I got my comp copies of Hush Ronin, this week, and almost right away, I found myself humbled by the demand from friends and acquaintances wanting to support my work. I looked at my meager stack of comics and realized, rather proudly, that it would be not be enough. To be completely transparent, I handed over the lion’s share of what I had to SoCal Games & Comics in Temecula, California. Rachel, the proprietor there, had been kind enough to offer sometime back and now, finding that I had an actual physical book to represent my efforts, made good on her promise by letting me display my book alongside all of the other fantastic New Comic Book Day offerings this morning.
I came by about an hour into the business day and took this picture:
At that time, Rachel informed me, three copies had sold to two different customers. One of my cohorts from my day job was responsible for purchasing two of those copies. The other though, I was told, was one of SCGC’s regulars, and on top of spending their hard earned dollars on my book, had asked how they could get my content more regularly. The impact of this inquiry didn’t fully hit me until after I had made my own NCBD purchases and gotten into my car, bound for my secondary day job at Cal State Fullerton. But as I began thinking about it, what it would take to make Hush Ronin a monthly book, I thought of all the hard work, the writing and re-writing, the drawing and re-drawing (the finished comic is easily the fourth distinct version of these events and characters I have perpetrated in the past two and a half years) and I felt a simultaneous mixture of gratitude and despair.
Very recently, I made the decision to take on a Lead Writer to assist in putting the largely sprawling epic of the mouthless Ronin into script form, if only so that I can spend more time drawing. That writer is none other than my dear friend (okay, and brother-in-law), Mitchell Kopitch. Mitchell and I have collaborated extensively in the past, most frequently on YouTube videos like Zombie Slayer and various others.
Mitchell is very anxious to get started, and brings a LOT to the table. This past summer, he graduated from the University of Washington with his Masters Degree in Creative Writing. I’m extremely pleased to have him on board. Plus, as you saw, he’s no slouch when it comes to killing shitty, carbon copy NPC zombies.
Issue 2 of the Hush Ronin Saga is slated for July of this year, per Ashcan Comics Pub. If there is any chance it can be sooner than that, those of you reading me here or following me on Twitter will likely be the first to know. If you’re not already following me on Twitter, my handle, as of this writing, is @starshipronin76. You can also follow Mitchell at @MKopitch. We both look forward to bringing you LOTS more Ronin stories, both canonical and apocryphal. Thanks to everyone who has turned out to purchase Hush Ronin #1, either in person or online. There are still a few copies left in the Ashcan Comics Pub storefront. We are currently examining the possibility of a second printing, which may entail a new, variant cover to distinguish it from the first printing. Keep checking back, and stay awesome. Always.
Yours Sequentially,
J. Paul Schiek
Fullerton, California
February 6th, 2019