What should we do for a summer Shi - Special?

[BillyTucci]

This was mostly taken from my blog page, but here it is more detailed...

 I just know that I have to write the next Shi series for my own sanity, as I've been going bonkers with Mimi and the movie direction -- That's next topic...

I've been really ansy and want to get going with a new Shi project.  I've drawn the first two pages of Fallen Angel #17 and it's great to draw Ana again.  Tonight at dinner Deb and I will discuss what we should do.  I'm planning a summer special book for August.  But wonder which way I should go, Fashion - Kimono inspired titled "Hayari" with 32 new color Ana drawings or an Anime inspired pin up book.  Both would be pin ups as DH still wants to publish the next Shi series (which I've got to finish writing the treatment tonight!)  I was also planning to have the next series be a prequal to "WOTW" showing Ana growing up and being terrified by the ghosts  who haunt her eventually ending up with her coming to NY. 

So I'm really itching to do a fashion book (perhaps even a larger size) , but perhaps the Anime inspired book will do better...

What should the next series be?  A prequel to WOTW (which could serve as a great basis of the film), or the events that follow "Ju-Nen?" 

I'm leaning towards the Prequel -- Prelude to War.  I can do cool images of ancient Japan here mixed with a lot of ghostly, scary stuff -- even drop a bombshell on what Arash really could be...

HELP!

[dawnsawaking]

My  is that anime is hot now and I think it would be a great catch for new fans, don't get me wrong the Kimono would be great, but I think the Anime would be the real winner and a lot more sales especially at Cons!!  My daughther is really enjoys Anime and the Magna and a lot of her friends are in to that to so I think you would be able to attract to the younger crowd too.

I like the idea of the prequel and leading into the movie and again a good push for the movie to get peopld buzzing about it.

[toranoshi]

Why not a flip book.    That way you can have two covers one featuring Manga inspired art and the other the Hayari version. You could have 16 pages of each and hit both markets at the same time. And I think a prequel to WOTW would be a great tie in to the movie.

[Delvie]

I'm for the events following Ju-nen, myself.
If the movie doesn't remotely resemble WOTW, I'm not sure how a prelude would lead into it. If you're thinking the animation, perhaps, but holding your breath for mimi to swing that way might be a bit optimistic.

[BillyTucci]

Why not a flip book.    That way you can have two covers one featuring Manga inspired art and the other the Hayari version. You could have 16 pages of each and hit both markets at the same time. And I think a prequel to WOTW would be a great tie in to the movie.

That's a good idea.  I just wonder if I'd be cutting off my nose in spite of my face. 

I like the fashion idea personally...

[BillyTucci]

My  is that anime is hot now and I think it would be a great catch for new fans, don't get me wrong the Kimono would be great, but I think the Anime would be the real winner and a lot more sales especially at Cons!!  My daughther is really enjoys Anime and the Magna and a lot of her friends are in to that to so I think you would be able to attract to the younger crowd too.

I like the idea of the prequel and leading into the movie and again a good push for the movie to get peopld buzzing about it.

Oh you're right Dawn...  Hmmm now I'm thinking of going that way!

I started both (ebay sketch, just about done and his new commission) of TJ's drawings.  I know I have to do the replacement commission too.

[sllamky01]

Well when you say Shi and Fashion my eyebrows surely peeked. but Dawn has a point about bringing new fans into the fold. if  Anime is hot than maybe that is what you should dive into. but if it is only pinup with out a story will that really pull any new readers in.

So my vote is Fashion.

Now a prequel to WOTW I think would be cool no matter if it is a lead into the movie or not.  But since it will be Dark Horse doing the book again. then the follow up to Ju-Nen seems to me to be beetter suited.

[dawnsawaking]

My  is that anime is hot now and I think it would be a great catch for new fans, don't get me wrong the Kimono would be great, but I think the Anime would be the real winner and a lot more sales especially at Cons!!  My daughther is really enjoys Anime and the Magna and a lot of her friends are in to that to so I think you would be able to attract to the younger crowd too.

I like the idea of the prequel and leading into the movie and again a good push for the movie to get peopld buzzing about it.

Oh you're right Dawn...  Hmmm now I'm thinking of going that way!

I started both (ebay sketch, just about done and his new commission) of TJ's drawings.  I know I have to do the replacement commission too.

That is cool Billy, Tj will be excited for them to come!  On the replacement commission, you dont have to do that one, if you remember you gave me an already done piece when I brought you the package to the Chicago Con that year.  But if you feel that you need to do this piece, I wont stop you. 

Also, dont forget about the sketchbooks for tj I believe he wanted 20 I think, I dont remember, it has been awhile since I talked to you on the phone.     I dont know if you want to ship the books, or just wait till the Con this year to give them to Tj.  We plan on staying there this year with the kids, so if you need help I am sure we can help you out!

[california69gs]

   "Kicking Dawn under the table" 

No TJ doesn't want to wait till Chicago 2007 for his work!  (I will of course cuz I have big  for Billy's work, but I don't WANT to wait)

Billy, you owe ME a commission from Chicago 2005, and as of "recently" the stickman e-bay auction along with Sparky's...a Spartan litho... and if you find them, 10 blank and 10 handpicked filled sketchbooks...nothing more.  Unless YOU put the hole in Dawn's piece it's not for you to replace and you said you'd do another as a replacement, but we told you then and I'm telling you now.... you do NOT have to.  We won't think worse of you, BUT we certainly will take it if your heart is set on it.


NOW, back on topic.

I'm in agreement with the flip book, do a fashion book done with pieces in regular and manga.....the same pose and fashion done in both styles released as a double hitter pin-up.  Everybody loves Pin-up.  I'm sure there is a certain person on this board that would love to see that, and if ya give him the original pieces you'd be putting out a new book and completing commissions.  Two birds, one stone.

I'm not sure that a Pin-up in Anima will bring in new younger readers, without a story it's just fleeting eye candy.  It'll sell I have no doubt, I've got plenty of that under my bed to prove it.  Eye candy with a story will keep me buying.  Heck dawn and I haven't read a SINGLE issue of Withblade since issue 40, yet we have EVERY cover since, and they are up to 102! (I'll get to it someday, I hope)

Now I personally would LOVE to read a "origin's" type book with Shi.  I collected shi for the eye candy for years and only recently read it to find that not only are you a killer artist but storyteller.  I think that a "origin's" would be more likely to bring in new readers which keep them and then they might buy up "old" stories as a bonus.

Now if you want my idea of a "hot" warm up to a "origin's" storyline I say you click this link or copy paste

http://www.crusadefinearts.com/forums/index.php/topic,1566.0.html

I'll be honest Billy you gotta keep putting something out while you're coming off HFH or the trail to Shi and your other work is going to start going cold!

[dawnsawaking]

  "Kicking Dawn under the table" 

No TJ doesn't want to wait till Chicago 2007 for his work!  (I will of course cuz I have big  for Billy's work, but I don't WANT to wait)

Billy, you owe ME a commission from Chicago 2005, and as of "recently" the stickman e-bay auction along with Sparky's...a Spartan litho... and if you find them, 10 blank and 10 handpicked filled sketchbooks...nothing more.  Unless YOU put the hole in Dawn's piece it's not for you to replace and you said you'd do another as a replacement, but we told you then and I'm telling you now.... you do NOT have to.  We won't think worse of you, BUT we certainly will take it if your heart is set on it.


NOW, back on topic.

I'm in agreement with the flip book, do a fashion book done with pieces in regular and manga.....the same pose and fashion done in both styles released as a double hitter pin-up.  Everybody loves Pin-up.  I'm sure there is a certain person on this board that would love to see that, and if ya give him the original pieces you'd be putting out a new book and completing commissions.  Two birds, one stone.

I'm not sure that a Pin-up in Anima will bring in new younger readers, without a story it's just fleeting eye candy.  It'll sell I have no doubt, I've got plenty of that under my bed to prove it.  Eye candy with a story will keep me buying.  Heck dawn and I haven't read a SINGLE issue of Withblade since issue 40, yet we have EVERY cover since, and they are up to 102! (I'll get to it someday, I hope)

Now I personally would LOVE to read a "origin's" type book with Shi.  I collected shi for the eye candy for years and only recently read it to find that not only are you a killer artist but storyteller.  I think that a "origin's" would be more likely to bring in new readers which keep them and then they might buy up "old" stories as a bonus.

Now if you want my idea of a "hot" warm up to a "origin's" storyline I say you click this link : To be released today :

I'll be honest Billy you gotta keep putting something out while you're coming off HFH or the trail to Shi and your other work is going to start going cold!

I will kick ya back!!!

   It is about time, I can't wait to hear everyone't thoughts on this and Billy's too!!!! 

[BillyTucci]

  "Kicking Dawn under the table" 

No TJ doesn't want to wait till Chicago 2007 for his work!  (I will of course cuz I have big  for Billy's work, but I don't WANT to wait)

Billy, you owe ME a commission from Chicago 2005, and as of "recently" the stickman e-bay auction along with Sparky's...a Spartan litho... and if you find them, 10 blank and 10 handpicked filled sketchbooks...nothing more.  Unless YOU put the hole in Dawn's piece it's not for you to replace and you said you'd do another as a replacement, but we told you then and I'm telling you now.... you do NOT have to.  We won't think worse of you, BUT we certainly will take it if your heart is set on it.

TJ won't have to wait.  Let me get the sketch finished and his commission.  Jeez, what  the hell am I doing here?   I seem to be working all the time, but can't seem to get caught up.  If you don't mind, please wait until Chicago for the replacement.  The others will be done after I finish Fallen Angel.  God I'm such an ass!  I don't know how I forgot to do the commission from 2005 Dawn.  What was it again?  I get all confused with commissions and have to just finish them all at the shows.  You guys all have been great to me but I've got to get on the damn ball and stop screwing you guys.   

Okay so which sketchbooks are these?  Any in particular?  So 10 blank and 10 illustrated right?  I'll do all of this by the end of the month.

[BillyTucci]

  "Kicking Dawn under the table" 

No TJ doesn't want to wait till Chicago 2007 for his work!  (I will of course cuz I have big  for Billy's work, but I don't WANT to wait)

Billy, you owe ME a commission from Chicago 2005, and as of "recently" the stickman e-bay auction along with Sparky's...a Spartan litho... and if you find them, 10 blank and 10 handpicked filled sketchbooks...nothing more.  Unless YOU put the hole in Dawn's piece it's not for you to replace and you said you'd do another as a replacement, but we told you then and I'm telling you now.... you do NOT have to.  We won't think worse of you, BUT we certainly will take it if your heart is set on it.


NOW, back on topic.

I'm in agreement with the flip book, do a fashion book done with pieces in regular and manga.....the same pose and fashion done in both styles released as a double hitter pin-up.  Everybody loves Pin-up.  I'm sure there is a certain person on this board that would love to see that, and if ya give him the original pieces you'd be putting out a new book and completing commissions.  Two birds, one stone.

I'm not sure that a Pin-up in Anima will bring in new younger readers, without a story it's just fleeting eye candy.  It'll sell I have no doubt, I've got plenty of that under my bed to prove it.  Eye candy with a story will keep me buying.  Heck dawn and I haven't read a SINGLE issue of Withblade since issue 40, yet we have EVERY cover since, and they are up to 102! (I'll get to it someday, I hope)

Now I personally would LOVE to read a "origin's" type book with Shi.  I collected shi for the eye candy for years and only recently read it to find that not only are you a killer artist but storyteller.  I think that a "origin's" would be more likely to bring in new readers which keep them and then they might buy up "old" stories as a bonus.

Now if you want my idea of a "hot" warm up to a "origin's" storyline I say you click this link : To be released today :

I'll be honest Billy you gotta keep putting something out while you're coming off HFH or the trail to Shi and your other work is going to start going cold!

I will kick ya back!!!

   It is about time, I can't wait to hear everyone't thoughts on this and Billy's too!!!! 

You're right about getting out a new Shi book TJ.  What's the link you referred to?  It's just that since Deb had Matthew last year, I'm doing EVERYTHING around here aside from the bills.  I'll focus on finishng the FA book and get right back to schedule.  I'm just behind the 8 ball, and it's hard to climb out.  I don't know what the problem is really, again, I seem to be working all the time but have to get back on schedule.  I was talking to Scott and will finish his commissions as well in the next few weeks.

Anyway, let me get back to drawing in the day and writing on the computer at night.   

[dawnsawaking]

  "Kicking Dawn under the table" 

No TJ doesn't want to wait till Chicago 2007 for his work!  (I will of course cuz I have big  for Billy's work, but I don't WANT to wait)

Billy, you owe ME a commission from Chicago 2005, and as of "recently" the stickman e-bay auction along with Sparky's...a Spartan litho... and if you find them, 10 blank and 10 handpicked filled sketchbooks...nothing more.  Unless YOU put the hole in Dawn's piece it's not for you to replace and you said you'd do another as a replacement, but we told you then and I'm telling you now.... you do NOT have to.  We won't think worse of you, BUT we certainly will take it if your heart is set on it.

TJ won't have to wait.  Let me get the sketch finished and his commission.  Jeez, what  the hell am I doing here?   I seem to be working all the time, but can't seem to get caught up.  If you don't mind, please wait until Chicago for the replacement.  The others will be done after I finish Fallen Angel.  God I'm such an ass!  I don't know how I forgot to do the commission from 2005 Dawn.  What was it again?  I get all confused with commissions and have to just finish them all at the shows.  You guys all have been great to me but I've got to get on the damn ball and stop screwing you guys.   

Okay so which sketchbooks are these?  Any in particular?  So 10 blank and 10 illustrated right?  I'll do all of this by the end of the month.

Billy we will email you with the details tonight ok!!!  Don't worry about it or beat yourself over it!!

[dawnsawaking]

Billy the link he is referring to is the story he has been brewing and sitting on for a couple years now and has some artwork to help with a visual for the story.

[california69gs]

GRRrrr, it's not Dawn's commission Billy! LOL..........it's Tj's!!

Tj commissioned you, Dawn was the year before.  In 2005 I commissioned you for a piece. Shi, tastefull nude, with Angel wings near a waterfall with wet hair.  The reason for the angel wings?  Cuz of this post.

http://www.crusadefinearts.com/forums/index.php/topic,1566.0.html

Yeah I've been wanting to tell you this idea since 2005, but I didn't want to give it out, and lose it to someone.  Whatever, with Dawn's convincing, it's there for viewing.

Believe me, my a nurse I know all about what it's like for people with ill and busy families.  Hence the reason for me just giving you gental rubbings instead of harrassing the crap out of you. You're a good guy so I try to cut ya slack.  I just don't want to see you lose the "hotness" that you have going for you right now.

[jamarmiller]

I so want a new SHI STORY either a prequel or a one that goes after Ju nen.

I would love to see more on tora no shi too though I miss that one, I love seeing the old Japanese historical settings

I would love to see both a modern ana "shi" story and  past TORA NO SHI story told.

I really  miss these main stories and cant stand the crossovers with superheros and mutants

I would also really really like to see a 4 issue miniseries with this new series being written by LARRY HAMA

http://forum.newsarama.com/showthread.php?t=107789

it would bring in all new kinds of fans to the SHI comic, one that would be beneficial to both companies and both characters and both fit in perfectly together. Man a crossover that would actually work!

[jamarmiller]

oh just want to add that ...................when billy said " hint at what arash could really be! "

I hope that doesnt mean he is a demon or mosters or mutant of any kind

one of the things that draws me to the main SHI comic is that its based in reality and doesnt have all that crap .  I love this book for its realism SO Please dont every bring in that kind of stuff in the main book. I dont ever buy any of the crossovers because of that.  I hate MONSTERS MUTANTS SUPERHEROS books so please dont bring that in the main title

IMVHO

[Delvie]

True, that!

[california69gs]

 

Traveling the streets of New York, weilding a 6 foot Naginata, in a scantly clad outfit, severing limbs and heads of a single orginization without drawing attention and without a single trace back is your idea of realistic?  Multi-million dollar thugs being unable to track said killer using whatever means be it money bribes or violence.  I consider that just about on par with mystic powers.  While more "plausable", still just as unrealistic in the 90's-2000's.

Please don't get me wrong, a well researched, historical based comic utilizing Shi as a primary character is fantastic. I love history type stories, and I feel back then her identity could truely be hidden.  And I would have NO PROBLEM's if Billy wanted to stick to just that.  I'd buy just as many copies and love him just as much. Heck, 300 is currently my Fav film of all time and it didn't have any powers, mutants, demons/angels, and mystical powers. (save for the "mystic's" he chose to ignore) And that baby was a box office KILLER!

Perhaps the string of cross-overs through the years : Horseman, Daredevil, Razor, Vamprilla, Grifter, Cyblade, Wolverine, Ladydeath, Deady, Fallen Angels', and the many I'm sure that I'm missing............is what Billy was refering to when he spoke of feeling as though he's gotten off track, and is tired of others mutating his character.  However, it has paid his bills and allowed him to keep writing and drawing all the while bringing in new readers who might have otherwise ignored him.

Like MY mama always said, "Tj, don't bite the hand that feeds you"......and......."kill them with kindness"

These other cross-overs have brought in Money for Billy, why stop if it feeds your family.  Perhaps by allowing others to see the light of "shi" the way they like it with mutants, superpowers and what-not, they will be drawn to read other stories the way Billy like's it.

 

[pctchuck]

If I ever commission a piece by Billy, it would be this: a mirror centered with Ana in Shi costume on one side, and Ana in fashion on the other, touching the mirror with a cross necklace hanging in her hand on the fashion side and the shi kanji (sp?) in the costume side.  The best of both worlds!

And really, any Shi book will be loved and appreciated.

[kikuchiyo]

If I ever commission a piece by Billy, it would be this: a mirror centered with Ana in Shi costume on one side, and Ana in fashion on the other, touching the mirror with a cross necklace hanging in her hand on the fashion side and the shi kanji (sp?) in the costume side.  The best of both worlds!

That's funny, because that is an image that I have been thinking of Billy drawing for me too.

[pctchuck]

I'd want it drawn so that you couldn't tell which was real and which is a reflection.

[Delvie]

What Jammie is referring to is that Ana's fighting abilities, stealth & lots of luck are all that she has. Although, in real life, a vigilante like Ana would eventually be caught, it is conceivable that she could get very lucky for awhile & accomplish a lot of the things she has done in the main WOTW storyline.  Her fighting abilities are not impossible. Her methods of evasion were not impossible. (Remember, forensics & technology wasn't as good as it is now in the 90's.) So, while the events in WOTW would have been unlikely & improbable, they don't require as much the stretch of imagination as it does in impossible situations like when Vampires, Werewolves, Demons & Angels enter the story. This is likely what Jammie is thinking.

[kikuchiyo]

That sounds cool. From a layout point of view, it might be tricky. One cover that I like is from Vampirella. She is on all fours looking over mirror. I think Mike Mayhew did it. He is a great artist. One of the few who do so well in both pencils and painting.

[jamarmiller]

What Jammie is referring to is that Ana's fighting abilities, stealth & lots of luck are all that she has. Although, in real life, a vigilante like Ana would eventually be caught, it is conceivable that she could get very lucky for awhile & accomplish a lot of the things she has done in the main WOTW storyline.  Her fighting abilities are not impossible. Her methods of evasion were not impossible. (Remember, forensics & technology wasn't as good as it is now in the 90's.) So, while the events in WOTW would have been unlikely & improbable, they don't require as much the stretch of imagination as it does in impossible situations like when Vampires, Werewolves, Demons & Angels enter the story. This is likely what Jammie is thinking.

thank you ! that is exactly what I was saying and meant to say, I appreciate you putting it better than I did !