Tag: announcement

Phew, good thing today is a blogging day, I’ve got some thoughts to pour out of my very buzzy head.

First and foremost: Exemplar #1 is in the final stages of production! The art is complete, the pages are lettered, the privacy captions are in place; the only thing left to do now is format the pages into the ideal size and resolution for web and pdf formats, and then the uploading can begin. This will happen on Monday 16th June; that’s right, next week is when it all kicks off proper!

Also to be launching on Monday, will be the Fifth Ace Comics Patreon! While I was initially drawn to Ko-Fi because it takes less of a cut, Patreon does come with the benefit of being a lot more integrated and customizable, meaning easier access for more people, and the point of making art is to have people see it, so… yeah. I’m still getting the page properly in order, so that when it launches, there will be stuff to see.

Said stuff will also be going live here on this site at the same time; the cover and first four pages of Exemplar #1 will be available for all to see on Ko-Fi, Patreon, and the main site on Monday. Thereafter, Ko-Fi and Patreon will update with new pages daily, while this site will follow a Mon/Wed/Fri update schedule, so if you want to see the other pages early, options are available. Of course, if you want to see this first issue in its entirety at once, the $10 tiers (as well as the stores) will have the full issue available for download, including the exclusive backup pages!

With all that said, I am really excited to finally be officially launching my comic universe; the Fifth Ace Showcase was always intended to be a testing ground for this setting and the characters within it, and now the real storyline can begin; I’ve mentioned before how I have an extensive timeline plotted out for a few dozen issues down the line. I had figured that this level of planning would help prevent me from having to resort to any retcons (retroactive continuity changes, for the layman out there) that comics are so prone to. Unfortunately, there is one big change that I’m going to have to make before it all goes down.

The main setting of my continuity is the sprawling settlement of Apex City, my equivalent to Gotham or Metropolis, a fictional playground that I can build out to my heart’s content without having to worry about any real-world inaccuracies. However, it came to my attention a while back that there is already another published continuity with an Apex City in it, one which has only grown in popularity since. Apex City is the home turf of Inferno Girl Red, part of what is known as the Massive-Verse; given that this universe is one I hold in high regard, I do not dare risk any comparisons being made to my own work (because I know I’ll lose), or any potential copyright infringement. As such, I will be retconning my version of Apex City, and it will now be known as “Capstone City” going forward. This doesn’t invalidate any previous stories that have taken place in it; we’ll all just have to mentally, retroactively (see how that works?) replace the word “Apex” with “Capstone” whenever we look back on those older works.

Think that’s all for this week; I’m going to go and finish up the last bit of formatting on those pages, and then probably crash out for a bit. I’ve been watching a few Let’s Plays of Blue Prince lately; it doesn’t count as looking up a guide for my own playthrough if I happen to see how other people solved the puzzles, right?

Ciao for now.

Life update! As it’s been a couple of months, I think it’s about time.

On the surface, not a whole lot has changed; I’m still unemployed, my car is still having troubles, and everything in general is still in doubt. Given the state of the world at large, I’m lucky that things are still relatively holding together, so I’m counting my blessings where I can take them.

Below the surface, on the other hand, I’ve been extra busy. I’ll admit, the past months have been slow; I let myself get too complacent, but I finally pulled finger and made the effort to head down to my local library to get my work done. The increase in productivity was such a sharp ascent, the graph would look almost like a 90 degree angle; I don’t know why I put this off for so long, but it’s amazing how much more I’m getting done in an office-like space with little to no distractions around. Combined with the Pomodoro method of time management, which has worked wonders for me in the past, I’m getting work done on multiple fronts of both art and writing. Not to mention I’m getting some exercise in with it, as the library is within walking distance from home.

The first issue of the extended Fifth Ace Comics universe is trucking along; I’m in the colour flatting stage right now, which I’m on track to finish soon. I’ve been hammering out the scripts for the next two issues, and I have a few dozen others in the pipeline behind those, so I’ve got a very clear roadmap as to where I’m going with this. In light of this productive explosion, and in the interest of keeping it booming, I’m putting forth a proper deadline that I’m now sure that I can reach, so here it is:

The official Fifth Ace Comics Ko-Fi subscription service will open on June 1st, and Exemplar #1 will be available to purchase by the end of June.

The Ko-Fi will have three tiers of memberships, with a fourth tier launching once Exemplar #1 is complete. The lowest tier will be a simple tip jar, while the second and third tiers will provide additional material such as early access to comic pages, exclusive WIP images and concept art, and monthly wallpapers. The future fourth tier will allow members to download full comic issues for free as they become available. If you’re not in a position to subscribe, the issues will be available through the Ko-Fi shop, and the pages will eventually be uploaded to this site at a more staggered rate.

It’s been a long time coming, with a lot of tinkering behind the scenes, but now that I’ve got my workflow figured out, future updates to this model will hopefully have quicker turnaround times. I didn’t expect this first issue to take five months, but considering how much quicker I’m pushing through the back part of production, I feel confident that the next ones will come much faster. I’m not going to put a definite timeframe on them just yet; I’ll just say that my techniques are constantly being refined and improved, and so in turn should everything else.

All that being said, I’d better get back to it; I’ll aim to get more blog posts out on Thursdays moving forward, and keep you all updated on my progress.

Ciao for now.