"Lloyd's Secret" - The Amazing Five

Well, since Zuda is not in any rush to update how they plan on running their site… or take submissions… we’re putting “Damn the Cosmos” on a short hiatus.

The team has shifted our efforts into a project that is taking submissions right now, and that is the ever-awesome return of Digital Webbing Presents!  Please pop over to our production blog for “Lloyd’s Secret” and follow along on our adventure to create a 9 page short for the book.

I promise two things…

1- Damn the Cosmos will be back!
2- Lloyd’s Secret is fun, entertaining, and you’ll like it!

(point #2 above cannot officially be promised, since I can’t control your feelings… I dare say you will dig what we are doing, though.)

Thank you for following along on our journey to bring this swashbuckling, space adventure to life.  We’ll be back after these commercial messages… or something like that…  see ya soon!

Page 5

We’re halfway there and rounding the bases fast.  Stay tuned!

Without further ramblings from yours truly, here’s page 1…

Page 1

We’re well on our way to completing this mini-arc and have high and broad expectations to complete the full graphic novel.  No matter where the story ends up being published, rest assured, we’ll have 60 fantastic, amazing, gorgeous, fun, and entertaining pages ready for you to enjoy.  Guaranteed.

Until the next update, stay awesome and always remember to “Damn the Cosmos!”

pg.2

With the upcoming changes to Zuda happening around our ears, we’re going to push on and get this story ready.  If the new Zuda isn’t as good of an opportunity as old Zuda, then we’ll have to make some decisions on where to land this project.  Rest assured, though, with talent like this, we’re not going to let this story just disappear!

We’re very excited and can’t wait to get this ship back on course.  Until we start seeing some of Lea’s work, take a trip over to http://www.coroflot.com/leirs and see what all the fuss is about.

Or look below, I’ve added a few more samples to whet the proverbial whistle.

Chani

unfinished character design

Gambit!

Until next time, keep trucking and Damn the Cosmos!

Bad News – Marcio Friere is OFF the project.  He’s not interested in coloring anymore.  His last few pages colored will most likely never see the light of day.  They were very “phoned-in” and certainly not up to the standard we want for this project.  He’s been paid in full for his effort, but he’s been dropped from the project.

Good News - We’re well on our way to getting a new colorist on board.  Someone with passion, fire, and the let’s-do-it- ness to make these pages shine like they should.  Meet Lea (I’ll just leave it as that for now).  We’re talking now and it’s looking very promising!  Here’s a couple samples to whet your whistle as we work on getting Lea on board…

Beautiful, aren’t they?  You can see more of Lea’s work here… http://www.coroflot.com/leirs

Here’s to hoping for the best!

Oh, and Damn the Chaos, we’re going to make this happen!

Being a ship pilot is a dream job for most of the human castaways in space.  Freedom, money, and a modicum of fame go along with the title.  Now that Jules is involved with much more than just flying a salvage ship, she must learn the skills necessary to become a real pilot, all the while hiding her true background…

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Rook

The laborer of the “Dancin’ Lady”, Rook is high on muscle and low on brains, and self-esteem…  When Captain Darrow picked up Jules to pilot the ship, his boring and labor intensive job got a little brighter.  When Herbert acts uncharacteristically, the crew is swept off into real adventure, and Rook finally feels alive!

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Captain Darrow

As the captain of the “Dancin’ Lady”, Captain Darrow always leverages any situation he gets into to maximize his profits.  It’s been a lucrative way of life for a while now, even if he’s had to ruffle a few feathers along the way.  Now that his ship is part of something much bigger than himself, Captain Darrow must learn that there’s more to life than just money.
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H.E.R.B.E.R.T.

Handcrafted Electronic Replicant Built
for Efficient Repair and Troubleshooting

Herb, the only robot on “The Dancin’ Lady”, wants desperately to be upgraded.  He is obsolete.  Because he is so outdated, his programming has degraded a bit and he has fallen for one of the oldest tricks in the book.  He’s been controlled by an outside source!

The beautiful and sexy ship "The Dancin' Lady"

Here’s the big, complete short synopsis…

Man has been forced to flee Earth. Life in the cosmos has not been kind, and the human race has been deemed a lower class citizen by the many strange species of the Universe.

Jules, the pilot of the mining ship “The Dancin’ Lady”, finds herself in the middle of a revolution when the ships robot, Herbert, unwittingly sabotages their mining operation and hooks up with malcontents looking to make a name for themselves amongst the chaos, turmoil and opportunity of all-out war…

The ragtag crew of the “Dancin’ Lady” gets sucked into a galaxy-spanning quest to bring war machines and supplies to a group of freedom fighters preparing to reclaim earth.  Above all, Jules must hid her true identity and maintain her status as pilot while navigating a failed relationship, a budding romance and keeping her true identity a secret.  After all, no one wants the fate of humanity in the hands of a common criminal.

…and here’s the little, dirty, quicky Synopsis…

Herbert unwittingly sabotages the operation of “The Dancin’ Lady” when he hooks up with malcontents looking to make a name for themselves amongst the chaos, turmoil and opportunity of all-out war.

Andriods, guns, and "The Dancin' Lady"

With the story spanning across galaxies, civilizations, and locales, we would need a plethora of strange and wonderful creatures.  Aliens, androids, robots, we would need to run the gamut.  So S.R. Ayers stepped up to the plate, got his pencils to work and came up with tons of amazing concepts for the various creatures.  Here’s just a few pages of those concepts…

An early design of Herbert had him more android-ish and less robot.  We nixed that idea in favor of a more robotic Herbert.

He needed to be more of a robot to really fit his title… heh
H.E.R.B.E.R.T. – Handcrafted Electronic Replicant Built for Efficient Repair and Troubleshooting

The pistol and “The Dancin’ Lady”, however, are unchanged and in the story as you see em in this early sketch.

Random aliens, and another 'bot you just don't want to mess with!

a Deathring bot, another alien concept, and a vicious machine you just don't wanna mess with!