Since I've gotten several e-mails about the book, as well as having to answer many of the same questions over and over on submissions or even other boards, I thought I'd just save everyone the hassle and just give you a basic run-down of the stuff.

Now, it's a little-known fact that Caterwaul was actually created nearly a year before Skunkworks. Initially, the idea behind the Skunkworks artwork was that the products would essentially be real-world representations of work done by the fictional studio. Skunkworks was really just a sliver of the whole Caterwaul enchilada, but the folios and prints proved so popular that I ran with them, and ended up shelving Caterwaul.

This was primarily due to the fact I had omitted a lot of stuff from the early stories. The original first issue was drawn in 7-8 page increments, and was intended to be run in Antarctic Press' Genus comic. Because I had intended to run it there, I had included the obligatory sex scenes. That's why the original issue one had not only gratuitous nudity, but also a lesbian sex scene near the end of the issue.

Another problem stemming from my omission of information reared it's ugly head around issue five. Because I had neglected to inform readers about their world, society, governments, so on and so forth, issue five seemed to have way too many loose ends. And despite rewriting the book a few times, there was just no way I could answer the inevitable questions. As a result, issue five was never printed and the entire comic was shelved until I could get all my shit together and really blueprint their world properly.

Caterwaul does veer in the direction of science fiction, but mostly due to the fact there are humanoid animal people walking around in a world not quite the same as our own. Here's a little info about the world that Caterwaul (and Skunkworks) live in:

1) There is a high female-to-male ratio in their population. This is due to both a massive war (many years earlier) and a global government-enforced limit of the number of offspring a family could produce. Thankfully, the war ended many generations ago, and there is no longer a limitation on family size.

2) Think "Big Brother Lite". While the cultures around the globe are different, the governments share many similarities. Networking between the various agencies is massive, and there's really nowhere one could go without someone else knowing about it. City-dwellers are frequently being filmed by various cameras throughout the cities, and this sort of monitoring has resulted in lower crime rates and less bullshit when a trial comes up. Can't really argue with video footage of your client robbing someone, can you?

3) Despite the power of the governments, they really do work for the citizens. There have been times when politicians, guilty of things that could damage the country or economy on a massive scale, were not only removed from office, but removed from the ranks of the living. Harsh crimes, especially those that result in the destruction of lives or foundations, are dealt with quickly and permanently. "Death Row" is nothing more than a couple weeks (or less) of waiting for execution.

4) Their world is not a mirror of our own. You won't see ranks of kids glued to video games, because there aren't really any video games to play. At best, such tools are used as training material for various groups and/or sports. Remember, the people of their world rely not only on sight, but also scent and subtle body language to communicate. Walking around with a big gun trying to find your opponent isn't much fun when you can't even smell who you're looking for!

5) They are much more advanced than us...sort of. They have robots, but only in the sense that Detroit uses robots in their factories. You won't see robots walking around and hanging out at a local club or anything. You also won't see "cyborgs", although their medical field has advanced to the point where many things can be fixed. They have space travel, although the only places one can go to are either the few colonies on Mars, or a couple of orbiting space stations. Mining operations occur on other planets/moons, so there are stations located further away from Earth. They just aren't the "Disneyland-ish" sort of places one might find on Mars.

Now here's the run-down of Caterwaul: It is a bounty hunter group, plain and simple. But unlike other bounty hunter groups, this one is not public. Licenses must be obtained to be a bounty hunter, obviously, but most other groups are available to the public. Caterwaul is not.

Caterwaul works alongside the police in many instances, even though the cops don't really like having to rely on outside forces that don't necessarily follow the same regulations they do. Caterwaul has two primary contacts in the local police: Detectives Franklin (Frank) Stone, and Leandra (Lee) Cassel. They've got other connections in other fields as well, but these two are their primary contacts.

The ringleader of Caterwaul is Crystal Vaughn. At one time, she was a spoiled daddy's girl whose parents happened to be extremely well off due to her father's brilliant, revolutionary inventions concerning space travel. Alas, his inventions ended up attracting the attention of various groups who did not approve of such things, and the guy was killed (along with many others) during an outdoor presentation. His sudden and violent death really messed up 13 year old Crystal, who coped with the situation by shutting down, withdrawing into herself, and changing her focus to things such as law and military interests.

Although she is in charge of a few of her father's businesses, much of the work is done by her business partner Lance Walker. He knows about Caterwaul, and makes sure the word is kept out of the public ear.

Caterwaul consists of other members from around the globe, many who were once heading towards the criminal end of the spectrum. Out of all the different characters in the roster, there's only one who isn't guilty of some minor criminal act at one time in their lives. That would be Tiffany Brookes (a red fox), who is the primary pilot for the group.

Tamara Jolsen (tabby cat) is an excellent long-range sniper, who narrowly missed her brush with the law when she cracked several databases, one which happened to belong to Vaughn Industries. Marie Queneau (raccoon) is the youngest member of the team. She also narrowly escaped death when she and her brother were caught red-handed stealing from a fellow who decided to open fire on them. Her brother was severely injured, but she managed to get the both of them to safety. Skilled at the tactics used by burglars, she's handy to have around if something needs to remain on the low-down.

Leila Martins is a wolverine with a bit of an anger management problem. Troubled by a guilt complex over the death of her best friend, she often gets into scraps and tends to drown her problems in alcohol. Like Dinah, she too is a borderline alcoholic. Dinah Auger is a badger from jolly old England. She was orphaned at a very young age, bounced from one orphanage to the next, and finally ran away when she was a young teen. She got involved in street gangs, drinking and fighting. It was pure luck that got her out of her situation and into Caterwaul.

Veronika Vonderschmidt is a German who had lived for many years in Romania when her family had to relocate after a "mishap" which resulted in the death of a high-ranking official (her father was part of a crowd of folks who did the deed). The events of her childhood left her a little cool and emotionally restrained. And D'sanna (can't remember her last name for the life of me now) is a panther who was, at one time, a government assassin. Defying her orders, she eventually was able to escape with the help of Crystal Vaughn.

They refer to one another by code names while in uniform, rather than risk a shitstorm from using their real names. Employing technology usually reserved for the military and other special-interest groups, they are generally one step ahead of the typical bad guy (except for those who may be in a position of power). The group does have numerous safehouses, several vehicles (air, land and sea), and plenty of comrades around the globe, but they are also on the radar screen of several folks who are looking to change the order of things. So they do some serious hunting, but they are also being hunted themselves.

And I think that about wraps up this extremely long journal. If you have any questions about them, their world, or even Skunkworks, drop a line here!