I’m very excited to be returning to the fold. I haven’t worked on a Tic Toc Tom story in a long time, but when Chetan asked me to write a story, I wasn’t sure about it at first. I just didn’t have an immediate idea in mind, plus it was stressful coming back to a character that I hadn’t worked on in years. But once I started thinking about it, the ideas started flowing.
I had this germ of an idea that spun out of my love for classic pulp stories. I was reading Conan, Solomon Kane and John Carter of Mars stories and it was influencing me towards a direction that was grand and adventurous. Thus, Marvelous Jones was born and the plot thickened in a good way. I had a character that I could insert into the Tom universe and all I needed to do was find a way to connect him to Tic Toc Tom.
I needed a hook to bring it all into focus, so I was flipping through a recent issue of illustration magazine and stopped on an article about the art of Vincent Di Fate. He had a career that spanned 50 plus years painting classic science fiction covers and writing stories about far flung future worlds. I was eyeballing his work and it just blew me away with an array of robots, spaceships, dragons and strange beings. Well, this just got me going in a big way and it helped become a gateway into crafting a unique world where Marvelous and Tom could meet in a way that you wouldn’t expect. Much like how Barry Allen Flash met Jay Garrick Flash for the first time, my story would be a slight homage to that classic story.
I won’t give much away here, since you have to read the actual story…but let’s just say Marvelous will impact Tom in some unexpected ways. Who knows if you will see Marvelous again, but this story will give you a taste of things to come? I know I’m teasing everyone here, but once you read the story all will be revealed!
Like I said, I’m excited to be back in the fold and it’s like I never left. The old saying goes you can’t go home again, but coming back to Tom feels like picking up where you left off with an old friend and know nothing has ever changed.
Dead Souls coming later this year.
