Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Ron Randall's Trekker has been released on the web

Ron Randall has been an illustrator and storyteller for over 20 years.   He has worked for most major publishers Marvel Comics, DC Comics, Dark Horse, Virgin, and Image Comics, and many others.

In 1986 Dark Horse came to Ron Randall to create his own series.   He set out to create a strong, compelling female lead, a sci-fi setting that would blend the romance of Flash Gordon with the grit of BladeRunner.   This became Trekker.   It is about Mercy St. Clair bounty hunter living in the violent future of 2226.

Ron has decided to continue the adventures of Mercy St. Clair.   He will start with reprints and then the new stories.   These will be open and fully accessible to readers at www.trekkercomic.com beginning on Monday, September 26.
Ron’s webpage is at ronrandall.com.

 ===PRESS RELEASE===

 Trekkercomic.Com Launches With The Return of Ron Randall’s Classic Sci-Fi Adventure Strip “TREKKER”

PORTLAND, Oregon--This Monday, September 26, 2011 marks the launch of www.trekkercomic.com, a new site which will feature weekly postings from the pages of Ron Randall’s classic, acclaimed sci-fi comic Trekker

Randall, who is both writer and artist for the series, first created Trekker and its protagonist, Mercy St.Clair, for Dark Horse Comics during the rise of the independent publishing. Now he will also assume web publishing duties, beginning with the 8-page chapter that first introduced Trekker to the comics world.

Each Monday will mark the posting of an installment from the Trekker archives, in chronological order of their original publication. Once all existing stories have posted, Randall will go on to post completely new, ongoing Trekker tales chronicling the life and times of Mercy St. Clair.

Trekker first came on the scene in 1986, when Dark Horse approached Randall to create a new series for their catalogue. He was given complete creative freedom to determine the content and look of the series, as well as full ownership of the property. “It was virtually an unheard-of opportunity at the time, and, of course, I could not resist,”says Randall. He went about putting together the visual and story elements that most appealed to him, and Trekker was born. Randall has since enjoyed a long and diverse career, but he notes that “Trekker has always inspired the very best of my efforts, and to this day it remains the most personal work I’ve produced.”

Trekker is the story of Mercy Ct. Clair, a brash, extraordinarily gifted young female bounty hunter living in the violent future of 2226. The strip follows Mercy’s life and personal “arc” as she pursues the hardened criminals that operate beyond the reach of an over-taxed law force. The existing stories open on the gritty, crumbling streets of New Gelaph, and gradually follow Mercy as she pursues the criminal element into the ruined lands beyond city lines.  Ultimately Mercy’s journey will lead her out into the stars, where a restless humanity is striving for new hope. Randall hints that it’s on this grand stage that Mercy will discover her own surprising destiny.

Until recently, the existing Trekker stories have only been fitfully collected for print—short stories in Dark Horse Presents, the original Dark Horse series, and in various “Special” single issues, and for years fans have clamored for a complete, accessible collection of Mercy’s adventures. Trekkercomic.com aims to be exactly that definitive repository. Luckily for fans, Randall  “clung faithfully onto every page of the original Trekker stories,” and so www.trekkercomic.com will feature fully-restored, high-quality images of the entire series.  

Stories that originally appeared in black and white will remain faithful to the original, but later color stories will be completely re-colored to take advantage of recent refinements in digital coloring technique. 

The site will also contain an exclusive “making of” image gallery containing never-before-seen Trekker-related designs, sketches and drawings. 

Randall reports that every convention has brought questions from fans eager for the return of Trekker. His standard reply was that he had the entire series planned, and was only waiting for the appropriate venue to come along. He notes that “with www.trekkercomic.com, it’s finally the right time.”

The continuing adventures of Mercy St. Clair will be open and fully accessible to readers at www.trekkercomic.com beginning on Monday, September 26.

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