Rift Raiders, Kickstart and San Diego Comic-Con

I'm proud to finally be able to announce RIFT RAIDERS, my newest graphic novel with UNTHINKABLE artist Julian Totino Tedesco.

Described as GOONIES meets TIME BANDITS, Rift Raiders is the story of three orphaned teens who learn they're not orphans at all. Their parents have been hidden throughout time. A strange man offers to help them save his parents if they travel through to time retrieve mystical artifacts for him. But what is his REAL agenda?

In terms of tone, it's pretty close to GROUNDED. Meaning a smart, funny action adventure story accessible to a younger age group but equally as rewarding for older readers.

As great as Julian was on Unthinkable, he's even better on Grounded. It's a less crowded book, and I tried to step out of the way to let his artwork shine. His art is the real star of the book.

The book is 100% complete, and will be shipping as an 88 page OGN in October around the time of New York Comic-Con.

RIFT RAIDERS will be published by Kickstart Comics, a new publisher I'm pretty excited about because, among other things, they'll be distributing books beyond the direct market. In other words, not only will they be in comic book specialty stores, they will also be everywhere form Walmart to Best Buy with exclusive shelf-space. In another post I'll talk about why I think that's good for the comics industry, but I'm about to leave for San Diego Comic-Con.

Speaking of which, I will be in San Diego for Comic-Con. I don't have a table, and I won't be doing any signings or panels. I'll mostly be taking meetings and walking around. I'm still happy to sign things, do interviews, podcasts etc. The best way to reach me is probably Twitter (@marksable - easy).

Again, sorry for the brevity, but prepping for the con is always fraught with panic. I promise I'll be back to speak about RIFT RAIDERS and more soon.

Part 2 of my Comics on Comics interview, Heroes, and graphic novels galore

My apologies for not posting for a while. I've been busy trying to finish up a lot of new projects before the holidays. Maybe when things have calmed down I can talk about some of the exciting things I've got lined up for next year.

In the meantime, for your viewing (or listening) pleasure, the second part of my appearance on Comics on Comics is up. You can watch it here or download a medium or high quality video at itunes, if you're inclined to watch it on your ipod or iphone. Speaking of the iphone, I hope to have AT LEAST one cool announcement about that when the New Year comes along.

If reading is your thing - and I imagine it is or you wouldn't be reading my books, let alone this blog - the Heroes Graphic Novel, Volume 2 (cover pictured above) is now available in stores. The hardcover contains my first two-part story, featuring Mohinder Suresh (before he turned into the fly). It's got fantastic art by Jason Badower. And that's just my story - if you're a Heroes fan it should be a real treat.

And while we are on the subject of graphic novels, it looks to be good news for those of you who may have missed some of my single issue comics over the past year (or for those of you who'd like to re-read them). As I was looking through Amazon to find the details about the Heroes Hardcover release, I was surprised at that just about all my storied from the last year will be collected in trades by DC.

According to the site, CYBORG will be out early next year, followed by TWO-FACE: YEAR ONE, which will be packaged along with SCARECROW: YEAR ONE. I'd strongly recommend you pick up the latter, and not just because I think Two-Face is the best thing I've done in years.

Scarecrow: Year One was drawn by the super-talented Sean Murphy. We collaborated for two as-yet-unpublished (but fully written and drawn) Teen Titans issues last year. It was my first paid work for DC, and as much as I've grown as a writer, I'd still like to see it published because I think Sean's work was amazing.

Plus, it's a nifty little story that ties Brad Meltzer's Identity Crisis to the dark future of Geoff Johns Titans Tomorrow story. And it features the younger titans first ever battle against the Rogues of Flash fame. I'm not just talking about Captain Cold and Mirror Master. It's virtually the scarlet speedster's ENTIRE Rogues gallery, and Sean did some amazing work on the massive fight scenes (one of which is hanging up on my apartment wall). I think Titans fans would dig it.

That's all for now. Rest assured that you're going to see more DC and creator-owned work from me next year, and hopefully much, much more.

Prepare To Be Hazed!

Two years ago you were GROUNDED. Now…prepare to be HAZED!

On Wednesday, March 5, the comic world changes forever. On that day, HAZED, my masterwork, will be unleashed upon a largely unsuspecting public. Expect rioting to ensue.

A satiric graphic novel about sororities and eating disorders illustrated by Robbi Rodriguez, some have compared it to the films “Heathers” and “Mean Girls”. I find these comparisons to be shamefully inadequate. My work is incomparable.

Just where did this work of genius come from, you might ask? As many of you know, I attended Duke University as an undergraduate. Duke is known the home of the greatest college basketball program of all time, as well as the most infamous lacrosse team. It is also known as the “Harvard of the South”, on par with or better than many Ivy League schools.

But from the minute I set foot on campus, I found myself asking the following question: how is it that the some of the smartest women in the country, who have so much going for them besides their looks, decide to revolve their entire identity around their sexual desirability the second a frat boy asked looked their way?

HAZED is my politically incorrect answer to that question, in comic book form. I know I’m going to take a lot of hits on this, a male writer not just writing about issues like date rape and eating, but writing about them in an over-the-top comedy. But, as one reviewer put it, I’m not making fun of these issues; I’m making fun of the “people and societal pressures behind them.” That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

Keep that in mind when you’re reading about girls circling each other’s fat, or purging so often that their dorm drains are clogged with vomit. Also keep this in mind: when I set out to write this book years ago, I used a lot of artistic license. I took the worst urban legends about sorority life and exaggerated them further. And yet sadly, often my imagination was matched, if not exceeded, by stories told to me by sorority sisters. Nothing hurts so much as the truth.

All hyperbole aside, this is a boundary pushing book. At the same time, I’d like to think it’s also hysterically funny, not least of which because of Robbi’s art. I think his cartoonish characters help soften the darkness of my writing, while at the same time he pushed the comedy to the very edge of good taste (Robbi’s favorite three words: abortion sight gag). This is “Animal House” with girls. How could that NOT be fun?

I hope you all will pick up the book this week. Whether you are repulsed, convulsing on the floor with laughter, or both, I’d love to hear what you think (there’s a comment’s section here, as well as a Mark Sable message board). I’m ready for anything. I hope you are.