First off, we have a lot of new subscribers here after my Comic Script Template post, so I wanna say…

WELCOME!

Thanks for being here!

It’s an honor to be deemed worthy of your email inbox (which, I’m sure, is already overflowing with junk).

I’ll continue to periodically put out resources for comic book creation on this lil blog, as well as updates on my adventures in comic booking (BIG STUFF coming VERY SOON on that front).

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However, today’s update is slighty off topic…

I MADE A HORROR MOVIE

Two of them, actually.

BONEHEAD is a dark comedy about a serial killer who’s a total goober. In the middle of a kill, he goes on his “lunch break,” where his victim-to-be is forced to sit with him (and try to convince him not to kill her).

It’s in a very small club of slasher movies that are actually kind of adorable?

Stay through the credits, and you’ll get an Avengers-esque post-credit scene that leads into the next film…

SLASH! is about a drunk deadbeat who wakes up to find himself in a twisted game show. A maniacal host sends serial killers into his house to kill him in front of a live audience. Hidden cameras catch all the action.

See any familiar faces in the slasher line-up? Possibly skull-shaped ones?

MY MOVIES PLAYED IN FILM FESTIVALS

I had never been to a film festival before this year, and now I’ve been to two—one in Tulsa and one in ATX. Now that the seal is broken, I don’t think I’ll be able to stop myself from going to more. Good—nay, GREAT—fun was had.

Here’s a link to my Instagram film fest photo dump if you wanna see more of that little adventure.

In other news…

ONE OF THEM WON AN AWARD

Slash! took home the prize for “Best Student Short Film” of the 2026 Circle Cinema Film Festival, and I have this fancy certificate to prove it:

Crazy!!!

I’m blown away by the reception of these shorts so far, especially with them being my first foray into movie making. I know there’s still plenty of path to walk, skills to improve, and bigger film festivals to shoot for, but this isn’t a bad start. Quite the opposite, actually.

It’s inspiring. And with Gen Z indie horror filmmakers taking Hollywood by storm, enduring in the zeitgeist, I’m beginning to think that joining them isn’t COMPLETELY out of my realm of possibility.

But that’s future shit. For now, for these two, there’s still more reception ahead…

BONEHEAD IS ON YOUTUBE

Yeah. Seriously. Right now. You could literally watch it right now.

If you do watch it, drop a comment and let me know what you think!

SLASH! IS COMING SOON TO YOUTUBE

Mark your calendars for September 12!

That’s all for now, folks. If the next transmission is about what I think it will be about, then get ready for some big news. In the meantime, enjoy some short films!

You can also find behind-the-scenes content of BONEHEAD and SLASH! elsewhere on this blog.

THANKS FOR READING, DUDE

I’ll catch you guys later…👽

Peace,

-Breyden

Just a quick one here to share a template I created to make comic scripting a liiittle easier.

I made this as a base for my own scripts, formatted the way I prefer, and thought you guys might want to have it as well!

And hey, if you like this kinda stuff…

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I tried to make it comprehensive on its own, but you can check out THIS VIDEO I made for a breakdown of it.

Also, THIS ARTICLE from Nate Piekos over at Blambot goes into depth on the good qualities of Fred Van Lente’s method of comic script writing, which is the foundation for mine.

THE KEY: CLARITY

The less work your eyes have to do to decipher a page, the better!

I added different Styles that you can switch between to format different types of text. The Dialogue one is especially nice—love me that two-inch hanging indent.

HERE’S THE BUTTON YOU’RE LOOKING FOR:

Download

Hope this helps you out!

I am so very far from being a master of Microsoft Word, so if you get in there and see room for improvement, drop a comment and let me know. For real. Same if you have any questions.

THANK YOU FOR READING BOYD THE HUMANOID 👽

Peace out!

-Boyd

*sniff sniff*

Smell that?

IT’S THAT NEW BOOK SMELL!

When you put a lot of days and dollars into a big order like this, you bite your nails for a couple months, worried for the worst.

Were the print files okay? Did the books turn out? Are they going to show up, or are they somewhere at the bottom of the ocean (like the answer to One Piece, apparently)?

Luckily, they did arrive. Luckily, they did turn out. And I’d say they’re a little more than okay...

THEY. LOOK. DAMN. GOOD.

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And let me emphasize “BIG” order for a second...

24 BOXES.

According to FedEx, the total poundage weighs in at 718 lbs. I’m, like, a fifth of that. Hopefully they don’t gain sentience and power-morph into a looming paper and cardboard monster. That would be a bad day for me.

FOR THE KICKSTARTER BACKERS…

Soon, I’ll be taking the comics out of these boxes, putting them in smaller boxes, and sending them to all of you guys!

I plan to pack and ship around spring break this month. Before you know it, you’ll have a copy in your hands.

WHAT IF I MISSED THE KICKSTARTER?

Don’t fret, dude! Both versions are available now on the Shape Comics website!

NOTE: orders with these will begin shipping in April. But you can still place your order now!

I’ve already had a bunch of orders come in for the hard cover, which is limited to 200 copies. If you’re interested in that one, you might hop on it sooner rather than later!

WHAT ABOUT MY LOCAL COMIC SHOP?

It’s possible!

Because I had these printed with ISBN barcodes, they should be able to be sold in book stores. Keep an eye out at your LCS, especially if you live in Oklahoma… there could be a Shape-Man on the shelf!

If you’d like to see copies at a bookstore near you, have them reach out to shapestudiosllc@gmail.com.

WHERE DID YOU GET YOUR PRINTING DONE?

I went with a new spot this time—a site I found online called QinPrinting!

I wanna give them a shoutout here, because I really enjoyed working with them on this. Definitely worth considering if you’re looking to print your own comics.

Obviously, before now, I had never printed a graphic novel. InDesign was new territory for me. The team here was patient and helpful, answering any questions I had along the way (of which there were many). They were kind to my budget and the products turned out absolutely fantastic.

Check them out here!

SO… THAT’S IT, HUH?

Yeah, pretty much!

With this book, I’m closing out the first chapter of my comics career.

It’s a bittersweet moment, but I know the best is yet to come. Stay tuned for a reveal of my next project—a slasher horror comic book series with Waco’s own Nate Wells!

AND THIS TIME… THERE’S A PUBLISHER ATTACHED!

This’ll be the big one.

Get ready.

Until then…

Peace out!

-Boyd

The Shape-Man OGN campaign has come to a close, and the results are in. We raised over $6,000 to make this thing happen!

With 122 backers, that’s an average pledge of around $54!

If you missed out, don’t worry! Late pledges will be available for the next month, and then eventually, it will be available on the Shape Comics website.

THIS IS AMAZING!

Every time we launch a new thing, it is.

Because when you think about it, Shape Comics and all of its projects have evolved from strangers on the internet thinking that other strangers on the internet have a cool thing going on. Something worth supporting.

Just take a scroll back on my social medias to some of those old videos and you’ll see just how much evolution there has been. Plain as day. And bagels.

The art has improved. The video editing has improved (especially proud of this most recent Kickstarter video my friend Zach and I put together).

I used to do a billion takes of everything because I was so self conscious. Still am, but now I’m more used to being on camera.

Side effects of running around the same block a few times… you get to know that block very well, and you get better at running.

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At the beginning, I don’t even think publishing was on my radar. I just wanted to make comics for the joy of making comics, to materialize something from my brain, and to have this full-circle moment with my childhood characters. If it went somewhere, awesome! If it didn’t, then I had fun, and I got to give Kid Breyden a pat on the back.

AND LOOK WHERE WE ARE NOW!

Somewhere along the way, I switched gears. I decided that maybe publishing wasn’t impossible. Shape Comics became my proof-of-concept that I could deliver a quality comic and at least a handful of people would be interested in it.

I made some industry connections… I took an internship with DSTLRY… I worked as a writing assistant for Steph…

I started turning the heads of some publishers…

And while I can’t say why quite yet,

THE HARD WORK IS PAYING OFF!

The credit goes to you guys. I genuinely would not be where I am, with the opportunities I’ve been given, if all those internet strangers (many of whom are no longer strangers, some of whom I consider friends) hadn’t taken chance after chance on this little nerdy kid with some ideas. I try to say it frequently, but enough is never enough:

THANK YOU!

This indie chapter of my trek into comics has been fun, and maybe it’s not quite over. But the next chapter is shaping up quiiite nicely!!!

As always…

Follow the Kickstarter for updates on Shape-Man. Email shapestudiosllc@gmail.com with your Qs and I’ll provide some As.

Peace!

- Breyden

“This month went by fast!” - literally everyone ever.

But it certainly feels that way! ‘Cause right now…

THE SHAPE-MAN KICKSTARTER’S ALMOST OVER!

And did I mention…

WE DID IT!!!

You guys are the BEST. Thank you so much for all this support on (soon to be) yet another successful Shape Comics campaign!

But the show’s not quiiiite over yet…

Now, it’s on to…

Gonna keep this one brief again. I’ll do a longer, more celebratory post-game chat once we’re wrapped, but for now…

HEAD TO KICKSTARTER!

LET’S FINISH THIS THING STRONG!!

Thanks, dudes! :)

- Breyden

A collection of every superhero comic I made in college, plus some NEW MATERIAL! Shape-Man, Forge, Surge, Omega… the whole gang, finally all together in one big book.

And as promised…

USE THESE LINKS FOR ACCESS TO HIDDEN REWARD TIERS!

SOFT COVER! + MYSTERY STICKER

The soft cover edition, plus a sticker!

GET ‘EM BOTH! + STICKER BOMB

Both the soft and hard cover editions, plus 4 stickers!

ALL COVERS BUNDLE! + STICKER NUKE

Every version of every graphic novel cover and single issue, plus 10 STICKERS!

Gonna keep this post brief, since all the REAL fun is happening over on a certain mint-green platform. Thank you for being here, and LET’S BLOW THIS THING UP!!! RAH RAH SHAPE-MAN!!!

LET'S GO! (to Kickstarter)

- Breyden

That’s right! And what do Shape-Man and a body part of mine that hurts have in common?

They’re both BACK!

UGH.

Sorry. Bad joke. Please don’t leave yet. I’ve got some things to show you.

Starting with…

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THIS is the cover for the SHAPE-MAN GRAPHIC NOVEL!

Before we dig more into that, can I just say… I LOVE this cover. I illustrated it myself and am so so happy with how it turned out.

I tried a new coloring technique that uses the same halftone dot brushes but breaks out of the confines of the tri-color printing look (basically, I didn’t just use cyan, magenta, and yellow). It gave me more control and allowed me to use a wide range of colors without anything feeling too congested with dots. All while keeping that retro comic look.

If you'd like to geek out about the art process, you can catch me in the comments of a video or something. I’ll spare everyone else reading this from glazed-over eyes, haha.

AND YES, your eyes do not deceive you… that is indeed a blurb from Stephanie Phillips herself! Writer of all these rad Marvel comics and more!!!

I appreciate her so much for taking the time to read and gracing us with her words. This is the first time a Shape Comics book has ever been blurbed, let alone by a professional creator. Big stuff! Everybody say THANK YOU STEPHANIE :)

Now, I’m sure you’re wondering…

WHAT’S IN IT?

The answer? A lot…

This 120+ page perfect-bound book (is it weird that having the title on the spine is one of the things I’m most excited about?) will collect every comic set in the Shape-Man universe thus far. This includes…

And on top of that…

VERY excited to be back to the drawing board for the Shape-Man VS Omega mini comic!

YOU LEFT THE DRAWING BOARD?

Yeah, kinda.

For those that don’t know, I had a wrist injury a while back that prevented me from illustrating at full comic capacity. I pivoted to writing, which I fell in love with and has become my main focus now.

That’s why this mini is so important to me. I haven’t done this many comic pages since Shape-Man #1. Getting to draw stories with these guys again is like reuniting with old friends. And while I still can’t do too much at once, I’ve been chipping away at it over the past several months, taking my time, and I’m really proud of the results. I think you guys are gonna dig it :)

CLICK HERE to follow the project on Kickstarter!

And as a THANK YOU for subscribing to this little blog o’ mine, I’ll be sending out a code on launch day for you all to unlock super cool secret rewards on the campaign!!!

COMICS ARE HARD.

Tell me about it!

It takes a LOT to make just one issue. Writing, outlining, hundreds of illustrations, inking, coloring, lettering, editing, promoting, marketing, blogging, emailing, recording, video editing, posting, crowdfunding, publishing, printing, distributing, conventions…

Multiply that by five or six issues, to the power of doing it independently, and you’ve got a seemingly impossible mountain to climb.

GEEZ. HOW DID WE GET HERE?

Well, how do you climb a mountain? You take a step. And then another step. And then repeat steps one and two indefinitely.

It may take a year… or two… or a few. And maybe you need to take some breaks along the way, set up camp and just chill out. But eventually, the peak looks a lot closer than it did way back when.

And then you get to the top.

That’s how I feel with this graphic novel.

It’s me sitting at the peak of a mountain I just climbed, looking back at how far I’ve come, thinking about all that had to happen for me to get here. All the people that helped me out along the way. All the hours at the desk.

It’s even more special because I started this journey freshman year of college and just graduated (although, the argument could be made that the journey actually started in middle school when I created the characters that these comics are based on). It’s like two big chapters ending at once.

This Kickstarter campaign is the party on top of the mountain, and you’re all invited. Whether you’ve been hiking along with me or you’re just now flying in, I appreciate you all SOOOOOOOOOOO MUCH and would literally not be here without any of you. THANK YOU!!!

One peak (almost) down. A mountain range to go.

There’s plenty more very exciting things in motion that I can’t share yet, but for now, just know that this is not where the venture ends. The best is yet to come, and I can’t wait to take you guys along with me! :)

THANK YOU FOR READING!

And get ready for Shape-Man, comin’ atcha SEPTEMBER 9th on Kickstarter!!!

- Breyden

PRODUCTION

(If you haven’t read part one yet, go take a gander!)

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The whole shebang spanned about three weekends, nine days, and 90 hours. Here’s a full breakdown:

WEEK ONE

1. Fri (3/28): The introductory bar scene, int/ext

2. Sat (3/29): Art department transforms my college abode into Roger’s house. (A true feat, cause that place was MESSY).

3. Sun (3/30): Roger in the house, pre-slasher stuff

This was a nice and simple lineup to start with. We got all of our preliminary scenes done—y’know, before anything really crazy happens. We set up some dominoes and gave ourselves momentum for the next couple of weeks.

Scratch Kitchen here in Norman was kind enough to let us film in their secret lil speakeasy, which made for a great bar!

Anna and I quickly found our rhythm as co-directors—she called the shots and worked the technical side while I directed the actors and paid attention to dialogue and story. We also had a bit of a good-cop-bad-cop dynamic, which came in handy. Any guesses on who was who? ;)

WEEK TWO

1. Fri (4/4): Fight #1—Roger vs The Demon

2. Sat (4/5): SLASH! Studio (part 1)

3. Sun (4/6): SLASH! Studio (part 2)

Fun fact! I was not there this weekend. There’s a wonderful reason why, but I’ll save that for another post. Here’s a hint, though: ❤️💍💐🥰

All thanks to Anna, things kept rolling like I wasn’t even gone. Legend. Here’s what she has to say about that weekend…

“Working with Malachi (Jerry Graves) and Xander (Iggy) was so much fun, hyping them up and getting them in the Slash mindset…It was so chaotic in the best way possible. I even felt myself slipping into the madness of it all…like I was with these characters on the show.”

WEEK THREE

1. Fri (4/11): Fight #2—Roger vs …I’ll keep it a surprise, hehe

2. Sat (4/12): Epic slasher walk-ups, introductions, etc. (Brent was unavailable, so we shot a bunch of cool stuff with the killers!)

3. Sun (4/13): Other fights, final scenes/shots and pickups

This weekend was simultaneously the hardest and the coolest. It had all my favorite parts, which also happened to be the parts that required the most movement and action.

Note to self: try to avoid having to choreograph a fight scene the night before you shoot it.

PH-PH-PHOTO DUUUMP! *airhorns*

For more pics, check out this Insta post!

Our last night was a Sunday. With the entire final chase scene left to do, and school the next morning, we knew it was gonna be a doozy. General crew was sent home at 1:00am, and a skeleton crew stayed until 4:00 to wrap up.

Packing up the gear and cleaning the house took another hour or two, and it was around 6:00am when I was finally home. I was sitting in my office, winding down from the end of a long night (and longer production), when Thea’s alarm went off.

She came into the room. I gave her a tired smile. We hugged for a solid minute. No words needed.

Then, we traded places—work time for her, bed time for me.

Here’s the final pic I took of Slash! production:

I felt a billion things in this moment. Exhausted. Accomplished. Happy that we made it. Sad that it was over. And above all, proud of my crew for the hard work we put in.

But there was still one more phase to get through.

The final battle. The boss level…

POST-PRODUCTION

This is where it all came together.

COLOR! (by Giovanni Barrios)

GRAPHICS! (courtesy of Robot House and Dylan Dawkins)

MUSIC! (by Jacob Shaddock)

There was quite a bit to piece together here, but our editors Nick and Zach cranked it out in just a couple of weeks.

The biggest hurdle was ADR. For those who aren’t familiar, that is essentially the re-recording of voice lines due to bad audio. In a lot of clips where Malachi (Jerry) is yelling, the microphone couldn’t handle the volume, so we brought him into a sound booth and had him yell into a better one. The trick was to match his new lines with his on-screen mouth—which, as you can probably imagine, IS TOUGH.

But not tough enough. 😎💥

I don’t have any pics of us in the Slash! booth, so heeere’s one from Bonehead I never posted!

If you can’t tell by now, then just take my word for it.

THIS. THING. LOOKS. GOOD.

Oh?

Still don’t believe me?

BOOM!

MOVIE POSTER!

Thank you Jim Redding!

And now…

Finally…

THE PREMIERE

It’s gonna take a lot to top this night. How can you possibly beat an auditorium packed with people who are all there to celebrate something cool and fun you and your friends made?

Hundreds—nay, thousands—of combined total work hours came to a head on one surreal night. We screened both Slash! and Bonehead (alongside Sonder, a fantastic highlight of everyone’s unique human experience from Natalie Giorgetti). The laughs were rolling, and when Bonehead made his appearance in Slash!, everyone CHEERED!

That had to be my favorite part. It felt like an audience reaction to a Marvel-level character reveal.

After the screenings, there was a reception in the lobby. We all walked the red carpet and took pics in front of the Greenlight banner. I was swarmed with people who wanted me to sign their posters. Everything made me feel like a miniature celebrity.

It was a dream.

And in a flash, it was over.

It’s hard to say goodbye to something that so much of myself was poured into. I’m going to miss everything about this project—the hard, the easy, the fun, the stressful, the rewarding, and the people.

But the road doesn’t end here.

WHAT’S NEXT FOR SLASH!?

A few little tweaks, and then we’re gonna hop in the film festival circuit for about a year. Once we get through that cycle, I believe both Slash! and Bonehead will be available to watch on YouTube!

Personally, this whole experience has me stoked. I’m more fired up than ever to keep writing and to see how far it takes me.

More short films? A feature? A comic book series?

Time will tell.

And I think it’s going to have good things to say.

BUT FOR NOW…

THANK YOU!

To the astounding and assiduous crew! To the massively talented cast! To all you readers here who seem to think my little curtain is worth looking behind!

I LOVE YOU, and I couldn’t do this withoutcha 🫶

Take care, and I’ll see you on the next…thing!

- Breyden

TAKE A SEAT, FOLKS!

Or don’t. I’m not the boss of you. But if you’d like to stick around as I unpack the entire process of making a slasher horror comedy game show short film, you may want to get comfy. Cause I got quite the yarn to spin.

You good? Relaxed? Got some snacks? Cool cool cool.

Let’s dig in…

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THE IDEA

Ideas can come from just about anywhere. A movie. A comic. A song. A shower. A walk around campus…

This one came from my wall.

Three-ish years ago, I bought these four (technically five, if you count the unpictured purple monkey one) vintage masks at Spirit Halloween on the basis of which I make most of my purchase decisions—I thought they looked cool.

Jump to a few months ago, and I’m walking around campus, mentally fishing for an idea to pitch to Greenlight Creative Productions. I set three criteria for myself:

1. It’s gotta be cool.

2. It’s gotta be fun.

3. It’s gotta be doable with little to no money.

After many laps around the south oval, I drew a blank. I came home, flopped into my desk chair, and opened a doc. The caret blinked at me for a long time before I finally locked eyes with one of the masks. Then another. And another. And quickly, the solutions to my criteria came to mind…

1. Slashers are cool. Multiple slashers—a TEAM of slashers—would be even cooler…

2. Game shows are fun. Maybe a killer game show…a crazy host…a weird announcer…

3. I already have masks. We have access to a studio at OU. And my house…

I mixed it all together, baked it at 350° for 22 minutes, and I had a logline:

“A maniacal game show host sends slashers into a drunkard’s house to kill him in front of a live audience…”

I was off to the races and had a rough draft of the script done the next day. Here’s a taste:

THE PITCH

At this point, I didn’t have the title yet, so I pitched it as Slasher Gameshow—very on the nose, I know. I put all the sauce into a google slides presentation, complete with animations, graphic design, and a healthy sprinkle of mood pics from pinterest.

Here's a link to the FULL PRESENTATION if you’d like to check ‘er out!

The pitch went great. I could feel the buzz for it. As my sound mixer and editor extraordinaire Zach put it…I mogged.

A week or two later, it was chosen, and I retitled it…

(Bonus: I actually pitched a second short film, Bonehead, which was also chosen as a side project. The story is a spinoff/prequel to Slash! that features one of the killers. Basically, I made a baby horror cinematic universe. You can read about Bonehead here!)

PRE-PRODUCTION

I was a new director, and with a project of this size, I figured it’d be wise to share the load. I asked for my friend Anna to help, who had a lot more technical knowledge than me. And sure enough, we became the perfect pair of co-directors!

One of our first orders of business was casting. We put out a call:

With the help of our wonderful casting directors, JJ and Chris, we held auditions at OU with a pretty sweet turnout. Many were drama students and local actors, with a few tapes from all over the place.

The moment Anna and I saw Brent’s tape, we knew he was going to be our Roger—the lead character and slashee.

After a few rounds, we had our cast: Brent Longmire as Roger Donnelly, Malachi Campbell as our crazy game show host Jerry Graves, and Xander Cole as his weird henchman/announcer Iggy.

While that was going on, together with our cinematographer Becca, we churned out 21 PAGES (125 individual images) of storyboards. I put my illustration background to good use here. I mean, basically, we had the whole story as a comic book before it was a movie!

I also threw down some righteous character designs. Here’s how I imagined some of the slashers…

As you can see here, one of the slashers was meant to be… well… big. I wanted him to be a lumbering klutz towering over everyone. But in the pool of actors who auditioned, nobody really fit the bill.

Solution? I called by 6’6” bodybuilder of a cousin and asked if he’d play Big Frank.

His response? “Yeah dude! Do I need to put on any more size?”

We but some boots and heel inserts on him, boosted him to about 6’8”, and he was ready to rock.

They were ALL ready to rock 😈

Our slasher cast: Lucas Booth reprising Bonehead, Taylor Stephens as The Demon, Camden Colaw as Big Frank, and Rhegan Burkart as Black Cat.

We put together our crew. We nailed down our locations. Hired some graphic designers. Battened down the hatches. Hoisted the main sails.

And it was time to embark on…

PRODUCTION

Okay, Substack is telling me I’m nearing the length limit here. So I’m gonna split this sucka into two parts.

Thank you for reading, and don’t touch that remote! 📺🔪🩸🩸🩸

LET ME BACK UP…

It’s December 2024. I’m about to enter my final semester of college, and I’m putting together my schedule.

I know I want to go out with a bang, and I realize that even though I’m a film major, I haven’t…really…done much film stuff.

So decide to join this group at OU called Greenlight Creative Productions, where students get together and make movies!

I PITCHED TWO SCRIPTS

And they both happen to be slashers:

“In the middle of a kill, a slasher goes on his lunch break with his next victim…”

“A drunkard wakes up to find that his house is rigged as the set of a murderous game show. The next contestant…HIM.”

AND WE DECIDED TO DO BOTH!

Filming Bonehead was a one-weekend sprint to get it all done. I was nervous about fitting a whole short film into just a few days, especially since I had never directed anything before. Luckily, I had an amazing team to help me out, and we CRUSHED IT!

CHECK OUT THESE BTS PICS! 💀

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Working with a team of creatives like this has been some of the most fun I’ve ever had on a creative project. When I’m writing, I’m usually alone. And as much as I like my introverty peace-and-quiet time, I’ve discovered that I also reeeally enjoy the thrill of a movie set!

Shoutout to my brilliant BONEHEAD team, and our stellar cast! Lucas Booth as Bonehead and Ripley Cooley as Stacy!

I can’t wait to share more about all this crazy cool stuff!!!

Next stop…

SLASH!

Stay tuned, dudes! 😈

- Breyden

Sometimes, it pays to drop everything, throw together a little comic series pitch, and fly solo out to a comic convention in the UK, powered by a shoestring budget and a dream.

If you’re lucky, you’ll get to hang out with some industry pros.

If you’re really lucky, they’ll let you give them a pitch.

If you’re really really lucky, they’ll read it.

If it’s good, they’ll like it.

And if you’re really really really lucky, you might land a gig.

LOOKS LIKE I’M REALLY REALLY REALLY LUCKY!

Because starting this week, I’m a writing assistant for Stephanie Phillips!

Stephanie is an amazing person and major talent working on all sorts of projects, from Marvel to DC to indie comics and beyond.

I’ll be helping mainly on the indie side with some story outline and script work!

Perhaps you’ve heard of a little series called…

BIG STUFF IS HAPPENING!

I’m extremely excited about this gig. I’ll be getting paid to do the type of stuff I love to do. And on top of that, Steph has made it a point to help me get my own work out there, too!

Here’s a couple more of Stephanie’s books you should check out (including some from my alma mater, DSTLRY!)

And as a bonus, an amazing Grim #21 variant cover by the hot-on-fire Danny Earls!

THANK YOU!

Stay tuned for more exciting updates! :)

- Breyden

Early next year, we'll be dropping Shape Comic's first-ever graphic novel!

I'm graduating next semester, and what better way to celebrate than with THIS bad boy!? A thick, 100+ pager collecting all of the comics I made in college, PLUS some bonus features, behind-the-scenes, mini comics, and a SHAPE-MAN vs OMEGA short story written and drawn by yours truly!

As you may know, following the project before it launches can help boost its day-one funding, which is HUGE for visibility, momentum, and all those big markety words. So, if you feel so inclined... please...

GIVE 'ER A FOLLOW! 👇

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/shapecomics/shape-man-the-complete-comic-collection

More details to come! Working on a cover as we speak… 👀

STAY TUNED!

Thanks dudes, and happy holidays! :) <3

- Breyden

I’m not even sure where to begin to break it down. This week was a whirlwind of happenings, and my head is still spinning. Or maybe it’s the jetlag.

Let’s start here:

I WENT TO THOUGHT BUBBLE!

If you’re unfamiliar, Thought Bubble is a festival celebrating comics that culminates in a weekend convention. And it takes place in Harrogate! In North Yorkshire! IN ENGLAND! IN THE UK!

This was my first time flying solo and my first time overseas (I’ve only ever been to the Canadian side of Niagara Falls before this). Pretty sure I totaled 40 hours of travel and nowhere near that much sleep.

I was NERVOUS, and frankly, a little insane for booking an intercontinental trip at midnight on a random Tuesday. But I’m a dude with a pitch and a dream. And after this weekend, it’s looking a great deal closer to coming true.

So strap in, put on your favorite British Invasion band, and let’s dig in!

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As I mentioned before…

This was a good chunk of the motivation to go to this con. Nate Wells—an amazing guy and super talented artist that you should ABSOLUTELY follow—and I have cooked up a little SLASHER HORROR MINISERIES ashcan. This weekend, I had the chance to pass it to some pretty cool people!

We got a LOT of good feedback on it from a LOT of incredible creators.

Permission to namedrop? Eh, whatever. It’s MY newsletter. I CAN DO WHATEVER I WANT. MWAHAHAHA (sorry).

Gonna link to bios of these dudes, so you can check them out if you’re unfamiliar. Or if you are familiar, and wanna be reminded of how cool they are!

SO…

I hung out with Will Dennis and Stephanie Phillips at the Tiny Onion party!

I met John Harris Dunning on the dancefloor, where we had a really good conversation about working in comics while getting down to Deceptacon by El Tigre!

I took a shot with a bunch of DSTLRY artists, including Jock, Tula Lotay, Lee Garbett, Becky Cloonan!

I danced, like, five feet from Jazzlyn Stone and the man himself James Tynion IV!

And all of THAT is on top of all the other amazing people I had the opportunity to meet at the convention!

PICS!

The whole experience was everything I had hoped it would be and more. I learned a lot and left feeling energized and motivated to get back to the desk. It certainly helped that the pitch seemed to impress people!

And as far as that goes…

(I don’t want to jinx it, so knock on wood real quick. Thank you.)

I think the odds of it getting picked up by a publisher are pretty pretty good!!!

I’m hoping to have some exciting news to share with you all soon. But for now, and as always, STAY TUNED…

Now, here’s some other miscellaneous

TRAVEL PICS!

(Head to Instagram for more, I’m running out of space here lol)

THAT’S ALL I CAN FIT!

Thank you SO MUCH for reading, dudes! Both this newsletter and my comics!

It was Shape Comics money that paid for this trip—money that YOU GUYS spent on my books. Genuinely, I can’t thank you all enough. You and your support of this little comics venture is incredible. I am forever and eternally grateful for it.

And as the days march on, that comics venture is looking less and less little.

I hope this post lets you know that all that support isn’t for naught. We’re growing. We’re breaking in. And I’m taking you all along for the ride.

Or maybe, you’re taking me.

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOUUU!!!

Until next time! PEACE!

- Breyden

WAKE UP! IT’S SPOOKY DAY!

My favorite day of the year has officially arrived. And to celebrate, I’ve got a couple fun things to share.

First order of business…

A FREE HORROR MINI COMIC!

You may recognize this title from a while back. Originally, it was supposed to go in the back of the Sonic Saturn graphic novel, and since we had to cancel that project, it never found a home. Today, it has.

On the FREEBIES tab of the Shape Comics website, you can now read the four-page comic for absolutely ZERO dollars!

This is a test flight for a bigger story I want to produce, as well as Shape Comics’ first dip into HORROR…

Here’s page one!

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Shoutout to my man Nick Malara, who’s electric art style you may recognize from the Surge comic in the Triple Feature!

IN OTHER NEWS…

I WROTE A MOVIE!

Here’s some stats:

Genre: HORROR/SLASHER

First Draft: 106 pages

Second Draft: 122 pages

(Got some professional script coverage/feedback here)

Third (and maybe final?) Draft: 113 pages

The story idea started as a comic script, and after seeing some horror screenwriting competitions with impending deadlines, I SPRINTED to translate it to screenplay format. Just wanted to throw my hat in the ring. For a week or two, I averaged 10 hours a day on it, peaking at 14 one weekend😵‍💫

It was a major challenge, but it felt soooo good to pull it off. Helped me realize what I’m capable of.

So far, it’s been submitted to FOUR screenwriting competitions!

In case you’d like to keep up:

• Stage32 Search for New Blood

• ScreenCraft Horror Screenplay Competition

• Script Pipeline First Look

• ScreenCraft Fellowship

It’ll be a long shot, but I’m in a shoot-your-shot kind of season of life. Ya never know!

I’m not quite ready to share the story info, but I WILL share the “note to the reader” I sent along with my submissions:

I think (insert story name) is a high-concept, high-octane twist on the beloved slasher subgenre with strong franchise potential. My hope is that after reading, you’ll think it, too. Thank you for your time, and enjoy! :)

LIGHTNING ROUND!

Here’s my Halloween decorated house!

Here’s me in a Halloween sweater!

And here’s my kitty (not really Halloween but she’s cute)!

THAT IS ALL

Go read a horror comic!

LATER, DUDES…

- Breyden

Shapetember 2024 is drawing to a close! If you’re interested in using your newsletter subscriber discount, here’s your reminder. LAST CALL FOR ORDERS!

And in case you need the code for newsletter subscribers:

SECRETCODE711

Use that to get 25% off! :)

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If you’re interested in the Patreon, here’s a link to it!

That’s all I got for ya now. I’ll do a bigger post later to recap the month!

HAPPY SHAPETEMBER!

Thanks for celebrating with me, dudes! :)))

- Breyden

You guys know my man Sean Peacock, right? The ultra-talented traditional artist behind my Forge comic?

Wellllll…

THAT’S RIGHT, DUDES!

As part of our Shapetember celebration, we’re dropping the original comic art boards from the desk of Sir Peacock on the Shape Comics website!

Guys. These are really freaking cool.

Sean sent them to me in the mail, and I’m pretty sure trumpets sounded and golden light washed over me when I opened the package. It’s so surreal to hold art for something I wrote, let alone from a master as masterful as Sean.

The pages are speckled with white-out corrections and pencilled notes that give them a each a sweet little soul. If you’d like to take one of these babies home, you know where to go!

SCROLL DOWN FOR A DISCOUNT CODE!

(Shapetember discount codes don’t apply to inks. Sowwy. But I got you another lil one!)

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Ahhhhhh I love them so much. I’m sure you guys will, too!

Anyways…

Enough goo-goo eyes…

HERE’S YOUR DISCOUNT CODE FOR ORIGINAL INKS!

THEOTHERSECRETCODE711

Enjoy! :)

See you laterrrrrr…

- Breyden

THE SECOND ANNUAL SHAPETEMBER IS HERE!

AWESOME… SO, WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?

For the entire month of September, Shape Comics (my little indie comic studio) throws a big party!

This year, I’m offering discounts on everything across the website (click here to go there)! Here’s some more info on that:

WAIT, “FREE NEWSLETTER SUBSCRIBERS”… THAT’S ME!

YEAH! For being subscribed, you guys get 25% OFF! I’ll give you the code in a sec, but first…

If you haven’t subscribed yet, please consider! I post updates on myself and my comic ventures, so it’s a great way to keep up with me outside social media and stuff.

Have you subscribed?

COOL!

HERE’S YOUR CODE!

“SECRETCODE711”

ENJOY!

And thanks-a-million for being a subscriber! Love you guys :)

Also, if you’re interested in that Patreon discount, I’ll drop a link riiiight here!

BEFORE I GO…

Here are some hefty hints as to what I’ve got planned for the month! Stay tuned to Instagram and the other socials so you don’t miss a beat!

HAPPY SHAPETEMBER, DUDES!

Don’t forget to leave your milk and cookies (soda and comics) out for Shape-Man!

See ya later!

- Breyden

It’s been a while!!! How’ve you been? Good? Me too.

Reeaally good.

I haven’t made a blog post in a few months, and there’s a bunch of exciting stuff built up for me to talk about. So… let’s get started!

YOU GUYS KNOW DSTLRY, RIGHT?

Pretty new creator-owned publisher? Lots of big names behind it, including my king James Tynion IV?

Well…

Guess who’s their new intern! (Hint: me)

I started just a week or two ago, and so far so good. I’m learning a lot about the publishing process and I’m meeting a ton of cool people. It’s crazy! I’m, like, in the club now!

If you’re not familiar with DSTLRY, go check them (us?) out. Look for the big magazine-sized stuff on the shelves at your local comic book store. That’s us (them?). So much talent, so many great stories. Spectregraph and White Boat are some of my favorites so far.

What else…

Oh, yeah!

SUBMISSIONS

As one of my new professors this semester taught us to say, I have several projects in various stages of development. And this is true. But a couple of those finally made it to the submission phase!

Scholastic and Mad Cave both held their own form of talent submissions this summer, and I submitted scripts to both. Mad Cave’s was 8 pages, and Scholastic’s was a womping 50, so that ate up quite a bit of my summer haha. But even if I don’t get selected, I worked out my writing muscles and had fun doing it.

I’m supposed to hear back in September and December, so keep those fingers crossed! Every single one! Until you look like a weird AI-generated image!

On top of that…

I’m working on an original slasher horror miniseries to be pitched to publishers! Suuuper excited for that. Not too much to report yet, but just know…

The best is yet to come!

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Speaking of best -

I’M TOTALLY ENGAGED!

This was absolutely the highlight of the summer!! A Dead and Company concert at the Sphere in Vegas, a hike through Bryce Canyon Natl Park, and getting to propose to my favorite person (and her saying yes, that’s a big plus).

Check out that view! One hell of a backdrop. That’s Peekaboo Loop, if you ever want to go to that now-historic location.

More pics!

Yeah, we cute or whateva.

Also, that concert was cool as $@%&. And if you didn’t know, Althea is named after the Grateful Dead song. So she’s cool as $@%& too. For that and many other reasons.

BONUS BOYD SUMMER FACTS:

• I fell off a tube while boating at the lake, hit my head on I don’t even know what, got knocked out, went to the hospital and got stitches. Fun times!

• Drew a comic for OKC’s Curbside Chronicle.

• Celebrated Summerween, like from Gravity Falls! I even carved my on Jack-O-Melon, it was awesome.

THAT’S ALL FOR NOW!

I’ll try to do this a bit more often. It seems like the snowball of my comics life is getting bigger and rolling faster, so I’m sure there’ll be plenty more to share along the way.

I’m very thankful for where I’m at right now. Things are really good, and it’s good times like these where it’s good to realize how good the good is. Good? Good.

For real, though. Life’s good, I’m grateful (ha), and thank all you guys a million times over for reading along and pushing me to where I am now.

{Kiss kiss. Athletic butt slap. So-long-it’s-awkward hug.}

UNTIL NEXT TIME!

Peace out, dudes!

- Breyden

It’s been a minute since I gave an update here, and I’ve got some juicy stuff to share, so let’s DO IT!

Starting with the big one…

I HAVE A PATREON NOW!

I’m super excited about this! I’ll have a lot of cool behind-the-scenes stuff to share as the new sci-fi horror project keeps moving. I plan to treat it a bit like a journal, where I’ll log progress as I go. It’ll be a good way to keep me on track, too!

It’s free to subscribe, with just one tier for now that has some extra perks. Here’s some more info on what Patrons can get:

I busted out the risograph and grain shaders to color this bad boy. I think it turned out pretty good! It’s a refreshing change of pace from halftone.

Click here for more Patreon info!

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WHAT ELSE IS NEW?

Lightning round. I’m gonna rattle ‘em off. Here we go:

I’M WRITING A NOVEL?

I’m taking a sci-fi/fantasy novel writing course this semester, and our final assignment is to write the first act of a novel. It’s gonna be a lot of work, but I’m excited for it!

I’ve got an idea brewing that could be good. It involves cryptids, aliens, Area 51, and the like. I’ll share updates on Patreon.

TRIPLE FEATURE ON THE WAY!

In case you missed the Kickstarter update, the Forge/Surge/Omega comics have been printed and shipped!

I should receive them in late March/early April, and when I do, I’ll immediately start fulfilling Kickstarter rewards, then website preorders. We’re in the final stretch!

WILL PATREON AFFECT THIS SUBSTACK?

Maybe? Probably not. While I do plan to post more regularly on Patreon, they’ll be significantly smaller. I’m gonna treat this Substack as more of an open newsletter, for big announcements and when I have a lot to say. Like today!

THAT’S ALL FOR NOW!

With all this awesome stuff in motion, I can’t wait to see what this new year will bring!

Thanks for being here, dude!

PEACE OUT!

- Breyden <3

It’s been a minute! Christmas vacation swept me away. I hung out with the fam, read Invincible, went skiing, fell on my ass, got home, got sick, and I’m still working on the “get well” part.

But I’m back with some new and exciting updates!

FIRST OFF:

The Triple Feature is DONE. D-O-N-E. I’ll put in the print order this weekend!

This has been an incredible project. The team was fantastic, and the fan reaction was fantastic-er. It’s always fun when you get to make something cool with friends. :)

If you’re a backer on this one, check your inbox for your reward survey! I sent them out earlier this week. We still have quite a while before shipping time (I expect March), but still, be sure to fill those out so I can get your stuff to you eventually!

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SO…WHAT’S NEXT?

I can’t say much yet…

But something’s coming…

Something BIG.

I’m cooking up a large-scale multimedia comic project. It’ll be sci-fi horror—a genre which I’m new to—and I’m extremely excited to see where it goes!

Speaking of:

I’M ON A TALENT SEARCH!

With a project as big as this, I’ll need help. I’m mainly on the hunt for a comic book artist or two to partner with, but I may also enlist the support of other creatives (web/graphic designers, cinematographers, content writers, etc.) Anyone with any creative skill is welcome to submit their portfolio to my email: boyd@shapecomics.co

I’m still in the planning phase of this one—so I’m not exactly sure what all I’ll need yet—but the laid-back look for creative peeps has begun!

I’ll post the above image this week with some more details.

THAT’S ALL FOR NOW!

Stay tuned for more updates on the Triple Feature and info on this new horror comic venture!

Later, dudes!

- Breyden