From The Vault - The Shift Pin-Up 1996

In 1996, while I was working away on my first self published comic book idea, Exit 6, my friend, Craig Patrick, was working on a book of his own. A book about werewolves. A book called The Shift.

The initial plan was for Craig and I to go into self publishing together, hand in hand, each putting books out at the same time under a common publishing company. The name of the company was Lost Cause Graphics.

When I left New Jersey in the spring of 1996 I spent about a month at Craig's house in Ohio. We set up a studio in his basement and both started working on our books. In between working on our own books we did pin-ups of each other's characters for inclusion in our books when we put them out. This was my take on Craig's werewolf characters. It was a really fun time but, after a month of living there, I felt I had outstayed my welcome with his wife and left on my way out west.

Unfortunately, we found out after I settled in Colorado that the name Lost Cause Graphics had been taken. So, we brainstormed a bit and came up with the name Lost Horizons Graphics. It wasn't the same and I felt like losing that name took some of the wind out of Craig's sails. With me not being there next to him in the basement and with the loss of his publishing name, it seemed like he just gave up.

Which is too bad. His story was, in my opinion, always a great idea and the way he was going to execute it is still something that I hope to see one day. But, after arguing with him for over ten years as to why he should do this book I simply got tired of banging my head against the wall to try and make him do something he obviously didn't want to do. With Craig there was always some excuse. Some new technology he had to master before he could start his book. Always something.

In 1998 I self published the Exit 6 comic book under my Plastic Spoon Press company. It may not have worked out exactly as I hoped and I would have to stop publishing the book by issue number three but I'm never sorry that I gave it a try.

And Craig...I actually tried to find something, anything, online that had some of his Shift artwork so you could see how great it is. But, there was nothing. Not even a small little image I could lift off of Google. Which is too bad. Because I still think it would be a great comic book and one I would happily order and read.

Maybe once he gets whatever new technology figured out we'll all be in for a treat.