FAILED-PROJECT FRIDAY: Ryan Kinnaird on DIRTY PAIR (Patreon)

Last Friday I recounted the tragic tale of the time I unsuccessfully tried to get Rick Mays (Gen13, Livewires, Kabuki: Scarab) approved to draw a Dirty Pair miniseries I woud've written for him.  If you recall, Rick's art samples posted there featured luxurious colors by my buddy Ryan Kinnaird; wellp, this time around I'll show the samples that Ryan worked up (circa the year 2000) when I unsuccessfully tried to get him approved to draw a miniseries for me! 

As with Rick, I was never able to get any other artist than me cleared to draw DP (and I tried on three different occasions), so this effort came to naught.  Let this be a lesson to y'all, folks: Such are the consequences of working on comics that aren't fully creator-owned and under your own control.  Years later, when I wised up and kicked off just such a series, I was able to work with Ryan on the one-shot Empowered: Hell Bent or Heaven Sent, as now I was the one doing the approvals this time around. 

In fact, Ryan's project advanced further than most of my many, many failed DP pitches, as I actually wrote a script for the miniseries' first issue. (The page above are based on a few roughs I worked up purely as standalone samples, and aren't from that issue.)  The working title of the miniseries was, I kid you not, Dirty Pair: Eat This! (Not sure if Dark Horse would've gone for that title, to be honest.)

In fact, I think I still have the script for Eat This! #1 kicking around on a flash drive somewhere; I'll very likely post it here on another Failed-Project Friday, someday.