Comic Book Resources

Paul Pope, Dustin Harbin do Dune

Dune art by Paul Pope

Cartoonist and Heroes Con creative director Dustin Harbin is obviously a comics guy. But even for sequential-art partisans, every once in a while the literary spice must flow. Thus Harbin has created the Dune book club, a weekly discussion of the original science-fiction classic by author Frank Herbert, hosted on Harbin's blog. In addition to thought-provoking posts and comment-thread chats about the book, which Harbin calls "probably my favorite novel ever," the book club is also something of an art club, with Harbin, Paul Pope, Patrick Keck, Peter Lazarski, Pen Ward, Thomas "Smo" Smolenski, and Evan Dahm all providing luscious comics and stand-alone illustrations based on the book. (Pope, another big-time Dune devotee, had already drawn a scene from the book in the style of a Wednesday Comics page.) Personally, I'm waiting for someone to take a crack at a sandworm.

Talking Comics with Tim: Kevin J. Anderson

Enemies & Allies

Kevin J. Anderson's latest novel, Enemies & Allies, will be released tomorrow by William Morrow/HarperCollins. The prose novel is set in the 1950s and tells of the first meeting between Batman and Superman. As detailed by the publisher: "As America and the Soviet Union race to build their nuclear stockpiles, two extraordinary heroes must form an uneasy alliance. These studies in opposites—shadow and light—must overcome their distrust of each other to battle evil and injustice." The publisher's website offers consumers a chance to watch a brief video interview with Anderson, as well as a chance to browse inside the book.  As detailed by the publisher: "Kevin J. Anderson is the author of the internationally bestselling and award-winning Dune prequels (coauthored with Brian Herbert), and has carved an indisputable niche with science fiction epics, including his own successful Saga of Seven Suns series and The Last Days of Krypton." In addition to discussing this new novel in this email interview, I also found out about his upcoming epic nautical fantasy series (part novel/part musical CD), Terra Incognita. My thanks to Anderson for his time.

Tim O'Shea: How much did you try to draw from the real world politics of the 1950s in writing Enemies and Allies?

Kevin J. Anderson: I wanted to capture a vivid setting for the novel, to make the backdrop of the 1950s an integral part to the story. I did add certain real-word political events into the story, but I was more concerned with setting the stage than giving a history lesson. After all, we didn’t really have a Superman and a Batman in our version of the world, so the newspaper headlines would have to be different.

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