The 'lost' cover for #21

 Gentlemen (and maybe even ladies), I present this limited edition comic cover for Betty Brant, the Sensational Spider-Girl #21... umm, a little late.

Issue #21 cover: click to enlarge!

Late last year, when for a brief shining moment I thought I was about to be able to start releasing issues regularly again (Ha!), I commissioned DeviantArt user Poserhobbit to create this custom image of Betty. As you might guess from his name, the image was created using Poser 3D.

Poserhobbit was very helpful in letting me get exactly the pose and style of image I wanted, which was really a 'classic comic cover' look. This image is actually cropped a little from the original, which you can see here. I added the cover flash and so on.

And why didn't I post this along with issue #21...? Er, honestly, I just forgot!

New release: Spider-Girl, issue #22

Weeks have passed since Betty Brant's return to her own dimension, and to New York City. As she settles into her new life - one where she is no longer a passive secretary at the Daily Bugle, but a reporter in her own right - new potential threats are appearing from unexpected quarters…

Issue #22: Illusory Enemies

Download from Maskingwriter (Yahoo! Group)

First of all, apologies for the completely unintended delay to the issue. First I had some major personal issues crop up in my life (now, thankfully, resolved), which threw me way off-kilter for a few weeks. Then when I finally got back to looking at the issue, I decided to... well, change the entire arc in a way that won't be obvious until it's actually over.

Suffice to say, this issue was a nightmare. Well, kind of. It wasn't that the issue itself was a nightmare, it was that the endless plotting, re-plotting, editing, re-editing and on and on and on... it just never seemed to end. To give you an idea, several of the sections in here were either conceived or first written in 2008. The bulk was written in 2009... but some pieces were finished, literally, today. (I can't count how many times I wrote and re-wrote that first scene, by the way. That was finally nailed a month ago.)

This is what happens when you let things stew for too long, people. You get more ideas and you think they're better than the initial ones, and then you try to cram everything in and it explodes in your face.

Anyway. I'm now pretty much happy with this issue and with the entire re-jigged arc. I had to make one major change which you probably won't even notice, but when the whole thing is told, hopefully you'll go "Ahhh, I missed that, but there it was, all along." And yeah, sometimes when I've been tearing out my hair over this, I do wonder if anyone cares! So tell me you do!!

To recap on the overall arc again; right now it's probably going to finish in issue #25, it might stretch to #26... I'm not too sure. Issue #23 is done bar some rewriting to accommodate the changes mentioned above. #24 is also pretty much done. #25 is plotted, loosely. I'll probably feel comfortable releasing #23 inside a couple of weeks; at the end of that issue the whole plot takes a serious right-turn....

As I said before... after that we might go on a semi-permanent series hiatus, but never say never. I have some very interesting stuff warming up here, and keep making notes on post-arc stuff... it might just be too fun to ignore. But who knows.

If you've not read the rest of the series I highly recommend you try it via Maskingwriter (membership required). Just like real Marvel Comics I now have far too much continuity for you to jump in 'new'... but I expect you'll enjoy the ride.

And if you do enjoy, please do leave a comment below, and click on an ad - thank you!