Bullets: The Fade Out "Trailer," The Final Fatale Trade, and Brubaker's Rewrite of Maniac Cop, and More.

...and this is what happens when I don't blog frequently enough:  a pile-up of great news with no one story getting all the attention.

The big news is that The Fade Out has been confirmed for August, with an extra-sized "movie magazine" variant that isn't a million miles from the "pulp cover variant" for the first issue of Incognito: Bad Influences.

The ACB Bulletin for Thursday, May 15th.

• Three-Page "Trailer" Released Today for The Fade Out, On Sale in August.  Today's big news is that Image Comics has just put out a news release about The Fade Out, Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips' next collaboration which we first covered at the beginning of the year.  The release includes a three-page "trailer" that has become a staple in promoting their works (along with Brubaker and Epting's Velvet).

The preview has already been posted elsewhere online, including Comic Book Resources and Bleeding Cool.  The news release also includes the first hints of the story...

An intricate and groundbreaking crime story on a level Brubaker and Phillips have never tackled before, THE FADE OUT weaves a tangled web through the underbelly of a 1948 Hollywood... A noir film stuck in endless reshoots. A writer plagued with nightmares from the war and a dangerous secret. An up-and-coming starlet's suspicious death. And a maniacal studio mogul and his security chief who will do anything to keep the cameras rolling before the Post-War boom days come crashing down. THE FADE OUT is the most ambitious series yet from the award-winning Noir Masters.

...and a lot of details about the series' debut.

The Fade Out #1 is scheduled to be released on August 20.  The 40-page first issue includes exclusive back-page articles, and it maintains Fatale's cover price of $3.50.

As mentioned above, there will also be "an oversized 'movie magazine replica' variant edition with 8 extra pages of behind-the-scenes art and articles."

The cover for the "movie magazine" version is posted above, and both versions are available for pre-order through Diamond.

• The Fade Out #1, Diamond Code JUN140463
• The Fade Out #1 Movie Magazine Variant, Diamond Code JUN140464

On Twitter, Brubaker confirms that only the first issue will include feature the oversized variant, and this variant will NOT sell at the same price as the standard issue.

UPDATE, 4:00 pm:  Apparently, CBR's preview originally listed the price for the oversized variant, but their page has since been updated.  A cached copy of the page lists a price of $5.99 for the variant.

It's not clear how rare the variant will be, so interested fans would be wise to pre-order.

• Cover Art and Title for Final Fatale TPB.  A new title's coming, and we still haven't quite reached the Fatale finale.  Over at his blog, Sean Phillips recently posted cover art for the fifth and final trade paperback, revealing the title of "Curse the Demon."

We would not be surprised that this finale trade collection is released the same time as The Fade Out #1.

• Brubaker Writing Screenplay for Maniac Cop Remake.  I don't believe there have been any subsequent interviews, but there was big news announced with the lineup for the 2014 Cannes International Film Festival.  The original story at Screen Daily is behind a pay wall, but Badass Digest summarizes it.

Ed Brubaker is writing the screenplay for the remake of Maniac Cop, a 1988 cult thriller about an urban serial killer posing as a police officer.  The director is producing the remake, and from a Twitter exchange with BD, Brubaker relays that they have a great director lined up, to be announced at Cannes.

• Brubaker and Phillips, from Toronto.  There were a lot of reasons I wish I could have made the Toronto Comics Arts Festival.  Darwyn Cooke was offering TCAF-exclusives for a new hardcover of Richard Stark's The Hunter, illustrated by Cooke -- an exclusive dust jacket and signature plate combination, an exclusive print, and special editions of his Parker graphic novels.  Tom Scioli was also there, and I would have liked to have met him, so thoroughly I enjoyed the FCBD issue #0 of his new Transformers vs. G.I. Joe series.

And, it's a rare thing that Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips are in the same room on any continent.  The Toronto Star has a brief interview with Brubaker, who talks about his detour into superhero comics and his enjoyment of writing for what may be "the last generation who still likes print."

Brubaker and Phillips also took time for a quick Mother's Day photo, which turned out far too cute for creators of such moody work.

My mom with @brubaker and @seanpphillips ! Super nice guys who made her special day even more special. pic.twitter.com/0Bd6vCTYue
— Morgan (@riotcake) May 11, 2014

Preview of Fatale #22, Out Wednesday.

Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips' horror-noir series continues to hurdle toward its dark conclusion with Fatale #22, in stores this week.  The issue focuses on The Bishop, the story's otherworldly antagonist, and a six-page preview of the new issue is in a few places online, including Comic Book Resources, Comicosity, and Comic Book Realm.

The largest single-page look at the preview is probably at the horror comic site Comic Monsters. 

Bullets: Fatale in May, Criminal in Liberty Collection, Brubaker/Phillips in Toronto, &c.

The ACB Bulletin for Wednesday, April 30th:

• Fatale #22 Delayed to May, Probably Out Next Week.  April is passing us by without the latest issue of Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips' noir-horror comic.  Going by my local shop's list for next week and Image's updated listing, it appears that Fatale #22 will be released next Wednesday, May 7th.

It's rare for Phillips to produce more than one issue a month, so we now expect the series finale no sooner than July, and while issue #23 is still listed for late May, Image Comics now gives July 2nd as the release date for Fatale #24.

In what has been a noticeably light month for our personal pull list, Brubaker's Velvet is also missing:  the first arc concludes with issue #5, which is now scheduled for May 21st.  The debut issue is being reprinted this week, for $1.00 as part of the Image Firsts line.

(Another favorite of ours, Chew, barely makes it this month with a new issue out today.)

• Criminal Short Story Reprinted in Liberty Hardcover.  Fans of Brubaker and Phillips aren't entirely hung out to dry this week, as Image Comics is releasing Liberty, a hardcover collection of the first five years of the Liberty Annual, produced in support of the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund.  The collection, priced at $24.99, features work from the annuals from 2008 to 2012, new cover art by Paul Pope, and "additional material not seen anywhere else."

The description explicitly mentions a Criminal story by Brubaker and Phillips, which is undoubtedly "No One Rides for Free," originally featured in the first annual, released in July, 2008.  The Criminal "emission" focused on Tracy Lawless, and it was originally collected in the first deluxe edition for the series.

All proceeds of this new collection benefit the defense fund, and the CBLDF also makes an appearance at this Saturday's Free Comic Book Day, with Defend Comics, "a light-hearted look" at the topic of censorship.

• Close-up Cover Art for The Fade Out's First Issue.  With Fatale concluding no sooner than July, it's no surprise that the new series is missing from Image's July solicitations.  We're not completely starved for news, as Sean Phillips has provided fans with a close look at the cover art for The Fade Out #1, which we reprint above. 

Sean relays that the cover was painted digitally, "using Frenden brushes in Manga Studio."

• Brubaker and Phillips in Toronto, with Artwork, Cooke, and Kubrick. Also at his blog, Phillips reminders readers that he and Ed Brubaker will be attending the Toronto Comic Art Festival, Saturday and Sunday, May 10th and 11th.  Sean writes that the two will be signing the following gorgeous giclée along with "anything else you put in front of us."

Partner-in-crime Darwyn Cooke is also attending TCAF, and Almost Darwyn Cooke's Blog reports that Brubaker and Cooke will be screening The Killing, Stanley Kubrick's crime noir classic from 1956, praised as the director's "first mature film."

The "evening of criminal activity" begins with the screening at 5 pm on Saturday, May 10th, and it concludes with a signing.  The cost is $7 in advance and $10 at the door.

Preview of Fatale #21, Out Today with an Early Review! - UPDATE: Catwoman Vol 3 Out Today.

The latest issue of Fatale is in stores today:  late last week, Comicosity and Comic Book Resources both posted a six-page preview, and it looks like an already uncanny comic is heading to even stranger waters.

The MacGuffin has an advance review, giving the issue a 9.5 out of 10 and saying that the "fantastic" series is losing no steam as it approaches its inevitable conclusion.

For those who don't keep up with Twitter, there have also been a few announcements worth repeating here.

• Sean Phillips has added a few hardcovers to his Amazon store, each copy coming with a gorgeous, hand-drawn sketch -- but the books are so heavy they're only shipping within the UK.
• The UK's Forbidden Planet is selling the first deluxe hardcover for Fatale with an exclusive mini-print signed by both Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips, which is available for pre-order online.
• Sean Phillips announced that, after twenty years, his Hellblazer collaboration with Paul Jenkins is being collected:  Comics Beat reports that John Constantine Hellblazer Volume 9 is due on October 21st, and Volume 10 is due on February 17, 2015.
• Steve Epting has provided the cover image to Velvet #6; part one of "The Secret Lives of Dead Men" is due on June 25th.
• Finally -- and most importantly -- Sean Phillips shares his controversial opinion, that Michael Jackson's Off The Wall is a "much better" album than Thriller.

We agree with Sean:  great minds and all.

UPDATE, 1:30 pm:  I completely forgot about this until I visited my local shop, but today also marks the release of Catwoman Volume 3: Under Pressure.  As we first reported in November, the book completes Ed Brubaker's run on the series, and it features art by Sean Phillips in issue #32.

It's a very good week for Brubaker-Phillips fans.

Fatale Deluxe Vol 1 and Velvet #4 Out Tomorrow.

Along with posting wicked artwork for Jess Nevins' essay on cults in the next issue, Sean Phillips retweeted a reminder from UK's OK Comics that Fatale's first deluxe hardcover is in stores tomorrow.

Selling for a retail price of $39.99, the book complements the deluxe editions of Criminal, Incognito, Sleeper, and Scene of the Crime; it collects the first ten issues of what will be a 24-issue run, and we reported last month that the book will be at least 312 pages.

Brubaker fans have another reason to visit their local retailers tomorrow:  Velvet #4, by Brubaker and Epting.  Comicosity and Comic Book Resources released the same 6-page preview late last week, and today Fanboy Comics released a very positive advance review.

(And, we missed it earlier, but Publishers Weekly notes that the first trade paperback collection of Velvet is planned for April.  Since the first arc's "shattering conclusion" is contained in Issue #5, due April 2nd, we assume that this first trade collects the first five issues.)

Fatale Finale on May 21st, Winter Solider Book, Appearance in Toronto.

("Fatale Finale."  Say that five times fast, a phrase that looks like it ought to rhyme.)

Last week Image Comics released their May solicitations, which includes the finale to Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips' Fatale.  Issue #24 is an extra-long 48 pages with a higher list price of $4.99. 

Will Josephine's final secrets be revealed? Will there be much tragedy? Will Brubaker and Phillips fans love all the crazy extras jammed into this special final issue? Yes, yes, and yes.

The issue is Multiversity Comics' top pick for May, and it's scheduled to reach stores on May 21st;  this lends some credence to our early guess that The Fade Out will arrive no sooner than July.

(After that?   Brubaker has at least tweeted that there aren't any plans to continue Incognito, "not as of now," but we're rarely privy to their plans beyond the most immediate upcoming project.  While I'd like to see a less open-ended conclusion to Incognito -- and while I can hardly wait to see more of Criminal -- we can trust that we'll continue to see great stuff from the pair.)

In the meantime, Sean Phillips has tweeted that he's received some boxes containing the first deluxe hardcover for Fatale, the series is now being reprinted in Spanish (starting with book one, La Muerte Me Persigue), and the Horror Writers Association has recently honored the series.  Book Three: West of Hell has been nominated for their 2013 Bram Stoker Awards, for Superior Achievement in a Graphic Novel, with the awards to be announced on May 10th, at the World Horror Convention in Portland, Oregon.

Ed Brubaker just tweeted that the Captain America: Winter Soldier deluxe book is (finally) in stores today, and Wil Wheaton praises the book as "one of the best comic stories I've ever read."

And, our friends north of the border should take note that both Brubaker and Phillips are planning to attend the Toronto Comic Arts Festival, May 10th and 11th.   The press release notes that this is their first joint appearance at a Canadian comics event, and it will be the first public appearance together since the announcement of their five-year deal with Image Comics.

Fatale Issue 20 and Book 4, In Stores This Week.

The first issue of Fatale's concluding arc is in stores this week along with "Book Four: Pray for Rain," the trade paperback collecting the most recent arc, set in the 90's Seattle grunge scene.  Comic Book Resources, Comicosity, and All-Comic all have a five-page preview of the new issue, which apparently begins a story called "Curse the Demon."

The press release for the first deluxe edition is now making the rounds at sites such as The Outhousers, and Sean Phillips has responded that the book's length has already grown from 288 pages to 312 pages.  And, the New York Times would like to see Fatale become a television series, starring Game of Thrones' Emilia Clarke and helmed by the Coen brothers.

In the meantime, everyone has a good reason (or two!) to visit your local comic retailer this Wednesday.