So, what's all this about then? A comic called "Lighten Up!" with a cover that looks incredibly similar to the cover of "Shades"? What's the idea?

Well, the idea is simple. Whether we can keep it going is another matter entirely, but we'll see! Essentially, the idea behind "Lighten Up!" is to take a serious work of comic fiction (BVC's very own "Shades") and try to turn it into something that might just occasionally raise a smile.

It's a parody, in other words. But not a parody in which we can just go away and draw simplified stick-men to represent the "Shades" characters and then drop them into new and absurd situations. No, that would be too easy! The challenge we've set ourselves is to use only the original artwork from the "Shades" graphic novel and to replace each line of dialogue with something new. No easy task when the comic has as much dialogue as "Shades"!

Continued ...