Coming up NEXT

UPDATE 09.02.09: Adding the color version courtesy of Lovern Kindzierski:

Since we started collecting JOHN BYRNE'S COMPLEAT NEXT MEN series in the b&w and Premiere Edition formats, there's been a steady stream of requests to see John tackle the property once again. Well, for the second Premiere Edition (oversized, in color), JB did a new cover image for the book, as seen here. One of the first times he's revisted the characters in over a decade, making it something special.

LOCKE & Scream

Voting for Spike TV's 2009 Scream Awards is now open to the public. LOCKE & KEY's Joe Hill is nominated for Best Comic Writer -- up against some lofty cmpetition, too, so I encourage everyone to head over here and vote away.

Manigator blesses the Marvel/Disney deal

Out of context, this page makes no sense (whereas in context, it makes, well, a modicum more sense). But since I just got this page from artist Alan Robinson (from WEEKLY WORLD NEWS #2, despite the fact that I haven't posted anything from issue 1 yet) on the day the Disney/Marvel deal was announced, it seemed right to post it. Amidst the Bat Boy images of him saving a LOLcat and attending the 3-D premiere of BAT BOY: THE MUSICAL: THE MOVIE is a pic of UFO Alien wearing Mouse Ears, obviously approving this deal.

Our tertiary connection to the Mouse

In light of this morning's big news about Disney's deal to acquire Marvel Entertainment, I thought I'd post one more Dave Stevens ROCKETEER image. The link here, for those who don't know, is that Disney released the ROCKETEER movie back in 1991, whereas we're a little under two months out from releasing the ultimate collection of Steven's ROCKETEER comics works.

IDW's new releases for September 2

Angel: Blood & Trenches TPB
Astro Boy: Movie Adaptation #3
Doctor Who #3
From the Ashes #4
G.I. Joe: Origins TPB
GrimJack: Manx Cat #2
The Last Resort #2
Rebel TPB
Star Trek: Archives Vol 6 TPB
Transformers: Best of UK: Prey #2
Zomnibus

And speaking of ZOMBIES VS ROBOTS (well, we weren't, but contained within the ZOMNIBUS book are all those ZvR stories, as well as a few other zombies miniseries), it's been a bit too long since there's been any news on that front, hasn't it? Seems like time to change that very soon.

Rocketeering

As we get close to finalizing the deluxe ROCKETEER collection, it seemed like some good weekend viewing to show a handful of Dave Stevens' imagery (with even a tiny bit of Ditko art in there as well), all masterfully recolored by Laura Martin:

Willing and Angel

ANGEL #28, being solicited for December release (the back cover of that month's Previews catalog will feature the ANGEL cover by Jenny Frison), is the first issue by the new ongoing creative team of Bill Willingham and Brian Denham. But since you've already seen that image, let's look ahead a month at Jenny's cover for issue 29. Which may or may not appear in the issue itself:


And a page of Brian Denham's interior art (colors by GuruFX). Just a hint of what you're in for:

Seduthction

The final variant cover (painted by Clive Barker) and two more interior pages for October's 3-D book, CLIVE BARKER'S SEDUTH (pages courtesy of Gabriel Rodriguez, Jay Fotos and 3-D whiz Ray Zone).

This project's a real wild card--as are all 3-D books and with a higher cover price, especially in today's comic market--so if you're interested, it wouldn't hurt to make sure your retailer knows to order it for you...

All Hail Summer

In October, the first annual Long Beach Comic Con will be held in Long Beach (the town o' my birth). The con has an ocean theme, as you can see below from the logo:


To have fun with that theme, we're doing a special edition of THE TRANSFORMERS: ALL HAIL MEGATRON #16, the final issue of that series before the ongoing TRANSFORMERS title kicks off in November. This edition will only be sold at the con. To go along with the con's theme, we had E.J. Su do up this special Transformers "Endless Summer" tribute:

IDW's new releases for August 26

Astro Boy: Movie Adaptation #2
Doctor Who: Cold Blooded War
Sparrow Book #12
Transformers: Best of U.K. Omnibus
Transformers: The Complete Ark

And because I'm on the road and don't have easy access to the covers or 5-page previews for these issues right now, how about instead a page from the DOCTOR WHO one-shot, which is drawn by Tom Mandrake and colored by Charlie Kirchoff, who also makes his writing debut on this issue.

Clive Barker's Seduth cover in 2-D

In October, CLIVE BARKER'S SEDUTH, will be released as a 32-page one-shot with 24 pages of story and 10 pages of back-up material and notes from Barker. Clive is also contributing a new variant cover painting for the book (which features a story by Barker and Chris Monfette, art by Gabriel Rodriguez and Jay Fotos, and 3-D effects from Ray Zone). I previously showed a few of the interior pages in 2-D in 3-D, here. The actual painting just arrived at my house, and looks like this.

Off to Rhode Island

Since I leave for Hasbro this weekend, I thought I'd end the week with a new image each from our Hasbro properties:

TRANSFORMERS: NEFARIOUS #1 cover by Carlos Magno and Moose Baumann -- the next big movie-universe-related book we're doing come November:


And G.I. JOE: ORIGINS #9 from Tom Feister, also due in November:

"You will visit your comic shop three times..."

Actually, if you just visit your comic shop once in December, you'll be able to get your hands on a GHOSTBUSTERS holiday special we're doing. PAST, PRESENT & FUTURE is the name of the one-shot, and in it, the GBers go up against... a ghost of Christmas past, present, and... well, you know. Are these the actual Dickens ghosts? Mmmmaybe, but you'll need to read to find out for sure.

The book's written by Rob Williams (Indiana Jones, SFX magazine) and drawn by Diego Jourdan (ASTRO BOY), who is also doing a cover. Pictured here, however, is Nick Runge's Dickensian image, along with a variant Rockwell-inspired image also by Runge.

I figure, the stores will soon be displaying Christmas decorations, so it's never too early to also talk about comics shipping at the end of the year...

One lives, one dies.

Well, neither one lives, actually--both are already dead. In October, we're doing ANGEL VS FRANKENSTEIN as a one-shot, written, penciled and inked (seems important to mention that to the people who groused about his fine pencilwork in ANGEL: BLOOD AND TRENCHES) by John Byrne and functioning as a de facto sequel to Mary Shelley's novel. So this Frankenstein's monster is based on her story and design, so he won't be green and neck-bolted. Eisner-winning colorist Ronda Pattison is coloring the issue, and some of her first pages just came through. All of them show why she won the award a couple years ago, just as Byrne's linework shows why he's again one of Wizard magazine's Top 10 "Hot Artists" (and you thought it was just because of the way he looks in a Speedo...).

Calendar Girls

Also in November, we're offering J. Scott Campbell's "Fairy Tale Fantasies" calendar for 2010. Campbell was selling the calendar at Comic-Con but for anyone else who wants it, it'll now be available through your comic shop, too. It features 12 large illustrations of Campbell-ized fairy tale and children's book characters like Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, Goldilocks, Tinkerbell and more. Best of all, his amazing art will be presented at a nice, big size--the calendar's 20" x 10."

Adding to the Library

Our Library of American Comics line of deluxe comic strip reprints grows by two titles in November (not to mention Volume 1 of THE COMPLETE BLOOM COUNTY, too--that one's in stores on October 6. So soon enough, we'll actually have enough books to start our own library, albeit a rather small one...):

Certified Ghoul

In the September issue of Previews, we're offering the first issue of a new 3-part series by Steve Niles and Bernie Wrightson called THE GHOUL. And in Previews, there's a little "Certified Cool" stamp that some books in the catalog get; in this case, the book was given that status, but we updated the image to make it "Certified GHOUL."

Anyway, here's the art for the second issue of the series, both the colored version (hues added by Tom Smith/Scorpion Studios) and Bernie's original lineart, too.

IDW's new releases and 5-page previews for August 19

Angel: Smile Time HC
Astro Boy: Movie Adaptation #1
Doctor Who #2
G.I. Joe: Origins #6
Star Trek: Spock: Reflections #2
Transformers: All Hail Megatron #14
Transformers: Animated AllSpark Almanac

Monthly Weekly World News: The Covers

When WEEKLY WORLD NEWS #1 hits in January, one of the covers will emulate the look of the newspaper itself. Which allowed me to be the reporter/headline writer and Alan Robinson to be my "photographer," as you can see in both the full-color and newsprint variant versions:




For the variant cover, we wanted to pay tribute to the great Alex Ross, so Joe Corroney did just that with this cover (note: Bat Boy does not appear in spandex in the actual comic):


And the original Alex Ross image:

Crowning acheivement

Joe Hill posted the artwork over at his site, so I'll do the same now: Gabriel Rodriguez's amazing cover art for the coming LOCKE & KEY: CROWN OF SHADOWS #2. The series returns in November.

Monthly Weekly World News: UFO Alien

Last one for now. UFO Alien might be from another galaxy, but he's predicted every Presidential election outcome since the Reagan era. However, he did get the Obama election results wrong (so in that, he and Ed Anger agree. In that and nothing else). In the miniseries, he's a talkshow favorite, funny and engaging and, until 2008, always right about his predictions. But something seems to be clouding over his prognostication abilities. And this something just mmmmight (okay, is) be related to Ed's travails in the series, too.

UFO Alien also gives me a nice bridge between my last series, GROOM LAKE, and this one. Which paves the way for a possible future Archibald guest-spot in the WWN series...

Monthly Weekly World News: PhD Ape

The brains of the operation in the upcoming WEEKLY WORLD NEWS series, lovingly rendered by series artist Alan Robinson. PhD Ape is a psychologist to the stars, sort of a better-looking and more civilized and hirsute Doctor Phil. And really, it's no contest between the two anyway: when's the last time Phil peeled a banana with his foot while helping counsel damaged celebs?

Monthly Weekly World News: Manigator

This scaly, beer-drinkin' good ol' boy from the Florida Panhandle plays a good role in helping Ed Anger through a big problem in the coming WEEKLY WORLD NEWS miniseries. Because who wouldn't accept help from a half-man/half-reprtile with a slight porn addiction?

Monthly Weekly World News: Ed Anger

In the WEEKLY WORLD NEWS series coming in January, the main character in the mini will actually be Ed Anger, even more than Bat Boy. Ed is the WWN's columnist who sits to the far right of the far right (for example, he thinks the rain forest should be paved). In fact, the series revolves around the guy, since the first miniseries subtitle is "The Irredemption of Ed Anger." (I'm pretty sure "irredemption" will eventually be deemed an actual word and added to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, after the dictionary people read this series.)

Below are Alan Robinson's original sketch, and the finished version. Ed was modeled just a bit after Clint Eastwood's character in GRAN TORINO. Even though Ed thought the character in that movie was a hippie liberal...

Monthly Weekly World News

At Comic-Con, we too some people by surprise in mentioning that we were going to be doing comics based on the WEEKLY WORLD NEWS tabloid newspaper characters. I'm going to be writing the series, which debuts in January, and Alan Robinson is handling the art. I thought I'd show a bit of what we've got cooked up so far (as I type this, two scripts are written, two covers each for the first two issues are done, and the first half of issue 1 is drawn, so we've got a good jump on where it's all headed. And where that is is, somewhere far afield of even GROOM LAKE. It'll have a good narrative and tells a solid story, but it does have bits of ridiculousness that top anything I've done so far. Issue 2 is the most fun I've ever had on a script).

Before getting more into that, though, let's lead off with the look of our main character, Bat Boy. In this series, as in the tabloid, he's our Zelig, our Forrest Gump, an innocent who happens to turn up at momentous events. But is he really that innocent? And how does he turn up everywhere like he does? That's what another of the characters, Ed Anger, sets out to find out. More on Ed tomorrow. For now, BAT BOY:

Alan's initial sketch:

And the final look of the character (art and colors by Alan; this image will make up one part of the final first issue cover, which will emulate the newspaper's look and design. I'll post the first issue covers later this week. One of 'em is a nice Alex Ross swipe... I mean, tribute.):

IDW's new releases for August 12

Angel: Only Human #1
From the Ashes #3
G.I. Joe #8
G.I. Joe: Special Helix #1
GrimJack: Manx Cat #1
Hero Comics
Starstruck #1
Star Trek: Nero #1
Transformers: Tales of the Fallen #1
Transformers: Best of U.K.: Prey #1

Elementary, my dear Jones

In November, we're doing a collection of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's SHERLOCK HOLMES tales, presented in chronological order for the first time, and including stories like A Study in Scarlet. Ashley Wood did the cover for the book, and artist Kelley Jones is doing 20 all-new chapter illustrations for the book, too. The first 10 just arrived in my office, and were good enough that I didn't want to wait until they could be scanned properly to show them.

"Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it."

The above piece, from ROCKETEER artist Dave Stevens, somehow felt appropriate with that quote as a nod to the great John Hughes. And this tribute below is from artist Cliff Chiang:

Transforming

At Comic-Con, we formally announced the long-rumored TRANSFORMERS ongoing series by Mike Costa and the returning Don Figueroa. And spinning out of that book will be two miniseries, one also pretty heavily rumored (LAST STAND OF THE WRECKERS, written and draw by Nick Roche) and BUMBLEBEE, by Zander Cannon and Chee.

The best part of making announcements is finally getting to show artwork that we've been dying to show. I know some or all of these have been seen on some TF sites (and Don's redesigns to the characters already causing controversy), but let's get them all out there, starting with Don's two covers for issue 1 (one of which is a wraparound, colored by James Brown; the other in b&w here just to show off Don's lineart.



Next is Chee's first cover for the Bumblebee miniseries:


And finally, Nick Roche's first WRECKERS cover: