Filed under: News
Hey folks,
Work has progressed nicely for Seniority #1. Zed has nearly completed the initial layout sketches for the entire issue. It’s been a great process providing feedback to each other and seeing his take on the story ideas. It helps to have an artist who’s not only willing to do the work, but also wanting to put in the effort of adding his own ideas.
We’re excited to be arriving at this stage. Although this is at least the 4th or 5th major reworking of the Seniority story, it’s the first version that Zed and I have been able to really sink our teeth into. I could always find problems with the earlier versions, but I’m struggling to do so with the story as it sits. We’re hoping to have layouts done by the end of February so that the next stage can happen soon.
Joel
Filed under: News
After being battered around with a shovel, hacked apart with a chainsaw and pummeled into submission, Seniority is finally becoming the comic I wanted it to be. The characters have remained the same, but the plot has been completely renovated; everything from the conflict to the setting, to all the fun little nuances and twists has started from scratch.
If I had to put a version number on Seniority now, I’d say that I’m on version 5 or so. The artist, Zed Dimalanta, and I have been emailing over the past few months trying to work toward a project we can both be excited and proud of.
Seniority #1 will now focus on a flashback story. It stands alone as an exciting superhero action story, but also serves as a foundation for future tales.
I hope to post some sketches and page layouts in the new year. Huzzah!
Joel Kleine
Filed under: News
Production-wise, it’s been a rough couple of months for Seniority. The project is still on the go, but I can’t stop thinking of rewriting elements that were “in stone” only a little while ago. I guess this is why authors take breaks from their novels, in hopes of making them just that much better.
So, although the key story elements are staying the same, and the characters are intact there are setting elements and details that end up changing more than expected. Hopefully for the better.
Filed under: Characters
Eugene Reynolds (The Narrator) formed The Echelon in the late 1960s. The struggling novelist experienced a high-level of creativity while writing a series of adventure stories. When he recognized the up-and-coming business tycoon Arthur Gartner (Magnate) as the lead character in one story, he knew that a force greater than simple inspiration was at work. The story he produced entailed a band of heroes coming together to fend off a hoard of supernatural beings. The characters, including Magnate, were needing to come to the aid of another hero, named the Successor. Eugene began contacting other ‘characters’ from his early stories. This group formed The Echelon: Magnate, Doc Tectonic, Adrenaline, and Successor.
After many successful years, The Narrator disbanded The Echelon in the mid-90s. He began to experience the onset of writer’s block and didn’t wish to bring harm to The Echelon members through inaccurate stories. One of his final premonitions from that time was far more cryptic than any others before – all Eugene could decipher was that a hero would die, something he had never predicted in the previous years of working with The Echelon. In his attempt to avoid this from becoming reality, Eugene and The Echelon disbanded.
Eugene has managed to keep his identity and abilities unknown to public, keeping him hidden from The Echelon’s rivals. In the first Seniority arc, “The Sinister Son”, Eugene is forced to choose between maintaining his own safety and rescueing another man from certain death.
-Joel Kleine, Seniority writer/creator
Filed under: News
“Seniority” is an upcoming indie superhero comic written by Joel Kleine with art by Zedric Dimalanta. The story brings back several core members of a veteran supergroup, The Echelon, long after retirement. “Seniority” is a character-driven series, focusing on developing personalities that compliment and conflict with the characters’ abilities and circumstances.
The beginning arc, “The Sinister Son”, is a six-issue story which gathers the members of The Echelon for the first time in twenty years. The legendary heroes are in various stages of retirement – working other jobs, getting into politics, and even homeless. Eugene Reynolds, the novel writer claravoyant called The Narrator, recognizes the foreshadowing in a recent batch of stories, leading toward fulfilling a dismal premonition he had so long ago. Can he bring The Echelon back together to dodge this impending future?
Be sure to check back often for news on Seniority’s progress. We will be posting character pics, profiles and sequentials.
-Joel Kleine, Seniority writer/creator
