 
I just wanted to clarify the above, as I know some of you are looking forward to ordering your copy of SIGNAL Saga this summer, but I’m here to tell you that it’s not going to happen this summer, but that it will happen, and possibly happen in a far more expansive context. Meanwhile I will continue to regularly publish works on Patreon and Gumroad. But if you don’t see me online, no! I’m not sick… and no I’m not dead… in fact, I’ve never been more alive!!!! I’m just in my dungeon studio finishing SIG so I can make a new effort to present it to world class publishers instead of trying to do everything alone.
 
During this time of waiting, please take advantage of the books that I am currently releasing under the banner of ‘The PopTerra Collection,’ which is set to finish releases in May… Ghost King [A Book of Changes], Treadwell [A Deeply Personal Journey into a Dream], The Bird Caller, Mission Arizona and finally the redux edition of Like Never Before & Like Never Again… these are tremendous books that built my reputation as a quality graphic storyteller and versatile artist all around.
 
In them, you will find sci-fi, fantasy, horror, weird western, folklore, alternate history… these various genres allowed me to stretch my wings and soar into the heart of Canadian comic book history, with two nominations in the Shusters and two nominations in the Auroras. These accolades remain elusive, but that’s alright, the nominations put me in great company.
 
And yet, I remain irrevocably ‘lost at sea’ between Europe, off one coast, Japan, off the other, and the USA, just to the south. I figure I’m hovering on the water somewhere above Atlantis. But Atlantis had better rise up again soon, because I’m going to need to reach dry land sooner or later. But then again, I am the one who believes in miracles… Right? Yes. Yes I do…
 
For now, I’ve got a mean dogpaddle water treading technique. Come on arms and legs, don’t fail me now! Still waiting on that dove with the olive branch!!!
 
Recently, I’ve sort of gone into hermit mode to finish SIG, but when I come back up for air, my news will surely be posted on social media, especially on www.twitter.com/mirrorcomics and www.facebook.com/MirrorComics!!!

Thanks for reading!!!