Antony Johnston

31st July 2009 / Dead Space / Wasteland / Julius / Appearances

I’m back from San Diego — no thanks to British Airways and Heathrow Airport, but that’s a whole other story.

It was, overall, a good con. Interesting Future Things™ may come of it. Or may not, who knows. I’m not going to give a rundown of everything that happened, as it would be rather boring to anyone who wasn’t there anyway. So, briefly:

Oni sold a lot of WASTELAND, including all of the hardcovers that we had at the show;

EA sold a lot of DEAD SPACE: EXTRACTION, and the lines for our signings were never-ending;

I met director F. Gary Gray for the first time, and instead of discussing JULIUS we spent much of the time chatting about our dogs;

I sold almost all of the scriptbooks, which surprised me. So I think I might make them a regular con item.

Thanks to everyone who came out to see me and Chris, or me and Ben. And especially to those crazy guys who bought the super-limited black cloth edition of WASTELAND.

Now, I go to sleep for a week.

Con Job

20th July 2009 / Dead Space / Wasteland / Appearances / On Sale

San Diego Comic-Con beckons once again. I have three books premiering at the show this year, so here’s a rundown of where I’ll be and what I’ll be doing.

New Books

First is WASTELAND: The Apocalyptic Edition, an oversized, cloth-bound hardback collection of the first thirteen issues (yes, including #7). It also includes:

— The Walking the Dust text pieces from those issues (with illustrations from Chris Mitten, Sam Kieth, Brian Hurtt, Robbi Rodriguez, Joe Infurnari and Joëlle Jones)

— A full colour gallery of Ben Templesmith’s issue covers

— A brand new introduction by Jeff Vandermeer

The book is 384pp, and now you can see why. It’s a real brick.

As if all that wasn’t enough, the edition we’re selling at San Diego is a special ultra-limited “black cloth” edition — signed and numbered, with a sketch plate, and it comes in an exclusive WASTELAND hemp bag. First come, first served, available only at the Oni Press booth.

Next is the DEAD SPACE: EXTRACTION one-shot comic.

This special issue focuses on Nicole Brennan, a character players of the original DEAD SPACE will be familiar with, in the days before Isaac Clarke was called out to the Ishimura.

Like the original comic series, it’s drawn by Ben Templesmith, and Ben and I will both be at the EA booth throughout the weekend to sign copies (see below for times).

You’ll also be able to try the game out for yourselves, if you’re so inclined. You might even get to hear some of my character dialogue, assuming you can hear anything over the noise of the con floor…

Finally, the first ever collection of my scripts (cunningly titled COLLECTED SCRIPTS: VOLUME ONE) will be on sale.

It collects seven scripts in total (at least one from each year of 2002-2007), features an introduction and notes on each script by myself, and clocks in at a fairly whopping 264pp.

COLLECTED SCRIPTS will only be available directly from me at Comic-Con 2009. It will not be made available in stores. I may consider selling copies direct from this site if there’s enough interest, but for now my intention is to sell the book at conventions only.

Signing Times

THURSDAY

12.00-1.00: Longbox Panel. I won’t actually be on this, sadly. I was asked to, but I probably won’t even be in town until it’s finished, so the ever-articulate Jamie McKelvie is standing in, for which I’m grateful. If you’re even mildly curious about the future of digital comics, you should attend this panel. Room 32AB.

3.00-4.00: Oni Press panel. Chris and I will be there to talk about the Apocalyptic Edition, and WASTELAND’s future (which looks rosy, rest assured). Room 10.

5.30-6.50: Signing at Oni Press. Booth #1833.

FRIDAY

11.30-12.50: Signing at Oni Press. Booth #1833.

1.00-2.00: Signing at EA. Booth #5213.

6.00-7.00: DEAD SPACE: EXTRACTION panel. Myself, Ben and producers Steve Papoutsis and Chuck Beaver will be there to talk about cross-media storytelling, what’s in store with the game, and how we all work together. Room 2.

SATURDAY

11.30-12.50: Signing at Oni Press. Booth #1833.

1.00-2.00: Signing at EA. Booth #5213.

SUNDAY

11.30-12.50: Signing at Oni Press. Booth #1833.

1.00-2.00: Signing at EA. Booth #5213.

…And that’s your lot. Hope to see you there!

WASTELAND #25 on sale

6th July 2009 / Wasteland / On Sale

WASTELAND #25 goes on sale (finally!) this week.

As I mentioned before, this is a double-length, full-colour issue (with painted art from regular series artist Christopher Mitten) that delves into the history between Michael and Sultan Ameer.

The Diamond order code is JAN094382, and here’s the solicit text:

Michael and Sultan Ameer were once friends. So why are they now so hostile? The answer lies in the city of Waters Meet. Ten years ago, Ameer’s machine caravan rolled into town — and Michael found himself at the centre of a whirlwind of love, lust, tragedy and betrayal! Don’t miss this special double-length, full color anniversary issue!

Once again, I can only apologise for the delay. This is the first time we’ve done a full colour issue, and we miscalculated how long it would take to finish. That wouldn’t have been so bad, but as a result we subsequently missed our printer slot, which pushed it back even further. We screwed up, plain and simple, and we’re sorry.

But hopefully you’ll agree it was worth the wait — and don’t forget there’s a huge interview plus 13-page preview at CBR to (big) whet your appetite.

The good news is, we’ll be back on track in no time. I’m currently writing issue #29, and Christopher is already halfway through drawing #26, scheduled for an August release. As for July, we’ll all be at San Diego, and more on that soon.