As some of you may know, I’ve done 11 volumes of Jane’s World. (Count ‘em, 11!) I love these characters, especially Jane. She’s helped me through breakups and boredom and loneliness and many sleepless nights. My cartoonist pal, Terry Moore and I have often talked about how great characters are a gift. And once you find them you want to keep them in your life. I definitely want to keep Jane in mine!
I’ve been doing comics and graphic novels for forever so I thought it might be fun to mix it up and write about Jane and her crew in the form of a novel. I still plan to include a few comic illustrations in the book, but otherwise it will be a traditional novel. The book will be released in June 2016, by Bold Strokes Books. Stay tuned!
To commemorate my new adventure with Jane, I thought it would be nice to share the news with a sneak peek at the novel’s finished cover image and a refresh of my website. (I have Celina De Leon to thank for my site’s new look. Thanks, Celina!)
I sketched and inked this image, and then sent it along to my friend, Brian Miller so that he could work his color magic. We tried one less traditional approach where the woman in the foreground (Natasha) is all in blue. But I wanted her to be warmer, so we ended up with the final piece having more warm tones. Then Brian added a cool “weathered” texture for effect.
As this cover implies, once again, Jane is way in over her head. She’s been laid off from her newspaper job. But thanks to everyone who participated in the fun storyline contest I held, Jane decides to take a position at the local library. She’s quietly going about her daily life when she receives a panicked call from her roommate, Ethan. It seems her PayBuddy account has been hacked and she’s accidentally purchased a mail-order bride. Natasha, aka, the mail-order bride, shows up unexpectedly at her house with rolling luggage. Let the mayhem begin!
Jane's World 