Game On
It’s been more than three and a half years in the making, but Nonplayer creator Nate Simpson has announced that he’s finally completed the second issue of the acclaimed sci-fi/fantasy comic.
“If you’re a member of the comics press and I promised you any kind of exclusive upon the occasion of Nonplayer 2’s release, could you DM me?” he wrote on Twitter. “Which is a roundabout way of saying Nonplayer 2 is DONE. Woohoo! I’m going to sleep in till 6am for a WHOLE WEEK in celebration!”
Nonplayer #1 was released in April of 2011 from Image Comics. Nonplayer is about Dana Stevens, a young woman who escapes from the her dull everyday life by entering into the digital-fantasy realm of Jarvath, where she’s a fearless warrior. However, her video-game adventures begin to cross-over with the real world.
That first issue introduced an interesting concept with incredible art. The comic was an instant success. Comic book fans were eager for the next issue. Simpson won the Russ Manning award for most promising newcomer. And Warner Bros. was quick to option the movie rights to the comic after only one issue.
However, amid the blazing start of the series, Nonplayer became derailed. Simpson suffered a shoulder injury from a bicycle accident when he was a quarter of the way into penciling issue 2. That was followed by the artist starting a family, and then he started working full time in the video game industry.
Despite the setbacks, Simpson has continued to chip away at Nonplayer #2. He revealed back in in December 2013 that the second issue was fully penciled and partially colored, but didn’t offer another update until this past October.
“I have continued to wake up between the hours of 3 and 4 in the morning to place art-pebbles on the pile, and that pile is now looking very much like a complete book,” Simpson wrote at the time . “There is some polish yet to do, but I’m far enough along that an untrained, partially-blind observer might think it was done.”
No release date has been announced for Nonplayer #2, but I’m eager to read the next issue. I was captivated by the amazing artwork in the first issue and I want to see where the story will go. Hopefully it won’t take this long to see issue number 3.