Updates and News: Incognito Variant Cover, Call for Brubaker Interview Questions.

In my last post, I noted an uncertain future for the paperback crime imprint Hard Case Crime. That future is beginning to brighten: along with reprinting the relevant newsletter email from publisher Charles Ardai, The Violent World of Parker highlighted the news that Subterranean Press will be publishing the first HCC hardcover, scheduled to be published in the first half of next year. The book will collect two early Lawrence Block novels, printed back-to-back: this 69th book in the line wasn't announced earlier and is proof that the imprint still has some life in it.

(The site, devoted to the Richard Stark's brutal creation Parker, also reported that the University of Chicago Press has secured the publishing rights for the Parker books up through Firebreak. That's the twentieth book of the series, and the U of C press will publish books 16, 17, and 18 this March. Fans of Criminal and Darwyn Cooke's Parker adaptations should definitely look into these trade paperbacks.)

While Hard Case Crime fans will have to wait a while for the next release, the wait has finally ended for the conclusion to the first arc for Stumptown, a detective comic that deliberately evokes shows like The Rockford Files. The fourth issue was released just last week, just over four months after the publication of issue #3. Over at his blog, writer Greg Rucka -- Brubaker's co-writer on Gotham Central -- announced that this sort of delay won't be repeated. Subsequent story arcs won't be solicited until it's clear that the entire arc can be released on time.



Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips' Incognito will also see a short delay. On Twitter, Brubaker relayed that the release has been pushed back from the original release date of September 15th. Marvel.com currently lists the release date as October 6th.

The "apocalyptic pulp noir" is definitely on its way. Starting in late August and throughout September, Sean Phillips has been posting plenty of work from Incognito on his blog, including thumbnails, pencils, and completed inks.

Most interesting is the artwork featured here, what has been announced as a variant cover for the first issue of Incognito: Bad Influences. I believe this is the first variant cover for any Brubaker and Phillips collaboration, not counting the second printing for the debut issue of Incognito, and Brubaker explains that it is "a nod" to the title's pulp origins. The cover is featured in a 1:10 variant edition, offered to retailers at the same price as the regular edition.



Finally, Brubaker recently publicized an opportunity to submit questions for an upcoming Word Balloon podcast with John Siuntres. The deadline for questions is this Monday evening.


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Bullets: Awards, Solicitations, and Hard Case Crime.

My life offline has been quite busy, as I'm now the happy and grateful father of a healthy baby girl, but we're less than a month out from Incognito: Bad Influences, and we're long overdue for an update.

• Eisner Awards for Brubaker. The 2010 Eisner Awards were announced just a few days after my last post in late July, and Ed Brubaker won two awards, one for the best single issue (Captain America #601) and one for best writer. This is the third time Brubaker has been given the prestigious Best Writer award, and this year's award is for his work on Criminal, Incognito, and his mainstream Marvel titles.
  
  Other noteworthy winners were Darwyn Cooke's Parker for Best Adaptation and Chew for Best New Series.
  
  
• Sean Phillips Spotlight from San Diego. While attending San Diego's Comic-Con International, where the Eisners were announced, Sean Phillips and artist and friend Duncan Fegredo conducted a panel spotlighting Phillips' work. Comic Book Resources has published an article summarizing the panel, and from the article I've learned that Phillips created the cover art for an issue of Star Wars: Chewbacca -- one of the more striking Star Wars covers in the last decade.
  
  
• Brubaker/Phillips Reprint from DC Comics. On the subject of older work that I'm still stumbling across, Ed Brubaker noted on Twitter that DC Presents: Brightest Day #1 features the reprint of a single-issue crime story -- with Hawkman, no less -- by Brubaker and Phillips.
  
  (As I noted last time, DC Presents: Batman #1 features a complete four-issue arc by Brubaker, from 2000.)
  
  The large-scale collaborations -- Sleeper and Criminal and Incognito -- naturally receive the most attention, but I've found that Brubaker and Phillips' older, "minor" works are worth checking out, books such as Scene of the Crime and the prestige-formatted Batman: Gotham Noir.
  
  
• Late Fall Solicitations for Incognito. In the time since my last post, Marvel has released two sets of solicitations, one for October and one for November. Both feature issues for the sequel to Incognito. Issue #2 for "Bad Influences" is due on October 20th, and Issue #3 is due on November 17th.
  
  Sean Phillips has posted the full cover art for the third issue. Most interestingly, I don't believe there has been ANY indication of just how many issues will be released for this presumed mini-series.
  
  
• Uncertain Future for Hard Case Crime. Finally, on the subject of open questions in publishing, on August 6th, Publishers Weekly reported that Dorchester Publishing is immediately halting its publication of mass-market paperbacks in favor of e-books and printing on-demand.
  
  The Wall Street Journal subsequently explained the relevance for readers of A Criminal Blog: Dorchester has been publishing Hard Case Crime, the fantastic mass-market imprint of hard-boiled crime fiction.
  
  Having just published its 66th book in six years, Hard Case Crime has featured both new works and long-forgotten reprints from authors such as Donald E. Westlake, Max Allan Collins, Lawrence Block, and Mickey Spillane. It published The Colorado Kid, the short Stephen King novel on which the new cable series Haven is loosely (very loosely) based, and it has also featured books by "John Lange" (Google the psuedonym) and one A.C. Doyle.
  
  Moreover, HCC owner Charles Ardai and Ed Brubaker did "ad swaps" when Criminal debuted: in the back pages of their respective works, Brubaker ran an advertisement for the crime books, and Ardai ran ads for the crime comic. Since then, Brubaker published an interview with Ardai in the back pages of Criminal.
  
  In the WSJ article, Ardai relays that he may move HCC to another publisher. In an August 8th message to the HCC mailing list, Ardai assures fans that everything will be sorted out, and that they're already working on two books that haven't yet been announced.
  
  "After that? Well, you won't be seeing a new book every month, but I expect you'll continue to see a handful of new Hard Case Crime titles each year, and rest assured they'll be good ones."

I've already devoured about half of HCC's pulp novels, and this hiatus -- and doubtless late nights with my daughter -- might give me a chance to catch up. Regardless, I hope that, as with Criminal, new releases from Hard Case Crime aren't too far away.

A Few Brief Notes.

I was hoping to make note of a few interesting new arrivals last week, but things have been hectic. The moving finger writes and, having writ, moves on!

While Ed Brubaker has announced that he's too busy to attend any more conventions this year, Sean Phillips is in San Diego this weekend, on panels Friday afternoon and Sunday afternoon.

(Apologies for not pointing to his schedule sooner.)

Also at his blog, Phillips highlighted the cover art for the second issue of Incognito: Bad Influences and announced the sale of personalized copies of the trade paperback for Criminal: The Sinners.

More recently, Brubaker discussed an upcoming story arc for his Captain America title, in both a press release at Marvel.com and an interview on Newsarama. "The Trial of Captain America" begins in October.

October also sees the publication of DC Comics Presents: Batman #1, collecting a four-issue arc from 2000, written by Ed Brubaker with art by Scott McDaniel. That month, Image Comics also publishes the third annual issue of Liberty Comics, to benefit the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund.

Finally, the A.V. Club recently praised Criminal: The Sinners, calling it "one of the best arcs to date in what’s already an outstanding series."

So, what were the comic books I liked from last week? The latest issue of Chew, featuring Poyo, the Mobutu Sese Seko Kuku Ngbendu waza Banga; the evocative if overpriced Strange Science Fantasy #1, a pulp comic that should appeal to fans of Incognito; and The Man with the Getaway Face, the over-sized, budget-priced preview of Darwyn Cooke's next Parker adaptation.

Bullets: Criminal, Incognito, & Gotham Central.

I was hoping to blog before yesterday, but it's been another busy week, so another Thursday post will have to do.

• Criminal Trade Paperback. Buying a copy from my local comic shop yesterday, I confirmed Ed Brubaker's announcement that the trade paperback of Criminal: The Sinners is now in stores. The story improves with every reading, and this fifth volume includes the cover art for the five monthly issues and an introduction by crime novelist Ian Rankin.
  
  
• Incognito Sequel in Monthly Issues. September solicitations for the major publishers are rolling out, and those who share Brubaker's enthusiasm for the recent trend of one-dollar reprints will be happy to know that Dark Horse is jumping on the bandwagon. The first set was announced for August, and their "1 for 1" program continues in September with licensed properties like Star Wars, Buffy, and Serenity.
  
  More importantly, those who have been waiting for more from Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips should be very interested to know that the debut issue of Incognito: Bad Influences has finally been solicited.

  One of the biggest Hollywood options of the year, nominated for THREE Eisner Awards, INCOGNITO is finally back for more! It’s apocalyptic pulp noir at its finest!
  
  It’s been over a year since Zack Overkill came out of Witness Protection to build a new life. But working for the government isn’t that different from being controlled by them, and his new secret identity is becoming more trouble than it’s worth... So what will Zack do when tasked with a mission that sends him on a hunt into darkest corners of the super-criminal underworld where he was raised? Also returning with Incognito are the exclusive Pulp magazine essays by Jess Nevins, Professor of pulp history, only available in the single issues of Incognito.

  The first issue is scheduled for a September 15th release date.
  
  
• Gotham Central Hardcover. Finally, with the third volume just hitting stores, it appears that the final hardcover collection of Ed Brubaker and Greg Rucka's DC police procedural may be released early next year.
  
  On June 3rd, the blog Collected Editions posted a list of advance solicitations for DC collections, for early 2011. The list includes Gotham Central Book Four: Corrigan and a trade paperback release for Book One: In The Line of Duty. The story links to an Amazon page currently listing a February 8th release date for the hardcover, and the current Wikipedia page for the critically acclaimed series claims (without attribution) that the book will complete the 40-issue collection and even include excerpts from Infinite Crisis and 52.

Whether a complete collection of the series ought to include those excerpts is a subject for another time. For now, there's Gotham Central Book Four and Criminal Volume 5.


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Gotham Central Volume 3, In Stores Now.

I had forgotten that it was scheduled for a June 9th release, but the third hardcover collection of Gotham Central was released just yesterday.

I confirmed that the solicitation was mistaken -- and the listing at DCcomics.com is still inaccurate -- in suggesting that the story "Dead Robin" is being collected in this volume. That arc, from issues #33-36, will presumably be found in the final hardcover that I would expect to see next year.

This book continues the complete reproduction of the award-winning series, as it collects issues #23-31. Greg Rucka now has top billing, as I believe Ed Brubaker contributes only one two-part story, "On the Freak Beat," which fittingly features Catwoman.

The series was one of my favorite ongoing series from the "Big Two" superhero universes, and so I continue to recommend the hardcover collections.

Bullets: Incognito Cover Art, Secret Avengers, 7 Psychos, etc.

Since a rough of the cover art had already been released, I expected that we would soon see at least an advance solicit for Incognito: Bad Influences, but the title is nowhere to be found in the August solicitations. If the title is still scheduled for a September debut, we'll likely see its solicit info next month.

In the meantime, Sean Phillips has revealed the final cover art for the first issue, with the title corrected.



And, we have a few other highlights from Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips.

• Other Recent Releases. It seems that Brubaker has at least two or three mainstream Marvel titles coming out every month, and Phillips continues releasing new material -- his first contribution to Stephen King's Gunslinger comic book came out last week -- but this week has been especially noteworthy.
  
  Phillips' Seven Psychopaths has finally reached American markets this week. Comic Book Resources released an exclusive, seven-page preview followed by a four-star review. It's not the only positive review online, as Newsarama also gives the first issue high marks.
  
  Brubaker's Secret Avengers also debuted this week, and Newsarama has an extensive interview with Brubaker, about this new ongoing series. CBR has a six-page preview and a four-star review, and Newsarama cover the title in its rapid-fire reviews.
  
  Most noteworthy is an article and interview about Secret Avengers in USA Today. The article reiterates what we've already reported, that Brubaker's "creator-owned crime title Incognito has been optioned by 20th Century Fox as a movie and has a sequel coming out in the fall."
  
  
• Brubaker Film and Best-of Highlights. Ed Brubaker's been busy outside the comics world with In the Dark, a short film that recently premiered at this year's Seattle International Film Festival.
  
  I gather that this eight-minute film is Brubaker's directorial debut; he wrote the screenplay, and his wife Melanie Tomlin edited and co-produced the crime story.
  
  Back in funny pages, Comic Book Resources recently highlighted "the greatest Brubaker stories ever told" as part of a series for the month of May. CBR readers cast their votes, and Sleeper: Season One got top marks. Individual story arcs from his major collaborations with Sean Phillips -- Sleeper, Criminal, and Incognito -- took seven of the list's fifteen slots.
  
  
• Original Artwork and Badges. At his blog, Sean Phillips has relayed that more original artwork is available for purchase at Splash Page Art, and Criminal and Incognito badges are now available, free with any purchase at his Amazon store.
  
  
• Parker Preview and Dollar Reprints. The graphic novel I'm most looking forward to is Darwyn Cooke's The Outfit, his second adaptation of Richard Stark's Parker novels. We've already reported that the book is due in October, preceded in July with a $2.00 preview of the mini-adaptation of "The Man with the Getaway Face."
  
  Newsarama recently published a preview of The Outfit, further stoking my interest.
  
  Finally, on the subject of inexpensive previews, on Twitter this month, Ed Brubaker wrote that "not enough is being said about the awesome one dollar comic reprints marvel and dc are putting out."
  
  Indeed: I can't even find a complete checklist anywhere online.
  
  With the release of the Watchmen movie early last year, DC had the uncharacteristically good sense of publishing $1.00 previews of other works that might appeal to people who are just entering the world of comic books -- specifically, full first issues of DC, WildStorm, and Vertigo titles that are already available in collected editions.
  
  In a way, this marketing campaign has proven to be more successful than the movie that prompted it. The series of previews was originally branded "After Watchmen... What's Next?" and was timed to coincide with the movie's release in theaters and then in DVD. The initiative has been extended at least into 2010 and has been re-branded simply "What's Next?"
  
  Marvel and Image have followed suit this year with "Marvel's Greatest Comics" and "Image Firsts."
  
  Over the last two years, and between the three companies, we've seen about 40 one-dollar previews for significant, recent works. I've been collecting the previews, since it's a cheap way to satiate the irrational need for collectin. They highlight how much I really haven't yet read, and they give me an opportunity to give high-profile titles a thorough preview before deciding what to explore next.

In an era flush with questionable business decisions on the part of the major comics publishers, it's good to see a smart move becoming a popular move.

INCOGNITO: Bad Influence(s).

Other than a probable debut in September -- noted last time -- little information has been released about the upcoming sequel to Incognito. That changed today, as Sean Phillips has posted what appears to be the cover art for the first issue of Incognito: Bad Influence, and Ed Brubaker has clarified that the sequel's title is in the plural, "Bad Influences."



Going by the usual patterns of the last few months, I expect Marvel's August solicitations to be out in the next week or two. It's probably more than a little likely that this cover art and the corresponding issue will be featured, either for an August release date or as an advance solicitation. We'll post more info about this mini-series as it becomes available.