For the past couple months, following the posting of all the pages to date of my creator owned comic Seer, I've been delving into these "Looking At Seer" columns and providing some "bonus content," that explores the making of a comic, unpublished artwork and preperatory sketches, etc. For those who have followed along I can't thank you enough for the positive support and interaction you've given me all along!
This edition of "Looking At Seer" is a very special one. I spent the evening digging through my admittedly poorly organized art archives to find the pages you'll see here. But I can guarantee I won't let them get lost in the shuffle again, for they are truly very special and inspirational to me.
As you may already know, the first Seer story appeared in an anthology comic known as Digital Webbing Presents, birthed from the digitalwebbing.com message boards. Initially I was only writing Seer, and Brad Green did a wonderful job on the artwork for the first 5 page tale, "Perceptions." Brad was unable to continue with more pages, and for the next story I had in mind to continue the tale, I turned to another gentleman I'd met through the message boards by the name of Jeremy Dale.
Jeremy turned in these wonderful penciled pages, doing a great job adding his style and emotion to a rather slow story. It picked up immediately following the events of "Perceptions." In a nutshell, James has returned home, news coverage of his defeat in the ring playing in the background. His manager calls to inform him of the revocation of his boxing license and James finds himself plagued by dark visions haunting him from the polished black tile and granite of his kitchen. The only solace he can find is in a breakdown and bleaching his world with a combination of spilled milk and flour to drive some darkness away.
I began the process of inking the pages, but Jeremy had other commitments and our plans for further pages fell through. At that point with no hard feelings at all I shelved the pages and began work on Seer: Round One instead, taking control of the artwork in full in an attempt to keep it consistent and finishable, which is much less easy when collaborating with a team... especially when offering little to no pay to your collaborators.
I watched Jeremy develop and gain success through the years. He was an immensely hard worker and wonderful guy. I regret that I only knew him online and never met in person. Jeremy passed away unexpectedly in 2014 at the age of 34. Prior to that he'd achieved his dreams of being a working comics professional on titles such as G.I. Joe and his own creator owned fantasy epic Skyward, as well as marrying his love Kelly.
art from Skyward by Jeremy Dale
Jeremy continues to inspire me. I wrote about him in my very first Steemit introduction post almost two years ago. I heard of his passing just days before I found myself in the hospital dangerously close to death myself. I have a second chance ahead of me and still haven't achieved a fraction of what Jeremy did in his time, and that thought does haunt and drive me.
Sharing these pages and this chapter in the evolution of Seer is quite timely now. There is currently a Kickstarter campaign by Kelly Dale. At the time of Jeremy's death in 2014, Skyward #9 had just been finished and left on a cliffhanger.
Using Jeremy's notes and materials, Kelly has hired an all star creative team including writer Barbara Kesel and artist Shannon Gallant to create an issue #10 that will bring some closure and send off Jeremy's Skyward right. The Kickstarter campaign ends on what would have been Jeremy and Kelly's 15th wedding anniversary and when successful will result in the publication of a Skyward omnibus edition to include the entirety of the series with the newly crafted material as well, just in time for Kelly to share it with the world at Jeremy's favorite convention, HeroesCon in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Please consider supporting this wonderful project and giving Skyward and Jeremy the honor and closure they deserve.
I'll be back with more of my archives in the not too distant future, but for now... forget Seer...
