"I got a little sidetracked" said Han to Jabba, explaining his tardy payments. Well, I can say the same when it comes to my promised next webstrip.

It took a very long time to find a story I wanted to write. For reasons far too boring to get into, let's just say I have to really really like the concept behind my webstrip before I commit to it, since it is very much a labor of love. And that love has to spread over dozens of drawings, day in and day out, without much room for downtime.

Oh, I'm not complaining (for once!) -- it can be a very fun and very enriching experience on my end (I sincerely hope it's shared on your end), but the bottom line is that I really have to be in love with the story before I commit to it. The Greedo story taught me that lesson!

I was very hard pressed to find another short story to adapt the same way. While there are short stories I liked, none of them jumped out to me as being exciting concepts for webstrips adaptation. None of them seemed to work perfectly to the webstrip medium's strengths. So I broadened my search beyond short stories and found something...

I won't get into any details yet, but in 2006, I'll be starting a new daily webstrip. The first few weeks of it have been approved by LucasBooks (namely Sue Rostoni, who was very helpful in providing advice and support) and I've got the first 12 weeks of it scripted and will begin illustrating it this month. I just got back from the art supply store with my paper, so it is very much becoming a reality.

I may offer some tidbits from time to time in this blog, if anyone is interested. But I will drop the tentatively approved series title here:

Star Wars: Rookies

Wish me luck!

ph