Fantastic Comics Grand Opening in Berkeley, CA!

Hey folks,

I've come out of another long silence to just do a quick public service announcement for comic lovers in Northern California. My good friend Jeff Carter and his brother Uel Carter are having the grand opening for their new comic book store, Fantastic Comics, in Berkeley, CA on Sunday, May 1st. I've just come back from a small private party that they threw for their friends, neighbors, and business partners and I'm happy to report that the store is looking great!

Fantastic Comics is opening at the exact location of the old Comic Relief store and it was because of Jeff and Uel (who was a long time employee of Comic Relief), that Genevieve and I were able to do a fun signing to promote Islands in the Sky at both the store on Free Comics Day 2009 and at the Comic Relief booth at Comic-Con 2009. They are also the reason why we were able to get our little book on the shelves of Comic Relief!

Fantastic Comics is located at:

2026 Shattuck Ave.
Berkeley, CA 94704

If you live in the area, drop by sometime and say, "Hi!" If you've been looking for a great comic store that you can trust and rely on, why not start a pull list with Fantastic Comics? Remember, customers are the ones who help dictate what the store carries...so make your voice heard!

- Joseph

That's Uel on the left and Jeff on the right...Congratulations, guys!

Project IITS Update

Hey folks,

I promised I'd give an update with a few details on the Project IITS, uh...project. The game stars Kayli, of course, and while it was the intent to feature her prominently for the game, I'm a great believer in allowing gamers to create their own persona within the world we want them to spend a great deal of time in. The scope of the project has scaled back and forth a few times but we needed a Kayli character in any version. For the game, I felt a smaller, cuter Kayli was more appropriate so we needed to re-imagine her a bit to fit into the game world. Below is the dynamite little package that we came up with:


While our readers will surely recognize Genevieve's distinct touch and style, I needed someone to create Kayli in 3D for the game. I was lucky enough to catch a former co-worker of mine, Mark Kobrin, in between gigs (he is now in NZ working at WETA Digital, no less) and he banged out a great 3D Kayli for me. Here's the result:


Given that Genevieve has been so busy, I've had to look elsewhere for some help in doing some concepts for environments that will later be turned into digital versions. My friend and former co-worker, Brandon Luyen (who is an instructor at the Academy of Art University in S.F.), suggested that a former student of his might be a good fit for the general style of the game and I contracted Cecilia Wong to do a few pieces for Project IITS...here is a re-imagined "Gordo's Island" that will be one of the set pieces for the game:


Hope y'all enjoyed this tiny taste of the Project IITS game. Thanks again to all our faithful readers for continuing to believe in IITS, supporting Genevieve and I, and spreading the word.

- Joseph

Long Time No Post!

Hey Folks,

Sorry for the extended silence, I feel bad for keeping everybody in the dark for so long but there really hasn't been a lot going on with Islands in the Sky for awhile. First the bad news, Genevieve and I have no IITS related shows currently planned for 2011. We're currently taking a bit of a break from the comic project but are collaborating on a few other smaller projects here and there...if we feel there is potential interest among our IITS readership regarding these other projects, we'll post the info here.

The good news is, neither of us have given up on IITS...but it's just a matter of the planets aligning correctly for Genevieve and I to find the time to get back to the comic. In regards to the comic, we were originally going to do a direct sequel to the first issue we put out but decided to reboot the series midway through. We're simply not capable of putting out a regular book so we've decided to put out a "one shot" IITS graphic novel that will give readers a complete story. Rebooting the story requires quite a bit of work in terms of figuring out what format we want the book to be and most importantly, coming up with a great story from start to finish. This is all on me and it will take awhile for me to put together the original storyboards for the book. I think the first step is to contact some printers about the technical aspects of the book type we want but I've been putting that off. When there is progress on the storyboards...I'll let everyone know here.

The other good news is that I'm currently working on an indie video game project that I've codenamed: Project IITS. As some of you may know, Islands in the Sky started off as a video game idea that was a natural evolution of game ideas that, as a game designer, I've developed over the course of several years. Now, I know a video game isn't of much interest to those of you simply wanting more of the comic but I love comics AND video games and I'm doing my best to be true to the feel of the IITS world and its characters. This post is already getting TLDR so I'll save some of the details about the game that I can share in the next post...probably a few days from now.

For all of you who still hold out hope that we're nearing the completion of a second book, thank you for keeping up the faith...we will do our best not to let you down and want to make sure that the IITS graphic novel will meet and exceed all your expectations.

- Joseph

Kayli Fanart!

Hey Folks,

Lane Terasaki, a long time follower of our comic and artist himself, recently sent us a piece he did of Kayli that Genevieve and I really dig. We're putting it up here for the rest of you to check out. Check out more of Lane's art at his Deviant Art site! Thanks again, Lane!

Ever notice that wherever Kayli goes, it's always very cold?

- Joseph

Thanks for Another Great APE!

Hey Everyone,

These shows really leave me exhausted so I'm going to konk out for a little bit after this post but I just wanted to thank all the people who came by to check out our book...we sold a whole bunch more than we expected. We also sold a bunch of Kayli Boob Mousepads and the APE attendees have spoken! Based on overall sales...Sweet is better than Savory. =)

Super special thanks to our awesome table neighbors, Anthony, Debbie, Sherwin, Yen, and Mei Mei. More super special thanks go to Emily Martin at Megamoth for always being so supportive of us and Cliff at Deleter for coming by and demoing a bunch of Neopiko pens for us.

Finally, to all our new readers and past readers who came by with pitchforks and torches demanding the next book...thanks for being patient with Genevieve and I and we promise we'll do our best to deliver.

P.S. We were pretty slack this year on the picture taking of our customers...probably only getting about 33% of everyone but once Genevieve sends me the pics, I'll put them up here!

UPDATE: I put up the pics...sorry to all the folks we failed to snap a picture of...just based on how many mousepads and magnet sets we sold, I know we musta missed a bunch of you. Oh well, next time! =)

- Joseph

It's quiet...TOO quiet.

Hey IITS Readers,

Sorry for the looooooong silence. Genevieve has been very busy at work and I've been busy working on my own thing. Well, it totally snuck up on us but APE is here (this Saturday and Sunday) and we're, yeah...I think we're ready. Comics, check. Prints, check. Kayli Boob Mousepads, check and check. Yep, we're ready! Wish us luck at the show and if you're from the Bay Area, come up and see us!

- Joseph

IITS at APE 2010!

Hey folks,

Just a quick note to let you all know we'll be at the Alternative Press Expo 2010 (aka APE) at the Concourse venue in San Francisco, October 16th and 17th. APE is a very chill show that lots of local creators attend and table at so if you'd like a chance to talk with your favorite writers or artists in the local SF indie scene, APE is a good show to do it at. San Francisco is a hop, skip, and a jump away for both Genevieve and I so we will be there to hang out with folks and have a good time. If you're in the Bay Area, come by and see us at APE!

- Joseph