Announcement Concerning Coming Titles (Patreon)

So, toward the end of June after we previewed Merauder's coming series to you guys, our creative team got to wondering what series our audience was most excited for. Hence, we made the DA poll: https://www.deviantart.com/nrgcomics/poll/Of-all-the-NRG-superheroes-we-ve-introduced-so-far-which-series-are-you-most-excited-for-Comments-Encouraged-8152997

Ultimately, the results were both expected and eye-opening, and ultimately it gave us a lot to think about in regards to where to put our resources based on what people were most excited for. So after some creative discussion, we've come here today to make an announcement about what are plans are for Zener, Empress, Toonman and Merauder, as well as where they stand now.

Zener: Master of the Mind:

The fact that Zener wasn't one of the leading titles of anticipation wasn't exactly a surprise to us. We have been overzealous with Zener, trying to build him up with lore and making big plans for him because we enjoy writing him, but ultimately we backed ourselves into a corner trying to make him work when he is not catching on. Ultimately, we should have made sure he was popular enough first before trying to push him on our audience. That said, this is a learning experience, but we still want to fulfill our promise to those who are anticipating his series and give them one.

So, the plan now is to make Zener a limited run series, that way we can finish his backstory and create world building of his place in our universe. After that, We've decided to go the "Zenescope Route" with Zener, focusing on publishing him mainly through one-shots and limited series runs only whenever we have a really groundbreaking story to tell with him. It's how Zenescope introduced many of it's now popular characters, and it's a proven formula that works. And who knows? Zener may end up getting his own long-standing solo series somewhere down the line (many of Zenescope's characters did).

Ultimately though, we want to finish what we started and then shift focus to books/characters are already popular with our audience without much story yet. Zener will continue to be a major superhero in our universe, but from now on we're not going to try and force his place anymore. The one thing you learn when it comes publishing is that you ultimately have no control over what's going to be popular and what's not. Zener is an example of that.

Empress: Mother Earth's Handmaiden:

No surprise that Empress was one of the series our fans were most excited her for. She's the one we started building our brand with and it's where most of our audience still lies, not to mention the fact that she has one of the most amazing hooks when it comes to original superheroes. And after we decided to reboot her, we made a vow to really give your our best, topnotch original ideas with her, and it's high time we started making good on that promise.

So, Empress is currently in production with Issue 1, which has begun being previewed by our Patrons: https://www.patreon.com/nrgcomicstm . Issue 2 is currently being written, and we have already begun previewing some of the characters to come in the rebooted series, which has evidently proven how many people are excited for her series with how many new followers and favorites we gotten from recent posts.

Toonman: The Animated Ace:

To say that our founder and writer Alex Dawe was excited that Toonman was the character our audience was the most excited to read was an understatement, but it's easy to understand why: Toonman is our most original idea built on a passion of superheroes and animation, has an amazing hook with storytelling potential, and off our many heroes he's the one that's the least comparable to mainstream characters of the big 2! We're really anticipating bringing his series to life, because his is the one with the most potential!

At this point, many are wondering when production will being on Toonman. Well, the good news is the scripts for the first two issues are completed, and we have selected the perfect artist to bring Toonman to life: Terrance Burks aka @SkrubPhace ! However, we are respecting his prior engagements to previously commission projects, so production on Toonman will not begin until the coming fall of 2022, ideally shooting for September or at least October.

In the meantime, we will be doing what are doing with Empress and start introducing more of the various heroes, cast members and villains to come in Toonman's series. And we can honestly say out all of heroes, Toonman's planned cast and rouges is the most expansive and powerful, with many new ideas in the works! So sit tight, you won't have to wait in vain!

Merauder; Now "Rogue Wave Pirates: Protect and Plunder":

Ultimately, we know it's too early to judge how excited our audience is for Merauder's coming series since we just introduced her. However, we are happy to see that there are some fans anticipating her series more than Zener, Empress or even Toonman! With that in mind, we want to share with you want our goal for Merauder's book is going to be:  It's going to be our first superhero/superteam series book!

If you've been following us since our mr-redx origins, then you now that for a while we had been developing ideas and plans for our first superhero team in the NRGverse. The original plan was to form this team with Empress, Zener and Toonman, but like with Zener that's something we ultimately have no audience control over, nor does it stand that we have the means or reason to form the team we wanted. We have yet to build up our world and our lore with adventures and new characters. That is where Merauder comes in:

The Plan with Merauder has always been to focus on adventures of her leading a group of pirates across the seas, which already by default would make her crew the first superhero team/group we introduce to our universe so we decided to role with that and shift the dynamic focus on the team aspect. But more so, Merauder and her crew already have an interesting and appealing hook: they're a group of rogue, superhuman pirates that travel the seas on a haunted/abandoned cargo ship not only plundering the seas but protecting them from all sorts of superhuman threats, all while avoiding capture by world governments! The team has an aesthetic similar to Milestone's Blood Syndicate or Marvel's X-men but with the added aesthetic, adventurous appeal of One Piece!

So, Marauder's crew is now officially called "The Rogue Wave Pirates" (based off an natural ocean phenomenon), and has now been rechristened "Rogue Wave Pirates: Protect and Plunder" in our DA gallery. We know we still need time to build up the hype more, so we'll be introducing more members of the crew as well as the supporting cast and rogues gallery the team will be featuring/facing, Just like with Empress, Zener and Toonman. So keep your eyes peeled for all sorts of new characters and promotional art!

Future Title Series:

One a final note, we wanted to share with you what are plans are regarding future titles we plan to introduce to our universe. If you've been following us from our mr-redx origins, then you'll know we had a whole universe of superhero story ideas beyond Empress, Zener, Toonman and Merauder planned. And we still plan on bringing them to our universe. And while we plan of primarily focusing the series we've already preluded, we are always thinking about the future and what other stories we can tell beyond what we have now. Right now, we have two things in mind:

First, we want to shift focus to our most original ideas we had planned. This means getting away from any planned character that have too much inspiration or likeness to mainstream heroes found in Marvel and DC (a lot of our earlier ideas unfortunately had a lot of this, Zener is the most obvious with the parallels to Superman). It's the best thing we can do right now, as it's evident people are most excited about our more original ideas. And we're also focusing on world building; introducing the bigger names of our universe before we can branch out into smaller scale stuff. We have big ideas for big heroes to fulfill every niche of superhero genres, from magic, the supernatural and mythology to super science, extraterrestrial and across time, space and reality.

Secondly, to do this our plan is to introduce these new characters through one shots and limited mini series (mostly one shots). We've learned that trying control consumer response is a lot more difficult than trying to find someone interested in a series or character. So the one shots and limited series will be built on efficiency and the amount of hype we can build. It's how we've done it with Merauder, and the results are starting to speak for themselves.

We thank you for tuning into this major announcement! We are excite to bring you our best projects based on this new structuring we have created, and we hope you will too! Feel free to drop comments below and lets us know your thoughts and feelings!

NRG Comics