TrekkerComic.com

I’ve said before that big things were coming, and they begin here with the arrival of COLOR to the pages of Trekker’s stories! Today begins the posting of one of the most significant and pivotal of the existing Trekker tales, the 40-page long “Sins of the Fathers”, which will trace Mercy’s past, reveal the events that shaped her, and point the way to what lies in her future. It’s one of the stories I am most proud of, and it seemed a very fitting place to introduce the colors of Jeremy Colwell into the series.

Jeremy has already colored a few Trekker drawings, notably the first promo drawing used to announce the launching of this website and the “Monsters and Dames” illustration that appeared in this year’s Emerald City Convention book (and will soon be available as a deluxe poster!). The Monsters and Dames piece was particularly appropriate since it was at the previous Emerald City that I first saw Jeremy’s color samples and realized instantly that he had just the approach and sensibility that I would want to see on Trekker, should the day ever arrive when I could bring color to the stories. Well, the day has arrived, and I could not be more excited to see my vision so completely realized through Jeremy’s deft additions to the world of Mercy St. Clair.

I have to note a couple other contributors to this story that made immeasurable impact on the final results. Ken Bruzenak is undeniably one of the top letterers in the field, and his sharp, bold style was absolutely note-perfect for Trekker. I was amazingly lucky enough to have Ken letter the lion’s share of the original Trekker stories, and every time he raised the level of professionalism on the book. A terrific member of the “Trekker team”.

And perhaps most importantly of all, Diana Schutz, who edited this story with such insight and touch. Diana read the script, saw what I wanted to achieve with it, and made a handful of perfect notes and suggestions that allowed me to realize much more of my intention than I could ever have done without her. To me, that represents everything a creator wold ever want in an editor. Diana is a major reason I am as proud of this tale as I am.

I should note that another reason this seems such an appropriate point to introduce color into the stories as I am presenting them now is that when this tale first appeared, as a Dark Horse Comics “Trekker Special #1” it was also in color. At the time, Lurene Haines did the coloring. It was the first ever Trekker story to appear in color, and Lurene did a fine job, given the limitations of color printing at the time. But with the many advancements in digital coloring technology and printing since then, that first approach would look jarringly out of place with the rest of the stories that we plan to present in color. The only sensible choice was to have Jeremy color this story from scratch, to match the sensibility he will be bringing to the rest of his pages, and coincidentally matching the original vision I had of what the series “should” look like in color from the beginning. So now, as the chronicles of our young bounty hunter continue to unfold, you and I will get to enjoy together all the added depth and atmosphere the Jeremy brings to the telling of Trekker’s tales. I feel like a kid at Christmas.