Mature Content

Hey Guardian fans!

I hope everyone enjoyed reading the "Guardians of the Dawn GRADUATION" mini-series.  It's been fun coming back to where it all began for me in terms of creating comics and bringing back the characters that everyone loved to see.

The fun's not over with either!  This October (hopefully October 15th) you will see the OTHER side of the events seen in GRADUATION in the one-shot special "The Libra Order: Debts of Honor".  This will show some more of the things that happened during the "lost time" as told from the perspective of the various agents and apostles of The Libra Order.  You'll learn more about the group and its dynamic besides what was seen in "Guardians of the Dawn Spotlight" and "The Guardian Powers" series, and you'll see what was behind some of the events mentioned in GRADUATION.  Plus this will set the stage for the NEXT comic series, "Furia and the Guardians".

Yes, even though the game itself has been over with, thanks to the magic of demorecording and Titan Icon, the stories go on.

Now a couple of things...

* I was thinking about costumes and how "complex" they've become for some people.  You know, some of the best costumes have been simple ones. 

Once upon a time that was a requirement for comic creators because they were drawn by hand and the artists could not get detailed with costumes because they had to churn out so many images of that character over and over again.  The heroes of the 1930's and 40's were simplistic and based on already-established outfits. Superman's and Batman's outfits were based off circus strong-man outfits - which is why they had the "underwear on the outside".  Wonder Woman's original outfit was that of a can-can dancer.  The World War II Green Lantern's outfit was a cross between theater and ballet.  Even the 1950's Green Lantern still held to the circus-style outfit.  Simple designs, primary colors, very little extra detail needed.

Thanks to advances in computers, comic creators have been allowed to get a little more "creative".  Look at those same characters now in the "New 52" remake and they are all complex creations with added fringes and panels and details.

Back in the days of City of Heroes, there used to be costume contests that people took part in, and I used to see all of these complex costume designs.  And some of them were really very good - and some people are still posting costumes thanks to Titan Icon - but I keep thinking that sometimes the best costumes would keep it simple.

So why am I bringing this up?  Because there's a certain character you'll be seeing a lot more of in the new series whose look I thought was just a little too complex, and they need to keep it simple.  Who is this character?  You'll find out soon.

* I've been asked if certain characters will be appearing in the new series.  The answer is "possibly".  There are some that I won't be able to bring into the new series because they are storyline-dictated.  Jimmy Hellfighter, for instance, is one character that won't be appearing except in flashback because he died this past February.  (He was based on my father, who passed away on February 23rd.)  Another will be ExGemini's character, but that would be because of a storyline that his character will play a role in.  (Let's just say that "Ex" will have some 'splaing to do with Diana.)  You won't see Lyon Powers too much in part because of the events you'll see in "Debts of Honor".

One guest character that you will see more of - and you've already seen him in the pages of GRADUATION 03 - is that of Databank.  The Justice-Knights member played an important role in the remake of the Guardian Base, and what you saw in GRADUATION will set the stage for a future storyline in the new series.  Plus, he also played an important role with the Guardians in previous comics... and the details will become clear in the new series as well.

It should be noted that Databank is from the Justice-Knights comic series written by Joseph Cohen (aka Sin Stalker).  He is a fellow comic creator and friend and our characters have made a few appearances in our respective comics.  You can read more about the Justice-Knights and Stalktress here.  Oh, and get ready for our future joint collaboration in "The City's Finest: Guardian Exiles".

* NOW... who else will be appearing in the new series?  Well, that is up to you.  I am open to having other characters make appearances in the new series.  A lot of it will depend on the storyline I'm working on and the feasibility of bringing that character into the story.  It may not necessarily be a team-up appearance.  It could very well be just a cameo.

It has to be a City of Heroes character; one that I can create using Titan Icon with the powersets and options available through i23 Beta.

I'll have further details up on that once we get closer to the launch of the new series.  I'm still getting "Debts of Honor" going.

ANYHOO... that's what I've got.  How about you?