"Welcome to the Party, Pal!"

And welcome to the end of the first year of the party! Wow! How did THAT happen? Next issue of the CTO begins year two. Sweet! Not only did we finally get it started, but we managed to keep it going! Awesome!

This Time Around

All right, most of you have heard me whine about my shortage of time with work and all, so I won't got into it here again. Let's just leave it at knowing that I wanted to get more done this time around, but I still managed to give you a lot to check out. So do hope you enjoy.

First in Forte 2000...

Okay, I have a problem. I need to acknowledge that. I caught the K.C. art monger disease.

I have been getting silly amounts of art done off eBay, most of it from Eryck Webb (again...cheap, very good, and now knows these characters very well). It's just too easy! And he has new auctions every week! And I have new ideas every week!

So do jump over and check out the Gallery, first off. You'll notice, by the way, that I divided it up, finally, into three sections. There's the Character Art section, first. And that one I divided up by artist. All still on one page, but if I keep up at this rate (I'm slowing down, I swear), that may have to change, too. Like I said on the cover of this zine, I tried to make it a little easier on y'all by putting a "new" tag next to each piece of art that's been added since the last 'Times issue.

I think they're ALL highlights, myself, but if I had to pick a few to recommend (Eryck Webb-wise), I'm really fond of the Girls Night Out shot, the amazing full-color Armor Security shot I got Aaron for Christmas, the Hero Worship shot I got Ben for Christmas (see, that's HIS Forte character surrounded by all his WIFE's Forte characters. Get it?), the GORGEOUS Forte Past and Present #1 shot, featuring all of Kaye's Forte characters again (her Christmas gift), and Forte Past and Present #2 (featuring all Jeff's Forte characters...his Christmas gift) and the Dyna Girl vs Menagerie shot, which actually is a commission that Aaron got from Webb, showing a scene from one of his Dyna Girl stories. Oh, and there's a shot there of a character named Thorn, a design that Webb did for me for a character that's going to be showing up down the road in Forte 2000. Foreshadowing alert!

Speaking of the "Forte Past and Present" shots...you'll see a handful of those. See, getting shots of all Kaye's characters and then Jeff's, I realized if I started getting 4- and 5-character shots, I could soon have shots featuring every Forte character that's ever been on the team. Not there yet, but on the way.

On the non-Webb front, got some new stuff too. I found an AMAZING guy (from Seattle, ironically) named Timm Gillette who does these gorgeous color shots in a very Bruce Timm style. And cheap! Check out the first two I got from him--Nightsable and Dyna Girl--and you'll see why I was so blown away. Speaking of blown away, do NOT miss the Nightsable shot from David Enciso. STUNNING color work. As is the matching Dyna Girl work! And speaking of stunning, how about the Nightsable I got from Nina Nguyen? WOW. Also picked up a penciled Dyna Girl from a fantastic artist named Juan Falk, who's trying to break into comics, and went back to Joe Orsak for a Nightsable to go with the Dyna Girl he did for me a while back. And (yeah, a busy winter. What can I say? They all just stared coming in at the same time...), for more full-color fun, look no further than the Nightsable/Dyna Girl and Tinker shots from Valerie A. Ryan (the latter of which you probably spotted on this issue's 'Times cover). And finally, got an older pencil sketch of Nightsable and Dyna Girl colored by the original artist, Jenni Chasteen. She just wanted to! I swear!

Oh, and speaking of Webb art...he's been doing more than F2K art for me. I got so much of it, and got tired of keeping it all to myself (since it really didn't fit the F2K gallery), I created a second Eryck Webb Art (Other) gallery. As you'll see, I got him to do costume design and re-design work for me for Forge, as well as the coming-down-the-road teen (children of Forte) team FourStar. And I got him doing some Forte (original) design stuff, too, like his rethink on the costume of Lightsedge. Also got him to do a rework on Quiver, and archer NPC heroine from the Crusade world who appeared in one of my Con games (and hit it off with Lightsedge, so she'll probably be showing up again). Oh, and the "Templar" shot? That's a new Forte universe underground British hero team that Aaron's creating, and that's another commission Aaron got. Plus...there's an "other" section at the bottom for non-Forte world stuff I got from him. All three up there right now were Christmas gifts I got for people--Americana/Windjammer for K.C., Lodestone for Martin, and Whiplash/Vice Grip for Joel. FYI, in the future, there's a link on the F2K Gallery page, underneath the Webb section, that takes you to that alternate gallery.

And there's also the "Issue Covers" and "Wallpaper" pages now, separated from the art. No new wallpaper this time around, but I did add one cover.

Sadly, just two quick piece of F2K fiction this time around, and no new issues (after that cliffhanger at the end of Forte 2000 #148, too!). But I do hope you'll enjoy "Hotline", a little tale I wrote in a slightly different format. It takes the form of a telephone call transcript, showing a call to the Forte/Seattle PD hotline, that ends up NOT being from the police. Some Dyna Girl fun for you (Aaron doesn't get to write ALL her tales, you know!). And because Kaye demanded it (or at least suggested it enthusiastically)--I wrote a sequel, too..."Hotline 2: Redial".

But if it's actual fiction you're looking for, guess you'll just have to head over to the Forte '05 page!

Yes, I really didn't want to skip another Forge chapter, so I made chapter three of "Things Change" my priority. Boy, did I. It's freaking huge. Had a great deal of fun with it, dealing with the personal decisions of the Forge recruits, whether they'd decide to make the big move and join the team, and the ramifications for those that did. Loved getting into all their lives, which was also a chance to revisit some Forte history, which is always fun. And actually, considering everyone from F2K shows up in this one, due to Max, I guess this DOES count as F2K fiction (multi-tasking, baby!). I especially hand a GRAND time writing the whole section on Nightwatch Solutions, Nightshift's security company. When I came up with these NPCs, I started out by casting them, which really made them come to life for me. After that, I just fell in love with all of them. Fun group. Hope you feel the same. And hope you can make it through the whole chapter! Luckily, it's divided up into handy segments for easy multi-day reading. And I dare ya to make it through without shedding at least one tear! Went for the heartstrings on this one, baby!

And I managed to even whip out a second story for the '05 section..."Daddy's Girl", the sequel to the earlier "Good Guys and Bad Girls" story. This one, I promise, is NOT huge. But you may want to jump back and read "Good Guys..." again to catch you up on what happened, since this one picks up immediately after that. Had to get into this one because those two tales comprise the starting pre-history of FourStar. You'll be hearing more about that, though probably quite a ways down the road, so get on the bandwagon early!

 

Next Time...On "The 'F' Word"...

Ugh. Trying not to think about it. I'm about to go way under the radar because some serious evening studying is about to begin (for a Wyoming state insurance certification I need to get for work. That means, by the way, basically learning a freaking law book inside and out). But I'll do what I can, because 1) I can't wait to get to the final chapter of the opening Forge story!, 2) I SO need to get back to the Forte 2000 issues and get up to the big conclusion in #150!, and 3) one word...OMNIVERSE, baby! So keep your fingers crossed on all three fronts for me. Hey, if nothing else, I can probably guarantee you some new art (help! Get this artistic monkey off my back!).

See you in year two, 'Timer pals.

Michael O’Connell
Who Refuses to Take the Paddles Off Forte's Chest