BROID: the unpublished issues

This right here is the number one reason I wanted to set up ArtValt. There are lots of things from my personal archives nobody else saw until I shared them here, but this one is exceptional: the climax and finale of my first original comic book series.

If you’ve been reading the BROID articles from the start, you’ve seen how much effort and passion I put into the project. It went from a ghostly image in my head to a sci-fi epic that often rushed forward on its own with me barely keeping up. That’s what it’s like to write a big, complex story with a lot of layers to it. At a certain point, it really feels like it’s using you to get itself written. Living with an idea is exactly like having a partner; you collaborate. Sometimes you’re driving, sometimes the idea drives you. When the finished product comes out the other end, a certain part of it feels magical to you. Like it created itself. And you want everyone in the world to see that part.

For me, that part is the climax of a story, where all the carefully-woven threads finally reveal a grand pattern. This is the point where the idea takes the wheel, like when you’ve pushed a boulder close enough to the edge for gravity to take over. Then you get to become a spectator to the carnage that follows, the most privileged member of the audience.

That’s how I think about these final four issues, originally designated books 10-13. The whole point of putting the labor in on previous chapters was to get to these four and watch the boulder go past the tipping point. Significant moves happen in every issue, discoveries are made that overturn what we know, and all the players enter the field for the last time. It was shocking and thrilling to feel it rush through me onto the page. It was the reward for my dedication.

When we got to early 1991 and low sales numbers were pushing nails into the coffin, I realized that I had only one opportunity to share the final issues with readers; by offering the rough layouts for direct sale. I explained to my editor at Eternity Comics what I wanted to do and requested that a page be used to promote it at the end of Shatterpoint #4. Here’s that page:

When Shatterpoint #4 was published in March ’91, I started watching my mailbox for replies. Slowly, they started showing up. In all, maybe a couple dozen people took me up on it. Each one sent me a $12 check for photocopies of the rough layouts with all the dialogue in place. There were no covers, since I never had the need to design any. There were also two “rogue pages” from Book 10 that I penciled just before I started drawing BROID #1. It was a way to get a feel for things, and I thought it would be cool to have them as random sample pages “from the future.” Ironically, the first pages that actually got drawn were destined to become orphans.

That’s the package that got mailed out. I attached a cover letter that explained for the first time the various steps that led up to publication and how we got to this point. It’s included with Book 10 below.

And with that, here are the issues themselves. Keep a firm grip on your seat. This rocket is leaving the pad.


BOOK 10: DESPERATION • 37 pages

BOOK 11: NOWHERE MAN • 27 pages


BOOK 12: SUCCESSION • 27 pages

BOOK 13: FRAGILE • 40 pages


Despite the premature ending of BROID, my professional comic book career was advancing at a good clip. The other projects that kept me going during this time were the second Lensman series and my next original story, Chaser Platoon. Both will be presented here in the near future!

Thank you for reading BROID to the end. It was a long time coming.


This entry was posted in Pro Comics

5 thoughts on “BROID: the unpublished issues

  1. Ed Dobrzyn says:

    Bought a copy of the conclusion to Broid and a VF-1J model kit from you at Project A-Kon in Dallas many moons ago.

    I think I still have both at my parent’s house.

    Really enjoyed your work and was sad that Broid couldn’t continue as a published work.

    • TimEldred says:

      Wow. I still remember what a score it was for me to get that VF-1J model. A year or two later, I was so bored with Macross models I totally forgot I had it. (Until I had to move somewhere, of course. Then I regretted having it.)

  2. Richer Boutin says:

    I got this comic when it was offered then so many years ago i had written a long letter asking you so many questions about why not ma y different weapon modules and such. And yet until i recently lost those photocopies in a water pipes damage ruining them as well as all very worn out comic copies broid still a d will forever stay one of your best stories ever with cybersuit arkadyne a d chaser platton…. Votoms are from the anime as well as harlock but those 3 were your best original in my opinion

  3. Sam Tauser says:

    I started collecting comics when the black and white boom was in full swing. I bought a lot from Eternity comics, but there was never enough money for everything out there. I always remembered the Chaser Platoon adds in those books. I just recently bought the trade paperback of Chaser Platoon and enjoyed it very much. In the authors notes you mentioned Broid and I sought it out. I enjoyed it as well and I am very thankfull that you put the ending out here to be seen.

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