BIG NEWS

Our major publishing debut!

Hey Winona Forever Original Fans,

I’ve been sitting on some thrilling news since January, and I’m delighted that I can finally share it with you:

Elijah Henry (illustrator of Winona Forever) and I sold a story to Boom! Studios, one of the major comics publishers!

It’s a true dream come true. And big step in our evolution as storytellers. We can’t wait for you to read it.

What’s the story? How did this happen?!

Back in December, Elijah and I were invited to pitch ideas for a comics horror anthology called Hello Darkness that Boom! Studios is launching in July ‘24.

This invitation came in no small part because of all of you. The book you helped us create with Winona Forever proved our skill and ability to complete a project. And it got noticed.

It’s not often that publishers such as this have a space for new creators. It’s not because they don’t want to. It’s just that it’s simply too big of a financial risk for them to get behind people no one knows because… well, know one knows them. And that makes it hard to sell their work.

With Hello Darkness, Elijah and I will be sandwiched between some of the greatest people working in comics today, all delivering short horror stories. It’s a huge honor to be in the company of these greats. We're humbled to ride their coattails, and we hope it brings more people to our work, too.

Boom! just announced the Hello Darkness anthology today. Read about it here.

Here’s the cover for the first issue, launching in July.

When is our story coming out?

We don’t know exactly when our story will publish, but I believe it will be in the fall of this year. And I’ll of course give you the exact date once I have that.

What was the process of pitching and creating like?

In mid December, we received an invite to pitch story ideas for short, 5-8 page horror comics to be part of this montly anthology.

Invite, you say? Yes, most publishers won’t take unsolicited pitches, largely for legal reasons, I believe. So you have to have an in (an agent with a relationship, for instance) or be invited by someone who noticed your work. We fell into the second camp.

After the electric excitement of being invited, we pounced quickly, within days sending four ideas we’d be very excited to develop.

Each pitch was a just quick paragraph with a story name. Each was just enough explain the story and hopefully entice the editors. I’d say I was nervous about what we sent in, but really it was excitement. We loved our ideas and felt like they had promise.

Boom! Studios quickly honed in on the story you’ll see and gave us the go-ahead to begin work in early January. As you can guess, we were ecstatic. It was the perfect way to kick off a new year.

I got to work on the script immediately, writing it on my new, 75-year-old typewriter. Then I scanned the pages and tuned them up on my computer. I think I turned in the first draft on 1/11.

Three drafts and some GREAT feedback later, we landed on a final script in early March. The story you’ll eventually read is much the same as it was in draft one. It’s just that the editors had some subtle but powerful adjustments that made the story more of what it wanted to be—and its message and protagonist clearer. They were fantastic to work with.

While I wrote and revised, Elijah was champing at the bit to get drawing, which he did in early March. He sailed through the process of drawing the rough sketches (thumbnails) and pencils. As I write this, he’s wrapping up the ink layers. And wow, folks, his work is on another level. I can’t wait for you to see it.

Next we’ll turn it over to a colorist to add the colors and a letterer to add the speech bubbles. That alone is something new for us. Prior to this, Eli has done all that work. We’re excited to see what these other pro artists add to our story.

What’s the story about?

I don’t want to spoil a thing, but let’s just say that it’s a twisted tale that came out of some experiences I’ve had. And while horror, I’d say it’s horror with a wink; darkly comedic. We’ll see what you think!

Thanks to this, I have even greater appreciation for short stories.

I’ve always loved short stories, but having written this one, I hold even more wonder for them. They are challenging!

They have to do all the work of a longer story (set-up and satisfying pay-off) but in VERY short order. There’s no room for fluff. Every line matters. Every image matters. They all have to work hard.

I think we’ve pulled it all off with our story, and I can’t wait to share it with you.

Well, that’s the big news. I’ll share more as I know more.

Thanks for being on this journey with me and Elijah. Whatever the future holds for our work, you’ve been there since the beginning, and that means a lot.

Shawn

Winona Forever & more