Tuesday, April 25, 2017

Turning Over A New...Nah, Too Obvious.

Based on the name "Red Leaf Comics", you wouldn't immediately assume that the publisher was based out of Pheonix, Arizona (at least first went into business there).

But they are (were?) and damned if they didn't publish more Canadian characters than most of the other publishers I followed throughout the five years that my previous blog, They Stand On Guard ran. That includes flagship character The Leaf, who spanned multiple generations.

Of late, founder/publisher John Michael Helmer has directed much of his attention to Lucky Comics. That publishing imprint is more geared towards classic, public domain characters, some re-imagined, some less so, and their own original material. The most prominent members of their cast include Beetle Girl (granddaughter of the original Blue Beetle) and both a classic and modern version of The Black Bat, the pulp hero from the late 30s to the early 50s.

And now it seems that Red Leaf's own classic character is getting an update through Lucky. A few days ago, writer Mark F. Davis posted the following comment on his Facebook page:
I made a pitch to John Helmer of Lucky Comics for a new Leaf ongoing comic book for his Lucky Universe, and he dug it enough to launch a new Leaf title and give me full creative reigns on writing the book!  
We've got Laudable Luis Rivera staying up nights working hard on the design for the new character. How can you beat that? Watch for The New Leaf, from Lucky Comics!
And Rivera came through with the following:


Helmer further confirms that...
The character is NOT related to the MacSorly clan (the Red Leaf versions of the character) or any of their classic stories. All New-All Different and published by Lucky Comics!
The book is expected to be out in late summer/fall of this year. Presumably it will follow the now-standard Lucky Comics format of an 8-page pdf available from Drivethru Comics and in print from Indyplanet.