I’m guessing the best place to start would be with a little history…

Several years ago I decided to self-publish a six-issue comic book mini-series called AWAKENINGS. I had no experience to speak of. In fact, I’d only been reading comics for a few years. Still, I’d fallen in love with the medium and thought I had something to add.

It was an exhaustive search, but I eventually teamed up with Gabe Pena, an incredibly talented artist on the West Coast. Within days, the story I’d conceived was coming to life on the page. Several months later, I had a finished comic in my hands.

AWAKENINGS #1 debuted to rave reviews – but modest sales. Orders came in at just over 1,000 copies. And while it wasn’t enough to pay the bills, it was just enough to boost my ego. You see, like a lot of creators (I suspect), I have a very unrealistic belief in my own abilities. I saw those early numbers as a stepping-stone to superstardom.

Needless to say – they weren’t.

Assuming things would turn around if I kept the momentum going, I decided to move forward, digging further into my pocket to pay Gabe, the printers, UPS – everyone that was helping to make AWAKENINGS a reality. Issue one hadn’t sold enough to pay off Gabe, let alone everyone else, but I knew things would turn around.

Needless to say – they didn’t.

Issue two saw a substantial drop in sales. Now I was in trouble. Not that the arrogant writer in me would listen. I dug even further into my pocket to fund issue three.

This is how things went until I was eventually all tapped out. I had to pack it in, not because I was cutting my losses, but because I had nothing left to lose.

Months passed. I took a second job to pay down the debt. I made sure it was a job I hated – just to punish myself for being so stupid in the first place. And yet, as I wiped tables down in a dingy little restaurant, that arrogant kid inside of me kept whispering something in my ear.

“You’re not done yet, Eric.”

He was right. I paid down the debt but kept busing those tables, quietly putting money away for an eventual return to AWAKENINGS. A chance to do things a little bit better, a chance to remind myself why I started this journey: a love for the medium and a hope that I have something to add. A return to AWAKENINGS. A second chance.

Needless to say – this is it.