IO and Blackjack 3 (and B4)

Blackjack 3 update! My editor is slow. GO FASTER, dammit, May is ending and June is almost here.

IO update! I officially broke 600 pages on IO. This is the epic we've been craving for, and Josh, the crazy bastard, is already plotting book two. At present, I'm finishing up the Mistral storyline then I'll get busy with Galan, Alec & Ev and Canino. I'll probably have the book done by the end of Summer.

Then what? Then pivot over to Heart of the Jungle (finish it! - in the Mortal Combat announcer voice), or Tier Zero...or Blackjack 4.

What??? Blackjack 4??? Yeah, if you guys recall, I started a whole different story a year ago, and set it aside for what's turned into Blackjack Dead or Alive. That material I had was real good, though. Definitely a story I want to tell. I would start B4 with 1/3 already in the can, as it were. Imagine, two Blackjack books in one year. The more I think of it, the more it seems possible. 

Tier Zero and Battle can follow B4 without too much trouble. Marvel did 2 Iron Mans before they did the Avengers, right? We can do 4 before hitting the meta. Blackjack 1-3 are kind of the setup to the real stories that are coming. I mean, it took the guy long enough to get his shit in gear.

But first I want to finish IO, at least do my part and drop it in the laps of the editors. I figure I'm 2-3 months away from completion, then the rest of the year I can spend on other stuff.

If it was up to you guys, what would you prefer? I suppose everyone will want Blackjack more than the others, right?

On a side note, and as part of what has me motivated to get right back to Blackjack, I saw Tomorrowland yesterday with my girls. Wow. I'm such a Brad Bird fanboy that I won't even entertain talk of the movies flaws (what movie is flawless anyway?), but the message of the film got me thinking about Blackjack - in a write-the-next-book-fast kind of way. I mean, we've all heard the argument that Bruce Wayne could potentially do much more good if he spent his time, money and efforts on helping Gotham, rather than on batwings, batarangs and batcaves to fight crime. I know, the character has his pre-defined pathos and it's not like you could talk sense to a psychopath/sociopath like Batman. 

But there's an argument there, and I think it applies to Blackjack as well. Something inspired by Hugh Laurie's character in Tomorrowland.

Anyway, I'm going to see Mad Max this week so Blackjack 4 might turn out to be a testosterone-laden romp through the Australian countryside as much as it could be a thoughtful exploration of a troubled hero and his nascent efforts to try to do some good.

Talk to you guys soon!