Finally! Dean’s Next Door Neighbor project has launched!

“Everybody has one. And, no matter how close or how far, we all live next to someone, and we all have a Next-Door Neighbor story,” says NDN Editor Dean Haspiel. “With this in mind, I asked some of my favorite storytellers and cartoonists to create their favorite NDN stories so that we at SMITH Magazine could share them with you over the next year.”

The first wave of stories launches with an urban “daymare” titled “Next-Door Neighborless” written by novelist Jonathan Ames and illustrated by Nick Bertozzi, whose graphic novel The Salon, was hailed as among the best comics of 2007. Upcoming stories feature the talents of Kevin Colden, John Cebollero, Joan Reilly, Ed Piskor, and Miss Lasko-Gross. The second wave will be announced in June and includes a super-secret, special first-time writer/artist matchup.

And me.

(Incidentally, what Dean says up there rings true, at least for me. I didn’t think I had a next door neighbor story. Turns out I did, with a little pondering.)

Not sure when my story goes live, but I can say with all definitiveness that it was drawn by talented newcomer Mike Jasorka of Bombshell Comics.

Anyways. Ames and Bertozzi are up first; it’s pretty sweet stuff so check it out.