December 21, 2012, may not be the end of the world, but it is the end of AZTECA. Writer and series creator, Enrica Jang, says goodbye. For now.

I get this question a lot.

It’s a big deal, really, the world ending. Still, the 2012 prophesy seemed to run out of juice months ago, simply because this apocalypse thing’s been done so many times before, even just in my lifetime. Y2K. That weird guy in New York two years ago (the one in May who “counted wrong”.) Bush getting re-elected, Obama getting elected at all. Even the bath salts sniffer in Miami signaled, if not the actual apocalypse, then a zombie apocalypse, never realized. Bummer. Now folks are talking themselves down from the idea of the world ending before there’s even a chance to get scared, like it’s cool. Don’t get your hopes up or anything, right?

Well, let me help you—and this is my official statement on the matter: The world is not going to end. Don’t believe me? Ask NASA.

But it never was going to end, not even in AZTECA. AZTECA is about a vigilante serial-killer who thinks he can stop the world from ending in 2012, offering the blood of the wicked to forgotten gods. Everything he does is about saving us all. When the world doesn’t end…well, then it worked, right? It worked.

Just about the only thing ending in 2012 is AZTECA. Issues in production and non-starters with talented-but-conflicted artists make our old schedule untenable, and we don’t have the time or the money to push it through to the end of the full arc. Re-writes for a new beginning are on the horizon, but not before other books come online, including two original graphic novels from a certain writer you haven’t seen much of these last two years.

I had a lot of grand plans for AZTECA when we first started it in 2010. They included a lot of things that ended up being more difficult than I imagined—twelve issues for instance. I’m sorry. But not so sorry I can’t see the upside. My plans did NOT include all the grand things that did happen: a fledgling publishing company with five titles in production, hundreds of new friends, over a thousand fans (and counting.) Word on the street is we’re a real boy now, a real publisher. Red Stylo Media’s star is on the rise. Who knows what can happen from here.

Still… you never forget your first. Whatever I tell the artists and writers who work on those other books, AZTECA was and is my first love. It’s why I’m here, it’s what got me here. But it is the one that got away. The end of 2012 means the end of this half-finished series and, to borrow from Cloud Atlas, it really is a half-finished love affair. You could say I’m holding a torch (in the rain, softly singing Adele songs to myself as I listlessly comb Deviant Art for a hired gun I think might fit…but no, it’s over…but maybe…), hoping for one more chance. Would love to see that day. Sooner, rather than later.

‘Til then, AZTECA is still available in Red Stylo Media’s store, and I will answer any lingering questions about the series here or on our Facebook page. Folks who ask nicely can even get a copy of the next script—there are some people dying to know how Nicho came to be, I’ve teased you long enough, and THERE IS MORE TO THIS STORY. Write to me. Tell me about your projects and I’ll share mine.

More end of the year announcements on the way, but this one warranted a little special treatment. Thank you, everyone, who loved the series. We’ll meet in AZTECA again, you and I. In this life or the next. Adios for now,

Enrica J.