Retro Rocket #3

[Tony Bedard]

I finally received copies of RETRO ROCKET #3 from the printer, and I believe it's supposed to be in stores next Wednesday (Aug 9). Yay!

My apologies to those of you following the book for the lateness. No good excuses, especially considering how long I've been in the business. All i can say is that self-publishing, even thru Image, is an educational experience. ;)

We're hard at work on issue #4, and hopefully will collect the tale in a tpb after that.

Jason Orfalas and I are also trying to line up another project after RETRO. I'll keep y'all posted. If you haven't already checked out the series, I'm beggin' you to give it a try. It's light, fun, and probably not what you expect!

[Red Jack]

I was wondering.

Can't wait.

[Capt 30]

Niiiice lookin' book there Tony! I'll be sure to pick it up!

[JohngPR]

I think it's coming out this Wednesday, can't wait!

[Mo S.]

Here's the short opinion I put up on MW and Jinxworld:

Retro Rocket #3 (Bedard/Orfalas; Image) I LOVED this; definitely the pick of the week. It's got tons of charm and heart, along the lines of the movie Iron Giant. The basic story is that Retro Rocket, once a man but now just a few human bits inside a metal shell, has been superseded by sleek new piloted man-mechs. Unfortunately, nasty aliens come to earth and are able to completely disrupt the man-mechs, taking the entire human population hostage, with the exception of Retro and his human (young, stacked, blond) mechanic, Sparky. Sparky comes up with the plan of luring one of the alien mechs to be captured so it can be disassembled - only it's a little pink, waif-eyed person in there. This, penultimate, issue doesn’t end well for our heroes and much action and drama is in store for the last issue. The art is clean, crisp and clear, with the slightest hint of manga stylings but still firmly western in tone.

[Tony Bedard]

Glad ya liked it, Rhyo, and thanks for spreading the word!

[Winslow]

I got issues 1-3 Tony . .and looking forward ot the conclusion in 4.

Just curious, does Image limit the mini-series to 4 issues?

[JohngPR]

I just read #3 and I really enjoyed it. It threw me for a loop a bit because it didn't go exactly where I expected it to, and I mean that in a good way. I'm really wondering what the deal was that Retro made with the aliens, and I'm sad that the next issue is its last.

Hopefully this wont be the last time we hear of Retro.

I'm looking forward to meeting you on Sunday at the Orlando Comic Con. I hope you don't mind that I have a lot of your books...I hope you'll sign them for me. :p

[Red Jack]

This book is great. I wish it came out more often.

[chadpratch]

I got your Retro stuff purity cool. My local comic book store guy gave me a strange look when he handed them to me. I think he thought it was a really different turn for what I usually get. It’s really got that Saturday cartoon feel to it but more like Saturday cartoons for Adults. One thing I do have to say is I didn’t like that sene where Sparky goes to the café with the fellas and Retro stops by outside the café. It just had the feel of cliche the only thing that was missing was the rain outside. There was a amazing transition into a background on Retro in issue #3. I also loved how you did away with the torture interrogation technique

[Tony Bedard]

Yeah, this book began life back in 1997, and so that bar scene was conceived by a much less experienced Tony, so i think your critique is certainly valid.

As for Image limiting series to 4 issues, they don't have a policy for that. But you have to pay for generating your own pages, so that can limit the amount of stuff you do. Frankly, it's hard to sell enough to where you're making money on independent books. We'll collect RETRO, if there's enough interest in a tpb, and if, one day, Jason and I have more sales cache, we'd both love to return to RETRO stories.

Or maybe if I manage to sell it as a cartoon... :rolleyes:

[Winslow]

As for Image limiting series to 4 issues, they don't have a policy for that. But you have to pay for generating your own pages, so that can limit the amount of stuff you do. Frankly, it's hard to sell enough to where you're making money on independent books. We'll collect RETRO, if there's enough interest in a tpb, and if, one day, Jason and I have more sales cache, we'd both love to return to RETRO stories.

Oh O.K.. I forgot about the Image policy that a creator pays upfront for the printing and distribution, so it's really cash flow.

I think the world you created and the characters are intriguing, so it would have been nice to have the series be a little longer so you could have fleshed out the setting, history, and characterization a little more.

[HiveMind]

Finally got around to reading issue #3 and I'm so glad you played upon the sexual tension between sparky and retro some more. I'll be interested to see what you do with that next issue, I have an idea it may have to do with some possible upgrade he's going to get, well thats my guess from the cover. Deffinately looking forward to that though, creator owned and made work has a much nicer feel to it a lot of the time :)

Or maybe if I manage to sell it as a cartoon...

Don't tease me so Mr B :D

[Tony Bedard]

Just what kind of "upgrades" do you have in mind? :eek:

[HiveMind]

Just what kind of "upgrades" do you have in mind? :eek:

Well I was thinking he'd be given the chance to be human, but yeah using the word "upgrade" probably wasn't the best idea come to think of it :p