28th January 2012 / Appearances / Coldest City / Pre-order
Two brief announcements, primarily for UK people:
— Next Saturday I’ll be joining Kieron Gillen and Doug Braithwaite, the geniuses behind Marvel’s JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY (and a host of other stuff, of course) for a signing at Travelling Man Newcastle.
That’s Saturday 4th February from 3-6pm. Do come along and see us if you’re around.
— You can now pre-order Limited Signed Bookplate Editions of THE COLDEST CITY, with new art from Sam and signed by us both. These editions are only available from either Page 45 or Travelling Man, and stocks are very limited, so order quickly. There are direct links to both stores’ pre-order pages at thecoldestcity.com. The Page 45 link also has a very kind and mostly spoiler-free review of the book, if that interests you.
(Yes, Americans, we’re working on making some available for you too. Watch this space.)
— [ADDENDUM] In my haste to post, I forgot to add that I also did an interview last week, with Laurent Jardin of French site Merlanfrit. Laurent has translated much of the DEAD SPACE series into French, so naturally we talked mostly about videogames. It’s a good one, and you can read it here (ou, vous pouvez lire la traduction Français ici).
17th January 2012 / On Sale / Wasteland
Issue #33 of WASTELAND goes on sale tomorrow.
This issue kicks off a new story arc, “Under The God”, where we rejoin Michael, Abi and Gerr as they make their way to A-Ree-Yass-I. On the way they stumble upon the pilgrimage town of Godsholm, devoted to an archaic religion…
This is also where we say hello to new artist Justin Greenwood, best known for his sterling work on Marc Guggenheim’s RESURRECTION. Justin has been previewing his design sketches for this story arc since December, and you can now see them all on his work blog.
We also have a “new” cover artist in the form of series co-creator Christopher Mitten! I have to say, it’s great to have Chris involved with the book again, and when you see the covers we’ve got coming up I think you’ll agree.
As always with a new issue, the official site will be updated tomorrow with all the info; and, because this is a new arc, we’ll also release a new song for the Official Soundtrack. This one’s entitled “March of the Sand-Eaters”, a pleasant little ditty (*cough*) that makes full use of the Boss HM-2 I recently scored on eBay…
So, here’s the issue solicit:
Michael and Abi continue their journey West, through the wasteland — with the assassin Gerr secretly at their side. But after a mysterious midnight encounter in the desert, they reach the Cross Chains town of Godsholm… and Michael finds himself on the wrong side of the devout!
And to get the arc off to a flying start, this issue is only $1. As Justin from Thirteen Minutes suggests, why not buy three, give two away, and still come out a dollar less than regular price? <Insert smiley here>
The order code is NOV111062, and you can read a 6-page preview at Comic Book Resources.
12th January 2012 / Coldest City / Pre-order
THE COLDEST CITY, a new spy thriller graphic novel by me and artist Sam Hart, is now available for pre-order, to be published in May.
It’s set in West Berlin during the last days of the Cold War, and follows in the footsteps of classic espionage fiction like John Le Carré’s Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Ian Mackintosh’s The Sandbaggers, and Len Deighton’s Harry Palmer novels.
This is a book I’ve wanted to write — and the kind of book I’ve wanted to write — for years, ever since my stint on QUEEN & COUNTRY: DECLASSIFIED gave me the espionage bug (writing, that is — I was already a spy fiction reader, it just hadn’t occurred to me to write any before. Duh).
Here’s the back cover blurb…
As Communism collapses and the Berlin Wall crumbles, an undercover MI6 spy is killed while carrying priceless information — a list containing the name of every spy in Berlin.
But no list is found on his body.
MI6 sends veteran MI6 officer Lorraine Broughton to recover the list. But she walks into a powderkeg of social unrest, counter-espionage, defections gone bad, and secret assassinations…
THE COLDEST CITY is a brand new spy thriller from author Antony Johnston (Wasteland, Queen & Country: Declassified, Daredevil) and artist Sam Hart (Judge Dredd, Excalibur: The Legend of King Arthur) that revitalizes classic espionage fiction and revels in the paranoia and mistrust boiling over at the epicenter of the Cold War.
…which tells you pretty much all you need to know. But if you want more, and to read some sample scenes, there’s also an official website with more information, order codes, loads of artwork, and a preview of the book.
THE COLDEST CITY is the first in a planned series of connected books; I’m writing the second, DEAD OF WINTER, at the moment, and I already have plans for at least one more after that.
If that sounds good to you, please pre-order a copy of THE COLDEST CITY today.
30th December 2011 / Musings
So. That was 2011, then.
Another busy year, splitting my time almost 50/50 between comics and games. Here’s a thing; every January I make a list of everything I expect to be working on for the next twelve months, and stick it up over my desk.
Normally, it’s a pretty long list. But for 2011, not so much — a whole videogame only takes up one line, after all, and I knew I’d be working on more games than in previous years. Frankly, I also wasn’t sure what comics I’d actually be writing. There’s been a lot of stuff bubbling under over the past year or so.
But now here we are at year’s end, and what with one thing and another, it turns out the list is no shorter than last year. Funny how things turn out.
January was DEAD SPACE central; the digital release of SALVAGE, the bundling of EXTRACTION with DEAD SPACE 2 on the PS3, and of course the release of DEAD SPACE Mobile on iOS, which recently won a bunch of “game of the year” type awards. Behind the scenes, I was writing more material for BINARY DOMAIN, plotting DAREDEVIL SEASON ONE (not yet announced at that point), and zipped over to California for a meeting with the guys at 2K Games…
…Because I spent most of February writing script lines for the XCOM revamp, which I believe is due for release in March 2012. I know many people have bemoaned that this isn’t a turn-based strategy like the old X-COM games, and I understand; I’m a huge fan of the old games myself. But this new one looks good, and I can’t wait to play it for myself. Oh, I also did some lines for the new version of Adidas MiCoach, along with just about everyone else on my agent’s roster. That was fun, and you’ll understand why when I can reveal whose lines I wrote.
In March I had my head down, working on more XCOM, two WASTELAND scripts, more DAREDEVIL, and plotting what would become my Spider-Island tie-in, THE DEADLY HANDS OF KUNG FU. I also went down to Black Rock Studio in Brighton to deliver my Comics to Consoles lecture. Little did I realise it wasn’t just a lecture; it was also an audition to write their newest game. And this month I filmed my segments for CAPTURED GHOSTS, the Warren Ellis documentary now doing the premiere rounds at festivals.
No blog posts in April; I was too busy gallivanting all over the place doing stuff I couldn’t talk about, like another visit to Black Rock, a trip to a European games studio to talk about a game (which still hasn’t even been announced), and then working on things that, again, weren’t yet public knowledge, like DAREDEVIL and DEADLY HANDS.
May saw me dig into “The European Game”, as I’ll refer to it for the moment, in earnest. As if that didn’t keep me busy enough, I also started work on the Black Rock game, Champions Alliance; and ploughed through a bunch more comic scripts.
In June, I pretty much locked myself away to write more comic scripts, more Champions Alliance, more of The European Game. Meanwhile, in the world outside, the new MiCoach was announced (but no details given), and WASTELAND finally went digital on Comixology (woo-hoo!).
Then July rolled around, which of course means the usual pilgrimage to Comic-Con San Diego, where I caught up with lots of old friends, met some cool new people, signed a lot of books, and appeared on the CAPTURED GHOSTS panel. I have to say this was one of the most enjoyable SDCCs ever for me, and while much of that was down to seeing the aforementioned old friends, I can’t help but feel my refusal to take meetings with “The Hollywood Bullshit Brigade” also had something to do with it. So there’s a lesson learned.
I attended the inaugural Manchester MCM Expo, which was busier than anyone sane expected, and DAREDEVIL SEASON ONE was announced at last — at this point I’d almost finished writing it.
I also somehow managed to squeeze in time to write more European Game, some WASTELAND, and more Champions Alliance… right before Disney closed Black Rock because they couldn’t wrap their heads around what the team was trying to do. In my opinion Disney made a big mistake, born out of simple cowardice. Black Rock had a hit on their hands, a game style that nobody doubts the industry needs, but that nobody has yet had the balls to fund because it’s more risky than just bashing out another bloody FarmVille clone. Bah.
Aaaaanyway. In August, THE DEADLY HANDS OF KUNG FU launched (to, I’m rather proud to say, much critical acclaim), and I did a DJ set at the Travelling Man birthday party, which was awesome (the party, not my set. Well, OK, that was pretty awesome too). Thanks to the Black Rock closure, this was also the first month of the year I found myself with a small amount of free time — so I started writing DEAD OF WINTER, the sequel to THE COLDEST CITY (more on that later). I also worked up a SHANG-CHI pitch at Marvel’s request, hoping to launch off the back of DEADLY HANDS, but if you follow Marvel news at all you can guess what the chances of that are right now. Sad, but there you go.
September was another month of nose/grindstone interface, as I wrote the script for The European Game — twice! — then finished DAREDEVIL SEASON ONE, made progress on DEAD OF WINTER, and started a short prose piece which is very cool, but (all together now) I can’t talk about yet. I know, I know…
This month also saw the long-awaited (and very-very-late) release of WASTELAND #31. For those keeping score, at this point I was scripting #38 and Justin was already onto drawing #36. So now you know why we’re so confident about keeping the new schedule in 2012, see below…
In October I put in a brief appearance at the London MCM Expo, did a quick panel on games writing at the London Screenwriter’s Festival, and popped over to Europe again for meetings about The Game. Somehow, in the midst of all this, I also wrote more WASTELAND, more DEAD OF WINTER, and more of the Secret Prose Story.
In November we announced the WASTELAND soft relaunch and monthly schedule for 2012. And promptly saw a lot of (completely understandable) scepticism from readers in reaction; but see above for why we remain confident. As I write, Justin is pencilling #38, the final issue of the arc…! Meanwhile, I was already midway into writing the following arc of WL, and also got my head down to scribble away at The European Game and the Secret Prose Story.
So here we are in December, and it’s been a month of ups and downs. The biggest down was without question the sad news of Eduardo Barreto’s death. The ups include finishing draft one of the Secret Prose Story, writing a short WASTELAND script for Chris Mitten to draw for Free Comic Book Day 2012, a trip to London for meetings about writing a new game, composing a new WASTELAND Original Soundtrack song (“March of the Sand-Eaters”, a jolly and tuneful little ditty *cough cough*), and signing graphic novel contracts for something that will hopefully be announced soon YES I SAID SOON MY LIFE IS ONE GIGANTIC NDA NOW LEAVE ME ALONE
Ahem.
Last but not least, I’m within sight of the finish line on DEAD OF WINTER. I haven’t talked much about THE COLDEST CITY since it was announced, some time back, because there hasn’t been much to tell; we suffered some delays, and were just trying to get the book finished before revealing much more. Well, it is finished, and currently going through production. It’ll be on sale in 2012 (May, I think?) and it looks fantastic. More on that very soon, when we start the PR blitz.
…And that’s it for another twelve months. I’m off to see my family and bake cakes, not necessarily in that order. Have a great New Year, everyone, and I’ll see you on the other side.
15th December 2011 / Musings / The Long Haul
Sad news: Eduardo Barreto, artist extraordinaire and my collaborator on THE LONG HAUL, has passed away. He’d been ill for some time, but it’s still a shock; he was only 57.
I can’t say I knew him very well — we only met once, a year after THE LONG HAUL was published, although it was a very happy meeting that saw us both enthusing about doing a sequel. Alas, that never came to pass.
What I do know well is that Eduardo was an amazing talent, a thorough professional, and a kind, generous artist who possessed a deep love of comics. He will be missed.
29th November 2011 / On Sale / Wasteland
WASTELAND #32 goes on sale this week. This is an interlude issue, featuring art from my esteemed collaborator on JULIUS (and Eisner nominee) Brett Weldele, and a story that wraps up two loose ends in one go…
Standalone issue featuring Eisner nominated guest artist Brett Weldele (SURROGATES, JULIUS, SOUTHLAND TALES)! After the Dweller attack, Sultan Ameer’s caravan left behind a field of corpses. But one of them wasn’t dead. Now former slave Rechyll must learn to survive as a free woman — and her unlikely teacher is a familiar-looking Sun-Singer…
This is also the last issue to feature Ben Templesmith‘s lovely covers. We’ve been very fortunate to have Ben on board since the start of WASTELAND, and we’ll miss him. But the silver lining is that original series artist Chris Mitten is taking over covers from #33, and already doing great work. Just when he thought he was out, we pull him back in…!
The order code for this issue is SEP111194, and you can read a 6-page preview at Comic Book Resources.
20th November 2011 / Appearances
Thought Bubble is over for another year, and once again I had a great time. Thanks to everyone who stopped by, and to everyone who helped me raise money for Movember. The final tally is £120. Woo!
The Saturday night party was epic, as ever, and my DJ set garnered some, shall we say, strong reactions… To the dozen people who got what I was doing and banged their heads, I thank you. And so, as promised, here’s my short-but-sweet setlist, which I call “Hardcovers”.
Get the Party Started Zebrahead
Small Town Boy Paradise Lost
Love Will Tear Us Apart Flowing Tears
Fade to Grey Atrocity
I Kissed a Girl (Power Metal Version) Katy Perry vs Andy Xiong
Lucretia My Reflection Warrel Dane
Disco Inferno Ten Masked Men
Policy of Truth Disown
Dancing Queen Glow
Confide In Me Angtoria
Later, Kieron Gillen and I tag-teamed our way through a short set to finish off the night, and closed the place down. Here’s what I played during that section:
I Bet You Look Good on the Dance Floor Almighty vs Belle Lawrence
Echo Beach Gabriella Cilmi
Smooth Criminal Alien Ant Farm
Electricity Apoptygma Berzerk
…And I look forward to seeing the photos you were all taking during the last song of the night. You know which ones I mean.
16th November 2011 / Appearances / On Sale / Wasteland
WASTELAND Book 06, “The Enemy Within”, goes on sale today. This collects issues #26-31, the most recent story arc, which is of course the one that was horribly delayed over the past eighteen months. But here it is at last, and now we can get back on track. Here’s the solicit:
After the Sand-Eater attack, the city of Newbegin is in turmoil as the Sunner rebellion gathers strength and Marcus seems to lose interest in the council. Follow the next six months through the eyes of Jakob, Skot, Yan, Dexus and Golden Voice, with a chapter dedicated to each point of view in this latest collection of the series that Comics Should Be Good called, “A masterpiece”!
This arc was somewhat of an experiment, with each chapter covering the same period of time in Newbegin, but through a different character’s eyes — including Yan, who has never been a POV character up till now. I’m very pleased with how it all came out.
If your store doesn’t have the book in stock, you can order it with the comic store code AUG111159, or you can find it through a book store with the ISBN 978-1934964309.
More Thought Bubble details
As mentioned in the previous post, I’ll be at Thought Bubble in Leeds again this year. The convention has grown so much, and so quickly, that this is the first year it’s being held over two days, both Saturday and Sunday. Success that’s well-deserved, I’m sure everyone would agree.
As previously noted, my table is #34 in Saviles Hall (that’s the same hall as previous years, if you’re a regular). Turns out I’m at the back-right of the hall, on a row with Emma Vieceli, Kieron Gillen, Jamie McKelvie, Adam Hughes and Jeff Lemire. That’s one hell of a line-up, and should at the very least ensure people can find me — just look for the enormous Adam Hughes line, and the rest of us will be hidden somewhere behind it…!
Don’t forget to pick up your copy of the first Thought Bubble Anthology while you’re there, and remember that I’ll be donating 20% of my takings to Movember. Of course, if you want to make a separate donation, just click the ‘tache over there on the right…
10th November 2011 / Appearances / Interviews / Wasteland
There’s a new interview with me at Comic Book Resources, talking about WASTELAND. Think of it as an adjunct to the previous press release concerning the $1 issue, new schedule, and so on. This interview goes into more detail on the whys and wherefores, and gives some hints as to what’s coming up in the future. Worth reading.
Next weekend, November 19-20, I’ll be at the Thought Bubble Festival in Leeds. I’ll have a table throughout the weekend — #34, in Saviles Hall — and will be donating 20% of all takings to Movember, which I’m taking part in this year. (Warning: link contains dodgy moustache pics.)
I’m also on a panel, “The Best Thing I’ve Read All Year” with Kieron Gillen, Paul Cornell and doubtless whoever else we can drag up on stage. That’s 1pm Sunday @ Bury Theater.
Don’t forget you can also pick up a copy of the Thought Bubble Anthology at the show.
Oh, and if you’re attending the Saturday night party, bring your earplugs because I’m also DJing there. And I have a very special setlist lined up. Muahahahaha, etc.
4th November 2011 / Pre-order / Wasteland
So that big news I promised a while back has finally hit.
WASTELAND issue #33 will begin a new era for the series, as detailed on the Oni Press blog:
WASTELAND #33 hits store shelves on January 18th with a brand new arc, brand new artist and covers, and a special retail price of $1.
And, more to the point, with a new monthly schedule. I mentioned already that Justin Greenwood has been beavering away on art duties since last year, and I’m well ahead on scripts — in fact I finished writing #38, the last issue in this next story arc, months ago — so that we can avoid any more horrible delays like we’ve suffered over the past eighteen months. Justin has been awesome throughout, and is turning in some of his best work ever.
(Plus, I believe there are plans to accelerate the digital issue releases on Comixology, but I don’t know the details yet.)
Also as mentioned before, Chris Mitten is taking over covers. While this is awesome, it means we wave a sad, but fond, farewell to Ben Templesmith with issue #32 (out later this month). Ben has been a real trooper since the start of the book, fitting in cover paintings even as his career and increasingly peripatetic lifestyle exploded. We’ll miss him.
So, once again in summary: new monthly schedule, new story arc, new artist, new covers, only $1.
Read more (including my own hand-wringing apologies) and see previews of Justin’s fantastic art at the Oni Press blog.
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