BOHICA News (April 2022) (Patreon)

Hey, it's time for another BOHICA News!

BOHICA Blues is continuing to provide family-friendly entertainment in a historical military comedy fashion. BOHICA Blues has now been mentioned in The Comic Art of War, an academic look at the works of veteran cartoonists by Professor Christina Knopf, as well as Drawing Fire, a look at World War Two comic artist Bill Mauldin's collection of editorial cartoons. BOHICA Blues has also been the subject of podcasts, a Stars & Stripes article, an Armed Forces Network TV interview, and more. 

Right now, I am planning on visiting the Convention circuit this year, with Gem State Comic Con coming up on the 9th of April, 2022 (so, in a couple days) and then the Boise Comic Arts Festival this September 17th & 18th. 

Depending on how things go, I will try to get the 3rd BOHICA Blues book "Fallujah", printed this year, but like a lot of people, finances are a bit tight. The last couple years have not been good for convention attendance, and I usually get a significant boost from conventions. With the last couple years of Covid complications, my convention income is much lower than I had hoped so I may have to delay printing another book. We'll see if things rebound sufficiently for me to print this year. 

 Other Projects: Empires

Empires continues development, and I am going to reveal the name of the new project as "Empires: Blood Sun". I had toyed with the idea of using the title "Empires: In the Realm of A Blood Red Sun" but while the title certainly would sound intriguing and create (hopefully) an aura of mystery, it was also obviously long and unwieldly. Privately, I used the shorthand version of the title "Bloodsun" and realized that that was actually a winner right there. So I have shortened and settled on the title "Blood Sun".

Another problem with the title "In the Realm of A Blood Red Sun" was that to would give the impression that the bulk of the action would take place in a solar system dominated by a red dwarf star, which while cool, isn't actually the case. I didn't want to give a wrong impression (I mean, I do have aliens that are from a planet in a red dwarf system, but it is not germane to this story) and create enemies of dedicated literalist astrophysics enthusiasts out there, so I truncated it.

In that spirit, however, I want to share a development picture of one of my main characters for the upcoming story, a Senior Lieutenant Nayoo Hyraini, who plays a prominent role in the upcoming project:

I have also started doing "Thumbnails" of the first chapter, which is a common practice for comics in which (frequently) very primitive stick-figure level sketches are laid out on small bits of paper to make sure that scenes and layouts are going to work well with the action and dialogue planned. Sketches of Empires: Blood Sun will be available on Patreon as the project ramps up. Hint: it will involve a lot of deep-space travel, exploration, and action as a tense confrontation slowly builds. 

There are more announcement to come, but I wanted to share this for now. Please consider becoming a Patreon supporter and getting access to extra content, much of which is entirely Patreon-exclusive. I guarantee that 100% of all funds generated at Patreon go only to support my comics projects such as art supplies, printing, webhosting, and other comics-related activities, and every dime of support is greatly appreciated. 

I hope you'll join the others who have chosen to support me in my creative endeavors. Until next time, stay safe, and Keep It Random.