Since the San Diego Comic Con is the time of year that a young man’s fancy turns to comics, I decided to check in with writer Todd Dezago, whose creator-owned project The Perhapanauts with artist Craig Rousseau has been one of my favorite irregularly-published titles of the last few years. After a pair of Dark Horse miniseries that put the title on the map, Dezago and Rousseau took a couple of years off and then moved to Image, where the title became ongoing–except that the creators’ heavy workload of mainstream work tends to shunt the ‘Haps to the back burner pretty often and the ongoing has released a little more than a single story arc since it debuted. It’s been consistently excellent, though, and Dezago has crafted an ongoing mythology that proves he’s invested with these characters for the long haul, as subplots and character beats have been set up in almost every issue to pay off later. With Image collecting the Dark Horse minis as a single volume (The Perhapanauts: Dark Days, out September 21), what’s the story with The Perhapanauts in 2011 and beyond? I asked the writer.

“Well, finally, after a long period of down-time, production on the next arc of The Perhapanauts has started up again. Craig has been able to find some (very precious) time to focus on the rather demanding pages of the next story line. Also, we have lots of other artists–Matt Wieringo, Lauren Monardo, Leonel Castellani, Matt Smith–working on back-up stories that will fill out each issue and take our story even farther!

“Also in the works are some very cool webcomics featuring The Perhapanauts in “Elseworlds”-type stories called “Tales From the Perhaps!” which we plan to debut on The Perhapanauts website sometime later this year! The first selection, by writer Rich Woodall and art by Jason Copland, is just about finished and it’s a masterpiece!

“Finally, while I won’t be there (I don’t think…) Craig will be at the Baltimore C0micCon in August and will be bringing the latest in our “Perhapanauts one-sheet series”, this one featuring the Maryland Goat Man! We realized that the best way to make these prints more exclusive would be to make them regional as well! (we’re hoping to have a “Loveland Frog Creature” one-sheet for the Mid-Ohio Con in november)! Craig will also have the latest printing of the infamous Choopie butt-cards and the all-new, all-cool Perhapanauts pins touting all of your favorite Perhapanauts characters on tiny little pins! Collect ‘em all!”

I for one am glad to hear that the beat rages on with this terrific title–and while I look forward to seeing other creators take on the characters, and enjoyed the Molly’s Story one-shot recently, I really can’t wait to see Todd and Craig handling the ‘Haps again. There really is no place like home when it comes to creators working on a property they own and love.

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