Black and White but Read All Over?

I'm juggling multiple tasks these days, so my intent to catch up all the pages into color seems more and more unlikely. Most likely I will get the color done after I complete the current story, and before I start a new story, but you never know The use of color gives me more tools for telling the story, so I may slip into color as time allows.

I hope the New year finds you and yours well. If you own a print cop on "When Hadrons Collide" I hope you are as pleased as I am at the printing, and forgiving of the one or two tiny boo-boos I did not take care of in pre-press.

If you feel like it, comment or drop me an email to let me know what you think - it would be much appreciated!

Will Claire make it to next week?

Keep reading - I know her parents will. I need to go back to Pittsburgh - in all my years there as a student and son-in-law, I never made it to Point Park.

Well, it's started again

If you were wondering what that distant rumbling sound was, it was the gears of the Master Jeffrey machine slowly turning back on. Yes, the new pages have started again, and I hope to pick up the pace soon, if not immediately.

Thanks to all the fans who showed up at SPX and told me how much they enjoyed the story. I had a half-table as a part of DC Conspiracy, and after a LONG search, managed to find a printing solution at Ingram-Spark which let me bring a dozen newly minted copies of "When Hadrons Collide" to the show. I have to admit, it was a special feeling to hold the book in my hands. You can get your own copy by clicking HERE.

I've also begun a couple of other projects which I'll get into at another date. For now, I'll just bask in the glow of being back with Jeff and the crew, and finally getting down to the nitty-gritty with the bad guy and one of Pittsburgh's newest residents (Claire, you know who you are.)

Where am I? Oh, here I am...

One of my favorite Peter Lorre quotes from "Arsenic and Old Lace." I've got to try and watch it this year on Halloween - it used to be my tradition.

As to where I've been, 2015 has been tough, with lots of family emergencies and crises. As I mentioned at the start of this series, I was (as opposed to "When Hadrons Collide") going to take things at a slower pace and try to pay attention to the art and story. What I did not anticipate was the shear volume of impediments I have to climb over every week to keep on track, and so not only have a missed a bunch of bi-weekly updates, I havn't been able to get anything in color since August.

Hopefully that will begin to change soon. Meanwhile I hope you are enjoying the story so far (let me know, wouldya?) and keep coming back. Things start to get more interesting soon.

oops, there it is

Well, this latest page is a mix of emotions for me. I gave a lot of thought to this story line; whether it would be appropriate, how it would work, etc. Mostly I wondered if I could have dead bodies and still maintain a light touch and some humor.

There are more details to come, but let's just say that I held a contest with the prize being the winner's likeness killed off in a Master Jeffrey story, and people of all ages and types responded with enthusiasm. "Someone has to die a horrible death - with any luck, it could be you!" They came in droves.

What this says about our society as a whole is debatable, and I'm fairly certain Jeff would not have been crazy about this idea. At some point, if the story is to continue, I have to make it something I want to create. So here we go, stretching the boundaries about as far as I could ever manage. If they break, well, better to know now. Feel free to share your thoughts.

Finally, I must point out that Master Jeffrey's reaction to the situation is pure Jeffrey. Jeff would often sit by the side of a debate, silently listening as people argued a point back and forth. When you least expected it, he would break in and make an observation that was as obvious as it might be impractical. It feels good to be thinking about him again.

More about the contest, including the winners, in the next post.

Well, here we go again

Hope you like the beginning of the new story. In cas eyou have not "liked" the Master jeffrey Facebook page (and why haven't you?) updates are now two days a week instead of three, and I focus more on art and story instead of deadlines thsi time around. That being said, I hope you'll find the latest adventure exciting - it's se in Jeffre's home tow and will feature a lot of landmarks, including some that were our favorites. Let me know what you think!

The end of the line

So, as I mentioned in a previous post, this ending was written long ago.

My last memories of Jeffrey were in the hospital. It's not a story I want to tell here, but he spent a long time going from one ward to another, and he was pretty miserable most of the time. In all the time I managed to spend with him during those many weeks, I kept thinking of how familiar I had become with the Pittsburgh Hospital system.

Between Jeffrey, his father and mother, I had been in and out of a hospital or nursing home almost every other time I went to the city for the past eight years. That doesn't count assisted living.

Jeffrey was always worried, concerned, or panicked, but he was always THERE. He would come, sit in the room, ask if he could do anything, and then just sit there some more. There was never any question that he had to be there...I don't know if it was obligation, love or duty, but Jeffrey would never even think that he would not be waiting for his father or mother to see if they needed anything, if only company.

I wanted to capture that sense of Jeff, because it was so sad to me that when he was in the hospital for his final days, he spent so much of his time alone. Everyone tried the best they could, and when he finally passed away his sister Carol was beside him, which I'm truly grateful for, but his last days on earth were devoid of the comfort and support he so often tried to give.

As I've said before, Jeffrey's life is the foundation for this story. If there's one thing I want my readers to take away with them, it's that we are not alone, and when we look for support, it is not always returned in the same kind as when we offered it. Maybe we're all a net, joined together, and if one of us lets someone slip through that net, then they are lost. Would we want that to happen to ourselves? Then, perhaps, we should try not to let it happen to others.

Thanks for reading. I'll be taking a few weeks to get my kickstarter going correctly (lord know it needs attention) and then I'll pick up the tale that starts in the Mountains east of Pittsburgh.