Cyborg #4 in stores now.

Issue 4 of D.C. Special: Cyborg, has been available since Wednesday. As you can see from the cover, supervillains kick the Teen Titan's ass while Cyborg does nothing but weep for them. Actually, while the supervillains (Wildebeest and Equus) take on the Titans and Teen Titans, Vic learns he's not the only cyborg in town, and goes in search of wounded soldiers forced to use his stolen technology.

After this, there's two more issues of Cyborg coming out in September and October. Also in September, the second issue of Two-Face: Year One arrives in stores. It's been a pretty busy year so far - I don't think there's been a single month yet where I haven't had a graphic novel, comic or webcomic published.

I'm now working on my next round of creator owned projects, as well as pitching to the big two, and hope to have some announcements here soon.

Cthulhu Calling

Out in stores now is Cthulhu Tales #4, which contains th 11 page story "There Will Be Blood". You can see the two cover variations above.

For those of you wondering who, or what "Cthulhu" pronounced ka-THOO-loo, he's an enormous, evil, tenacled god created by H.P. Lovecraft. Lovecraft is one of the most important horror writers of the 20th century, crafting an entire mythos around Cthulhu and The Necronomicon, a mystical tome that drove men mad. His stories were both vivid and extremely bleak.

Cthulhu tales is BOOM!'s anthology series giving modern writers a chance to offer their own takes on Lovecraftian horror. My story is set in present day Iraq, and is one of the more politically charged stories I've ever written. But don't worry. It's full of madness, tentacles and people dying in awful, awful ways. (Actually, that doesn't sound too far off from Iraq today...minus the tentacles).

This is my first work for BOOM! Studios (but definitely not my last). They published one of my favorite espionage books, Chip Mosher's Left on Mission, and two of GROUNDED artist Paul Azaceta's books, Talent and Potter's Field. The latter was written by Mark Waid, their new editor-in-chief.

Waid, who is probably best known for "Kingdom Come" with Alex Ross and his run on "The Flash" (although my favorite Waid work is Empire and Fantastic Four), is a living legend, and the main reason I'm working with BOOM! Not only is he one of the most accomplished writers in comics, he's also the best editor I've ever worked with. His notes on just this short story alone were like a master class in comics writing. And to top it all off, he's a hell of a guy. It's truly an honor to have my name on a book with his (he wrote the other story in this issue).

It was also a great pleasure to work with artist Sergio Carrera, who illustrated "There Will Be Blood". His style is simple but evocative, and I have no doubt you're going to be seeing a lot of work from this rising star very soon.

Still not recovered from Comic-Con yet, but nevertheless, I'm headed to Golden Apple Comics in Los Angeles tonight, Friday August 1st at 6PM to sign copies of Tori Amos' Comic Book Tattoo anthology (along with Cyborg, Two-Face and anything else if people ask). I got to meet Tori at Comic-Con, and she was extremely gracious. She talked about how much the song "Upside Down", which I adapted with Salgood Sam, meant to her. Of our story, she said "how brave", and I think the fact she picked it to promote the book on MySpace Comics (click the link to read our story FREE, in its entirety) is testament to how happy she was with it.

From my end, it was a blast to work with Max (aka Salgood), a true collaboration in the best sense of the word. It was an honor to not only work with Tori but to be included with contributors of such talent. And most of all to work with Editor Rantz Hoseley, who killed himself to make what I think is one of the most impressive comic anthologies in the history of the medium.

Again, while you can read my story for free by clicking on the MySpace link above, I encourage you to buy it. Whether in hard or softcover...this book is something to be seen. 12x12 (LP size) and I don't know how many inches thick, this book is a tome, and you're not likely to see art presented this way for such a reasonable price.