Art of Sean Phillips Out Tomorrow, Catwoman Volume 3 Out in March, and More!

Art of Sean Phillips, In Stores Tomorrow. 

On Twitter, Phillips confirms that his hardcover art book is in stores tomorrow.  Originally scheduled for October, the 312-page book is also available with a tip-in sheet signed by Phillips and by the book's writer Eddie Robson; limited to 500 copies, the autographed edition retails for $70. 

Dynamite's listing for the $40 standard edition includes a preview, and yesterday Comic Book Resources posted some additional preview pages, including Ed Brubaker's introduction, where he praises Phillips' work for his decision "to make the struggle his art" and for "the empathy he creates in his characters."

Brubaker's Catwoman Volume 3, Solicited for March.

In September, we passed along a report that the third large volume of Ed Brubaker's work on Catwoman would be released early next year.  DC's February solicitations confirm that Catwoman Volume 3: Under Pressure will complete Brubaker's run on the title, collecting issues #25-37 of the series Brubaker began in 2002.

Just as The Art of Sean Phillips includes an intro by Ed Brubaker, this collection of Brubaker comics includes an issue by Phillips -- "Only Takes a Night," Catwoman #32, which we included in our list of Brubaker-Phillips collaborations posted two years ago. As best as I can tell, this is the first time this issue is being reprinted.

Catwoman Volume 3: Under Pressure is scheduled for a March 26th release.

Fatale: Reviews and Previews.

With a lot of attention focused on the debut of Brubaker's Velvet, it's good to see that the latest issue of Fatale hasn't been ignored by reviewers online.  CBR gives Fatale #18 four stars out of five, writing that the story "shifts from good to great" with this issue's climax. 

IGN gives the issue a 9.8 out of ten, and there are similarly positive reviews from ComicVine, Talking Comics, The MacGuffin, and  Geeked Out Nation.    For more, the agreggator Comic Book Roundup has a revew page dedicated to the issue.

And on his blog, Sean Phillips has just posted cover art for Fatale #23, artwork that's so eerie and such an interesting break from the limited palettes we've seen up to now, that it's definitely worth reposting here.

A Criminal Revelation, a Preview of Fatale, and Much More!

Archie Lewis, a Fictional Writer in a Fictional World.

There's not much happening in the world of Criminal right now, but one new tidbit is worth repeating.

In the first chapter of "Bad Night," from Criminal Volume 2, #4, we came across a reference to a writer named Archie Lewis.   As we see from page 5 of the preview still in the archives at Comic Book Resources, Jacob monologues about how Lewis influenced his work habits.

I try to always leave a strip in progress, but close to being done.  It's an old Archie Lewis method, according to his biographer.  That way, the next morning you have something to start right in on.  Because that last panel calls out to you... like an unfinished sentence. 

We always just assumed that Brubaker was referencing an obscure writer in real life, but recently he revealed that the name was fabricated, his "riffing on Lew Archer, from the PI novels" -- a private detective created by Ross Macdonald (aka Kenneth Millar) in short stories and books published between 1946 and 1976.

In the Twitter conversation, Brubaker did confirm that the technique Jacob attributes to "Archer Lewis" is "real advice about writing, from someone, and it works to get you going the next day."

That's good, since I use the technique in my own writing, along with Raymond Chandler's "nothing alternative" -- setting aside time where I either write or do nothing productive whatsover, described in Roy Baumeister and John Tierney's book Willpower: Rediscovering the Greatest Human Strength. 

It's reassuring that this technique wasn't just conjured to add some color to an insomniac's inner monologue.


A Preview for Fatale #18.

For Brubaker fans, the new series Velvet has understandably been getting all the attention of late, but his horror-noir mashup with Sean Phillips keeps rolling along.  A five-page preview of Fatale #18 is now available from Comicosity and CBR.  The issue features one of the most striking covers in an already impressive run, and the preview begins to address that common conundrum in crime stories: what to do with the body.

This new issue of Fatale is in stores tomorrow.


Glowing Reviews for Velvet's Debut -- and a Second Printing.

Ed Brubaker and Steve Epting's creator-owned spy comic debuted to some very positive reviews, including at The AV Club, Comics Alliance, Unleash the Fanboy, and The Outhousers.  An advance review was featured on We The Nerdy, and the comic is also discussed for a few minutes during a recent podcast by iFanboy, where it ends just behind Pretty Deadly #1 for Pick of the Week.

The good reviews accompany strong sales, and Image Comics has announced an immediate sell-out and second printing for the first issue.

The second printing will arrive simultaneously with Velvet #2, on November 20th.


An Award for Phillips in His Home Country.

With a tip of the hat to CBR's Robot 6, we saw that the 2013 British World Fantasy Awards were awarded this past Sunday at the World Fantasy Convention in Brighton, and Sean Phillips was given the award for Best Artist.  We congratulate Phillips for another bit of well-deserved recognition for his work.


Interviews with Brubaker, Breitweiser, and the Captain America Filmmakers.

Ed Brubaker has been interviewed quite a bit lately.

• Two weeks ago, We The Nerdy put its Creator Spotlight! on Ed Brubaker. (See below for more.) They conducted a two-part interview at the Lakes International Comic Art Festival; in part one, they focus on Velvet, and in part two, they discuss Fatale, the Criminal film adaptation, and the end of his run on Marvel's Winter Soldier.  They also excerpted from a talk Brubaker gave at the Comics Art Fest, about the origin of Velvet.
• Last week, Newsarama interviewed Brubaker about Velvet, its Cold-War setting and the narrative possibilities in the face of the era's technological limitations.
• Just today, Earwolf released episode #75 of How Did This Get Made?, focusing on the Afflecked Daredevil film; Brubaker guest-hosts the one-hour podcast alongside regulars Paul Scheer, Jason Mantzoukas, and June Diane Raphael.

Bettie Breitweiser, the colorist for Fatale and Velvet, is also featured in a podcast.  She's interviewed in the last 20 minutes of yesterday's Giant Size podcast at the online network 5by5.

And, ComicBook.com highlighted part of an October 23rd USA Today story on the upcoming Captain America sequel.  The directors Anthony and Joe Russo have high praise indeed for Brubaker's take on the characters, and they intend to honor his work.

"He's an amazingly drawn character. He's so well conceived," says Anthony Russo of the Winter Soldier, who first appeared in Ed Brubaker and Steve Epting's Captain America comic book in the 2000s.

"It's one of the best comic runs in the last 20 years, one of our favorite comic runs of all time, and we really want to do it justice. It was important to us to make sure he just jumped off the page to the screen." [emphasis mine]

Captain America: The Winter Soldier is scheduled for an April 4th release.


Genre Books for Further Reading.

At the end of the Newsarama interview cited above, Brubaker makes an interesting point about the increasing diversity of genres in comic books.

“I feel there’s a revolution happening in creator owned comics; not about established guys doing books at Image but simply people creating good stories people want to read. I think Kim Thompson said something 20 years ago about how comics would improve in general if more crap was made. What he meant by that is that comics needs its John Grishams; it needs genre stuff that’s not just superhero, and finally that world is starting to happen. There’s stuff aimed at mainstream readers, from thrillers to horror to mystery. Last time I went to a comic store I bought twelve books, and ten of them were creator-owned comics, by some of the best writers and artists in comics.” 

It's worth reiterating, his point about comics: "it needs genre stuff that’s not just superhero, and finally that world is starting to happen. There’s stuff aimed at mainstream readers, from thrillers to horror to mystery."

Indeed it is happening, and vanishingly few of our recent purchases are superhero books.  More and more, my stacks are taken up by pulp and other genres, by creator-owned works and not just the latest reiteration of a long-established property.

What books would we recommend?

The book we've been most taken with lately is Planetoid by Ken Garing, a sci-fi tale that mixes world-building and myth with some quite personal, human touches.  The book isn't controversial, and it doesn't push the boundaries of what the medium can do -- which may explain why it's been somewhat overshadowed -- but it makes the most of the medium and is a book that rewards rereading.   The trade paperback was released just last week, and we expect years of exciting work from its creator.

Darwyn Cooke recently drew the cover art for Fatale #15's ghost variant, and he's been busy with gorgeous adaptations of a few of Richard Stark's Parker books, with the fourth adaptation Slayground due next month.  Just a few weeks ago, IDW Publishing announced that Cooke is designing deluxe, hardcover releases of the original prose novels, complete with color illustrations. (Hat-tip to The Outhousers.) 

The first book, The Hunter, is scheduled to be released in the first half of 2014.  Comics Alliance wrote that Cooke's adaptations are "nearing their conclusion," which is certainly true if the original plan of four books is still operative, but the press release states that Cooke "will continue producing his award-winning Parker graphic novel series for IDW." 

Either way, these illustrated crime novels would make another great bridge between the crime comics of Brubaker/Phillips and the hard-boiled prose in Hard Case Crime.

Finally, for those who are still exploring Brubaker and Phillips' work, I'd recommend the "Brubaking Bad" reading list from We The Nerdy.  It's included in their creator spotlight along with a Captain America reading list, spoiler-ish thoughts on Brubaker's Winter Solder character, and some thoughts on why we should eagerly anticipate the Winter Soldier film.

The Brubaking Bad reading list covers Brubaker and Phillips' work from Scene of the Crime to Sleeper, Criminal, Incognito, and Fatale. 

The pair has been responsible for some 1600 pages of  noir comics, intertwined with espionage, super-powers, and even Lovecraftian horror.  The works are readily available, in deluxe hardcovers for all but Fatale, so what's stopping you?

Sean Phillips Variant Cover for Velvet #1.

In which we had a great weekend out of town, except for missing this news...

Velvet #1 is in stores this week, from Ed Brubaker, his long-time Captain America collaborator Steve Epting, and the new Fatale colorist Bettie Breitweiser.  Comic Book Resources has an extended preview of the debut issue, with two pages that weren't included in the USA Today interview we covered earlier.   In early reviews, CBR gives the issue four out of five stars, and Comicosity gave it a 9.5 out of ten.  Aint It Cool has a brief interview with artist Steve Epting.

There's even bigger news for those of us who are especially fans of Ed Brubaker's collaborations with Sean Phillips.

We've covered the Comic Art Festival that was held in Kendal, UK, this past weekend, and on Friday their official Twitter feed announced an exclusive variant of Velvet #1, with cover art by Sean Phillips.

Secret festival limited edition comic revealed in Comics Clock Tower from 10.30am. It's @brubaker Velvet issue 1 with cover by@seanpphillips
— Comic Art Festival (@comicartfest) October 19, 2013

Digging around, we found that, while the issue was launched at the Comic Art Festival, it will also be available through the UK's Forbidden Planet, and the site is taking presale orders until October 23rd.  At the time of this blog entry's publication, that's less than four hours away, London time.

Update, 8:45 pm ET:  It appears that, with the presale over, the variant issue is now on sale, at the same address.

It's a beautiful cover, and we can confirm that Forbidden Planet does take international orders.

Appearances, Interviews, & Criminal Movie News.

UK Appearances for Brubaker and Phillips, October 18th-21st.

We've had confirmations on Twitter that Ed Brubaker will be making two appearances with Sean Phillips, at the Lakes International Comic Art Festival in Kendal and at London's Gosh Comics.   Here's a summary of their upcoming appearances.

• The Write Comic Stuff, Friday, October 18th, 8:45 pm, in Kendal's Brewery Arts Centre Theatre, featuring Ed Brubaker and fellow writer Kurt Busiek
• The Art of Sean Phillips. Saturday, October 19th, 2:00 pm, in the Brewery Arts Centre Screen One.
• THE Ed Brubaker, Saturday, October 19th, 3:45 pm, in the Brewery Arts Centre Screen One.
• Crime Lords, Sunday, October 20th, 3:30 pm, in the Brewery Arts Centre Theatre, featuring both Brubaker and Phillips.
• Brubaker and Phillips at Gosh! Comics, Monday October 21st, 7:30 pm, at Gosh! London, in a now SOLD OUT appearance and conversation with Phonogram and Young Avengers writer Kieron Gillen.

Sean Phillips is one of the Comic Art Festival's founder patrons, and he will also be one of the judges for the Young Persons Comic Art Competition.

Don't forget the Art of Sean Phillips Exhibit, open now through November 10 at the Sugar Store Gallery in the Brewery Arts Centre, as part of the Comic Art Festival.  Admission is free, and Phillips has posted photos of the exhibition's opening and preview, including the picture we're reposting above.

Phillips' also relays that he's attending the London Super Comic Con, which runs March 15th and 16th.

New Director for "Coward" Adaptation

Variety exclusively reported -- and Brubaker confirmed a summarizing story from Twitch Film -- that the film adaptation to "Coward" has a new director.  When news first broke almost two years ago that Criminal's first arc was being adapted for the big screen, David Slade was tied to the picture.  Now, Ed Brubaker is still writing the screenplay, and the film will be directed by Korean director Kim Jee-Woon, who made his English-speaking debut last year with Schwarzenegger's The Last Stand.

Producer Jamie Patricof praised the director, "His previous work consists of elevated genre films, set in interesting worlds, with three-dimensional characters, which makes him a very strong and exciting partner for 'Coward.' "

We hope that means we'll soon see the film adaptation -- and we hope that a Sean Phillips movie poster wouldn't be out of the question, to say nothing of Criminal's next arc.

We'll keep everyone posted on more movie news as we find it.

Brubaker Interviews for Velvet

Ed Brubaker has conducted a couple recent interviews for his upcoming new series Velvet.  Talking with Comic Book Resources, he reveals that he has material for at least a year and a half's worth of stories, and that the espionage series will not be as "tonally" dark as Fatale.

In an interview with Comics Alliance, Brubaker confirms that the monthly issues will have bonus content, similar to his recent collaborations with Sean Phillips:  "I want all the single issues to feel like magazines that you can go back to."

Velvet #1 is scheduled to be released on October 23rd.

Brubaker, Rucka Address "Gotham"

Finally, Deadline recently broke the news that Fox is developing a TV series called "Gotham," focusing on Jim Gordon's life as a detective prior to the arrival of the Batman.  I'm skeptical of the idea, as Brubaker and Greg Rucka's Gotham Central series wasn't set in a world without Batman:  the Dark Knight's presence in the city was felt, even when he wasn't on the page.

The two Gotham Central creators were asked about the show, and CBR's Robot 6 summarizes their answers.  Neither have any inside info on the series, and neither have been contacted.

A Barrage of Bullets: Previews, Interviews, and More!

 

 

Brubaker and Phillips' Fatale

• Fatale #17 Preview.  The latest issue is out this Wednesday, and Paste Magazine has an exclusive five-page preview of the latest arc's "interlude" set in the present day.
• Interior Art from Sean Phillips.  Over at his blog (note the new URL), Sean Phillips continues to show us the occasional bit of artwork, including the inks for a partial page, presumably from issue #17.  A inked preview of Fatale #18 reveals a rare double-page spread, evidently the first (or second?) in more than 1600 pages produced by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips.
• December Solicitations.  Image's December solicitations were recently released, and the year is set to close with the trade collection for the current arc and the first issue of the new arc: Fatale Volume 4: Pray for Rain and Fatale #20 are both scheduled to be released on December 18th. 
• Cover Art for the New Year.  Phillips has also revealed cover art for upcoming issues, with artwork for Fatale #21 being the latest preview.

 

Ed Brubaker

• USA Today Interview and Velvet Interior Pages.  Yesterday, USA Today's Life section posted an extensive "Sunday Conversation"  with Ed Brubaker, primarily about Fatale, Velvet, and the upcoming Captain America sequel.  The piece mentions his continuing to work on a film adaptation for "Coward," the first arc in Criminal, and Brubaker discusses his family's background in writing and espionage, his experiences in LA, and the surprising influence of The Sopranos.  The article also features our first look at three interior pages from the first issue, set in Paris, 1973.  Velvet is scheduled to debut on October 23rd -- or, going by Brubaker's Twitter feed, October 30th.
• Third Catwoman Volume Next Year.  The blog Collected Editions provided an early look at the hardcovers and trade paperbacks that DC Comics plans to release in early 2014.  The list includes Catwoman Volume 3: Under Pressure.  Evidently containing issues #25-37 of the 2002 series, the book will conclude Brubaker's run on the series.  Amazon suggests a release in the first week of April.
• Brubaker Honored in Top Ten of Batman Black & White.  To commemorate the recent revival of the Batman Black & White, Comics Alliance listed their top ten entries in the original award-winning mini-series and the subsequent back-up stories in Batman: Gotham Knights, all collected in three volumes (with a few additional stories).  The list includes Ed Brubaker and Ryan Sook's "I'll Be Watching," and for my money I would have included Alex Garland and Sean Phillips' "Sunrise," even before I recognized the artist by name.  The new mini-series is worth checking out, and the earlier stories are well worth a second look.

 

Sean Phillips

• Art of Sean Phillips Interview and Previews.  Sean Phillips' deluxe artbook will be released in just over three weeks, and Newsarama has an interview with the artist.  Among other topics, Phillips discusses the significant input he had on the book's design and contents, and he reviews his career from childhood to Marvel Zombies to his extensive collaboration with Ed Brubaker.  Phillips recently received advanced copies of the book, and he used his blog and Twitter feed to provide a few previews of the book:  one, two, three, and four.
• Art of Phillips Postcards for Comic Art Fest.  We previously mentioned the Lakes International Comics Art Festival in the UK, which will feature an exhibit on Sean Phillips from October 6th to November 10th.  Phillips will be bringing 500 postcards that he'll be giving away at the festival, and the cards feature art from Criminal and Fatale.
• Sean Phillips' First Film Poster.  Having created the artwork for four Criterion Collection releases, Sean Phillips has recently created a moody poster for We Gotta Get Out of This Place, a crime thriller debuting at the Toronto International Film Festival.  Bad Ass Digest has the details and a synopsis (h/t Comics Alliance), and Phillips reveals that he was responsible for both the painting and the design work.
• An Old Blog with a New Name.  Around September 4th, Sean Phillips changed the URL of his blog to http://theartofseanphillips.blogspot.co.uk/ which is reflected in the new links listed on the right.  Our old links to his blog are now dead, and it's not clear whether we'll have the time to correct them all in the near future.

 

Frequent Collaborators

• Film Adaptation for Greg Rucka's Queen & Country.  Brubaker's Gotham Central co-creator has his own espionage comic, the excellent Queen & Country, collected in four, undersized Definitive Editions, released by Oni Press between 2007 and 2009.  The series is being adapted for the big screen, and, earlier this month, Variety exclusively announced that Ellen Page is in negotiations with Fox to star as the central character, Tara Chase.  I do not believe a director or release date has been announced.
• Darwyn Cooke Adaptation of Slayground, Out in December.  Finally, Brubaker's Catwoman collaborator Darwyn Cooke will release his fourth Parker book at the end of the year.  IDW's December solicitations list the book as the publisher's Gem of the Month, and they feature the book in a summer press release.  This will be the fourth book Cooke has created from Richard Stark's Parker series, and the book will include "The Seventh," a short story previously available only in the large "Martini edition."

 



John Lange Revealed! Michael Crichton & Hard Case Crime.

For me, the intersection between Hard Case Crime and comic books is double-edged.  On the one hand, the award-winning line of new and classic crime fiction was featured in the back pages of early issues of Criminal (and I discovered that HCC books returned the favor), and I'm not sure I would have explored the books without that advertising. 

On the other hand, Hard Case Crime is a big reason I no longer read many new comic books:  few provide the same bang for the buck, either on the first read or for the long haul.

We previously noted the imprint's hiatus and its return, moving from mass-market paperbacks to hardcovers and trade paperbacks.  This summer has been especially big, as Stephen King published Joyland exclusively through HCC without any digital distribution -- it's been startling to see the book at Kroger's and Costco -- and big events just keep coming.

Earlier this week, I noticed the website listed eight(!) new additions for October, two being familiar books in a new edition.  The Wall Street Journal's Speakeasy blog has the details, and at his blog, novelist Paul Bishop has evidently published the email newsletter from editor Charles Ardai.

As a Harvard med student, Michael Crichton wrote eight paperback thrillers that were published between 1966 and 1972 under the pen name of John Lange.  Hard Case Crime previously reprinted two of these books -- Grave Descend (HCC-026) and Zero Cool (HCC-041) -- under the name of Lange, never acknowledging the now fairly open secret of who really wrote it.

Crichton passed away in 2008, but with his family's blessing, all eight Lange novels are being reprinted by Hard Case Crime this October, under his real name for the first time.

(The earlier HCC books will have new numbers and the new authorship, "Michael Crichton Writing as John Lange," as the original listings have been removed from the site.)

What sort of books did "John Lange" write?  Ardai explains:

The books are terrific reads, really delicious examples of Michael experimenting with the genres he would become famous for in later life – you’ll find sinister consequences of bioengineering (on a secret island vacation resort, no less!), you’ll find a race-against-the-clock political thriller penned long before the TV series “24,” you’ll find an archaeology professor hunting for a lost tomb in the Egyptian desert decades before Harrison Ford ever donned a fedora…plus a heist of a luxury hotel planned with the aid of a computer, a case of mistaken identity that pits an innocent man against a league of assassins, and more, all presented behind the gorgeous painted cover art of Greg Manchess and Glen Orbik. 

Unlike Stephen King's latest entry, these books are also available digitally through Open Road Integrated Media, but I think Ardai's comment to WSJ is right on the money:  "We publish books that were meant to be in paperback, with covers that make your pulse race, which is how Michael always wanted these books to appear."

Each book will retail for ten bucks, and they may end up being discounted to about the same price range as the e-books.

Fans of Criminal and the rest of Brubaker and Phillips' work can find a great way to kill a weekend with any of the books from Hard Case Crime.

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.