The "Lost" Crogan Saga

Speaking of Chris Scweizer (as I was yesterday), the last time he came out with a "Crogan's Adventures" book was in 2012. Schweizer has hardly been idle since then, coming out with a number of other graphic novels, as well as having his work appear in various anthologies. Not to mention a number of other comics-adjacent projects. One might get the impression that he's lost interest in the Crogan saga and let it fall by the wayside.

Recently, though, Schweizer shared online all (or at least a great deal of) work that he had done on the tentatively titled Crogan's Escape...

It's not finished, and it's not going to be finished, but I thought that I would put together a digital book sharing what I have: a finished version of an unfinished book. It's got (almost) finished pages, pencils, roughs, and synopses, enough to get a sense of the overall book, as well as a few design bits and an introduction to contextualize the whole thing.

If you've been waiting for the Crogan Adventures Volume 4: Crogan's Escape, well, your wait is over. It's not what either of us was expecting, but I hope that it's better than nothing, and I hope you enjoy giving it a look or, if you're especially dedicated, a read.

The story is satisfying to read. Mostly. I say "mostly" because it's not done. What Schweizer presents us with is the most complete work he has done for each page, but he was largely working in order. The earliest pages are penciled, inked, lettered, and have flat color applied. Then the pages are just pencilled with roughed in dialogued. The pencilled pages give way to layout sketches. The final chapter of the story isn't drawn at all, and Schweizer just verbally relays what happens. (Yes, "verbally." He actually drew himself explaining it.) In seeing the book get broken down like that, you can get a sense of how Schweizer works.

Except, it isn't.

He actually notes that the process he used in working on Escape was atypical for him. He normally finds it better to work more organically than the more tightly plotted and paced approach he used here. It's one of the reasons he's not planning on returning to it. Even though, he's not fond of that approach, it's still invaluable, I think, to study this kind of thing if you're a creator because what might not work for Schweizer could well be exactly the right method for you! Different strokes for different folks, you know!

Scheizer did confirm on Twitter that he's not done with the Crogan series; he's just not returning to this particular story. I'm sure I would have enjoyed the completed story, but I completely understand his reasoning and, if he thinks he can do something better, something he can really get into and have a great feel for, I'm all for it!

But, in the meantime, take a gander at what didn't happen, and see if you can learn a few things about comic storytelling!

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