and Marvel Comics have solicited the Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter: Guilty Pleasures Vol. 1 HC for a July release. There’ll be two editions, probably featuring different covers, with one meant for retail booksellers and the other for the direct market (i.e., comic shops). Get more information here (original URL).
After a long, loooong absence, Mike Baron and the incomparable Steve Rude return on Nexus, one of the best and most famous science fiction-flavored superhero comics out there, picking up where they left off with issue #99. Publisher’s Weekly has posted the cover for the issue, which kicks off the “Space Opera” arc. Steve Rude has posted five pages from the comic at his ComicSpace site, which you can see here.
Some truly handsome collections have been made from the original comics, starting with Nexus Archives Volume 1. If sweeping galactic SF heroism, in the vein of Star Wars or Lensmen is of interest to you, give it a shot.
Greg Rucka’s excellent and rather unique crime thriller set in a scientific research station in Antarctica following a murder, Whiteout seems to be full-speed ahead for a movie adaption.
One of the hippest comics Marvel Comics been publishing of late is it’s teen romance comic, Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane. Written by Sean McKeever with Takeshi Miyazawa on the art, this is a perfect comic to give to the young reader who’s interested in comic books but is finding the usual superheroics too off-putting or uninteresting. A rich cast and a lot of humor makes this the perfect antidote to the inane teen melodramas of yesteryear. Marvel Digital has gone ahead and put the first issue on-line as a sample of what they have to offer, in preparation for the forthcoming release of the Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane deluxe hardcover, featuring the first twelve issues of the series.
This press release reveals that exciting news that after a long pause Matt Wagner is revisiting Grendel, a masterful example of what sequential art can do when married to a thoughtful, well-constructed story.
The Dabel Brothers are it again, this time with news from Laurel K. Hamilton that Marvel Comics will be publishing a new comic of theirs titled “The First Death” whic his an original prequel to Guilty Pleasures. Featuring Anita’s first meeting with Jean-Claude and an appearance by Edward, Hamilton will be scripting the two 40-page comics along with Jonathon Green, with art provided by Joe Phillips.
Hamilton discusses the genesis of the comic and why she can finally write one of the stories fans have been demanding in a separate post on her blog.
To go with our Ysabel review, here is a link to an half-hour long video interview with Kay. It includes some interesting comments on several of his books, his overarching themes and fantasy in general.
The Dabel Brothers are on quite a roll since the New York Comic Con: publishing an original Ender’s Game-universe story, announcing a brand new Wild Cards comic book series, the forthcoming release of the Sworn Sword comic adaptation in late Spring/early Summer…
And now this regarding Steven Erikson’s “Malazan Book of the Fallen” series, from Ernst Dabel:
As previously reported, the Dabel brothers and Marvel will be adapting an original, all-new story set in the Ender’s Game universe for inclusion in the Red Prophet hardcover. A bit more information regarding this has now been put out in the form of a press release. The most interesting item is that Card and DBPro will likely be collaborating on more “Enderverse” stories in the future.
Jacqueline Carey has updated her official site with a synopsis for Kushiel’s Justice, the second book in the second Terre d’Ange trilogy. She also notes that Amazon.com currently has the wrong synopsis up for the book, one that contains a major spoiler. So if you head over there to check the book out, be careful what you read in case you want to avoid being spoiled.
As announced by Marvel Comics editor-in-chief Joe Quesada during the Cup ‘o Joe panel at the New York Comic Con, the hardcover collection of Dabel Brothers Productions Red Prophet, due in July, will feature an exclusive original short story titled “The Gold Bug” by Orson Scott Card set in the Ender’s Game universe.
This is very late, as they just wrapped up posting the whole of the first trade collection, but I’ve just learned that Newsarama has been hosting Powers Online, which has been daily posted a page from the "Who Killed Retro Girl?" first story arc of Powers. This is a terrific comic, featuring Oeming’s colorful, cartoony art and Brian Michael Bendis’s quirky, Mametesque dialogue as they introduce a brand new super hero universe through the eys of two homicide detectives, Christian Walker and his new partner Dana Pilgrim. Give it a try at the Newsarama site.
Via Conlan Press, which has fought on behalf of Peter S. Beagle over monies he feels are owed him from The Last Unicorn animated film, we learn that a 25th anniversary DVD edition is being made available with a number of extras. As part of a special deal cut with the producers of the DVD, Conlan Press is selling the DVDs from its own site, including copies with personalized autographs from Mr. Beagle. More than half of the proceeds from the DVD sold by Conlan Press will go directly to Mr. Beagle, whereas he’ll not profit a penny from DVDs sold via other outlets while the dispute continues.
I remember the cartoon quite fondly as one of the most beautiful of the Rankin-Bass animated productions, perhaps due to the fact that much of the work was done by Japanese animators who would move on to become the core of the great Studio Ghibli, and it featured a top-notch voice acting crew (Mia Farrow, Christopher Lee, Jeff Bridges, Alan Arkin, and others). You can see the theatrical trailer for it here.
The book is excellent as well.
Via Colleen Doran (buy A Distant Soil !), I found out about this documentary project about the incomparable Harlan Ellison. Say what you will of him, but he knows how to tell a confabulation as you can see for yourself if you click the “Prince Myshkin” link.
The Sci-Fi Channel has released a list of in-development programs, and a very interesting item appears therein: