Digging in the archives, part I

"The whole thing should have the same effect as seeing Cody XCobalt covered in mayonaise, and equally disgusting, and I've actually got better things to do, concidering that what it really is all about, is two different ways to die. - You could either laugh to death, or throw up without further notice."

- The impeccable logic of Zachary W. Barph, as it came to terms in early June 2004.

At some point and for some reason, I got to think of the original sketches and plot outlines for Methatron II that I made almost four years ago, and as I -differently from the event of summer 2006 when I almost tore down my entire apartment to find the old MII manuscripts- knew exactly where I've stored these documents, I of course had to bring them back into daylight and have a look, and I must say that was very interesting, as I had only a very slight recollection of exactly what, those old documents consisted of.

Opening up the large envelope containing all that stuff was somewhat like opening a treasure chest, and I wish there'd been more than those few drawings and notes, but obviously I didn't do more than that before getting straight on to writing the first manuscript, but now I'm going to show it all to you!

"Rings on the water.
You throw in a pebble and break the still surface to be curled in waves: you cannot prevent the expanding circles to stop, diminish and turn back to whence they came... ...but still they're moving. In all directions. Forwards as well as sideways and backwards, their radius become all-embracing just like time itself, which like the rings is circular in its own eternity."

The first thing I found was a photocopy of what was intended to be the first page of the first Methatron II episode, picturing the profile of a spiral galaxy, accompanied by a few modest text boxes with poorly printed text (this was made in my pre-scanner days, so I was dependent on the method of cut 'n' paste in its most literal sense!), and I was quite surprised about the quality of that picture. However, I wasn't quite sure of how I'd made it, but that mystery was quickly solved as I found the original as well, and it showed that I'd been using watercolours; splashing white "stars" on a black background, with a brush only.
Then it all came back to me. All the sudden I remembered the exact feeling of lying on the floor with my pencils, papers and coffee, dreaming up the new universe. I know that I'll never have the same feeling again, but the memory of it makes me happy, and of course, a tad nostalgic.

In the same folder as this page, was the first draft to the original...well not as much a synopsis as an opening to the story. Actually, there was an edited version as well, but I thought it would be more fun to publish the original print with all my "manual" scribblings, alternations and corrections. And look! I even noted the date of the day I wrote the text: June 7, 2004.

I was amazed on two points of which one was the philosophical approach to, and depth of, it all, and the other about how I even at the age of 24 hadn't let go of my stubborn habit of mixing English grammar into Swedish. What a downright disgrace! *laughs* For those of you who know Swedish, the text can be read if you click the image at the right here, and for those of you who don't, I might translate it later. I am not completely sure that I will, though, as I might decide to use parts of this text in a forthcoming album. We'll see what happens. Note the heading of the document: The choice of the Captain Podd-font obviously came to be permanent!

Well then... This ends the first trip down the Methatron II memory lane. Next time I will show you the crew and what they were originally like. Stay tuned!

New MII domain!

Yesterday I registered a new domain name for the MII website, so if you had the old url bookmarked, please change it to:

www.methatron2.net

Now all I have to do is to actually update the site before times become even more busy. ;-)

Methatron II - Genemesis; coming soon!

Having begun with the editing of the manuscript and applying the text on the 65 pages that will constitute the forthcoming episode of Methatron II, I've been able to calculate the time it will take to fisnish, and thereby decide a realistic time for the unofficial pre-release. This will be due to the end of May. Methatron II - Genemesis will at that time be sent to potential publishers, but also be available for purchase in a limited edition. I will take pre-orders via e-mails sent to: methatronII@gmail.com

Stolen domain

About 6 months after I had registered the domain methatron2.com (at the Swedish Loopia service), I got a letter from a US company "offering" me to buy that very domain for the "mere" sum of $250, which I of course ignored.
Then time was up to me to pay for the renewal of the domain, and I was delayed with one day. For a start I was confused that I couldn't, so I phoned the Loopia service and asked them what was up. They said the domain name was in a stage of deactivation, but what they didn't know was the fact that the domain had been nicked several weeks ahead of the expiration date. Call me stupid - I didn't know they could do that.

Anyway, I'm not going to pay $250 for something I came up with, and thus I'm registering a new domain. I'll keep you updated. :-)

Crash Course going online?

It's closing in to the 1 year anniversary since the Methatron II pilot episode Crash Course was officially published and I might as well face the fact that this baby is getting old. Or at least charmfully mature. ;-)
When I started on the translation to the English version, I had already decided that I would not try to publish it in paper-form again. This, due to the reasons of time, money and none the less the fact that I'd rather spend the time and effort focusing on the forthcoming albums. Still, I experienced interest from enough non-Swedish speaking people, to decide to finish the translation, and if nothing else, I'd also be able to use it as a reference when trying my luck at foreign publishers.

Hm? What was that? - No, I'm not saying that I don't like Crash Course anymore! I still want to spread its hysterical story to as many as possible, as an introduction to the Methatron II usiverse, and that's why I'm thinking of maybe publishing the comic online in .pdf form, here on the MII blog to be downloaded in 5 or 6 episodes. I haven't quite decided yet, but when I do, you can go and tell your comics loving friends all about it! :-)

Methatron II on Small Press Expo 2009

Having attended at the Small Press Expo '08 in Stockholm, the 25th-27th of May, the light's gone green for Methatron II to be on for exhibition and sale next year, so make that note in your calendars already now!
(Hopefully I'll have finished both the upcoming albums Plutonium Breeders and Sandstorm by then.)

The beginning

Hello everyone, and welcome to the brand new, alive and kicking Methatron II blog. This is my first post, and I make it not without a slight feeling of "wow" occurring.

Before getting further on to explaining the purpose of this blog, there will be a brief introduction of your truly, and to keep it short and simple, I confess myself as the author of the Methatron II series of comics. I am 29 years old; resident in Gothenburg, Sweden and have a more or less solid background as as a comics artist, however Methatron II is the first one ever to reach the daylight of the surface.

The idea of creating a sci-fi comic originally came to me in the spring of 2004. Thanks to the electronic music of Front 242 and Front Line Assembly, many bright and beautiful evenings involving far too much coffee, and the resurrection of my all time interest in astronomy, I soon had created a solid gallery of characters, an unwritten synopsis and a title to gather it all under.

But sometimes life happens and paths are diverted from their original route, and the time you've got is simply not enough. Perhaps did I subconsciously classify everything about Methatron II as "boxed", and if so, I was probably subconsciously surprised when I two years later re-discovered the idea, and realized how much I still wanted to go through with it.
By this time, I hadn't had any comics projects going on for almost 3 years, wherefore I figured my skills must have gotten rusty, and as I didn't want to waste a good first story on insufficient drawings, I decided to make a pilot episode, and that's why and how Crash Course was created, and since then Methatron II has been a constant companion though my days.

In June 2007, Crash Course was printed and published in a very limited edition of 30 copies of which only one remains, and that copy is mine. Originally, Crash Course was written in Swedish, but having discovered the lacking interest for comics amongst the publishers in this country I decided to make the following albums in English. Currently I'm also editing a translation of the original Crash Course album, and that's the aftermaths.

Left: The Crash Course frontcover

The making of Genemesis, which is the real first episode of the Methatron II series, is just finished, and after adding text to the pages, it will be ready to be printed and hit the potential publishers.

Anyway, as this post is already too long, I'll try to keep the rest short.
The reason for me to keep this blog while still maintaining a website (which will soon be updated with new galleries, and other nice stuff) is mainly for the convenience of it: A blog is simply easier to update in a quick and efficiant way than a website.

With all this said, I say good bye for now, and hope you will enjoy reading this blog. :-)