HERE'S
THE DEAL.
Owen Zelazny, a handsome street hustler who's finally found a reason to quit the world's oldest profession, finds that the kind of life he led has a way of catching up with you. It was in the city of Maranatha that he became who he was, and the city, it seems, doesn't want to be forgotten.
Chased by men willing to kill him for reasons
he barely understands, Owen has no choice but to run, and run, and
run. He knows there's only one place he can run, one man who can
help him. A man he turned his back on three years ago. A man named
Malloy.
Together, they find their past coming back to
haunt them, tearing open old wounds, but if they ever stop to let
their broken hearts catch up with them, they’re as good as
dead.
Heathen City is a struggle for survival in a harsh, sinful, violent
urban environment. It’s the world we live in: cities are a tangled
mess of plans and failures, ambitions and conspiracies. The rich
brush against the poor, criminals attend church, mobsters and
family men walk the same streets.
Heathen City is a story about sin and
salvation, about the brutal consequences of innocent mistakes, the
fatal fall-out of easy choices.
This is the world of Heathen City.
While Alex is a great fan of the classic comics such as Associated Student Bodies and Circles, whose slice-of-life stories reflect the creators’ own experiences with heartfelt sincerity, there was much, much more that could be done with furry comics.
After considering many different artists, Alex was strongly drawn to Ayato and Distasty, a pair of artists with a long working relationship, who’ve collaborated before on the webcomic Banished. Ayato’s striking, lavishly detailed compositions and his dramatic use of perspective coupled with Distasty’s insightful use of color and texture to bring a world vividly to life, were the missing piece of the puzzle that would raise the bar for the furry community.
Of course, it's never that simple.
When the pressure to complete the first volume in time for the promised release date of 'summer 2008' began to encroach on the quality of the work, Alex put out some feelers to other artists.
Heathen City had by that time attracted a fair amount of attention, and it wasn't long before artists like Krahnos, Charha and Fel joined the gang to add their own unique talents to the mix, and long-time collaborator Kamui was tapped to apply his expertise in graphic design to put together the bold, complex cover art.
As editor-in-chief of Bad Dog Books, there was no need to find a publisher. BDB is well-entrenched in the community, with close ties to numerous other businesses -- such as FurPlanet, whose experience with print-on-demand production made them the logical choice of printer.
With all the pieces in place, after months of hard work, it's almost time to lift the veil and show the furry community a new level of quality, a new breadht of ambition, and a new standard to strive for.
It's time for Heathen City.
(Volume One of Heathen City will be available from late June 2008
from Bad Dog
Books and FurPlanet)