Heathen City #3 held hostage.

[Alex F. Vance]

Dear rabid fanbase,

The rotating membership of the Heathen City Administrative Platoon is of course hard at work on the third volume in the series, and I think we'll be doing things a bit differently than last time around. In the lead-up to HC2 I deliberately played things my cards close to my chest so as not to give too much of the awesome away and not make promises I couldn't deliver on, and ultimately I think that's a bit of a shame.

My second-favorite aspect of Heathen City has been the interaction with the readers, and looking at the sales figures, there's a fair few of those around. So even though the release date of Heathen City #3 is 'tentative' and the book's about 40% complete so far, I really want to talk to y'all more. And of course show off the awesome stuff that's been accomplished so far.

But before that, you splendid band of badasses, I'm going to insist we talk about HC2. Come on, people. Where's the hysterical cheers? Where's the cries of protest? Why isn't anyone throwing knickers and motel keys and Molotovs at Yours F. Truly?

Volume 2, "Paved with Bad Intentions" came out last summer and was quite different from the first book in production, tone and structure, and that's worth yapping about. Working with multiple artists simultaneously, cramming enormous amounts of plot-significant information into relatively short stories and showing events that take place as much as eighteen years apart, while still all serving that dread beast called Continuity, was an amazing experience for me -- but how was it for you?

And given that it's been on sale for six months, I don't think it's gauche to discuss stuff that might be considered spoilers. C'mon, y'all. The books are on Amazon.com (just search for Heathen City if you don't believe me), FurPlanet's selling them at FC right this very second and the sweet boys Rabbit Valley are offering them at discount, so you've no excuse for being out of the loop.

How do you feel about Tony Caulfield now that you've seen the little monster as a kid? And is his mother still the conniving, manipulating bitch? What could have happened between the easy-going Tiber in Paris of '99 and the singularity of stresses he represents a mere two years later? Does Malloy have a heart of gold or is he just rotting through -- and isn't Owen Just the hottest thing?

And what the fuck is up with the Four Brothers?

Open your maws, muchachos. Flick through the pages again, see what you might have missed. I'm mighty keen to hear your thoughts -- and I'm itchin' to show you what the guys and gals on the HC3 team have been cranking out.

- Alex F. Vance

[Akinokaze]

Wish I could comment and discuss with you but I've not yet had enough money spare to make any orders for furry comics in quite some time [due to witch I've missed out of getting Talboc 666 as it's out of print now :( There goes another complete series :P]

--
'Human salvation lies in the hands of the creatively maladjusted.' -Martin Luther King Jr

[Niki Anis Ab Karim]

I just wanna know which Rider is each Brother, so I can get the fan-art right. =U

I've gushed to Zoosh on that epic final spread. I'll pick through myriad thumbdrives for that review I've... inconveniently misplaced. *cowers*

<< NightPhaser >>

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[Zoosh]

--

[Zoosh]

Page 2!!!

 

From: heath...@googlegroups.com [mailto:heath...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Alex F. Vance
Sent: Friday, January 22, 2010 5:58 AM
To: heathencity
Subject: [Heathen City] Heathen City #3 held hostage.

 

Dear rabid fanbase,

--

[Zoosh]

OK, those weren’t supposed to get out to everyone.. Now Alex is going to beat me within an inch of my death  L

 

 

They are really really rough too!

 

n  Zoosh!

[Alex Vance]

Zoosh, I'm going to have to make fun of you for this for the rest of recorded time. However, I couldn't have asked for better in-progress art to be posted to some six hundred people, no matter how rough it might be.

What do you think, guys? Should the Heathen City Art Slave team make more of these little mistakes? :)

- Alex

[Gabriel Walker]

Definitely, Vancey!

And when, for morbid curiousity - when does recorded time end? :P

--

[Niki Anis Ab Karim]

A mistake created silly putty.

So, yes, I fully support little leaky "mistakes". =)

--

[Stuart McCarthy]

:

> A mistake created silly putty.
>
> So, yes, I fully support little leaky "mistakes". =)

Yeah, ain't serendipity a wonderful thing?

Btw, @Alex. Yeah, I'm all for showing the rough pages. At least it
gives the fans a little taster to keep them satisfied until the
finished product
is ready.

[ragt...@yahoo.com]

Now I know how my comic book sausage is made.  And also, where that sausage gets put!  

Please, tip your waitress, and try the veal!

---

From: Alex Vance <osfer...@gmail.com>
To: heath...@googlegroups.com
Sent: Sun, January 24, 2010 2:07:26 PM
Subject: Re: [Heathen City] Heathen City #3 held hostage.

Zoosh, I'm going to have to make fun of you for this for the rest of recorded time. However, I couldn't have asked for better in-progress art to be posted to some six hundred people, no matter how rough it might be.

What do you think, guys? Should the Heathen City Art Slave team make more of these little mistakes? :)

- Alex

[Denon Servo]

Sure. 

Besides, it helped me get a sense of how to draw poses and multiple characters.  Thank you. 

Sent from my iPhone

[Ridger Wolf]

To answer your original question.

I am still making my way through it. I purchased a copy from FP at AC after flirting well with the staff. Oh yeah baby. lol. But it was only until my trip to FC that I finally got a chance to read it. (Trust me, I have a crap load of other things from AC I bought that I still haven't read yet either.)

I am only half way through and quite impressed. The back story construction is very interesting and I am enjoying the various artistic styles of drawings. By starting with Malloy and Tits on the mission was a good intro, then from there, things seem to be flowing smoothly. The Claufield snapping though seems a little, rough. I mean, he was perfectly innocent, but then just SNAPPED like a twig without any real distinction. Its like, he was a boy one day, then a sociopath another. Yes, it definitely helps with the back story.

 

Will post more once I finish reading.

--

[Ridger Wolf]

To answer your original question.

I am still making my way through it. I purchased a copy from FP at AC after flirting well with the staff. Oh yeah baby. lol. But it was only until my trip to FC that I finally got a chance to read it. (Trust me, I have a crap load of other things from AC I bought that I still haven't read yet either.)

I am only half way through and quite impressed. The back story construction is very interesting and I am enjoying the various artistic styles of drawings. By starting with Malloy and Tits on the mission was a good intro, then from there, things seem to be flowing smoothly. Tony snapping though seems a little, rough. I mean, he was perfectly innocent, but then just SNAPPED like a twig without any real distinction. Its like, he was a boy one day, then a sociopath another. Yes, it definitely helps with the back story having this comic addition.

 

I am still more curious now about Timber's past and the Why with the 4 Brothers? and specifically what is their mission now, this vision. I am still very curious. I do think it showed a Powerful message at the end, and the article at the end was informative. Some bits seemed a little rough.

There are parts I wasn't able to read because I was on a plane with prying eyes around......

Again though, it has a very good back story, some illustration was very rough. but still enjoyed it. But it also seems to go very quick though, like it is never long eough.

 

 

From: Alex F. Vance

Sent: Friday, January 22, 2010 7:57 AM

To: heathencity

Subject: [Heathen City] Heathen City #3 held hostage.

--

[Krahnos]

Yes Alex, feed the ravenous fans! Give them juicy little teasers to wet their appetites! I want to see mobs of hungry readers at AC this year. ;)

Seriously though, I'm sure many folks here (myself included) would love to see little in-progress snippets every now and again. It proves the art slaves are hard at work!

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--
---Krahnos
-------------------------
www.furaffinity.net/user/krahnos
www.krahnos.com

[Ridger Wolf]

You, hard at work, I saw you lastnight relaxing with all the booze up on the 15th.

HAHAHAHA.

Yes, the teasers are good.

[Krahnos]

Hey, even art slaves deserve a little relaxing time and booze now and then ;)

[Chaz Wolf]

Was nice to see you there ;)

I grew up in Europe, where the history comes from.
 - Eddie Izzard

[Ridger Wolf]

*cracks whip* No BOOZE for you. *cracks whip again*

*then comes back into the room with the harness and chains*

[Denon Servo]

Whips and harnesses? Kinky

Sent from my iPhone

[Krahnos]

*squeaks*

no whips.. I'll be a good art slave dragon, I promise!

_____________

[Akinokaze]

Someone certainly knows how to treat a guy XD

2010/1/26 Ridger Wolf <Ridger...@hotmail.com>

[Chaz Wolf]

LOL, Thats my wolfy ;)

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--

[Silverwulf]

Heya Vance,

I finally was able to get a copy of HC #2, and I have to admit I'm
rather mixed on this.

On one side, I like the newfound info you get for the characters and
parts of the story. Backstories can be very important in getting to
know a character and help with the overall story.

However, I also feel these stories could have easily been told as
flashbacks and not crammed together to form one issue. For me I don't
see it wise to end one Issue with a cliffhanger, and have the next one
be "Let's go back in time and get backstories on various things!" It
just halts the flow of the series, especially when it looks like the
cliffhanger won't be addressed until Issue #3.

That's pretty much my thoughts on it, while I felt the whole crew that
was a part in making this did a nice job...like I said before I feel
these stories could have easily been flashbacks and not crammed
altogether to form a standalone Issue.

Still look forward to Issue #3 though, it's not like you jumped the
shark or anything.

On Jan 22, 4:57 am, "Alex F. Vance" <alexfva...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Dear rabid fanbase,
>
> The rotating membership of the Heathen City Administrative Platoon is of
> course hard at work on the third volume in the series, and I think we'll be
> doing things a bit differently than last time around. In the lead-up to HC2
> I deliberately played things my cards close to my chest so as not to give
> too much of the awesome away and not make promises I couldn't deliver on,
> and ultimately I think that's a bit of a shame.
>
> My second-favorite aspect of Heathen City has been the interaction with the
> readers, and looking at the sales figures, there's a fair few of those
> around. So even though the release date of Heathen City #3 is 'tentative'
> and the book's about 40% complete so far, I really want to talk to y'all
> more. And of course show off the awesome stuff that's been accomplished so
> far.
>
> But before that, you splendid band of badasses, I'm going to insist we talk

> about HC2. Come *on*, people. Where's the hysterical cheers? Where's the

> cries of protest? Why isn't anyone throwing knickers and motel keys and
> Molotovs at Yours F. Truly?
>
> Volume 2, "Paved with Bad Intentions" came out last summer and was quite
> different from the first book in production, tone and structure, and that's
> worth yapping about. Working with multiple artists simultaneously, cramming
> enormous amounts of plot-significant information into relatively short
> stories and showing events that take place as much as eighteen years apart,
> while still all serving that dread beast called Continuity, was an amazing
> experience for me -- but how was it for you?
>
> And given that it's been on sale for six months, I don't think it's gauche
> to discuss stuff that might be considered spoilers. C'mon, y'all. The books

> are on Amazon.com<http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-k...>(just

> search for Heathen City if you don't believe me), FurPlanet's

> <http://www.furplanet.com>selling them at FC *right this very second* and
> the sweet boys Rabbit Valley <http://www.rabbitvalley.com> are offering them

> at discount, so you've no excuse for being out of the loop.
>
> How do you feel about Tony Caulfield now that you've seen the little monster
> as a kid? And is his mother still the conniving, manipulating bitch? What
> could have happened between the easy-going Tiber in Paris of '99 and the
> singularity of stresses he represents a mere two years later? Does Malloy
> have a heart of gold or is he just rotting through -- and isn't Owen Just
> the hottest thing?
>
> And what the fuck is up with the Four Brothers?
>
> Open your maws, muchachos. Flick through the pages again, see what you might

> have missed. I'm mighty keen to hear your thoughts -- and I'm *itchin'* to

[Alex F. Vance]

Hey Silverwulf,

Thanks for your insights! A lot went into the development of this second book, which I really ought to blog about soon, in keeping with the New Openness policy. The multipart format is something I'm really into, now we've tried it. In part because producing a full issue at the level of quality HC demands is really a Herculean task for any artist, even if the efforts are distributed between an illustrator and a team of colorists. Further, writing shorts offers a great many opportunities and challenges and I've found it helps me make stories denser and more consistent. 

In this case, the decision to do a backstory collection was a risky one. There's a lot of story to tell and it's going to be less and less linear from here on out, so the thought behind the backstory issue was that it'd deepen and ground these characters and also prepare the readers for a more challenging narrative to come. As the series progresses you'll find you might want to re-read the earlier issues after you've read the latest one as certain plot elements interact with earlier ones, recontextualizing past events and informing future ones. It's a very difficult, but immensely rewarding way to construct a story and I really can't wait to show you guys more.

That said, the consequence of doing a book that's entirely backstory involving mostly familiar characters is that there's no sense of peril. You already know where Owen and Malloy and Caulfield are going to wind up, so you know they're never really in danger -- although I do hope I managed to get some of you hoping that young Tony would wind up, you know, kind of nicer than he did. He was such a sweet kid.

Still, the story will progress at different speeds on different levels. It's clear that going forward there needs to be more continuity, or at least the sense of continuity. When you guys read HC3 (hopefully this summer) you'll understand how hard it'll be to pull that off! 

- Alex