IDW's new releases for June 3

Click the title for a 5-page preview:

Angel: Not Fade Away #2
Astro Boy: Underground #2
Doctor Who: Classics Series 2 #7
G.I. Joe: Movie Prequel #4
G.I. Joe: Best of Duke TPB
Jungle Journal TPB
Star Trek: Crew #4
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen Movie Adapation #3
Transformers: Best of UK: City of Fear #5
Transformers: Animated Series Vol. 9 TPB

BotCon fandom

We're spending the weekend at the Transformers convention, BotCon, in Pasadena. And while I let visiting artists Nick Roche, E.J. Su, Alex Milne, Marcelo Matere, Andrew Griffith, Casey Coller, Joana LaFuente, Josh Burcham, Dan Khanna,, and others sketch away without me snapping pictures of them, I did take a few photos of the fan-made figures in the "kit-bash" area. The prize-winners among these will be announced tonight, but among the ones that stood out to me are...

Optim-Elvis:


The Drift "paper doll"
Which fully transformers into vehicle mode, too. It was created by Ervin from the Netherlands, the same guy who made a Hearts of Steel Bumblebee figure a couple years back. Really amazing work.


And finally, the full diorama from the ending of the first TRANSFORMERS movie. All it needed was a voicechip that played Sam saying "No no no no no no no no no no no no!" over and over...


Great show all around. A full sell-out, too, with some 5K people in attendance. Books like our exclusive cover of the Movie Adaptation #1 and the first copies of the children's book, I AM OPTIMUS PRIME, went over really well with the faithful.

Covering the Rocketeer

The cover image for the coming remastered collection of Dave Stevens' ROCKETEER:

Helix is more than an '80s metal band only I remember

Helix is also the name of a new character in the G.I. JOE world -- namely, in the upcoming EA videogame. We're doing a G.I. JOE SPECIAL in August that ties in with the game (and is written by the game's writer, Brian Reed, with art by Joe Suitor.). Some of the comic will be released ahead of this Special in the form of an exclusive minicomic packed in with the videogame, too.

Sharp as ever

Another "Best Of" cover from Rob & Joe Sharp, this one for a coming SPOCK TPB.

Last Angel in Hell: The Movie

There's been some talk recently about a new BUFFY movie done without Joss Whedon's involvement. If that happens, it'll only be following the next Whedonverse movie. Which one? ANGEL: LAST ANGEL IN HELL.

It makes sense that there'd be a movie about ANGEL's life. After all, all of LA went to hell, returned, and remembered the experience. So there was no question that someone would pitch a movie about the experience. Hell, it's likely that every single resident in LA (and LA-adjacent towns) wrote a screenplay about their time in hell.

Now, we'd all like to think the movie would be handled tastefully. Something like this:


But much more likely is that the movie version will look like this:


We'll find out in te first-ever ANGEL ANNUAL, courtesy of screenwriter Brian Lynch and cinematographer Stephen Mooney. (And you get your first teaser trailer for the movie in ANGEL 26, by the same team. Red band trailer to come...)

The Aventure continues

Coming in August. Words by me, awesomeness by Ash Wood.

Memorial

Nothing we publish seems to exemplify the spirit of Memorial Day better than G.I. JOE. So here's brand-new, just-arrived, single panel from the final chapter of the initial Larry Hama/Mike Hawthorne ORIGINS story. The rest of the page was removed to keep the storyline secret, but this panel alone, from Hawthorne (with colors by Mike and Eric Swanson) says enough on its own.

Comic Books 101 is on its way

I got an e-mail notification that my pre-ordered copy of COMIC BOOKS 101 (it seems like good luck to pre-order a copy of one's own first book) has shipped. And as you can see from the image above, Amazon.com has the book IN STOCK now. The comic book listing for books in stores this Thursday, May 28, confirm that it will arrive that day, too. So if you've pre-ordered it, it will be in your hands any day now. The knowledge of which brings with it both satisfaction and also all kinds of anxiety...
If you didn't pre-order but want to check it out, click either the sidebar image or right here to see more.

101 deleted scenes

Over at Comics101.com, Scott Tipton (101 founder and COMIC BOOKS 101 co-author) has been running chapters that we had to cut from the final 101 manuscript. I usually don't delve too deeply into my non-IDW projects in this space beyond mentioning them or showing a cover (and I'm not sure why, really, but I've so far tended to just have this blog be primarily an IDW thing. Probably time to rethink that plan -- I've got actual books to sell now!). But up right now at Comics101 is a deleted chapter that I was proud of. It ultimately had to be trimmed since it didn't quite fit into the 288 pages and 40,000 words we were allotted. The chapter gave brief descriptions of pretty much every other publisher that's not covered in more detail in the book. And at least now at the site, Tipton added an image for every publisher, something we likely wouldn't have been able to do in the book itself. The direct link to the chapter (well, the first part of the whole chapter. It continues next week) is here. And you can pore through Scott's archives for more deleted chapters, all entited "Comic Books 101 in Focus."

As always, my goofy TV RECOMMENDATIONS column is new every Monday there, either.*
*Not recommended for anyone who wants actual recommendations. Archives here.

Incidentally, COMIC BOOKS 101 is evidently now in stock at Amazon.com, which means it'll be in stores and comics shops everywhere within the next two weeks.

*UPDATE: This site shows the book shipping to comics shops on Thursday, 5/29. I can't confirm that through Diamond yet but I like the sound of that.

IDW's new releases for May 28

A day later this week due to the Memorial Day holiday, remember. Click the SPARROW link for a 5-page preview.

Clifford Meth's Billboards
Sparrow: John Watkiss
Star Trek Omnibus, Vol. 1
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen movie adaptation #2

G4's Terminator Salvation IDW special

WW(R) II

The painted cover for Ashley Wood's WORLD WAR ROBOT 2, coming in July. For Comic-Con attendees, the book will be making its debut just before that show, and Ash will be in attendance and not only signing copies but also selling a con-exclusive WWR figure, too.

Three cheers and a tiger for Locke & Key: Head Games #5

Well, 5 out of 5 stars, anyway:

Unfortunately, Hill is such a wonderful writer, and he’s found a perfect medium for sharing his story, that one can’t put this book down. Complimenting the Wordsmith is artist Gabriel Rodriguez, who once again adds the cherry on this sundae. The euphoria of this series still has a hold on me, and I’m waiting for the other shoe to drop, but fortunately it doesn’t happen with this issue

Full MajorSpoilers.com review here.

There's a second positive review at the site JimmyInTheGarden.com, too:

It just keeps getting better! Locke and Key is the best book being published right now. From issue to issue, this story is stellar. Hill and Rodriguez could give a clinic on how to work, author and artist, to produce a masterpiece. I know this is some high praise, but it is all earned and true.

Full review here.

You've Got B-B Eyes

The seventh volume of our hardcover DICK TRACY reprints was released last week, and it was the first volume built to the same, larger, dimensions as the TERRY AND THE PIRATES and LITTLE ORPHAN ANNIE books. This initial review seemed very happy with both the new dimensions and the strips within this volume. This material, from 1941-1942 and featuring villains like B-B Eyes, The Mole, Little Face and more, is also Harlan Ellison's favorite era of Gould's strip. To the point where he referenced a particular plot point of a strip from this time period that he hadn't read in 60 years. I found the exact thing he remembered on page 118 of this book. So I can confirm that even as he approaches 75 next week, his memory still seems better than any of ours will ever be.

Physically, this volume brings the TRACY series in line with other ongoing IDW reprint projects, such as LITTLE ORPHAN ANNIE. The larger dimensions allow Gould's Sunday pages to be viewed without eye strain. The supporting features are stronger as well, with Collins' introduction being accompanied by an interesting Jeff Kersten essay describing Gould's working methods and life as a "gentleman farmer" in Woodstock, IL. With the immortal Pruneface (and wife) and Flattop scheduled to appear in the next volume, the format shift couldn't have come at a better time.

Full review here.

Fallen Angel vs Illyria

In July, Peter David and J.K. Woodward's new FALLEN ANGEL series, REBORN, begins, and the four-part tale guest-stars Joss Whedon's Illyria for the entire story. The first issue is available for preorder now in the current issue of Previews, and here's a 7-page preview of the issue, too (feel free to get the coding for the preview here if you'd like to embed the preview at your own sites blogs, Facebooks and what-nots, too).

Open publication - Free publishing - More peter david

The Doctor is out

We're approving the first issue of the ongoing DOCTOR WHO series to print this week (coming in July!) and I read the full issue with the art for the first time today, and loved it. Tony Lee really nails the voice and style of the show, and Al Davison's art (and his bio--seriously, Google this guy, what a fascinating story) is perfect for the story, set in 1920s Hollywood. But the real thing that stands out is how great Paul Grist's art style suits the book. So on the eve of a full one-shot by Tony and Paul coming out (Their DOCTOR WHO: THE TIME MACHINATION, is out tomorrow), here's a look at his cover for issue 2.

Launching an ongoing WHO monthly is something of a risky venture for us, since we rarely do ongoing monthlies. Tony's got the first 18 issues plotted out, so while I don't normally push this aspect of the business, I do ask that if you want to see this book happen and keep happening, you pre-order it through your comics shops. They haven't seen enough regular WHO to know exactly how this book's going to do, so it benefits them and their ordering decisions to know this ahead of time, too. In this kind of screwy economy, it's becoming more and more important to pre-order or at least tell your retailer you want something. That way, they order enough, we produce enough, and everyone wins. That's the plan, anyway. But enough about this--click the image to see again how good Grist's WHO art is.

Who is Ng Hudson?

I came across another review of GROOM LAKE #1. This one at ComicRelated.com, and I thought it was notable for a couple reasons. One is that the review contains within a few photos like the one I posted above, of the reviewer Dane Dravor flipping the pages of the comic itself. I don't know, I found that kind of amusing. And I like that it shows that he actually read the comic itself and didn't pull it from a torrent site or just read it in the shop.

Also, he runs the initial solicitation text before the review itself:

The truth is out... er, under there? In the remote Nevada desert there sits a dry lakebed called Groom Lake, and under that land resides a secret base that holds all the secrets of the world. Not this world, either. Writer Chris Ryall and artist Ben Templesmith present a four-part tale of abductions and probings, conspiracies and secrets. And the key to it all is held in the grey, six-fingered hand of one Ng Hudson.

That copy is a bit incongruous now, mostly due to the reference to the alien being named "Ng Hudson." That was his original name when I wrote the series up. "Ng" was my tribute to Ray Bradbury's THE MARTIAN CHRONICLES. But it started to not really work for me as Ng's voice developed. And I remembered a story I read about the "real" grey alien that supposedly lived in the underground base at Groom Lake. His name was Archibald, the books said, so my alien became Archibald, too.

Anyway, very fun review. And below the review, it seems to take on added weight, since the reviewer also ranks the comic's importance to the company and to the comics medium, too. Full review here.

Hey, kids, comics!

Bluedream Studios' Scott Christian Sava, who's been doing a number of kids' graphic novels for us, is showing off a number of them throughout this week at Newsarama.com. In the piece up today, he's talking about and showing a preview of his latest book, CAMERON AND HIS DINOSAURS. They'll also be previewing (in the form of 20-page previews) his other books HYPERACTIVE, GARY THE PIRATE and MY GRANDPARENTS ARE SECRET AGENTS. So if you have any young'uns who might be interested in some fun graphic novels, you can get a good look at the books this week.

Un-Veil-ed

Next month, we're starting up a 4-part miniseries called THE VEIL (as in "the veil between life and death"). It's a good, creepy little ghost story. Ash Wood is doing covers for all four issues, but this book (written by El Torres, who also wrote ZOMBIES!: ECLIPSE OF THE UNDEAD for us) is also notable since it features art and colors by Gabriel Hernandez. Gaby last worked on an IDW book in 2006, CLIVE BARKER'S THE THIEF OF ALWAYS. He has a pinup in issue 2 of GROOM LAKE, too, but with these VEIL pages, you can really get a good sense of how well-suited he is to this type of material:

IDW's new releases and 5-page previews for May 20

Click the link for a 5-page preview:
Angel #21
Ben Templesmith's Dracula HC
Doctor Who: The Time Machination
The Dreamer #6
G.I. Joe #5
G.I. Joe: Best of Hawk TPB
Gary the Pirate
Locke & Key: Head Games #5
Star Trek: Alien Spotlight: Romulans
Transformers: All Hail Megatron #11
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen Movie Adapation #1
Transformers: Animated Series Vol. 5
Transformers: Animated Series Vol. 6

Trek-Prime

The new cover art for a coming STAR TREK ARCHIVES collection featuring Peter David's "The Trial of Captain Kirk," courtesy of Joe & Rob Sharp:

Ghosts of a chance

A new GHOSTBUSTERS seriously was sneakily announced today over at I09.com. Called GHOSTBUSTERS: DISPLACED AGGRESSION and coming from the creative team behind our GALAXY QUEST revival, Scott Lobdell and Ilias Kyriazas, the 4-part series is set to begin in August. Nick Runge will be doing covers for the series, and so will Ilias, whose four interlocking covers are shown here. The entire piece can be read here, and following that link will show you a few exclusive pages from issue 1, too.

Cobra 3: no laughing matter

The developments in this week's G.I. JOE: COBRA #3 truly took some people by surprise. And that has already resulted in some great reviews for the issue, including some "Pick of the Week" status at some sites:

iFanboy.com's G.I. Joe: Cobra #3 review: "pick of the week!"

G.I. Joe: Cobra #3 at ign.com

Hisstank.com loves them some Cobra #3

And so does TheTerrordrome.com

GeneralsJoes.com concurs, G.I. Joe: Cobra #3 rules

Agony and ecstasy

The best gift I've ever received out of the blue, sent to me by Life of Agony bassist/Spoiler NYC singer Alan Robert today:

Hail merry

(*sorry, sometimes the blog entry titles are especially pun-crazy)

The official announcement about ALL HAIL MEGATRON continuing beyond its initial 12-issue series spread around today (at our site and elsewhere) so as a follow-up to that, here are Trevor Hutchison's covers for issues 13 and 14:

Locke wall

I know this two-page spread from LOCKE & KEY: HEAD GAMES #3 has already been seen in print, but it's worth showing here, and at this larger size, for anyone who wants to admire the extreme level of detail in Gabriel's art and in Jay Fotos' coloring. And it's further being shown here as a B&W image so you can see what it looked like before Jay did his thing.

There's a similar two-page spread in the issue that concludes the HEAD GAMES arc, issue 6, and since I want to keep that one under wraps, here's the first such spread. Issue 5 is in stores next Wednesday, May 20.

From the Ashes: the red band teaser trailer

A moving look at creator Bob Fingerman's post-apocalyptic autobio comic, FROM THE ASHES. Issue 1 is in stores this Wednesday:

Blood, Trenches, Crews and a Lake, too

Some reviews for recent IDW releases. The first two, both from Comics Bulletin, are both 5-star reviews for John Byrne:

"Angel: Blood and Trenches is an utterly gorgeous depiction of naked pencil. For Star Trek: Crew, Byrne chooses a more traditional look for his art. The subject demands ink and color, but again, the title is a testament to Byrne's skill as an artist and a storyteller."

ANGEL: BLOOD AND TRENCHES #3
STAR TREK: CREW #3


Also, a couple looks at GROOM LAKE #2:

GROOM LAKE #2 at Houdini Sanctum
GROOM LAKE #2 at Living Between Wednesdays

And a review of GROOM 2 at ComicPants.com:

"Okay, didn't see that twist coming. I really enjoyed the first issue of Groom Lake, but this second one, which took the ideas that were worked into the first one and threw them into a giant blender and hit puree, surprised me. The character of Archibald, the resident chain smoking alien, had me in stitches and the way Ryall pulls the rug out from under everyone was nothing short of fantastic. Bring the next one on. Oh...And yeah, Ben Templesmith still manages to hang on to the title of Artistic Rock God, in case you were wondering."

Comics with Benefits

In August, we'll be publishing the latest Hero Initiative comic shepherded by editor Scott Dunbier. The comic will feature all-new stories by creators such as Howard Chaykin, Bill Willingham & Gene Ha, Arthur Adams, David Lloyd, Kaare Andrews, Mark Schulzz, and others, and it'll come adorned with this cover by J. Scott Campbell. Which isn't gratuitous, because it's for charity:


If you're not familiar with Hero Initiative, their missing is this:

The Hero Initiative creates a financial safety net for comic creators who may need emergency medical aid, financial support for essentials of life, and an avenue back into paying work. Since inception, the Hero Initiative has been fortunate enough to benefit over 40 creators and their families with over $400,000 worth of much-needed aid, fueled by your contributions! It's a chance for all of us to give back something to the people who have given us so much enjoyment.

Click the above link to go to the H.I. site and see more.

IDW's new releases for May 13

Click the title for a 5-page preview
Angel: Not Fade Away #1
Astro Boy: Underground #1
Complete Chester Gould's Dick Tracy, Vol. 7
Complete Little Orphan Annie, Vol. 3
Complete Terry & the Pirates, Vol. 1 [2nd printing]
Doctor Who: Classic Series 2 #6
From the Ashes #1
G.I. Joe: Cobra #3
G.I. Joe: Best of Cobra Commander TPB
Robinson Crusoe
Star Trek: Mission's End #3

Scan long and prosper

STAR TREK: COUNTDOWN continues to perform well for us, so this is a nice thing to see on the eve of the film's release. Complete article here.

Gunn: After the Fall

The ANGEL: AFTER THE FALL team of writer Brian Lynch and artist Franco Urru returns to the title with ANGEL 23. This special issue focuses on Gunn and Illyria, which then leads into the coming ANGEL: ONLY HUMAN miniseries. Here're a couple pages from the issue. Colors courtesy of Paolo Maddelini.

Comics Reporter-ing

Tom Spurgeon over at his site, Comics Reporter, had some nice things to say about our upcoming remastered editions of Michael Kaluta's STARSTRUCK series (beginning in August):

"IDW will be publishing a "re-mastered" -- meaning they'll scan from the original art and then re-color the pages -- version of the fondly remembered science fiction comic Starstruck. I think this is worth noting for having that project back and in a nice presentation of the material, but also because it really underlines how IDW seems to have made curating the 1980s indy-comics movement for its best books better than any other publisher."

Al Who?

British artist Al (THE SPIRAL CAGE) Davison is illustrating the first two-part story arc that kicks off our ongoing DOCTOR WHO monthly book in July. And to celebrate the idea that this first story, "The Siver Scream" (written by Tony Lee, the ongoing WHO writer) is set in old-tyme Hollywood, Al's doing some great old-fashioned movie-poster covers for the two issues, too. Here's issue 1:


And issue 2:

Fed-eration

This past weekend, STAR TREK COUNTDOWN artist David Messina attended FedCon in Germany, where he was flanked by fans of his work on STAR TREK (and ANGEL and other comics). As these pictures show, he even has a fan-following in galaxies far, far away.

Metroplex is not small

As will proven throughout the July SPOTLIGHT issue focused on him. Or as evidenced by this variant cover lineart by Guido Guidi.

FCBD recap

I set out to take pictures from the Free Comic Book Day event at Earth-2 Comics in Northridge on Saturday but got occupied by the crowds and all so I didn't post as many as I intended, but the ones I did take are up at ComicBookResources.com. A couple quick ones here.

First, Good Charlotte guitarist Billy Martin came by to chat about... something (more on that... soon enough):



And COMIC BOOKS 101 co-author Scott Tipton and I officially started selling the book (albeit only a handful of advance copies; the book's release date is May 20. Still, sold out all the copies we had in Hour One of the signing):

Juliet Geeks out

Juliet Landau, who's co-writing the return of her character, Drusilla, to the world of ANGEL (in issues 24 and 25), recently did a piece with GEEK magazine where she discussed what it was like writing Dru and writing comics. GEEK was nice enough to allow me to run the entire piece here.

IDW's new releases for May 6

(Click the link for a 5-page preview)


Angel: Blood & Trenches #3
Cameron and His Dinosaur
Doctor Who Classic, Vol. 3
Classic G.I. Joe, Vol. 3
G.I. Joe: Movie Prequel #3
Ghostbusters: The Other Side
Groom Lake #2
The Life and Times of Savior 28 #2
Olive Twist
Star Trek: Crew #3
Transformers: Best of U.K.: City of Fear #4