Chapter 2
- Alpha of the North: This FINALLY going to be finished this year. I have 7 pages left to ink and I’ve been chipping away at it by doing a panel or 2 or 3 a day. I’m also flatting at the same time. Flats are half done. I’m still hoping for a July release of this comic. I could very well have this whole comic coloured by Easter. Expect to see a lot of shameless promotion starting in April. Alpha of the North is going to be available as a digital download and a small print run.
- Chapter 2: The other thing I’ve been chipping away at! This chapter kept ballooning because I had to introduce some plot threads. 70% of the pencils are done. I need to keep plugging away lest I outpace myself (not fun). It’s surprising how many pages you can get finished by drawing a couple panels every lunch. Some people are probably like “no duh” but this is extremely novel to me because pacing myself is not normal for me.
- Chapter 3: I’ve started thumbnailing but I’m shelving that til I’m done Alpha of the North and Chapter 2 pencils. This will probably be a much shorter chapter than #2 and I HOPE future chapters are around 50 pages. But only time will tell once I’ve finished thumbs.
- Chapters 4+: I’m currently editing chapters 4 and 5 and hoping to finalize chapter 4’s script by the summer. Writing is one thing I need to start prioritizing. I have most of the story roughed out, but haven’t started scripting chapter 6 or later. I recently re-read my notes and so many of my ideas changed.
- Minor Niner: I’m going to start drawing this for June Nanomango and continue in November. 15 pages at a time. It’ll be the 2024 side comic.
- Other Comics?: New side comics are in the works. One will be a shorter story, the other two are big stories. They may be released in volumes.
Thanks for reading the Minor Niner preview! I'll know an exact release date this August. I'm hoping to have it coincide with the actual season this comic takes place in.
Comic notes:
- Bon Echo is a real provincial park! The Group of Seven liked painting Mazinaw Rock. I drove up to the park a couple years ago to get a bunch of photos and video for reference and to use as promo materials. The comic doesn't quite capture the scale of the cliffs. I grew up near-ish so we went here a lot as kids.
- October 19th at Bon Echo probably wouldn't be as colourful as this or as warm. Usually all the leaves are off the trees but doing the fall colours looks prettier than all grey everything.
This is the origin story of the origin story! How did the pirates become friends? What was Ivanhoe like in school? After getting expelled and denied entrance to a private high school, Ivanhoe Scott gets sent to Black River Secondary where he meets his future best friends who later become the π-rates. Ivanhoe is approached by an older student named Kingston, who convinces him to dig up some "treasure" buried and abandoned by some gangsters. What follows is the camping trip from hell...
Minor Niner releases September 2025 as a digital download or print edition. The comic is 48 pages long.