Steve —

It feels like it’s taken us a long time to get here. And I mean that in every way possible. I think there may have been two “0”’s before the year digit back when I first pitched such a notion resembling this ‘TCS’ (as we’ve come to loving call it) to Lucas, Western Wizard of the Winds and a damn fine animator. It’s been more than a year since we woke Jea up and sent her about her morning. It’s been a minute since we sated your sick appetites with another dripping, juicy page (joooooooo-seeeeeeeeeey) And most espescesisselliy, it’s been a whole lot of time; of life, of learning – for me, for you, for Lucas, for the guy who lives above me
that I definitely keep up at night with instrumental prog-rock anthems played for TCS writing inspiration. (I’m certain he’s tired of hearing the Sessions edition of ‘Eye in the Sky’ repeated until 5am when I decide it’s finally time to fall asleep in front of VINLAND Saga) EDITOR’S NOTE: I’ve asked Lucas if I may include countless diversions into my own ancillary interests in these articles. If he minds me using these spaces to reach out and find other rare folk who agree that Tangerine Dream’s ‘Le Parc’ album is a masterpiece of 20th century artistic expression, he has yet to say anything.

Confession Time: I read a lot more hardcopy comics (“books” as we fast-rising comic industry phenoms know to call them) than I do online comics. It’s nothing personal. It’s not you guys, online comics. It’s me, I’m just old and stupid with my money. Since we first plotted out and then scripted what’s becoming Issue #1 of TCS, I’ve read a stratobutt’s worth more of comics both off and online. I see that we’ve already taken Jea on a long journey across paint and page, and we’re very lucky that she’s about to move out of being a tourist and into a… tourer? A person who DOES the tour, not the person ON the tour… Wait that’s terrible. That’s a Tour Guide. They’re still on the tour, they’re just more responsible. We want Jea OFF the tour and onto the — Look, if you ask me to write some nonsense about a young woman in a fantastic reality, I got you. But if you need me to generate an apt analogy regarding tour takers and tour leaders, we might be out of luck. I’m good but I’m neither Sarah Marshall nor Michael Hobbs so cut me a break. 

Good comic writing is usually about a self interested writer throwing hackneyed short-hand scene descriptions to a skilled , overworked and under-valued artist as a kind of meagre motivation, then they both get equal billing on COVER A and the public thinks they both worked extra hard to bring this miracle to life. The truth is the artist has been skipping sleep by shooting Terran Marine STIMpaks (allegedly…) to keep his commitments while also having time to hand animate an entire feature length historical epic depicting the mythological history of Korea and then posting photos of him and his dog with two minutes worth of animation cells stacked for scale. The writer in the meantime has been stranded on his bed/workspace/dining area, savagely devouring six month old freezer burnt christmas cookies while wondering if anyone would follow an @threads account that posts things like
what disc of Dragonball Z, Season 4 he just watched (disc one, I’ll have you know) What I’m saying is there’s a new gear, a new speed, a new urgency that’s about to come out in our work, and it’s born out of seeing just how amazing a page Lucas can make out of a few lines of text. If that man can spin straw into gold then I’m pumped about what he can do with super-straw. See? I’m getting better already. Lucas and I have been itching to explore this world, to find out where Jea’s about to go and what it’ll be like travelling with her, and it seems like not only is it time we really set on her mission, but it’s also time that we the creators finally let this story take off and deliver you the audience unto a truly magical world.

The world with a Constant Star…