Strangeways: The Thirsty

Matt Maxwell announced yesterday that his second Strangeways graphic novel, The Thirsty will be in the upcoming Previews catalog under the order code item FEB121066. For those not familiar with it, Strangeways is a series of horror-Western graphic novels written by Maxwell and drawn by Argentinian artists Gervasio and Jok. The first Strangeways novel, Murder Moon plunked former Union officer Seth Collins into the Weird West to confront a werewolf; The Thirsty brings him to a new town infested with vampires.

Maxwell has serialized The Thirsty here on Robot 6 and is currently doing so again on his own site (where you can also read Murder Moon in its entirety), but this will be the first time it’s available in print.

Around here, we’re big fans of Strangeways, Matt Maxwell’s series of horror-Western graphic novels. Maxwelll’s practically family, having serialized his second book The Thirsty on Robot 6, so it’s exciting that he’s now announced the third volume. Whereas Murder Moon was a werewolf tale and The Thirsty featured vampires, The Land Will Know is all about the ghosts. Maxwell calls it “the campfire ghost story reinvented” and describes it as sort of an EC-inspired anthology, but with a bridge story that ties the individual tales together into a single piece.

He’s started announcing artists for the various stories, but more details will be coming later. Gervasio and Jok (who’ve both worked on Strangeways before) will be drawing the bridge story as well as one of the other tales. Benjamin Dewey (Dark Horse Presents), Tom Neely (The Blot, The Wolf), and Tom Fowler (Venom) will each be doing stories as well. Check out Maxwell’s website for more details, samples of the artists’ work, and future updates.

My thanks to Gervasio and Jok for their artwork on this series.

Yeah, wrap-up will be coming later. Thanks for reading along, folks.

Art by Gervasio and Jok. Written by Matt Maxwell.

Art by Gervasio and Jok. Written by Matt Maxwell.

Still gonna be at Wonder-Con. Still gonna be in the small press area. And I’ll bet you a dollar that nobody will ask for a five minute story, even though I don’t usually charge for them. Betcha.

Art by Gervasio and Jok. Written by Matt Maxwell.

And as a reminder, I’ll be at this weekend’s Wonder-Con in San Francisco, over in the small press area. Probably going to be at the thing at the Isotope on Saturday. And eating at Henry’s Hunan sometime. Mmmm…Hunan ham…

Art by Gervasio and Jok. Written by Matt Maxwell.

Dayum.

Back next week.

Art by Gervasio and Jok. Written by Matt Maxwell

Back next week.

Art by Gervasio and Jok. Written by Matt Maxwell

Back Wednesday. Hopefully less grouchy, but wouldn’t bet on it.

Art by Gervasio and Jok. Written by Matt Maxwell.

Silent panel. Does it work? Does it not? Still feelin’ that out.

And again, as a reminder, I’ll be up at the Emerald City Comic Con in Seattle this weekend (first big show of the year for me!). I’m in the C’s of Artist’s Alley, so come on by and say hello and remind me that real people do indeed read this strip on a weekly basis, or I’m gonna end up thinking that all my commentors are just figments of my imagination.

As usual, Five Minute Stories will be available for those who ask nicely, provide three words and something to write upon. If you don’t provide those, how can I be expected to provide a story in return? Plenty of show-priced collections of MURDER MOON, as well as the ashcan version of the first chapter of THE THIRSTY. And you can even hit me up for a sketch, but it’ll probably end up coming from my extensive swipe file.

See you back here next week.

Art by Gervasio and Jok. Written by Matt Maxwell.

Joe’s dead, baby. Joe’s dead.

Just the first of many reminders, but I’ll be up at the Emerald City Comic Con this weekend, somewhere in the J tables of Artist’s Alley. Looking forward to the show, may even get a chance to see some of it, as I’ll have tablemates to help watch things if I want to stretch my legs. The guys from BRAINS, Anthony Leano and Paul Allen, will be splitting the table with me, so you can wet your horror whistle in more ways than one. Should be a good show.

Hey, anyone know a good Mediterranean/Persian restaurant in Seattle? I could do with some koubideh. Or maybe a nice shawerma.

Back on Wednesday.

Art by Gervasio and Jok. Written by Matt Maxwell.

Uh-oh. That can’t be the way they planned all that.

See you all next week.

Of course, now that I’ve said that, I’ll cut my pinky off or something…

Art by Gervasio and Jok. Written by Matt Maxwell.

Well, looks like someone has a bunch of new best friends.

Let’s see how that works out on Wednesday.

Art by Gervasio and Jok. Written by Matt Maxwell

Looks like someone wants to make a couple of real good friends. This oughta end well.

Back next week.

So no new page today, at least not by the time it’s supposed to be up. So how about a new way to look at an old page?

Here’s the page that got run last week, page 115, I think. Maybe 117. Maybe 116. I number them differently since I write them in chapters.

Art by Gervasio and Jok. Written by Matt Maxwell.

Now here’s the script for that page, so people can see how much (or how little) I actually write in terms of directions. See, I’ve gotten in discussions online where I’ve been passive-aggressively painted as a control freak who only wants to hire art robots to execute my master plan. Actually, I think there’s a whole lot of freedom in the script. What I’m interested in is making sure that emotional cues get picked up (not that there’s many on this page). Maybe some basic stage directions, but by the same token, I’ll often say “If you can find a better way to do this, then please do.”

There’s only been a couple pages where I’ve had to kick them back once, and only one time that I can think of that I’ve had to do it twice, mostly because I wasn’t giving great or complete directions.

Anyways, here’s a peek behind the curtains. 

—
PAGE 15

PANEL 1
Clouds, beginning to creep in around the sun, but it’s still clear enough to make things tough on the vampires.

PANEL 2
On the shack again.

COLLINS
Hey bloodsucker! I’ll make you a deal!

COLLINS
I got hurt bad by that blast, but I’m still alive. How about you trade me for the woman and the preacher.

PANEL 2
On De Medina, glancing upwards with increasing satisfaction.

DE MEDINA
I don’t know…

DE MEDINA
All this waiting has made for a powerful thirst on my part.

PANEL 3
Joachim has rolled into a crouch and is eyeing De Medina cautiously.

DE MEDINA
What’s to keep us from taking what we want? The sun won’t keep you safe forever.

PANEL 4
On Collins, sidled up to the door, hand cupped around his mouth to amplify his voice. Murphy and Penny behind, watching anxiously.

COLLINS
Three might be more than one. But one is more than none.

COLLINS
A drunk’ll take a real bottle of whiskey over the promise of three.

MURPHY
Ain’t that the truth.

PANEL 5
On the shack, from De Medina’s POV. [Woah, major plot spoiler here--rephrasing it else nobody will want to stick around for the finish]. Note the isolation of the outbuilding in relation to the town itself.

COLLINS
And you all are drunks if ever I’ve seen ‘em.

COLLINS
Prove me wrong!

Back on Wednesday unless I get stranded on the summit and turn to cannibalism. Think I’ll watch RAVENOUS again to get me in the right frame of mind before I hit the road.

Art by Gervasio and Jok. Written by Matt Maxwell.

Back next week!

Art by Gervasio and Jok. Written by Matt Maxwell.

No comments, no bon mots. Just me frantically trying to keep up. See you on Wednesday.

Art by Gervasio and Jok, who are on time more than I am.

Back on Monday. If I make it that long.

Art by Gervasio and Jok. Written by Matt Maxwell

And might not be so healthy for Joachim, either.

Big things afoot at Strangeways central, some of them even involving cowboys and vampires. Some involving a bunch of stuff that’ll get me shot if I talk about, so there’s just stuff and we’ll leave it at that.

See you back here Wednesday for more cryptic proclamations. And vampires.

Art by Gervasio and Jok. Written (and lettered) by Matt Maxwell

Wish I could afford a real letterer…

Back next week with what’s likely to be a big KABOOM.

Update to add: My interview at CBR went live as of an hour ago. Check it out.