To all my readers,

First, thank you. Whether you're seeing this before Misfire Reactional goes live or long after, you have my sincerest thanks for giving me a bit of your time and for letting my work into your lives.

As I sit here typing this on a chill November afternoon in 2008, trying to find something deep and meaningful to talk about, my mind wanders and I'm inclined to take that at face value. My father has just turned 59, and my grandfather has just turned 86. What feels like only couple days ago the United States of America elected its 44th President, and in a little over a week from now a horde of shoppers will be lined up in the wee hours of the morning for big savings on plasma TVs and laptop computers. Beside me on the floor is a small stack of textbooks, and next to that is a bookcase full of sketches and notes and receipts and games and manga and DVDs.

Somewhere among the papers beside me is a novel, half-edited, that I feel guilty for having left unattended so long. I've always felt there aren't enough hours in the day, and when I have more than one thing engaging my attention it feels especially true.

The concept of Misfire Reactional has been bouncing around in my head for a couple of years now, but the root of the inspiration came long before. I want to say… 1996? That was a good year for movies, music, TV shows, anime. I was 14 then, which makes me 26 now and ever-so-conscious of how close I ride that line between responsible and juvenile, between wide-eyed child and jaded old man. When I was 14 I had no idea how the world was going to change after the year 2000, and I suspect this old world still has a few surprises in store for me yet.

But getting to the point. Misfire Reactional isn't about the post-2000 world, but it is set near the turn of the millennium in a world much like ours. Or at least, a world much like what I envision sometimes, when a turn of phrase or an idea strikes my fancy. Words like magic and superheroes, sci-fi and aliens are powerfully evocative. They stir up images within us that art, for all its wonder and boundless possibility, could never hope to reproduce, but only simulate.

Misfire Reactional will debut on January 1, 2009. As of this writing, only a handful of pages are drawn. Only a few words have been set down to give form to these ideas. The comic book format is a new adventure for me, and I do suspect that my style will change over time. I've given myself 45 days to get as much done as I can, which will help me decide how often I should update. There will be a beginning, middle, and end. I don't plan to make a lifetime career out of one comic, and I personally don't believe in teasing out a story for decade after decade. That said, some of my favorite artists took generations to tell their tales. There is value in that beyond creation. It is devotion, for good or ill.

In a perfect world, this is a story that should not take very long to tell. And when it's finished, it will not take very long to read. But between here and there are many lines and many pages, and many other things wonderful and mundane to distract both you and I along the way.

Again, I thank you. For indulging me, and the part of me that is this story.


–Randy