PREVIEW: The Empty, #1

[CBR News]

Tanoor lives in an empty apocalyptic world of poison and decay. Her village is all that remains of humanity as they struggle against mutant beasts and rotting bones.But Tanoor finds a chance to save her people when a stranger drifts into town. A stranger armed with the power to grow life from death. A stranger who could change the world-if Tanoor can keep them alive in the deadly world of The Empty.


Full article here.

[Jimmie_Robinson]

Hey what's up CBR readers? I'm Jimmie Robinson. Creator, writer, artist, colorist, letterer for THE EMPTY, which comes out Feb. 11th from Shadowline Comics / Image Comics.
If you have a question about the series feel free to ask me.

[cc008]

Somehow, this flew under my radar until now. It sounds really cool though. I really love the lettering. I'll happily check this out.

[Jimmie_Robinson]

Thank you. Yes, I was a bit concerned about the lettering. I know it's not completely new or original to *free float* text in comics, but I wanted to do it for the entire run. It creates a few challenges in my art -- I have to make sure there's another empty space for lettering, and that it still flows between characters. Also, it affects the coloring, because I can't make it so dark to be unreadable. Thank you again for considering my work.

[macattack80]

Somehow, this flew under my radar until now. It sounds really cool though. I really love the lettering. I'll happily check this out.

Yeah. I'll give it a go. How many issues are you planning?

[Jimmie_Robinson]

Thank you! At this point The Empty is a 6 issue story arc. I know some folks might trade-wait for that, and I fully understand that. I have the story plotted out beyond six issues, but I need to see where this goes before taking the next step -- which would be like Saga, where I take a small break between story arcs.

[macattack80]

Thanks for the reply. I'm way to impatient to trade-wait. Single issues all the way.

[Jimmie_Robinson]

Another sample of the art and lettering style... TE_02_20_WORKER.jpg

[Jimmie_Robinson]

Thanks for the reply. I'm way to impatient to trade-wait. Single issues all the way.

Thanks, I appreciate that. Helping the singles is the best way to help the trades. That way everyone wins. But I understand fully about singles and I hope The Empty keeps you wanting to come back for me. I didn't decompress or drag things out for this story arc. My job is to grab people's attention as best I can with every issue. Love cliffhangers.

[Jimmie_Robinson]

Examples of the cover design...
Also, for the record... I am 3 issues ahead of shipping, so the book will NOT be late.

TE_HEAD.jpg

[Agent John Bishop]

Examples of the cover design...
Also, for the record... I am 3 issues ahead of shipping, so the book will NOT be late.

TE_HEAD.jpg

Love the subtle use of colors on those covers. They remind me of the East of West covers in the best possible way. I'll be excited to give this a shot.

[Jimmie_Robinson]

Love the subtle use of colors on those covers. They remind me of the East of West covers in the best possible way. I'll be excited to give this a shot.

Thanks, Agent John. Yeah, I took a chance with the covers. Even Image thought it was a good idea to leave the front cover as open as possible and put all the legal information on the back cover.

[Greg]

Jimmie, you're a mad man. You're going to be doing this AND Five Weapons? (And I'm sure you have some more goodies for us)

[Jimmie_Robinson]

Jimmie, you're a mad man. You're going to be doing this AND Five Weapons? (And I'm sure you have some more goodies for us)

Actually, I am only doing The Empty. Five Weapons was cancelled due to low sales. It was a mere 300 copies from the cancel cut off point, so it ceased publication at issue #10 (though I had it written out to #20). So I'm only doing this now. I LOVED Five Weapons, but it didn't get enough traction to keep it alive. At a certain point, I would have to *pay* to keep it in print (which, I was about to do), however the opportunity to do The Empty came up, so I put my energy into this. This time I am doing *everything* on the book, thus I won't have to split the profits which will help keep the book alive for all six issues (and hopefully MORE).

[Jimmie_Robinson]

Here's an early version of one of the main characters... (Tanoor)
TE_TANOOR_WORKER.jpg