At the end of the small press run of Dressed for Success, Alex and Walter were adrift in space in an escape pod and that’s the last the world saw of them. In a few short days, they will return with all new adventures.
But there were other stories which never saw the light of day.
script page for issue 26
We never meant to be gone so long. After issue 25, the plan had been to take DFS to the next stage as a full sized comic, distributed by all the big distributors, in stores across the continent, every small pressers dream. And we started down that path. We knew about printers, costs, etc. We’d dealt with the distributors when we did the Dirty Baker’s Dozen trade paperback.
So we started talking about what the story was going to be. Would we pick up where 25 left off, or jump ahead as we’d done previously to ‘one point in time’. The story we ultimately decided upon was risky, in fact it could be said it was crazy for a ‘new’ series, but we felt sure of ourselves and plunged ahead.
We wrote, Jeff drew, Chris started exploring the technical possibilities for computerized black and white ‘tones’ and plowed ahead on the first few issues, meaning to build up a couple issue safety net to avoid falling behind once we began publishing.
sample page from issue 26
All of this was occurring in the late nineties. If you know anything about the comics industry, you’ll be saying uh-oh. We had just come through a very strong and positive time for black and white comics from small, independent publishers. Dave Sim’s series of Independent comic shows and the birth of Alternative comic shows made for a great swell in interest and support for the little comic guy.
So of course the corporations peed in the pool.
Marvel and DC began signing exclusivity deals with Distributors and some of the other middle sized publishers followed suit. Creators similarly signed exclusive deals. Suddenly there was a battle between distributors, retailers were forced to sign contracts and meet minimums, companies folded, Marvel bought their distributor Heroes World, only to file for Bankruptcy a few years later and then to sign with the only Distributor left standing.
Sample pencils for issue 27
The net result was an industry which had lost a massive number of stores and readers. And that meant creators as well. Sales on major superhero comics plummeted, and the little guy didn’t stand much of a chance.
And there’s us, with a couple issues in the works and the future we’d been hoping for pulled out from under us through no fault of our own. And we needed to live and eat and all that stuff. So we decided to step back, shelve the work we’d done, and see what the future held.
Next time…Egesta Digital Distractions
I’ve been wondering since we launched the Egesta Comics website and began posting content to it, whether or not people were annoyed or confused by the fact that what we were adding was poster images and not actual comic book story pages.
After all, this is meant to be an ongoing Dressed For Success web comic site. So what are we doing?
It has been part of the history of Dressed for Success to take popular movie posters and create parodies starring our characters Alex and Walter. In the early days of the mini comics we would actually use them as issue covers. In fact, the first 13 issues of our 25 issue mini comics run sported covers based on popular movie posters. So as Chris and I were planning the launch of the website we thought it might be fun to bring these back and start off with a number of new examples.
We like to think of them as a series of teasers for potential stories yet to come. Plus they are just plain fun to do. Truth be told, some of them may be more than just a tease for what to expect. Once the ongoing story has started we still intend to put out the occasional parody movie poster but we will find somewhere else on the site to house them.
So while it may be slightly annoying for those of you who want to jump right into the meat and potatoes of the new adventures of Alex and Walter, I would simply ask for your patience. Just consider these like the trailers at the movie theatre before the main attraction.
Oh, and while you’re at it, make sure to turn off your cell phones and pagers.
Jeff
I have a confession to make.
I’m dying to share the new DFS with you. I want to just post everything we’ve done, I want to sit down over drinks and spill my guts about every minute detail of the story to come and where it’s going, and the story after that, and all the other little details about the world where Alex and Walter live.
I want to be going to conventions and meeting people who’ve read our work and people who are discovering it for the first time. I want to be embroiled in comics, I want to be corresponding with readers and doing silly interviews and coming up with wacky marketing ideas and making cool Dressed For Success stuff for people to put on their desks.
I miss it.
Those heady days in the 90’s were some of my favorites and I can just begin to feel the buzz returning. I want you to know how much fun it already is. To be back telling stories about Alex and Walter; killing ourselves laughing while we hash out a script. I’m jumping around like an idiot demonstrating something one of the characters does.
So I’m going to let a little bit slip. The tiniest morsel.
tinkle. ditch. baglay.
And this:
I know, three words and a hand. It’s not much, but i feel a bit better. Have I made it worse for you?
Chris
No really, Hi!
Welcome to Egesta Comics, or more importantly, welcome to Dressed For Success and the adventures of Alex Corbett and Walter Andrewkowski. It really is exciting to be back at it after all this time. Not that it doesn’t come with some trepidation. But once we started talking and the ideas started, it all felt very familiar and we were soon having fun and coming up with more ideas than we’ll ever be able to get too.
If you aren’t familiar with Egesta Comics and Dressed For Success, there’s a quick run down of our History as well as some tidbits about us on the aptly named About Us page. After you discover that we’ve done a whole bunch of stories previously in print, you’re going to ask, “But how will I know what’s gone before?” Well, you can read a quick summary of What Has Come Before, or take the plunge and order some of our wares. And for even more details, you can consult the ever growing Who’s Wha? listings.
After all that, go and pee. Then come back and get ready for the new adventures of Alex and Walter. We hope you have as much fun as we do.
Chris