SEVEN. DAYS.

Q&A

I’ve just had a few people ask me this same question, so I will make it public and then you can all be on the same page.

Wait, isn’t this Cuddles: The Golden Demon? No wait you changed it to The First Two Hundred Years. Who’s this Timothy Worcester dude?

Cuddles: The Exorcism of Timothy Worcester is a short, seven page prologue that kicks off the story and gives a little insight into where Cuddles came from. It’s the first part of the Cuddles series and there will certainly be a lot more coming after this.

CUDDLES: The Exorcism Of Timothy Worcester

The first chapter of the Cuddles series, a prologue of sorts, will be released for digital download right here on: 31.01.11. Stay tuned.

Working Hard

Sorry I haven’t been around. Working on the comic. Might have some stuff for you in a week or so. Til then, there’s been some updates on the Facebook Page and you can always follow me on Twitter.

Links below

http://twitter.com/#!/CAricHanley

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Cuddles-by-C-Aric-Hanley

It has begun..

HOLY SHIT: an update!

Hallo there my lovely minions. Sorry it’s been so long since I updated. If you follow me on the Twitters (which you should) then you’d know that I’ve been sketching and working and writing and so on. On my Twitter feed there are some sketches, including An American Werewolf In Hotpants”. One day I will get those links back up to Twitter, FB and RedBubble…. maybe even today.

Or maybe not.

The comic itself is going well. I’m scheduled to begin production very very soon, and I’ve been making changes behind the scenes to better accommodate how things are progressing. Now as you will know if you have been paying attention, I’ve been doing a script re-write or Cuddles: TGD for some time now and while definitely better than the pre-crash script, it’s also longer and more complicated.

This has essentially meant that my initial plan of releasing TGD in one go in January is NOT going to happen. It just isn’t feasible. So, I decided to break the comic up into parts. That makes sense right? Well yes, but it also means a whole collection of bits with different release dates and it all gets very confusing – especially for the reader.

So, I have made an executive decision and the first part (which was always going to be the first part of TGD anyway) will still drop in early 2011 (I’m still working on an assumed window of ‘January’) and then the series will follow a more or less chronological path from then on. I don’t want to give too much away, but I wanted to chime in and let you all know that Cuddles is alive and well, and that so am I. Now, for some:

INFREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

So, what is this comic even about?
I’ve deliberately left a lot of the plot details secret so that, you know, it doesn’t spoil the act of reading it but the basic gist is that in the late 1700′s a failed exorcism pulls a demon from the body of a young boy, and instead of sending it back to hell, it takes refuge in a powder blue stuffed rabbit named Cuddles. For the next 200 years, Cuddles takes delight in savagely murdering the children he is given to or who find him and take him home.

Then one day, as he stalks 10 year old Chester Bradford through his home in the outer suburbs of Chicago, Cuddles is pulled from our world and brought before a robed figure who gives him a conscience and forces him to work with Chester (now 16) to cleanse the world of monsters, demons and the undead and ultimately save our universe itself.

That’s the basics. That’s all you’re getting.

So, why is everyone in Cuddles white and male?
Well firstly not everyone is white and male. We have Chester’s girlfriend Emma, who I may not have posted sketches of. I honestly cannot remember. However I do see your point and the reason for the apparently homogenous cast for this comic is indeed racially motivated although not in the way you might initially think.

As a white guy, my experiences are largely based around that of caucasian males and as such I’m simply not sure that at this point I would be able to do justice to major characters of different ethnicities. I do intend on having (at first minor) characters from other ethnic backgrounds, and then as I become more confident in my writing and my characterisations, bringing in more major characters who are African American or Korean or Jewish or Russian or whatever. Actually we do have a Jewish werewolf getting involved and Mr Blinky is British (although the guy who modelled for him is American), so there’s a little diversity for you haha.

For now though it’s white guys because I would rather not have multi-ethnic characters than HAVE multi-ethnic characters and totally piss off the people of that ethnicity due to my shoddy writing. Trust me when I say that the true multiculturalism of the US will be represented, just not in the main cast. Not just yet.

So, do you like… stuff?
I prefer things to stuff, but stuff is fine I guess.

So, what are your favourite comics and movies and tv shows and stuff?
Comics: The Walking Dead, Y The Last Man, The Losers, Gotham Central, Kingdom Come, Superman: Red Son, Blankets: An Autobiographical Graphic Novel, Neil Gaiman’s: Sandman, Chew, The Killing Joke, Johnny The Homicidal Maniac.

Movies: The Breakfast Club, Aliens, 2001: A Space Odyssey, An American Werewolf In London, everything by Pixar. Not Cars though, I didn’t like Cars.

TV: Fringe, The Walking Dead, Stargate, Castle, Misfits, The Inbetweeners, Dexter, Glee, Big Bang Theory, Modern Family, Supernatural, Burn Notice, Venture Bros and Sanctuary. There are probably others. I was a big LOST fan back in the day. Farscape too, big Farscape fan.

Games: I’ll go games instead of stuff: Resident Evil 2, The first three Tomb Raiders, Mass Effect, Fallout, Gears of War, Left 4 Dead, Batman Arkham Asylum, Red Dead Redemption, LittleBIGPlanet, Heavy Rain, Assassins Creed.

All this stuff influences my work in subtle ways. By which I mean I subconsciously steal shit :D

That’ll do. You can email me here, follow me on Twitter here and like the Cuddles FB page here. I will eventually get around to putting the button links back up. Promise.

Add:

Oh and yes, to clarify (because someone asked me to) Chester is a ginger in the comic – as is his model Shay here in meatspace.

Presenting: Chester Bradford…

Here it is. This moment has been a long time coming. The first image of Cuddles partner:

Click to embiggenate.

Happy Halloween!

My portrait for the year, and as promised… the special Cuddles and Blinky in costume shot:

Click either pic to embiggen.

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NEW LOOK!

I updated the look of this place today, but it dropped all my settings (thanks for that, WordPress) so I have to go and find the links to the places you can find me and such again. I will do this, but not right now so til I do, just… chillax.

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