News from San Diego

While I wasn’t able to make it to the Con, my PR pals on the Left Coast have been nice enough to keep me updated on all that’s going on. Well, actually my PR pals at pretty much every publisher outside of Marvel. But that’s a whole ‘nother story.

BOOM! Studios has a lot happening. The publisher will be launching a Godfather comic based on the film series. It’ll be drawn by Greg Scott, who previously did X-Isle and Enigma Cipher. The writer isn’t announced, but “jaws will drop,” according to CEO Ross Richie.

BOOM! is also publishing a book by David Digilio, a writer from the TV series Traveler. The series is called North Wind: “NORTH WIND tells the story of a world where Global Warming has created climate change, as a new Ice Age covers the planet. Downtown Los Angeles exists under ice, where a new despot has grown in power and mankind now uses burning books as a fuel source! Into this era strides a new hero – in the vein of Mad Max, a blockbuster action story in widescreen style!”

Lastly, BOOM! will be releasing trades of some of their initial series, including Talent, Hero Squared, Tag, Death Valley, X Isle, Zombie Tales and Planetary Brigade.

Dark Horse also made quite a few big announcements. For one, the publisher acquired the comics rights to Indiana Jones, so expect a comic tie-in to the upcoming fourth movie in the series about April. Also, in February Dark Horse will publish the first of an omnibus series of previous Indiana Jones comics.

Also in early 2008, Dark Horse will begin publishing material from the Creepy and Eerie magazines, those ink-wash-laden horror comics of the 1960s. DH is also looking at creating new content under the Creepy and Eerie names.

There’s a new publisher coming out that’s a bit mysterious as of yet. Here’s the note I received about them: “Radical Publishing is currently producing a Yoshitaka Amano art book, which has not been done for over five years, a John Bolton hard-cover graphic novel as well as numerous other comic books from acclaimed industry talent such as Luis Royo, Jim Steranko, Frank Hannah, Dan Abnett, Dave Wilkins, Steve Pugh, Warren Ellis, James Heffron, Steve Moore, Sam Sarkar, Nick Percival, Dave Dorman, Bill Sienkiewicz, WETA, and many more.” Sounds cool, whatever it is.

Archaia Studios Press, the house of Mouse Guard, announced a host of new projects:

THE ENGINEER: KONSTRUKT: “An ancient sentient entity is feasting on the very fabric of space and time. Only one man can stop it: The Engineer. Utilizing a colossal pipe organ that enables pan-dimensional travel, The Engineer pursues the lost components of The Konstrukt, an archaic mechanism that imbues whoever possesses it with the ability to manipulate reality itself. Releases Nov 2007.

THE MANY ADVENTURES OF MIRANDA MERCURY: From writer Brandon Thomas (Fantastic Four Tales, Spider-Man Unlimited, Robin (forthcoming) and artist Lee Ferguson (Marvel Comics’ Heroes 9/11) comes THE MANY ADVENTURES OF MIRANDA MERCURY. She’s the greatest adventurer in this, or any other galaxy, the kind of old-fashioned, classic science-fiction heroine that can successfully defeat The Time Raiders of Xaxium, brave the wonders of The Glass Planet, survive The Perils of Yor, and battle The Infinity Class to a veritable standstill! All while facing the one enemy that perhaps even she cannot defeat, a microscopic poison rushing through her veins, courtesy of her greatest adversary, Cyrus Vega. With only one year left to live, Miranda Mercury will have her morality tested and values shaken to see her life’s mission completed. Release date: Feb 2008.

CURSED PIRATE GIRL: Written and illustrated by Jeremy Bastian, CURSED PIRATE GIRL is an epic fairy tale of a cursed girl in search of her father. The only things she knows about her father is that she will find him on the Omerta Seas, and that he is a pirate captain. The fantastic waters of the Omertas hold many strange and dangerous creatures and forgotten evils; enlisting the help of two armored swordfish and a parrot with a secret agenda, Cursed Pirate Girl sets out on the perilous journey to find her father among the remaining pirate captains. But instead of a glorious reunion, the scheming of interlopers leads her to resurrect her father’s most dangerous foe. When her friends and allies fall beneath the terrible sword and sorcery of this old enemy, it is Cursed Pirate Girl who comes to face her father’s bane. Set in an imaginative version of our world in 1728, filled with the stuff of sea legend: underwater lavafalls, sunken cities, a turtle sea witch, the silver coral court, a titan squid named Jenny, Davey Jones’s locker, ghost seamen, and the most interesting pirates imagined all lie in wait for Cursed Pirate Girl on her adventures. A series of six 36-page comic books beginning March 2008. All ages.

THE BOND OF SAINT MARCEL: Catherine Johnstone is the black sheep in an old Boston family whose wealth and influence stretches back to the American Revolution. When Cat’s family is murdered, she discovers that the only one who can save her life is Eamann, a vampire that was bonded into her family’s service against its will 200 years ago. Running for her life, Cat forms an unlikely friendship with Eamann. But as she uncovers more about her family’s past, they discover the killers are only hunting Cat in order to set Eamann free. THE BOND OF SAINT MARCEL is written by Jennifer Quintenz and with covers and layouts by Christian Gossett (Red Star). A six-issue series beginning early 2008. Mature Readers.

THE SISTERHOOD: The writers of Talent, The Menagerie, and Force Majeure—Christopher Golden (Baltimore, Hellboy: The Lost Army) and Tom Sniegoski (Angel)—team up once again to tell the tale of THE SISTERHOOD. When heavily-armed commandos massacre a convent of nuns from the Order of the Holy Sepulchre, the very worldly Eden Parish is dispatched by her superiors to investigate what’s happened to her Sisters and why. She uncovers a dangerous and indeed demonic conspiracy, a threat from within the Order aimed at its very foundation, its very purpose, and she will be tested to the limits of her endurance and resolve to defeat it. THE SISTERHOOD is written by Christopher Golden and Tom Sniegoski, with art by Wellington Alves. A three-issue series beginning early 2008. Mature Readers.

Fantagraphics also announced some new books, including: CHANCE IN HELL by Gilbert Hernandez, THE COMPLETE PEANUTS 1965-1966 by Charles M. Schulz, THE KAT WHO WALKED IN BEAUTY by George Herriman, GROTESQUE #1 by Sergio Ponchione, I KILLED ADOLF HITLER by Jason, JOHNNY RYAN’S XXX SCUMBAG PARTY by Johnny Ryan, MEAN by Steven Weissman, NIGER #2 by Leila Marzocchi, REFLECTIONS #3 by Marco Corona, SQUA TRONT #12 by various, UPTIGHT #2 by Jordan Crane, PERCY GLOOM (second printing) by Cathy Malkasian, ANGRY YOUTH COMIX #13 by Johnny Ryan, THE COMICS JOURNAL #284, RAISIN PIE #5 by Rick Altergott & Ariel Bordeaux, LOVE AND ROCKETS VOL. II #20 by Los Bros Hernandez.

Also, Fantagraphics is doing a panel right now that I would have made my main goal if I’d been able to hit San Diego. Fletcher Hanks: The Ed Wood of Comics? will look at the creator of the 1930s strips that went into I Shall Destroy All The Civilized Planets.

And, as has been previously reported, DC Comics is doing a Worlds of Warcraft series.

Whew, that was a lot of news…