My Future Comics Plans

People keep asking about whether or not there will be future installments of Femme Noir and Perils On Planet X. The short answer: there's nothing planned.

Joe Staton and I did have a Femme Noir miniseries in the works, and had it pretty much ready to go. We even thought we had a major publisher lined up... but it fell through. Other publishers were approached and seemed mildly interested, but offered no commitments. With Joe's Dick Tracy workload, it's not practical to produce a four-issue miniseries on spec, so....

As for Perils On Planet X, we simply haven't sold enough copies of the first miniseries for Gene Gonzales and I to feel that a second would be worth our while. I'm still trying to get the existing issues on Comixology and may put together a trade paperback collection, so if there's a spike in interest/sales it's not impossible that we'll get to produce Volumes 2 and 3, but it's not very likely.

 

So, what is in the works?

There will be a new Gravedigger miniseries, "The Abductors," most likely in late 2017 from Action Lab comics. Rick Burchett and I also have plans for a very different comics project - a sci-fi adventure epic - once Gravedigger Vol. 2 is finished.

I'm still working on the Space Crusaders graphic novel with Peter Grau, though I have no idea when it will be finished... and that's all I have cooking at the moment, comics-wise.

I have a couple other projects percolating, but they're in the earliest stages, and I'm waiting on some collaborators to find time in their schedules.

So, there we go. I've got some scripts to finish up that should keep me busy through the end of the year, but not much planned for next year. 

 

Hopefully, I'll find some artists that want to team up with me on some new stuff... I've got lots of stories left to tell.

Starts Wednesday: FEMME NOIR - "An Eye For A Spy"

Beginning on Wednesday, May 11, Femme Noir co-creator Joe Staton and I will begin re-presenting a classic Femme Noir adventure originally serialized online back in 2003-04, "An Eye for A Spy!" This version has been "remastered," with new colors by Michael Watkins and newly re-lettered by Yours Truly.

New pages will appear on Wednesdays at: http://www.femme-noir.com/

This Weekend: BANGOR COMIC & TOY CONVENTION

 For those of you Maine and New England folks attending the Bangor Comic & Toy Convention at the Cross Insurance Center in Bangor, Maine this weekend, I'll be there all day on Saturday and Sunday, and will have sale copies of the Femme Noir comic books (tho I'm almost out of issue #1), Gravedigger (comics & trades), Shadow House, the Night Driver graphic novel, and the Kolchak The Night Stalker trade paperback collections that contain the two Kolchak miniseries I wrote. I'll also have a few copies of the Spider Chronicles, Captain Midnight Chronicles and Werewolves: Dead Moon Rising short story anthologies available.

In addition, my lovely better half, Brandi, will have some of her handmade geek-themed jewelry for sale at our table for you craftsy types.

Saturday afternoon, at 2:00, I'll be doing a panel (is it still a panel, if you're alone?) on Comics Writing, and Saturday night, around 8 PM, I'll be hosting a sci-fi double feature screening of 1953's Cat Women Of The Moon and 1959's Teenagers From Outer Space.

Hoping to meet a lot of cool new people (and customers!) and maybe catch up with some old friends. Hey, you never know.

Femme Noir: A Gruesome Twosome

Another peek at the new graphic novel-in-progress. Introducing two new additions to the Femme Noir rogues gallery: Wilhelm Skreem & E.C. “Ghastly” Gaines. (Actually, Ghastly’s appeared once before….) And both of these guys work for Madame Morella MaCabre’s “Ghoul Squad,” of course!

Art by Joe Staton & Rick Burchett, with colors by Matt Webb!

Sneak Peek: The New Femme Noir!

I'm pleased to announce that the Femme Noir team - Yours Truly, artist Joe Staton, inker Rick Burchett, and colorist Matt Webb - have begun production of a new Femme Noir miniseries, "Cold, Dead Fingers."  I can't say when it will be finished, but I'm hopeful that it will be completed this year, and probably see print in 2016. No publisher yet, but I have been having some encouraging discussions.

To celebrate this new beginning, I thought you folks might like to take a look at the first page of our forthcoming supernatural crime saga. To make it more special, I'm going to share with you the process that we employ in making our Femme Noir funnybooks.

I. It Begins With The Word: In this case, I wrote a detailed plot, breaking down the storytelling in some detail. No dialogue or captions as yet - I write those after I have Joe's penciled pages in hand; as I am the letterer as well as writer, I basically do both at the same time. Here's how the plot described this first splash page:

PANEL 1. And here we go…. We begin with a movie poster-styled splash page. In the center of the image is a full-length shot of Le Femme, hat pulled down low, guns in hands, trenchcoat whipping in the wind. Behind her is a sketched in Port Nocturne skyline. On the left, there’s a huge, spookily-lit “ghostly” head shot of our brutish killer – in this iteration, he’s called “Crusher” Corrigan – and below him, a full-length image of mad scientist Dr. Karl Boroff. On the right hand side of the page, opposite Corrigan’s scary melon, is an equally spooky “ghost” head of Madame Morella MaCabre. Below her, opposite of Boroff, is a full-length figure of plainclothes dick Lt. Rod Riley, pistol drawn.

Below that, room for the title lettering – ‘COLD, DEAD FINGERS’ - and a breathless introductory caption.

II. Joe's Deadly Pencil: From this florid description, Joe draws the page in pencil, employing his considerable talent and experience, working his magic:

Joe then e-mails me a lo-res jpeg to review. Once I've looked it over, and am sure that we're both happy with it, Joe then e-mails the page as a hi-res image file to...

III. Putting The Noir In Femme Noir: ...inker Rick Burchett. Joe and Rick have worked together numerous times before, perhaps most memorably on the 1980s incarnation of E-Man. In this case, Rick is applying his atmospheric blacks digitally, using his Cintique tablet.

Once completed, Rick sends jpeg files to both Joe and I to see if we have any notes. If everything's cool, as it is here, the image is then sent on to our last teammate.

IV. Dangerous Hues: Colorist Matt Webb gets his hands on the page next, and with the original script for reference (and having colored several Femme Noir adventures before), Matt digitally - and dramatically - colors the page.

Nice, huh? Once again, a lo-resolution copy of the colors is sent out for approval of all and sundry. Then, it all comes back to me.

V. The Final Words:  With the finished page in my e-mail box, I take it into Photoshop and fit it into the appropriate page template. Having scripted the dialogue - or in this case, caption - when I got the pencils, I then do the lettering in Illustrator. Finally, I drop the text in on the page back in Photoshop...  and voilà!

So that's how we do it. Repeat for pages 2, 3, 4 and so on... until the book is complete.

Stay tuned here for future Femme Noir updates, sneak peeks and announcements (which will always appear here first!).

Femme Noir Vs Grendel

My Femme Noir collaborator, Joe Staton, will be appearing at the Baltimore Comic-Con, September 5 -7. At the show, they’ll be distributing a charity Yearbook with art by the guests. Those artists with creator-owned characters were asked to draw them interacting with Matt Wagner’s character Grendel. This is Joe’s contribution, with colors by Matt Webb, pitting The Blonde against the Hunter Rose incarnation of Grendel, among the rooftops of Port Nocturne.

I’d love to see this crossover become a reality… but only if Wagner writes it.

Hey Kids! Comics!

I know I haven't been posting to this blog much in the last few months, but Spring is here and all the distractions that plagued me over the Winter From Hell™ are receding in the rear-view mirror, so it's time to get back to the "shameless self-promotion and pop culture commentary" this site promised.

Let's begin with  the "self-promotion," and a long-overdue look at the Atomic Pulp line of webcomics. If you're reading this, then your almost certainly aware that I write, and publish online, three weekly, serialized webcomics (did I mention that they're free?): Gravedigger, Perils On Planet X, and Femme Noir.

• Gravedigger is more than halfway through its action-packed second continuity, "The Predators." Over the last couple months we've had some scheduling issues due to various circumstances on both my part and multiple-award-winning artist/co-creator Rick Burchett's, but it looks like we're back on track now, with new installments every Monday. Once "The Predators" wraps, we plan to move right into the third - and biggest - Gravedigger caper, tentatively titled, "The Abductors." Like "The Predators," this one is brand-new, and has never been available in any format before.

• Every Wednesday sees an episode of Femme Noir, drawn by my pal, Joe Staton, who is currently shaking up the funny pages as the artist on the Dick Tracy newspaper strip. At the moment, we are re-presenting previously-published stories while we gear up to produce a new graphic novel.

• The most popular of the Atomic Pulp webcomics (in terms of monthly traffic) is Perils On Planet X, which updates on Fridays. This swashbuckling interplanetary adventure, which is illustrated by the immensely talented Gene Gonzales, and colored by Ian Sokoliwski, has updated like clockwork for more than a year now, with no missed weeks. We're about a third of the way into Chapter Three of the first storyline, "Hawke Of Terra," and looking toward the future. We're working on plans for a collected volume (and maybe some crowdfunding to pull it off) of this first "Book," as well as discussing future stories.

• We appreciate all comments and feedback from our readers. We also appreciate every link and referral, because the more readers we have, the easier it is justify keeping them going. So thanks, to everyone who's helped spread the word... and if you haven't read them yet: why not?

Webcomics On A Card

It's tough to promote webcomics (Femme Noir, Perils On Planet X, Gravedigger) sitting behind a table at a convention, but I made up a bunch of postcards for this weekend's Coast City Comicon that I'll be handing out, with all the website info printed on them. Maybe a few folks will go online and check 'em out after the show....

Weekly Webcomics Update 08/12/13

This week's Atomic Pulp comics news/update:

Monday is the FINAL episode of Gravedigger: The Scavengers by Yours Truly & Rick Burchett! But... have no fear, because the next, all new, Digger McCrae caper, The Predators, begins in just a couple of weeks!

http://www.gravediggercomic.com/

Wednesday is the launch of the new Femme Noir website, beginning with a serialization of the "origin" story (stories?) "Blonde Justice," with art by Joe Staton, inks by Horacio Ottolini and colors by Melissa Kaercher. Even if you own this issue or have simply read it before, I hope you'll drop by and check out the new digs!

http://www.femme-noir.com/

And, of course, Perils On Planet X continues this Friday, with the third installment of Chapter 2, "Flight Into Terror," with art by Gene Gonzales and colors by Ian Sokoliwski.
http://www.perilsonplanetx.com/

Femme Noir Returns

Okay - not too long ago, I promised that I would soon have an announcement regarding Femme Noir, the comic that I co-created with artist Joe Staton. Here it is (although it's really two announcements, I guess):

On August 14th, we're re-launching www.femme-noir.com, where Joe and I will be re-presenting classic Femme Noir comics and archiving all the pin-ups, fan art and character sketches that have been created over the last 10+ years since we debuted our fishnet-clad heroine online. We will also be using the site to keep fans informed on the progress of a new Femme Noir graphic novel, which we're shooting to get out next year.

All four issues of the 2009 "Dark City Diaries" miniseries, as well as previously-published short stories & online strips, will be serialized - for FREE - online, a page a week. If you already have these comics in your collection, the online versions will be supplemented with new bonus material (samples of Joe's pencils, my original script pages, commentary, etc.). The site will also function as a “Production Log” for the new graphic novel – and any other future Femme Noir projects/products.

It is our hope that new readers will enjoy the stories as serialized, but, of course, the print versions will also be available for purchase from publisher Ape Entertainment (as long as supplies last!) for the impatient. We also hope that folks who already have these stories will enjoy the bonuses and project updates. Along with the reruns, we'll be occasionally previewing work-in-progress art from the forthcoming graphic novel, "Cold, Dead Fingers," and have other surprises in the works, as well.

Now... about that "Cold, Dead Fingers: The Graphic Novel." This will be a completely re-written and re-drawn, extended version of the very first Femme Noir online comics continuity, which appeared way back in 2000-2001. The basic plot remains the same, but it will be considerably expanded-upon, with additional characters, subplots, and action beats.

Femme Noir co-creator Joe Staton will, as always, pencil the book, and my frequent collaborator, Gravedigger artist Rick Burchett, has volunteered to ink it. Rick got his professional start inking Joe on E-Man at First Comics in the 1980s, and they make a formidable artistic team. Colors will be provided by the talented Matt Webb, who previously colored a couple issues of "The Dark City Diaries" miniseries. We're starting production on "Cold, Dead Fingers" this month, and hope to have it completed and released sometime in 2014.

Anyway - I know some folks will be disappointed that this announcement is mostly about re-presenting the existing Femme Noir stories online, but it is our hope that we'll be able to provide enough new content to keep our old fans interested and involved, while using the serialized web versions to attract new readers. So that's the news: classic Femme Noir serialized online for free, lots of bonus material (new and old), and a new graphic novel gearing up.

We hope you’ll check out femme-noir.com in a couple of weeks and make it a regular part of your online reading habit.

Pulp, Atomic-Style

It's no secret that as a writer I've had a few rough years, and haven't been nearly as prolific/productive as I'd like. There are a lot of reasons for that - many (if not most) of them of my own making. As per my New Year's resolution, 2013 has been all about the Atomic Pulp brand - i.e. finishing up the creator-owned comics projects that had been languishing (Gravedigger & Perils On Planet X), reviving older properties (Femme Noir), and getting started on some new projects that have percolating in my brain for a long, long time (Skorpion, "The Issue #200 Project," Star Busters, Young Felons In Love).

With half the year already gone, I haven't made quite as much progress as I'd hoped, but with the Gravedigger and Perils On Planet X comics running weekly online, I've at least made real headway on those particular projects and have raised my profile a tiny bit. I'm currently working on a new Femme Noir graphic novel, which I'll be sending to artist Joe Staton around the end of the month (I hope!) and have started plotting a new Gravedigger caper that both Rick Burchett and I are quite psyched about.

I also am working on plans to re-present the already-existing Femme Noir comic book material, and should have some news on that front shortly.

If I can keep my shit together, I should be able to get to work on new stuff by mid-Autumn (the above-mentioned "Issue #200 Project," Star Busters and Young Felons In Love), and maybe, in 2014, I can start looking for freelance comics work again (assuming anyone would be interested in hiring me).

In many ways, I'm my own worst enemy, allowing myself to get discouraged too easily, and letting that discouragement paralyze me for ridiculously long periods of time. I'm working hard to get past that, though. I just turned 48 years old this week, and there are so many stories I still want to tell....

Noir In The Key Of Gold

My pal Steve Bryant was sharing some faux-retro, Golden Age Athena Voltaire covers on his Facebook page today. It made me want to play around in Photoshop, too, so I whipped up this variant of the second issue of the Femme Noir miniseries from a few years back, in the style of old Gold Key Comics.The art is by Joe Staton and Alfredo Lopez Jr.

Work In Progress

So far, my New Year's Resolution to finish up all my stalled comics projects is going pretty well - in the last few weeks I've written new Gravedigger and Perils On Planet X script pages, set those two features up as weekly webcomic sites (HERE and HERE), and started on the script for a Femme Noir graphic novel to be illustrated by my partner-in-crime, Joe Staton... and it's still January!

Once I get those done, *maybe* I can finally get back to Captain Midnight - both the comic and the novel I started last Summer - assuming I still have a publisher.

If your comics diet lacks sufficient quantities of essential pulp, please check out - and bookmark - the websites for the above-mentioned, forthcoming weekly webcomics Perils On Planet X (with Gene Gonzales) and Gravedigger (with Rick Burchett):
 
Both weekly comics debut at the beginning of February! Thank you for your support... and please tell your friends!

FEMME NOIR: Demon Bat

And, in celebration of "Creator-Owned Comics Day," here's 5-page Femme Noir sampler by yours truly, Dick Tracy artist Joe Staton, Mark Stegbauer and Michael Watkins, an action-packed, tongue-in-cheek tribute to one of my favorite Poverty Row Bela Lugosi pictures. This short originally appeared in the 2009 Free Comic Book Day special from Ape Entertainment. (I've actually posted this story here on the blog before, back in '09, but the images were hosted elsewhere and have since disappeared...)

And, of course, the trade paperback collection of the first Femme Noir comic book miniseries, The Dark City Diaries, is still available.

Femme Noir: Dark City Diaries

More Love for Femme Noir

Even at this late date, reviews of the Femme Noir: The Dark City Diaries graphic novel are still popping up here and there around the web. Today, my attention was called to this one on Dan Fleming's "My Year In Crime" blog:

In today's world of decompressed storytelling, where stories are stretched out to accommodate the inevitable collection, it's refreshing and welcome to see tales where so much can happen in a shorter page count.  It doesn't matter if the chapters are five pages or thirty, you'll get your money worth here.

I'm very glad Dan enjoyed it, and if you still haven't picked up your own copy - or just realized that it would make a great holiday gift for a friend - there's a link over there in the sidebar to Amazon, where the book is currently selling for about sixteen bucks.

Another FEMME NOIR Review!

Blogger Nick Ahlelm recently reviewed Femme Noir: The Dark City Diaries miniseries on his site as part of a "Pulp Month" theme. He had some very nice things to say, such as:

Each issue gives a done-in-one that builds on top the mystery of the character even as she fights villains that take the noir elements and push them straight in to pulp, whether it be a jungle woman or an evil robot. All of it seems to fit in place in the slightly strange city of Port Nocturne. It all works incredibly well together, but I don’t want to give away too much of the fun of this book.

You can read his full review here.

Nick also reviewed Air Fighters #1 from Moonstone Books, which included my first Captain Midnight comics story, "Pyramid of Fear."

You can read that review here.

New FEMME NOIR Review

Yep, even at this late date, people - or at least this guy - are still writing about the Femme Noir: The Dark City Diaries paperback collection.

In an industry that seems to rate it's heroines less on how badass they are and more on how little they wear, Femme Noir is a welcome breath of fresh air. She's a lady who'll kick your ass five ways from Sunday, can shoot blazing, twin-pistol death with the likes of the Shadow or the Spider, and doesn't have to dress like the Phantom Lady to battle evil.

Thanks, Stacy!

Oh - and since this is my shameless self-promotion blog (see, it says it right up there in the header): It's not too late to treat the mystery or comics fan on your Christmas list to a copy of the Femme Noir trade paperback! It's still available from Amazon and In-Stock Trades, among other dealers.

And, as I've mentioned before, my friends in marketing keep telling me that nothing helps sell books these days more than positive reviews at Amazon. If you've read and enjoyed the book already, I'd appreciate it if you took a moment to post a short review on the Femme Noir product page.

As for those of you who have already done so, please know that you have my gratitude.

Requesting a Favor....

Hey, folks! I'd like to ask a small favor of the loyal readers of this blog who have supported me and my writing efforts over the last few years. If you have read the Femme Noir: Dark City Diaries trade paperback and enjoyed it, I would be quite grateful if you could click on over to the product page at Amazon and post a short review of the book.

Joe Staton and I hope to have a new volume out in 2010 collecting the original Femme Noir webcomics, and it would help considerably if we could drum up some additional sales for the Dark City Diaries trade paperback.

I don't know how much good such reviews will actually do, but it can't hurt, and with the market the way it is these days, creators have to try everything they can to create awareness of their projects... and depend on their friends to help spread the word.

Thanks. Your help would be greatly appreciated.

Wednesday Cover: In Stores NOW!

According to the Diamond Distribution shipping list, the Spinetingler Award-winning Femme Noir Volume 1: The Dark City Diaries, 150 pages of pulp-flavored crime busting and thrilling mysteries, is arriving in comic book stores TODAY! This epic tome was written by yours truly and illustrated by Joe Staton, aided and abetted by Horacio Ottolini, Mark Stegbauer, Melissa Kaercher, Matt Webb and Michael Watkins.

If you were one of those who pre-ordered a copy from your local shop, then we thank you, because it was folks like you who made the trade paperback collection possible!

As I mentioned in a previous post, the book is also available through Ape Entertainment's online store, and should soon be on sale through bookstores and online booksellers.

The cover art for the trade paperback is by the amazing team of Joe Staton (pencils) and Alfredo Lopez, Jr. (digital painting).

Buy the Way...

My publishers, Ape Entertainment, have added the Femme Noir: Dark City Diaries trade paperback to their online store. It's not yet in comic book shops nor available online elsewhere (to my knowledge), but if you just can't wait to get your hands on it, you can order it from them.

Here's the Link.

Of course, if you pre-ordered it from your local dealer, you should pick it up from them and support your comic book store.