I guess you’ve been wondering why it seems like Phil Meadows and I haven’t been around much lately.

Dime Store Productions, the printer/publisher who provides the affordable printing that made Job Wanted and Shooting Star Comics Anthology a reality, has a new contest called Small Press Idol. Like American Idol, it is a way for independent writers and artists to audition for a part in an upcoming comic book from Dime Store.

Phil Meadows and I have collaborated on an entry and we just submitted it today. It doesn’t appear on the list yet but it should be there by tomorrow.

Regardless of whether this piece makes it to the finals and wins a free published story or not, this is a work that will be published one way or the other. It’s all very hush hush for now, but I’ll be sure to tell you all about it when we’re ready to make announcements.

This is the third time I’ve collaborated with Phil Meadows. That’s right, third. I haven’t mentioned it before, but we were invited to do a story for Shooting Star Comics Anthology #4, available this May. SSCA #4 is available for ordering from Diamond Preview right now, so please call your comic shop and ask them to get a copy for you. SSCA #3 was a top-notch entry in their series (far above the uneven quality of the first two, if I may be so bold) and the stories I’ve seen for #4 make it look to be the best yet, so you may want to just have them hold all future SSCA quarterlies in your pullbox!

Tomorrow, I will post two pages of preview art from our story, “Melvin and Marvin Middler, Time Meddlers.”