Comics for Sinners Reviews Purgatory Comics #1

This was certainly a great surprise! Comics For Sinners, a web site dedicated to comic book news and reviews, has a feature where once a month they spotlight an indie comic book from Indyplanet. As you may remember, our comic Purgatory Comics #1 is available FREE on Indyplanet (Seriously! It's free! You can literally go download it right now).

Well the good folk at Comics For Sinners discovered our humble comic book and gave it a really great review! You can read Comics For Sinners review of Purgatory Comics #1 right here. Here's a snippet:

"If you enjoy comics but don’t take them too seriously this is an enjoyable read and free, digitally, on Indyplanet."

Give them some love and be sure to read the review, as well as their other reviews and updates. And if you haven't yet, be sure to download your FREE copy of Purgatory Comics #1!

"Purgatory Comics" Comic Book Now Available for FREE!

It was a long journey that started way back in June 2014, but we're finally there: the Purgatory Comics "sequel" comic book is now available to download. And as promised, it's FREE.

Click here to download the Purgatory Comics comic book!

The comic book was written by myself, inspired specifically by the comic books I read as a teen in the 90s (hence the cover homage to Jim Lee's iconic X-Men #1). It was then drawn/inked/colored by Rafael Rivera. Make sure you really absorb his art, especially since he hid some hilarious Easter eggs throughout.

Here's the official synopsis:

Cola, Evan and Berner think a rare autograph signing from a famous comic writer will save their struggling store . . . but when the big event goes bad, they’re forced to take desperate measures for money.

To get your free download, click on the link and select "digital download" from the format option. For $3, you can order a print hard copy to put with your comic book collection! I hope you guys check it out and enjoy it - this was a lot of fun.

PS - I'm totes aware of one small typo in there...argh...

Update on all 2015 WM Production Projects!

This year has been a super productive one for WM Productions, but with so many different types of projects going on simultaneously, I thought it would be cool to post a recap of where everything stands.

Purgatory Comics (The Comic Book)

This is a one-shot comic based on the characters from my film Purgatory Comics. The comic was written by myself and illustrated by my frequent collaborator Rafael Rivera. Very soon (hopefully within the next few days), this will be available on Indyplanet.com. It will be FREE to download. For a few bucks you'll be able to order a print copy as well. I'm currently holding my print copy, and it looks AMAZING. I'm very happy with it.

Halina (Short Film)

The short film Halina - which did incredibly well this year with both critics and audiences - is available to rent or download at Halinafilm.com. It costs $1.99 to rent and $5.99 to buy and own forever. I may be biased, but I think it's worth it.

20 Minutes Gone (Podcast)

The new podcast we launched this year is a lot of fun to produce. As of now, 6 episodes are available on iTunes to listen to FREE. I have 3 or 4 more unedited episodes in the can. I want to get a few more recorded, and then maybe I'll do another 6 consecutive weeks of new episodes like last time. I'm hoping the show will make its triumph return this November/December.

The Burden of Choice (Short Film)

I edited a rough rough cut of this 10-minute short film, and then it kinda fell down the list due to promoting Halina and also my job. My goal is to get back to this (now that the comic book mentioned above is finished) and have it done around November/December. I haven't figured out my distribution plan for this one yet; I MAY skip festivals and go straight for On Demand this time. We'll see.

Keep checking back here as I'll continue to post updates on these exciting projects!

"Purgatory Comics" Sequel Comic Book Finished!

After writing about this project for over a year, I'm so happy to announce that the comic book sequel for Purgatory Comics is finally finished. And I assure you, although it's only 12 pages, it's a jam-packed story that revisits almost every character from the film (even Bree).

The comic was written by myself and drawn by Rafael Rivera.

So what's next? Yesterday I requested a test-print from Ka-Blam, a digital comic printing web site that offers so many great services at amazing prices. After that, the plan is to offer the comic as both a download and hard copy through Ka-Blam's partner IndyPlanet.com. And of course I will let you all know the moment it's available.

Keep checking back for a preview of the finished cover and maybe a preview of the inside as well!

"Purgatory Comics" Comic Book Update

I love this: In one of the panels of the upcoming Purgatory Comics comic book, artist Rafael Rivera stuck in a cameo of the two of us. I don't currently own a blue button down with the Warm Milk logo on it . . . but now I kinda want one . . .

The flow we've gotten into is: Rafael finishes up a full page (which involved sketching, drawing, coloring, rendering backgrounds . . . a lot of work) and then when he's done, he sends it my way. At that point, I add the word bubbles and lettering which was scripted about a year ago.

Personally I think this is one of the funniest projects I've been a part of in a while. I actually think it's funnier than the movie (yeah, I'll say it). But that's because it veers in an absurdly different direction that simultaneously roasts and pays homage to everything I love about the comic books I collected in the 90s.

As of now the cover and a few pages are done. It's moving at a pretty steady pace - I don't want to promise a release date but I will say it's been worth the wait.

Another Sneak Peak at the Comic Book for Purgatory Comics

Back in June I announced a downloadable comic book for Purgatory Comics is in the works, and then the next month I'd posted a rough outline page as a teaser. 

Well as a Thanksgiving gift yesterday, Rafael sent me practically the whole book, roughly half of which is inked.  He's captured the madness I wrote in the script perfectly and I'm more pumped than ever.

The book will be 8 pages long, and available to download through this blog completely free as our gift to you. We're both having a lot of fun with it and while I can't promise an issue #2, I sure wouldn't mind it. In the meantime stayed tuned, issue #1 isn't that far off.

Comic Book Sneak Peek

To hell with updates and spoilers on Star Wars Episode 7! Here's a crude sneak peak at the Purgatory Comics comic book presented in a nonsensical way you won't understand!

I couldn't resist sharing - and I hope Rafael doesn't mind - this full page super rough outlines for the comic book. Rafael's got the entire issue storyboarded and I love what I'm seeing! I'm very eager to share this one with all of you.

Downloadable Comic Book in the Works!

What's up my homies? I'm partnering up once more with my frequent collaborator Rafael Rivera to bring you guys a FREE downloadable comic book based on the characters in Purgatory Comics! And although you won't have to see the movie to enjoy the comic, it will certainly be more rewarding if you do.

Rafael did much of the art featured in the film, including the fake comic book covers like the one above. I'm excited to work closely with him on a new original story.

This is an exercise for me in writing for comic books, which is new to me but something I'm already finding to be very fun. In fact the first draft is already finished!

Here are some tools I utilized:

Blambot Scripting Tutorial

Blambot is just an amazing resource for downloadable tools (such as a GIANT collection of comic-related fonts). On the page linked here you get to see a typical scripted page with a completed example just below.

Microsoft Word Comic Scripting Template

Fred Van Lente offers a downloadable Microsoft Word template on his site so you can pretty much start creative writing instantly. There are also a few full scripts of real comic books available on this page.

Other Downloadable Script Templates

The Beat offers a wide array of other downloadable templates (Word Processor, Final Draft, etc) along with insight into each one.

I feel compelled to acknowledge there isn't really a concrete, industry-standard template for writing comic books. In fact I've seen many different ways writers communicate with their artists, and in the end that's the only thing that really matters. I just wanted to share how I'm going about my first venture.

Stay tuned for more updates, preliminaries, etc . . . all leading to a final, downloadable script right here!