PERILS ON PLANET X - THE DEFINITIVE COLLECTION On Sale Now!

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls... AVAILABLE AT LAST! The PERILS ON PLANET X Definitive Collection Trade Paperback!

This handsome 140-page tome contains the entire 2016 "Hawke of Terra" miniseries by Yours Truly & Gene Gonzales, all the original 2002 webcomics drawn by Jon Plante, a bonus story, sketchbooks and a pin-up gallery. All in Color on high-quality paper stock and available with two variant covers!

Just $25 + shipping. Click on the links below to get yours TODAY! (Please SHARE and spread the word!)

Gene Gonzales Cover

 

Eduardo Barreto Cover

PERILS ON PLANET X Collection Coming Soon

So, I was hoping to have the Perils On Planet X: The Definitive Collection trade paperback available for purchase this month, but I got sidetracked by other projects (and my office has been uncomfortably cold for the last several weeks and I've been avoiding it). Now, I'm aiming for a late May-early June release. The book is shaping up nicely - I just received Gene Gonzales' beautiful new cover art (the book will also be available with a variant cover by the late Eduardo Barreto) - and will include all three issues of the "Hawke of Terra" miniseries, all of the 2002 webcomics by Jon Plante, sketchbook and gallery features... and more.

So, if you're one of the three people who've been pestering me for a collection for the past few years, start saving your pennies now! This one's gonna cost you!

Coming This Summer

Cover art by Mike Wolfer and Ceci de la Cruz.

It's been a long time since I last updated this site. It's not because I haven't been working on things. I'm simply trying to not announce stuff that isn't complete or have a concrete print date anymore. Too many times I've announced projects that I was working on, only to never have them materialize.

I've written two Edgar Rice Burroughs-based comics for American Mythology Productions - Carson of Venus #1 and The Moon Maid #1. The two books make up the first two chapters in American Mythology's "Fear On Four Worlds" ERB crossover event (tying in with their existing Land That Time Forgot and Pellucidar books), and if sales warrant, they will be followed up by new miniseries. Carson is scheduled for June, and Moon Maid for July.

Cover art by Mike Wolfer and Ceci de la Cruz.

If you can, PLEASE pre-order these from your local comics shop - otherwise, they may not stock them. Diamond Order Code for Carson of Venus is APR181254 for the Main Cover and APR181255 for the Cyrus Mesarcia variant cover.

Hopefully, sales on these will justify American Mythology following them up with new miniseries. I hope so, because I'd really like to write them (and could use the work!). In particular, I've already got some great ideas (I think) for a Carson Of Venus miniseries...

Writing Plans

 My 2017 writing plans:

On Monday, January 1st, 2017, I start writing what I hope will be the first in a series of 70's pop-styled, space war action novels, tentatively titled Raid on Inferno. I have it loosely outlined - I've found in the past that if I do too much planning I feel stifled in the writing, and this time I want to try and keep it loose. I'm psyching myself up for it now.) My intention is to self-publish under the Atomic Pulp imprint through Amazon's program as both e-books and paperbacks. 

This is a big change in direction for me as I have almost exclusively only written comic books (and it's pretty much all I've ever wanted to write) and short fiction under 5,000 words. But my only two active comics projects (noted below) have stalled out or been postponed indefinitely, and while I'll keep plugging away at them, I've decided that it's time to try a different medium.

I'm nervous as hell about the idea of writing long-form prose, and as I struggle constantly with ADD and poor self-discipline, I'm worried that I won't be able to focus on a  single project long enough to complete even a short novel. But I've been receiving a lot of encouragement and support from my friends and fans on Facebook, and I'm going to give it my best shot.

I've also "dusted off" the first few chapters of my hardboiled fantasy mystery novel, The Sorcerer's Detective, and done some more outlining on that, too. I plan on keeping that on a side burner (so to speak) so if I get bogged down on the space opera, I can maybe switch over to the fantasy for a while.

I still have some Space Crusaders comics script writing to do, so I have that to fit in, and if Gravedigger starts up again, I'll have some more to write there, as well.

In terms of time, I should easily accomplish all of that (the only real benefit of being essentially unemployable). But it's discipline/focus that I have trouble with, so we'll see how well I deal with those issues in the New Year.

Wednesday Covers: The Expendables

No, not those Expendables. These Expendables were a group of rogue space adventurers created by author Edmund Cooper (under the pen name of "Richard Avery") back in the 1970s. The four book series was published by Fawcett, and all the volumes sported terrific cover art by Ken Kelly. Enjoy!

STAR TREK @ 50

I’m one year older than Star Trek. Of course, as memories of my early years are lost to the fog of infancy and toddlerhood, I don’t recall really becoming aware of its existence until I was about nine years old, when, in 1974, the Star Trek animated series became a staple of my Saturday morning cartoon viewing. Around the same time, I received a Mego Captain Kirk action figure for Christmas. Other random Trek toys – and a few James Blish paperback novelizations – followed, and for Christmas of 1976, my favorite cousin gifted me with a copy of Bjo Trimble’s seminal Star Trek Concordance.

You’ll have noticed that I haven’t mentioned the original series as yet, and that’s because, in the early Seventies, Trek rarely appeared on any of the four television channels our rooftop aerial was capable of snagging out of the ether. So my love for Kirk, Spock, McCoy, et al, was first nurtured via the cartoon and Blish paperbacks. When I got the Concordance, with its encyclopedic coverage of the classic series, I was able to familiarize myself with the episodes I had not yet seen, whetting my appetite to the point of nigh-insatiability.

Of course, eventually, I saw the entire series (although a few of those episodes eluded me until my sojourn to art school in Jersey in the early 80s, where I finally received a TV channel that aired the show nightly), and, already well-indoctrinated in the mythos, found my passion for the 23rd century and the crew of the U.S.S Enterprise continuing to grow and thrive. Then came The Motion Picture, The Wrath and The Search. There was a Voyage Home, a somewhat disappointing detour into The Final Frontier, and an emotional denouement on the shores of an Undiscovered Country.

Other treks followed, with next generations, lost voyagers and denizens on the edge of deep space, but it was always the (sadly truncated) original Five-Year-Mission that inspired and informed the person I became.

I learned the value of reason and logic from an alien with pointed ears and a Satanic visage. I learned the nobility of humanity and compassion toward all life, regardless of shape, color or form, from an anachronistic Southern medic. And, most importantly, I learned about the worth of boldness, courage, and tempered wisdom from a charming leader with a confident swagger sporting a gold tunic. Kirk was a fighter, a diplomat, a philosopher - and a libidinous wolf – but in my eyes, he was the best of us as a species. He wasn’t perfect – and to his credit, usually admitted his flaws and acknowledged his mistakes – but he was also a man of intelligence and action, who sought out brave new worlds and always had his eye on the future.

I have aspired to all of these things, and usually fallen woefully short. But Star Trek continues to fire my imagination, fuel my creative efforts, inform my social conscience and drive my personal ambitions. To me, it’s not just a television show, and apparently, many, many others feel the same way. If that wasn’t the case, then we wouldn’t be celebrating the anniversary of its debut fifty years ago today. The brand wouldn’t be gracing new movies and TV shows (regardless of their relative merits) on our screens, large and small(er). And Star Trek wouldn’t still be sparking imaginations and inspiring so many people, of all ages and backgrounds.

May Gene Roddenberry’s vision of humanity’s future live long and prosper... and the U.S.S. Enterprise and her valiant crew go boldly on forever.

Process: SPACE CRUSADERS

This past week and a half, I've been writing dialogue and placing rough lettering for the Rex Dexter of Mars story, "Menace of the Saurian Sphere," from my forthcoming graphic novel anthology with artist Peter Grau, Space Crusaders.

About two years ago, I sent Peter a plot, which described, page by page, the action of the story. Various life circumstances delayed further work for a while, but he recently finished his layouts/rough pencils for the whole tale. A week or so back, I needed to take a break from Gravedigger for a while, so I took Peter's roughs, loaded them into page templates and started writing the dialogue - and lettering the pages at the same time.

I find that lettering comics pages as I write the dialogue works very well for me - I scripted the last Gravedigger the same way. It helps me to see exactly where the words will be and allows me to make sure that I don't over write. And as a graphic designer, I think I'm pretty good at integrating the lettering with the art in a way that complements both.

Anyway -- I've now completed the script and letters for the Rex Dexter story, and I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. It's going to be a while yet before the book itself is done - Peter still needs to ink and color the story, and we still have a second feature to do - but it's definitely a testament to Peter's storytelling skill that I never had an easier time dialoguing one of my own plots.

As always... stay tuned for future updates.

Wednesday Cover: Maza of the Moon

The artwork of the great Frank Frazetta graces the cover of Maza Of the Moon, an interplanetary adventure by Otis Edelbert Kline. I just acquired this vintage Ace paperback and have added it to my already formidable "To Be Read" stack...

ON SALE NOW! PERILS ON PLANET X Print Editions

After more than 15 years in production, all three issues of the interplanetary swashbuckler, Perils On Planet X,  by Yours Truly and Gene Gonzales, with colors by Ian Sokoliwski, are available to purchase NOW!

They are only available by mail order from IndyPlanet. This is is the best way to support us and the book, as the profits go directly to Gene and myself. Each issue is 32 full-color pages, printed on high-quality, heavy paper stock and includes pin-up art by several well-known comics creators.

Sales of these issues will help Gene and I determine whether there's enough demand for Volume 2: "Agent of Empyr," so if you'd like to see further Perils On Planet X adventures, be sure to order your copies soon.

Space Crusader: Rex Dexter Of Mars!

Art by Peter Grau

For the last couple years, as I've teased Peter Grau's Space Crusaders prelim art, I've promised that I'd share more details about the project once we'd made some significant headway on pages. Well, now that we've got some momentum going, I thought it it was time to reveal a bit more about the project to you folks.

Space Crusaders is the working title of a "double feature" graphic novel that resurrects a couple of space hero characters from the Golden Age of comics.

The artwork I've shown so far is from the first of those two features: a 30-page "novella" called "Menace of the Saurian Sphere," starring Dick Briefer's Rex Dexter Of Mars character, who originally appeared in Mystery Men Comics, beginning in 1939. I've long loved the Mars-born Rex Dexter character (and his Earth girlfriend, Cynde), and thought it would be fun to pay tribute to Briefer with a new Rex adventure.

As for the second feature and its Golden Age space ace... well, I'm going to keep that one under wraps a while longer.

Wednesday Covers: Gullivar Jones On The Loose!

At one point in the 1970s, Marvel Comics, unable to secure the comic book rights to Edgar Rice Burroughs' "John Carter of Mars" stories (which were being published at rival DC), began adapting author Edwin Lester Arnold's 1905 sci-fi novel, Lieut. Gullivar Jones: His Vacation, in the pages of Creatures On The Loose!

Arnold's novel was a precursor to Burroughs' interplanetary fantasies, with a number of story similarities to the first few John Carter adventures. Marvel drafted their top cover artist, the legendary Gil Kane, to play up those similarities, leading to a pretty amazing run of swashbuckling, action-packed cover illustrations.Here are a few of them:

A Long Time Ago, In A Galaxy Far, Far Away...

The SPACE CRUSADERS are coming!

I love getting art in my e-mail inbox! This time from another project ever-so-slowly inching its way to realization... the tentatively-titled Space Crusaders, a space opera anthology graphic novel drawn by artist Peter Grau. Peter and I have been slowly pulling it together over the last year or two, but it's starting to gain some momentum now. Once we get a solid chunk of pages together, I'll share more specifics obout the book.Got a bunch of awesome designs in the inbox this week; here's a peek!

Art © 2015 Peter Grau

Art © 2015 Peter Grau

Art © 2015 Peter Grau

Wednesday Cover: FLASH GORDON

This one is cool. It's the fourth volume of Tempo Books' late 70s paperback reprints of the Flash Gordon newspaper strips, and its cover features a rare, non-painted cover illustration by Boris Vallejo. I have several of Vallejo's art books, and I always thought that his freehand line drawings were more dynamic than most of his paintings, which often have a very "posed" quality. Since, according to those aforementioned books, he frequently painted using posed photos of models, that's probably not too surprising.

It Came From Outer Space

Here's another sneak peek at the "secret" space opera graphic novel I'm working on with artist Peter Grau (which is still probably a year or two from completion).

This little fella (we haven't settled on the color yet, thus the multiple hues - though I'm leaning toward the green) is an interstellar critter known as a "globlin." They cling to spaceships and get stuck in the jets. This particular specimen's name is "Kooba.," because of his affinity for a certain 22nd Century soft drink brand.

More - much more - to come.

Wednesday Cover(s): Chaykin's BUCK ROGERS

So, Hermes Press has just collected their Buck Rogers miniseries by Howard Chaykin. I didn't read the individual comics, but I pre-ordered it in trade, and expect it to arrive in a week or so. I don't always like Chaykin's comics, but when I do, I tend to like them a lot. In the 80s, I adored American Flagg, and the writer/artist is responsible for creating one of my all-time favorite comics characters - Atlas Comics' The Scorpion. I also dug his 80s Shadow miniseries (and will probably pick up his recent return to the character eventually), among many other titles.

I've read online that this version of Buck Rogers hews more closely to the original Philip Francis Nowlan pulp novellas, Armageddon 2419 A.D. and The Airlords Of Han.... and I think that's a great approach. Hey, I love the 70s TV series as much as anyone (and more than most), but it's about time to get back to the character's roots.

Here are Chaykin's covers for the four issue miniseries.

Wednesday Cover: The City Outside The World

The City Outside The World is one of Lin Carter's Mars Novels, a four book cycle of  homages (or pastiches, if you prefer) of Leigh Brackett's own stories set on the Red Planet. It's also the only one in the series I don't yet own. Still, I'm featuring it here because I find this cover painting (by an artist I haven't identified as yet) quite handsome and evocative of the Interplanetary Romance genre.

Wednesday Cover: Abandon Galaxy!

 

Abandon Galaxy! is the second of two "Commander Craig Galactic Adventures" by "Bart Somers," one of the countless pseudonyms used by the prolific Gardner F. Fox. 

Although published in the late Sixties, the "Commander Craig" books (the first tome is called Beyond The Black Enigma) harken back to 30's-styled space opera pulp, and are outrageously plotted. Great fun. I'm not certain who the cover artist is, but it's been suggested to me that it might be the work of Jack Gaughn.

Star Trek Continues...

There are numerous fan-made Star Trek series online. James Cawley's Star Trek: New Voyages/Phase II is probably the best known, and over the years, his team have produced a number of enjoyable Trek adventures . But, in my opinion, the best at capturing the feel of the classic series is Vic Mignogna's Star Trek Continues. The cast includes James Doohan's son Chris Doohan as Scotty and Mythbuster's Grant Imahara as Sulu. The sets, costumes, and overall production values are uncannily accurate, and the visual effects are terrific! Vic Mignogna, an experienced actor with lots of voice work to his credit, personally plays James Kirk, and he does a remarkable job of channeling the great Bill Shatner, and never lapses into parody. It's amazing how well he captures Shatner's swagger.

The first episode, "Pilgrim of Eternity," is a sequel to TOS' "Who Mourns For Adonais," with original actor Michael Forest reprising his role as Greek god Apollo. The second episode, "Lolani," revolves around a fugitive Orion slave girl and her owner - played by Lou Ferrigno (in green body paint, of course)!

The third episode, "The Fairest Of Them All," a direct sequel to the classic "Mirror, Mirror," went live this week (you can find it on the Star Trek Continues YouTube channel), and it's another winner.

If, like me, you find the new Star Trek films by J.J. Abrams and company lacking the spirit and style of Gene Roddenberry's original show, I highly recommend that you check it out.

Along with the three full-length episodes, the Continues crew has shot a couple of short Trek vignettes, too. Here's my favorite - and a nice sample of the show's production values.

Wednesday Covers: Cap Kennedy

I don't know much about DAW Books' "Cap Kennedy" series, written by British sci-fi scribe E.C. Tubb under the pseudonym of "Gregory Kern." Nor do I know the name of the artist (I'm now told that it's Jack Gaughan) that painted these covers. What I do know is that the series was published in the 1970s and ran for at least 17 volumes.

I've never read any of these, but being as the tagline "Secret Agent of the Spaceways" appears to combine at least two of my favorite genres, I suspect that I'll hunt down a copy or two one of these days.