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15 Years Of Scarlet Huntress's Adventures…

Published Sun, 07 Apr 2019 08:30:23 -0500

Sean Forney writes,

Back in 2003 I was just starting out in the comic industry. I hadn't setup at a convention yet and I hadn't really been "published." But I was approached by a publisher asking if I would like to be in his anthology called The Portal because I was working on some trading cards for him and he needed more material. But I didn't have a story. I wasn't a writer. All I wanted to do was draw. My then girlfriend and I spent hours and hours on the phone late at night for about a week until we landed on developing a contemporary story around the Red Riding Hood folklore. We started with a quick five-page story for the anthology and setup at a convention in Michigan with some books, art, and I did dollar sketches. Looking back those were some fun times when we were just starting out, struggling for every sale and learning so much about the industry. I had no idea that it would become the dream, working full time in the industry and having the ability to keep my creator-owned story going for all these years. We wrote a second five-page story for the anthology, and then started working on the first full issue. We self-published Scarlet Huntress #1 under our own Savage Mind Comic Studio imprint finally in 2006, the same year we got married and moved back to Ohio from Indiana. By this time I was starting to work steadily in the comic and illustration industries, and paying work always had to come first to make sure we had a roof over our heads. It's been a long journey to get Scarlet Huntress out to readers, and we've been constantly working on Scarlet art and stories behind the scenes over the last 15 years. I've never been more proud of where we're headed and I'm excited to share our latest project with you.

Before I tell you about the latest installment of Scarlet Huntress, let's catch everyone up. Scarlet Huntress tells the story of a descendant of the original Red Riding Hood, who doesn't know she's a descendant of a long line of werewolf huntresses. Issue #1 is about her being a rebellious teenager who lost her mother in a vicious murder and ran away from home. She returns to find her Grams is sick and needs to fill her in on the family "secret." By the end of the issue Scarlet decides to take up the family lineage and become the next huntress in order to avenge her mother's death. In 2010 I was able to finish issue #2, where Scarlet makes her first official kill as a huntress. She's growing up a lot in the series and coming into her own as a huntress. Everything surrounds Scarlet's search for answers, to find her mother's killer and why she was so brutally murdered.

This leads us to 2011 when I started realizing that people were coming up to me at conventions and asking about Scarlet and when more books would be published. The entire series has always been a labor of love for us, with me doing all the art and my wife Steph doing all the writing, editing, and even some inking and flatting. We began working on issue #3 but wanted to take a different approach this time. Scarlet Huntress: Tales Through Time was born in 2013 with three short stories by John Barker, Bryan K. Borgman, and Steph Forney. Two of the stories actually take place in alternate universes and Steph's story continued on with the original story-line. Tales Through Time was our first successful Kickstarter endeavor, and allowed us to finally create a full color Scarlet story.

Over the past few years my schedule has gotten busy with both drawing and coloring work for a variety of publishers. But there have always been Scarlet stories in the works and new art being made. Our newest book is called Scarlet Huntress Adventures and it launched March 21, 2019. The campaign is already successful and looking to reach more stretch goals in the last three weeks of funding. I'm excited to bring you three more stories, all set in the current story-line, written by Steph and dawn and colored by myself.

Now to tell you about the three new stories featured in Scarlet Huntress Adventures. Writer Steph Forney brings us new tales of our favorite Columbus, Ohio werewolf huntress meeting new cryptids, discovering old relics, and entering the pop culture world of a comic book convention. Below is a brief description of the new comic stories:

Scarlet and the Secret Amulet continues Scarlet's search for her mother's killer. In her pursuit to discover more about the man she's hunting, she finds a pack of werewolves who have a new scheme that involves an ancient artifact.

In Scarlet verses the Gremlins, Scarlet is alerted to werewolf trouble at an Air Force base but ends up tangling with a new adversary, gremlins. She must find a way to rid the base of these Cryptids quietly before the military finds out she's there.

Scarlet goes to Comic-Con has Scarlet investigating a werewolf sighting downtown during daylight hours. As Scarlet hunts she stumbles into a comic book convention and adventure ensues.

The art is all done by myself (Sean Forney), but several guests artist will be providing amazing additional artwork. I've been very fortunate in my career to meet and work with a variety of talented artists over the last 15 years. Most of these people are not only colleagues and friends, but part of our con family. Artists like Darryl Banks (Green Lantern, Legion of Superheroes), Marat Mychaels (Deadpool Corps, Brigade), and Carla Wyzgala (aka Carlations) will each be providing exclusive variant covers and limited edition books in chrome, virgin, and pearl. Jamie Snell, Chad Heinrich, Jay Fife, J. Lynn Warner, Nate Lovett and a few surprise artists will be providing artwork for prints, bookmarks, buttons, and more incentive rewards.The first two stretch goals have already been reached getting fans the complete series of books in digital format and a set of die cut stickers. We're very close to the next stretch goal, releasing a set of three new exclusive prints. Stretch goals after the prints will include trading cards, metal bookmarks, sticker sets, and more art. Please join us in spreading the news about this new chapter in the Scarlet Huntress series. The Kickstarter campaign will run from March 21-April 29, 2019. We are incredibly excited to bring you a new book, with all new art and stories this year!