Upcoming Work: Second Printings, Solicitations, Variant Covers, and Very Revealing Interviews.

We missed this in our last post, but on January 25th, Image Comics announced a second printing for the most recent issue from Brubaker and Phillips, Kill Or Be Killed #15.  The issue features a new cover, shown below, a black-and-white rendition of the first printing's artwork with the series' familiar blood-red title.

Image frequently produces multiple printings for the first few issues in a new series, as retailers try to gauge what could be growing interest in an unexpected hit.  Far less common is an additional printing more than a year into a series' run:  this second printing indicates a growing readership for KOBK's monthly releases in analog, and we wonder what's driving that growth. 

Perhaps people have been making the leap from digital comics back to hardcopies or from trade-waiting to monthly reading.  The news of a possible film adaptation from the John Wick crew certainly couldn't have hurt, and perhaps it raised the comic's profile.

This second printing of issue #15 is scheduled to reach stores on February 21st, just a week after the first printing of issue #16, for which we expect an online preview very soon.

---

Readers looking to catch up with that second printing will need to put issue #16 on hold, but they should also be careful looking at the solicitations for later issues.

I'm a technical writer in real life, and I do not envy the task of writing good comic solicitations, undertaken by marketing staff, editors, and -- as I believe to be the case for most creator-owned comics, including those by Brubaker and Phillips -- the writers themselves.

Each solicitation must briefly describe the book's contents, enticing prospective buyers without spoiling the story.  For a continuing series, the goal is even more daunting due to the delay between a single issue's solicitation and its subsequent arrival:  ideally, no future issue solicitation should spoil the contents of a previous issue, at least not before that early chapter's release.

The debut of Kill Or Be Killed presents us with a striking example:

• May 18, 2016, Image releases its August solicitations, including Kill Or Be Killed #1, with a scheduled release date of Aug 3rd.

"The bestselling team of ED BRUBAKER and SEAN PHILLIPS (THE FADE OUT, CRIMINAL, FATALE) launch their new monthly series: KILL OR BE KILLED, the twisted story of a young man who is forced to kill bad people, and how he struggles to keep his secret as it slowly ruins his life and the lives of his friends and loved ones. Both a thriller and a deconstruction of vigilantism, KILL OR BE KILLED is unlike anything BRUBAKER & PHILLIPS have ever done."

• June 23rd, the September solicitations include issue #2: "Every killer has to have his first kill, and they're never easy."

• July 18th, the October solicitations include issue #3: "As our hero is drawn deeper into the shadows, his secret vigilante life begins to put everything he cares about in danger."

• Aug 3: KOBK #1 is released to local retailers.

Prior to the debut issue's release, every description of upcoming chapters avoided that issue's big reveal, that the protagonist is "forced to kill bad people" by a demon, real or imagined.  In fact, I don't believe that the "curse" is mentioned until February, 2017, with the May solicitation for issue #9, and the demon isn't explicitly named until the June solicitation for issue #10, featuring the antagonist on the cover.

We see a similar dynamic with recent solicitations hiding the big reveal for issue #15.  The new arc found Dylan institutionalized, and the cliffhanger revelation was that (SPOILERS) vigilante killings were still taking place in the outside world.

We believe this reveal was entirely held back from the solicits until after the issue's release on January 17th; the April solicitations came out on January 23rd, and here the surprise makes it to the description for issue #18, due April 18th.

"While Dylan's been locked away inside, the vigilante has been running wild on the streets—but how is this possible? Featuring the return of Detective Lily Sharpe, who is hot on the trail of the masked man!"

It's an intriguing development.  We wonder if this second killer has anything to do with the demon, is merely a deranged copycat, or is something else entirely -- and we wonder how this will affect the NYPD's search for the vigilante, since Dylan now (presumably) has an airtight alibi for at least one killing.

---

In the meantime, we have two more issues on their way, and -- alongside the second-printing variant for issue #15 -- we'll see an extra special variant cover for issue #17, with both versions due on March 21st.

Posted just this Thursday in a second round of announcements, Sean Phillips joins four other artists in creating virgin wraparound covers as part of Image's #WeBelieve campaign, bringing the total to 14 such covers on sale in March, "in celebration of artists and the importance and impact they have in defining the comics medium."

(We would express some skepticism about how artists' work is among "the important, lately overlooked contributions to the comics industry," but then again, most of the news coverage about the KOBK film adaptation focused on writer Ed Brubaker and barely mentioned -- or entirely ignored -- co-creator Sean Phillips.)

At his blog, Phillips includes a quote from Image publisher Eric Stephenson, from an apparent press release that -- alongside the Image news release -- details exactly what each cover will include and omit:  "Without titles, endorsement quotes, names, logos, or jacket copy, these wraparound covers feature solely the jaw-dropping artwork that fans won’t want to miss."

Shown below, the virgin cover features entirely new artwork from Sean Phillips, quite different from the standard cover's scene of Dylan unmasking in the padded room:  walking out from the mental hospital, with the straitjacket unbound but still on, our hero looks truly mental.

--

These virgin variants will highlight the work of the artist, and in a recent interview Sean Phillips points to a few important books by other, influential artists.

In an interview by The Reading Lists, devoted to "publishing the #readinglists of amazing people," Phillips reveals a few recommended titles and authors in his favorite genre -- crime fiction, no surprise -- and for those interested in working in comics, he recommends Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud.  We thoroughly recommend the book as well, a comic book on the principles of comic books, but Sean adds, "there’s no substitute for making your own comics. You learn best by doing!"

Asked what book humanity needs right now, Phillips gives a great answer:  "A new Calvin and Hobbes collection."  Indeed -- and either that or a new daily calendar of The Far Side would make me a very happy man.

Most interestingly, Phillips was asked, "What books or subject matter do you plan on reading in the next year?"  His answer points to the follow-up to The Fade Out, as well as other work:

"For two different work projects, research on World War One and television in the late 1950s. And lots of comics!"

And the question leads naturally enough to another item from January 25th, from the French site Comicsblog.fr.  On Twitter, the great Kevin Sels pointed us to the story and offered a brief summary:  at the Angloueme festival, Phillips announced that he and Brubaker are planning two stories following The Fade Out -- each a six-issue mini-series -- and a "romance" series for sometime in the fall.

(Thanks for the heads-up, Kevin!)

What does this mean for the long-term plans for Kill Or Be Killed and the upcoming Criminal novella?  Is it possible that, between Phillips' answers, the French-language news item, and Kevin's overview, something was lost in translation?

We would almost say that we'll have to wait and see, but just yesterday the same site posted a 21-minute video of the interview, with Phillips' answers in English, with optional French subtitles.

In the wide-ranging interview, the artist discusses whether he misses licensed work for the bigger publishers and why there's a long-term economic appeal in creator-owned work.  Phillips mentions how Ed Brubaker's wife pushed him to do creator-owned work, how the success of Marvel Zombies allowed Phillips to take a chance on such a project, and how the pair communicate while they work.

The artist says he assumes that Image's exclusive five-year deal will be extended, but he also mentioned what would be the team's dream project, where he and Brubaker spend a year on... [EDIT:] well, people should watch the video and find out for themselves.

Phillips discusses the violent but sympathetic protagonists in Kill Or Be Killed and their other titles, and he mentions the beauty of the comic-book medium, where the text and the picture need not always correspond.

He mentions that it might not be important whether the story's demon is real, but he admits not knowing in advance where these stories are going:  Brubaker told him what the ending would be, but he has since changed his mind, and even the script for an individual issue is almost always sent piecemeal.

He has no info on the KOBK adaptation beyond what's already been announced online, and he mentions how other projects have fallen through, including the Criminal adaptation.  Brubaker takes the lead on working with Hollywood, with Phillips always to be listed as an executive producer with no real need for control over this sort of project:  the real aim is -- and has always been -- to make great comic books, and the greater purpose of an adaptation would be in its enabling the team to make new books with an even higher profile.

And Sean Phillips did reveal quite a bit about the team's upcoming schedule, including their current project.

• For KOBK, "the end is in sight," with the book to conclude sometime this year.
• The next project is a "romance comic" out by year's end: October was explicitly mentioned as a release date.  Work on this book will take place between his drawing issues of KOBK, and the result -- title to be announced -- will be a "one-off" 60-page hardcover, to see if the format sells in the U.S.
• After that will come the first of two sequels to The Fade Out, with a few carry-over characters, a setting of television production in the 1950's, and a story that probably involves murder:  two sequels are currently planned, the length of this first sequel might only be six issues, but the team generally doesn't determine a book's length in advance.

Phillips praises the breadth and quality of the French comics scene and its industry's preference for well-made graphic novels, when trade paperbacks in the U.S. are frequently printed as cheaply as possible.  He says that he would prefer producing one or two hardcovers every year -- one with Ed Brubaker and one with Delcourt or another French publisher -- but he doesn't think the American readership is ready to change their buying and reading habits.

And, looking even further ahead, Phillips mentions that there are two sequels planned for The Fade Out and "more ideas" for Criminal, but we note that, in both its production schedule and its format, that "romance comic" sounds exactly like the Criminal novella that was mentioned last summer.

We wonder if the Criminal novella is a "romance" story of sorts, or if that story has supplanted the earlier plans for the next chapter in their longest-running series.

And we suspect that, either way, that novella revolves around World War I.

Bullets: The Fade Out #5 Out Today, and More!

• The Fade Out Returns, with Issue #5 In Stores Today!  The first act of Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips' take on Hollywood's Golden Age wrapped up with issue #4 in early January and was released in a value-priced trade paperback in late February.  The series returns to stores today, and Ed Brubaker describes the issue as "Beginning of ACT TWO, where we may actually start dropping clues, even. Maybe."

The issue is on Comicosity's "Hot Five" for the week, and Flickering Myth has a (spoiler-ish) advance review that has particular praise for Brubaker's writing, which "manages to capture regret, anger, and bitterness really effectively with the narration, and usually without directly saying what’s on the character’s mind."

Late last night, Comic Book Resources published a brief three-page preview of the issue.

• Brubaker and Phillips in the June Solicitations.  A few weeks back, Image Comics released its June solicitations.  The Criminal reprints' rollout will continue into the summer, as volume 5, "The Sinners" is scheduled for a June 3rd release.  June 24th is scheduled to see issue #8 of The Fade Out, the conclusion of the second act which begins today.

• Marvel Classics from Brubaker and Phillips.  Marvel Studios have just released Daredevil, the first of several TV shows in the "Marvel Cinematic Universe" that will culminate in the team called The Defenders.  He's not the only one to praise the show, but halfway through the season Ed Brubaker writes that finds the Netflix series "pretty fucking perfect" -- and he reminds fans that his work on the comic series of the same name has been collected in three Ultimate Collections that still appear to be in print.

In brief, Brubaker's most prominent work in the DC Universe proper was for Batman, Catwoman, and Gotham Central; his most prominent Marvel work was for Captain America, Daredevil, and the Immortal Iron Fist.  The Winter Soldier movie was heavily inspired by his work on Cap, which is acknowledged in a blink-and-miss-it cameo, and DC has been advertising Gotham Central for fans of FOX's Gotham, even though the comic book is what the TV show should be, not nearly what it actually is.  If Netflix's Daredevil creates a new audience for Brubaker's work on the comic of the same name, we certainly won't complain.

And, Marvel Comics is gearing up for an upcoming mega-crossover (and apparent soft reboot) called Secret Wars, named after a crossover from 30 years back.  The premise involves combining continuities and famous story arcs from the last few decades of the publisher's history, and the company is reprinting first issues of major stories, to be sold for $1.00 each under the banner of "True Believers."  Among the titles is Marvel Zombies, a mini-series that features the art of Sean Phillips:  published between 2005 and 2006, it was his last major project before the debut of Criminal and -- going by the ads for that series published by Marvel's Icon imprint -- it was perhaps his highest-profile project up to that point.

Looking at the Marvel Zombies work for the first time in a decade, it's clear that the artwork is classic Phillips:  having poured over his work in traditional crime comics, the pulp of Incognito, and the horror of Fatale, I like his take on undead Marvel superheroes, his familiar style tackling an outlandish premise.

True Believers: Marvel Zombies #1 was published just two weeks ago, on April 1st.

• Some Final Thoughts on the Criminal Special Edition.  If some our readers have found this blog because of Fatale and The Fade Out, we hope that they have tracked down the Criminal one-shot:  they may have a chance to pick up the issue along with The Fade Out #5 and the one-dollar Marvel Zombies reprint.  The issue speaks for itself -- Brubaker. Phillips.  Prison in the 1970's. -- but I do have some final thoughts worth documenting here.

(Update: And if anyone's looking for reviews, Comic Book Round Up has aggregated ten reviews of the issue, all very positive.)

The issue tackles the magazine variant in a way that differs slightly from the oversized variant for The Fade Out's debut.  That issue's magazine variant had additional back matter content -- behind-the-scenes material in addition to Brubaker's "Secret Ingredient" pages and the bonus essay -- but the Criminal magazine variant has different content altogether:  the "Secret Ingredient" pages are replaced with the fake letters page, and even the ad for the trade paperbacks was changed to fit the seventies pastiche.

For that reason, both versions are worth getting:  the standard version gives us Brubaker's brief description of the story's genesis, and the magazine version goes all-out in presenting a facsimile of the comic that Teeg Lawless was reading in county jail.

The magazine variant is worth the extra buck, for a few reasons.

In the main story, you actually get more artwork, specifically on the "Zangar" pages where the art extends to the edge of the page.  The artwork isn't blown up to fit the large page: we end up seeing just a little bit more of what Sean Phillips drew.  It's especially noticeable on the page shown below.

The left side of the image shows the magazine variant, where we see more of the people on "the jeweled streets of Gla-haara."

Literally every page of the bonus content is worth a close examination.

• There's a beautiful frontispiece, attributed to "Frederico Jacobs," which Sean Phillips explains is an allusion to his two sons; Sean did the painting himself at age 18, and it works incredibly well with the rest of the issue.
• The table of contents reveals the chapter names for the four excerpts that we read alongside Teeg.
• We're given a map of the land where the sword-and-sorcery story takes place, along with an introductory paragraph that sets the mood. 
• And the letters page is hilarious with a (hopefully good-natured) ribbing at enthusiastic fans such as myself, who note the tiniest typo.

(Am I the only one to notice that, in the fourth issue of "Lawless," the criminal's name permanently changes from "Gray" to "Grey"?)

Careful readers will notice that the barbarian character Zangar was created by "Alfred Ravenscroft." the pulp writer in Fatale.  His life in Texas echoes that of Conan's creator Robert E. Howard, and his writing resembles the works of both Howard and H.P. Lovecraft, who became friends and pen pals.

Are the two series set in the same universe, the seemingly naturalistic Criminal and the definitely supernatural Fatale?  Is this the beginning of a mega-crossover among all the works of Brubaker and Phillips?  My gut instinct is to say no, as I believe Brubaker has described Criminal as naturalistic.

And there's no real reason to insist on a crossover between the two titles, as A) Ravenscroft isn't actually mentioned in the content of the comic itself, and B) the magazine variant is only a near facsimile:  the variant's title is "Savage Sword of Criminal," and a close look reveals that Teeg is reading a comic simply titled "Savage."

But as you examine the cover in Teeg's hands, do notice what it still says at the bottom:  "Featuring a Shocking New Tale by Brubaker and Phillips!"

Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips definitely exist within the CRIMINAL universe that they created, as authors of the tale that Teeg reads in prison.

The one final thought is that the story itself is just great:  it's a fantastic single-issue introduction to Brubaker and Phillips that I've been buying for friends, it's the best done-in-one story I've seen in ages, and it's sure to be my favorite comic book of the year.

...and it's funny, I ended up driving around to find just one more magazine variant for a friend.  Taking our youngest child with me, I bought him an Owly book as I was getting Criminal.  The irony should not be lost on anyone who's read the one-shot.

Hopefully, the adage is true only to a point, that life imitates art.