It’s been no secret that Steven G. Saunders and Josh Wagner have been working on a comic book project entitled SALVUS—their fledgling production blog says so, as well as naming the art team, Leonardo Freites and Veronica Gandini. A buddy-adventure actually written by two buddies, each writing his respective character as they go, SALVUS is to be a quasi-historical story drawing on each writer’s strong grounding in historical facts and trivia as well as the love each writer has for wild action stories.
The new part is that Salvus has not only gained an editor, but that the originators are in fact joining an entire creative studio: Wicker Man Studios, source of critically-acclaimed digital comic GUN STREET GIRL, Tokyopop’s current project THE HIDDEN, and last year’s graphic novel HALF DEAD which came out first from Marvel Comics and Dabel Brothers Productions, and was made available again more recently this year thanks to Desperado Publishing.
Josh Wagner is the writer and originator of Ape Entertainment’s current prestige miniseries FICTION CLEMENS, the third part of which recently went on sale. He is also the co-originator of the gamer-based digital strip comic ORCUSVILLE.
Steven G. Saunders, along with having done various reviews and interviews, served as the final host for the infamous comics feature ALL THE RAGE, starting in late 2006 and seeing the feature through to its conclusion last year. With Wagner, he is also the co-originator of ORCUSVILLE.
Wicker Man Studios’ manager and co-owner Dr. Park Cooper (editor-in-chief, Septagon Studios and MangaLife) edited Wagner’s FICTION CLEMENS for Ape, and agreed to edit SALVUS, but as Cooper, Saunders, and Wagner discussed business, the industry, and their various plans, the idea began to form that they could be more effective under a single banner, and they couldn’t help but notice that such a banner already existed in the form of Wicker Man Studios itself.
“When the guys brought the idea up to me,” said Wicker Man Studios co-owner Barb Lien-Cooper, “all I had to say was, ‘let’s see how [Wicker Man Studios webmaster and GUN STREET GIRL artist] Ryan [Howe] feels about it,’ because I know these guys, I feel that what they do will be professional-level work… so what more is there to say? It’s always nice when I read about other studios with press releases saying ‘we’re expanding!’ Well, Wicker Man has become, of late, more than ever, what we’ve wanted all along, which is a real studio with multiple properties to pitch, and once one gets to that point, there’s often strength in numbers, so when Ryan approved, we started really getting underway with plans and everything. It’s nice how it’s kind of dovetailed with the re-launch of www.wickermanstudios.com,” concluded Lien-Cooper.
“Park did a hell of a job editing ‘Fiction Clemens,’ and I’m pleased as a pickled penguin to be working with him again,” said Wagner.
“I can think of nothing cooler than joining forces with Wicker Man Studios and Barb, Park, and Ryan,” said Saunders. “Except maybe bacon. Nothing trumps bacon. Sorry, guys.”
Leonardo Freites worked on Image’s project NEW WORLD ORDER.
Veronica Gandini colored issue 2 of FICTION CLEMENS and is currently coloring Warhammer 40,000: Fire and Honour for Boom Studios.
Josh Wagner’s prose novel, a whimsical adventure which also guest-stars his character Fiction Clemens, is available on Amazon.
Steven G. Saunders recently launched his comics-and-RPG-related column, TOTAL PARTY KILL.
Wicker Man Studios’ GUN STREET GIRL is now online at their website and is being syndicated (with additional material planned) at www.graphicsmash.com as GUN STREET GIRL PRESENTS.
