Remember when this blog was really hoppin’ with regular posts and updates and stuff? Ah those were the days…

I’ve been pointing some people here recently, somewhat reluctantly because I know the first thing they’ll see is a post from last March. Ugh. Easy fix: write something new.

Seems like I’m overdue to check in, anyway, so here goes:

I’m very happy to be serving as creative consultant on the first Vampire Mob graphic novel.

Vampire Mob originated as what the kids call a web-series (even though technology basically allows us to watch anything on our TV, computer, tablet or phone, so the distinction between TV series and web series is becoming increasingly negligible; but I digress…).

Vampire Mob is the story of a mob hit man who at some point decided becoming a vampire would make his job easier. Then he bites his wife. Then she bites her mother. Now all three are all stuck with each other under the same roof for eternity. It’s part dark comedy, part mobster movie, with a little horror on the side.

You can watch both seasons for free here. Season One is good and then it really clicks in place with Season Two. It starred some pretty impressive actors, probably most notably Marcia Wallace, who for 23 years was the voice of Edna Krabappel, the beleaguered fourth grade teacher to her troublemaker student Bart on The Simpsons (a classic show that has been running for so long that even describing it seems completely unnecessary). For another generation, she is remembered as the receptionist Carol Kester on The Bob Newhart Show (another classic show).

Sadly, Marcia Wallace died toward the end of October last year. Vampire Mob writer/director Joe Wilson still had a script for Season Three but he just couldn’t imagine recasting the role of live-in mother-in-law Virginia Jones. But he still had more story to tell and a very invested cult following waiting to see what happened after the cliffhanger ending. So Joe decided to adapt Season Three into a graphic novel.

That’s where I came in. Joe had very little experience with comics, so I’ve helped reveal to him the unique language of comics. I’ve been giving feedback on his scripts, art and production. Joe has been writing on Tumblr about his journey in making his first comic book (or graphic novel; it’s semantics, really). It’s been fascinating to see him navigate this new experience. He’s tireless in his passion to connect with his audience. And I mean he really connects with them, and cultivates a relationship that really means something. Those people turned out to give Joe his most successful crowd-funding campaign. Even people at Indiegogo latched on to the idea of a graphic novel called Vampire Mob and helped promote the campaign.

We’re working with a fantastic artist. JM Ringuet has been published at Image Comics (the home of The Walking Dead) with his own Repossessed, as well as Transhuman by writer Jonathan Hickman (The Manhattan Projects, Marvel’s The Avengers). Each page is flipping us out. He has really brought these characters and the world of Vampire Mob into a whole new dimension. On lettering we have Deron Bennett, who was nominated for an Eisner Award for Best Lettering the beautiful graphic novel Jim Henson’s Tale of Sand, and a Harvey Award for Best Lettering for the graphic novel retelling of the manga/anime Cyborg 009. He’s also writing his own comic book series Quixote. Additional graphic design is being provided by Katharine Holmes of VisualizeSocial, which is providing social marketing support as well. The team is rounded out by PR consultant Lynnaire MacDonald. It’s a pretty awesome team from all over the world. We all come from China, New Zealand, Canada, and the US.

If you would like to buy a copy of Vampire Mob issue #1, you can pre-order a signed copy here. You can get the no-frills e-version of 27 pages of story packed with lots of bonus content for $5. Or you can upgrade to get writer’s commentary, a signed copy, and tons more. I can’t wait to see the issue in person.

So that’s that.

More soon hopefully. Maybe I’ll talk about writing at news aggregator The Inquisitr. Or how I continue to contribute to Robot 6, whose parent site Comic Book Resources recently won the 2014 Eisner Award for Best Comics-Related Journalism (the same category Robot 6 itself was nominated last year). Or… who knows?