Got a thumb's up from a publisher yesterday on an OGN* I started pitching at San Diego. So that's exciting. I'm not going to talk about it in detail for a while, but I'm looking for your help so I'll say this much: it's a horror story, we'll call it 'Hillbilly Gothic', and a vengeance tale. You know how I love me some vengeance tales.

The next step is for my editor and I to agree on a short list of artists. I was asked who would be my dream and I figure there are three ways to go:

1. Top choice? Someone in the mold of Alex Maleev;
2. Someone stylized - like Sala or Burns. That's second choice, though, because it would be much harder to pull off successfully. Those guys are at the very top of their game. Anything less and you risk it being cute -- or worse, you can't tell characters apart;
3. Someone in the old EC horror mold. (Okay, well, a girl can dream, right?)

If you know or know of someone who might be available (affordable and affable), send me a link?

* OGN: Original Graphic Novel, used in comic fandom to refer to a long-form book intended to be read as a self-contained, single-volume work, by contrast to a TPB.

I adapted two books on Chris' list:

Blue Spring, by Taiyo Matsumoto, Viz A gang of high schoolers feel they have no future, and to amuse themselves play a game on the school roof guaranteed to end in tragedy. A visceral collection of short stories about disillusioned youth, told by one of the most talented young manga creators in Japan.

...

Sexy Voice and Robo, by Iou Kuroda, Viz
A high school girl in Japan can tell everything about you just by hearing the sound of your voice, thanks to her after-school job on the Japanese equivalent of a phone-sex line as code name: Sexy Voice. Her talents soon have her doing favours for an aging mafia boss, like finding lost people, reuniting lost loves, and maybe realizing there's a higher-purpose for her abilities. An excellent, surprising graphic novel.

Woo hoo!

(THE PUSH MAN and KINDERBOOK are on my shopping list...)