As The Last Bridge Burns

It was 2002 when I first developed a passion for fictional writing. I was 18 at the time and much like every other 18 year old, my thoughts were scattered as I struggled with expressing my own brand of storytelling. So I bounced from poetry to short stories to more novel-ish sized ideas. I'm pretty sure I even dabbled in journalism too but the problem was it never seemed to fit. It wasn't until reading Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale's Batman: The Long Halloween that I realized that comics were the only way to express the vision in my head. The idea of storytelling combine with beautiful art made perfect sense.



Around 2007-2008 I began working on my first serious comic project. The idea was simple, what is your plan for when the world ends? Zombies were always a general staple of conversation with my friends so I naturally had a solid answer to the question. After a few months, I had penned and story boarded a 43 page script loosely based on what I would do if/when the walkers came calling. The plan was to release the first script as chapter one with five more single issues to follow before collecting it all in a single volume. The only missing link was an artist. Fortunately I had several talented friends and one in particular was jazzed to work with me. After several discussions, it was decided that the original six issues would be cut to four (with the overall page count restricted to 21-23 pages per issue) and a fifteen page 'add-on' story that would act as an epilogue. While this minimized my original story line I remained on cloud nine. Finally, I was going to break into the world of writing with something I felt passionate about. The project's name was Love In The Time of Damnation, we planned to release the book under a joint venture called Exaggerated Comics and I couldn't have been prouder.



It's the opening days of summer 2010 when I am told that my zombie comic is dead, literally. My artist, John DeCampos, had suffered a vehicular break-in. Among the various things stolen was the messenger bag containing the final pages to issue three. Instead of redrawing the missing pages, John decided to jump ship completely with no plan to ever return. This came as a heavy blow considering four weeks earlier we were celebrating our third year in business at The Collector's Corner on Free Comic Book Day. Things were good, we had a growing base of fans and ideas as we moved forward with eXc. Flash forward to FCBD a year later. After failing to find a replacement for John I walked away from the book, finally admitting defeat. The book was dead, the label was dead. But I was determined to carry on.



This is the part where you'd find the caption 'Present Day'. Things have changed. Agendas, projects, and friendships have changed. I'm sitting in a Legal Policies for Information Systems class when we are instructed to google ourselves in order to find out how much public information on us was available. There, sitting at the bottom of the search engine was this blog. Looking over the 11 posts that I had left shuffled between years left me erk'd. The hope for all that would be was now gone and forgotten. The pride that comes when you finally see something through to the end was left on the side of the road because some dickhead vandal didn't fit into the agenda. It's present day and it still stings like a bitch, just like it did over three years ago.



By now I'm sure you're wondering what the hell is he talking about? Is he going to continue prattling on about life or will he reach some sort of resolution? Will he name names or will he plunge further into the angsty abyss that is mediocrity? While I contemplated all of these things (on many sheets of notebook paper) what I will say is this... It stings because the past three years have been ripe with letdowns, some at the hands of the people I supported and considered family while the rest was my own stupid bad luck. It stings because perpetually taking two steps forward only to take two steps back gets old. You begin to stray from your original passion with the idea "What's the point when you're the only one that gives a shit?". But thankfully, here at the end of 2013, the sting isn't so bad. Despite the setbacks, the past three years have been full of achievements. I have managed to put out a children's book, start my own web-comic and a script about super heroes. I am extremely fortunate to still be a part of several incredibly creative teams, I have a circle of friends who not only support me but have helped me along the way, keeping me afloat when things seemed their darkest. And I still have the drive and the passion for storytelling. I'd be a liar if I said I never dreamed of one day being on the level of such great writers like Mark Millar and Garth Ennis, but what is life if you don't have a dream? Regardless, these past 11 years have been about trying to share my stories with others. I will continue to do so, only now I am able to handle my shit if/when it all goes to hell. And as the last surviving member, I felt it was my duty to tell you this:



Mitch is dead.

Ritchie is dead.

Exaggerated Comics is dead.

And it feels rather fitting that the trigger was pulled by that guy who had it all planned out in the first place.



If you'd like to catch up on what I've been doing, please visit:

www.dangerpug.com
www.HorribleUniverse.com
www.mtrthenetwork.com



No matter what, always remember to stay what you are. Thank you endlessly.


- Dann Dobry