Shooting Star Comics has redesigned their web site and opened their online store. According to Scott McCullar, they moved the site to a new host in order to get the store working and allow space for upcoming online comics which will start in 2006.

I’ve been waiting for this for a while, which is why I haven’t been talking too much about Metro Med #0 since it’s debut. Until now, the only way to get a copy was at conventions or via my comics-for-sale site (and I only have a small stack on hand). Now you can get it from Shooting Star’s new online store.

Here’s the cool part: Shooting Star is going to throw in a copy of Metro Med #0 for free with any purchase from the online store! You can find the previous works by artist Phil Meadows and yours truly in Job Wanted #1 and Shooting Star Comics Anthology #4.

Now, Monitor Duty gets new visitors all the time, including many who probably don’t even know I’m a comic book writer, so I’ll give a quick recap in the extended entry.

I ran Fanzing Magazine for six years, until I decided that I was working with so many skilled writers and artists that it was a shame to not put that talent to work making a real comic book. I ended Fanzing and we put out “Job Wanted #1” in November 2003. I’m still quite proud of the sci-fi mystery that we did for the book, and it contains a Yellow Jacket, Man of Mystery story that ranks as one of Scott McCullar’s best works. (And what makes it extra-amazing is how fast Scott did it as a last-minute favor when one of our slots fell open late in the game. I am sooo glad to have him on my list of friends in the comics industry; I certainly wouldn’t be where I am today without him.) You can still see write-ups and previews of Job Wanted on the site we set up for the roll-out: http://www.fanzing.com/jobwanted.

In spring of 2004, Phil Meadows and I reunited to return the favor for Shooting Star when they had an opening in their schedule. We did a time traveling comedy, “Melvin and Marvin Middler, Time Meddlers,” which was very well-received. While I’m proud of our first story, “Enigma in Outer Space,” it never gets the reaction that Time Meddlers does; I love hearing all the open laughter that one gets at our convention booth.

In the summer of 2004, we competed in the Small Press Idol and won, getting the most votes for our 8-page Metro Med pitch and the completed story “Hard Shells and Fruity Centers”. We finally took Metro Med to Shooting Star Comics, and this summer we released “Metro Med #0”, which contains both Hard Shells and a sequel story as well as pinups, bios, maps and history, all for $2.

Metro Med is an idea I’ve wanted to do for ages: a medical drama featuring a special hospital that operates in a world of superheroes. The staff are the main characters, though you’ll get to know plenty of the superheroes during the course of the stories.

However, there was a printing error with Metro Med #0. Not a big one, but the blacks just aren’t as dark as we would have liked and some of the smaller text on the bio pages is a bit fuzzy and hard to read, which is why I’ll be posting those pages on the Metro Med Web site. Shooting Star was in a bit of a quandry, since none of that was major enough to demand a reprint and it’s partly our fault for not doing a test print. (There just wasn’t time so close to the convention date.) That is why Shooting Star is now offering the books as a promotion for our upcoming mini-series. Again, you can get one just by purchasing any other book at the Shooting Star store.

I realize I’m running off at the keyboard here, but I’m just so tickled that the online shop is finally up. I hope you’ll all check it out.