Elk’s Run — Update

To the left is a page of pencils from Elk's Run 6, No Spoilers, so click, and enjoy the brilliance of Noel.

So, Issue 7 is written. It came out of me in two days of intense scripting, and I think it's about the best thing I've ever written. It's a fucking whirlwind of action, so much so, that I'm actually suprised. I'd always envisioned issue 7 as a bridge between 6 and 8, but, instead it took on it's own life. This is me letting go. J-Rod's going to have a lot of cleaning up to do on it, but, it's easily the tightest (and one of the shortest, it's right at 22 pages) scripts I've ever written.

I'll be honest. Elk's Run is a schizophrenic book. It's partly due to my creative procss, and partly due to the construct of how the book's set up. The shifting POV's mean that I can't tell a linear story, no matter how much I want to. The device was picked as a way to present the story in an interesting way and set it apart from the rest of the art in it's medium. That thought process went all the way down into our artist choices in Noel and Keating, and into how Jaco letters the book. Every issue has a unique feel, and I think that's part of what people identify with in the book. This ISN'T just another indie book, and certainly not one of a sea of superhero lit.

That's what I'll be proudest of. I think the book has managed to tell a story that appeals to both sides of the fence (even if neither side has really adopted it as it's own.) I think, and maybe I'm crazy, that that's what you have to do in order to make something that lasts and has meaning in this industry. The unfortunate reality is that the most sophisticated and daring pieces of comic literature are generally ignored till after the fact.

This is much more pompous than I mean it to be. The fact is, I love this book. Dearly. At the end of each script I feel like I've given birth. I'm more than a little sad to know that in under a month, there's a distinct possibility that I'll never write these characters again... But, I think that at the end of it all, there'll be a pretty outstanding book made by a bunch of people who love it more than a sane person should.

Through all the financial problems, low orders, and general malaise the book's received with the comic reading public, we have a dedicated fanbase who 'get it.' So, whenever I read about things like, ahem, "Apocalypse vs. Dracula" coming from Marvel or a 300 part crossover epic that will 'Break the internet in half,' it heartends me to know that there's still an audience for comics like mine.

So, in short. Thanks for the love and for letting the book exist. I promise not to disappoint you.

And, if we do... it's totally j-Rod's fault.