Roscoe rising from the ruins of Crucial Comics

Ten years ago the publishing of the Rat Bastard comic book went dark. We left the comics world just as soon as we got a development deal for the animated Rat Bastard series. We were signed to a joint venture between Buena Vista (yes, Disney) and Ron Howard’s Imagine Television.

Rat Bastard was produced by Robocop creator Ed Neumeier and Tony Krantz (now producer of “24” starring Kiefer Sutherland). Tim and I were to be co-producers or co-executive producers, whichever title had less meaning, power, and pay — but what the fuck, we were in the door. We were to be writers on the show, and  got to work with some incredibly talented people.

It was a blast, and then it was over in a heart beat. One minute we had our own TV show, the next minute we were bums. So, like the Beverly Hill Billies, we loaded up the truck (in this case my Ford Explorer) and moved to Southern California in hope of finding another deal. After four years and several false starts, I decided I missed the NY/NJ metro area, and came home. I settled in Red Bank , NJ, a funny little town, 3 miles from the beach and a zillion light years from the world of Los Angeles. I could tell you how retarded  Los Angeles was, how bad the air was, how few people read books or newspapers, how many gun shots we heard or how many police helicopters went over our deceptively pleasant suburban home. But I’ll just say it was not for us, my wife Judie and I. Tim opted to stay behind. He liked it there.  So as we launch the new Rat Bastard comic, I’ll be writing and drawing in New Jersey, and Tim will be writing in L.A.

Here’s the mini pilot that was directed by Kevin Altieri and written by Ed Neumeier, based on our comic series “Fix For A King”. It’s a little bit corny, but take it from me; so is Hollywood.