Breathed of fresh air

The first volume of our COMPLETE BLOOM COUNTY, VOLUME 1 comes out the first week of October. And in a nice confluence of events, that's the same time as the Long Beach Comic Convention. The best part of these things happening at the same time? BLOOM creator Berkeley Breathed has agreed to appear at the con that weekend. The first time he's ever appeared at a comic convention. Ever. So this one will be something special.

Details on Berkeley appearance can be found here. Tom Jane is another big name appearing at the show. Which could be trouble, since the last time he and I were at a con in Long Beach, the Wizard show from a few years ago, we shared a bottle of French absynthe (along with half the bar), making for a long morning the next day...

Incidentally, Tom will be there with Tim Bradstreet, both of whom were a big part of our SHOCK FESTIVAL book, which will also be on display at the show.

Stay tuned for specific news about Berkeley's appearance and what he'll be doing (and possibly giving away) at the show, too.

The Fisher King

The big draw in the 72-page LOCKE & KEY: WELCOME TO LOVECRAFT #1 SPECIAL EDITION that's in stores tomorrow, beyond the reprint of the first 32-page LOCKE story and Joe's script, is the new (non-L&K) story by Joe Hill, Seth Fisher and Langdon Foss (with colors by Jay Fotos and Langdon). It's Fisher's last comic book work, presented here in color for the first time. Pages 1-3 of the 10-page story are below:

Covering ANGEL 27

ANGEL 27 is easily the funniest issue of ANGEL I've ever worked on. It's also a fitting kind-of end to Brian Lynch's run on ANGEL (kind of, I say, because there's still the ANGEL ANNUAL to come, and then a SPIKE series) because it includes so many of the things he did so well on his entire ANGEL run, only in much more amusing fashion than many of the grim tidings he had to deal with during AFTER THE FALL.

Because I don't often show finished, logo'd covers here, I thought I'd show these, since the images haven't been seen online much in any fashion. First here is Nick Runge's variant cover:


And then interior artist Stephen Mooney's cover. The issue itself should be in stores just before Halloween.

Tatooing Happy Fun Time Now

GROOM LAKE's Archibald has been forever (well, for an average lifespan of 70-78 years, anyway) on the arm of one Toni Martone, who sent over this pic of his new, otherwroldly ink:

IDW's new releases for September 10

Thursday this week, not Wednesday:

Angel: After the Fall Vol. 5 HC
Angel: Only Human #2
Astro Boy: Movie Adaptation #4
Astro Boy: Movie Prequel TPB
Astro Boy: Movie Adaptation TPB
Fallen Angel: Reborn #3
G.I. Joe: Classics Vol. 5 TPB
Grimwood's Daughter HC
The Life and Times of Savior 28 #5
Locke & Key: Welcome to Lovecraft Special Edition #1
Star Trek: Nero #2
Transformers: Tales of the Fallen #2
Transformers: Animated Series Vol. 11

Tales of the Milne

Maybe I'm a glutton for punishment/feedback (as evidenced by the Transformers thread below's 55+ replies) or maybe it's because I DO actually listen to the fans, but I recently had someone request seeing Alex Milne's covers for the TALES OF THE FALLEN miniseries. Minus Arcee, which I don't have here at home during this Labor Day holiday, here you go:

Park Eyes

The variant 4th issue cover for the Ray Park co-written G.I. JOE: SNAKE EYES miniseries, by David Williams and Kelsey Shannon:

Transformers: The Ongoing Mission

We launch the Mike Costa/Don Figueroa TRANSFORMERS ongoing series in November, so let's spend a little time on those covers here. First up, the covers to issue 1, which've already been seen here and there (colors by James Brown):



And then we have issue 2's covers, being seen here for the first time (first one by Don and James, Bumblebee variant cover by Andrew Wildman, who'll be doing variant covers for each issue of the first storyline):

You know how I know you're Gaydos?

When we launch issue 1 of JENNIFER LOVE HEWITT'S MUSIC BOX in November, it's going to bring with it a strong comic book pedigree. Scott Lobdell is scripting the series, with each issue's standalone storyline being developed by JLH and Lobdell. And issue 1 features art by Michael Gaydos (Marvel's Alias and New Avengers series). Gaydos will be coloring the material himself, too, giving each page a sort of watercolor wash feel, as seen here.

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.