Countdown

We’ve gone through the printed proof and we are now about to make the final orders for fulfillment of the graphic novel, Darkness Dies – Faces of the Cardinal! When Eric Tamburino told me about the Cardinal over a year ago, I added him to our growing roster of characters in the Hero Shack universe based on his middle school drawings. The character was a little vague with just an outline of what his abilities were. While Eric has a complete story for the Cardinal, the Cardinal of Justice kind of rose out of my insane imagination trying to work his story into mine.

What we ended up with bears little resemblance to the original story, however, the heart of the Cardinal is consistent and true. He is a powerful man for righteousness; he is a believer in Christ; he has ties to the Catholic Church; and he is super cool. When I started to develop my adaptation of the original Cardinal, his story was appearing in the back of the Great Cyclopian comics. After just a few inserts, I decided to focus in on the story and created a single title to explain his origin. It would be about 60 pages… 80 pages… 120… finally I was at 216 pages and finished.

It has taken a year to get here. My schedule is so influenced by the making of the book that I am still trying to re-adjust back into a more normal cycle. But 2026 is full of potential. With everything I’ve learned over this year is going to blaze in the next issue of the Great Cyclopian, and I can’t wait!