To paraphrase a scene from The West Wing:

“You know that line you’re not supposed to cross with your commanding officer?”

“Am I coming up on it?”

“No no, look behind you.”

The expression work in this page is among my favorites in recent memory. Tosch’s “That thing you said was absolutely the wrong thing to say right now, but I’m also trying-not-trying to hide it” expression in panel 4 is emoticon worthy, in my humble opinion. As is Sigrid’s “nope nope sorry I’m mentally taking it all back” look in P5.

My trip to Emerald City Comic Con earlier today was an illuminating one, I think. I normally don’t like going to comic conventions anymore, unless it’s in a professional capacity (like working a table in Artist Alley), but one thing that I can’t deny is that seeing all the wonderful comics and unique stories being told by artists gets me more excited than ever about the future of Beyond the Western Deep.

Speaking of which, we received a very nice shout-out from author Samuel Chapman over at Tor.com. On the topic of anthropomorphic stories like Redwall and Mouse GuardWestern Deep also got singled out as a “holy grail of worldbuilding” (d’aaaw!) — you can check out the full story here: https://www.tor.com/2019/03/11/why-anthropomorphic-animals-will-always-have-a-place-in-fantasy/

One element of the article that I’m particularly impressed/terrified by is this:

“It’s been almost a decade since the final Redwall novel, and while we do still have Warriors and Mouse Guard installments to look forward to, I’ve got a feeling there’s something big coming around the bend—a tale massive in scope and diverse in zoology, a Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn of mice, squirrels, and toads. It could be Beyond the Western Deep, or something totally new and unexpected—either way, I’ll be playing Everdell until the time comes for my next literary trip to the Gates of Dawn.”

Well, I know everyone on the creative team building stories in our universe have been working incredibly hard to make it “the next big thing.” Right now, we’re just focusing on what’s next: fulfilling the Kickstarter rewards, San Diego Comic Con, and getting our next chapter ready for everyone!

KICKSTARTER FRIEND ALERT!

Speaking of Kickstarter, I wanted to give a quick shoutout to another Kickstarter that’s going on right as I type this! We had the pleasure of meeting Aaron Alexovich while tabling at one of our very first comic conventions (I’m going to say it was either in Baltimore or Chicago–they’re kind of a blur in my brain). He was tabling across the aisle from us, and I was astonished to see none other than INVADER ZIM on his placard! As a big Zim fan myself, we hit it off pretty quickly, and it’s been a joy to see him at subsequent shows turning out incredible work both on Zim and his personal projects.

Right now, Aaron’s latest project is a children’s book/app called “It’s Not Scary!” and I absolutely love the cheesy-adorable cartoony approach he’s taken with it. You can check it out right here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1445954278/its-not-scary

For guest art this week, I wanted to share this incredible piece by artist Travis Fam, who’s done some wonderful Armello-themed fan art in the past that I’ve absolutely loved. He surprised us recently with this really cool rendition of Quinlan!

Doesn’t he look AWESOME? Quinlan definitely looks ready for business here. I absolutely love the energy of the piece, Quin’s expression and pose are fantastic, and I really feel sorry for whoever’s on the receiving end of his arrow!

Thank you SO MUCH for this wonderful piece, Travis!