Rat Bastards

Scott Kowalchuk is an interesting specimen of a man. When I first met him, it was also at the same ACAD soiree in which I had met Tanya, but Scott had a way of standing out. For one, he was the only one wearing a full suit. He had a very unique style, both in fashion and illustration, but his imagery was a strong throwback to the earlier days of comics when Alex Toth and Chester Gould were in their heyday.

The script, for what is now called Rat Bastards, was definitely one of the more strange beasts I'd written, off the beaten path of my more regular genre staples. After it was done, and I stared at the words on the screen, unable to determine if I had actually written something so bizarre, I knew the visual style had to match. As mentioned previously, I had scoured my usual stalking grounds, to no avail.

Scott loved the script and the content of what I wanted to do with the story. It was only a short time before some concepts started to surface. I knew instantly that this collaboration would be a success.



Scott was busy with freelance work, but the pages started to come together over a series of months. In retrospect, both of us agreed that the lingering pace only made Rat Bastards a stronger work because we took our time allowing it to gestate. In that time, we talked at length, in email and phone conversations, about the motivations of the villains, the heart of the story. We nailed it down to a science, so clearly that both in visual and narrative context, we know exactly where we are going and how this first season of the story will end.

With the completed proposal finished, Scott and I headed to Seattle to test our project in the editorial field. We talked with a lot of people, put our pitch in hands of creators, editors and publishers, blanketing the con with this image.



There was buzz around our submission, and the impression we got is that this little project was the talk in the editor circuit. Scott and I are hopeful that you will see Rat Bastards in your store this year. We are networking the hell out of it.

A sample you say?



This is only a peek at the madness we have created. Do enjoy.