Hey guess what guys – I’ve just sent Spandex 5 to the printers (for a proof copy, I’ll print a couple of weeks later).
Normally, I aim to get an issue done for the Thought Bubble convention in late November, so I’m dead early!! And thank god for that, because every issue seems to get delivered on the day I need to get my train to the con, and it’s always right down to the wire!
It’s so weird, maybe I’m getting quicker – I’ve actually been going out socialising more, so I’m surprised I got it done so quickly (especially as the issue features about 80 characters).
One thing that helped was making my own font. Normally I hand-letter, scan and then do major tidying-up, but it was proving time-consuming, so I tried a different method. The font took me a couple of months to make, and I’m under no illusion that it’s perfect – I think the jury will be out... But hopefully it just about does the job and I will be making tweaks on it for issue 6.
So anyway, issue 5 is all about Liberty and we get to learn her origin, and we follow her as she investigates what happened to her team-mates in issue 4. She ends up fighting just about every villain in the Spandex universe, plus gets a bit of help from some of the good guys too (that was so exciting to do). I think it’s a fun way of exploring the universe, and a slight homage (/piss-take?) of comic crossovers. Will Liberty find out where the team are... And will there be a shock ending...? My lips are sealed lol...
I think, after the shocks of issue 4, people will find this one a bit different. Generally it’s a bit lighter in tone, with a bit of a dark subtext, and the shocks are more story-related instead of issue 4’s out-and-out shockers. For me, though, it’s all about experimenting, and if you don’t like this issue, just stay tuned for issue 6, which will turn everything on its head (and it’s pretty much what the series has been leading up to).
I’m not going to do an official announcement of the issue just yet, as I’m still working on my little free ‘extras’ that come with the issue - I’m making a manga style J-Team mini-comic and 70+ mini-trading cards. The manga story, to be honest, is just me experimenting and having fun and seeing if I can do it (ie, tell a story in Japanese comic style, which is the reverse of how we do it), and hopefully the trading cards are just nice and attractive.
I've popped a rejected cover for this issue up above (it was based on a James Bond novel book, but I felt it was too much of a rip-off!)
Anyway, please stay tuned!
(Oh, and I’ve already started drawing issue 6 – I’ve made a start on about 10 pages woo hoo!)
