On November 11, visual impresario and director Tarsem Singh's swords, sandals, and gods epic Immortals is hitting the big screen, but in September, Archaia will be providing fans with a glimpse of the world behind the story in the anthology Immortals: Gods and Heroes. Featuring talents like Francisco Francavillia, David Mack, Jock, Chris Roberson, and David Gallaher, it's a new title through Archaia's recently-created Black Label line of books, which are high-end multimedia tie-ins to film and television properties, joining Jim Henson's The Storyteller and The Dark Crystal later this year.

Recently, our own Alex Zalben had a chance to talk to Archaia editor, Nate Cosby about the book, but for those of you who didn't take the opportunity to check the piece out (what, you can't make one little click?), both Immortals and its companion book Gods and Heroes are a gritty retelling of Greek myth, where the heroic Theseus (played by Superman-to-be Henry Cavill in the film) rising up to challenge a mad King Hyperion played by Mickey Rourke, a haunted villain who is seeking a weapon which will allow him to unleash great evil upon the world.

Gods and Heroes weaves in stories around the film--as these things tend to go--taking place as a prequel without trampling on the events of the movie. Archaia has announced that this hardcover will be a flip book with stories featuring the gods on one side and humans on the other. During WonderCon, Cosby explained that it was about characters "fighting not because they can win but because it's better to fight than not" --

We'll know more about Immortals closer to its release. Until then, enjoy the new images by Jock!

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Tags Archaia, Immortals, Wondercon 2011

Writer/artist Nate Simpson’s Nonplayer joins the recent club of Image Comics’ first issues that have sold out amid critical acclaim. The first issue of the miniseries was released in April (with its second on the way), and it’s a blend of sci-fi and gaming about the blurring between the online world and the real. Its heroine, Dana, immerses herself in a popular MMO set in the world of Jarvath—the the exclusion of the real world.

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Tags Image Comics, Nonplayer, Wondercon 2011

Writer and artist Vanessa Davis has been a fixture online with her site Spaniel Rage and her book of the same name has recently released a collection of short stories and diary works called Make Me A Woman. Published through Drawn and Quarterly, the book reflects the last five years of her work and life since the publication of her first solo book back in 2005.

In that five years, Davis has moved cross country, explored relationships and her Jewish faith, and of course been a productive artist with regular contributions to Tablet magazine.

The pages of her work are often crammed with images and text, as likely to break out of the confines of the normal grid as to ignore it entirely. In line with this, her characters are often exaggerated and rough-hewn, joined by Davis’ curlicue text in crowding the borders of each page and panel. Read more...

Tags Drawn and Quat, Make Me A Woman, Vanessa Davis, Wondercon 2011

For writer J.T. Krul, when it comes to plotting the Teen Titans, it's all about family. The current lineup includes regular members Superboy, Red Robin, Ravager, Wonder Girl, Beast Boy, and Impulse, and for Krul "[It's] all about how these young characters are trying to become heroes," each confronting their own various challenges in the path to becoming the adults they will one day be.

Back in October of last year, the writer signed on as a DC exclusive writer and has since been scripting Teen Titans along with Green Arrow. He was equally effusive then as he is now when talking about joining the DC stable of writers as he was when we caught up to him at WonderCon:

"To say I am thrilled about the exclusive at DC would be a gross understatement. I’ve loved each and every project I’ve worked on so far and am excited to know that I’ll be writing for them, and specifically for Green Arrow and Teen Titans, for the long haul. The company is jam-packed with amazing people all working to put out the best books possible each and every month, and I couldn’t be happier about joining the team - officially.

In recent months, Krul has been Joined by former Birds of Prey artist Nicola Scott on TT doing everything from crossing the book over with the Tim Drake-starring Red Robin to introducing the new addition to the team, Solstice back in issue #90. With this last new Titan, Krul notes that there's a unique satisfaction to creating characters within the DCU and and a specific kind of thrill to bringing them into the Teen Titans.
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Tags DC Comics, J.T. Krul, Teen Titans, Wondercon 2011

“Blue Estate is a state of mind. It’s also the name of a race course, and also is associated with a blue house.” So enigmatically proclaims Blue Estate creator and co-writer Viktor Kalvachev, a series whose debut issue hit stands recently accompanied by no small amount of attention. The new Image series features “an alcoholic hit man and a desperate starlet dodge Russian mobsters, Italian gangsters, ninjas, hippies and the L.A.P.D. in a scheme to steal millions from a psychotic action movie hero.”

The 12-issue series has an interesting assortment of creative talent behind it, including Kalvachev who’s worked in the past on titles like DMZ and Pherone, as well as artists Nathan Fox (Invincible Iron Man, Pigeons From Hell), Toby Cypress (Batman/Nightwing), and Robert Valley (character designer on the upcoming Tron TV series). Jumping into this mix is Emmy Award-winning screenwriter Andrew Osborne whose credits include films like Get Shorty, Pulp Fiction, and similar self-aware crime films as sources of inspiration for Blue Estate.

The points of cinematic reference as pretty direct as well, as Osborne explains that the very first issue has the feel of a Guy Ritchie (Snatch, Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels) film, with rapid-fire cross-cutting between the principal characters being thrown at the reader in the early pages before the book settles down to the particulars of the eccentric crime thriller plot.

That plot begins with former actress Rachel Maddox who ropes private eye Roy Devine into a case involving her crooked, washed-up action star husband, Bruce, and his many entanglements with the aforementioned crooks, hippies, and ninjas.

Such an eclectic story deserves an equally unique production process. According to one of the series’ artists, Toby Cypress, Kalachev provided the art team with models and sculptures as reference points for the characters of Blue Estates. Kalvachev started with 12 sculptures and meticulously photographed the faces for his team so that the cast would remain recognizable from creator to creator. Read more...

Tags Andrew Osborne, Blue Estate, Image Comics, Toby Cypress, Viktor Kalvachev, Wondercon 2011

Hope the title character of writer Brandon Seifert and artist Lukas Ketner’s Witch Doctor never has to pay you a visit—because it usually means you’ve got a bad case of the supernatural horror plaguing you. Seifert describes the new 4-issue miniseries, coming this June from Image’s Skybound imprint, as a “horror medical drama,” featuring the exploits of former medical doctor turned practitioner of the black arts, Victor Morrow, who is tasked with curing the supernatural ills—the possessed, the zombies, the vampires—of the world.

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Tags Brandon Seifert, Image Comics, Skybound, Witch Doctor, Wondercon 2011

Maybe you didn’t hear, but writer J.T. Krul’s recent run on Green Arrow has been tying into a certain little DC title called Brightest Day. Something about the return of a certain Forest Elemental?

For those of you not keeping score, post-Cry For Justice, Green Arrow (Oliver Queen) has been living in a mystical forest which sprung up in the middle of his hometown, Star City. Banished from the city proper for murdering Prometheus, and no longer in charge of his own company, Queen Industries, Ollie has taken to fighting crime in the confines of his new patch of territory.

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Tags DC Comics, Green Arrow, J.T. Krul, Wondercon 2011

It’s weird when you realize that in its 60 years of publication, having graced newspapers worldwide, having made the leap to both the small and big screen, that Charles Schulz’s beloved strip Peanuts is only now getting the graphic novel treatment thanks to BOOM!’s new all-ages imprint, Kaboom and the recent release of Happiness Is A Warm Blanker, Charlie Brown!. Adapted by Schulz’s son Craig, and Stephan Pastis, the book features art direction by Paige Braddock and Andy Beall, with art by Bob and Vicki Scott. Beall and Braddock were on hand at WonderCon to talk about Happiness and the enduring strength of Peanuts.

Typical of the great Peanuts strips, Happiness is about the anxieties of one of its ageless grade school characters, in this case Linus, whose grandmother is visiting and apparently hates his beloved blue blanket. “But really, it’s about the insecurities that we all have and what it takes to get us through the day,” says Beall. At the same time, Beall thinks the 96-page book is about the things that we love and how they prop us up in their unique ways.

For Paige Braddock, creator of the Jane’s World comic strip, founder of Girl Twirl Comics, and an avowed lifelong Peanuts fan, Happiness represented an opportunity to expose Schulz’s creations to an all-new audience that might not otherwise encounter Lucy, Linus, Peppermint Patty, or Charlie Brown through the ever-dwindling newspaper circulation.
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Tags Andrew Beale, Boom Studios, Paige Braddock, Peanuts, WonderCon2011

This week (on 4/20), Marijuanaman debuts from Image Comics, the brainchild of singer Ziggy Marley, with assistance by writer Joe Casey and artist Jim Mahfood. MTV Geek caught up with Marley recently at WonderCon and chatted with him about his first comic book project:

"He's (Marijuanaman) up against an evil pharmaceutical company and their villain Cash Money, and they have this whole battle because the pharmaceutical company wants to keep selling the artifical stuff and the eco-guys want to use he natural stuff...but he's just a superhero just like Superman and any of those guys. His powers come from a plant."

Marley had praise for his fellow talents on the project, saying of Mahfood's work: "I really love his art...it's deep, it's deeper than just drawing figures." As for Casey, Marley first ran into his work in a very interesting way:

"One day I was reading a comic with Superman and Batman, and I saw this dialogue that had some lyrics from my father, and I was like, 'who wrote this?' So I flipped back to the front and Joe Casey's name was on it; and so I said he must be the right guy, because he understood the philosophy."

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Tags Image Comics, Jim Mahfood, Joe Casey, Marijuanaman, Ziggy Marley

Fan campaigns to save their favorite shows has become a familiar thing on the Internet...and in the case of Project Fringe Friday, it might have possibly helped that TV series get renewed for another season!

Well, fans are taking up a new cause: Project Alice, and saving their fave sci-fi show V. We caught up with V Executive Producer Scott Rosenbaum at WonderCon recently to chat about the show...and he was well aware of, and supportive, of Project Alice:

"The V fans have been great so far, emailing the network, emailing the studio, Project Alice...it all makes a huge difference."

Project Alice on Facebook has over 3000 members so far, and is growing. The page urges fans to show ABC and Warner Bros. that they support V and want to see it renewed, and have made available an online petition that they can sign (as of this writing it has over 4,000 signatures). Project Alice also makes "fan bulletins" on YouTube to help spread the word: Read more...

Tags Fringe, Scott Rosenbaum, TV, V