Andi Ewington first approached me about working on the
Freeway Fighter comic with him last summer. As well as coming on board in an editorial role, the plan was that I would run a Kickstarter to fund production of the comic, Andi having already assembled a team of veritable comic talent to help turn his script into a piece of glorious sequential art, including artist Simon Coleby, colourist Len O'Grady, and letterer Jim Campbell.
However, before I could get underway with setting up the Kickstarter, Andi got in touch to say that Matt Mastracci had come on board as executive producer*, providing the financial backing which meant we wouldn't need to crowdfund the comic after all.
Then began the process of creating the comic, from refining the script - making sure it worked as both a comic and a Fighting Fantasy product, linking back to the original
Freeway Fighter gamebook by Ian Livingstone - to Simon producing the art, which was then coloured by Len and finally lettered by Jim Campbell.
As things currently stand, Issue #3 is well on the way to being finished, with work having already begun on Issue #4 and its variant covers.
The next piece of good news was when Andi revealed that he Matt and Ian had been in talks with Titan Comics who would being coming on board as publisher, which brings us to this very day, when Issue #1 of
Ian Livingstone's Freeway Fighter goes on sale for the very first time. It includes an exclusive introduction by Ian Livingstone himself and a letters page featuring letters by some very well-known figures within the world of comics indeed.
If you're in or around London on Saturday (20th May 2017) why not
pop along to the Forbidden Planet Megastore on Shaftesbury Avenue from 1:00-2:00pm, when the creative team behind the Freeway Fighter comic - creator Ian Livingstone, writer Andi Ewington, artist Simon Coleby, original cover artist Jim Burns, and editor Jonathan Green - will be taking part in a mass signing.
Maybe I'll see you there...
This Saturday, Simon Coleby - the ace artist behind the SHARKPUNK cover - will be at London's Forbidden Planet Megastore, on Shaftesbury Avenue, from 1:00-2:00pm, signing copies of Ian Livingstone's Freeway Fighter comic.
Some FF fans may also have already been aware that such a project was in the offing, thanks to being members of the Facebook group or even because they read about it in YOU ARE THE HERO - A History of Fighting Fantasy Gamebooks.
However, not many people know that I am actually the editor on the project, and it is a project that I am very proud to be a part of. There are many comic book creators I would love to work with, one day, and Simon, Len and Jim were three of them. In fact, thinking that I may never get a better chance to work with Simon, I commissioned him to produce the cover art for SHARKPUNK. And yet here I am, only eighteen months later, and I've worked with him again.
