Tuesday, August 31, 2010

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.

6 comments:

  1. Certainly sounds like a great project. I will buy it.

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  2. Eduardo is on the mend and he is missed on Judge Parker. Although Mike Manley is ably stepping into the Judge Parker artist role. But, Eduardo is missed.

    Looking forward to his work on Sinbad, he is one of the best of all-time.

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  3. I was going to say something envious about not getting to work on a Sinbad comic( the 7th Voyage is my favorite movie). But then I realized that the artist involved is the legendary Eduardo Barreto. Hope he's better and you finish your book, it'll be awesome.

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  4. Sounds interesting, good luck, I enjoy Barretto's art too (good to hear he's feeling better), fits well with fantasy. I just recently picked up Harryhausen's 7th Voyage of Sinbad on DVD at Big Lots.

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  5. Our graphic novel is very much in the tradition of the Harryhausen trilogy.

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  6. Barretto is an excellent artist. I'm glad to hear he's on the mend. Much luck to both of you!

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