27th January 2010 / On Sale
The final (and long-awaited) issue of DARK REIGN: HAWKEYE goes on sale today.
Technically this is my first ‘proper’ Marvel comic (WOLVERINE: PRODIGAL SON is published through Del Rey Manga), even though it’s just one issue at the end of an arc — as with DAREDEVIL, Andy Diggle asked me to co-write this final issue to save further delays.
Anyway, the order code is JUN090494, and it’s on sale now from the usual stores. Here’s a preview at Comic Book Resources. Enjoy.
7th January 2010 / Wasteland / Videogames / Interviews / On Sale
WASTELAND #27 is now on sale. This is the second part of the “Enemy Within” story arc, following Jakob’s perspective on the six months following the Sand-Eater attack.
The order code is JUL091015, and here’s the solicit:
After saving the city from the Sand-Eaters, Jakob has a plum position in the city Watch… but Golden Voice’s call for freedom will give him pause for thought. Working for a man he despises and abandoned by his faith, Jakob must decide where his loyalties lie as Newbegin faces a Sunner rebellion!
(Observant readers will have noticed that WASTELAND #29 hasn’t yet been solicited; don’t panic, we just ‘paused’ solicitations when it became clear #26 and #27 would be delayed, because we all hate soliciting books that we know we can’t ship. We’re getting back on track now, so #29 will be solicited next month.)
Of interest to the videogame crowd: the inimitable Fran Shergold of Ready Up! recently interviewed Rhianna Pratchett and myself about writing for games, and it turned out pretty interesting. You can read the whole thing here.
24th December 2009 / Musings
So. That was 2009, then.
This year has been one of stop-start motion for me, with a fairly relaxed summer sandwiched between two bursts of manic activity.
I spent nearly all of January and February writing the script for DEAD SPACE: EXTRACTION, which of course I wasn’t allowed to talk about. If you think that seems like a long time to spend writing a videogame, you clearly haven’t played it.
Unfortunately, the schedule of work and voice recording (VO) sessions for the game meant I had to pull out of attending NYCC. This was doubly frustrating, because I couldn’t explain why I was unable to attend; then, immediately after the con finished, the organisers announced the next one wouldn’t be until fall 2010. Grrr.
When I could snatch a spare moment, I was also working on the second half of WOLVERINE: PRODIGAL SON, Vol 2.
In March, I was finally allowed to announced my work for EXTRACTION, at the same time as I was actually down in London attending the VO sessions. Also simultaneously, the New York Times finally introduced bestseller lists for graphic novels, and to my pleasant surprise, THE COURTYARD was on the inaugural list. I then finished the second volume of WOLVERINE: PRODIGAL SON, and to top off a generally good month I was interviewed on Kerrang! Radio, which put a big smile on this old metalhead’s face.
April saw the launch of WOLVERINE: PRODIGAL SON Vol 1, a London press event for EXTRACTION, and the purchase of a shiny new Mac. Behind the scenes, I was writing WASTELAND and the DEAD SPACE: EXTRACTION one-shot comic.
May was pretty quiet. I wrote some more WASTELAND and composed a new song, the eight-minute Carpenter-esque epic Inelisia, for the book’s original soundtrack. I suddenly realised that the next few months were going to be pretty quiet, and I was determined to use that time for something I hadn’t had chance to do while beavering away on all the DEAD SPACE stuff…
…So June found me commencing work on COLD CITY, a book I’d been meaning to write ever since my stint on QUEEN & COUNTRY. I also allowed Oni to use the first few pages of it for their semi-regular talent search, and digital comics solution Longbox was announced to the world. Finally, I produced a scriptbook, to be sold as a con exclusive.
COLD CITY kept me busy throughout July, apart from the usual pilgrimage to San Diego at the end of the month. I spent most of the con promoting WASTELAND; the full colour issue #25 was released earlier in the month, and the first Apocalyptic Edition hardcover premiered at the show in a limited edition.
August was blazing hot here in Blighty, and I matched the heat with a furious run through the last stretch of COLD CITY. The 180pp Zero Draft clocked in at twenty-six working days, in between bouts of writing WASTELAND, which is undoubtedly some kind of record for me.
In September, the graphic novel of SKELETON KEY went on sale at last, as did the DEAD SPACE: EXTRACTION one-shot, and then the game itself later in the month. Behind the scenes, it was all a bit quiet as I spent most of the time revising COLD CITY and catching up on odd bits and bobs that had built up during summer…
…Which was just as well, because suddenly in October it all got rather busy again when my old friend Andy Diggle asked me to co-write an issue of DARK REIGN: HAWKEYE, and an arc of DAREDEVIL. We spent a large chunk of MCM Expo discussing our plans, all the while being careful to stay out of Rich Johnston’s earshot — sorry, Rich.
So November was dedicated almost exclusively to those two books, although I did find time to pitch for another videogame. Watch this space, and all that. The other big news was the formal announcement of COLD CITY as an Oni Press book, and I attended Thought Bubble, which was awesome as always.
And now here we are in December, where I’ve been doing yet more work on WASTELAND and DAREDEVIL, and have another couple of Sooper Seekrit gigs on the go. I need to hit the ground running in January, so don’t be too surprised to see more surprise announcements… in between long periods of silence as I get my nose firmly ensconced in the grindstone.
Happy holidays, everyone. Let’s do it all again in 2010.
18th December 2009 / Dead Space / Wasteland / Wolverine / Interviews / Cold City / Daredevil
Quick round-up before the holidays…
(I’ll do a proper year in review post soon, but may not have time before the new year.)
Comic Book Resources interviewed me recently about WASTELAND, DAREDEVIL and COLD CITY. You can read it here.
WOLVERINE: PRODIGAL SON, which was shortlisted in the Texas Library Association’s Maverick YA reading recommendations, made the final list. See the full thing here.
The lovely and generous Jeff VanderMeer talks about Volume 1 of the WASTELAND Apocalyptic Edition hardback on Amazon today, with an excerpt from his introduction to the book. Read it here.
DEAD SPACE 2 has been officially announced, and a lot of people have asked me if I’m on board once more. Sadly, no, I won’t be writing this game. It hopefully won’t be my last excursion into the Dead Space universe, though…
That’s all I can talk about for now, but as always there’s a whole host of stuff bubbling under right now. Happy holidays, everyone, and remember; Santa cannot be trusted.
17th November 2009 / Wasteland / Appearances / Daredevil
As previously mentioned, I’m attending Thought Bubble in Leeds this Saturday. If you don’t know it, TB is fast becoming one of the premier comic conventions in Britain — it’s comics-focused, creator-friendly, and very well organised.
You can view the full programme here (the one-day con is part of a larger festival over three days), but here’s the relevant info for me:
Two other brief snippets of news today: First, there’s a very nice review of WASTELAND up at sci-fi site io9.com.
Second, as you may have already heard, I’m co-writing DAREDEVIL #505-507 (“Left Hand Path”) with Andy Diggle. We’ve wanted to work together on something for a long time, and now we finally have the chance. More on that soon, no doubt.
16th November 2009 / Wasteland / On Sale
WASTELAND Book 05, “Tales of the Uninvited”, goes on sale this week.
This is a collection people have been asking us about for a long time — it contains all the interlude issues thus far, which don’t appear in the other trade paperback collections. So you get issues #7 (drawn by Carla Speed McNeil), #14 (Joe Infurnari), #20 (Chuck BB) and #25 (the double-length colour issue, drawn by regular series artist Christopher Mitten).
These stories are set in different places and times to the main story, shedding light on the people and places of WASTELAND — some familiar, some not-so. One of the things I love about the book is that it allows me to write stories like this on the side, delving into the mythos without disturbing the larger narrative.
It’s $13.95 for 128 pages (48 of them in colour), the Diamond order code is SEP090939, and the ISBN is 978-193496429-3.
And this is probably as good a time as any to apologise for the delay of issue #27. It’s due to personal circumstances outside of our control, and that’s about as much as I’m prepared to say. Rest assured that no-one is more frustrated about the delay than us, but these things happen, and we beg your patience for a few weeks more.
9th November 2009 / Musings / Cold City
Twenty years ago today, the Berlin Wall fell.
Those of us old enough to remember it, especially Europeans, will never forget that historic night. The Cold War had been going on for decades, since long before I was born, and the idea that it would ever end was almost inconceivable.
Even Gorbachev’s initiatives of glasnost and perestroika, while helping thaw East-West relations to a degree, never seemed likely to end the Cold War (much less bring about the end of communist Russia). By 1989, the Cold War had been underway for forty-four years.
Throughout that time, Berlin — and the Berlin Wall itself — grew in significance to become a symbol of the entire East-West geopolitical divide. Unlike the metaphorical Iron Curtain, the Berlin Wall was literally a wall, and thus an easy shorthand for political discussion of the times.
When the East Germans finally broke through and celebrated into the night, we all hoped it would usher in a new age of freedom and brotherhood. Sadly, we weren’t so successful at that. Nevertheless, the fall of the Berlin Wall will always be remembered as a testament to the power of public will, and a moment nobody who witnessed it will ever forget.
…All of which is preamble to say that today, I’m officially announcing COLD CITY, which I’ve so far only mentioned here in passing.
COLD CITY is a Cold War spy thriller, set in Berlin during the last days before the Wall came down. More John Le Carré than James Bond, it’s a down-to-earth espionage story that revels in the paranoia and mistrust boiling over at the epicentre of the Cold War. Here’s a synopsis:
November 1989. Communism is collapsing, and soon the Berlin Wall will be torn down by both the East and West.
But before that happens there is one last situation for MI6, Britain’s intelligence services, to resolve. Two weeks ago, an undercover MI6 officer was killed in Berlin. He was carrying information from a source in the East — a list that allegedly contains the name of every espionage agent working in Berlin, on all sides.
No list was found on his body.
MI6 sent in Lorraine Broughton, an experienced spy with no pre-existing ties to Berlin, to root out the list. But she walked into a powderkeg of social unrest, counter-espionage, defections gone bad and secret assassinations. Then, on the night the Wall came down, her superior — MI6’s chief officer in Berlin — was shot and killed in the street.
Now Lorraine has returned, to tell her story. And nothing is quite what it seems
Illustrated by Sam Hart (JUDGE DREDD, STARSHIP TROOPERS) and Published in 2010 by Oni Press, COLD CITY will be a digest-sized hardback that sits very comfortably next to your Le Carré and Deighton novels (insert winking smiley here).
There’ll be a full press release soon, but I wanted to get the news out on this momentous anniversary. So, all shilling aside, let’s take a moment to remember that even the most powerful government can’t deny the will of the people… providing that will is strong enough.
[Addendum: The full press release is now online.]
29th October 2009 / Wolverine / Movies / Appearances / Musings
21st October 2009 / Stealing Life / On Sale
Had trouble finding a copy of STEALING LIFE? Got an eBook reader? Sorted. It’s now available as an eBook from Mobipocket, and you’re very welcome.
13th October 2009 / Appearances
Once again, I’m attending the MCM Expo in London this month, where the nascent comic village is rapidly growing in size and attendees with every event.
For once, I’ll have my own table — I’m at booth C21, which as you can see from that link is just across the aisle from Avatar Press. I’ll also be appearing at the main signing area next to the comic village info booth, taking part in a couple of panels, and likely signing at Avatar’s booth too. So if you’re attending and you want to seek me out, here’s where I’ll be:
General
Saturday
Sunday
I really enjoyed the Expo when I attended last autumn, and with the sheer number of quality guests, it looks to be even better this time around. Well worth the trip if you’re anywhere near London.
(I’ll also be appearing at Thought Bubble in Leeds next month. More details on that closer to the time.)
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