Scaling down from 12″ to 7″ square pagesize freshens up the work, as does the tight schedule. It’s both exciting and counter-productive to work against the clock like this but I often find it a great way of getting stuff out.

Besides, I have spent way too long thinking and planning the project, which doesn’t exactly characterise the 2-3-go rock’n'roll I usually favor.

Better to just bang some great comics out, even if the planned singles are played sort of safe — Black Sabbath and Engine City being riffs on other people’s work (Sabbath and Jack Kirby, respectively).

The B-side to each single will give pointers to some of the other directions I am taking Astoria. Thankyou’s to my Danish editor Torben Hansen of Fwd Pub for reminding me there should *be* B-sides to complete the concept