Fathers and daughters and psychic powers (WIP Wednesday)

I just sent off my next contribution to the Pen and Cape Society's The Good Fight series of anthologies. It happens to be the third story in The Second Life of DB Cooper.

Longtime readers may remember the first short about the psychic ex-secret agent from The Good Fight 2: Villains or the second from Legends of New Pulp. This story flashes forward about sixteen years from that second tale and picks up with a fifty-year-old Coop right around the turn of the century.

Like the previous stories, this one is built around a lot of psychic powers with a little weird esoterica in the backdrop. But at its core, it is about the relationship between Coop and his daughter, a woman he didn't know existed until the day she showed up at his doorstep. Like everything else in Coop's life since the day he ditched his old job and hijacked an airplane, it comes with a whole heck of a lot of complications.

I suspect this one will be a bit different than the previous two Coop stories as it hinges much more on hard decisions than the straight up adventure hooks of the previous tales. I certainly had a heck of a lot of fun writing it as I get a certain glee out of making Coop's life a living hell.

I've put the start on a project for Pro Se Productions as well this week. The book hasn't been officially announced as far as I know, so for now, it will be called PROJECT FOXHUNT. It's set at a unique point in history in a unique location and stars a character with some deep esoteric roots that I love. He's a figure I've used in the past but this will be a slightly different take on him. I'll go into more details on it once I get the go-ahead from the fine folks at Pro Se.

I have also started work on a project I've let sit fallow for too long. I had a trilogy of works online many moons ago that I've always wanted to do a complete rewrite on to get them ready for publication. Those stories: Mean Streets, The Long Hot Summer and Suicide Blonde, might be remembered by a few longtime followers of yours truly, but none have been seen for nearly a decade. I have started a ground-up re-write on Mean Streets starting with a new, more apt, title: NML: No Man's Land. I'll cover a few more details on that in the next update.

Today's image is from the other great tale that posits D.B. Cooper as a secret psychic agent of the government, Brian Churilla's The Secret History of D.B. Cooper. That book almost killed my plans for Coop stories when it was released way back in 2013, but while it's a great comic, it's pretty much as far away from my tale as can be possible. Still, dig Churilla's amazing work and if you're interested, pick up a copy at Amazon.

5 comics I really wish they would finish already!

As I write this, Matt Wagner is in the middle of his Mage: The Hero Denied, the three decades in the making final installment of the Mage franchise. Karl Kesel and Tom Grummett funded the rebirth of Section Zero on Kickstarter and are hard at work bringing it to life. Comics that were once a pipe dream to see finished now seem very, very possible. So here are five titles I would love to see still get published.

5. All Star Batman and Robin: The Boy Wonder

Frank Miller and Jim Lee teamed to work on this book that presents a gloriously awful version of Batman's first days as Robin's mentor. All Star Batman & Robin really pissed off a lot of fans with its portrayal of Batman and most of his Justice League allies as assholes. I personally enjoyed it, but with Lee on art it was doomed to delays and short runs. After a couple years without publication, it was announced by DC it would return as Dark Knight: Boy Wonder, but that book still hasn't seen the light of day either.


4. SHIELD

Jonathan Hickman and Dustin Weaver's great series took the idea of the international spy organization and stretched it back several thousand years. It was supposed to run as two six issue limited series, but they stopped with two issues still left to work on Infinity. After the Marvel event series, both creators claimed they returned to SHIELD with Dustin finishing all the pages of art. No one quite knows why Marvel has never returned to the series, but its sat in comic book limbo for half a decade with no sign of a return.

3. Crimson Plague 

One of two books on this list to have two launches but never finish, George Perez's big independent creator owned debut started with one issue at Event and two issues at Image as part of the quick-to-die Gorilla Comics line. The intriguing tale of a woman with a deadly touch in a galaxy spanning future definitely had tons of potential. It likely will never see the light of day though as Crimson Plague herself returned as a nemesis in the pages of the recently completed George Perez's Sirens, which seemed to be his last word on her.

2. Miracleman: The Silver Age

Neil Gaiman and Mark Buckingham joined the Miracleman comic during the waning days of Eclipse. Following on the heels of The Original Writer (better known as Alan Moore) and a bevy of talented artists, they started to craft a tale of a utopian super-future with Miracleman: The Golden Age. But their follow up never saw the light of day when the company went belly up. Marvel bought all the rights behind the character in order to reprint the old issues and allow Gaiman to continue his saga, but despite word that both Gaiman and Buckingham have done work on the project, the solicited issues were canceled and it hasn't been spoken about since.

1. Jackie Chan's Spartan X

Michael Golden writing and drawing a high octane Jackie Chan comic sounds like pretty much the coolest thing ever. Golden draws action like pretty much no one else and he pumped out a stellar three issues of the book only for Topps to decide it was done publishing comics. The remaining three issues disappeared, only for the title to resurface at Image during the black and white boom period for the company in the late 90s and early 2000s. The loss of color surprisingly didn't hurt the reprinted issues or the new number four that was released. But issue five and six again disappeared into the ether never to be seen. I talked to Golden at a Wizard World a few years back and he still plans for the series to see the light someday, but until then it will remain a forgotten treasure along with the rest of these titles.

What unfinished comic would you like to finally see the light of day?

Great Art: Blood Syndicate by Sophie Campbell

The Milestone list of characters is deep from Icon and Static to Xombi and Iron Butterfly. But probably the biggest surprise for me out of the original books was Blood Syndicate. It's a great title about gang members turned superheroes with amazing early art from ChrisCross.

I close this week out with one last shout out to the late great Dwayne McDuffie from the pin-ups in his final work Milestone Forever. Sophie Campbell did amazing work bringing the team to life in the piece below.

As always, you can check out a lot more Great Art over on the Tumblr. And after you're done admiring some great art here, don’t forget to check out some of the other great stuff on the site this week!

What's Up for February 23, 2018

What's Up is a simple post where I give you links to the books, comics, movies, games and/or music I have been enjoying as of late. Feel free to check them out if you would like to enjoy them as well or give your opinions of these works in the comments below (though do try to keep it spoiler free.)


It has been a strange couple weeks as I went through surgery and now recovery. I have had tons of reading time, viewing time, but mostly sleeping time. Turns out losing a piece of kidney really sucks the energy out of your day. Go figure. But here is what I've been reading, watching and listening to in the last few days!



Thanos: Death Sentence | Black Panther: The Man Without Fear | Miracleman Book One |
Preacher Season One | Lindsey Stirling: Brave Enough

What's Up for February 2, 2018

What's Up is a simple post where I give you links to the books, comics, movies, games and/or music I have been enjoying as of late. Feel free to check them out if you would like to enjoy them as well or give your opinions of these works in the comments below (though do try to keep it spoiler free.)


It's been a little quiet here as I've been focused on medical issues and my fiction, but I have had time to read, watch and listen over the last two weeks.



Mississippi Roll: A Wild Cards Novel | Dr. Strange: Strange Tales |
Not Drunk Enough | Femme Fatales Season 1 | Camila

Meet the "Genre Mixologist" over at Medium!

I have a new interview up over at Medium, this time with the acclaimed and always enjoyable Bobby Nash. We talk about his background in comics and fiction, his most recent release Sanderson of Metro, and the ups and downs of writing multiple genres.

Check it all out at Medium.