These past couple days have been very special for me. All the kind words from fans and fellow creators have been really overwhelming. You people are seriously awesome. Thank you so much for supporting SCALPED over the years. Without you, we never would've made it to issue 60. And without SCALPED, I for one wouldn't be here.

Lots of people have been asking me how I feel about the series wrapping up, if I'm sad to see it end. I suppose I will miss writing those characters from time to time. And I will definitely miss working with the team behind SCALPED (though hopefully we can all get together again someday). But as far as the actual series goes, no, I'm not sad to finally be done. It's time. Time to give people of Prairie Rose the ending they've always had coming. Time to hopefully pay-off all the years and dollars you beloved readers have spent following their adventures. And time for me to move on to other stories (THOR: GOD OF THUNDER #1! Coming this November!).

I will do more stories like SCALPED, that's for sure. My next creator-owned project is already in the works, and I think it's something that will appeal to anybody who enjoyed the exploits of Red Crow and Bad Horse. I actually hope to start writing the first issue next week. But I don't think I'll be turning right around and jumping into another 60 issues series. SCALPED represents more than six years of my life. I don't have another journey like that in me just yet. Someday, yes. I think I even know what that next big one will be. But it'll just have to wait for a bit.

For now I'm keeping busy with X-MEN and THOR and that unnamed creator-owned book that right's around the corner. And I quite honestly couldn't be happier.

So again, thank you, SCALPED-fan, whoever and wherever you are. Even if I work in comics for 100 years, I don't think I will ever do another comic or work with another team or have another group of fans as special as this one. I love you all more than you know.

Now let's go have a beer.

I'm sure I'll have some more thoughts tomorrow. Today, just this.

Cover for #2 by Esad Ribic. Now if you put that alongside the cover for #1, you get one big sweet ass image, featuring all three versions of Thor we'll see in the series. Young, present-day and old. And also your first glimpse of the God Butcher.

As was officially announced today, I'm the new writer on THOR: GOD OF THUNDER, which kicks off in November. For details, check out the following interviews:
Newsarama
Marvel.com

Oh man, am I having fun with this one. And Esad Ribic is going to melt your brains.

Sometimes I lie in bed and imagine myself being murdered.

I imagine the different ways it could happen. The various people who might do it. Usually in rather vivid detail. Maybe that sounds strange, but I actually do it quite a lot. And in some weird sense, I think that’s me working.

I don’t think writers see the world like normal sane people. Writers are always looking for stories. Even in real life. Especially in real life. The more real the better. Even as real life is happening around you, as you’re in the very act of living it, feeling it. Even then there’s something in the back of your mind that’s quietly just watching. Taking notes. Observing your life like an outside party, looking for inspiration.

Writers live fantasy lives. I know I’ve lived my share. I’ve been married, single, a rock star, a starting outside linebacker for the Pittsburgh Steelers. I’ve been able to stop time. I’ve relived the past and visited alternate futures.

I don’t remember my dreams much anymore, and even when I did and wrote them down in a dream diary, I don’t think I ever got much of anything useful from them. But daydreams are another matter.

Some people might tell you that nothing useful can come of daydreams. Of wondering around in a daze, wrapped up in your own head, letting your imagination run wild. That it’s a waste of time.

But without daydreaming, I wouldn’t have a job.

Writing isn’t just the act of typing. For me, most of the heavy lifting is done before I ever even sit down at the laptop, before I ever get to the point of actually putting words on paper. The real work is done in my head. Bouncing ideas around. Chasing down different narrative leads to see where they take me. Little by little building a framework for whatever sort of story I’m going to tell. 

In other words, daydreaming.

Now of course, if you never get to the point of actually putting words on paper, then I suppose you’re just a dreamer and not that much of a writer. 

But on the other hand, if you’re sitting down to write without first having done a lot of work in your own headspace, without having wondered around your house for a while in a daze or zoned out at work, imagining all manner of weirdness and mumbling bits of dialogue to yourself like a crazy person…

Then I’d say you’re just not working hard enough.