Thursday, July 1, 2010

MONSTERPLEX IS DEAD, LONG LIVE MONSTERPLEX

The news has traveled fast and is more or less official, so let it be known: MONSTERPLEX is dead.



Zuda Comics announced today that it would be shutting down its website and that some titles would be moving over to DC Comics' digital initiatives. Sadly, MONSTERPLEX is not one of them. Safe to say that MONSTERPLEX never quite proved itself to be a viable property for the company. Of course, it never really got the chance to either.

That's the one consolation in all of this, the thing that makes it a little less personal: we never got a chance to prove what we could do. I don't see this as a rejection of my team's talents or abilities. We had great stuff planned and it never saw the light of day. Would we have been wildly successful if we had had that chance? Well, duh. Why not? It's my alternate possible future, I'm saying 2012 would have seen the debut of the MONSTERPLEX animated series!

My feelings are pretty raw right now. I'm sorely, sorely disappointed and saddened. Winning Zuda and signing a contract with DC Comics was the fulfillment of a dream. It honestly didn't seem real. Heh.

My heart goes out to all the other Zuda creators and Zuda Editorial. I know this change isn't what any of us wanted. Here's hoping we all land in a better place.

So, what now, MONSTERPLEX? The big question everyone has been asking me since the news broke is: Who has the rights? The short answer is DC Comics. Is that the way it's gonna stay? That's something that will be determined soon. It's certainly the next, most important item on mine and Zuda's agenda. Until that question is settled, you won't be seeing MONSTERPLEX anywhere.

A lot of people have already told me how much they were looking forward to seeing where the MONSTERPLEX story was heading. Me too. David and Mike and I worked well beyond the 8 pages you saw. 10 additional pages are scripted and drawn, and three of those pages are colored. Additionally, the entire first season of MONSTERPLEX - 60 pages! - have been outlined and detailed plans were made for what comes after that. If nothing else, I'll share those plans with all of you at some point. You deserve to know what could have been. Let me tell you though: it's friggin' awesome.

I simply must take this opportunity to thank my co-conspirators, artist David Schlotterback and colorist Michael DeVito. These two guys are class acts and they made the creation of this comic a real pleasure. Will we continue working together on it if we get the rights back? I'm not even in a place where I can begin to answer that question, but I know that if we do it will be a blast. Because it's all about who you let into your life, and these guys are among the very best I've ever known.

I also want to thank all of you who supported, voted and have been rooting for us. The love that was thrown our way during the competition was incredible. We couldn't have won without you. At the end of the day, we'll always have that. I'm just so sorry that we couldn't make good on the promise of our win.

The future is a funny thing. Every time I've suffered a setback or a disappointment or a tragedy in my life, it's always been as a precursor to something great. I look forward to seeing what comes next. All this really means is that there's great stuff ahead.

For the time being, the best place to find news on MONSTERPLEX is right here in this blog. I'll be updating it further as I have news to share. And, just because I can get away with it today and no one will fault me, you can always follow my other comic, The SuperFogeys, which updates every Tuesday and Thursday. I post great comics and more general news on that site.

Thanks again everyone for all the support and love! I know Mike, Dave and myself will be following this blog today, so if you have any questions or declarations of love, you can pass them along in the comments.

More later,
Brock

P.S. Before all this went down, all three of us were planning to attend the San Diego Comic Con and spend some time in the DC Booth. I can't imagine you'll be seeing us in the booth, but you can bet we'll still be roaming the halls of San Diego. If you see us there, say hi. We'll be the ones with the DC badges with nowhere to sit!

7 comments :

Jande said...

You have a great comic there, guys. Glad you're not giving up on it! Check with @frumph, too, if you need space to host it for awhile for free.

Jande, e-Orbits.com

McElmurry Family said...

I hated to hear this for you guys. I just hope once DC get's their plans put together firmly that Monsterplex will either be returned to your hands or land somewhere that will allow you to continue building on it. I love what ya'll have done as a team, and hope and pray that good things come of this. As a fan I know I'll keep Monsterplex alive in my thoughts and hope one day to be able to share it with more people and see a positive future for it. Thank ya'll for your hard work in creating such a great story and we all look forward to future projects from ya'll cause ya'll definitely showed what good people working together can produce.

Stacy said...

*hugs* You guys rock!

lynn campbell said...

I wrote to DC Comics and told them they should honor your contract. They should! You're right, though, Brock... GOOD things will follow someday. I hope sooner, rather than later. You sooo deserve it. Lynn

Ray Nayler said...

I couldn't agree with the above more. Condolences, guys - but everything will work out.

Brock said...

Thanks, everybody. This kind of support really means a lot.

Brock said...

Oh, and Ray, condolences to you as well.

Post a Comment