Emerald City Comic-Con

GRAVEYARD OF EMPIRES (and GROUNDED, and AMAZING SPIDER-MAN) artist Paul Azaceta and I will be at Emerald City Comic Con in Seattle THIS WEEKEND, March 4-6 2011, at Table G-25.

We’ll be showing off art from Graveyard, Paul will be sketching, and I should have copies of all my books for sale. That includes RIFT RAIDERS, my Kickstart book with Julian Totino Tedesco (pictured above). Rift Raiders sold out from Diamond, and while it will be re-solicited, if you are there this may be your only chance to to get a copy until June.

If there’s anything you’d like me to bring in particular (some single issue of GROUNDED or FEARLESS, for example), let me know. But as much as I like to sell stuff, the reason ECCC is one of my favorite cons is the fan interaction. It’s more comic-centric than most cons, and while well attended it’s still intimate enough to actually converse. I’m always happy to chat comics, please come by and say hello.

I should also mention there will be a number of my collaborators there besides Paul, including Sean Murphy (Teen Titans: Cold Case, Joe the Barbarian), Jeremy Haun (Two-Face: Year One) and Matthew Southworth (What If? Spider-Man, Stumptown). Matthew did fill-in work on Spidey which I've never gotten to thank him for.

All will be happy to sign. Too many friends to name, and overall one of the strongest talent lineups I’ve seen.

I'll be reachable and try to update my goings on via Twitter.

(Sorry - this is pretty much the same post I put up on Tumblr, but I'm not fully packed and I'm leaving for the airport soon).

GRAVEYARD OF EMPIRES

I'm pleased to officially announce my next creator-owned book, GRAVEYARD OF EMPIRES, the first issue of which is coming this June from Image Comics. It's illustrated and co-created by Paul Azaceta, artist of my first book, GROUNDED, as well as my most recent, WHAT IF? SPIDER-MAN.

I think it's both of our best work, and in many ways it feels like my career is coming full circle. Five years after GROUNDED, with a lot more work under our belt, we bring a lot more to the table. This is also a collaboration in the true sense of the word. Paul has had significant input into the story, and I'm hitting him hard with reference and trying to push the boundaries of what either of us has done on the page. Definitely a case where the whole will be better than the sum of the parts.

Here's the solicit:

Afghanistan. Marines face a never-ending onslaught of Taliban. But even hell can get worse. The dead are coming back to life in The Graveyard of Empires, and only together can both sides of today’s conflict survive tomorrow’s undead assault.

It's full color, with 32 full pages of story at the incredibly low price of $2.99. DC and Marvel titles at $2.99 will only give you 20 pages of story these days.

We're looking at "Criminal" model for this book. Basically, to publish it in volumes or seasons. This volume will be 3 issues, and offer a complete story (which will be the equivalent of at least 4 22 page issues), with a beginning, middle and end. If there's demand for it, we have plans for sequels.

This is not just another zombie book. Yes, if you like zombies, you'll get them, and you'll see them used in unique ways. But this is first and foremost a war comic. Paul and I did an incredible amount of research, and I think you'd be hard pressed to find a comic that depicts the reality of war in Afghanistan.

(It's crazy to me that at a time when we are fighting two wars there are little or no war comics -"Garth Ennis' Battlefields, set in WWII, is a notable exception - let alone contemporary ones.)

The pitch for this was "Hurt Locker" meets "Dawn of the Dead". The first issue is certainly closer to the former than the latter. And, like Dawn of the Dead, while it is a genre piece, the zombies serve as a metaphor for something called "insurgent math".

Kill an insurgent, and you are likely to create 10 more - you've pissed of his family and friends, and possibly caused collateral damage to civilians he may be hiding among.

Kill someone in an area where the dead are returning alive, and they'll come back as a zombie, biting and infecting you and your friends, creating more zombies and perpetuating a different kind of endless war.

As seriously as we took the research, this should still be a fun, action-packed book.

I will have more to say and post about this soon, both here and on my new Tumblr blog. Paul and I will also be at Emerald City Comic Con this weekend at table G-25, March 4-6, 2011, where we'll have art to show you and be happy to chat about this.

Long Beach Comic Con and Upcoming Project News

As I write this, I'm preparing for two special events at Long Beach Comic-Con, which I'll be attending today, Saturday October 3oth. I'm conducting a workshop called "Writing for Comics, TV and Film" from 12-12:45pm - in Seaside Room 301 and the signing is 2:30-4pm at a location TBD (I'll update as soon as I know).

The bad news is that I won't be signing Rift Raiders. It was supposed to be out already, and I was supposed to be signing copies for the first time today. Evidently, there is some kind of problem with the printer. It's a shame because Rift Raiders has been done since before San Diego. Julian is an extremely fast artist and any delay should be no reflection on him (nor on Kickstart, for that matter).

Like I said, though, I'll be happy to sign anything else. But I'm mostly excited about the workshop I'm having.

Aside from writing, my other "job" is teaching screenwriting for The Writers Boot Camp. It's an acclaimed writing program based out of Santa Monica and New York, and I teach writers from literally all over the world online. I've had a great track record, with my writers winning contests, fellowships and getting hired to adapt bestselling novels for the screen.

The workshop at LBCC will be my way of passing on some of my teaching experience as well as my years of experience writing professionally. It's a short class, but I plan to really delve into substantive storytelling material, along with the usual "how to break in" stuff. I will try and drop as many behind the scenes stories into the mix as possible, the common theme of which I imagine will be "do as I say, not as I do".

As for where I am with my writing now, I'm doing quite a bit more than awaiting the release of Rift Raiders. December will see the release of What If? Spider-Man from Marvel, and Teen Titans: Cold Case from DC. Paul Azaceta is drawing Spidey, and the pages so far look PHENOMENAL. If you've been loving what he's been doing with Mark Waid on The Amazing Spider-Man as I have, you ain't seen nothing yet.

Even better news is that as soon as Paul is finished with What If?, he'll be ready to start our creator owned project, GRAVEYARD OF EMPIRES. If I say Zombies vs. Marines vs. Taliban, will that whet your appetite. I promise, it's like no zombie book you've ever read, and hopefully one of the stronger war books that you will. GRAVEYARD finally has a publisher, which I hope to announce soon.

I'm also working on my second book for Kickstart. It's called DECOY, and it's a mix of sci-fi and espionage. If you dug UNTHINKABLE or Nick Fury, Agent of SHIELD, it should be right up your alley. Hopefully there will be an artist announcement soon. The names in consideration have me excited already.

Finally, a webcomics I've been working on for years, DRACULA: SON OF THE DRAGON, will be drawn by my Tori Amos Comic Book Tattoo collaborator Salgood Sam and should see the light of day soon.

I'll have art to show from RIFT RAIDERS, GRAVEYARD and DRACULA for anyone who shows up at Long Beach today.