Setting Sail Again... One More Time

Okay... I don't know if anything's going to come of it this time, either, but there has been some forward movement on the Sinbad graphic novel that I've wanted to create with artist Eduardo Barreto (Teen Titans, Marvel Knights, Star Wars, The Shadow Strikes, Batman, etc.) for the past several years. Back in '06, we had a publisher lined up, but they disappeared off the face of the Earth once they were supposed to send contracts. We had another company that was interested, but couldn't come to terms. Up until two years ago, I was still trying to find a publisher willing to take the project on... but by then, a couple other publishers were doing their own Sinbad comics, and I just couldn't seem to put together a deal.

Then, Eduardo fell ill. Seriously ill, and it looked like my chance to collaborate with my friend - and, frankly, one of my favorite comics artists of all time - simply wasn't going to happen. He even had to reluctantly give up the Judge Parker newspaper strip, and I was very worried about him.

Well, Eduardo is apparently on the mend and feeling much better, and has contacted me, eager to start work on Sinbad: The Coils of the Serpent. I've begun sending him story pages to draw, and am eagerly awaiting the artwork. I even have a publisher that's interested in seeing it, and I'm guardedly optimistic, since this is a legit outfit and the top guy already has a history with Eduardo going back many years.

I'm not going to get my hopes up too high though - I've started on this sea voyage before, far too many times. But I've got a good feeling about it....

Keep your fingers crossed!

BTW - that image above is Eduardo's original concept art, digitally painted by Alfredo Lopez, Jr., who did the same with Joe Staton's pencils on the Femme Noir comic covers.