Three comic creators are about to produce a unique comic event by drawing two comic books from one script. The concept was born when Antarctic Press publisher, writer/artist Ben Dunn hooked up with writer Ron Fortier at a comic con in Loveland, Colorado. Fortier proposed writing a brand new Crimson Nun mini-series based on the character Dunn created in the late 80s. Dunn liked the idea and gave Fortier the green light to proceed. Fortier then recruited artist Jesse Thomas to draw and color the series with artist Mike Belcher doing the lettering. Issue # 1 is set to premiere next month.
While Fortier was busy writing that first issue, Dunn suggested they do an issue of his Tomorrow Girl together wherein she would team up with Mr. Jigsaw – Man of a Thousand Parts. Jiggy, as he’s often referred to by fans, was created by Fortier and artist Gary Kato over forty years ago for Charlton Comics. Since then, his adventures have continued in an ongoing series produced by Rob Davis’ Redbud Studio by the same creators. Fortier liked Dunn’s idea and went ahead and wrote a 24-page one-shot adventure called “Time Quakes.” During its writing, he started thinking about how it might be possible to get Kato involved with the project. Initially, his idea was to have Dunn draw the comic with Kato doing the cover.
Shorty before sending Dunn the finished script, Fortier had an altogether different and radical idea. What if he gave the script to both Dunn and Kato to draw? The version Kato would draw would then be published as the next issue in their Redbud Studio series. While the comic Dunn embellished would, as planned, be published by Antarctic Press. In the end, there would exist two different comics based on the exact same script. The more Fortier entertained the idea, the more he fancied it. “I’d never heard of anyone ever doing this before,” he said recently. “The thought that fans would be able to purchase both comics and then compare them, page for page would be fantastic. They could see where the two artists’ approaches were similar and at the same time where they were different.”
Most comic readers are aware that each graphic artist has his or her own unique style of drawing. Now they would be able to appreciate that in reality.
Fortier first approached Kato who signed on immediately and is now finishing his comic. Dunn, on the other hand, needed a little more clarification as to who would be doing what. After a few e-mail exchanges, he understood the concept and agreed to join in the fun. He has yet to decide where his comic will appear after he’s finished drawing it. “What all three of us, me, Ben, and Gary, have in common,” Fortier concludes, “is our love of comics and keeping the fun in them. That’s why we’re all really excited about this project. We hope our fans will be as well.”
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