In my circle, my disdain for broccoli is pretty well known. I call them “tiny trees” and I don’t like their smell, their taste, or their texture – but I have eaten them. That’s how I know I don’t like them.
Recently, Dark Horse Comics finally announced the new Star Wars project that Jan Duursema and I are working on. Jan and I have worked on two other series together – Star Wars Republic and Star Wars Legacy – to the praise of a lot of Star Wars fans. This is in addition to my already announced Star Wars spy series, Agent Of The Empire. (plug plug plug plug)
The new series is Dawn Of The Jedi and it goes back and tells the origins of the Jedi Order which, we hope, will have some interest even to the fans who have only watched the movies. We’re doing our best to make it accessible even to those who are not conversant with the large Star Wars story known as the EU (Extended Universe). However, even with all that effort, I know some readers won’t even try it because it’s Star Wars.
This February, writer Brian Wood and artist Becky Cloonan bring Conan The Barbarian back to comic chops as they adapt Robert E. Howard’s fan-favorite “Queen of the Black Coast.”
Conan has turned his back on the civilized world and takes to the high seas alongside the pirate queen Bêlit, setting the stage for an epic of romance, terror, and swashbuckling. This is Conan as you’ve never seen him, with the combination of one of Robert E. Howard’s greatest tales and the most dynamic creative team in comics.
Conan The Barbarian: “Queen of the Black Coast” Brian Wood (Writer)
Becky Cloonan (Art/Variant cover) Dave Stewart (Color) Massimo Carnevale (Cover) Full Color 32 pages $3.50 On sale February 8
Conan the Barbarian was such a major figure in the heyday of the pulp magazines, that he made an indelible impression on readers. When Lancer Books took over the mass market paperback publishing for the Cimmerian in the 1960s, the Frank Frazetta cover images were so powerful, you had to notice. Since then, different generations have their own impression of how Robert E. Howard’s character and world should look. After Frazetta came Barry Smith and John Buscema and after them came Arnold Schwarzenegger and then…not much. The syndicated Conan featuring Ralf Möller barely made a ripple and as the rights went from owner to owner, he faded a bit from memory. Even the wonderful Dark Horse Comics adaptations have not quite made the stir the original comics did nor have the paperback originals from Tor and others had that same spark.
As a result, there was a lot riding on Lionsgate’s revival of the character and, sad to say, they failed at their task. Conan the Barbarian, which came out in August, was poorly marketed and came up short in the writing, production design, acting and directing, resulting in a worldwide box office of anemic proportions. Now, the movie is coming out this week as a Blu-ray combo pack and we get a chance to consider what went wrong.
New Pulp Author Mark Ellis has shared Pablo Marcos’ stunning cover to the upcoming King Solomon’s Mines graphic novel that is scheduled to be in stores next year from Sequential Pulp/Dark Horse. Says Ellis of the book, “If you think you know everything about this story and Allan Quatermain–well, I’m fairly confident you’ll be pleasantly surprised.”
Sequential Pulp Comics has released promo art for their 2012 release, CURSE OF THE WEREWOLF OF PARIS by Steven Gordon. The graphic novel is scripted by Mark Ellis and will be available in 2012 from Dark Horse Comics’ Sequential Pulp Comics imprint.
New Pulp Author Martin Powell shared a new preview page by artist Lowell Isaac from their upcoming graphic novel, MARTIANS, GO HOME, based on the sci-fi classic by Fredric Brown. The invasion begins in 2012 from Sequential Pulp/Dark Horse Comics.
There are few songwriters – few writers – I respect more than Pete Townshend. Were this a music column I’d go into detail why I hold this belief, but today in this venue he’s a means to an end.
Last week, Pete (okay, we’re not on a first name basis; the only time we were within 10 feet was when he bashed my boss in the back of his head with his guitar) accused Apple’s iTunes online retail store of being a “digital vampire.” His analysis was fraught with mistakes and revealed a genuine lack of knowledge of the situation. He was defending a system that treated him and his band, The Who, very, very well – a system that no longer exists as a creative outlet for newcomers going back at least a full generation. He also mistook iTunes for a label and not what it actually is: a retail outlet. A very successful one, but then again Pete’s net worth is in the neighborhood of $75,000,000 – a true one-percenter – so success isn’t the issue here.
What does this have to do with the wonderful world of comics? Hang on. I’ll get there.
Pete also said “It would be better if music lovers treated music like food, and paid for every helping, rather than only when it suited them … Why can’t music lovers just pay for music rather than steal it?” That’s the heart of my diatribe today: people who sort of steal artists’ works instead of paying for it.
Bootlegging is a serious issue, but more a moral one than financial. Sure, Disney and Warners will bitch about all the milions they’re losing but that’s because they see every bootlegged item as a lost sale. Few are.
When it comes to comics, sometimes it’s a matter of convenience. Some people boot stuff they’ve already purchased because they prefer reading on a tablet. After all, we’re in our third generation of comics fans who go bugfuck whenever somebody folds the cover back in order to read the damn thing. Still others are sampling new wares: with literally over 300 new comics released each month and maybe a third of them brand-new titles or “reboots” (a word with unintended irony) a reader can’t afford to sample even a fraction of the new stuff.
And then there are the idiots. Stupid people who live the life of Wile E. Coyote until they finally look down.
Our buddy Rich Johnston at Bleeding Cool reports of a guy named Stephen Chandler out in Glasgow, Scotland who is offering every comic book published each month by the “major” publishers (DC, Marvel, IDW, Image, Dark Horse, Dynamite, and perhaps others) in electronic form for the low price of about $27.00 a month – 20 Euros, so the price fluctuates.
His is a for-profit operation. No matter what you think of readers downloading comics illegally, this guy is taking money out of publishers’ pockets. Most publishers can’t afford that; even the big guys are responsible for delivering an acceptable bottom line to their masters.
Steve, pal… look. Maybe your heart is in the right place. Most comics readers pay more than $27 a month for a fraction of the content you’re delivering on disc. And you’re entitled to a reasonable profit for your work. But that’s only in the sense that Al Capone was entitled to a reasonable profit for his work.
Eventually, Wile E. Coyote looked down. So will you, Steve. You work and perhaps live near the All-Saints Secondary School. You might dine at the Delhi Darber. Maybe you drink at the Aushinairn Tavern and shop at Asda Robroyston. Or perhaps you go to the Food Cooperative off of Wallacewell Road.
GIDEON CAIN: DEMON HUNTER Now Smites Evil—via Kindle!
Puritan Swordsman’s Adventures Debut on Amazon’s Popular e-Reader
Smithton, IL (October 27, 2011)White Rocket Books proudly announces the release in Kindle format of
Gideon Cain: Demon Hunter, the multi-award-nominated Sword-and-Sorcery anthology co-created by Van Allen Plexico (SENTINELS; LUCIAN) and Kurt Busiek (Dark Horse’s CONAN; ASTRO CITY), among other New Pulp luminaries.
The book contains seven stories that see the dour Puritan battling evil both demonic and all-too-human, on land and sea, in deserts and forests and frozen wastes.
Having witnessed the travesty of the Salem Witch Trials first hand, Cain leaves his home and family behind to fulfill his divinely-decreed destiny.Now, armed only with his flintlock pistols, imposing mortuary sword engraved with angelic runes, and his unshakeable faith in his holy cause, Cain relentlessly pursues the arch-demon Azazel, corruptor of Mankind, across the globe.Along the way, he clashes with pirates, savages, monsters and madmen.
“New Pulp” all-star scribes Scott Harris, K. G. McAbee, James Palmer, Ian Watson, David Wright, and Brian Zavitz join writer/editor/co-creator Van Allen Plexico in delivering seven savage tales of holy vengeance.
Says Plexico of this new electronic edition: “I was extremely proud to bring GIDEON CAIN to the world as part of another publisher’s paperback line.Now I’m equally excited to see the grim Puritan hacking-and-slashing his way onto Kindles, by way of White Rocket Books!Having the involvement from day one on this project of the guy who wrote one of the greatest CONAN runs ever—Kurt Busiek—should guarantee readers of what kind of Sword-and-Sorcery adventure they have in store here.”
Originally published in trade paperback in 2010 by Airship 27, GIDEON CAIN: DEMON HUNTER was nominated for three Pulp Factory Awards (two for Best Story; one for best artwork).Additionally, Plexico and Watson were nominated for Best Pulp Writer by PulpArk.The new Kindle edition presents all seven stories in their entirety, along with the Introduction by Busiek, at the low price of only $2.99.
White Rocket Books is a leader in the New Pulp movement, publishing exciting action and adventure novels and anthologies since 2005, in both traditional and electronic formats.White Rocket books have hit the Amazon.com Top 15-by-Genre and have garnered praise from everyone from Marvel Comics Editor Tom Brevoort to Kirkus Reviews.
On sale as of October 27, 2011, GIDEON CAIN: DEMON HUNTER is a $2.99 e-book from White Rocket Books.
Author Martin Powell recently announced that he is writing a graphic novel of TARZAN AT THE EARTH’S CORE that will be illustrated by Tim Burgard, for Sequential Pulp/Dark Horse Comics.
The Tarzan At The Earrth’s Core graphic novel is officially licensed and authorized by the estate of Edgar Rice Burroughs, and will be published as a special edition in celebration of the ape-man’s 100th Anniversary in 2012. “Tarzan has always been at the top of my list for characters to write,” Powell said on his blog. “And this is possibly the biggest project of my twenty-five year career. I honestly never thought I’d get this chance. Very special thanks to ERB, Inc. and Michael Hudson for making this possible.”
In my circle, my disdain for broccoli is pretty well known. I call them “tiny trees” and I don’t like their smell, their taste, or their texture – but I have eaten them. That’s how I know I don’t like them.
