Tim Seeley
Teaser: The dead walk again in this summer’s Revival
Our final teaser this week for Tim Seeley and Mike Norton’s new comic from Image Comics isn’t so much a teaser–their new title, Revival, will come out in July, and as noted above, it apparently isn’t an undead/zombie title. More details about the project will be revealed later today on Comic Book Resources and at the Emerald City Comicon.
Teaser: God loves The Pack
To answer Rob’s question from earlier in this week: Yes, the Greenbay Packers only hope of winning the Super Bowl is to stack their team with undead players.
We’ll have one final teaser tomorrow for Tim Seeley and Mike Norton’s new comic from Image; check out the previous teasers from Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday for more small-town newspaper fun.
Teaser: New lease on life
Continuing a week of teasers for a new project by Tim Seeley and Mike Norton, Image Comics sent over the above personal ad. Looking for love with autopsy scars must be tough. This one follows the teasers I posted Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, which you can check out to see the theme that’s developing.
Look for the new comic in July, and for another teaser tomorrow.
Teaser: Arlene Beatrice Dittman (Moss)’s un-obituary
I’m not sure what the opposite of an obituary is, but Arlene Dittman is “drawing new breath” in the new project by Tim Seeley and Mike Norton. Her announcement follows the previous teasers I posted Monday and Tuesday. Look for the new comic in July, and for another teaser tomorrow.
Teaser: Call Blaine Abel for all your winter recreation and spiritual needs
Image Comics sent another teaser today, following the advertisement for “gently used coffins” from Monday. Today’s teaser offers the services of someone with a very unique skillset and reveals the creative team for this particular project. Come back tomorrow for another one.
Seeley, Gaston bring humor, blood and heart to Bloodstrike revival
Bloodstrike #26
When the announcement broke that Rob Liefeld and Image Comics were reviving the Extreme Studios titles, I was pretty excited, and not because I was a huge fan of the imprint back in the day. In fact, the only Extreme titles I can remember buying and reading were the first few issues of Youngblood. The whole Image Comics phenomenon hit around a time that my interest in superheroes was waning, as I started to shift more to things like Sandman. So as they left Marvel’s biggest superhero books, gradually I did, too, at least for a little while. And I didn’t replace them with these new books from the hot young company formed by seven rebels who decided to forge their own path. No, I was on to Neil Gaiman and Jeff Smith and Hellblazer and Sin City and other things.
I do remember the Image thing as being a huge phenomenon, though. I remember my friend Mike showing me the CNN segment he had recorded about the birth of Image Comics, about how all these guys who made X-Men, Spider-Man, etc. such hot titles had decided to do the unthinkable and form their own company. I remember seeing Liefeld on Dennis Miller, the Levi’s 501 ads, the long lines at the Dallas Fantasy Fair for a bunch of artists who weren’t even the original seven, but still commanded an enthusiastic crowd … I remember being at the comic book store flipping through a copy of some random title when two kids and their mom came in looking for the Bloodstrike “Rub the Blood” cover. They came in, bought their weekly allowance’s worth of Image books, and taped them all up in bags with the hopes, I guess, that they’d be worth something some day. “Aren’t you going to read them?” I asked. They just looked at me. “They don’t read their comics,” their mom said proudly. Ah, the 1990s.
Details emerge on Free Comic Book Day offerings for DC Comics, Image
DC Comics: The New 52
When the 2012 Free Comic Book Day line-up was announced, some folks mistakenly assumed that gold-level offering, DC Comics: The New 52 Special Edition would simply be a reprint of previously published material. As revealed on The Source today, that’s not the case.
The comic will feature “art by legendary illustrator Jim Lee and other top talents” and will “include a new story by New York Times bestselling writer Geoff Johns.” In addition, the book will also include previews of DC’s second wave of New 52 titles, including Batman Incorporated, Dial H, Earth 2, G.I. Combat, The Ravagers and Worlds’ Finest. They also say to stay tuned for “more surprises to come.”
In addition, the Free Comic Book Day site also has more information and a preview from Image 20, the 20th anniversary anthology of “six, all-new original stories promoting upcoming Image Comics titles.” Two of the titles will be Revival by Tim Seeley and Mike Norton, which you can preview on the site, as well as G-Man by Chris Giarrusso. The other stories will be announced at a later date.
The FCBD site also has previews from several other FCBD titles, including Oni’s Yo Gabba Gabba and Bad Medicine titles, and Viz’s Voltron Force, among others, so head over there if you want to check them out early.
Update: Apparently I misread the initial post and thought Jim Lee was drawing the new Geoff Johns story, but based on Brian Hibbs’ response in the comments section below, that may or may not be the case. I’ve updated the post above.
‘Moving forward and creating new things’: Eric Stephenson on Image’s 2011 and 2012
Eric Stephenson
This year marks the 20th anniversary of Image Comics, the company formed by a group of artists who left the security of work-for-hire comics to create and own their own comics. It’s been 20 years of ups and downs, but one thing that has remained consistent is a focus on creator-owned work.
With 2011 in the history books and their big anniversary kicking off with the first Image Expo, a new ad campaign and high-profile series by big-name creators like Brian K. Vaughan, Ed Brubaker, Sean Phillips, Jonathan Hickman, Nick Spencer and many more, I thought it was a good time to chat with Publisher Eric Stephenson about the state of the company, the year that was, their upcoming plans and anything else he was willing to talk about. My thanks to Eric for taking the time to answer my questions.
JK Parkin: Thanks for agreeing to do this interview, Eric. Incidentally, another feature we’re running as a part of our anniversary bash is one where we asked various comic industry folks about what they’re looking forward to in 2012. I got one back yesterday where the answer was basically “everything from Image Comics.” I find that interesting, because there’s a lot of diversity in Image’s line and although I think you guys probably publish something for every kind of taste, I wouldn’t think that every title would appeal to every comic reader. And yet I also find myself checking out at least the first issue of everything you guys have done lately. So from your perspective, what’s the unifying factor (or factors) right now among your titles, if there is one?
Stephenson: I think the main thing is that we’re moving forward and creating new things. We’re not content to just recycle the same old ideas month in and month out and then market it all as brand new. If this was another publisher, we’d be debuting our latest spin-off of The Walking Dead in March, but instead, we’re launching a new series by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples, a new series by Jonathan Hickman and Nick Pitarra, a new series by Joe Keatinge and Andre Szymanowicz, and so on. For 20 years, Image has put its faith in creative people, and it’s the power of their imagination that links all our titles together, now more than ever.
The Robot 6 Holiday Gift-Giving Guide, Part 2
Harvey Comics Classics Vol. 1
Yesterday we kicked off our holiday gift-giving guide, where we asked creators like Jim McCann, Matt Kindt and more for gift suggestion and what they’d want to receive this year. Today we’re back with six more creators, and we asked them the same questions:
1. What comic-related gift or gifts would you recommend giving this year, and why?
2. What gift (comic or otherwise) is at the top of your personal wish list, and why?
So without further ado, let the joy continue …
Jeff Parker
1. If you have young children, you can give them hours of quality time with any of Dark Horse’s Harvey Comics collections. My kids have been poring through them repeatedly. I’ll be following up with old back issues of Casper, Dot, Richie Rich and Hot Stuff from the local comics shops; they’re always very cheap.
2. I would not sneeze at getting that Donald Duck: Lost in the Andes volume from Fantagraphics.
Jeff Parker is the writer of Hulk, Thunderbolts and the webcomic Bucko.
Tim Seeley
All-Star Superman
1. I’m a firm believer in buying comics for everyone on your list, even if they aren’t an avid fan. Make ‘em a fan! All-Star Superman for the superhero fan, Dungeons & Dragons from IDW for the gamer, Habibi for the sophisticated reader, and, of course, my Hack/Slash Omnibi for the horror fan. Or, if you’re planning on dropping a bit more, might I suggest an iPad, loaded with comics apps?
2. I want the collected version of the web strip OGLAF, which I thoroughly enjoy. I wouldn’t mind a CS Moore Witchblade statue to inspire me while I write.
Tim Seeley seems to be all over the place lately, whether it’s writing the new Bloodstrike series from Extreme or Witchblade for Top Cow, drawing issues of Marvel’s Generation Hope, or working on his own creations like Hack/Slash and Jack Kraken. There’s a good chance I forgot something, but you can follow him on Twitter to learn more.
Read the Extreme Preview book right here
Image Comics has released a digital version of the Extreme Preview book that was available at the New York Comic Con last weekend, and thanks to the embed feature offered by Graphicly, you can read it right here. It can also be downloaded via ComiXology, Graphicly, iVerse and Diamond Digital.
The preview book offers a look at Brandon Graham and Simon Roy’s Prophet, Joe Keatinge and Ross Campbell’s Glory; Alan Moore, Erik Larsen and Cory Hamscher’s Supreme; Tim Seeley and Francheco Gaston’s Bloodstrike; and John McLaughlin, Jon Malin and Rob Liefeld’s Youngblood. The first comic from the revived Extreme, Prophet #21, arrives Jan. 18.
Writer Tim Seeley to wield the Witchblade
Witchblade
USA Today reports that Hack/Slash‘s Tim Seeley will begin writing Top Cow’s Witchblade series with issue #151, due Oct. 26. Seeley replaces Ron Marz on the title, who, along with artist Stjepan Sejic, wrap up their run with issue #150.
The report says that Top Cow’s Artifacts crossover series, which ends in October, will bring “lots of changes to the Top Cow universe in its wake.” As a result, Witchblade wielder Sara Pezzini will move to Chicago. “It’s going to give me a chance to give her a new rogues gallery in a new location. My interest in it is more to add to the mythology than to dig up what’s been done already,” Seeley said. Fans will be happy to hear that the price will be dropped to $2.99.
Joining Seeley on the title are artists Diego Bernard and Fred Benes. The stories will be “dark fantasy with a hint of crime noir,” according to the paper, and Seeley also said he plans to continue his work on Hack/Slash.
The horror of Scott Allie
Solomon Kane by Scott Allie
You know him as the Dark Horse senior managing editor who’s got his hands all over the venerable Portland publisher’s horror line, from Mike Mignola’s Hellboy-verse to The Goon to Buffy the Vampire Slayer to titles he himself has written, like The Devil’s Footprints and the Robert E. Howard adaptation Solomon Kane. But Scott Allie’s expertise in the world of weird has not gone unnoticed outside the comics sphere: He’s a regular (well, slightly less than regular — let’s say “recurring”) columnist at the horror news site Dread Central.
His latest column articulates his preferences in no uncertain term, taking swipes at the “nihilism” of horror films like Wolf Creek and Rob Zombie’s Halloween remake and praising the sleazy heart and soul of knowing romps through the genre like Tim Seeley’s comic Hack/Slash. If you’re a horror fan, any column that contains sentences like “When I saw the new Friday the 13th, I was glad to see nudity back in horror films” is worth reading and arguing over, so do check it and the rest of the archives out.