DEAD Man's Party

Last night's launch party for our EVERYBODY'S DEAD comic (and Image Comics' HAZED) at Meltdown Comics in LA was probably the coolest comic book-related party I've ever attended. There was a great crowd of folks (comic book hipsters, many old friends and familiar faces, David Slade [30 DAYS OF NIGHT's director] and fiance, Ben Templesmith and wife Lorelei , Mark Rendell [Eben Oleson's brother in 30 DAYS, now appearing in CHARLIE BARTLETT], Boom! Studio's Chip Mosier, our own Scott Tipton and his lady, artist Chris Moreno, screenwriter Jon Davis, Savage Critic contributor and bon vivant Abhay Khosla, and many others. Along with the comic's creators, Brian Lynch and Dave Crosland. Crosland and friend, the super-talented Jim Mahfood, did a live-art show, painting a mural on the back wall of Meltdown's party space while a DJ spun tunes. It really was a great event even without the live art show, but I can't recommend enough that you check out the Mahfood and Cros show if they ever do a live art event near you. Jim does a lot of these in town (he's LA-based; Cros was down from SF for the launch party) and it was pretty stunning to watch the two of them go. I don't know that these few pictures capture the dynamism of their work, but it was a great sight to behold.

In all, a great event, and hopefully one that got a few more people to check out EVERYBODY'S DEAD (the cover for the concluding issue, 5, is pictured here). Thanks to MattyG and the Meltdown crew for such a good comic book event.

Ant music

Let's end the work week with some Bernie Wrightson, shall we? The cover to DEAD, SHE SAID #2, coming in July, and written by Steve Niles. This little noir-horror tale takes a buggy turn this issue, as beautifully penciled and inked by Bernie. Colors by Grant Goleash.

And coming next week, some pics from tomorrow night's launch party for EVERYBODY'S DEAD!

We're gonna need a bigger book

Here's a look far into the future (fully four months away, since it's the cover to FALLEN ANGEL 29, considering issue 25 just hit stores this week) and a tribute to the late Roy Scheider, too. Art by J.K. Woodward, as per usual...

Transfourmers

After a long travel day, just a quick one before I sack out--here's the cover to the first issue of our TRANSFORMERS series that reprints the Titan U.K.-only Magazine stories (U.K. stories, hence the so-clever addition of the extra "u" in this entry's subject, get it? If not, I blame the jet lag.). Set before the movie and functioning as a bit of a companion piece/lead-in to our Movie Sequel, THE REIGN OF STARSCREAM, these comics will each offer two magazine tales per issue. Cover art and colors by the great Nick Roche and equally great Josh Burcham.

When in Rhode...

I'm out visiting Hasbro right now, and after a day of talking Transformers, let me post a couple pages I just discovered today--E.J. Su's first two pages of his TF SPOTLIGHT: CYCLONUS, coming in June.

And yes, we did make some great plans for the next few years of TF comics today, thanks for asking.

This week's new releases

Big week this week for STAR TREK fans, with the launch of Peter David's NEW FRONTIER series as well as the third issue of our current TNG series; also, (my personal favorite) ZOMBIES VS ROBOTS VS AMAZONS oversized hardcover and quite a bit more. Speaking of Peter David, this week's anniversary issue of FALLEN ANGEL features a 10-page supplement after the story itself, in celebration of the book's 25th issue. And pictured here are some pages from BADGER 4, this issue and the next featuring the artistic stylings of Alberto Dose, colors courtesy of John Hunt.

Angel: After the Fall #1 - 4th Printing

Complete Badger, Vol. 2

Badger: Saves the World #4

Fallen Angel #25

Rogue Angel: Teller of Tales #2

Silent Hill: Sinners Rewards #2

Speed Racer: Chronicles of Racer #3

Speed Racer: Racer X TPB

Star Trek: Intelligence Gathering #3

Star Trek: New Frontier #1

Transformers: Best of UK Space Pirates #1

Zombies vs Robots vs Amazons HC

The newest New Frontier

Just dropped in my inbox tonight, I wanted to show off a bit of Len O'Grady's color work--and artist Stephen Thompson's linework--on these first two pages from Peter David's STAR TREK: NEW FRONTIER #3.

Pledge Party!

Hail, Hail

Gold Eagles have landed

Here's the cover to THE EXECUTIONER #4 from Justin Randall and a page from ROGUE ANGEL #3 by Renae De Liz, both based on Gold Eagle books.

Friday at Mysterious Galaxy

Need Friday night plans? And just so happen to be in San Diego (or willing to make the trek in for a speaking engagement with someone who's none-too-comfortable doing speaking engagements)? Well, then, have I got plans for you. Click the subject above, or read on.

Local genre bookstore Mysterious Galaxy, one of the better bookstores in San Diego (they could leap to the top of that list if they'd start selling graphic novels there), invited me to come speak about comics and graphic novels. A nice bonus about this, unbeknownst to them, is that the title of the engagement and the subject matter is a perfect place for me to also plug a book that Scott Tipton and I are writing for IMPACT Books, COMIC BOOKS 101 (coming spring '09). Either way, it should be a fun, casual event so if you're in the area and looking to come talk comics, c'mon by. I'll likely hand out comics to everyone there, too. The above link will have the address and phone number, and here's the formal description of the event:

Title of Event: Comics & Graphic Novels 101
Time: Friday, March 21, 2008 7:00 p.m.
Location: Mysterious Galaxy

Comics and Graphic Novels seem to be everywhere in 21st century publishing. Almost every major traditional publishing house now has a comics imprint, in addition to the established publishers in the comics field in the US and internationally. While many readers are comfortable and familiar with the world of sequential art, we know some of the rest have questions. Comics aren't just superheroes in tights? They're not just for kids? What's manga, anyway? Etc.

To answer these questions and more, we drew on two of our local community resources: Chris Ryall, Publisher/Editor-in-Chief of IDW Publishing, and Robert Scott, Owner of Comickaze & AFC Studio. Chris will focus on IDW's contributions as a small press, including not only the comics and graphic novels they produce, but also their prose, art book, and children's book publications. Robert will offer insights into what comics offer today, including works by such genre prose authors as Peter David, Joe Hill, Cory Doctorow, Kevin J. Anderson, Steve Niles, Clive Barker, and MG's own Jeff Mariotte, all published by IDW. Find out more at Comics and Graphic Novels 101 on Friday, March 21, at 7:00 PM.

IDW releases for 3/19/08

Coming this week:

A new John Byrne superhero comic! A monumental issue of ANGEL! EVERYBODY'S DEAD coming a week sooner than originally planned! TV Guide's favorite comic (I'm paraphrasing), GHOST WHISPERER, debuts! All that and the Harlan Ellison-praised comic, ZIPPER, too.

Angel: After the Fall #5

Everybody's Dead #1

FX #1

Gene Simmons Zipper #4

Ghost Whisperer #1

30 Days of Ry

I was flipping through the extras on the 30 DAYS OF NIGHT DVD today and happened upon a little clip of myself there. It was during the "Stunts" featurette, the bit about the tractor running through the front of the hotel. Of course, I sound like a bit of a rube in the little quote I have on there, but still, that was an unexpected, fun thing to see. I shot another segment that ran at the Ghosthouse Web site during the film's production and haven't seen if that made it onto any part of the extras yet, but at least now my trip to New Zealand to attend the film's shoot is officially represented on the DVD...

Workman-like behavior

I'm happy we're doing this FX book for a lot of reasons--Wayne Osborne has created a comic that reminds me of superhero comics I read when I was a kid; he has John Byrne doing the art, which always wins me over; and the reason for citing the book right now (as well as to show off some new pages I just received), John Workman on letters. Outside of Todd Klein or Richard Starkings, letterers don't seem to get enough due lately. But back in the day, folks like Tom Orzechowski and Janice Chang were doing great, noticeably impressive hand-lettering in comics.

And then along came John Workman.

I think most people really noticed John in Walt Simonson's THOR run, but his work on Grant Morrison's DOOM PATROL and so many other comics in the '80s and '90s really stood out. It takes special skill for lettering to really impress and not distract from a comic's story or art, which is why only a handful of people ever really get acclaim for their letters. John's one of them that deserves every bit of praise he gets. I can't exactly put a handle on what it is about his stuff, since it's everything, from the style he uses to the way the letters fill the balloons to the sound effects. All these things take on a distinctive feel when John's on a book.

In these days of computer lettering, where we letter every book in-house, having John do the hand-lettering on this comic not only gives it even more of a distinctive look but it also reminds me that much more of comics I loved when I was a kid. So I know Todd Klein (deservedly) wins Eisners and gets the most attention for his lettering, but nothing gives me quite the same feeling as seeing Workman's stuff in an issue. Happy to have him along on this one.

In ONE weeks, the dead will walk

...and drink, too.

EVERYBODY'S DEAD #1 by Lynch and Crosland, hits stores on March 19. And to do a little more "pre-partying" in its honor, here's a look at Dave's pencils to issue 5's cover. I would say "spoiler alert," but since you don't know any of these characters yet, it shouldn't affect anything. But after you read issue 1, then beware of retroactive spoilers from what you're seeing here.
UPDATE! Enjoy the inks, too, just minutes after they showed up in my inbox.

Another Revelation or two

You've seen what E.J. is doing with these new TRANSFORMERS Spotlight issues, so now how about a first look at Nick Roche's variant covers for the first two issues. As you can see by the first two, CYCLONUS and HARDHEAD, Nick's trying something a bit different with these covers.. Now if only we could get a straight-to-DVD movie of this entire saga done in a similar style...

Spike'd!

It's big announcement day around these parts. Check out Newsarama for details (just click the subject to take you there). Or simply enjoy the covers for the just-announced SPIKE: AFTER THE FALL miniseries coming in July, either way. Below are Franco Urru's two covers, as well as an image no one else has seen yet, a "grindhouse-like" incentive cover from Joe & Rob Sharp, with colors and effects by Charlie Kirchoff.

REVELATIONS revealed

As everyone will see when the Previews catalog with June comics hits later this month, the final TRANSFORMERS storyline in Simon Furman's "-tion" saga will begin this summer. With it, we're doing something a little different--we're doing "The Revelations Saga" in four chapters, each presented as a TRANSFORMERS SPOTLIGHT. These four issues will feature a new character, folks like CYCLONUS, HARDHEAD and two others, and take place across the universe as the story Simon started in October 2005 has spread and grown into this huge epic.

E.J. Su will handle the covers for all four issues, and is slated to bookend the series, handling the first and last issue. Nick Roche will also provide covers for each issue, in a distinctive new style I'd show off right now if I had the images here at home. But maybe it's better to save those for a later reveal. For now, enjoy the sketch for E.J.'s four interlocking covers, as well as those of the first two issues. I joined the two together for you, too, since I'm nice like that.

Much more to come on this, as well as other upcoming TRANSFORMERS plans, but this is a good start to the week.

Reign-y Sunday

I haven't really shown off any of this book yet, which is curious since I'm really excited about it. Starting next month, we'll be releasing the *official* comic book sequel to last summer's TRANSFORMERS movie, in the form of TRANSFORMERS: THE REIGN OF STARSCREAM. The script is by Chris Mowry and myself (Mowry did most all the heavy lifting, for purposes of full disclosure. But if you love the comic and I think you will, I'll try to share in the praise...), with Alex Milne and Josh Perez, the same team as the Movie Adaptation comic, ably handling the art chores, as you can see here.

Since both Mowry and I are pop-culture idiots, whose conversations seem to be as much from old movies as from our own heads, look for various little quotes and references to movies, songs, and old Transformers Animated episodes, too.

Doing sequels to movies that nevertheless don't affect any coming sequel have a long tradition in comics (anyone else remember Han Solo's giant green bunny sidekick in Marvel's STAR WARS series?), and we've been having a lot of fun with this one. Expect to see some new faces, some familiar faces, some explanations for certain, shall we say, quirks in the movie's script, a return to Cybertron (and another planet, this one in our solar system), and much more in this series.

Weekend Wormwood

As I head out for the weekend, I'll leave off with a just-handed-to-me page of WORMWOOD: CALAMARI RISING #3, courtesy of new office mate and Aussie transplant (again) Ben Templesmith. This page is in honor of the similar way that some of you spend your weekends... and in case you were going to ask, yes, that IS Space-Elvis in the background.

Coupla upcoming SPARROW art books

Glenn Barr coming in July, the Biz book in the Fall. Both hardcovers, 6" x 6," 48 pages of art, like all the other SPARROW books (the first 5 of which, plus a double-sized new Ash Wood sketch book, will be offered in a slipcase around Comic-Con time, too).