October Update
4 days ago
– Mon, Sep 28, 2026 at 07:56:12 AM
Sorry this Update is later than it should be.
A few months back, my wife asked me to move out, saying she wants to "disentangle our lives." While I knew there were problems, I honestly thought we were still solid at our core and could get through them together. I was obviously mistaken.
I spent most of the summer shattered, and trying to rebuild my life. It has cost me dearly in time and money, and emotionally.
That's all I'm going to say about it.
SECTION ZERO 1959 is nearly ready to go to press. I recently got this wonderful pin-up from AARON LOPRESTI (colors by BILL CRABTREE):
I'm still waiting on Mark Waid's intro, and photos and short bios from some of the other creators. There's also maybe a dozen small corrections I need to make to the story itself— color fixes, dialogue tweaks, etc.
And, of course, the BackerKit surveys need to go out, since that's how I get the list of people who want to be on the THANK YOU page.
Those surveys are tedious and exacting to put together, but once all the pieces are in place they work wonderfully. I finished it over the weekend, and have submitted it for BackerKit's approval. Assuming there are no major problems, the "smoke test"— where a small precentage of Backers get the survey first, to see if there are things that still needs fixing before everyone gets it— could be sent out in the next few days. Fingers crossed, everyone will get the survey by the end of the week.
If you want to be on the THANK YOU page, please respond by OCTOBER 21.
My goal is to have this book in the printer's hands by the end of October.
KK
THE BOOK IS DONE! (Almost)
about 2 months ago
– Mon, Aug 03, 2026 at 09:04:47 AM
Last Friday—July 31— I received the last batch of colors from Brandon Cummings. I have not looked them over yet, but by this point Brandon knows what I'm looking for and usually delivers that (and more!) so I expect very few changes will be required.
That means all I have to do is composite together the colors and letters for this last batch, and the SECTION ZERO 1959 story is DONE!
I have already designed and formatted almost all of the remaining book. I'm still waiting on a few pin-ups (from Aaron Lopresti and Craig Rousseau), Mark Waid's introduction (I will be sending him a make-ready of the mostly-finished book today), a dedication and afterwards from Tom Grummett, and one or two other small items. Then the book will be ready for the printer!
One of the things I still need to do is set up the THANK YOU page. To do that, I need to send out the BackerKit surveys. These are BEASTS to put together, and I probably won't be able to do so until after I get back from Terrificon (and visiting my sister) on the 14th. Hopefully you'll see those surveys in your email box around the 20th.
I'm sorry I didn't send out a July update, but the truth is the past few months have been very rough for me, personally, and when I had to let a few things slide, the Update was one of the things that took the hit.
I expect by the September Update, I'll have an idea on when the books will be printed and back in my hands for fulfillment.
See you then.
KK
June update
4 months ago
– Tue, Jun 09, 2026 at 09:47:33 AM
THINGS KEEP MOVING FORWARD…
As I write this, Parts 1 and 2 of the main story have been lettered, and Parts 1 and 4 have been colored. (We needed to re-jigger the files to Parts 2 and 3 a bit, so Brandon jumped straight to Part 4 instead of waiting. Parts 2 and 3 are now ready for him to color.)
I've also see 3 pages of colors from Bill Crabtree, for the Sarina Ursari solo story. GORGEOUS work!
As these pieces come in, I've been assembling and placing them in an inDesign layout, getting the book ready to go to the printer.
I've also been designing things like the Title Page, what I call "Spacer" pages (pages that give a visual break between charpters), the Behind-the-scenes/Backmatter section, pin-ups, and— especially fun— coming up with retro-looking covers for the 4 solo stories.
NOTE: I have tried half a dozen times this morning to insert a graphic of one of those retro covers here, and every time the page freezes up. No idea why. The file's not too large, is properly formatted, just like a hundred other graphics I've uploaded into Updates. For now you'll just have to trust me that these covers are pretty cool.
God willing and the creek don't rise, I expect SECTION ZERO 1959 will go to press in August. Hopefully, I won't regret saying that out loud.
SKETCHES. Due to some family matters, I didn't get this sorted out with Tom like I wanted to. It is top of my list.
I'll be at HEROES CON this coming weekend (June 12-14), in case you want to see a cartoonist in (one of) their native habitats.
Take care. Talk soon…
KK
MAy update: IN FULL COLOR!
5 months ago
– Sun, May 10, 2026 at 07:30:45 AM
SECTION ZERO 1959, PAGES 2 AND 3, colored by the incomperable BRANDON CUMMINGS!
(And, yes, I realize a plane crash may be a little too on-point for this project, symbol-wise, but please note the heroes do survive and finish their mission.)
Sorry This Update is a Bit Late.
Last week, our daughter had Outdoor School— where the entire grade goes to a camp for 4 days; something we did not have in upstate New York when I was groing up, but is a long-standing tradition and rite-of-passage here in Oregon— so Myrna and I siezed the opportunity to get out of town for a few days. We had a very good time, thanks for asking.
But now I'm back to work!
WHERE WE NOW STAND
Except for the Sarina Usari solo story (which colorist Bill Crabtree already has), all pages are in Brandon's hands for coloring. In fact, PART 1 is already fully colored, and Brandon is moving on to the next part.
PARTS 1 and 2 are with COMICRAFT for lettering.
PART 3 is almost ready for Comicraft, but as I was going over the pages I noticed quite a few art mistakes. Mostly panels where someone should have a raygun, but didn't (or vice-versa), although a few cases of a person mistakenly missing from/appearing in a panel. Some of these SNAFUS can be fixed in dialogue, but generally the best thing for the story is to fix the art. So corrections are being made before final dialogue is sent out.
I don't think PART 4 needs any art corrections, so should turn around quickly— although never say never until I go over it with a fine tooth comb as I finalize the dialogue.
The same goes for the EPILOGUE.
I have also begun inking more of the SKETCHES. Am working on a darling little DEATHSTROKE right now. I have not contacted Tom about the remaining pieces, but I will do that this week.
I am not going estimate when all this will be done other than: As Soon As Possible. Things happen— like the raygun art corrections— that slow things down when I least expect it. Instead of making promises that get broken, I think the best way to move forward is to show we're moving forward in these Updates.
Until next month…
KK
INKS: FINISHED!
6 months ago
– Fri, Apr 10, 2026 at 01:24:45 PM
I'M SURE WE ALL AGREE WITH EVEREST PIKE.
First: My apologies. Wrapping the inks took quite a bit longer than I expected. Two reasons: Taxes and Spring Break. I forgot about both, and both take up a disproportionate amount of my time when they roll around. But they have passed, I survived, and the inking is now DONE!
Next I will scan in all the pages, format them, clean them up so they'll look nice and purty in print, and get them in the hands of the colorists.
Yes— colorists plural. Not surprisingly, BILL CRABTREE has not simply been waiting around for SECTION ZERO 1959 pages to show up in his inbox. He has a deservedly successful career, and is in high demand. So, while he regrets that he can't color all of SZ59, he will color the 8-page solo adventure featuring Sarina Ursari— meaning he will have colored all 4 of the solo adventures of the SZ59 team.
The main story will now be colored by BRANDON CUMMINGS. I really became aware of Brandon's work a little over a year ago, and was very impressed by what I saw. So much so, I wrote this note and put it on the label printer that sits on my desk:
I have been looking at that stickie note for over a year, in case I ever needed to look for a new colorist. And that time finally came.
As it turned out, Brandon and I had already worked together! He had colored some of the BATTLESTAR GALACTICA mini I wrote for Dynamite back in 2016! I am sure he will do a stellar job on SZ59, and can't wait to share some of his hues with youse.
At the same time, I will be fine-tuning dialogue and getting all those ducks in a row to get the lettering done. Richard Starking's stalwart COMICRAFT is ready, willing, and standing by for that.
And once both of those start coming in, I will begin assembling the final book, getting it ready to go to the printer.
There are still a few months of work ahead, but the end is getting tantilizingly close.
KK
