To whet your appetite and prove I still have big plans for Sunnyville and its characters, I did this Halloween drawing of both Rusty (our star) and his cousin Dominic (from Dominic & Claire).
Can you guess who Rusty and Dominic are dressed as?
(Hint: Through early morning fog I see visions of the things to be…)
This weekend, I will be attending Valleycon 2023 here in town.
Valleycon will be running in Fargo, North Dakota this weekend on Friday 10/13, Saturday 10/14 and Sunday 10/15. It will be a lot of fun and there will be lots to do. But there will be Sunnyville comics for sale!
As you remember, Sunnyville Stories Super Special #2 was crowdfunded on Kickstarter about 5 years ago. I have still in our inventory 8 copies both signed & numbered. These collect Sunnyville #15 and #16 plus other material. When these are gone…THEY ARE GONE! If you still want copies, this will be your last chance to buy this comic.
Copies of the Sunnyville spin-off Dominic & Claire will be for sale at Valleycon 2023 too. As you remember, two of those titles – Dominic & Claire Fun-Size and Dominic & Claire Circus – were also funded on Kickstarter.
This blog is going to be getting an overhaul soon as it is in the cards to redraw Sunnyville Stories #1, remaster the older comics and hopefully print new editions of the books! Stay tuned for more news on that.
Be sure to come to Valleycon 2023 this weekend!
Hello, friends! I have some news regarding the plans for the remastered version of Sunnyville Stories #1.
I will have to delay that planned Kickstarter until spring of next year; the target date is June. My plan for that is to completely redraw the very first episode of Sunnyville Stories. Due to various circumstances in my life (a recent family visit, a new home and work on my children’s books), I had planned to do it during this late summer and early fall. But I have to work on my next children’s book plus its planned Kickstarter. That won’t be easy.
It is my plan to start doing regular updates again, showing off new art, new designs and even a few short comics starring Rusty and the Sunnyville gang.
I will have more details as time goes on and as my plans are constructed.
Stay tuned here for more news and updates. Plus check out the Hilda & Richie blog for news on the third book coming next year!
I have important news about Hilda & Richie’s Sandwich, the third Hilda & Richie book.
This was a tough decision to make. I had planned to run the Kickstarter in July; now I have to delay it again until January 2024, either the first full week or second full week of that month.
There are two good reasons for this. First I’ve fallen behind on the work both on the book itself and the Kickstarter. Part of it is owing to my editor not getting back to me until recently on the second draft of the book’s script (I will be working from this). It is also due to time and money; as you know, I moved into a new house late last summer. The time, effort and money into maintaining and upkeeping my new home is a big challenge. I’m not able to devote sufficient resources to working on the book and assembling the Kickstarter itself.
Second, my original plan is not workable. In August (the funds would clear and I’d negotiate with the local printers to assemble the book), my family from New York is coming to visit my new home. I can’t fight on two fronts at once. Rather than strain myself or divide up my time, I’ve decided it is best to hold off until early next year to fund & print the book.
I want to make it clear that I am NOT cancelling the book. Now that I got the final script ready to work from, I can start work on the book and assemble the Kickstarter with plenty of time. I’m also planning a smaller, shorter Kickstarter in September to produce some newly remastered Sunnyville Stories comics! I’ll have more news on that tomorrow.
Today is the twelfth anniversary of the Sunnyville Stories blog. This blog dedicated to my creation – alternative comic book series Sunnyville Stories – is now 12 years old. It was 12 years ago today that I launched officially.
Today seems like an appropriate day to unveil this news.
I’ve decided that I will be formally ending Sunnyville Stories and will bring the series to a finish.
Now hold on. Before you fans start contacting me with angry rants, please read on.
I can’t go on with this comic forever and I really don’t want to try. I feel like it is time for me to move on. It’s also because I want to move onto other agendas – I’ve found my calling with children’s books. My first two Hilda & Richie books have done okay for me and a third book is planned (with more).
Once Sunnyville Stories ends, this will NOT be the end of our adventures with Rusty & Sam. I may do more comics with them. Plus there’s the spin-off of Dominic & Claire that I plan to draw more.
Now it is time to clarify some more. I am NOT ending the story of Sunnyville right away. My plan is from now through 2024 is to wrap up the series. Not counting the planned redrawing of Sunnyville Stories episode 1, I’m planning six more stories to end everything.
Episode 18 will be titled “the Great Escape” and will be a dramatic story. It involves Rusty lying and sneaking out to Samantha’s birthday party.
Episode 19 will take place immediately after and it’s a rather wacky episode in contrast; the title is “the Ghost in the Machine”. It’s a homage to a favorite episode of mine from the Generation 1 Transformers called Kremzeek! Rusty, Sam and Sam’s little brother Jason have to deal with an energy-based creature that runs loose in town.
Episode 20 has not been titled yet. The plot is going to be a crossover as Dominic will visit Rusty in Sunnyville; that means Sam gets to meet Rusty’s cousins…did I mention Claire will be there too? There’s also the possibility that Hilda and Richie (from my children’s books) might appear in Sunnyville, meeting Rusty and friends. That has not yet been decided.
Episodes 21, 22 and 23 will be a grand finale titled “Change of Address”. I will not reveal what will happen but it is meant to conclude the story.
Stay tuned for more news. I am going to try to have regular updates once more.
Hey, you.
Yeah, you! Want some brand new Sunnyville Stories comics?
As you know, I’m running a Kickstarter for my webcomic Poison Ivy Gulch and it has been doing well. At the time of this writing, it has reached 25% funding and even won a big honor of being a “Project We Love” on Kickstarter!
That is quite an accomplishment! None of my other Kickstarters like Sunnyville Stories, Dominic & Claire or Hilda & Richie ever got that honor. Only some Kickstarters get “Project We Love” status and that means I get more exposure on Kickstarter.
Some of you reading that last passage are scratching your head right about now. I said Sunnyville…you are wondering what this Old West comic strip has to do with Sunnyville comics.
Since we hit our first funding milestone at 25%, a special reward for backers only has just dropped. And that is THE FIRST PAGE of Sunnyville Stories #0, a new prequel meant to be in the planned Sunnyville Stories reprint next year. (As you know, in the spring of 2023, I plan to Kickstart a new edition of the Sunnyville Stories trade paperbacks. But that’s a whole other post.) On hitting 40% and 50%, more pages will be dropped for backers only as a reward for hitting those milestones.
So do you want to read Sunnyville Stories #0? There is a way you can do that.
Just go back Poison Ivy Gulch Saddles Up! Whether you pledge $1 or $1000, you’ll get a peek at this brand new comic and sneak preview of the new edition of Sunnyville Stories.
Well…what are you waiting for?
The next Kickstarter of mine, Poison Ivy Gulch Saddles Up, has launched!
This is connected to Sunnyville Stories in two ways. First, this is part of a test run to see if I can fund a book; I aim to reprint Sunnyville Stores next year and want to make sure I can crowdfund a book’s print run.
Second, during the campaign, as a reward to backers only on hitting certain funding milestones, I will be unveiling page of Sunnyville Stories episode zero to backers. That’s a new prequel that will be in the upcoming reprint book.
Hello, Sunnyville fans. I apologize for not updating recently.
I’m very busy right now with the upcoming Kickstarter on June 1 for my webcomic, Poison Ivy Gulch, as well as selling my Hilda & Richie picture books. In fact, this weekend will see me travelling to places in North Dakota; I will be selling copies of both picture books (Hilda & Richie plus Hilda & Richie’s Wizard) to some independent bookstores along with donating copies to local libraries.
The Kickstarters for Poison Ivy Gulch and my picture books are part of my master plan for Sunnyville Stories. Funding $2000-5000 is something I need to learn doing so I have the capacity to crowdfund new Sunnyville Stories reprints.
Anyway, this site will be getting a tune-up as I plan to rework some of the pages now that the original three volumes of Sunnyville Stories are going out of print. The planned redrawing of Sunnyville Stories episode 1 will be going ahead. I hope to get started on it once the Poison Ivy Gulch Kickstarter launches.
Watch for more news; stay tuned to this blog for more updates!
Hello, Sunnyville fans!
It’s been awhile. Now that the Kickstarter for my second picture book has ended, it is time to move onto other things. One of the big items on my to-do list (besides the planned Kickstarter for Poison Ivy Gulch) will be the long-awaited redrawing of Sunnyville Stories episode 1.
My plan is to redraw all the pages from Sunnyville Stories episode 1 now that my drawing skills are far superior to what they once were. The approach though is going to be different.
My original idea was to completely redraw everything, write a whole new script, etc. But that is too much work and I have other obligations. I will be using the original comics as a blueprint and this new episode will be semi-improvised as I will be drawing a whole new page based on the old ones, but with updated art and some edits.
One of the key items was to have Rusty mention his cousin Dominic (from the spin-off Dominic & Claire) and his hometown of New Gestad a few times as a way to cement the Sunnyville canon.
The redrawing will start later today; I’ll even have a teaser or two to share with you once I get done.
Stay tuned for more updates on the Sunnyville blog and (somewhat) new Sunnyville comics!
