One month ago I promised the start of Chapter 4 today, but all I’ve got is another lousy sketch page (featuring George R.R. Martin up there at the top of the page). Sorry to drop the ball here, but I’ve had to re-write the script for Chapter 4 based on some recent discoveries. Let me fill you in.

So we’ve mentioned Talkeetna, Alaska a few times in the story as the last place our heroes met a group of survivors, and it didn’t turn out well. Chapter 4 is the bit in our story where we take a look back at exactly what happened there and what went wrong.

Now, I originally chose Talkeetna as this place of trouble for the kids and Moose based solely on the fact that it’s a small town/village near Denali National Park. I had plans to make this a Woodbury-esque kind of place, complete with a funny (IMHO) parody of The Governor. So I finished Chapter 3, started working on the script for Chapter 4, and then started Googling Talkeetna, Alaska for some visual references. If I had just stuck to the image search results I would’ve continued as planned and you’d have the cover of Chapter 4 up there instead of another sketch page. I made the mistake, however, of reading about the real Talkeetna.

WHAT A COOL PLACE! Holy crap, man. Apparently Talkeetna was the inspiration for the TV show Northern Exposure. The mayor is a cat named Stubbs. The place is full of artists and musicians and mountain climbers and moose sculptures.

So now I’m forced to reconsider some things. The easy choice would be to stick to the original script and ignore the truth, as I’ve done with a few other bits in the story. I think, though, that figuring out a way for my Governor-parody to be in charge of this somewhat bohemian community sounds like a pretty fun challenge, so I’m re-writing. Sorry for the delay, but I really think this will be worth it. Please bear with me for a bit longer while I get this new plot line ironed out.

Also, if you happened to listen to WLCA 89.9FM on Sunday afternoon, you might have heard the Comic Shop–a short segment in which radio personality Zac Coffman discusses comics with folks who make/read them. Anyhow, Zac interviewed me about the Moose Riders for the Sunday show (thanks Zac!). With me being the brilliant marketing strategist that I am, I’m posting a message three days later to say, “Hey! If you’re here from WLCA, thanks for stopping by 3 days ago! Go check out the Moose Riders starting with Chapter 1!”