6th October 2006 / Alex Rider / On Sale
For those of you in the US: STORMBREAKER: The Graphic Novel goes on sale October 19th, a few days after the movie opens over there. I just did an interview with Newsarama about the book, the Alex Rider phenomenon and the process of adapting to comics, which you may find interesting. It also features a six-page preview of the story.
4th July 2006 / Alex Rider / On Sale
STORMBREAKER: The Graphic Novel is now on sale in the UK. Judging by some of the reports I’ve heard, it should be available in just about any British book shop. For the next couple of weeks, at least, it seems the UK kids’ fiction market has gone Alex Rider mad.
I received my own copies yesterday, and it’s a beautiful package. I’m very proud of the book on a technical level - the amount of compression needed to fit the screenplay into 140 comic pages was massive - but also just pretty pleased to be involved with something that’s going to be big news. Amusingly, I’ve suddenly become much more interesting to most of my friends’ children…
US readers will have to wait, I’m afraid - the movie’s not due out there till October, and I believe the US publishers Philomel (a YA division of Penguin) are delaying the GN’s release accordingly. Of course, that doesn’t stop you from visiting Amazon UK…
7th June 2006 / Wasteland / Alex Rider / Pre-order
WASTELAND issue #2 is now available for pre-order, featured in the current issue of Diamond PREVIEWS. The order code to give your comics retailer is JUN063298 .
The official WASTELAND site, thebigwet.com, has been updated accordingly - you can now read part two of our peek behind the scenes at Christopher Mitten’s sketchbook, there’s a whole new bunch of wallpapers and icons to download (now also including link banners, forum avatars and LJ icons) and of course you can read the full teaser text for issue #2. As a great philosopher once wrote, it’s just a click away. And don’t forget to subscribe to the RSS feed to stay updated.
Finally, the tabled publication date for the STORMBREAKER graphic novel is July 3rd. There have been rumours and stories about the film (and thus the GN) having its release date being bumped back until autumn, but it appears they’re unfounded. The film is set for July 21st, the book for July 3rd. (In the UK. I have no idea about US dates.)
31st May 2006 / Wasteland / Alex Rider / Alan Moore / Novels / Appearances / Interviews / Stealing Life
A few things to tell you about today, so let’s dive straight in:
First, issue #4 of The Hypothetical Lizard goes on sale in the US today, completing the series. LIZARD is the last of my Alan Moore adaptations you’ll see for a while - but not the last to appear, by any means. As ever, watch this space…
There are also a couple more features and interviews in the world of podcasting for you to check out:
cIndy Center (geddit?) interviewed both myself and WASTELAND artist Christopher Mitten recently for separate, consecutive shows. Both shows featured questions from fans on the cIndy Center message board, and even questions from Chris and myself to each other. Lots of fun. You can get the podcasts here through iTunes, or download them separately from the cIndy Center website: here’s mine, and here’s Chris.
There’s also a quasi-interview with me in episode #10 of Secret Identity, talking not just about WASTELAND but also roleplaying games, my favourite comics and more. This was conducted by Secret Identity sending me questions, to which I recorded my answers separately. I was a little worried about how that would play out, but it actually sounds great, and hosts Brian and Matt had some really interesting discussion off the back off my responses. Once again, you can download it through iTunes or direct from Secret Identity’s website.
Finally, a work update: I’m over halfway through both POINT BLANC and STEALING LIFE. (Both are going well, but to anyone considering writing a full-length graphic novel and prose novel at the same time, I offer the following advice: don’t. It’ll drive you insane.) I’m also preparing to write issue #7 of WASTELAND, which will be a bit of a special issue with a surprise to boot; and I’ve just accepted a place in a very interesting comics anthology due next year. I’ll be able to tell you more about both of those later.
Finally finally, I can confirm I’ll be at San Diego Comic-Con this year, mostly attending the Oni and Avatar booths and, of course, the bar. We’ll have a limited edition WASTELAND T-shirt for sale at the Oni booth, and if all goes to plan I should also have a brand new series to announce. Fun fun fun.
15th February 2006 / Wasteland / Alex Rider / Novels / Stealing Life
2006 has barely started, and already 2007 rears its head…
First off, I’ve been commissioned to write the fantasy novel I mentioned in December, STEALING LIFE. It’s part of Abaddon Books’ Dreams of Inan series, a world where magic and hi-tech collide, and tells the story of a gentleman thief who becomes embroiled in a deadly game of international intrigue and political coup. You can read more about it here.
Abaddon is an imprint of Rebellion, the publishers of 2000AD, set up to publish adventure sci-fi in shared world settings. STEALING LIFE is scheduled for release in Spring 2007 as the second Inan book, after A KIND OF PEACE by the world’s creator Andy Boot.
I’ve also been asked to write a second graphic novel adaptation for Walker Books - this time of POINT BLANC, the sequel to STORMBREAKER. That’ll be released late 2007, and this time will be taken directly from the book (STORMBREAKER is adapted from the screenplay version). As far as I know, Kanako and Yuzuru will be the artists again.
Meanwhile, back in 2006… WASTELAND is now due for release in July. A little later than we anticipated, but we’re doing it in order to ensure that everything runs smoothly and on time, and so we can release plenty of advance material when issue #1 is solicited. It also means issue #1 will coincide with San Diego Comic-Con this year, which I’ll be attending.
I toyed with the idea of doing a podcast to complement the series, but decided I’d spare you all the horror of my voice. Instead, I’m going to run a standalone website where you’ll be able to read about the characters, get the latest release info, and download cool stuff like issue previews and even an MP3 of the Theme From Wasteland song. The site will be at thebigwet.com, which is currently just a holding page. It’ll launch fully when issue #1 is solicited, and be updated as new issues hit the stands.
16th November 2005 / Wasteland / Alex Rider / Queen & Country / Three Days In Europe / Rosemary's Backpack / Translations / Appearances
The STORMBREAKER script is finally done and in to Walker Books. It would have been finished a couple of weeks ago but for some last-minute revisions to the screenplay which had to be reflected in the GN version. I’ve already seen roughs of the art for the first 50-odd pages, and it’s going to be a great-looking book. I don’t have an exact release date yet, but when I do I’ll let you know.
The whole process has been remarkably smooth, especially considering the speed it had to be written by, and the number of people (including Anthony Horowitz himself) who needed to approve it. I’m hoping to work with Walker again in the future, though whether it would be on another GN or a prose novel, it’s too early to say.
Serendipitously - given that it’s one of the books that got me the STORMBREAKER job - work is also now underway on a new edition of ROSEMARY’S BACKPACK, to be published by Speakeasy Comics in conjunction with original publisher Cyberosia. This will be a completely revised edition, with an entirely new design, new cover, new lettering, even a new logo. It’s planned for release in Spring next year…
As is the collection of my QUEEN & COUNTRY: DECLASSIFIED series, I’m told. That’ll also have a brand new cover, drawn by series artist Christopher Mitten…
Who is of course also the artist for WASTELAND, which will launch shortly after the Q&C collection. So it seems Spring ‘06 is where it’s all happening for me.
(And WASTELAND’s going well - at this rate, I should have the first six issues completely scripted before Chris even starts pencilling. We’re also planning something interesting with a sort of “permanent guest artist” for the series. More about that closer to the time.)
Also, as a follow-up to the last entry, the French edition of THREE DAYS IN EUROPE is underway, to be published by 13 Étrange - guess when? That’s right, sometime next year…
In the rather more immediate future, I’m going to the Brighton Comic Expo this weekend. I’ll only be there for one day - Saturday - but I’m looking forward to what little time I’ll have. Apart from anything else, I haven’t been to Brighton in over five years.
7th September 2005 / Wasteland / Alex Rider / Alan Moore
May you live in interesting times, as they say. The next few months are going to be pretty quiet for me, as apart from #4 of THE HYPOTHETICAL LIZARD, my next new publication won’t be on shelves until January.
This is mainly down to working extremely far ahead on WASTELAND - I’ve already finished writing up to issue #3 (including a double-sized #1) and should have at least another three scripts completed before the book’s solicited. I’m also writing yet another Secret Project for Avatar that I’m not allowed to talk about yet, but it’s a lot of fun, and the reaction to its announcement should be interesting to see…
And finally for the moment, there’s the other thing I’m not allowed to talk about, though at least I can tell you what this one is: I’m writing the graphic novel adaptation of Anthony Horowitz’ STORMBREAKER, the multi-million selling teen espionage novel which is currently being made into a movie (and one of the most expensive British movies ever, by all accounts).
STORMBREAKER is published by Walker Books, who are also producing the graphic novel. It should be released to coincide with the movie next year, and hopefully I can talk more about it at the time, but until then I’m obligated to keep schtum. Suffice to say I’m looking forward to working on it, even if it is going to keep me locked up in the study day and night for the next few months…
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