What I'm Working On

It may seem like my productivity has been down, but that couldn't be further from the truth. While nothing has hit the stands since the Unthinkable trade (available in comic shops now), I have been and continue to be writing for both comics and other mediums.

I've got three creator owned comics projects that I'm really excited about, but can't announce yet. A big reason for this is that they are all with artists I've worked with before. It's a huge compliment to me whenever artists of this caliber want to work with me again. More importantly, these are artists that certainly don't need to be doing creator owned work, and it says a lot about their passion for the projects that they are willing to slum with me.

Two are in pitch form, and one is definite, but there is art for all three.

The first is a project with Unthinkable's Julian Totino Tedesco. That's definitely coming out, hopefully in time for San Diego. I can't say what it is, but I can say that it's very different from Unthinkable in tone (I'd say it's closer to Grounded). While it still has the same detail and dynamism that Julian's past work has, it's a real testament to his versatility.

Don't believe me? Check out the image above. That's a double page spread.

I can't announce the publisher yet, because, well, it's a new publisher that hasn't even announced its existence yet. But they've got really great creators, editors and executives on board, and I'm proud that our book will be one of the debut books.

I'm afraid to jinx the other two projects by getting into specifics, despite the strong interest we've been getting from publishers. But I will say the artists are Paul Azaceta (Grounded, the covers to Unthinkable) and Salgood Sam (maybe best known for Sea of Red with Rick Remender, who drew and lettered our contribution to the Comic Book Tattoo anthology).

Paul and I have been trying to work together since Grounded, which as scary as it sounds, first came out almost five years ago. Grounded was a breakthrough book for Paul, and he's now one of the regular artists on Amazing Spider-Man. With that project, it's a question of not only finding the right publisher, but finding a gap in Paul's incredibly busy schedule. But trust me when I say that his sketches alone are worth the wait.

There's actually 8 pages of Salgood's art in the can. As with our Comic Book Tattoo story, he did everything himself - not just the pencils and inks, but colors and hand-lettering. Salgood is one of the most collaborative artists I've ever worked with, with significant story input as well. For a hint as to what he's doing check out his Dream Life webcomic/blog here.

The genres are pretty diverse from military/horror to time travel to historical fiction. We're looking at one as a possible web comic, which is a medium I've been dying to work in again since my experience with the Heroes graphic novel.

I've got other creator owned comic pitches in the works, but those are the farthest along.

I also wrote a story for Marvel with one of their most popular characters which was a dream come true. I really hate being vague, but if and when it comes out is up to Marvel to announce (and, to be honest, a bit up in the air). I hope it does, but I had a lot of DC work that never hit the stands (two issues of Teen Titans by Sean Gordon Murphy comes to mind), and I'm hoping this is just the start of things between myself and the house of ideas.

I'm very seriously considering offers for film and interactive writing work. Again, I hate being vague, but I'm trying to walk the line of letting those who care know that I'm working, without revealing information my partners want confidential.

It may seem like my productivity has been down, but that couldn't be further from the truth. While nothing has hit the stands since the Unthinkable trade (available in comic shops now), I have been and continue to be writing for both comics and other mediums.

I've got three creator owned comics projects that I'm really excited about, but can't announce yet. A big reason for this is that they are all with artists I've worked with before. It's a huge compliment to me whenever artists of this caliber want to work with me again. More importantly, these are artists that certainly don't need to be doing creator owned work, and it says a lot about their passion for the projects that they are willing to slum with me.

Two are in pitch form, and one is definite, but there is art for all three.

The first is a project with Unthinkable's Julian Totino Tedesco. That's definitely coming out, hopefully in time for San Diego. I can't say what it is, but I can say that it's very different from Unthinkable in tone (I'd say it's closer to Grounded). While it still has the same detail and dynamism that Julian's past work has, it's a real testament to his versatility.

I can't announce the publisher yet, because, well, it's a new publisher that hasn't even announced its existence yet. But they've got really great creators, editors and executives on board, and I'm proud that our book will be one of the debut books.

I'm afraid to jinx the other two projects by getting into specifics, despite the strong interest we've been getting from publishers. But I will say the artists art Paul Azaceta (Grounded, the covers to Unthinkable) and Salgood Sam (maybe best known for Sea of Red with Rick Remender, who drew and lettered our contribution to the Comic Book Tattoo anthology).

Paul and I have been trying to work together since Grounded, which as scary as it sounds, first came out almost five years ago. Grounded was a breakthrough book for Paul, and he's now one of the regular artists on Amazing Spider-Man. With that project, it's a question of not only finding the right publisher, but finding a gap in Paul's incredibly busy schedule. But trust me when I say that his sketches alone are worth the wait.

There's actually 8 pages of Salgood's art in the can. As with our Comic Book Tattoo story, he did everything himself - not just the pencils and inks, but colors and hand-lettering. Salgood is one of the most collaborative artists I've ever worked with, with significant story input as well. For a hint as to what he's doing check out his Dream Life webcomic/blog here.

The genres are pretty diverse from military/horror to time travel to historical fiction. We're looking at one as a possible web comic, which is a medium I've been dying to work in again since my experience with the Heroes graphic novel.

I've got other creator owned comic pitches in the works, but those are the farthest along.

I also wrote a story for Marvel with one of their most popular characters which was a dream come true. I really hate being vague, but if and when it comes out is up to Marvel to announce (and, to be honest, a bit up in the air). I hope it does, but I had a lot of DC work that never hit the stands (two issues of Teen Titans by Sean Gordon Murphy comes to mind), and I'm hoping this is just the start of things between myself and the house of ideas.

I'm very seriously considering offers for film and interactive writing work. Again, I hate being vague, but I'm trying to walk the line of letting those who care know that I'm working, without revealing information my partners want confidential.

More details (and art!) coming soon.

Some changes before the big announcement

Hey everyone. If you've been wondering why I haven't been posting with much frequency it's because I've been spending a considerable amount of time on the project that will be officially announced on Wednesday. Not just the comic series, but the ARG (alternate reality game)/contest I've been creating to promote it. Or, to put in another way, you know you are in deep when you are spending more time creating blogs etc. for your ficitional characters than for yourself.

In the meantime, I thought I might point out some changes to the blog.

First, I've updated the links and pictures to my published works. You'll notice that both Teen Titans: Spotlight and Batman: Two-Face/Scarecrow: Year One are collected editions of both those mini-series that will be out in March and May respectively. You can order them on Amazon, although I'd prefer if you purchased them at your local comic shop. On a selfish level, it means my sales numbers will be higher. With the economy the way it is, I'd also rather you help a small business than a large one. Plus, you'll get the books a week or more earlier that way.

I've also started to link to SOME of my friends' and collaborators' blogs. If you are one or the other and would like a link, e-mail me or comment on this thread. This is by no means an exhaustive list, it's just a start.

At some point, I'd like to do longer pieces on or with people I worked with - interviews, guest blog posts - whatever they'd like.

In the meantime, I thought I'd introduce you briefly to the first batch:

Paul Azaceta is the artist and co-creator of Grounded, and has since gone on to do work such as Daredevil, Foolkiller and the upcoming Punisher Noir for Marvel, as well as Hellboy BRPD: 1946 for Dark Horse and Potter's Field for Boom! He's doing the covers for my new project and I couldn't be happier to have him aboard.

Jason Badower was the artist on my first Heroes webcomic, "Blackout", featuring Suresh. It's not only in Volume 2 of the Heroes Hardcover, it was reprinted as a 2008 San Diego Comic-Con exclusive (of which I only have one copy). He's got a fantastic, photorealistic, painterly style that he does entirely on the computer.

My friend Jen Grunwald, otherwise known as the "hottest girl in comics", is a Special Editions editor at Marvel Comics. She's very cool, even when she drops names of all the famous comic book creators she knows.

Valerie D'Orazio, aka "Occasional Superheroine", is the writer of one of my favorite comic blogs. It's often labeled as a feminist blog, which to some extent it is (she is the President of The Friends of Lulu, the premiere women's organization in comics), but that label is kind of reductive. She covers anything worth covering in comics, is incredibly prescient as far as where the industry is going and is a hell of a writer.

Salgood Sam is the artist who illustrated/co-created my contribution to Tori Amos' Comic Book Tattoo collection, "Upside Down", a graphic adaptation of the song of the same name. He does a great deal of really inspired creator owned work as well.

Finally (for today), if you don't know who Mark Waid is, you probably haven't read comics in the past twenty years. Generally, skipping the last 20 years of comics might not be the worst thing in the world, but during some of the dark times in the 90s Mark helped re-invent heroic fiction, whether it was his legendary Flash Run, the groundbreak Kingdom Come, or...the list is long, but chances are if you haven't read anything by him, you've read something that wouldn't exist without him. He's now the editor-in-chief at BOOM! Studios, the publisher of my next work. He's the best editor I've worked with bar none, and he's also served as a mentor to me.

I've had the privilege of working with other great artist, writers, creators etc. who I hope to introduce you to soon. Chances are if you like my work, you'll probably like the worked of those who I linked to.

Comic Book Tattoo

It's official - a week after the release of Two-Face: Year One (July 16th), and the same week as Cyborg #3 (July 23rd), Comic Book Tattoo, an anthology dedicated to the songs of Tori Amos that will be released. It features a story by myself and artist Salgood Sam (Sea of Red, Therefore Repent) based on a song which I am not allowed to name yet.

If you don't know who Tori Amos is, she's not only an incredible singer/songwriter, but a comics afficianado who was Neil Gaimain's inspiration for Delerium in his Sandman books.

This is my third anthology story, my others being my Midget Western "They Shoot Ponies, Don't They", drawn by Rob Guillory in Popgun Volume 1 and my paen to New York, LA and Grand Theft Auto entitled Coast2Coast, drawn by The Amazing Joy Buzzards Dann Hipp in the Eisner Award nominated 24/7 Volume Two (if you are a pro or retailer, you can still vote for it.)

Newsarama has a good story on it here - http://forum.newsarama.com/showthread.php?t=156091, featuring the full track list of creators. Like my other anthology work, I'm surrounded by yet another stellar cast of writers and arstists, for which I have to thank editor/mastermind Rantz Hoseley for including me. This book is something special though, a 12” x 12” 480-page anthology.