You can order Physical Copies!

I’ve updated my Bigcartel site and you can get back issues (1-4) at discounted prices OR the brand new Trade of the Trust Arc! This first run of the trade is limited to 150 copies and one third of them are already gone! I also posted the current issue which is Number 5! Now that we are through the 4th issue and the Trust Arc is completed, I’ll be taking a couple week break and then I’ll be back to posting spreads of the 5th issue. Thanks for your patience and if you’d like to read the physical versions, this is the best way!! You can even get a little ahead! I’ve listed the trade here first because I’ll also include some postcard prints with it that I won’t be adding once I finally list it on Amazon. I can’t wait til you see where this story is going because it’s only getting better! Here’s some extra links for you too!

Bigcartel site for buying the copies

Support the series and watch as it comes together in real time:

Patreon

The series continues online here on June 14th with issue 5!

“I Never Forgot!” Issue 2, Page 3-4

“I Never Forgot!” Issue 2, Page 3-4

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So begins the drifters stay in Happytown and helping around where he can. Obviously soup because you can make it last. fences are essential for making and creating bottlenecks and strategic points. And finally calling back to the garage picture from the first issue (page 9, pop out window clickable to refresh you) and the fact he used to be a mechanic. Mechanics have had such a big effect on my life considering my dad was one and I was always near and helped working on the family vehicles.

The burning pit was somewhat essential to the beginning and to show how the drifter has been trained into thinking that these are just awful husks of people that used to be. When most places you come across have some of the same setups, you just come to expect they all know what they are talking about. Possibly a great lesson just because very few know what they are doing and how to get from one place to another. Experience is a much great teacher than someone saying they know what they’re talking about. Don’t be afraid to take chances and make mistakes on your own…

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“I Never Forgot!” Issue 2, Page 1-2

“I Never Forgot!” Issue 2, Page 1-2

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Starting with the left page. Connecting the last issue to this one, the cover is redrawn and a new letter is capitalized. It’s not good enough to just say you never forgot…but sometimes you have to increase the level of your voice to prove that you never have. By the end of this series…Each letter will be capped and you will realize quite a bit more about it all.

The first panel breakup is supposed to show time passing as Leon thought up an answer. I hope that translates and doesn’t seem like he is just automatically shooting him down. As I stated in the previous post, Leon is just looking to help others. He offers some vital info the first time they meet that sets the drifter on an entirely new path. This may just help him find what he has been looking for so he can complete the one thing he has been meaning to! That word bubble at the moment has been a constant strain. I always meant to go back and fix it but never took the time. I do regret that but there’s no changing it now! This is also the only Issue you will see that people have different colored speech. I realized it wouldn’t be sustainable the more people unfold in this story so I just went to black ink for everyone. It was a nice thought, but to no avail.

“I Never Forgot” Issue 2

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This guy’s significance is yet to be seen, but I will be showcased very soon. I probably shouldn’t have led off the second issue with him but hopefully my arrogance will soon show off my genius 😉 He has importance for a couple reasons: 1 – reasons that will be addressed later (as I write this people will get a glimpse of him in the end of Issue 4 and the preview pages for Issue 5) and 2 – as being the first person the drifter comes into contact with in this story. The leader of Happytown and a small group of people. He helps out more than he knows and sets a series of points in motion from some small helpful advice. You’ll see in the next couple pages that he is just wanting and willing to help…

As I was starting to write this issue, I got through the initial roughs and went to lineart and realized I needed a few more pages. You’ll see in the posts that some pages have nothing for the “lineart” posts and these are the pages I added after getting the linework done and figured them out in the coloring stages. This issue is starting to get more tangible too. With the first issue I just dove into this project head first and figured that I would either sink or swim. After I saw this issue coming together I knew it would be the latter. Issue 1 is rough and I’ll be the first to admit it. I didn’t even use a ruler for most straight lines. This one I actually started working with a ruler and laying panels out in a much better looking fashion. I hope you enjoy these posts for issue 2 and feel free to leave comments and order if you absolutely must know whats going to happen next! You can find the first three issues currently on my Bigcartel site at samuraiox.bigcartel.com or digital versions of them at gumroad.com/samuraiox.

The Variant was a lot of fun to paint as well. An idea of a dreamscape where a zombie is attacking the drifter from inside of him…make a horrifying story with that as your premise…it still scares me just to think about!!!

With one last thing weighing on his mind, is it even worth it to finish this one last thing?! Meeting new people along the way helps, but will it benefit him or hinder him in the long run?

Let us begin the second issue —>

“I Never Forgot!” Issue 1, Page 19-20

“I Never Forgot!” Issue 1, Page 19-20

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These final pages for the first issue were my first run at ending what would become my first issue! A little adjusting and just leaving the one panel of the drifter hanging out in the forest meant moving the words to the other page which I think worked out much better. Kind of left everything on a nice note and somewhat calming nature..but a suspicious note. He seems to know where he is going, but at the same time its a shady looking place he’s just come upon. The final page layout was a nice trial at trying to change up the panels too. Going from a closeup and zooming out and then zooming out once more to give a sense of this story now getting into a path that this drifter is going down. With his machete…and backpack…and leaving the forest…what will he find now in this

‘Happytown’…

Thanks for coming with me on this journey of the first issue. I’ll be missing next week and then starting the second issue the following Monday. I will put up the page spreads and then do the behind the scenes blogs detailing the work behind them on that following thursday. This journey of mine has really become something amazing and the art and everything is getting much better! I’m now well into working on getting the fourth issue done up. Issue 2 picks up where the first one and finds the drifter in this new place. With one last thing weighing on his mind, is it even worth it to finish this one last thing?! Meeting new people along the way helps, but will it benefit him or hinder him in the long run?

If you like what you are seeing or just want to get ahead of these pages – You can order the issues of “I Never Forgot!” directly from me over here:
http://samuraiox.bigcartel.com/ or the digital version (Redone and better lain out) at Gumroad.com/Samuraiox.

My comic I Never Forgot! #2 is NOW available on @comiXology Submit! Be sure to check it out! #cXSubmit http://bit.ly/1Vb9yqX

My comic I Never Forgot! #3 is NOW available on @comiXology Submit! Be sure to check it out! #cXSubmit http://bit.ly/1FULe6a

“I Never Forgot!” Issue 1, Page 17-18

“I Never Forgot!” Issue 1, Page 17-18

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So now with the first issue is winding down and getting ready to get it all published. I started sending out my newsletter and telling them that it was time to move forward with this project! This print was made for the campaign and a few other stretch goals brought the book an expanded and upgraded look! I soon had to find new pages and things to put in it. That’s when the actual book got the sketchbook pages and preview pages for the next comic. This was the first print I did for the comic too. The skull on the wall would become the actual tag for the corner of my comic book. There were only a few more things the book would need and it would be completed! But I feel like I’m getting ahead of myself…

So you can see below that I had an entire page that was still blank in the rough draft. I knew the story still needed something and couldn’t quite figure it out until lightning struck and in the form of a samurai. Well, seven samurai to be exact! A few of the concepts spilled over from the last page of notebook work, but the funeral and seven samurai panel where the big things and the rest of the pages fell together and soon I had a completed Issue. The ways of capturing a zombie was a fun page to make too. I knew I’d need that trap to spike a zombie and remains one of my favorite panels yet!

If you like what you are seeing or just want to get ahead of these pages – You can order the issues of “I Never Forgot!” directly from me over here: http://samuraiox.bigcartel.com/

My comic I Never Forgot! #2 is NOW available on @comiXology Submit! Be sure to check it out! #cXSubmit http://bit.ly/1Vb9yqX

My comic I Never Forgot! #3 is NOW available on @comiXology Submit! Be sure to check it out! #cXSubmit http://bit.ly/1FULe6a

“I Never Forgot!” Issue 1, Page 15-16

“I Never Forgot!” Issue 1, Page 15-16

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The transformation of a human into a zombie…unlike most zombies you see that change once they die, this shows the ones contained inside this world become that way. They are made and that terrifying and reassuring at the same time. Because it means its not contagious…but zombies exist now…Headaches lead to them gnawing on their own flesh and making it so they develop a taste for blood and flesh. This also was important to give this illusion of why these puppets have their teeth showing and separating them from the regular human puppets. When I made the zombie spread and expanded those panels, i realized this transformation needed built up too! The headache…and teeth showing through…and then finally attacking another human…

So then it was time to explain how to stop them. I’m not impressed with when people call zombies anything other than zombies. Walkers, deadites, or any other word – they are all a zombie. Why dance around the fact? We’ve seen countless shows and movies that explain how to get dispose of them, but I just wanted to show the ways I would do it! I knew I needed one more way of killing them, but just couldn’t figure it out. It wasn’t until I pitched the idea of the comic to friends that they had the idea of a woodchipper! Who doesn’t love a woodchipper and its brutal destruction of everything!! The blunt force trauma changed from a hammer to a shovel and I think it works better.

If you like what you are seeing or just want to get ahead of these pages – You can order the issues of “I Never Forgot!” directly from me over here: http://samuraiox.bigcartel.com/

My comic I Never Forgot! #3 is NOW available on @comiXology Submit! Be sure to check it out! #cXSubmit http://bit.ly/1FULe6a

“I Never Forgot!” Issue 1, Page 13-14

“I Never Forgot!” Issue 1, Page 13-14

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Originally meant to be one page but I realized there was too much going on and it needed to be split to two different pages. The nurse needed to be better proportions and a hospital feel designed to give life to this idea how these zombies were manufactured accidentally. A common idea of trying to prolong life and using medicine to extend this life we’re all given…and that backfiring and us being able to gain our immortality…but not how we expected to utilize it. Still no background to give a sense this was happening everywhere and had already passed. The nurse will be a person who returns in the story a little later…

This is another page out of the sketchbook pages that are in the back of the issues of the book. Inktober has begun again and this design was the second done of this little zombie guy. now with this better shadow design that was a little more modified for my ‘comic publisher’ tag. It was time to give this zombie a feeling of stopping to smell the roses even though he normally might not have actually been able to, the idea of him wanting to expanded this whole idea and theory even more. If you’d like to know more about Jake Parker’s Inktober, you can find his website here and more about Inktober on it’s actual site over HERE!

If you like what you are seeing or just want to get ahead of these pages – You can order the issues of “I Never Forgot!” directly from me over here: http://samuraiox.bigcartel.com/

My comic I Never Forgot! #2 is NOW available on @comiXology Submit! Be sure to check it out! #cXSubmit http://bit.ly/1Vb9yqX

My comic I Never Forgot! #3 is NOW available on @comiXology Submit! Be sure to check it out! #cXSubmit http://bit.ly/1FULe6a

“I Never Forgot!” Issue 1, Page 11-12

“I Never Forgot!” Issue 1, Page 11-12

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This page got extended to two pages to show this scene play out. The willingness to deal with what someone needs to and walk away like its no big deal. This was one of the page that reworked to give an expanded scene. I also chose not to do a background. It wasn’t as a issue of laziness but building this world, I wanted this scene to stand on its own because its a common occurrence in this world. It was however an issue of me not trusting myself and abilities not to be up to par on my backgrounds. His machete makes an appearance again and is used as his primary weapon. When I started doing the linework for this issue, I used my new brush pens to line this first zombie that showed up.

If you like what you are seeing or just want to get ahead of these pages – You can order the issues of “I Never Forgot!” directly from me over here: http://samuraiox.bigcartel.com/

My comic I Never Forgot! #2 is NOW available on @comiXology Submit! Be sure to check it out! #cXSubmit http://bit.ly/1Vb9yqX