Well, the cat is out of the bag and the Secret Project is a secret no more!
Anyone who replied to the first post in this thread will have received the following email:
Hi You,
As you probably know, the legendary Carlos Ezquerra has just undergone a major operation and we are putting together a get well card in the form of a comic to cheer him up and to express our gratitude and admiration for all his fabulous work. The idea is to ask as many artists, writers, fans and friends of Carlos as possible to contribute and I would like to ask if you would be willing to help with this.
Artists: We ask you for an A5 image, black and white or colour, pencil sketch or fully inked, at 300dpi as a JPEG or TIFF. Perhaps you'd like to re-imagine one of your favourite Ezquerra images, illustrate one of his many characters in your own way or produce something completely fresh as your personal tribute to the great man as one-page strip or a single image. Don't forget to sign your name on the piece and also include a personal message wishing him a speedy recovery, thanking him for his body of work, expressing his influence on your own work or whatever you feel would be appropriate.
Editors/printers/writers/letterers/fans/accountants etc: Write a get well wish to Carlos, maybe in the form of a short (250 word maximum) story, poem or anecdote. Perhaps you'd like to write a message (in black ink, please) as you would for any get well card to a god and then scan it (300dpi JPEG or TIFF) so it can be added to the comic as handwriting rather than just plain old text. Maybe you'd like to attach a small Ezquerra inspired doodle to your message.
The "Get Well Comic" (and it still needs a better title - so, thinking caps on!) will have only one copy, which will be mailed to Carlos at his home, a task Tharg himself has generously offered to undertake. I'm friendly with a local one-man printing business so the actual printing won't cost me too much - and I'm happy to pay for this myself. Once Carlos has received the comic I will email each contributor a pdf of the comic with watermarked pages to ensure that Carlos retains the one true copy. The comic will not be used as promotional material by anyone except Carlos himself, to whom all rights are awarded as with any get well card. No money will be made from this.
The final and irrevocable deadline for submissions is September 1st this year, so there's just about a month to get something in. I know this might seem a little tyrannical, but I think it needs to be done sooner rather than later. The longer we leave it, the more chance there is that Carlos will find out about it before the comic arrives, and we want this to be a surprise for him - something unique and personal to all of us that will cheer Carlos up during his recovery and let him know how very much we think of him.
Please email your contributions to:
xxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxx.f9.co.uk with the Subject line: Get Well Carlos Project
I hope that you will contribute to this project and help us to repay a small fraction of the joy Carlos has given us over his glorious career to date, and for all the joys yet to come.
Thank you for your kind attention and please forward this email to everyone you think would like to contribute.
Mark (The Get Well Carlos Team.)
*****
Many rose to the challenge and the time, effort and talent put in by everyone has left me breathless with admiration for the generosity and spirit you have all displayed. It's fair brought a tear to my eye. In due course, about three weeks ago, this was born:
(Cover by Kev Levell).
(Contributions from Steve Sampson, Bhuna, Robert Nichols, Dirk van Dom and Ghostpockets.)
Soon, I will be emailing all the contributors with a download link for the pdf Contributors' Copy. I have also prepared a Public Version and, if I hear no objections, I'll post that link here in a few days. (I think it's only fair to give the contributors the first look, hope you don't mind.)
Thank you, you're all wonderful.
