Previously, we learned that…

• DC Comics has picked up Hard Time for a second “season” of twelves issues.
• Hard Time will return under the DC bullet, now that the “Focus” imprint has been discontinued.
• Brian Hurtt will be back as penciller.
• Steve Bird, who inked Hard Time #12, will return as embellisher.
• Mary Skrenes, who worked uncredited on Hard Time #1-12 will receive the co-writing credit she has more than earned beginning with Season 2.
• Joan Hilty will be back as editor, ably assisted by Rachel Gluckstern.

Now, finally, we have a publication date. *Hard Time: Season 2* #1 will hit the stores in December, which means the solicitation should appear in *Previews* around September. DC decided, wisely I think, to wait until we had three issues completed before soliciting the book.

There’s still no word on whether *Hard Time* #7-12 will be collected as a trade paperback before then, but Joan, Mary, and I are all pushing for it. If you’d like to see this second TPB collection, let DC know. Post a message on the forums at DC’s website . I can’t promise it’ll help, but it certainly couldn’t hurt.

So — what are we planning for the new series?

We’ve spent the first year of *Hard Time* establishing the prison setting, Ethan’s place in it, and the characters in his orbit, both inside and outside the walls. We’ve seen him gain awareness of and begin (barely) to achieve some mastery over his psychic force manifestation, or khe-chara. Up to now, Ethan has been the only character whose crime we’ve portrayed, and even in his case, we know almost nothing about his life before the day of the Caulfield High School massacre.

In *Season 2*, we broaden and deepen our scope.

We’ll be looking at formative moments in the major characters’ pasts, especially those instants in time that changed each of their lives forever. For most of the inmates, of course, that moment relates to the crime that landed them in State Penitentiary. But even those on the outside — Ethan’s mother, his attorney, the girl named Red — conceal secrets that have altered the direction of their lives.

*Hard Time: Season 2* #1 retells the story of the Caulfield High School massacre in much greater depth. You’ll get new insights into Ethan’s character, a clearer picture of his friend Brandon (the other gunman), and you’ll see the events that led up to the cafeteria shooting. I’ll go out on a long, long limb and opine that this may be the most gut-wrenching single issue of a comic book I’ve ever written (or co-written, in this case). You have to go back thirty years, to “The Kid’s Night Out” in *Giant-Size Man-Thing* #4, to find a story that’s even comparable.

*Season 2* #2 reacquaints us with many of the characters from the first season, gives us a tour of State Penitentiary and a primer on its inmate economic system, and introduces a new antagonist for Ethan. His name is Cutter, and he’s hands-down the most *disturbing* character whose mind I’ve ever had to crawl into.

The third issue takes us out of the prison for an excursion into Red’s world, then brings us crashing back to the reality of Ethan’s captivity and the highly unsettling role Cutter will play in it.

Issue #4 explores the background of the series’ most controversial character, the irrepressible Cindy.

I did a lot of raving last year about Brian Hurtt’s art on *Hard Time*. I thought the work he did on Season 1 showed considerable storytelling skill and a perfect understanding of the mood and atmosphere of the series. I still think so.

Evidently, though, our hiatus proved reinvigorating for Brian, because he’s made a major leap forward in his development as an artist. The style of the art on *Season 2* is still very recognizably Brian’s, but he’s bringing a new ease and grace to the line work, a more confident hand. Mary and I have been ecstatic each time we’ve received a new batch of pages.

All of us — Mary, Brian, Steve, Joan, Rachel, and myself — are immensely proud of the work we’ve done so far on *Hard Time: Season 2*. If you enjoyed the first twelve issues, we think you’ll like this new series even more. If you missed the first twelve and, for some reason, don’t intend to pick up the trade paperback, that’s okay; we’ve made it very easy for you to come aboard with the first issue of *Season 2*. Consider this an invitation.

For any artist or writer, there’s always the temptation to oversell — or, in the interest of managing expectations, undersell — a new project.

I’ll stop here, in the hope I can’t yet be accused of either.

(But it’s good stuff, folks. Really, *really* good stuff.)

This entry was posted on Monday, June 6th, 2005 at 5:45 PM and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.