New Fatale Out Today: Previews, Interviews, and More.

After a brief delay of a couple weeks, Fatale #16 is in stores today.  A five-page preview of the latest issue can be found all over the place, including Comic Book Resources, Geekality, Rockin Comics, and Comicsity.

Keen-eyed readers might spot a revised cover for the issue.  At his blog, Sean Phillips explains that, since Nicholas doesn't appear in this issue, they'll save the original cover for another time.

Sean Phillips is also spending the next few months highlighting "reject" images that didn't make the final cut for The Art of Sean Phillips, due in October.  Fans of his collaborations with Ed Brubaker will be particularly interested in two pieces from Sleeper: a preliminary pencil of the cover art for issue #2 and a rough demonstration image for the colorist.  More is sure to come.

Speaking of Brubaker, he announced on his Twitter feed that his upcoming comic Velvet made the October cover of the solicitations magazine Previews.

A few weeks ago, I belatedly mentioned an interview with Brubaker at MTV Geek.  The interview focuses on Fatale and Velvet, I noted a few tidbits about the former.  The next arc will include an experimental issue and a "really weirdly experimental storyline" -- both the result of the freedom inherent in creator-owned comics -- and there are events set in the 1960's that we'll get to, eventually.

MTV Geek subsequently posted a brief video interview with Brubaker at San Diego Comic-Con, focusing on "Captain America: The Winter Soldier," the upcoming movie based on his recent run at Marvel.

Finally, the horror magazine Rue Morgue published an interview with Brubaker and Phillips this past June, promoting Fatale's third trade paperback "West of Hell" and the new story arc "Pray for Rain".  The creators go into what makes the medium effective for horror, and Brubaker discusses the benefits of reading the monthly issues.

"...the best benefit of getting the single issues is that you ensure we get to keep making comics. We earn most of our living on single issue sales, because there’s no big company backing us. The way Image works, you’re basically publishing with them, not working for them, so those single issue sales are what keeps this train running, and our readership has really supported us over the years when our projects weren’t as successful as Fatale has been. It’s important to point that out from time to time, because I feel like sometimes we take stuff we read for granted, not realizing our patronage is what makes those books possible." [emphasis mine]
 

Sean discusses his goal as an artist -- "to make the reader forget they're reading a comic, to get totally involved in what is happening in the story" -- and the two relish the immediacy and the artistic control that comes with their creator-owned work.

Criminal fans will be most interested to read what Brubaker says about their upcoming plans.

"The plan is to either do a sci-fi or a period piece crime story after this... depending on what feels most ready whenever we get to the end of Fatale."
 

I'd love to see my favorite comic return with a period piece, but I'm also keenly aware that, in our world, Leo has been languishing in prison for more than six years.

I dig all their collaborations, but the sequel to "Coward" cannot come soon enough for me.

Eisner Award for Fatale Colorist Dave Stewart.

The 2013 Eisner Awards were announced last night, and Dave Stewart received the award for Best Colorist for his work on Fatale, Batwoman, and a handful of Dark Horse books including BPRD and The Massive.

Fatale and its contributors received six Eisner nominations this year, but the book was otherwise shut out, thanks mostly to the great work being done on Saga and Hawkeye.

We extend our congratulations to the winners and, indeed, to all who received the honor of being nominated.

Bullets: Fatale Ghost Variant, Brubaker Interview, Art of Phillips Promotions.

A few quick announcements.

• Fatale #15 Ghost Variant.  Can't believe I missed this, but Comics Beat noted that the latest issue of Fatale was released with a beautiful variant cover by Ed Brubaker's former Catwoman collaborator, Darwyn Cooke.  The "Ghost Variant" was announced on the issue's release date by the small and enigmatic group of retailers; you can find a copy by contacting the participating stores or searching the online auction sites.
• CBR Interviews Brubaker on Velvet.  At Comic Book Resources, guest contributor Casey Gilly provides a short interview with Ed Brubaker on his upcoming series Velvet.  The series will be "meta-textual," commenting on the Cold War, the espionage genre, and the way men and women are portrayed differently.
• Art of Phillips Bookplates and Exhibit.  Finally, in consecutive blog posts, Sean Phillips made a couple announcements concerning the promotion of The Art of Sean Phillips, out in October.  British store OK Comics will sell their copies with an exclusive bookplate signed by the artist, and the Lakes International Comics Art Festival will commemorate the book with an art exhibit from October 6th to November 10th.

Opening night of the Kendal, England, exhibit includes a screening of 12 Angry Men, for which Sean Phillips contributed the artwork for the Criterion Collection.  Phillips writes, "The original painting for that cover will be in the exhibition along with over a hundred other pieces."

UPDATE: ...and, I forgot to link to an MTV Geek interview with Brubaker, a fairly lengthy article about both Fatale and Velvet.

Velvet by Brubaker and Epting, Debuting in October.

We noted that Ed Brubaker had big plans for Image Expo, and the announcement came today.  As CBR reports, Brubaker is reuniting with Captain America artist Steve Epting for Velvet, an espionage comic that focuses on a spy who returns to the field after working as the personal assistant to the head of the world's largest intelligence agency.

Nerdist had the exclusive announcement and a brief interview with Brubaker.  The idea for the comic has been brewing for about eight years, Epting is now free to work on the book, and Fatale colorist Bettie Breitweiser will be joining the team.

VELVET #1
story ED BRUBAKER
art STEVE EPTING & BETTIE BREITWEISER
cover STEVE EPTING

OCTOBER 2
32 PAGES / FC / M
$3.50

ED BRUBAKER and STEVE EPTING redefined Captain America with the “Winter Soldier” saga… and everything they’ve done so far has been leading to VELVET!

When the world’s best secret agent is killed, Velvet Templeton, the Personal Assistant to the Director of the Agency, is drawn off her desk and back into the field for the first time in nearly 20 years… and is immediately caught in a web of mystery, murder and high-octane action.

Sexy and provocative, with a dark twist on the spy genre, this EXTRA-LENGTH first issue by two of the industry’s best-selling creators will knock you out!

The new ongoing series (with brief breaks planned between arcs) is scheduled to debut on October 2nd.  As he did with Criminal, Incognito, and Fatale before it, Brubaker is teasing the series with a short "trailer" which you can find at Nerdist and CBR, with slightly easier navigation at the latter.

Fatale Preview and Interview.

Fatale Book Three: West of Hell and Fatale #15 are both in stores tomorrow:  readers can catch up with the latest trade paperback and the first chapter of a brand new story arc.

Yesterday, the LA Times' Hero Complex site posted an feature on Fatale.  In an interview-by-email, Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips discuss the tidal wave of Eisner nods that the series has received, the unique contributions made by the new colorist Bettie Breitweiser, and the Seattle grunge scene in which the latest arc is set.

The feature also includes an exclusive, six-page preview of the new issue:  check out the links in the article to find the full-size images.

Catwoman Vol 2 Out Today, The Art of Phillips Out in October.

Out today from DC Comics is the second large collection of Catwoman comics by Ed Brubaker.  Catwoman Volume 2: No Easy Way Down features 400 pages of comics, including another 15 issues of his run on Catwoman (2002) and Secret Files #1.  We reported earlier that Brubaker considers the first 18 issues to be the high point of his 37-issue run on the series, so these first two volumes should on fans' must-have list.

Last week, Dynamite Entertainment provided an advance solicitation for The Art of Sean Phillips, a 312-page hardcover coffee table book co-written by Phillips and Eddie Robson.  If I'm reading the solicitation correctly, 500 copies will also include a "tip-in sheet" signed by the writers.

Phillips has previously released Blow Up, a 400-page book of "comic panels, concept sketches and life drawings;" Intersections, an art-based dialogue with Duncan Fegredo; and Half Life, documenting 20 years of drawing people from real life.

On his blog, Phillips highlights additional artwork from the new book, beyond what's included at the Dynamite website.  His previews include a look at the full cover, which entirely features cover art from his collaborations with Ed Brubaker.  Estimating from the table of contents, it appears that almost 100 pages will focus on his work with Brubaker.

Rapid Fire: Fatale #14 Preview and More.

No time, so just the highlights.

Fatale #14 is in stores this week; the final stand-alone issue brings Jo to Nazi Germany, and Geekality has a five-page preview.

Ed Brubaker has had recent interviews with Comic Book Resources, Paste Magazine, and The Outhousers.

The Brotherhood of Evil Geeks has taken a closer look at Book One of Fatale.

Sean Phillips tweets that he and Brubaker will appear together at October's Lakes International Comic Art Festival in Kendal, England.

And Brubaker has followed up on a secret project he's been hinting about for at least eight months, a second creator-owned comic he's been planning to write alongside his regular collaborations with Phillips.  Brubaker tweets that the announcement will come at Image Expo, on July 2nd in San Francisco.

[Update, 12:45 am] One last thing, comic fans of all stripes should be interested to know that a new, free mobile app is available, on all major platforms, distributing a stunning array of comic strips.  While The Far Side remains available only in hardcopy, the GoComics app includes Peanuts, Get Fuzzy, and the complete run of Calvin & Hobbes.