Rival Angels

Here we are at the end of things. Sabrina wins!! I know a lot of you may have guessed the ending, but I hope I was able to surprise some of you with how she did it. Failing that, I hope you at least had a good time reading it.

This is basically the end I had came up with ten years ago and I’m thrilled to get Rival Angels to this finish. On behalf of Rival Angels, the Upstarts and everyone in-between…

THANK YOU. 

The time has come to wrap up the Upstarts story and as it happens, I have other stories to tell. I hope you’ll like them too. I won’t be straying too far from wrestling art. I owe many pages of women’s wrestling to a few fine patrons who have supported me. I hope to share them with you, too, with their permission, of course.

In the summer of 2007, I had come across a new show on the Oxygen network, Fight Girls. In the spirit of the UFC’s Ultimate Fighter, this was a reality TV show where several ladies were chosen to live and train together, ultimately fighting each other to be the winner. Some notable peeps involved were Felice Herring, Michelle Waterson, and Gina Carrano. I was amazed to see something like this on a channel catered towards true crime and women. We’ve come a long way in 10 years.

There were no wrestling comics, and this show inspired me that there ought to be. Little did I know that Mike Kingston was putting Headlockedout at about this same time. Seems mark minds think alike, and please give Headlocked a try if you haven’t. You’ll be happy that you did.

The story about 4 sassy girls forced to room together only to discover that their biggest battles would be with each other outside the ring came together very quickly. The hard part was distributing it, but this rather novel approach of ‘webcomics’ was taking off and I thought I’d give it a try. I wrote the first 20 pages in a Saturday afternoon while waiting for the last Harry Potter book to arrive in the mail. I spent 6 months getting the first 33 pages together, before posting anything online. I wanted a buffer and that buffer got eaten up pretty quickly, but I was always able to stay ahead and deliver without missing an update. 10 years! Of course, I had help along the way.

Back in 2007, webcomics were still pretty new, especially ‘giving’ things away for free on the internet. Print was king, but I did not find the industry to be very supportive or inviting. When I asked a guy how he did a color technique, he said he’d tell me if I gave him my left nut. Local guys would tell me about shows after they passed asking, ‘oh you wanted to be a part of that? Yeah, it was great.’ The whole scene was very pessimistic and downright cynical. I was also under the impression that I was done making ‘best friends.’

On December 2nd, I posted the first page of Rival Angels on Drunkduck (you can still see it here!) and I was happily surprised to get responses right way. It was weird to get that kind of feedback and support. I posted it early to test-drive it a bit, see if there was anything to iron out for the official launch on my own website, December 30th, 2007.

After the first 33 pages, I brought the 4-way Rookie Rumble which was about 35 pages. What can I say, I wanted a comic about wrestling. I decided that if there wasn’t an audience for this, I would hang it up, but there was. After the early success, I decided to take it to the first season and if the interest failed, I’d wrap it up. There was interest and so for another 10 years I brought you the adventures of Sabrina, her BFF Sun and her roommates Krystin and Brooke.

On Drunkduck I met some people like Amy and Kay King, DAJB, Barb Jacobs, Amanda and Jess, Scott Sava, Rose Loughran, Kurt Sasso, and many more that deserve to be listed. However, the two people that I met there that changed the course of both my life and Rival Angels areTrevor Muellerand Lora Innes. They both were on Drunkduck with @$$hole and The Dreamer respectively and they were both very encouraging and supportive, very much a contrast to what I had experienced locally and in Print circles. Trevor and I did a LOT of conventions together trying to figure out comic conventions, anime conventions and everything in-between. We went to the 3rd or 4th Anime Milwaukee which was held in the hallways of the UWM campus building. We’ve been guests of the show for the last several years and it was one of our favorite shows to do.

 

To this day I’m always trying to improve and I’d still been gun shy about asking other artists about their process, wanting to keep my nuts to myself, if not for Lora. I took a chance and asked her about what kind of Lead Holder (pencil) she used. She was very happy to share! Lora has always been an incredible artist and I’ve always looked up to her as an artist, but also as an terrific person and an amazing friend. I’m so glad I asked. She’s like my brainy little sister who’s always right.

Trevor, Mike and Lora are some of my best friends and I have Rival Angels to thank for that and will always be forever grateful.

2008 saw my first Wizard World with Rival Angels and I knew that Trevor and Lora were going to be there. I reached out to Lora to see if she’d like to split a table. She agreed, and I got to spend the weekend with her and her amazing husband, Mike. With Trevor’s table nearby, it was truly a wonderful weekend of talking comics, optimism and all around having fun. I also got to meet Dave Reynolds and Dave Rodriguez who were doing a really fun comic, Shadowgirls.

2009 allowed Trevor and I to widen our net a bit and looked at this show in Columbus called, Mid-Ohio Con. It just so happens that Lora and Mike lived in Columbus and when they heard that we were coming, they offered us a place to stay. Being from Milwaukee, I was immediately suspicious. Why would they want to help us? And comic peeps to boot! I had learned locally that there would be no support, and that someone else’s success was your failure, So what gives? Eventually Mike reasoned that we’d save a lot of money crashing at their place rather than getting a hotel. This was the thing to make me give in and I’m so glad that he appealed to my frugality. I also met Thom, Paul, Bryan and Dirk at this show, again all of whom were very inviting and supportive. Amazing people whom I’m thrilled to call my friends.

Soon after that, I discovered an all-women’s indy show outside of Chicago called SHIMMER, a superb organization ran by Dave Prazak, who has always been supportive of Rival Angels. He let me distribute Rival Angels mini-comics and did I ever find my audience, as well as several more friends in Jim, Brian, Darryl, Randy, Chris, Joe and of course, the wonderful and talented Cheerleader December.

More people that have enriched my life are John and Mallory, Sean and Sara, Russell, Horton, Wallace and so many more.

From there to here, Rival Angels opened so many doors. It got me my last two jobs. It has afforded me to travel around the country, and helped me become a better artist and storyteller.

From an early time, I referred to Rival Angels as the ‘#1 Wrestling Comic,’ and for the most part it was true because there really weren’t any others. I will say that I’ve always been a little uneasy with that after James Hornsby started Botched Spot. He does a fabulous wrestling webcomic, surely deserving the #1 wrestling webcomic moniker. If you haven’t checked out his work, you need to. Botched Spot is sharp, funny and insightful.

I want to thank the people who have helped me along the way. Veronica Rosado who colored those first 33 pages, and Dan Head for helping me with the early script. His input has always been invaluable. Jules Rivera with some emergency colors when I was overseas, and came through wonderfully and who has the distinction of working on Rival Angels and Headlocked. Pretty cool, if you ask me. My flatters Mabel Lim and Aaron Daly who have been with me forever. Aaron, I hope we get to share a drink the next time I’m in town. Kay King, (who along with her sister did an amazing comic, .031) came on late with the regular colors and has killed it. She raised the game of Rival Angels exponentially. Cale who has come through with dozens of images of story when I put out the call for readers for the winter break, and who has created his own amazing characters like Lucy the Crusher. Dave Reynolds needs special attention for the pages and pages of material that he’s done, as well as masterfully coloring pages when I needed them. Dave’s always had my back and I’m so appreciative that he’s here.

I want to thank Kristen Perry for spending so much time helping me be a better artist and for saying, ‘It’s never too late to be the artist you want to be.’ I’ll never forget that. In a roundabout way, she helped me get over anxiety of meeting someone you look up to. In 2007 at Wizard World, I had a chance to meet her, but I bitched out. Too nervous! After all of these years, I hope to correct that error. She’s been more influential on my work than she could know.

I want to thank Trevor for always being so supportive and always having my back. Long road trips to here and there were always well spent together and I couldn’t think of a better person to take the webcomics plunge with. You make me want to be a better friend.

I want to thank Lora for being my webcomics BFF, and for also spending so much time helping me be a better artist. I’m still not there, but I’m miles closer because of you. Thanks for answering my question about Lead Holders. I don’t know that I have the words for thanking someone for being such a wonderful friend, but if I did, they’d be spent on you and Mike. Thanks for letting me be a part of your life, and being a part of mine. You make me want to be a better friend.

You guys don’t hear a lot about Justin Riley, and I don’t know if that’s been by design or not. Justin is one of my oldest friends and has helped me with writing chores on every single Rival Angels book. Actually, every single page of Rival Angels. If you laughed at something; it was probably something he came up with. If something was profound or made you think; he had a hand in it. Rival Angels is better because of you and thank you for that. Thank you for letting me take up your Friday nights with post-its, notes and black foam core. Thanks for always being my friend. Thanks for treating Sun as yours, because she always will be.

It has been my experience that your family will not be as supportive in your endeavors as you might like for whatever reason. Plenty of family have reminded me that I could draw other things. Plenty of people have asked, ‘what does your wife think of this?’ They are always surprised when Tracie would let them know in no uncertain terms that she loves Rival Angels. I cannot undersell the support that I’ve received from my wife all of these years. I just don’t think I’d have it in me to keep doing something that wasn’t supported by her. I have friends who didn’t have that support in their passion, and it blew my mind, but never surprised me when they fell short. Rival Angels was a passion project but the one reader I always pictured was her, and she would let me know if I hit the mark or needed to hit the literal or proverbial drawing board. Thank you for helping me with Rival Angels. The beginning, in-between and getting her to the finish line. It’s your victory as much as mine and I know you’ll be with me by my side on the next projects that come along and take time away from us. I love you always.

Rival Angels is dedicated to friends and friends who become family.

No amount of thanks will be enough to you, dear reader, but with the most sincere, from the bottom of my heart, thank you very much. Your faith and support have been immeasurable and I will never forget it. I hope you like what I have next. Thank you for reading all of this and as it turns out….there IS just a little bit more of Sabrina, Sun, Krystin and Brooke. Come back next Wednesday at the usual time, eh?

Thanks!

Alan Evans
Rival Angels

Updated for 10 years without missing an update,
though I’m ready for a break.

 

Kickstarter!
The Kickstarter for the last book and the series finale of Rival Angels is here!

 

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