OK, I said I was going to try to start a blog– wait, scratch that.

I said I was going to start talking more about upcoming stuff, and I know a few of you are really excited about the possibility of more Horsemen stuff in the future. Believe me, nobody’s more excited by the prospect of seeing Horsemen… resurrected, than me. And when I get any new info, you’ll get the new info.

You might have noticed some Tweets I’ve been dropping about locking in artists for something. It’s kind of a secret thing, and it’s also more of a personal project that doesn’t have anything to do with Horsemen. It does feature the four titular characters (albeit in their human forms), but it’s a much more personal project, which will probably never see a commercial release. I will chat with the artists in the future about it, and maybe I’ll share some peeks at it when all is said and done.

I should probably keep detailed updates on this to a minimum, as it’s a) a secret, and b) not 100% locked in, yet. It’s a 6-7 artist project, and right now I have 3 artists dedicated. Really fantastic talent, thus far. No complaints at all.

On another personal front– I’d like to update every day, but I don’t want updates to be lame or lacking substance. So unless you want to see how my trip to Oregon is going, or how my bedroom looks now that I did a drastic re-painting job, it’ll be these every so often.

When I get back, the site should also change ever-so-slightly to reflect the new changes coming.

In an effort to keep things straight, figured I’d drop my Twitter thought process over here in a news post. Dig it.

I was looking over my vast array of blog posts and Tweets, just thinking about what my next phase is gonna be and I don’t want to let the franchise die (that’s kind of a joke at this point, but stay with me for a sec). Doesn’t mean I can’t do other stuff, but maybe Horsemen can help me in other ways.

So here’s the deal, Horskateers (both of you), I’m going to try other stuff, and put it all under the Horsemen banner. Would you CARE about other kinds of content, if it meant one day maybe Horsemen might come back? No concrete promises, but I have a story all planned out, just in case. Just need to find the right match for us. Meantime, blogs, production discussions, podcasts, art (both pro and fan), ideas, maybe a Twitter chat thing?

Would that appeal to you? It’d all be at horsemen-online.com, and you’d still get the archived strips. Just more text than before. If this appeals to you, drop me an @horsemenonline and let me know. No promises the content will be Horsemen-centric all the time, tho.

In the meantime, I’ll check out alternative site designs and toss in some blog postings I’ve kept to myself. Podcasts would probably be the first bit of new stuff I’d be excited to share. That’s it from me. I’m going to bed. I’m on Pacific time, this week! ‘Night.

Hey Horskateers. As we roll into the future, I thought it would be a nice idea to talk a little bit about the past. What? It’s Thursday? WHATEVER!

Anyway, I was watching Tim Burton’s Ed Wood on Tuesday, and it got me thinking. First off– what an awesome movie. Second, and probably more important, wow– what a delusional guy. And such charisma! The man convinced so many people to get so involved with his projects, which one could probably tell were complete and utter crap from the get-go. And yet, the man held enormous sway over the people he loved. His charisma and the loyalty of his loved ones (well, except his first wife, but nevermind that) kept him not only afloat, but inspired! I’m not sure if the scene of him meeting Orson Wells was true or not, but that sheer moment where our “hero” is meeting his idol, the man who made arguably “the best movie ever,” is sitting and giving advice to arguably the worst director ever (I say “arguably” because, well, Uwe Boll does have his own distinct style), is so bittersweet! We want our hero to succeed, but we know he’d probably do better in politics or teaching, rather than “making pictures.” Wells gives him the courage and inspiration he needs to be the worst he can be. He learns the absolute wrong message, and is bolstered by the love of a good woman, and the loyalty of good friends.

Naturally, it got me to thinking about me.

I’ve been working on Horsemen longer than I honestly care to admit. We’re here, now, into its third “issue,” you might say, and the art has really kept the story afloat. Sure, I guess the premise is interesting. But let me tell you two quick stories:

Horsemen was once an animated series proposal. We had scripts and production art and designs and outlines– the whole schebang. Even had a short animated treatment ready to go. No dialogue or sound effects, but the animation was there. I presented this very concept to probably more than a dozen TV networks and production companies. All of them said no. ALL OF THEM. One company said they loved the idea, but they never returned phone calls, and it never got anywhere past that meeting. I’d call that a no.

Mike and I got set up and ready to make Horsemen a comic book series. Pitched it to, once again, more than a dozen different companies. NOBODY wanted it. And you know what really blew about that? Not a single word of criticism. Nobody said why they didn’t want it. The most common thread of advice that was given, honestly, was them recommending a company that had already rejected it. “Oh man,” one editor would say, “I’m sure Image would love it.” This would, of course, be after being rejected by Image about four companies ago. Actually, one indy publisher liked Horsemen, but wanted me to sign over nearly all the rights, and sign a contract which gave them exclusive control to change the characters, concept, artist, writer, and even co-creator credit as they saw fit. Didn’t sit right with me, so I’d count that as a no, too.

So you can imagine that weird, familiar feeling I might have had when watching Ed Wood sink his own self-inflated ships simply by virtue of his having designed them. It’s a scary thought. People I know love Horsemen, and enjoy the story. Hell, you know I love it! But once in awhile, I’m wondering if I should just get back to taking the GRE’s and get that Masters in Administration my family keeps suggesting.

Self-doubt can be really inconvenient.

Sorry to end this on kind of a weird downer, but it’s been on my mind. I’m really looking forward to 2010 for some reason, and I hope this feeling was cathartic enough to kind of force me to re-evaluate the story and concept, and even my own involvement in this industry. Hopefully, if it works out that I’m not being a completely self-delusional wackjob, it’ll make for better reading for you.

Happy New Year, gang!

Horskateers, I wanted to send you all a hearty happy holidays during this season. This is the first Christmas/New Years we’ve spent together, and I have to admit– it’s been a really rewarding experience. Horsemen as a work has never looked better, and I even feel like my writing is improving as we push onward and upward. It might not be GOOD, per se, but it’s better. You’ve gotta give me that!

On a creative front, we’re FINALLY out of the DMV, and we’ve FINALLY gotten some women in the story.

Very few people know this, but I shot a movie back in 2005 and had two female protagonists. I loved writing them, and I love writing for female characters. The problem I found with introducing them in the humble beginnings of the Horsemen universe was that, quite simply, it is a rare woman that would voluntarily spend time with these clowns. Now we have the opportunity to explore just what kinds of people will willingly participate in these jackasses’ adventures. I know we have quite a few female fans, and I have to say– thank you. Thank you for proving some of our naysayers wrong by enjoying this the way it is.

We finally have a store! This might seem like either a greedy ploy to bilk money from readers, but my excitement comes from just having Horsemen-related material. I love additional content in my pop-culture, and I want to satisfy that person out there who thinks something like a Skull plushie or a Firefly schematic would look completely awesome in their office. It’s slow goings putting together stuff that looks and feels authentic, but I think it’s worth it.

And since you haven’t seen the comic where Love & Craft Coffee appears, don’t worry. Next week sometime you’ll be introduced to the store in the strip. I wrote it awhile ago, and I loved the idea of having a coffee mug with a logo for one of my universe-centric businesses on it.

Horsemen finally had an unprovoked review, and it wasn’t half bad! I’ll be honest– when I had to find out about the review and wasn’t contacted directly about it, I feared the worst. Not for Mike. I was afraid what would be said was exactly how it began– the art’s fantastic, but the story and writing are complete crap. As the review went on, I think the people involved who got it, stepped up to the plate. I am extremely grateful for that, and I took some of their advice, as well. (Speaking of which, I really need to update that Archive.)

Mike’s art gets better every day, and I do my best to remind him of that every opportunity I get. I’m sure it sounds disingenuous saying it this much, but I really do need to stress how appreciative I am of his work, his talent, and his input. You can watch the art get better without changing the tone or entirely changing the comic. It just… grows. And of course, Supernormal Step is a testament to the creative, talented dude he is.

I’d like to introduce more blogging into the site. I know that can get boring, but I hate the fact that all I can offer is the written word. It sucks that once a week everyone gets to see the comic, and then for the rest of the time the site is just a gateway to Monday. I’d like to schedule blog updates, so I’m going to do that from now on. I think I’ll start on Wednesdays and see how it goes. Every Monday you get the comic, and Wednesday I’ll post a blog about something somehow related to the comic. I’d like to encourage as much commenting as possible, so we can connect with each other. I want to directly say “thank you” to as many fans as I can, and really open up the lines of communication.

Got a question? Email me! sal@horsemen-online.com. Want to comment? Just do it! You will not be flamed. That’s not what I’m about.

Maybe the comic version, but not me.

‘Til later, Horskateers! Thank you!

Took us some time, but we finally managed to get this out there before the Holiday:

http://www.zazzle.com/crivelliman

If anyone knows how to change the shop’s URL name without re-creating the account, I’m all ears!