Anthony and I had a meeting today. It went well. We had decided two weeks ago to scrub the previous art and go in a whole new direction, a more "animated" direction. That doesn't me going in a Timm way, but instead going for a more simplistic yet dynamic direction/style.
About 3 days ago I started to have doubts and began second guessing myself.
Well after seeing all 10 characters pencil sketches (which I will start previewing here and on various boards tonight or tomorrow), of which 6 were done at the table, I can say that this was the smartest choice we made!
Zenith Comics will now have a definite style and look to it which is a really awesome thing. I say this because for me "branding" has become a very important process for me. I recognize the strength and the power of it and I look forward to having the Zenith "shield" become something of an association with quality.
Dan House is hard at work on a new front page image for the website as well, which is based on a classic comic cover and will be sure fun.
Also another decision I came to today is this. While I will be selling villain roster books, I am going to be giving away heroes for free on the website. Why? Well with players in your games already playing heroes, what you would need more than MORE heroes would be a hole in the head. Villains? Sure. Absolutely, but to try and sell hero books doesn't sit right with me.
Oh and I will be giving them in BASH, ICONS and M&M3rd variants, which eventually all the villain roster books will be released in as well.
The also I am happy to announce a new member of the Zenith Comics family, Jim Stoner! Jim has an understanding of building characters that just blows my mind. As such he has come on-board to the stat blocks for the villains to be in "Zenith Comics Presents: Public Enemies Volume 1", and I hope to keep him for all future volumes as well.
Beyond that my end of it all, the writing, is back on track and I am shooting for a mid-July release of the first book, end of August at the latest.
Oh and the first issue of "Zenith Comics Presents: The Podcast!" got a great response with over 300 downloads! Issue 2 (interview with Steven Long of HERO games) is in production now and have set a date for the Issue 3 interview with Jeff Grubb.
It's shaping up to be a very Zenith summer!
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I always wondered why Superhero gaming books bothered with hero characters in settings. That should be left blank for the PCs to fill in. Well done.
ReplyDeleteThanks very much mate. It made sense to me, glad to see someone agrees.
ReplyDeleteMaybe include suggestions for customizing the villains to PCs, i.e. good foe for technology based tank, etc.
ReplyDeleteMakes a lot of sense - if you populate a setting with pre-made heroes, especially if they are very powerful, the PCs could easily feel redundant and wonder why they're bothering in the first place. Good call!
ReplyDeleteOh, and keep up the great work with the podcast :D
Thanks guys :)
ReplyDeleteWith each villain I will be including 3 "hooks" for how to use them in your game, though I like your idea Wooly, so I might add that in too. :)
Next issue of the podcast should be out next week if all goes well.
Stay tuned!
Very nice work! looking forward to the Villain books.
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