The Story So Far...

When we say you get to watch as we create this comic, we’re not kidding. Many of the other creators on this platform came in with books ready to go. They had stuff that was finished and looking for a home. That was NOT the situation for us. Khary got an email over the summer about this new opportunity. And he almost ignored it. Our lives were crazy. He had too much work. I had too many health issues. And there was a gigantic, leaking hole in the ceiling of my 500-sq foot apartment that we were both working out of. We just couldn’t be bothered with anything else. But a very persistent Skottie Young convinced Khary to follow up on this Substack thing…so he took the call.

It was a Thursday when Khary spoke to Nick Spencer and found out we could have a space to own our own work, tell our own stories. But…we didn’t have a story. We each had our own ideas, but we wanted to use the opportunity to do something together—and we had to figure out what that was REAL FAST.

Having dated for 5 years, we are well aware that we have VERY different brains. I’m anxious, Khary is laid back. I’m punctual, Khary is always late. I’m organized, and Khary…well, he’s lucky to have a girlfriend who’s organized.

So when we started brainstorming, we came at it from completely different angles. Khary said he wanted to a story about a young girl in 1980s New York. He talked about the setting, how the city would be a main character in the story. He kept mentioning the punk and hip-hop aesthetics. I wrote it all down. He thinks visually, planning out the whole look of a project. And I start every story by thinking about a person and their struggles: “But what about her? Who is she? What does she want?”

It was such a different way of working for both of us, yet such a natural way to collaborate. We both brought different elements to the table, but we still needed to find the core of the thing.

We were literally just throwing ideas on a white board.

“What are we doing?” I asked. “Horror, romance, supernatural?” We were really starting from scratch, people. We settled on supernatural, and suddenly I had these dots to connect. It was like doing improv: “Give me a character, a setting, a genre.” I looked at what was on the board.

Don’t try to read my handwriting. It’s pointless.

“Siren,” I wrote. At that point, it seemed like a music book, right, with New York and the punk/hip-hop visuals.  I thought we were going to tell a story about a siren who wanted to be a rock star but had to overcome the harm her voice did to others. (And hey, that’s not a bad idea. Maybe another day?)

But that is definitely NOT where we ended up. Because we realized we had this chance to say anything, so we had to say SOMETHING—our siren needed to have a voice.

Anyway, it was a whirlwind. Three days later, we had a pitch.

And here we are. We’re still writing, drawing, putting this world together. Stay with us, and watch it all come together!

---

We just talked to Jarrod Jones at the newly relaunched DoomRocket.com! Check out the full interview!

AND! Excellence Vol. 2 - The Present Tense is in stores now. Collecting issues #7-12, this is a culmination of 3 years of all the blood, sweat, and tears that was put into this book. Excellence was a true labor of love, and Khary is extremely proud of how this came out.

Spencer Dales was born into a world of magic. His father belongs to the Aegis, a secret society of black magicians ordered by their unseen masters to better the lives of others—of higher potential—but never themselves.

Now, Spencer Dales has one purpose: tear down the Aegis and free everyone under their “protection.” However, with his closest ally in prison and the Tenth looking to put Spence in an adjoining cell, creating a better future won’t be easy. But it needs to happen NOW.

KHARY RANDOLPH and BRANDON THOMAS ignite a generational war in this action-fantasy series, made entirely by creators of color and committed to one truth above all others—Excellence is Real.