Happy New Year’s Day to one and all!
I wish everyone happiness, prosperity, and good health in this New Year where we will all hopefully turn a corner in 2022 for the better.
As I mentioned previously in some posts online, it is time for a promised THRILL SEEKER COMICS™ update and to reveal my plans for the new year!
This new year marks the 20th Anniversary of the first appearance of my independent comic book series THRILL SEEKER COMICS™ featuring YELLOW JACKET: MAN OF MYSTERY™ and the EMERALD MANTIS™ that first appeared inside SHOOTING STAR COMICS ANTHOLOGY™ #1 all those years ago.
It is time to revisit this universe and so I am thrilled to announce that as a part of this celebration, THRILL SEEKER COMICS™ returns in a revival of the series with all-new stories. I have a “Three-Year Plan” in place from 2022-2024 for various THRILL SEEKER COMICS™ releases in both print comic book format and as a webcomic series to be self-published by my company-owned imprint BANDITO ENTERTAINMENT™. I have the time now to work on these projects and I personally feel that if I hit all my goals for this three-year plan and release all these projects, then my soul will be satisfied with this effort to put out this body of work and scratch an itch to publish this creative body of work. My decades' long dream to do this is now finding a window open in the moment and I hope to leave my mark with this creative output – though I hope this is only the "revival" new beginning that after this three-year plan, you will have enjoyed what is planned and there will be enough interest and demand for me to continue making more comics beyond this plan.
After being introspective during the pandemic, I know that the time is right now and that voice in my head is beckoning me to pursue these dreams of producing my creator-owned comic book series. So, I have renewed my best efforts to hopefully entertain all of you comic book fans for this upcoming ride. I hope you will enjoy this just as much as I am enjoying in making these new comics and revisiting these fictional creations bouncing around in my mind. I am working just about daily in the studio on writing and drawing these comic strips and have been doing so for the last six months in preparation for these releases. So, for this 20th Anniversary celebration first year, I have the following releases in the following formats and offerings planned:
• THRILL SEEKER COMICS™ will be featured in a spotlight for the upcoming INDIEVERSITY project - A guidebook to the varied worlds of the independent comics multiverse coming First Quarter 2022. The “Thrill Seeker Universe” will be officially recognized in this cataloged index with an entry where it will be revealed to be “Earth 24” in the multiverse of independent comics universes out there. I’ve seen the proof copy and it is all ready to go! I am hopeful that this will catch the eyes of new comic book readers who enjoy indie comics to also join us this year in our thrilling plans.
• THRILL SEEKER COMICS™ will participate and return as a feature with a brand-new story in a secret project to be officially revealed in Second Quarter 2022 that offers a new YELLOW JACKET: MAN OF MYSTERY™ tale. This was even a surprise to me that this project came together after I had begun working on the new body of work. All the pages of comic art are already 100% completed on my end and just waiting on the announcement and release of a book that I’m sure many of you will be surprised and excited to learn about! I’m really looking forward to this announcement and your reactions!
• THRILL SEEKER COMICS™ will debut a brand-new website in the Second Quarter that will be the central hub for everything happening this year. I’ll let you know when the new website is ready. In the meantime, keep watching this space on Facebook.
• THRILL SEEKER COMICS™ SERIES will launch as a free weekly online webcomic series this Summer at the start of the Third Quarter 2022 with brand-new stories. I’m building up the inventory of art for the comics strips and should have at least six months of stories “in the can” with art finished and the strips completed in various formats so that I am running ahead of schedule so that each week, a new comic strip will showcase and there won’t be pauses and looming deadlines won’t trip me up. This will be an ongoing weekly digital webcomics series with a new story arc running about ever 12-weeks before the next story arc begins. The first four story arcs are planned and in various stages of production. This webcomic series will serve as a jumping on point for new readers to introduce them to the THRILL SEEKER COMICS™ Universe and fulfill a promise for my longtime fans of the classic stories to bring them new tales. I look at this free weekly online webcomic format as a chance to entertain, put out something on a regular basis each week so that Thrill Seeker doesn’t stay dormant so that something new is coming out each week, and to build up readership where hopefully many will also want to grab copies of printed comics that are planned. Look for the webcomics series on Webtoons Canvas, Reddit, Facebook, Patreon, and other venues to be announced this summer when we're prepared to launch.
• THRILL SEEKER COMICS™ launches on the aforementioned Patreon website this Third Quarter 2022 which will offer sneak peeks, behind the scenes looks, direct access to archives, commentary, discussion forums, and other “Official Fan Club” exclusive offerings with various patron levels of participation. Look for a June 1, 2022 launch of the Official THRILL SEEKER COMICS™ Patreon webpage.
• THRILL SEEKER COMICS™ ANTHOLOGY #1 is in production and forthcoming. The format will be a retro Giant 100-Page Sized Annual to be released at the end of each year for the holidays like some of the big thick classic anthology comic book series chock full of several stories in each issue that came out during the Golden, Silver and Bronze Ages that I loved and inspired me in the first place to do THRILL SEEKER COMICS™ twenty years ago as an homage acting as a slight and not-so-subtle pastiche at times to classic comics and films with my own spin. The first issue of the three planned annuals at this point will be released Fourth Quarter 2022. I already have 40 pages completed as of New Year’s Day 2022 for this premier issue that features all-new stories visiting both old friends and introducing brand-new characters. Over the next three years, I have a single 100-page Annual planned for each holiday season as a full-color printed comic book release. I decided to go with this thicker anthology format instead of trying to juggle several short 24-page stapled “floppies” each month and/or throughout the year. I would like to focus on putting together a hefty once-a-year release that will be a special collection of tales in a more prestigious book that should be more economical and logistically for you and me to put out and purchase at the end of the year. Each annual anthology will offer several brand-new never-before-seen exclusive stories as well as collecting a finished webcomics series for posterity when appropriately timed. I have also decided over the next three years to offer “re-re-mastered” reprints of past short story tales peppered in over these first three annuals for the new readers because the previously released THRILL SEEKER COMICS™ ARCHIVE COLLECTION – VOLUME ONE is now out of print and will no longer be offered. I have also “re-re-mastered” the art (again?!?!) in 2021 of the original eight classic stories to be refreshed and match the new and improved look and style of the brand-new stories so that all-new readers can get a chance to read those essential stories they may have missed out on. Plus, the artwork is much more improved in my opinion than even what was released in the out-of-print 2017 archive with crisper inks, retouched art, and a better retro style look as if these comics were printed in the Golden, Silver and Bronze Age in their look and feel. I will show examples of the differences in a future update…
• “THRILL SEEKER COMICS™ DOSSIER - 2022 UPDATE will also be released in a traditional 24-page comic book format in Fourth Quarter 2022 for the holidays alongside THRILL SEEKER COMICS™ ANTHOLOGY #1. This issue is a “Who’s Who Guidebook” to the Thrill Seeker Universe with file entries of the main characters of the various comics featuring classic characters and introducing some of the cast of new players. This will serve as a reference book during the planned “Three Year Plan” stint.
So that is the update of what is planned for THRILL SEEKER COMICS™ in 2022. I wrestled with how much I should reveal, but I think that I am at a point and have confidence all things will come to fruition that I could make these announcements. There might be a few more surprises, but for now, this is the gist of what is coming up. When time gets closer, I will reveal more information and provide links to where and go find the new material. I hope this thrilling news for all of you reading this and that you will want to be a part of this celebration and revival this year.
Again, have a Happy New Year and I will see you in the Funny Papers!
Scott McCullar
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