The Prologue is online now, guys… be the first kid on your block to read it. Gee! It’s swell!
The printed version should be available imminently as well.
Over the next couple weeks, Sunrise may be updating irregularly. It will be updating, though, so don’t get too upset. It’ll just be somewhat more sporadic, as I’m very busy working on this and this, coupled with the fact that I currently have no buffer (blame Issue 7 again. This is all its fault). Stay tuned. I’ll be posting pages as they’re ready, and at least trying to stick to the normal schedule.
And just to reassure you all, this is not in any way a “hiatus.” (Which is, of course, the most dreaded word in the lexicon of webcomics, even worse than “Flash-based.”)
If you’re in dire need of some webcomics and you don’t know of any others, I’d suggest you buzz on over to The Webcomic Overlook, where you’re sure to find something that will interest you.
This issue is one I’ve wanted to do for a long time. As you all know, Tintin is one of the main inspirations around here, and this issue has especially close ties to Tintin because I stole the idea from Hergé. Now wait a minute there, don’t get excited. See, it’s an idea he didn’t use. In some source I can no longer find, I read that Hergé’s original plan for one of the Tintin albums (Alph-Art, if I remember correctly) was to set the entire story in an airport. He said that airports were interesting places and that they were more than capable of supporting an entire story. Ultimately he came up with a completely different story, though, and his airport idea is now just a footnote in the annals of Tintinalia*. Since I love a challenge and hate to see a good idea go to waste, I decided to take a stab at it myself.
“Concourse,” as you’ve probably gathered, takes place entirely in an airport. I’d originally planned to do it as Issue 8, but when the first Issue 7 concept fell through, I decided the best thing to do would be to jump ahead to this one. Unfortunately, due to its premise, we don’t get to see the Akhenaten at all, which is too bad since we didn’t get to see it much last time, either. However, I will assure you that they’ll be airborne again in the next issue, which I already have some vague ideas for.
In the meantime, enjoy Issue 7: “Concourse,” which has its share of exciting action, surprising plot twists, and people sitting around talking. I’m counting on all of you to protect me if the Moulinsart Foundation decides to strike.
*I hereby challenge all of you to find further uses for the phrase “annals of Tintinalia.”
Despite the current interruption in service, I’d like to point out that Sunrise is two years old today. Hopefully later I’ll have time to post some bonus content or something.
I’d also like to take this opportunity to call your attention to the site redesign taking place here. I think it looks pretty nice, probably the best it ever has. Modifying the comicpress stylesheet is like untangling a mile of yarn, but I’ve managed to at least get it sort of under control. (I was forced to use !important to get the post headings to display without underlines. I know it’s bad form, but I couldn’t find where the opposing order was coming from. I tried. I think I can be forgiven since I’m working with someone else’s undocumented code.)
Finally, I finished linework for the Issue 7 cover yesterday, so it should be premiering pretty soon. Sit tight!
Guys, Issue 7 is in the works. I just finished the first draft of the storyline yesterday, so I should be able to start drawing sometime this week, and hopefully be active again in mid-February.
In the meantime, I thought you all might like to see part of the reason I’m so behind. This semester I’m taking “Senior Project,” which is intended to serve as kind of the culmination of the art education. As you can imagine, this takes a lot of time, and is the main reason that it’s taking me so long to get the new issue off the ground. In any case, I wanted to invite all of you to check out my Senior Project blog, which will allow you to track my progress as I embark on this perilous voyage. There is cool stuff to look at.
Also, I do intend to post some sort of bonus content, as I promised, but I’ve had some trouble thinking of what that would be, exactly. Is there anything in particular you’d like to see? If so, let me know and I’ll see what I can do.
In other news, Realm should be appearing online fairly soon. I’m just waiting to get the prints so that I can check the quality. As soon as they’re ready it’ll go online. Furthermore, this will also mark the debut of the Airborne Cactus store, which will offer, at the outset, Realm Issue 1 and the complete Zark comics. A compilation of the first six issues of Sunrise should follow shortly.
Thanks for your continued patience! More Sunrise coming soon.
