I’ve got a few of these thumbnail posts lined up to pass the time while I work on the next issue. Here’s the first batch!

Bonus features begin today with a look at the development of Issue No. 10!

Our epic tale concludes in today’s page! Have a read, then come back for the all-important…

Issue No. 10 Cover Poll!

I skipped the cover poll for Issue No. 9 because I had basically one idea that I thought would work, so I just went with that one. But now we’re back at the polls, and I’ve got a few choices for you!

First up, for the symbolism enthusiasts, we have Crushing Grip.

As we can see, this option attempts to symbolically portray the fight against the Eldritch Flame with Rosary fighting to keep from being crushed in a gigantic skeletal hand.

Next up, Yellow Attacks!

Yellow — The Blade — attacks the viewer while holding the unconscious Human Comet in his other hand. And in the background, if I can fit it in, I’d put a few small pieces of some of our heroes fighting  Purple and Gray. Also, that’s a basic cityscape down below.

Do you prefer collage? Then you’ll probably like Three Heads.

There’s this style of cover I see occasionally where the artist just assembles various images in an interesting fashion. Kind of like a movie poster, actually. Anyway, this idea is to have Jeremiah, Rosary, and Dawn looking respectively pensive, determined, and focused (Dawn is welding something). Probably a line of fire up top fading into black down below.

All right. That’s not enough? Perhaps you want something ridiculous to accompany this frankly ridiculously long issue? I give you… Slightly More Expensive Wraparound!

Before I get into the description on this one, an explanation. This would be a “wraparound” cover — meaning it is one picture across both the front and back covers. You’ll only see the right side when it’s fully folded, but you could unfold it to see the whole thing. It is also slightly more expensive to print, as Ka-Blam gives a discount if you let them print an advertisement on the back cover (which is obviously not possible if there’s art there). That said, it’s gonna be something like an extra 50-75 cents per copy when printed, but maybe worth it?

Okay, so, the actual description here: On the right side (front cover), some of our heroes are flying up and to the left (hopefully a bit more toward the screen than in the thumbnail drawing). There’s a cityscape in the background at the bottom of the page.

On the left side (back cover), Gray, Yellow, and Purple fly toward our heroes. It’s the moment before a monumental clash!

Okay, those are the choices, get to voting!

You’ve got until December 19, 2019 at 6:00 p.m. PST to vote! Get to it!

What’s Next for The Ripper Effect?

Okay, the story is wrapped up and all and … wait, we don’t know who exactly survived? And the Brand is Friedrich’s son, and Jeremiah is in jail, and what about that shadowy guy that keeps trying to destroy OmegaTech?

Yes, there’s more to come. Next issue is going to be a bit less action, and considerably shorter, as Issue No. 10 almost killed me. What it successfully killed was my buffer (well, not without help) so as of the reading of this … buffer is zero. Yikes!

I’ve been taking some time to retool and reevaluate the comic. We’re going to pick up for an aftermath issue and I’ve got some fun things in store for the next few issues. But first I need to actually draw said issues…

Also, if you’re wondering where your printed copies of issues 7, 8, and 9 are, well, I had to recolor a significant portion of 7 and 8, and by the time I was done it just didn’t make sense to get them printed up separately. I’ll be doing a print run soon!

Here’s my current plan for all things Ripper Effect:

• Design some new characters (and redesign some existing ones). This is already in progress.
• Finish the cover, and maybe draw an Ask Dawn page. Then I can get this monster off to the printer for a proof along with a proof of Issue No. 9.
• Once I’ve got those two issues in a state I’m satisfied with printing-wise, I’ll start taking print orders for all four outstanding issues, with a target ship date of February.
• Coincidentally, I’m expecting this issue to take me until February to finish. Once I’ve got Issue 11 ready to go, I’ll start posting pages again.
• In the meantime, I’ll be posting special features periodically (weekly or biweekly) but mostly those will be thumbnail editions unless someone has a suggestion. I’ve got one set of character designs ready, but otherwise I’ve exhausted much of my special feature material!

The press conference continues in today’s page.

Jeremiah begins his press conference in today’s page…