Greetings Farmhands.
Been a busy week on the farm as usual, working on the final pages for Issue #12 of Minor Arcana this morning and doing lots of interviews about 10K Inks Stains.
I received a number of good questions to my first summer update, so I thought I would do a follow up here addressing some of the books I didn’t mention last time…
BLACK HAMMER
Adam Barnhardt of Meltdown Press asked about the future of Black Hammer…
The final issue of Black Hammer: Spiral City shipped to comic shops this week, so it’s definitely time to start thinking about what’s next for the BHU. I believe next year marks the 10th anniversary of Black Hammer, so I want to do something special for that. With any luck Dean will finally be done the art for our long gestating Madame Dragonfly miniseries and I also have several ideas for new BH stories percolating, I just need to see which one rises to the top.
Possible BH Idea #1: This story would continue the threads from Spiral City and likely follow the new incarnation of The Liberty Squadron in the present, and juxtapose this with a relevant story from the Golden Age Liberty Squadron.
Possible BH Idea #2: This one would introduce a brand new character and his solo mini-series.
Possible BH Idea #3: This one would feature a brand new cast of characters set against a brand new mystery that evokes the feeling of the very first Black Hammer series, but goes in all new directions.
So let me ask you all. Which would you rather see?
BONE ORCHARD
Shy Zamir says: Can’t wait for the memoir! Also, any news on what’s next for the bone orchard? Maybe I missed it but it feels like it’s been a while since the last update
I have posted about this in past, Shy Zamir, but I understand not everyone has read the archives… So, unfortunately The Bone Orchard will not be continuing. There are multiple reasons for this. The sales were not what we hoped for, and there are other, more personal reasons, theses books won’t continue. In hindsight, Andrea and I should have done the stories as one monthly comic, like Gideon Falls. I think the anthology feel and format made it difficult for retailers to sell.
JSA
Brandon Coffey writes: All awesome news, thanks! BUT you did leave out the JSA...PLEASE tell me you are staying on this book....like...forever.....seriously.. : )
This is very nice to hear, Brandon (please tell this to the person who keeps creating new accounts to troll and insult me for how badly I write Scandal Savage 😂)
My current plan is to stay on JSA through to issue 24. I’m not sure what will happen beyond that, anything further is too much to think about at the moment. But here’s what I can say about the next stories…
Issues 10-12 will wrap up the big Injustice Society storyline and then Issue 13-18 will be a really special story that goes back to the past once more, with art by Gavin Guidry (who drew the Time Past story in Issue 8). Very excited about this one. Here’s an amazing art sneak peek from issue 13 by Gavin…
Issues 19-24 are being plotted now and we go back to the present day DCU and pick up some big threads for a big story featuring a founding member of the JSA who has not been seen for a while.
THE ART OF DESCENDER
MrJWThompson asks: Any updates on The Art of Descender campaign from Zoop?
Dustin is really running this, so I don’t have any updates at the moment, but I will ask him about it, and do an update NEXT WEEK. Stay tuned!
OTHER STUFF
Scott G asks: Is there an update on the CO project with Stefano Simeone? How many announcements should we look for at SDCC?
Hey Scott, nothing cooking with Stefano at the moment. We had discussed possibly working on something after he finished the Last Days of Black Hammer but then we both got busy and nothing really came of it. But I do love Stefano, and would work with him again in a minute if the timing was right.
I won’t have any announcements at SDCC this year. My new projects will likely be announced closer to NYCC this Fall. (See below)
MYSTERY PROJECT #2
I mentioned that Dustin and I will be launching a new ongoing series in 2026, but that’s not the only new book I have cooking. Teddy Kristiansen and I are embarking on a massive new project that will be over 600 pages when it’s done!
This project will be a brand new world, and brand new characters. It will also be done with a publisher neither of us has worked for before. The current plan is for the first part of our new project to be published in Summer 2027. We will likely announce it this Fall.
To tide you over, here is Teddy unreal cover for Minor Arcana!!!
NEW ROYAL CITY
And, I hate to do this, but I need to end this update with some bad news…the long promised sequel series to Royal City is not happening. This is a hard one for me to talk about, but the truth is, the story has just fallen apart on me.
I know that a number of you have been asking about the book since I started teasing it. And I also know that some of you will be really disappointed with this news. And that’s a big part of why I’ve avoided the truth about this project for so long. I hate to not follow through on things, and I hate projects being stuck in creative limbo, but it’s gotten to the point where trying to finish this new Royal City story has stopped bringing me any sort of joy and it’s just become something of an albatross.
I got the first spark for this new story back in 2019 and started on it soon after. At the time I thought it would be a book that I could chip away at between other major projects, but then I had to take a year off of comics all together in 2022 to do the Essex County TV show, and when I got back, between finishing Fishflies and staring Minor Arcana, it just became harder and harder to carve out any time for the new RC.
But this decision goes beyond just schedule. I’ve come to realize that the whatever ideas I was once so excited about with this story have died on the vine. So, after a lot of soul-searching, I’ve decided I need to move on. I’m more interested in doing new things and exploring new ideas and and I need to let this story go.
As for Royal City. I still love the original series. It’s one of my personal favorite books I’ve done. I think I just need to let that be what it is, and not try and force this new story into existence. The pages I’ve drawn will go into the same drawer as Minnow and other unfinished books. Maybe one day it will be the right time to finish it, or share what I did draw, or maybe it will stay there. But for now, sadly, the book is dead.
I’m genuinely sorry to everyone who was excited for this book. All I can say is that I tried my very best, and then some, to make it happen. But it was just not meant to be.
Life’s too short to be miserable doing the thing you love.
So, back to the drawing board and back to Minor Arcana. I can say that drawing Minor Arcana consistently makes me happy and fills me with excitement for what’s next. So, I need to listen to that, and just give that book my all right now.
-Jeff
Original Artwork For Sale at Comic-Con Art
Literary Agent: Charlie Olsen, Inkwell Management
Film/TV/Media: Angela Cheng Caplan, Chang Caplan Co.