I will be an exhibitor at the Massachusetts Independent Comics Expo on Saturday, September 24 in Cambridge! I’m not sure what I’ll be bringing with me, but rest assured I will be pimpin’ some Under the Apple Tree action.

Speaking of UtAT, twice-weekly updates have started. Read it, you know you want to!

So, last week I came upon an interesting link. Faith Erin Hicks, talented creator of the adorable and entertaining webcomic Superhero Girl, has announced a new project called Friends With Boys that will be published by First Second. Here is the abstract:

Maggie, a teenaged girl just starting at a new school, finds herself haunted by a ghost and takes it upon herself to help him move onto the afterlife.

Sound familiar? Crazy coincidence! Read this article on Newsarama. Upon Googling I found it’s been in the works for a while, but this is the first I’ve heard about it. And, well, it looks totally awesome.

I’m not accusing anyone of stealing or anything, I can’t wait to read it and encourage everyone to do the same. It will be serialized online as a webcomic, too! (And of course, I’m not guilty of stealing either, if you just take a look at my Deviant Art account you’ll see development work for UtAT dating back to 2007!)

It’s just one of those strange things that just happens. The rest of the plots are completely different and I don’t imagine they’ll be much competition for each other; my project is very much a history-focused drama, and everything from the characters to the feel of the work seems to be polar opposites.

I suppose it’s a reason to change Maggie’s name, at the very least. I based her on my grandmother, but when I told her the character’s name, she immediately demanded it to be changed! I consulted with her, and she chose Rose. It’s a family name, and she feels it better reflects the fictional adaptation of herself (she illustrated this by comparing to “the lady with her boobs out in Titanic”… what is that supposed to mean?!).

Funny enough, Maggie was named after my favorite childhood pet, and Rosie was also the name of one of our cats growing up. I suppose it’s meant to be.

Here is Maggie’s first appearance as Rose (work in process, she has not lost her hands in the name changing process). I’m working on a new promotional/cover image, as I have a big credit toward printing that expires on Monday. I figure I’ll get some cards made up to pass around this summer as I start advertising UtAT!