Since it’s always been a goal of mine to one day write licensed comics for various publishing houses, I made a New Year’s resolution for 2016 to write a few in my free time, set in worlds I enjoy, featuring familiar characters I dig.
The trepidation I have with licensed properties is that I figure a publisher will say, “Hey, Wes…come up with stories ideas for this character that starred in a TV show you never saw,” and I’ll be all, like, “Can’t… too stressed.”
Well… let my clarify… I felt like that once upon a time and then a publisher actually asked me to pitch ideas for a pre-existing character from a property I wasn’t remotely familiar with… and it was all kinds of fun. I didn’t get the job, but man, was that good practice.
I’m also of the mindset that practice makes perfect, so I made a list of properties I dug from the 90s through today, writing short comics around them and then finding artists who share an equal love and are willing to help put them down on paper to release to readers for free.
That catches us up to the present.
So today I’m releasing the first of those shorts in the form of the Battletoads (yes, the notoriously difficult video game from 1991).
Check out what artist Loch Ness, colorist Andrew Pate and myself created as the ‘Toads star in our 5-page short, Turbo Tunnel Trouble. Click on the cover to ch-ch-ccheck it out. Or the link in the sidebar. Or the link in the published work section. C’mon… I’m making it as easy as I can here!
If you’re familiar with the Battletoads, then you’re more than likely familiar with the Turbo Tunnel (stage 3, for those keeping score at home) which was the most ridiculous, frustrating and painful level ever constructed by a human brain. Loch and I commiserated over the difficulty of the game and decided to show our love the only way we know how — through the majesty of comics.
Do us a solid — if you dig it, share it up on the social media, maybe tag someone who you know is a fan of the game. Let’s make it a Throwback Tuesday.
Enjoy!
Wes Locher 