Endings, Beginnings, and lots of gratitude…
Happy winter, friends and fans! I hope this message finds you well with a warm beverage in your hands as we get ready for end of the year festivities, restful moments of reflection, and a hopeful look towards for a new year. Count me as “all the above” !
First up is the final Dr Dream campaign—the last one for the last issue in the series. After Silver Age Comic con this past summer, I got to work envisioning the last Dr Dream campaign. It needed to be big, and after seeing the successful Kill Jessica Kill campaign by Jason Dube, I had an idea for the final issue cover. It would be a wrap around cover and feature an epic battle scene between Nightmare and a now all-grown up rock star Alice from issues 1 and 4. As I started designing this, my first thought was this scene is a classic 80’s D and D game module, the RPG being one of my joyous occupations while I navigated then Weimar Junior High School. Once I got the concept off to my artist, Mark V., I started putting the campaign together in earnest in October. Funny thing is, that wasn’t the most exciting part…
Maybe it was the fact that this was the last issue, or maybe it was, not unlike a D and D campaign, the party gathered for one more adventure with the aging hero.First, it was my dear friend and traveling buddy James Burton, who even after getting his stuff ripped off while in Seattle, jumped in and offered to do a variant for my book.
And then Evan Quiring of Lucha Mystery and Murder City Devil said he wanted to do a cover. I was overwhelmed.
And as if my grateful heart couldn’t take much more , Alberto Melendez wanted in as well. He sent three sketches, and we settled on one of them.
This series was meant for my kids, and now with seven variant covers from some amazing creators and just wonderful people, it has now become a family affair. I can count on one hand how many gratifying moments I’ve had in my life as a creator. This one certainly rises to the top. It is almost difficult to write this without getting choked up…
I won’t give away everything, but this campaign is proving to the best kind of finale beyond what I imagined—all ready for a launch in January 2024. As more images become available, I’ll post them here as well as a prelaunch link so you can get notified first. I think you’re going to enjoy this final chapter as well as all of the great art coming you way. Stay tuned!
Everyone here is on Instagram so check them out:
Jason Dube @scatteredcomics
James Burton @jamesburtonii
Evan Quiring @the_uncanny_eanq
Alberto Melendez @alberto311