Comic Odyssey: Back in the game

If you follow me on social media, or you know me… or you keep up with TJ Comics, you’ll notice that I’ve **finally** launched the Kickstarter campaign for The Atomic Thunderbolt #3. I REALLY like this issue as it’s pivotal for world-building and because of a really wild twist at the end.

What you may also notice is that it’s been about a year since the campaign for The Atomic Thunderbolt #2. Whoa, time flies. But there’s actually a reason for this that I wanted to take some time to address.

After I finished The Atomic Thunderbolt #2, I start production on #3, but moved slowly. Around this time I had Baltimore Comic-Con and New York Comic Con coming up. One right after the other. Between running a Kickstarter, raising three kids and having a fast-paced full-time job, I was feeling a little burnt out. I ended up not making it to Baltimore at the very last minute, and while I had a blast at NYCC (as usual), I was fried. Although, I don’t think I realized it at the time.

There was also another project I was working on in the first half of last year that I prioritized because it was long overdue – Patriot-1: Conviction. Currently in production, Patriot-1: Conviction is the sequel to my award-winning graphic novel Patriot-1. I think Conviction is really, really great and there’s more to come regarding it’s impending arrival.

But speaking of Patriot-1, for the past few years I’ve been working tirelessly on a screenplay version of the book. This has long contributed to creative burnout, but through the process, I came to a realization in the middle of NYCC last October… I wanted to updated and re-release Patriot-1. There are certain changes I made in the screenplay that I felt elevated the story overall and I decided to ADD pages to the original book.

Essentially, it’s just a new and updated edition. Some pages are coming out, a lot are going in, but the story beats are all the same, there are just some new twists and tweaks.

Additionally, Patriot-1 isn’t the only book to get an upgrade… The Atomic Thunderbolt was originally planned to run 5 issues… but after I re-examined the second half of the story, it’s now going to go 6.

But all of that became quite time consuming, not to mention restructuring what exactly the mission of TJ Comics as I approach the 10th anniversary of when I established it.

And that’s where it all stands today. The Atomic Thunderbolt #3 is LIVE on Kickstarter, #4 is already in production… a new edition of Patriot-1 is on the way with Patriot-1: Conviction hot on it’s heels.  And last but certainly not least, ExtraOrdinary is still in motion.

Feels good to be back in the game.

More to come…

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