Sunday, November 30, 2008

IDW' new releases for Dec. 4


A day later this week:

Astouding Space Thrills TPB
Doctor Who Classics, Vol. 2 TPB
Doctor Who: The Forgotten #4
The Dreamer #2
Dreamland Chronicles #6
Pirat Tales: Legend of Cat O Nine Tales #2
Sir Apropos of Nothing #2
Speed Racer The Next Generation: Birthright #2
Star Trek: Assignment Earth TPB
Terry and the Pirates, Vol. 5
Transformers: Best of UK: Time Wars #5
Transformers Animated: The Arrival #5

Friday, November 28, 2008

Black Friday



In honor of today's supposedly bleak "Black Friday" post-Thanksgiving shopping outlook, I thought I'd run a scene that seems to reflect what some retailers are expecting to see today. The wraparound cover image is by the one and only Franco Urru, with colors by Fabio Mantovani, the art team on ANGEL 15-17. Franco's original b&w image is included below, too.

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

The Wizard of Locke


In the WIZARD magazine being released today, they announce their Best of 2008 pics. And among the winners, they awarded one of our own:

  • Best Horror writer: Joe Hill (Locke & Key)

    So congrats to Joe (and to L&K's Gabriel Rodriguez, another huge reason for that book's success). The follow-up to their first L&K series, LOCKE & KEY: HEAD GAMES launches in mid-January.
  • Salvation salivation


    I spotted a great new animated teaser poster for next summer's TERMINATOR SALVATION (viewable here), so how about a look at our upcoming TERMINATOR SALVATION MOVIE PREQUEL comic, courtesy of artist Nick Runge.

    Tuesday, November 25, 2008

    The Epilogue to yesterday's post


    The finished colors to Kyle Hotz's page of art from January's EPILOGUE #4, courtesy of Tom Smith/Scorpion Studios.

    Monday, November 24, 2008

    Hotz stuff


    Just received today, a page from EPILOGUE #4 from Kyle Hotz, who clearly hasn't heard that drawing backgrounds in comics is passe ('cuz it's not, kids, don't believe the hype!).

    Counting Down



    Our STAR TREK: COUNTDOWN prequel to next summer's movie launches in January. Up until now, we've had to keep things under wraps, but today the official press release announcing the 4-part series gets released, along with an image showing the four covers from series artist David Messina. Here are those images, which emulate the movie's teaser posters and form one larger image when combined. The series is plotted and based on a story by Kurtzman & Orci, written by Mike Johnson & Tim Jones and presided over by J.J. Abrams. This'll be the only lead-in story to the movie itself, and it tells a pretty epic story. Based on the 20 minutes of footage of the movie that we saw last week, this'll be quite a story when all is said and done. The first chapter is up for pre-order in the current issue of PREVIEWS.

    Saturday, November 22, 2008

    IDW's new releases for November 26


    Galaxy Quest #4
    Hyperactive TPB
    Underworld: Rise of the Lycans TPB
    Transformers: All Hail Megatron #5
    Welcome to Hoxford #4

    Thursday, November 20, 2008

    Ben Who?

    Ben Templesmith--he of soon-to-be-GROOM-LAKE-fame--is also going to do a DOCTOR WHO one-shot (written by Leah Moore & John Reppion) in February. Rather than show finished art this time, I thought I'd share a bit of the creative process in putting together a book like this. These are Ben's initial sketches of the good Doctor and Martha.

    Breaking the first rule of SMILE TIME

    I'm back in town now after a few days back east so while I catch up on lingering work, let me throw a little bit of the wonder of David Messina at you. His cover for ANGEL: SMILE TIME #2 and the image that inspired it.


    Tuesday, November 18, 2008

    Here comes the GROOM

    October 4th

    A rare image-less post from me today. Diamond released October sales figures today, and IDW was once again the #4 publisher, our second month in that rarified air.

    The first percentage below is based on dollars and the second is based on units sold:

    MARVEL COMICS 39.36% 44.83%
    DC COMICS 31.55% 32.96%
    DARK HORSE COMICS 5.40% 3.33%
    IDW PUBLISHING 3.21% 3.27%
    IMAGE COMICS 2.81% 3.04%

    Sunday, November 16, 2008

    Clive Barker's The Thief of iTunes



    Our first comic downloadable for the iPhone just went live at iTunes: CLIVE BARKER'S THE THIEF OF ALWAYS. Our GHOST WHISPERER comic will be up by tomorrow, too. (I should not that THIEF is a 48-page comic, too, so while most of the comics up at iTunes are giving uou 22 pages for $0.99, you're getting more than double that for the same price with this one. Kind of like downloading "Ina Gadda Da Vida" instead of "Shock Treatment" by the Ramones.

    Somehow, I don't think my own adaptation of Clive's work, THE GREAT AND SECRET SHOW, will make it up there. Seems iTunes has some pretty strict content rules and that one doesn't quite seem to fit their bill...

    Angel 14 5-page preview

    Since I'll be out of town for a few days and not so easily able to post images here, I thought I'd get a jump on a couple before getting on the plane. So here's a preview of this week's ANGEL 14, by Brian Lynch, Stephen Mooney and Art Lyon. This is Stephen's final issue since Franco Urru (and new colorist Fabio Mantovani) returns to the fold next month.

    Optimus Prime in 3-D

    Our first-ever 3-D comic comes out this week. While the effect doesn't quite work so well here without the glasses that come with the comic, you can still get a sense of things (especially if you've got a pair of the glasses at home). Effects by 3-D whiz Ray Zone:

    Saturday, November 15, 2008

    Greys matter



    Coming March 2009. Another teaser image coming later this week, 2008.

    IDW's new releases for November 19


    Angel: After the Fall #14
    Doctor Who: The Forgotten #3
    Love & Capes TPB
    Speed Racer: The Next Generation Vol. 2 TPB
    Star Trek TNG: The Last Generation #1
    Star Trek: Archives Vol.2: The Best of Borg TPB
    Transformers Spotlight: Optimus Prime 3-D
    Transformers: Reign of Starscream TPB
    Transformers: Animated Vol. 1 [3rd printing]
    Transformers: Animated Vol. 3 [2nd printing]
    Transformers: Animated Vol. 4 [2nd printing]
    Underworld: Rise of the Lycans #2

    Friday, November 14, 2008

    Doing the Baroness



    Who's doing the Baroness? Artist Adam Hughes, as seen in this image that's gonna soon be available as a variant cover once our JOE titles launch in earnest in January. This cover somehow seemed a good way to head into the weekend.

    Thursday, November 13, 2008

    Pint o' Wormwood?



    Everyone agrees that Ben Templesmith's WORMWOOD, GENTLEMAN CORPSE reads better after you've had a couple of pints. Or maybe it's that Ben looks better after a couple bitters? I forget. Either way, Wormwood has long professed his love for the dark stuff in the pages of his comic, so we figure it's time to help enable more home-drinking. In January, we're going to offer actual merchandising, which is a bit rare for us (nary a Zippo lighter, shot glass or DOminatrix-brand Real Doll in our catalog right now)--a set of four WORMWOOD pint glasses, each adorned with new art from Ben (the package itself will also feature some new Wormy art).

    The Guinness (or Boddington's, if you non-corpse gentlemen prefer blondes) is extra, but at least now you can toss that old paper cup and impress the sig. other in your life. And if they're not impressed at the start, they will be after they've emptied a few of these glasses.

    You can even develop some Wormwood drinking games:

  • Take one drink every time Wormwood does
  • Take two drinks every time someone refers to Mr. Pendulum's lack of genitals
  • Take three drinks every time a tattoo comes to life
  • Take four drinks every time you see some tentacled beastie
  • Take five drinks to make the Leprechaun Queen look attractive
  • Pound the rest of your beer every time Wormwood switches bodies

    And so on...
    The glasses are offered in the January issue of Previews, Diamond order code NOV08 4122.
  • Wednesday, November 12, 2008

    HAILing Frequency


    Trevor Hutchison's cover to ALL HAIL MEGATRON #8.

    Tuesday, November 11, 2008

    5-page previews x 2

    Tomorrow's TRANSFORMERS ANIMATED: THE ARRIVAL #4:



    And GHOSTBUSTERS: THE OTHER SIDE #2:

    Special FX



    The new FX trade paperback that is released tomorrow--featuring story by Wayne Osborne and art by John Byrne--features an all-new wraparound cover from animator A.J. Jothikumar. The thumbnail below doesn't do the cover justice so here's a look at the entire image.

    Monday, November 10, 2008

    Hey, kids, free comics!

    Well, free previews of comics, anyway. We've got a lot of titles coming out this week, some of which are making their debut, so I thought we should show some of them off and let people see what's coming.

    Up first, STAR TREK: MIRROR IMAGES #5:



    Next, the debut issue of THE DREAMER:



    Finally for today (more tomorrow), FALLEN ANGEL #31:

    Sweet DREAMs (Are Made of This)


    And the cavalcade of '80s song titles continues... this one in reference to artist Jenny Frison's variant cover for THE DREAMER #3. Issue one debuts this week, and the book really is a good, action-filled historical tale with some good romantic bits, too. It's a fun read for girls who might not otherwise read comics, and good for anyone who likes realistic Revolutionary War-era action, too.

    Saturday, November 8, 2008

    IDW's new releases for November 12


    It's a big week this week, with some debuts that run the gamut from being aimed at kids (SPEED RACER TNG, PET ROBOTS) to teens (THE DREAMER, FX) to fans of Peter David's books also looking for a fun Dark Tower parody (SIR APROPOS) to animal/lycan-lovers (PIRAT TALES, UNDERWORLD) and more:

    THE DREAMER #1
    DREAMLAND CHRONICLES #5
    FALLEN ANGEL #31
    FX TPB
    GHOSTBUSTERS: THE OTHER SIDE #2
    PET ROBOTS
    PIRAT TALES
    SIR APROPOS OF NOTHING #1
    SPEED RACER TNG: BIRTHRIGHT #1
    STAR TREK: MIRROR IMAGES #5
    TRANSFORMERS ANIMATED: THE ARRIVAL #4
    TRANSFORMERS: MEGATRON ORIGIN TPB [2nd Printing]
    UNDERWORLD: RISE OF THE LYCANS #1
    WORMWOOD, GENTLEMAN CORPSE VOL. 1 [4th Printing]
    WORMWOOD, GENTLEMAN CORPSE VOL. 2 [2nd Printing]

    Friday, November 7, 2008



    ANGEL: AFTER THE FALL, VOL. 1 made it onto Amazon & PW's 10 Best Graphic Novels of 2008. It was listed as one of the top ten books on Amazon.com's Customers Choice list. A nice, well-deserved honor for Joss, Brian and Franco.

    All that Jazz


    It's rare to be able to show a cover from EJ Su that's just pencils and inks without his colors over them, so while I figured I'd take advantage of having this new piece and show it today. What is it, you ask? There are a couple of the IDW Forum members who are privy to this information, but no one else yet. Whatever it is, it's coming in March '09.

    Coming up NEXT


    The second volume of our 400-page COMPLEAT JOHN BYRNE'S NEXT MEN books was finalized this week, so it should be out in mid-December. For this one's cover, we got all-new colors from Tom Smith on Byrne's favorite cover from the issues contained within this volume (which features cameos from Mike Mignola's Hellboy, Art Adams' Monkeyman & O'Brien and the Pinis' Elfquest characters, too).

    Thursday, November 6, 2008

    LOST & FOUND 5-page preview

    A one-shot from Beau Smith and Gary Kwapisz (advance review here), out next Wednesday:

    Monday, November 3, 2008

    Hef is my ROLE MODEL


    I recently wrote a comic called, uh, "The Adventures of Boobywatcher" (write what you know, as they say) for the movie ROLE MODELS (opening this Friday). It's the story of a kid who watches, well, I think that should be evident. It's a fun little thing "told" by the kid himself, so it was fun to channel a pervy 10-year-old for this (it was easier than it should've been, actually). The comic, a little 8-pager written by me and featuring art by Martheus Wade and colors by Jon Alderink, is up at the movie's site right now, right here.*

    So that's now two things form my childhood, reading comics and watching boobs, that have paid off in my adult life...

    Sunday, November 2, 2008

    IDW's new releases for November 5


    ASHLEY WOOD'S 48 MORE NUDES
    ASHLEY WOOD'S DOS TARINO TPB
    ANGEL OMNIBUS
    DON PENDLETON'S MACK BOLAN: THE EXECUTIONER TPB
    FISHTOWN HC
    GRANT MORRISON'S DOCTOR WHO #2
    HERETIC TPB
    STAR TREK: THE ENTERPRISE EXPERIMENT TPB
    TANK GIRL: VISIONS OF BOOGA TPB
    TRANSFORMERS: TIME WARS #4
    TRANSFORMERS SPOTLIGHT: BLURR