EDIT – maybe I should give some additional info on my end. Possibly I left it too open ended. See some thoughts below.

• Definitely some kind of special Marooned story that is exclusive to the book. Last year it was “Evasive Maneuvers,” the origin story of John and Asimov. (Did you miss that?) That was an 11-page story. I’m hoping to do something longer this time, say 20-30 pages. An idea I just thought of tonight, it could be an extended story of Ril and Asimov – a full blown “Commander and Scout” adventure. That could be really fun.
• I’m 50-50 on the pinups. I’m not sure how much people like them, or value them. They can be tricky to secure, even though I have gotten them in the past. I used up a lot of favors doing that But I would say that there will be at least a couple for sure.
• I’m not sure how much people like the “development art” stuff. I’ve used up a lot of that in the last two books anyway. But I could probably find a few things if there was a desire to see it.
• I really got a kick out of the Mars Wars “Sunday Comics” features, the 1-2 page Marooned comics by various artists. Again, not sure I could pull that off again. Thoughts?
• It’s possible I could have another artist do a Marooned story. Out of Orbit had “Payload” by Steve Ogden, which I think was well received. The trick is to find a willing artist who is good enough to pull it off.

It’s early yet, we are still in the thick of this current story (really, it’s just getting going), but I am already thinking and beginning to plan for the next Marooned book. Why so early? I’ve learned from doing the two previous books how much work is involved. Secondly, I want to do something different, something cool – something everyone who is a real fan of the strip will want to have.

In order to do that, I really need your input. And not just from the hard-core fans (of course, I want to hear from you too!) but also you quiet folks that don’t say much, but are just as avid readers as the more vocal fans. When I took the orders for the first two books, I got orders from people I had never heard of before. That’s great, of course, but you should make your voice heard too!

I’ve seen some really cool books lately, and it makes me want to do something other than the CreateSpace thing. Those books are fine, and I’ll do one if that’s the only alternative, but I just feel like it’s time to do something cool. Hopefully, you feel the same. Whether I have enough readership for this or not, time will tell.

I don’t want to say too much about my ideas yet, but in general terms, I’d like to do something that is traditionally printed to get a high quality result. Possibly hard cover, something where you can open it and the book spreads out. As far as content goes, I have ideas, but I want to hear from you first.

The one thing I’ll say about content, is that I’d like to revisit the whole run, from #1 to the finish of this story. I’d like to fill in some gaps, make some additions (and maybe subtractions) fix a few errors, and so forth.

But for now, I want YOU to tell me what you would want in a Marooned book. You can suggest anything from content to format, to colors, to special stuff – whatever is on your mind. And please, I’m begging you silent types – BEGGING YOU – if you are at all interested in a book, make your voice heard! Use a fake name and e-mail, I don’t care. Without everyone’s input, it’s going to be hard to give you what you all want.

So let’s hear it!

I had mentioned I wasn’t happy about the price of the book (and judging from the low number of orders, neither were you), so I took a hard look at everything to see what I could do. Turns out there were a few things I could do to get the price under $20 – $19.50 to be exact. Hopefully this makes it an easier choice to get yourself a copy. What did I do?

• I removed all profit from the price of the book. Honestly right now this comic isn’t about making money for me. I’m more interested in getting new readers and having a great relationship with my current readers. And I want you to be able to have a book!
• Removed some expenses from the book cost. I found some money in my budget to pay for ancillary expenses for the book (like printing proofs). The sale of the Asimov plush last week helped here.
• Eating the PayPal fees. I’ll just absorb any PayPal fees associated with the book.

These three things allowed me to reduce the price of the book by $5 for everyone. Assuming I get a handful of Artist Edition orders, I should break even with the printing, and really that’s all I want right now. If you’re of a mind to be extra supportive, ordering the Artist Edition is the best way to do that.

As always, thank you for your support!

PRE-ORDER

Pre-Order Mars Wars – Standard Edition – US – $19.50 + $7.50 Shipping

Pre-Order Mars Wars – Artist Edition – US – $24.50 + $7.50 Shipping

Indicate Character for Sketch

Pre-Order Mars Wars – International Edition – $19.50 + $17.75 Shipping

Indicate Character for Sketch

TO PRE-ORDER

Pre-Order is open from November 17th (today) until November 30th.

Quick note on Shipping

This year the book is big… which means heavy… and I really didn’t think about what that would mean. Domestically, you’ll pay $7.50 for priority mail – which is a flat rate I’m using for everyone. Some will pay a bit more, some less. I hope this is okay, but it’s the best I can do with PayPal.

Internationally, the shipping is nuts. It’s going to be $17.75 to ship outside the U.S. I wish I could reduce that, but I can’t. I will offer a free character sketch for any Int’l orders. Not much else I can do.

Domestically, if you’d like to have it sent Media Mail, I can do that. Use the contact form to make that request, and I will send you a PayPal money request. In that case, the shipping is $2.75. Otherwise, use the links below.

PRE-ORDER

Pre-Order Mars Wars – Standard Edition – US – $19.50 + $7.50 Shipping

Pre-Order Mars Wars – Artist Edition – US – $24.50 + $7.50 Shipping

Indicate Character for Sketch

Pre-Order Mars Wars – International Edition – $19.50 + $17.75 Shipping

Indicate Character for Sketch

Product Details

Paperback: 172 pages
Dimensions: 9 x 9 inches
Standard Edition
Signed and Numbered
Artist Edition
Includes Character Sketch, also Signed and Numbered
Quantities WILL be limited! – Preorder will be available and will be the only way you can guarantee yourself a copy.
40 PAGES of bonus content that will not be available online – ever!

PRE-ORDER

Pre-Order Mars Wars – Standard Edition – US – $24.99 + $7.50 Shipping

Pre-Order Mars Wars – Artist Edition – US – $29.99 + $7.50 Shipping

Indicate Character for Sketch

Pre-Order Mars Wars – International Edition – $25.99 + $17.75 Shipping

Indicate Character for Sketch

A little progress update on the cover. I had to adjust Lian’s pose, she was a bit wonky. I think this is better. If you didn’t see yesterday’s post, I finished up Evasive Maneuvers last night. The page count on the book looks to be now a bit over 170. Yikes! Lots of bonus content for you.

I’m waiting on a couple last guest pieces for the Sunday Comics section (the Marooned guest stories.) I have to finish the Mission log and the missing Episode covers, and then we’ll be about there.

Whew! The 11-page story of John and Asimov’s origin, Evasive Maneuvers is complete! I’m pretty happy with how it came out. I’ll have to give it a once over to check for errors and such, but it’s basically done. That’s a big task out of the way for the book. Next week I’ll toss a couple preview pages at you.

Most of the guest work has come in, and the mission log is also more than half done. As you can see by the book progress widget, things are getting closer to completion. The book is starting to take shape, and I feel like it’s going to be a good one.

So when this came, like I said, blown away. And Eddie’s “Sunday Comics” title inspired me to title the whole comic guest art section by that name, with his strip leading it off. As amazing as this two panel preview is, you’ve just got to see the whole page! Not only did Eddie nail the art (wow) but the writing is spot-on for both Peanuts and Marooned.

This is going up framed in my house. It will always be one of my favorite pieces. So here you go – click the image to get the full size preview – you need to see it in all its’ glory!

Mars Wars is starting to really take shape now, so here’s an update on what’s going on with my progress and the book content. As you may have already seen, I’ve got a rough of the cover. All the regular strips (127 of them!) have been placed in the book and I’ve gotten a bit more than halfway through the Mission Log (creator commentary) on them.

Good progress is being made with the guest Marooned comics. I’ve got about half of them delivered, and everyone else is making good progress. I have 2 new additions to the list. Denver Brubaker from Tales of a Checkered Man! (a comic I’ve talked about before and love) has come on board with a really fun 2-page story (I just approved the script yesterday). And Scott King’s team that does the comic “Holiday Wars” has also jumped in with a interesting Lian script. So the guest spots are all filled. See the list below for the whole shebang.

I have to fill in the episode title pages that I haven’t done yet. I got a start on that yesterday. Yesterday I also finished penciling and inking page 9 of Evasive Maneuvers, as well as coloring page 8. It’s coming along nicely and should be finished soon. I think you’re going to like the story and seeing John and Asimov’s first encounter.

This weekend I plan on digging through sketchbooks and artwork to put stuff together for the vault material (development art). Once I have most, if not all, of the guest comics in, I’ll make one long blog post with a preview from ALL of them

And yes, just like last year, there will be a FREE preview of the book in PDF form.

Looks like there will be over 40+ pages of bonus content this year!

Quick Note: there are bids on the two pieces of original artwork. You have about a day or so to get in on the action if you are interested.

Mars Wars Updated Book Content

• Comic strips #101 – #228, which includes Episodes 5 (The Listener) through 8 (Brains From Another Planet), as well as the short story (Shapes of Things) – the one about the Gooble.
• “Evasive Maneuvers” by me. This is the story of how John and Asimov met and ended up working together. 11 full color pages.
• “The Tallest Robot”, the 9-page short story which I published for the SPACE show earlier this year.
• A 2-page Marooned short by Steve Ogden (of Moon Town fame of course) titled “Thanks for Nothing.”
• A 2-page Marooned short by Christopher Baldwin of Spacetrawler (as well as Little Dee, Bruno and MAD magazine!)
• A 1-page Marooned short by Mike Maihack of Cleopatra in Space!
• (NEW!)A 2-page Marooned short by Denver Brubaker of Tales of a Checkered Man!
• (NEW!)A 2-page (I think) Marooned short by Scott King’s team from “Holiday Wars”
• Something unique and special from the amazing Eddie Pittman of Red’s Planet – although I don’t know what it is yet! (But if Eddie says it’s special and different, you can bet it will be!)
• A Marooned short from Michael Regina, most recently of Kevin and the Light of Destiny.
• Either a Marooned short or pinup art from Josh Ulrich, most recently of Jackie Rose
• Some great illustration work from Bob Rissetto (an artist friend of mine at work, he did the Lian pinups in book 1) and Ramón Pérez of Kukuburi, and probably something from my daughter Amanda again (and she is getting darn good!)
• The 1-page John & Asimov comic I did awhile ago “click click” (which was briefly posted, but not now online).
• The Mission Log, my creator commentary on all the strips on each page, just like book 1.
• Various pieces of development art and illustration that I’ve done over the past year. Still sorting through exactly what that will be.

A couple quick things for you Martians out there. First, I wanted to include a Reader Mail page in the next book. So I’ve placed a big button with an envelope in the right sidebar (below the subscription buttons) that links to the contact page. If you’ve got a question about Marooned (or me) you want answered, send it over and it may end up in the book. If I get too many questions, I’ll answer anything I don’t use in the book in the blog.

Secondly, it’s highly unlikely there will be a comic tomorrow. I’m bummed about it, but – I’m not quite ready to draw Lian yet. For the last week or so I have been working on refining and tightening up her look. The big problem right now is consistency. I draw her better, but I need to nail down certain details. I’d just rather not rush to put something out there that will be less than acceptable to me.

It *might* come on Friday, but probably not. Expect to see Lian on Monday, and if she comes sooner, it will be a surprise for us all.