They’re Back: Chadhiyana & Gentleman Cthulhu (but mostly Chadhiyana)

J. M. DeSantis's Chadhiyana & Gentleman Cthulhu are back!

It’s taken a while to get to this point, but finally there’s a new Chadhiyana comic, a short titled Chadhiyana: The Call of Fire and it’s free to read on chadhiyana.com! And although I didn’t plan it to line up this (near) perfectly, the new Gentleman Cthulhu artwork reveal comic is up on gentlemancthulhu.com today!

As I’ve written about before, I had taken a break from both projects, but intended to come back to them. Gentleman Cthulhu began his return with new comics posting since August of this year, and Chadhiyana will return in a new series next year through (my) Dark Fire Press (darkfirepress.com). And for you Chadhiyana fans, today’s post is mostly about the upcoming series. 

The Call of Fire page 2

Chadhiyana: The Call of Fire is sort of a teaser for a new series of stories about the title character, who first appeared in Chadhiyana #0 and continued in the prequel, the yet unfinished arc, Chadhiyana: In the Company of Shadows (Chadhiyana 1 – 5; Rosarium Publishing). This new series of stand alone stories will begin with Chadhiyana: Rekindled, and continue for four more issues, to later be collected in a trade titled Chadhiyana: The Girl With the Fire-Ringed Eyes.

All told, there will be nine new stories spread over the five issues, with The Call of Fire and one or two additional shorts included in the final collection. All stories are written by me, with some of the art as well, but I’ve brought in some help on this one as I’d always intended with some of the shorter stories and arcs, and there are some great people I’ve been wanting to work with, especially on Chadhiyana.

Chadhiyana by K. J. Murphey

The artists attached to the project so far are Jackie Musto (of kayandp.com; Instagram @kayandp), Dana Sanguir (danasanguir.wixsite.com; IG: @thetunnelsnakes), Sha-Nee Williams (IG: @shaneew25), K. J. Murphey (of TORN and Guild Works Publications; IG: @comicarttherapyguy), and Corey Breen (designer of the Chadhiyana logo and industry vet; cjbpro.blogspot.com). More names will be announced, and there are a few I’m speaking to even as of this writing. Issue titles are still working, but a quick glance at the series is such:

Issue #1 (Chadhiyana: Rekindled) – a collection of three shorts with art by J. M. DeSantis, Dana Sanguir, & Jackie Musto; cover art by K. J. Murphey)

Issue #2 – a dark fantasy story with art by J. M. DeSantis

Issue #3 – a Lovecraft-inspired horror story with art by Dana Sanguir

Issue #4 – a dungeon crawling adventure with art by Jackie Musto; cover art by Corey Breen

Chadhiyana by Sha-Nee Williams

Issue #5 – a second collection of three short tales, artists to be announced (but includes J. M. DeSantis); cover art by Sha-Nee Williams

The stories in this series take place at different times in Chadhiyana’s overall saga, each tale being a stand-alone but also giving information about and an idea of the scope of the larger series. Even some references will be made to In the Company of Shadows. Issues 3 and 4 will also feature secondary characters that Chadhiyana teams up with (whom I’ve had planned for some years now).

As for the former series, In the Company of Shadows, it’s still an important part of Chadhiyana’s saga (being essentially her “origin”). If you were reading and enjoying it, I will without a doubt go back to finish it (and actually improve it, including fixing many of the glaring, confusing story issues). But as I’ve written before, I needed to step back from that arc temporarily.

True Strength, art by Jackie Musto

In light of that, and wanting to return to writing about Chadhiyana, this new series was carefully planned out to give returning readers something new and satisfying whilst giving new readers a great place to start.

I’m very excited with everything that’s happening so far with the series, and I hope returning fans will be too. As for the new readership, I think you’ll be hooked with what I have in store.

But I don’t want to write too much more about it. Expect more news as the release of the first official issue draws near, and enjoy the little teaser comic, Chadhiyana: The Call of Fire (chadhiyana.com/webcomics/the-call-of-fire-page-1/), in the meanwhile.

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