Fresh Ink on LOCKE & KEY

Blair Butler from G4 dropped me a line to tell me that the latest issue of LOCKE & KEY, #3, will be featured on today's Fresh Ink podcast. Blair's been a big booster of this comic since it started, so in honor of the latest podcast talking it up, I thought I'd show a page from an upcoming issue (#5), to show how solid and consistent Gabriel (Rodriguez) and Jay (Fotos) have remained on every issue of this book.

Comics Bulletin had a generally solid review of issue 3 today, too.

Life in Hell

Time for some advance looks at ANGEL: AFTER THE FALL and even SPIKE: AFTER THE FALL here. Both hell-based issues aren't due for a couple months but I wanted to show off a page of ANGEL #9 (by Nick Runge, Shaynne Corbett, and Art Lyon) that will have special meaning to anyone who's familiar with Brian Lynch's pre-IDW comics work. And Franco's rolling along on SPIKE #1, too, as you can see here.

It's an election year, y'know

The British Eagle Award Nominations came out today--or recently, anyway, but I just saw them today. And while IDW got jobbed as far as a nom for Best Publisher (somehow DC and Vertigo got separate nods for Best Pub), I did spot this little section:

10: Award for Favourite Editor

Axel Alonzo

CHRIS RYALL

Kris Simon

Tharg (Matt Smith)

Tom Brevoort

Well, how about that? Now, never mind the fact that I think I deserve to win just for spotting the typo in "Favourite" above... but if you need additional reasons to vote for me, consider these totally unbiased facts about the other nominees:

AXEL ALONSO: If you vote for him, Mephisto will just invalidate the vote anyway.
KRIS SIMON: The spelling of his first name is all wrong--can't have that in a Favourite [sic] editor.
THARG: Oh, c'mon, that's not even a real word.
TOM BREEVORT: Have we all forgotten Avengers Disassembled so soon? I think not. Also, even money that Tom is actually a Skrull.

So there you go, there's my campaigning. If elected, I promise to keep fellow Eagle Award nominees Ben Templesmith and Ashley Wood gainfully employed and productive. Also, I promise to keep things like ANGEL: AFTER THE FALL, LOCKE & KEY, STAR TREK comics by folks like John Byrne, and so much more coming out on time and with no ads running in the middle of the stories.

It would make me feel better about the heavy gunfire I had to dodge when I attended the Bosnia Comic-Con a few years ago, too.

So if any of that sways you, please, vote away:

Vote here! Vote Ryall!*

*I spared you from my 6th grade class president campaign slogan, "Be in style, vote for Ryall!"

Coming up NEXT

Being approved to print this week is volume one of the COMPLEAT JOHN BYRNE'S NEXT MEN. This book, released in the early '90s, was one of the best things John's ever done, I think. When it came out, much of the industry was imploding under forced gimmicks and contrived marketing hooks, but John just did what he does so well, provided solid superheroic entertainment. I've long wanted to see these comics back in print, so it's great to be able to actually facilitate that.

The first volume, presented "Essentials"-style, will be over 450 pages of story and art for $19.99. Coming this May, it'll include the complete 2112 graphic novel (sorry, Rush fans, that's not a story about a guy who discovers a guitar in a post-apocalyptic world), the kick-off 0 issue, and another dozen or so issues of the series (including MIV back-up strips), too, all showcasing John's amazing detailed line-art.

And yes, I DO plan to stay on John to do some new NM tales amidst all his many STAR TREK plans with us...

Forget everything you knew...

This week's new IDW releases

This week, the special TRANSFORMERS: FOCUS ON DECEPTICONS comic is released. this is a preview of the upcoming "All Hail Megatron" series, and includes an 8-page preview of issue 1, so people will really know what they're in for when this new series starts in July.

The two GENE SIMMONS trade paperbacks this week both contain new intros from Gene himself, too. And after you read the DOMINATRIX one, you might never be able to think of The Inhumans' Medusa the same way...

CVO: African Blood TPB

Doctor Who Classics #5

FX #2

Gene Simmons: House of Horror TPB

Gene Simmons: Dominatrix TPB

Ghost Whisperer #2

Locke & Key #3

Speed Racer: Chronicles of the Racer #4

Transformers: Focus on Decepticons

Wormwood: Calamari Rising #3

Transformers: Best of UK Space Pirates #2

Star Trek: The Enterprise Incident Experiment

A press release from Paramount came around today. Why this is important to our comics will be explained below...

Captain Kirk goes mad in "The Enterprise Incident," premiering this weekend

Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner) seemingly goes insane in the remastered version of "The Enterprise Incident," premiering this weekend in nationwide syndication. Kirk orders the Enterprise across the Neutral Zone, where it is captured by Romulan forces. Spock (Leonard Nimoy) goes aboard a Romulan ship in a desperate bid to save his ship and his captain's life, but the Vulcan officer finds himself strangely drawn to the beautiful commander of the Romulan fleet (Joanne Linville).

Episode highlights include one of Star Trek's featured appearances of the feared Klingon Battle Cruiser, and the only time that it is seen commanded by Romulan forces. In the remastered version of the episode, the iconic Klingon ship now sports the signature Romulan bird-of-prey markings, first seen in "The Balance of Terror." The remastered episode also reintroduces the original Romulan ship design, now flying alongside with its larger Klingon-styled brethren.

The remastered version of "The Enterprise Incident" features all-new visual effects by CBS Digital and premieres during the weekend of April 5, 2008. The original episode was first aired in September, 1968, and was written by D.C. Fontana and directed by John Meredyth Lucas. Star Trek was created by Gene Roddenberry and is distributed in nationwide syndication by CBS Paramount Television.

This is great timing, since the sequel to this episode comes in the form of our new STAR TREK: THE ENTERPRISE EXPERIMENT miniseries, the first issue of which is being released on April 16.

The comic book, like the original episode, is written by Dorothy "D.C." Fontana (along with Derek Chester). This is Dorothy's first-ever comic book work, which is exciting to any fans of the Original Series and the Animated Series (as well as the many other things she's written). So first check out the episode--some of the digital upgrades actually tie the episode even more closely in with the comic book--and then see the follow-up a little over a week later. And until then, here're the covers (art cover by Joe & Rob Sharp) and a page (by Gordon Purcell), as well as a still from the episode itself.

A non-Fool's Day Wheelie image

Let's show off a bit of what this issue will look like. People have seen Klaus Scherwinski's fully finished and colored covers before, but since he's doing full art on this book, we thought it'd be fun to show you what his art looks like before he works his magic on the colors.

Next week' we'll show off his throwback variant cover and the whole process that went into creating it.

The Dreamland Chronicles

July solicitations haven't been circulated around yet, but following up on an earlier story about the title's creator, Scott Christian Sava, bringing the book to IDW to be released as monthly comics, I wanted to show the first issue's covers. Scott will be providing a character image cover each issue, and has gotten some high-falutin' friends of his to do alternate covers for each issue. The debut issue, coming in July, features a cover image by the late Mike Wieringo. Wieringo's a guy that I--along with everyone else who ever met him or saw his work--really loved, and never had much chance to work with in the past. His work was more well-suited to all-ages or superhero comics, and much of what we do has been aimed at the 17+ crowd. So Ringo was someone I never had a chance to work with to my dismay, which makes it especially gratifying that Scott, and Mike's family, have okayed the use of this image (inked by Karl Kesel) for the comic book's debut issue.

Subsequent covers for the series will come from folks like HEROBEAR's Mike Kunkel, the great Jerry Bingham (another guy I've long wanted to have work on an IDW project, and many others. But for now, enjoy Mike's art, as well as Scott's cover image. And keep an eye out for this series if you're looking for a great all-ages fantasy tale for yourself or some young'uns, too.

Zombies vs Robots vs Birthdays

This might be the best birthday card I've ever received. Except for the ones that come loaded with cash, I mean. Courtesy of newest Hallmark Cards employee Ben Templesmith.