I don't recall if I have spoke much about my grueling process for Hatman & Indigo Issue 50 yet. I believe years ago I may have posted about the 50 covers (one of which is to the right by Tilian Wagner and has nothing to do with the story whatsoever!) we wanted to have for it. However, I have had a script for quite some time now that just didn't feel right. I have had several of the 3twins staff (both past and present) look over it and offer suggestions on how to fix it. Nothing seemed to give it the tone I wanted and I kept adding to it and changing parts. That is until very recently it dawned on me that there were only a couple core things that needed to happen for the following story arc and all the rest was what was wrong with the story.Last week I printed out the latest version of the script and went at it with colored markers to help figure out what to keep and what to toss. This was a new process for me since I generally keep all of my work in the digital realm. However, I needed to have something tangible to chop up and dissect. After that I had an idea of how to fix it but it wasn't quite ready, so I sat on it.
I sat on the idea until yesterday when I completely re-wrote the script only keeping a few lines at the very beginning. The new story is very trim and to the point. I wanted a stand alone issue that marks a turning point in the way we tell Hatman stories for the foreseeable future and the new script finally achieves that!
I have been very tight lipped about the story of issue 50 and honestly the essence of what was always there is still there, but I wanted to keep it a secret. But, we are going to slowly start offering some new information, sort of back story to the issue. Those of you who recall our experiment in a blog-based adventure last Halloween will understand what I am talking about, and the most faithful of you will realize that even though we have the script finally, the finished product could still be a ways off. One of the things I want to do with this is offer fully hand-painted backgrounds. This will possibly be a time consuming process and will change the way we create the story, but Alex Harvey has indicated that she is very interested in providing those.
I can't say when issue 50 will be published on 3twins.net, but I do promise in the coming months we will get you ready to experience a shift in Hatman and Indigo's life that will reverberate beyond issue 50 for quite some time!
Until next time,
Jason
