Issue seven is finally here.

I actually sort of like this one. I sort of like everything from this point on.

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t hate the first six issues. They are what they are. There’s some cool stuff, some not so cool stuff, and a few things that I probably shouldn’t have drawn. The first six were actually drawn six or seven years ago, before I took a little hiatus to dig into writing a proper book. That proper book transformed into seven proper books and I forgot about Pen Man for quite a while. Everything from this point on was made more recently. It looks a little different. It reads a little different. And most of all it has a sense of direction the first six issues didn’t. Believe it or not, I actually have a plan.

Sort of.

Mostly.

I’m much more focused on the story I want to tell with the character this time out, and the sort of hero I want him to be. I also have sixteen issues in the can, so you can count on a site update for quite some time. That being said, the site will return to regularly scheduled updates on Tuesday and Thursday. If I’m feeling froggy I’ll drop an extra page here and there as well.

The three issue arc beginning with seven features the debut of Matt Mattney. He’s been mentioned a few times in previous issues and his origin was featured in an Origins Update a few pages ago. I like this character. I created him when I was in sixth grade and debuted in Pen Man #3 (Original Universe)

Want to see the cover? Of course not.

Pretty spectacular, right?

Of course not.

The character was based on a kid I knew at the time named, as luck would have it, Matt Mattney. I don’t remember Matt being a particularly imposing figure. He was you basic kid and has next to nothing in common with the character, other than his name.

I mean, Matt Mattney?

Come on.

The sixth grade version of Mattney called himself the “Double M Jammer.” I won’t be using that moniker this time around. He also carried around a long stick with a very sharp “M” on top, and threw around bombs in the shape of “M’s” as well. Both of which I gave the ol’ heave-ho as well.

Sometimes the ol’ heave-ho comes in handy.

Steven