Bloom Pretty Cover Colors! 🌹
Hello, Emberverse!
Welcome to the first Around the Fire of 2022!
Let's kick off the year with some beautiful art, shall we?
This week, I'll be talking about...
Bloom Pretty Cover Colors!
Delving Into Fantasy a Bit
Dark Knights of Steel
Random Bits and Pieces
There's just one small change Lisa is waiting on for this one, but it's basically done.
Gorgeous, right?
And this is by the interior artist of the book, so you know it's going to be a killer book to look at. And having read it, it's a really good story as well!
We've been getting art updates periodically through the holiday and every time I see one I just get more and more excited for Lisa and this project. We got a rough color layout for another cover today that is just going to be breathtaking as well.
I can't wait to share more, but this will have to do for now. But if this has you excited, you can get notified at the link below so you get an email the second it goes live!
BLOOMPRETTYCOMIC.COM
Fantasy: Our Inspiration
I've talked before about the movies and novels that inspired both Lisa and myself, so I won't rehash all of that. But I will talk briefly about the elements of fantasy that appeal to us and why that, more than anything, is the genre we pull much of our inspiration from.
Be it Lisa's love for Disney and all things magical, or my own inner child daydreams of being whisked away to some mystical land akin to The Neverending Story, fantasy holds a special place in our hearts. There are no limits except that of your own imagination. The rules, while often based on something familiar, are unique to the worlds created and shift as needed to fit the growing and evolving parameters of those worlds.
Fantasy provides us strange and beautiful, or mysterious and scary creatures of all types, and provides allegories for our lives in the present. Take The Lord of the Rings for example, and the statements Tolkien expressed through his work. Or the political comparisons drawn in Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire (Game of Thrones).
Another beautiful thing about fantasy is that it's not limited to swords and sorcery or medieval times, though that is routinely a popular setting. Through the many sub-genres of fantasy, we see the same principles and magical elements manifest in urban settings like The Dresden Files or even in sci-fi powerhouses like Star Wars.
"Fantasy" is a broad, all-encompassing term, but when I think of it, I do think of magic. Whether that's spells and such, or mythology infused, or innate abilities is inconsequential. It's all derived from the same well. It's just manifest in different forms.
I think the most powerful things pulled from fantasy, though, are the ideals and life lessons often present in those types of stories. It could be the self discovery of characters like Frodo Baggins, Luke Skywalker or Drizzt Do'Urden. Or the camaraderie of banding together to form makeshift families, or "parties" like we see in The Fellowship of the Ring or the Dragonlance Chronicles. Even the sense of right and wrong and choosing the correct path for oneself, as well as the lessons of bravery, standing up for what we believe in and for those close to us we see ever present in Harry Potter.
Ultimately, wrapped in all the magical power and glorious visuals, or brilliantly strung together sentences that manifest in our minds, these stories are all about the characters. Their journeys, their discoveries, their growth and maturity. Their losses as well as their triumphs. It's all about the people. And that, I feel, is what pulls us both in the most, and what we try to convey in our creations more than anything else.
When you read a book from LEP, we hope you are reading a great character arc that you connect to in some way - that pulls you into their world and brings you along for a wild, and yes, fantastical ride!
If you get that from one of our books and you enjoy it, then that's all we can ask for.
Dark Knights of Steel
If you're looking for a mainstream comic that samples all of the above, you should check out Dark Knights of Steel from Tom Taylor!
Issue #3 of the maxi-series came out this week, and so far this series has been fantastic, hitting all the right notes.
This is a medieval take on the DC Universe akin to Marvel's 1602, but in a much different light. Marvel is also releasing Dark Ages right now, also by Taylor, which is very good as well. But there's just something a little richer about the story he's telling in Dark Knights of Steel that speaks to me more as a fantasy lover.
Jor-El is the king and Bruce Wayne is a knight in their kingdom. Jackson Pierce (Black Lightning) is a rival king and that sets the stage of the war between these two forces. The Els are "magical" and powerful, and thus reviled. But who are the real villains of the story? Who are the real heroes?
All bets are off, fatalities are a given, no one is safe and repercussions are dire in this world.
Much like his unique take with Injustice: Gods Among Us, Taylor has taken the status quo of the DCU and turned it on its head with a couple of simple changes that altered the course of events dramatically across the board.
If you're a DC fan and a fan of medieval fantasy, you will absolutely love this story I think. Or if you just like a good Elseworlds type of tale, this one will be right up your alley. I highly recommend it!
Tom Taylor actually won some "awards" in this year's Best of 2021 from Comic Frontline, in part for his work on Dark Knights of Steel, as well as other series he's currently writing (Nightwing, Superman: Son of Kal-El, etc.).
You can check out the full winners list here:
Comic Frontline's Best of 2021!
We've been doing these awards for years now. We all pick our favorites, then put those up for voting to the public. We get great responses from this, and the creators are always thrilled to see and share them. Most importantly, we have fun doing them!
In LEP and TKG news, by the end of this week, we will have shipped out 58 more packages this week for Legendary Lands, so yay! And we're gearing up to finish fulfillment on that and The Last Ember: Hunted shortly.
Aside from that, we're just keeping our heads down and working away on everything else. I'll be talking about some friends' and clients' Kickstarters coming up soon, as well as sharing updates on In the Land of the Dragon, Bloom Pretty and more! It's going to be an exciting year, and I hope you stick around for it!
Until next time, as always, stay toasty!
-Brant
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