The air is thick with signs and portents, my friends. Long shadows and ill omens. Earlier this week temperatures in L.A. soared over 500 degrees Fahrenheit (est). Two days ago an uncharacteristic blanket of humidity wrapped us in its hateful folds and sprinkled hot driplets of water in our slubbery faces. And today I was awakened by tremendous claps of thunder, the likes of which I have not heard since my Chicagoan boyhood… and yet there was no rain. Even now I’m looking at a CD box set of Danny Elfman music, and the pricetag reads: “FIVE HUNDRED DOLLARS.” Dark auguries, to be sure, each one of them more than enough to strike Biblical fear-wounds deep into the hearts of men… but, I ask, what does it all MEAN?

It means, dear reader, it is time for me to write a new blog post (quick one).

(Man, Twitter and Facebook have really taken the shine off the notion of a “personal blog,” haven’t they? Who the hell wants to write full paragraphs, right? What am I, James Freakin’ Joyce?)

Just a wee status update here, on account of some people have been asking…

As you possibly recall, after our GRAND TRIUMPH in DC’s Zuda webcomic competition last April (and thank you again for your help there), the plan was to use all my newfound ELDRITCH! riches (ELDRITCHES!) to get Serenity Rose Vol. 3 rolling out this fall. Then DC killed their whole webcomic line and left me scrambling for other ways to get the bills paid. It happens. (Seriously, if I wanted job security, I would’ve gone into geriatric nursing.*) So I spent the next few months working a few interesting freelance jobs, searching for a new ELDRITCH! home, pecking away at SR 3 here and there, and wondering if I would, indeed, wind up returning to the regular, 10-6 world of television animation (no).

BUT NOW… my freelance slate is clear, ELDRITCH! has a home (details to follow), and it’s time to get back to hard-core comicking. ELDRITCH! is first up. I’d like to have the script and thumbnails for at least the first two issues finished and shipped off to the increasingly formidable “Devilish” Drew Rausch before I dig back into SR3. So when will Serenity’s third (AND FINAL?) story begin? Well, I’m not taking the “this fall” down yet, but realistically, winter is more likely. The first 10 pages are going to be something special.

(Vicious has graciously agreed to continue whispering through the end of the year, so by all means, keep sending questions!)

I also have an amazing French translation of SR1 to letter, and a fabulous Dutch version, as well. German is coming up fast… Great God Almighty, what have I gotten into!

Exciting times, my friends. Full of danger and portent and electricity blazing through clouds of volcanic ash in an old photo included with this post. So cool!

* It’s not too late!