Hello, Ascendants! I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. We've now kicked into 2025 and it's time for some major updates on the Star-Spangled Squadron Volume II.
Expanding Book Length The first and most important news is that I have decided to unilaterally increase the book length to 64 pages. As you know, we only funded enough to pay for 48 pages. Unfortunately I simply cannot tell the story I want to tell - the story that needs to be told - in 48 pages. No matter how I cut, edited, tweaked, and polished the script, it simply couldn't be done.
This left me with a difficult choice: tell a different story from what I promised you; deliver something below the standards of quality I set for myself; or go in the red to increase the length of the book. I decided that the latter was the only choice consistent with Autarch's business and creative standards.
From the perspective of you, my backers, this is purely good news. You pledged for a 48-page book and you will be getting a 64-page book.
New Colorist The original plan for Star-Spangled Squadron Volume II was for Mel Joy San Juan to do both the inks and colors. However, we've changed course. Many of the pages are extremely intricate and detailed; instead of being able to do 5 pages per week, we have struggled to maintain a pace of 3 pages per week. Mel Joy's schedule didn't permit her to simply add another 16 pages of inks and colors.
Fortunately, in our hour of need, Pradeep Sherawat became available. Pradeep is one of my favorite colorists; he delivered absolutely amazing work for me in ACKS II and he's delivering amazing work on Star-Spangled Squadron Volume II.
Obviously we want the book to have a single coherent style, so Pradeep is going to re-color the current pages. The final result will be a beautiful, aesthetically-coherent work with inks by Mel Joy and colors by Pradeep (and of course amazing lettering by Kathryn Renta).
Timeline The above changes probably have you wondering when to expect your books! We originally expected to deliver the books in June 2025. We aren't losing any time by adding a new colorist, because even though Pradeep has to re-color some pages, after that he'll work simultaneously with Mel Joy. However, with the increased length, we are being delayed a little bit, to around August 2025. I hope that the two-month delay is tolerable given the book is being increased by 25% in length.
Sneak Previews And now, on to some art! This page shows off Mel Joy's absolute mastery of the female form. We get to see the Squadron on a "day off", with Stiletto and Dr Quantum in their civilian clothes.
"Love the new costume, Stiletto!"
This next page occurs after Squadron HR discovers Aurora is vulnerable to losing her powers under stress. This obviously poses a problem for a combat operative. Make a post in the comments if you can identify the movie that inspired this scene!
"How would you RATE your effectiveness in your last two COMBAT ASSIGNMENTS, Aurora?"
This image shows off Pradeep Sherawat's coloring style. Pradeep is a master of dynamic lighting and reflective textures and he makes everything from Dr Quantum's amber glasses to Stiletto's vinyl costume really pop,
"EDWINA SCISSORHANDS over there is still lacing up her BOOTS."
That's all for now! All the best to everyone for a super-powered 2025.
