Back to the Presses, In More Ways than One.

Just found out from my local comics shop, Great Escape in Marietta, Georgia, that a couple new printings of Fatale are on their way to the shop. A January 31st press release from Image Comics confirms that a second printing of issue #2 and a third printing of issue #1 had been ordered even before the initial release of issue #2.

Both new printings were scheduled to reach stores last week. Check with your local retailer to confirm their schedule.

Looking even further ahead, Sean Phillips has published cover art for the trade collection...



...or rather, the first trade collection. The first trade, which has yet to be formally announced or solicited, is Fatale Book One: Death Chases Me. This first "book" was referenced in the first page of the debut issue, and this confirms that the series of approximately sixteen issues is being broken into several "books."

I was wondering how the title was going to be collected. Trade collections of recent work tends not to cost significantly less than the monthly issues, and sixteen issues of Fatale works out to $56, probably far too much for impulse purchases.

There is something to be said for a complete story in a single trade collection, like with the 12-issue collections for Watchmen and Batman: The Long Halloween. I wonder if the prominence of a work like Batman: Hush suffered because it took about five years to see an inexpensive single-volume paperback collection, and there are other self-contained stories that are still inexplicably split among several volumes.

But fifty bucks would be just about the right price for a "deluxe" hardcover edition of Fatale...

...and there may already be a different deluxe edition on its way. Just a few days ago, Sean Phillips posted, without comment, an image for Incognito: The Classified Edition.



The filename for the cover image is incognitodeluxecover.jpg.

Fatale #2 -- and the Reprint of #1 -- In Stores Now.

I picked a really interesting day to try to post a massive set of updates to the blog. More's coming, but it suffices to remind readers that Fatale is in stores today. We have second printing of last month's debut, and we have the second issue, complete with a back-up essay on Edgar Allen Poe by Jess Nevins.

Get it while it's hot.

Fatale #1 an Immediate Sell Out and a USA Today Feature.

Image Comics announced today that Fatale #1 has already sold out.

This much-anticipated new series has already sold out at distribution level, despite a generous overprinting. A second printing is now underway and will arrive back on shelves next month, appearing alongside the second issue.

"The overwhelming positive response to FATALE from retailers and fans has been a bit shocking, but a great way to start the new year," said Brubaker. "Keep it up, and we'll keep putting out the best book we can."

Readers should note that the press release is only about the distribution level. Well-stocked retailers may yet have copies available for a little while longer.

The second printing of issue #1 will be out on February 1st, along with the second issue. This is the first time a Brubaker/Phillips collaboration has required a second printing since Incognito #1, first published three years ago this month.

At Bleeding Cool, Rich Johnston reports that the "Beast" variant cover (Cover B) is about half as common as the "Beauty" cover, for those interested in rarity.

On Twitter, Brubaker writes, "If you're already planning to get Fatale, please don't read the reviews or interviews. It's best if you encounter it blind."

But there is a new interview worth reading, a quick profile of Fatale at USA Today, with a few words from Brubaker and Phillips -- and a link to a short preview that includes the cover art to issue #3, from sketches to pencils to the final artwork.

Edited January 6, to include Incognito reference and a reminder that Fatale #1 may still be in retailers.

Fatale #1: In Stores Tomorrow, Seven-Page Preview Available Now.

The gripping debut of Brubaker and Phillips' Fatale is out tomorrow, and yesterday Comic Book Resources released an exclusive seven-page preview of the eerie first issue.

On Twitter, Brubaker teases, "they don't even get to the good parts of the issue. We saved it for you."

Indeed they have. While retaining the classic tropes like the reckless reporter and the crooked cop, the issue plunges ever deeper into a sinister world that we've only begun to glimpse.



Apart from the Image Comics logo, the book is consistent with the Icon works of Criminal and Incognito: no apparent outside editorial influence with credits just for three people -- Dave Stewart providing colors, as he did halfway into "Last of the Innocent" -- an extra-long story uninterrupted by ads, Brubaker's personal communication to the readers, and another guest essay.

(There's also a great ad pulling together the collections of Brubaker and Phillips' collaborative work, which we'll reprint later.)

In the issue, Brubaker reveals these essays "aren't reprinted in our trades or in the digital versions of the comics, they're a bonus for you, the people who make our books possible by supporting the single issues as they come out. A thanks for not waiting on the trade."

As with Incognito, Jess Nevins provides the essay, this time looking at (as Brubaker put it) "the dark dark world of H.P. Lovecraft, godfather of pretty much all modern horror in one way or another."

Lovecraft's influence is all over this first issue, and accompanying the essay is a suitably creepy piece of art that Sean Phillips featured at his blog and which we reprint above.

In late November, Phillips responded to popular demand and began offering poster reproductions of the work at his Cafe Press store.

(Direct link here as the website's been flaky.)

Best as I can tell, it's the first poster of any of his "essay art," and it's the first poster reproduction since the cover art for Criminal: The Sinners.

All around, if the first issue is any indication, we're in for a dark ride.

Bullets: Looking Back and Looking Ahead.

Been a while for hail of bullets, but we have a few news items as we wrap up the year.

• Looking Back, Part I: Flashmob Fridays Discuss Criminal. The thought-provoking writers at Flashmob Fridays tackled "Last of the Innocent" this past week. Our own Alan David Doane introduced their collection of reviews and essays, and I had the honor of being a guest contributor. The essays are as provocative as the mini-series that inspired them, and I highly recommend them.
  
  
• Looking Ahead, Part I: Brubaker and Phillips Discuss Fatale. Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips' Fatale debuts the first week of the new year -- January 4th, specifically, with two different covers for this first issue -- and last week both creators spoke with Newsarama about the horror noir comic they're publishing through Image Comics.
  
  Brubaker mentions that the book's origins trace back to before Criminal, but even now he's experimenting with the book's structure. As is usually the case with his collaborations with Brubaker, Phillips doesn't know where the story's going. He notes that the genres of horror and noir are right in his wheelhouse, and he discusses the difficulty in drawing a woman who's sexy and charismatic, at least more so than his typically realistic characters.
  
  (I think the women he's drawn are often quite stunning already.)
  
  The interview confirms that Fatale will run at least twelve issues; a couple days later, Brubaker wrote that the series will run "probably 15 or 16 issues."
  
  
• Looking Back, Part II: Phillips and Criterion. It's been a great year for fans of crime fiction. There's Darwyn Cooke's "Martini Edition" of his Parker adaptations, reviewed here. The University of Chicago Press published another five Parker novels and announced the publication of some of Richard Stark's Grofield novels for next year. And after a year hiatus, Hard Case Crime returned with four books in two months, including its first hardcover.
  
  It's also been a pretty good year for Sean Phillips fans, even beyond Criminal. We reported that he had created the cover art for the Criterion Collection's February release of Sweet Smell of Success, and we highlighted the creation of that artwork, but we completely missed his work for the November release of the classic courtroom drama, Twelve Angry Men.
  
  At his blog, Phillips posted the original painting, the subsequent cover, and a detail of the painting.
  
  As Phillips later highlighted, the film made Vanity Fair's Holiday Design and Technology Guide.
  
  If you got a gift card for Christmas, you know what you can do with it.
  
  
• Looking Ahead, Part II: Phillips on Conan. It hasn't been published too frequently, but I get a real kick reading Robert E. Howard's Savage Sword, an anthology series by Dark Horse, featuring all sorts of characters created by the pulp giant. Scheduled for a late March release, the fourth issue has Sean Phillips drawing Howard's most famous creation, Conan. All through October, Phillips posted artwork, including thumbnails, pencils, details, and works-in-progress.

In the coming weeks, we'll link to the end-of-the-year lists that recommend Criminal, and we'll pass on previews, interviews, and reviews to the next big thing from Brubaker and Phillips, Fatale.

New in Stores: a Criminal Trade and a Fatale Preview.

The trade paperback for Criminal: The Last of the Innocent is out today, and that's not the only noteworthy material in stores today. In the back of Chew #22, we find the three-page "trailer" of Fatale along with the "Beauty" cover art to the first issue.

Cross promotion between Layman and Guillory's offbeat crime comedy and Brubaker and Phillips' upcoming horror noir is a good thing: both are being published by Image Comics, and I believe they both appeal to the same sort of twisted but sophisticated reader.

The preview may appear in other comics this month, but fans should check out Chew if they want a print copy of the teaser that's already appeared online, and the book's main event is well worth reading, too.

"Coward" Being Adapted for Film, Brubaker to Write.

The big announcement is pretty much everywhere: Ed Brubaker's Twitter feed, Sean Phillips' blog, and the major comics news sites.

This afternoon, Variety announced that the first Criminal arc, "Coward," is being adapted for film.

The film already has a studio and financial backing. The director will be David Slade (30 Days of Night, Twilight: Eclipse), and the writer is Ed Brubaker himself.

Buried in this huge, HUGE news is confirmation that the sequel to "Coward" is in the works -- presumably after Fatale -- and I'm guessing we'll here more about this sooner rather than later, probably the next time Brubaker's interviewed.

Regardless, we will, of course, update the blog as more information becomes available.