Strange Attractors!

Wow, this has been a long time coming.  I’ve been working on Strange Attractors – my story about New York City, complexity theory and the people affected when they interact – since at least January 2006, and my guess is that I had the seed of the idea back in 2005.  Of course, the most intense period of work was from roughly fall 2010 through fall 2012 while the story was being drawn, but still, that’s a long road for any book.

It hits comic store shelves today, and will be available at bookstores and via Amazon in a few weeks.  I’ve been doing a ton of press for it, so I’m a bit talked out about the premise, but in a nutshell, it’s a real-world thriller with some sci-fi touches, about two genius complexity mathematicians who are able to use extremely high-level applications of the Butterfly Effect to (more or less) make New York City do whatever they want.  One of the reviews that hit today called it “equal parts Ex Machine, Sandman and Planetary,” and that’s a comparison I can certainly live with.

If you’re the kind of reader who likes books by Jonathan Hickman, Warren Ellis or Neal Stephenson, or Christopher Nolan movies that don’t involve Batman, then I think this might be your kind of story.  If you’d like to know more about the story, check out this interview I did with Multiversity.com, a pretty fantastic review from MTVGeek and another lovely writeup from ComicBastards.

Here’s the Amazon link if you think you might like to order it, and your local comic shop can certainly help you out as well – just ask for it.

If my ongoing work for DC or Marvel brought you here, consider trying something on the creator-owned side.  I know the entire creative team is really proud of this book, and we’d love to see people reading it far and wide.

Stay complicated!

 

C2E2 2013!

I love C2E2 – I’ve gone every year since its inception, and it’s always a good time.  It’s the con where 27 was picked up back in the day, it’s the con where Strange Attractors was announced (last year) and it’s the con where it will debut (this year).  I have at least one additional big announcement coming this show too.  Aside from comics, Chicago’s a really quick flight, the food’s fantastic, and I look forward to going for a run along the waterfront every year.  From Grant Park over to Millenium Park and then to Navy Pier and back – hard to beat it.

As seems to be the case every year, C2E2 changes for me based on what’s happening with my writing.  I’m not tabling this year, but I still have one of the busiest schedules I’ve ever had at a con, between panels and signings.  That’s due in large part to the release of Strange Attractors, my beautiful new hardcover OGN, published by Archaia.  I’ve posted about it before – there’s a tag on the blog if you want to see those posts, which include art and so on.  You can also read the whole thing digitally here: http://www.comixology.com/Strange-Attractors/comics-series/9685, and if you want the hardcover, you can get it at the Archaia booth at C2E2 this weekend or at finer retailers near you very shortly  – I think either May 1, 8 or 15, depending on the vagaries of international shipping.

I should also say that I was truly touched by the support people showed for my first Swamp Thing issue (#19), which came out about three weeks back.  If you scroll down, you’ll see that I was a bit nervous about it, but many of you seemed to connect with it, and that’s all I can ask.  We have some incredible stuff coming as the run continues – next issue’s out next week, in fact – and I think that if you liked 19 you’re going to love where we go from there.

Now, here’s my C2E2 schedule:

Friday, April 26

12:30- 2 PM – STRANGE ATTRACTORS SIGNING (Archaia, Booth 1019) – I’ll be signing as many copies of Strange Attractors as you can shove at me.

4:30-5:30 – DC ALL ACCESS PANEL (Room W474) -

6:00-7:00 – STRANGE ATTRACTORS SIGNING (Archaia, Booth 1019) – As before, signing away.

Saturday, April 27

12:45-1:45 PM – DC NEW 52 PANEL (Room W474) – If there’s anything you didn’t ask me on Friday at the DC panel, here’s your second chance!

2:00-3:00 PM – STRANGE ATTRACTORS SIGNING (Archaia, Booth 1019) – by now I’m sure you get the drill.

3:15-4:15 PM – POP & COMICS PANEL (Room W475b) – I’m on this panel with a bunch of other creators who have worked on music-related comics.  I’ve done this before at a number of cons, and it’s always a really interesting, compelling discussion.  If you like music OR comics, very much worth your time.

4:30-5:30 PM – MARVEL FROM NOW! TO INFINITY (Room W474) – I’ll be talking about Thunderbolts and how it ties into Marvel’s upcoming Infinity crossover.  Should be fun.

6:00-7:00 PM – STRANGE ATTRACTORS SIGNING (Archaia, Booth 1019)

Sunday, April 28

11:00 AM – 12:30 PM – STRANGE ATTRACTORS SIGNING (Archaia, Booth 1019)

It’ll be a pretty packed con, but I hope I get to see each and every one of you.  Viva Chicago!

 

The Bog is Imminent

I’m writing this on April 2, 2013, which means that tomorrow, my first issue written for one of the “Big 2″ publishers of American comics – Marvel or DC – will appear on shelves.  That issue is Swamp Thing #19.  It opens a new storyline following the completion of the long and wonderful “Rotworld” story written by Scott Snyder, with primary art from Yanick Paquette.  The penciller for 19 is Kano – he also inked his own work.  Colors were by Matt Wilson, letters by Travis Lanham, and the book was ably edited by Matt Idelson and Chris Conroy.  The cover was drawn by Andy Brase.  Every single one of them did amazing work.

Tomorrow marks a significant milestone in my comics writing career.  Writing for the Big 2 isn’t the only reason I got into comics.  Creating my own characters and stories will always be something that means more than almost anything else.  That said, I would be lying if I said that doing Big 2 work doesn’t matter to me.  It does. A lot.  Swamp Thing and other characters in DC’s stable are folks I’ve seen interacting in a thousand different ways since I was very young.  There probably hasn’t been a single day since I was about six that I haven’t seen a DC character.  My Mego Superman was one of my most prized possessions for several years starting with my seventh birthday.  The impact of the DC characters on the world over the past 70+ years is immense.  Same’s true of Marvel (although for a bit less time, of course). 

Are they “just” superheroes?  Sure.  Do these comics tell deep stories that touch people’s lives?  Sometimes, but more often they’re just disposable entertainment.  Still, for me, getting to be part of that shared tradition of writers and artists – craftspeople, really – stretching back over the decades… it’s meaningful to me on a level that surprised me.  I had a conversation with a friend recently at a con (it was probably Jim Zub, since he’s the guy I tend to chat with about stuff like this): Detective Comics 27 came out in 1939, so a little over 70 years ago.  There have been a ton of Batman comics since then, especially if you bring in the ancillary titles like Batman & Robin, Legends of the Dark Knight and so on, but still, we figured that less than five hundred writers have ever written a Batman comic in all that time.  Swamp Thing’s even crazier – the comic debuted in 1971, forty years back.  In that time, there have been seventeen people who have written this character in his flagship title.  I’m the eighteenth, starting tomorrow.  And the names on that list of seventeen – literally some of the most brilliant comics writers to ever touch the medium.  Look it up for yourself if you don’t believe me.  It’s humbling and intimidating and wonderful, all at once.

I know some of those folks (awesome people one and all), and they might think it’s ridiculous that I’m saying this, but it feels almost like a bit of a fellowship.  Swamp Thing is just a silly comic character owned by a huge corporation – and not even someone big like Superman.  He’s a walking plant dude, for god’s sake.  I could be kicked off the book ignominiously in two issues, or it could be cancelled if it doesn’t sell.  But you know what? I’m still going to do my very best work. Anything less wouldn’t be true to the other writers who came before me, and those who will inevitably come after me.  I don’t want to let any of those people down (even the guys who will make fun of me for writing this the next time I see them at a con), and I don’t want to let myself down.  Whether you like superhero books or not, there’s a legacy of shared creation in that part of the medium that’s like nothing else in comics.  Everything I do on Swamp Thing can be traced back through the years in a winding trail leading back to the very first issue.  All those ideas, all those images, all that brilliance – and now it’s my turn.  I best not fuck it up.

It’s just Swamp Thing.  But it’s not “just” anything, really.

The issue is done, the work is complete.  It’s hitting stands tomorrow, unless the world ends.  We’re hard at work wrapping up the next one, and making solid progress on the next after that.  That’s Big 2 monthly comics, though – you only get a moment to take a breath and appreciate what you’ve made before it’s time to look ahead.  That’s why I wanted to write this, to crystallize for a moment in my own mind what it’s meant to have worked so long and so hard, and to finally be at the point where I’ll go to the shop tomorrow and see a Big 2 book with my name on the cover.

It doesn’t mean everything, and if it hadn’t ever happened I’d still be thrilled to be making comics – I’ve already been incredibly fortunate with my comics work up to this point – but it means a lot.

If you pick up Swamp Thing 19 at the store tomorrow, or download it (one way or another), I hope you enjoy it.  I loved making it, and I hope there will be many, many more to come.

 

Emerald

Tomorrow morning, at the moderately ungodly hour of 7:45 AM, I shall begin my annual spring journey westward to celebrate the weekend-long commencement of convention season that is Emerald City Comicon.  I’ve written about ECCC several times before, so I won’t rehash in any great detail.  We’ll leave it at this: it’s in Seattle, and it’s one of the best shows around.  ECCC is the first major comic convention of the year for most folks, and then there’s at least one big show per month all the way through to New York Comicon in October.  I try to keep it to one per month, because there’s a point where the fun of hanging out at shows is no longer outweighed by the stress and intensity of getting to them.

In any case, I haven’t been to a big con in about five months, so I’m rested and ready to rock.  I’m really looking forward to this weekend – these shows are like weird family reunions.  Actually, who am I kidding – family reunions are nowhere near as fun as cons.

I have a lot going on at ECCC this time around, and I wanted to post my schedule so that if any of you want to find me, you can.  After the schedule, I’ll give the lowdown on the various projects I have in the hopper – some cool things to report.

First, I will be sitting at table I-15 in Artist’s Alley for the majority of the show.  I’ll be near an amazing set of creators, so even if you could care less about chatting with me, it’ll still be worth your time to hit up section I.  ECCC always has one of the best Artist’s Alleys around, and I can’t imagine this year will be any exception.  I will have the following things for sale:

27 (First Set and Second Set trades)

Strongman (Vol. 1 and the always impossible to find Vol. 2 – both of these will be pretty limited quantities, though)

The ECCC variant cover version of Strange Attractors #1 – 26 pages of absolutely gorgeous images of New York City and mathematicians doing nefarious things with complexity theory.  Also limited in number.  We only made fifty, and I’m holding a bunch back for various purposes. Here’s what the cover looks like:

Emeraldy!

T-shirts! I still have some 27 shirts left, and I’ll bring what I have.

I will be on three panels:

1. ARCHAIA PRESENTS: HOW I BROKE INTO COMICS (AND HOW YOU CAN TOO!) -Friday, 4 PM, Room 3AB.  This will be a great opportunity for aspiring writers and artists to learn how a number of established pros got into the business. Aside from me, you’ll also be able to hear from Royden Lepp (Rust), David Marquez (Ultimate Spider-Man), David Petersen (Mouse Guard) and others.

2. THE ONI PRESS “REVOLUTIONIZE COMICS” PANEL -Saturday, 6PM, Room 3AB.  Oni’s going to be announcing a new title here, and if you’re at all interested in whether or not that’s a series I’m writing (it is), then come, enjoy.  I would guess you’ll get to see some of the amazing art from… ah, well, wait and see.  Honestly, I’m incredibly proud of this project, and I’m thrilled that I’ll finally get to tell you guys something about it.  Even if you could care less about what I have going on, the panel will also boast Cullen Bunn & Brian Hurtt from Sixth Gun, and Joelle Jones (working with Cullen on Helheim.)  Oni panels are always fun.

3. WRITERS UNITE – Sunday, 12:20, Hall C. I’ve done this panel four or five times at conventions across the country, and it is a DO NOT MISS event.  The ever-voluble and informative Jim Zub moderates a panel of skilled, successful writers (and me) as we share our thoughts on successful comics writing.  It covers everything from story techniques to pitching to format to networking.  No subject is off the table, and it’s often wildly funny.  The emphasis is on practical, useful information that isn’t typically disseminated.  This year, the panel will feature Jim, me, Cullen Bunn and possibly another foxy young comics superstar. Really worth your time if you want to write comics, and I’m not just saying that because I’m on the panel.

Beyond the panels, I’ll also be signing posters and the ECCC Strange Attractors variant at the Archaia booth, #808, on Saturday from 1-2 and Sunday from 10-11.

Should be a great show – looking forward to seeing all of you.

And now, a few quick updates on what’s what…

First, SWAMP THING. All is well.  Very well, I think/hope.  The art for my first issue is incredible, the cover looks sweet, and basically, I can’t wait until the first week of April when you guys can take a look.  I’m scripted fairly far ahead, and I’ve got detailed outlines for up to the end of the year.  Swampy’s in for a wild ride. (Speaking of which, I really need to do a post on my research trip down to Louisiana.  That was a great time, and I learned a lot.)  I wish I could tell you more than this, and I’ll see if I can’t get approval to post some art.  By and large, though, I think fans of the character will be happy, and we might even convert some of those sad folks ignorant of the greatness that is Swamp Thing.

If you want to hear more about my approach to the story and working in DC in general, I’d recommend this podcast.  It’s a great, detailed conversation between Josh Flanagan of iFanboy.com and myself.  We talk about Swamp Thing and so on, but also the creator-owned stuff and working in comics in general.

STRANGE ATTRACTORS – my next big OGN project, is available in digital chapters now from Comixology.  Get it here.  It’s a fun story about two complexity mathematicians who use their theories to turn all of New York City into sort of a giant machine, and what happens when they turn it on.  The full, gorgeous hardcover (which I have seen in mockup form and CANNOT WAIT to hold in my hands) will be available in late April, it seems.  It came out incredibly well, especially the design.  A large part of the story revolves around these intricate maps of NYC’s systems, and those were incorporated into the book design in a very cool way.

There’s also the new thing for Oni, which I’ll talk more about next week, plus a totally unannounced limited series that I think will start around August, being drawn by a very talented friend of mine, and a one-shot featuring a character that’s arguably the entire reason people decide they want to work in comics in the first place.

See you in Seattle!

 

ART!

Just a quick one today.  My pal Riley Rossmo, who you probably know from a ton of great Image books including Green Wake, Bedlam, Debris and many more, sent me this amazing Swamp Thing pinup today.  He said I could share, and so I’m sharing:

Love the bones! Swamp Thing by Riley Rossmo

Gorgeous, right?  I particularly like the horror that image captures.  The more I write Swamp Thing (and I’m deep into my third script right now, with issues plotted out to my ninth), the more I find the scary side resonating with me.  You can do anything with Swamp Thing, really, but there’s definitely a lot of room for the spooky stuff.

As a side note, I love pinups, so if any of you artist-types out there feel like doing a take on the Avatar of the Green (or any other characters I’ve written), go for it!  I’ll post up whatever I get.

Finally, my first issue of Swamp Thing, #19, is in Previews right now, so if you’re looking forward to it, please pre-order with your local retailer!  While most shops should carry it, the advance orders are a big part of how well a book does.  I’d love to write Swampy for a good long time, so tell your guy to put it (or keep it) on your pull list!

 

The darkness cries…

…a long, mournful wail that writhes through the gnarled cypress branches like a breath of Hades’ wind, skipping over the placid surface of the stagnant mire below…

That’s the first sentence of Swamp Thing #1, by Len Wein and Bernie Wrightson, all the way back in November of 1972.  The character has been almost continuously published since that date, and has germinated (HA!) two films, two TV shows (live action and animated, the latter of which had a spectacular theme song) as well as tons of toys, fan art, cosplay and so on.  The comic has been written by some of the most spectacular talents in the business, including Alan Moore, Rich Veitch, Grant Morrison, Mark Millar, Brian K. Vaughan, Joshua Dysart and Scott Snyder, to name a few (and I put those names in publication order – not trying to imply any preference).  Swamp Thing has always been a home for incredible, mind-stretching ideas.  At its most basic level, it’s a story about a man turned into a plant-based swamp monster, who is also a sort of champion of the environment, specifically its vegetation.  But in the hands of those very talented scribes, Swamp Thing became much more than just a spookshow.  Swamp Thing has covered virtually every aspect of the human experience (despite having a giant lettuce as its main character.)  It’s an incredible book, and well worth your time if you haven’t read it.

So, it is incredibly humbling to be the guy taking over the writing reins for the next little while on the title.  First of all, I’m not sure that I’ll ever come up with something that will beat that first sentence I included up above.  On the other hand, I don’t think the point of writing a book with a long history like Swamp Thing or any other DC character is to compete with or try to duplicate what’s gone before.  I have an opportunity to write Swamp Thing the way I want to write him, and that’s exactly what I plan to do, come what may.  I hope people enjoy my take on the character, but even if they don’t, I know I’ll have written scenes and lines I think are cool.  And really, isn’t that the point?  That’s why I’ve worked as hard as I have to get an opportunity like Swamp Thing.  I hope it’s the first of many, but even if this is the only title I ever work on for DC (or Marvel, for that matter), it’s still amazing that it’s happened at all.

The response to the announcement has been incredibly gratifying – the worst thing I’ve seen on message boards and Twitter is “…who?”, and that’s been intermixed with tons of support and folks wishing me well (from people I know and people I don’t).  We’ll see how it goes, but it definitely seems like people will be reading.  In particular, I’d like to single out Scott Snyder and Yanick Paquette, the book’s current creative team, who have been super helpful both behind the scenes and in public.  It’s a big deal to be taking over a title from two such brilliant fellows, and their support means a ton.

Now, as far as what I’m going to be doing on the book… well, I don’t want to get too specific, because I think a lot of the joy in experiencing entertainment in any medium is coming to it as fresh as possible.  If you want a few hints, though, you can read the interview I did over at i09 to coincide with the announcement that I’m the new writer.  Another, more general indication, can be seen here:

That lovely tweet pretty much sums up what I want to do.  Anything and everything goes, except a boring Swampy.

The interior art on the book will be handled by Kano, and I’ll tell you, from what I’ve seen he’s going to absolutely KILL it (in the best way.)  Covers are by Andy Brase, and… likewise.  The first piece of art from my run to be released is the unfinished cover you can see below:

Beautiful, no?  Just wait until you see the final version.

My first issue will hit in April 2013, probably the first week.  If you want to stay up to date on Swamp Thing and other things I have going on, the best way is to follow me on Twitter, or keep checking this space.  See you in the funnybooks!

 

This week…

This has been quite a week.  Crazy rumors about projects I might be taking on in the new year, the release of the first digital chapter of Strange Attractors (and the first feedback on that chapter…), actually finishing Strange Attractors and turning all of the files in to the publisher, the release of the Mankind graphic novel from the History Channel featuring one of my stories and of course, Christmas around the corner as well as the onset of 2013.

It’s been good.  I’d like to quickly chat about all of this stuff before I delve into a short holiday break – no time for a long one, and sometimes it feels like I’ll never have time for a long vacation again.  But I’m not complaining!

1. The crazy rumor.

No comment!  All I will say is that the rumor generated a lot of supportive tweets, FB posts and so on, and regardless of its veracity, I was extremely touched by people’s apparent faith that if a rumor like that were true, that I could do a good job.  Thank you!

2. Strange Attractors finished.

In case you’re coming to this blog for the first time (which seems possible – I’ve been getting a lot of traffic recently, presumably because of (1)), Strange Attractors is my next big creator-owned project, a story about two complexity mathematicians who figure out how to manipulate all of New York City’s layered systems to turn it into kind of an engine.  It’s very grounded sci-fi, I suppose, and I’m very excited about it.  It’s due out from Archaia this March, as one of their beautiful hardcovers.

Anyway, the book is indeed finished!  The team and I worked overtime over the last few weeks to get everything done, and it feels like we spent as much time on the last minute tweaks as we did putting the whole book together.  That’s obviously not true – the first art for this book came in around July 2010 (most of that hasn’t been used, except for the final cover by Dan Duncan), and the final team has been working on it steadily since May 2011.  Regardless, it’s without a doubt the most complex and time-consuming project I’ve ever done, on all levels, and I hope that people enjoy what we created.  As a taste – there will be plenty more to come, I’m sure – here’s the very last piece of art I got for the book, one of the amazing complexity maps created by Robert Saywitz.  They’re amazing on their own, and even cooler as they’re used in the story.  Check it out:

Gorgeous.

3. Strange Attractors Digital!

As I’ve discussed here and there in the past, Strange Attractors is getting a Digital First release from Archaia, which means that it will be serialized in roughly four chapters leading up to the release of the hardcover.  It’s set up to be read on your digital devices – e-readers, ipads, etc.  The first chapter is available now, right here.  Totally affordable, too – $2.99 for 26 full-color, gorgeous pages!  Treat yourself – it’s the holidays!

We even got our first review, from the cool folks at Comicosity.  They gave it a 9.0/10, and here’s a representative quote:

“I highly recommend this first chapter in Strange Attractors.”

Whaddya want?  If you need more, click over – I’d love to send them the hits.  Suffice it to say, they dug it, which is incredibly encouraging and gratifying.  Getting something new out into the world is always nerve-wracking, and it’s wonderful to be able to think that the time and effort we’ve put in might connect with readers.

3. Mankind: the Story of All of Us

Over the summer, I wrote a story for the second volume of the graphic novel series the History Channel put together to be released in conjunction with their epic miniseries Mankind: The Story of All of Us.  It’s the biggest production they’ve ever done, a multi-part series covering the evolution of human society over the millennia.  Super cool, and I was thrilled to have a part in it.  I wrote a 16-page story entitled “The Gun,” which deals with the invention and innovation surrounding firearms, mostly in China, and it’s really great stuff.  The art’s wonderful, and the other stories are all amazing too.  You can get it here – I think it might be a great gift for teen readers, if you know any young folks into history (not bad for adults, either!)  Here’s the kickass Neal Adams cover:

And there you have it.  I’m sure we’ll have a lot more to talk about soon – 2013 is looking like a really big year, and I couldn’t be more excited about it.