I’m going to take this opportunity to pimp one of my projects, because it’s my blog, damn it, and I’ll pimp if I want to.
Templar is a comic book mini-series I have been shopping around with my buddy and co-creator Ken Christiansen. It’s a grim swashbuckler about the descendants of the medieval Knights Templar, who battle the undead with automatic weapons and swords and stuff.
Templar has got everything you would want in a comic, aside from breasts: werewolves, helicopters, kung fu, possessed clergy, disembowelments, explosions, underwater zombies, swords, vampires, submarines, ancient prophecy, silver bullets, and blimps. Lots of blimps. It’s all very butch.
We’ve sent Templar out to a few publishers; we’ll see how it goes. Here are a few sample pages where our noble hero confronts the possessed Cardinal Rumic in the Vatican secret archives:
Artist and co-creator Ken Christiansen and I have been working on Templar in one form or another for longer than I would care to admit -- it has turned into a holy mission/labor of love for us. He has drawn damn near the whole series, and each issue's art tops the last in terms of bad-assedness.
A little about Ken: he is pure of heart, has an unerring internal compass, drives a Mach I, and has one fist of iron and the other of steel. Ever since that stormy night when he dragged me out of that burning dog, I owe Ken my life. Ken has worked for Nintendo and Disney, and currently toils as a freelance artist in L.A., Home of the Body Bag. OK, he’s actually in Glendale, Home of the Galleria. I encourage everyone to check out Bad Flip Productions for samples of Ken’s art, including a couple of dope Rocketeer comic pages that I love. Templar is his best work, of course.
Here’s more Templar fu – a werewolf attack on a French farming town:
“Where are you going?”
“To kill some werewolves.”
I don’t know, I think that’s pretty macho. I’m all about The Macho.
Finally, here’s a page featuring a squad of Templar knights hijacking a blimp. You cannot go wrong by putting a blimp in your story – any story, really. It’s what made Blade Runner so cool – the big billboard blimp thing. I submit to you that nearly any work of fiction or film could be improved with the addition of one or more blimps. Think how bad-ass Sense & Sensibility would have been with blimps. Armored Nazi blimps.
Anyway, with good fortune, Templar will be coming soon to a comic book store near you and we will make loads of money and become assholes. Wish us luck!
34 comments:
"Become" assholes?
Ha ha - good luck, looks cool. Another reason for me to hate you.
You had me at werewolves.
More than ever before the world wants, no demands, blimp hijackin’, werewolf killin’, Vatican infiltratin’ descendants of knights! I love it almost as much as apostrophes. I smell a bidding war a’comin’!
I'd buy it.
Werewolf? Airwolf!
To further prove your theory, Watchmen had blimps.
I would buy this but would really love a Velvet Marauder comic.
I'll check out pretty much anything with werewolves so good luck on this, Dave. But you couldn't work breasts into the mix? You're just not trying hard enough.
Holy shit, Dave, that is one bad-ass looking comic, and I'm not saying that just out of charity.
The plot reads like a giant mish-mash of all the things my geeky-yet-macho heart loves. In fact, the pitch sounds like something Beau Smith would write. And I mean that in the best way possible.
Amazing art, too. Ken has a style that breathes yet has a nice 3-D quality. And his facial expressions are top-notch. His pencils remind me of equal parts Pascal Ferry and Tony Harris.
This is the kind of thing Image publishes on a regular basis, and I'd bet good money on someone being interested in it. Lord knows I'd buy it. Keep us updated, and best of luck.
Good luck on it Dave. I love your Velvet Maruader stories so I know the writing side is takenb care of.
Could use a pirate or two though.
"Where are you going?"
"To kill some werewolves."
I'll be darned if you aren't channeling some Frank Miller 2005 Batman there.
I like it. I like it a lot.
Have you tried Avatar? And how in god's name you are not developing the Velvet Marauder?
Ken draws purty.
"I submit to you that nearly any work of fiction or film could be improved with the addition of one or more blimps."
Case in point: Roseanne.
"Have you tried Avatar?"
Good idea, if you like not getting paid.
> I'll be darned if you aren't channeling
> some Frank Miller 2005 Batman there.
That would be "Are you retarded? I'm going to kill some goddamn werewolves!"
A friend of mine says any film could be improved with the addition of hardcore porn. No, he actually says porn scenes should be mandatory. Personally, I think blimps make much more sense.
That's macho indeed. How about:
"Where are you going?"
"To put the dogs out."
Nah, forget it. Good luck!
Wait just a damn minute. The inventor of the Four Points of Contact Law has everything in his comic except breasts?
What happened to you, Campbell? You used to be cool.
(Seriously, though? It looks good. I'd foist it upon my customers.)
Yixcob!
Looking good, guys!
I'm there wherever it comes from as long as it doesn't turn out to be an Illuminati or Freemason conspiracy behind the whole thing. I'm sick of those assholes screwing up pop fiction.
It would be OK if you made them good guys. And pirates. Girl pirates. It's OK if they're good guy Illuminati Freemason girl pirates. In blimps. With dinosaurs as their attack pets. THAT would be COOL.
But even if they're not there, I wanna see this in print.
Pencils are tight, composition and pacing look good to me. Plus points for not making the one villager exclaim, "Mon dieu!" ("Zut alors!" would have been pretty funny, though.)
It's promising. Well done, good luck, and Happy Thanksgiving.
Oh, and +1 on the Velvet Marauder comic.
**insert witticism here**
I absolutely love the art and the story sounds like a delicious gumbo made of everything I love. A Love Gumbo, if you will.
**insert witticism with cussin' here**
Luck!
That Cardinal is seriously, awesomely creepy!
"Where are you going?"
"To put the dogs out."
Now I have this image of werewolves saying "I am quite put out! Quite put out indeed!" stuck in my head.
Is that a blimp or a dirigible? The Hindenberg a is fucking dirigible. It is NOT a blimp. You are right that you cannot lose with a (blimp or dirigible) in a comic book, but this error in identification makes me doubt your sincere dedication to the project.
Maybe you can put dirigible-riding, Illuminati girl pirates in the sequel.
Would a werewolf on a (blimp or dirigible) be an...Airwolf?
Word Verification: mrukusb ... sounds like a computer hardware salesman in England.
Looks cool to me!
I was just thinking the other day, as I put Tombs of the Blind Dead in my Netflix queue, why comics haven't taken more advantage of the Templars, and here's Dave coming to the rescue...
Girl pirates, now that's a great idea. If Ken draws then right we'll have two blimps per pirate.
That is a seriously good preview Dave, and I hope that this gets out there, because it looks beautiful
No Boob War, no buy.
No seriously, that's some good work there, both in terms of writing and art. I'd buy it.
I've been an asshole for years, but for all the wrong reasons. There's no profit in doing it the way I'm doing it.
Anyway, the storyline doesn't seem like my normal cup of tea, but the art rocks and I have great faith in your storytelling ability, Dave, so I'd buy it in a heartbeat.
And Andy, comics have been using the Templars quite a bit in the last couple of years. It was actually a trend for a little while in everything from horror to superhero comics--just one that superceded their repeated use in film and novels, so it was kind of ignored. I wasn't a fan of most of the Templar appearances I picked up (there wasn't much originality between them), but, again, I have faith in Dave's version. :)
First time poster/ kinda longtime reader.
I usually nowadays pick up titles based on art more than writing but after having been reading Long Box and digging the art it is win-win baby!
I want to do the cover! Or a pin-up.
If the writing on your posts is anything to go by, I'm making sure to order a bunch of copies for our store once you find a publisher.
Good luck!
Underwater Zombies!!! Your fucking genius! Come let me give you bare-chested-speedo man-love.
any updates??
It should have Werewolves fighting girl (Boob War Sized) pirates w/ ray guns on blimps filled w/ zombies & evil clowns. Super-evil clowns
Airwolf...totally
Really helpful data, lots of thanks for your post.
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