One Port in a Storm. . .

I've been sending invites out to writers inviting them to join a publishing venture similar to what Image did many years ago, a single label for writers get work under.

Like Image, everything will be creator owned and the rights split between the creative teams. The publisher will only be compensated for the cost of printing, everything else is for the creators. Right now, writers have to shop books to different publishers. As an example of what I want to avoid, let's use Warren Ellis, one of the best writers in the business. He currently has books out from SEVEN different publishers. Ignoring the corporate work for hire, this is way too many. Imagine if you could have gotten all his books directly from him under one imprint?

We won't be making anything off the writer's work, nor we will be paying anyone. Everything will be a back-end split between the creative team. If we get big enough to be spending our days on books we might have to charge a small fee, but we're not looking to make money. Where is the profit in going with a publisher who charges a fee that takes up most of your profit?

Here's how it will work:

- We'll invite or take on a writer. The bigger the name of the writer, the easier it is to find an art team. We'll put a team together.
I know what you artists are thinking, no page rate? There are very, very, few companies paying a page rate today and even a few who say they'll pay but never do. If you are going to put in the time and invest in a book you may or may not see any money from, wouldn't you feel safer working with a well known writer whose work you like?

- The books for the first couple years should be single issue one-shots. We all know fans are reluctant to make long term commitments to new books but everybody loves an exciting new idea. The creators keep all the rights based on what they agree on between each other.

What a better way to show diversity of the medium than by creating diverse comics?

- The books will be released digitally through Graphicly. We're looking into signing up with some of the other digital content providers now, but this takes time. We're making arrangements with Liber and a smaller distributor in the U.S. about getting the books out. We'll be doing mostly print on demand. If I have to, I'll call all the comic stores myself and sell them the books the old fashioned way, with hustle and style.

What writers need to keep in mind is they are in charge of this industry. The pencillers build it, but the writers make the blueprints from which two major licensing corporations build their empire. Smaller publishers desperately need you, while acting like they don't. It's time to stop going door to door with our stories and open a store front where people always know where to find them.

Once we have enough writers on board, we can discuss how to tackle the DIAMOND issue. But they no longer need to be a primary concern, there are thousands of other venues opening up. Let's make it happen.

Anyone with questions can contact me or the EIC Anthony Hary. Anthony is the nicest guy in comics. I know some people have taken issue with my outspoken views and politics in the past so if you find me disagreeable, don't ignore the opportunity because of it, Anthony will be more than happy to discuss things with you as well.

Legion Unleashed #1

SPOILER ALERT!

This is a breakdown of the first issue, sort of like a COMMENTARY track. You can buy the book here: http://graphicly.com/raven-entertainment-studio/legion-unleashed/1

Page 1-6

The Black Flag and Snowfall have been on the trail of the Yenaldlooshi for a while. It was killing and impersonating Native Canadians across Mid-Western Canada. It would kill the male first and then torture and kill everyone close to victim before burying the bodies and moving on to another reservation. It's killing spree stretched back hundreds of years, to the days before the White Man appeared.

Page 9-11

The official "Canadian Legion" is a four member group put together by the RCMP to specifically handle previously unclassified crimes or super-powered criminals. Inspector Melissa Maple is the only qualified RCMP officer on the team, although The Horse had worked previously with the Quebec government.

Page 14 +

The President of the United States and the Prime Minister of Canada had agreed to give a joint speak before a special delegation of UN officials. The Yenaldlooshi chooses President Ronald Rush as his next target. Either he will take the form of the most powerful man on the planet, or he will fail and his long, hideous life will be over. . .

In the end the Yenaldlooshi is not dead. His soul is in fact trapped within the mask Snowfall wears. . . .

Morgan Snowfall

Peter and Elizabeth Snowfall were aggressive civil rights activists during the 1960’s. They realized when Elizabeth became pregnant that a town like Laurel, Mississippi was not going to change any time soon. So they packed up the few belongings they had and drove their old truck as far away from Mississippi as they could get. Peter was able to secure citizenship for himself and his wife before their child was born and they settled into a community housing community just east of Lac La Ronge, Saskatchewan. There were no more than a six hundred people in their community, most of them members of the Blackfoot Tribe of Native Peoples. They named their son “Morgan” after a charming actor who appeared on a Canadian childrens show called Sesame Street. They truly believed that this new life would spare their son the difficulties they experienced growing up in the South.

The trouble began for Morgan when he started Residential School at age 7. Many of the Native People did not think he was entitled to attend their school and wanted him sent elsewhere. They also resented the favoritism he received by some of the Catholic Priests and Nuns who considered him “less of a heathen” because of his Christian parents. Luckily the government soon shut down the Residential School and open a public school, although it was over 16 kilometres away.

During the long walks to public school the harassment changed from verbal insults to more physical abuse. They called him names which hurt the young boy as much as any racist term his parents endured in the South. They called him “mudwater”, “crow’s son” and the most offensive “white man’s dog”. After Morgan turned sixteen it became even worse. A group of five boys belonging to the Cree Tribe of Native Americans began hunting Morgan on his walks through the forest to and from school. Although he was never hurt too bad, nobody would intervene and eventually it escalated. At this point Morgan began helping an old Algonquin man named Charlie Chogan. Charlie was mostly blind but he began sharing stories of Native culture with Morgan whenever they were together. Charlie realized that only drastic action would change the direction of Morgan’s life and so the night before his 18th birthday Charlie spiked his meal with magical mushrooms. Charlie lived near the school in a small log cabin and when Morgan stepped out of the cabin that day, with the drugs pumping through his system, the forest seemed to open up for him.

The Cree boys were waiting that night and had dug a tiger pit and placed a deadly rattlesnake in it. As Morgan wandered through the woods in a drug haze, they snuck up on him and pushed him into the hole. Morgan merely sat in the tiger pit, watching the snake. Almost subconsciously he began to move back and forth and the snake imitated his movements. Charlie was worried for the boy and went looking for him, when they found Morgan in the morning, he was happier than he had ever been and Charlie knew that the boy was gifted with a natural affinity for magic. Morgan was able to learn many Earth Magic spells quite easily and by the time he graduated high school he was already considered a gifted Magi. Morgan then travelled to Africa where he eventually met the Goddess of the Earth herself, Gaia. Gaia was impressed that a human was able to learn the magic of two continents and gave him one of her oldest gifts, an African Mask that would amplify his abilities.

During the years of study and travel Morgan Snowfall met many other magicians and heroes. He discovered that magic had once existed on the Earth but another magician of African descent, Abraxas Ro, had sealed the magic off from the Earth. Now after a hundred years the magical energy had returned and Snowfall was one of the first to harness it. He studied for many years in Egypt with the world’s oldest magician and hero, The Sphinx. He also encountered The Black Flag, a younger hero from Canada and they became good friends. Gaia had hoped that with the return of magic humans could prepare themselves for the inevitable return of the Gods who existed in a realm that was also sealed off from the Earth in the year 1900. Gaia had chosen a number of humans to serve as the warriors and protectors of the planet, so that the Gods would no longer influence the destiny of mankind as they once did. Snowfall was in fact her second chosen hero and the first magician, the other was a young boy named Mowgli who lived in the jungles of India in the 19th century. He would eventually fight along Snowfall later on in life under the name The Jungle King. Whereas Snowfall could harness the weather and the plant life of Earth, the Jungle King was a physical warrior with an affinity for animals and a gift for combat. At the turn of the 21st century Gaia chose her two more warriors to defend Africa and Australia; Boss Tiger and Catman. However Gaia still has a special place in her heart for Mowgli and Snowfall.

THOR!

As gifted men and women begin appearing around the world, Canada becomes the first country to form a team of super-humans dedicated to protecting the lives and freedoms of all humanity. But heroes cannot exist without villains and as the heroes gather together, great evil also begins to rise; not only from ancient realms but inside the hearts of men and women. It will take a Canadian Legion to keep the whole world Strong and Free. From far and wide, these heroes stand on guard for thee.