Monkey in a Wagon vs Lemur on a Big Wheel Summer Special (Patreon)

Eons ago I lived the fascinating, challenging and (sometimes) rewarding life of a comic book publisher. One of the pleasures of the job was discovering new ideas and getting them out there for the world to see. One such concept was Monkey in a Wagon vs. Lemur on a Big Wheel.

To be fair, MIAWVLOABW (how's that for an acronym?) already had an issue published through Alias Enterprises, so it wasn't completely new. Alias was a now long defunct outfit that made a run at the market back in 2005 - 2007. It was a time known (to me, at least) as The Aughts of Independence. 

Co-creators Ken Lillie-Paetz and Chris Moreno (Dracula vs King Arthur) jumped ship to my company when the Alias boat started to sink. My team and I provided Ken and Chris with the support they needed to truly make their vision come to life. 

We decided a sporadic schedule of specials was the best way to go. The first one was called Monkey in a Wagon vs Lemur on a Big Wheel: Crisis With Infinite Critters (perhaps one of the longest titles in comic book history) and did good business through shops and at conventions.

Convention sketch by Chris Moreno, the Alias issue and the first Silent Devil special.

When the time came to do the second issue we decided to make it a summer release to coincide with convention season. But then some personal issues came to light. We had just completed the entire comic and were ready to go to print when Ken decided to pull the plug on the entire project. I don't want to go into the full details. Just let it be known many people were devastated by his decision.

The issue has never been read by anyone outside of the people who worked on it... Until today.

I'm sharing it with you not only because I have a short story in the book, but it deserves to be seen. It is, frankly, a wonderful piece of art. Also, it's called the Summer Special and it is currently the beginning of July at the time of this writing. Hopefully the humor you'll find inside its pages will bring a cool breeze of sequential delight.