ARCHAIA ENTERTAINMENT

Welcome to August! We would like to celebrate the first day of the month by making sure you are the first to get a glimpse of our newest Digital First title,Space: 1999 Classics Remembered! Archaia and comiXology have continued to team up and are glad to bring you more exciting titles, as well as some complete volumes! 

Digital Firsts: Titles That Are Available Digitally Before the Print Edition’s Release

Space: 1999 Classics Remastered, part 1:
Writer: Andrew Gaska and Various
Artists: Various

Reprinting the best of the Charlton Comics series, the British LOOK-IN issues and Annuals, The German Zack Issues, and the Italian AMZ stories from the mid 1970s, these editions will feature restored and recolored art, showcasing the work by such comics luminaries as Gray Morrow, John Byrne, and Joe Staton. The restoration project, designed to return the original art to its former glory through the digital retouching of the actual printed comic pages, will be executed by a team led by Vanguard Production’s senior restoration artist, BLAM!s own creative director Andrew E. C. Gaska. Gaska has worked on several of Vanguard’s restored art books in this fashion, and these volumes have received critical acclaim in preserving the past of comic and pulp art. The same techniques will be applied here. 

But these will not be straight reprints, these will be remastered. The art will be corrected where the ships were drawn wrong, and character likenesses will be altered as well to fit the continuity (and legality) better. Finally, the written stories will be remastered as well—essentially, taking the same premise of each story and updating them to appeal to an adult 1999 audience while maintaining the spirit of the originals.

Other Archaia Digital Releases:

Black Charity, Complete
Writer/Artist: Bal Speer

A dark, cynical thriller set in the urban UK. When Charlie moves into his new flat, he meets a colorful array of new characters, including a dominatrix and a skinhead yabo, witnesses a murder, and finds himself on the run from assassins and fixers sent by the highest levels of government. Shades of Howard Chaykin’s Black Kiss and the hard-boiled style of 100 Bullets, all with a very British (as in Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels British) accent.

Everlast, Complete
Writer: Chad Michael Murray
Artists: Danijel Zezelj, Robbi Rodriguez, J.K. Woodward, Andrew Huerta, Trevor Hairsine

A pre-apocalyptic tale, Everlast follows Derek Everlast, a man whose destiny in life is guiding others to a place of rebirth for mankind called Haven. Following an instinct called the Nudge, bestowed on him by a higher power, Derek is guided to the next chosen human destined to survive, a little girl named Melissa. In a harrowing adventure, he must deliver her safely to Haven before the End of Days. Everlast tells a story of choice, love, friendship, and, most of all, survival. Will you be chosen?

Hopeless, Maine Vol 1, Complete
Writer: Nimue Brown
Artist: Tom Brown

Being Hopeless isn’t just a state of mind.

Trapped on an island off the coast of Maine, the people of Hopeless find life a little darker and more dangerous with everyday that passes. The number of orphans rises continually, but who can say what happens to their parents? Plenty of the bodies are never found. This is not the stuff of happy, careless childhoods, it is instead fertile ground for personal demons. In Hopeless, the demons are not always abstract concepts. Some of them have very real teeth, and very real horns.

The island has been isolated for a very long time. Partly because of being small and forgotten, partly because the rocks and currents do not encourage visitors, Hopeless is surrounded by fog and overrun with nightmarish creatures, from small things with tentacles to demons and vampires. It’s a peculiar place. Here, almost anything can happen, from the weird and unsettling to the darkly funny. With a cast of freaks, nutters and the odd power crazed psychopath, life in Hopeless is seldom dull.

Hopeless is also about who you choose to be. The tale is a protest against apathy, and against the small evils that everyone takes for granted. The worst monsters frequently aren’t the ones with the obvious teeth – who are merely dangerous by nature – but the apparently ordinary people who choose to do hideous things.

Cow Boy, part 4
Writer: Nate Cosby
Artist: Chris Eliopoulos

Justice ain’t got no age. 

‘COW BOY’ is the all-ages story of a young bounty hunter determined to send his entire outlaw family to jail. He travels the Old West on a horse that ain’t his, and won’t stop til every one’a his kin’s in the clink. In part four of our tale, Boyd heads past the border to turn in his no good brother Zeke. Join Boyd and his horse as they try to get justice the only way they know how. 

The Dare Detectives Vol. 1: The Snow Pea Plot, part 6
Writer/Artist: Ben Caldwell

Reformed crook Maria Dare has assembled a team of misfits to crack the world’s weirdest cases! They have brains…they have guts…but they don’t have a clue! And in their first adventure, the Dare Detectives are finished! Rent’s due and their license is suspended, but Dare’s going-out-of-business festivities are interrupted by Madame Bleu—whose abominable snowmen pets are on a chef-stealing, radio-robbing, snowpea-swiping crime wave! Dare races against the clock to hunt down Madame Bleu with the help of corrupt cops and Chinatown’s old crime boss. But can these bunglers really prevent the most audacious—and inexplicably convoluted—crime of the century?

Jim Henson’s The Storyteller, part 4
Creator: Jim Henson
Artist/Writers: Roger Langridge, Marjorie Liu, Ron Marz, Jeff Parker, Francesco Francavilla, Chris Eliopoulos, Janet K. Lee

The much-loved, live-action/puppet combination TV show is now a graphic novel series! Archaia and The Jim Henson Company are proud to present ALL-NEW tales of fantastic wonder and extraordinary myth, as told from the tongue of The Storyteller and his loyal canine companion! Part four of the Storyteller is an adaptation by “The Witch Baby,” based on the unproduced Storyteller teleplay written by Anthony Minghella, Susan Kodieck, and Anne Mountfield. It has been realized here by Nate Cosby, Roman Cliquet, and Adam Street.

The Grand Duke, part 5
Writer:
Artist: Romain Hugault and Yann

The Eastern Front during WWII: Oberleutnant Wulf, a young Luftwaffe pilot, is horrified by Nazi barbarism and at odds with his fellow pilots, even as he finds himself taking to the skies to fight the infamous “Night Witches” — the 588th Night Bomber Regiment, the most decorated female unit in the Soviet Air Force. Motivated only by his desire to return home to his daughter, Romy, Wulf tries to survive the increasingly desperate and ferocious Eastern Front, while Lilya, the “Red Witch,” leads her comrades against the German invaders. A Romeo-and-Juliet story set against the backdrop of WWII aerial dogfights

Join us next week! We will have the exciting new chapters for City in the Desert, Last Days of an Immortal and Mumbai Confidential!

The big week has finally begun. As you make your final plans for the convention (picking out the panels you want to hit up, highlighting the booths you will visit on your map, and whose signatures you will be hunting for), make sure you take note of the Archaia Entertainment booth’s location. 

We are in booth #2635, located on the east side of the Exhibit Hall. You can find the full map on SDCC’s website. 

Also, don’t leave home without reading our signing schedule to know when Archaia creators, artists, and writers will be there. 

And of course, take note of our panels:  

Archaia Presents: How to Effectively Pitch A Story

Thursday, 7/12/12, 4:00 pm - 5:00 pm, Room 32AB

Archaia editors and creators offer their advice on how to better pitch a story. In this interactive panel, 9 volunteers will be put into 3 teams to come up with a pitch in 15 minutes. The winning team with the best pitch will get a prize pack of Archaia hardcover books. 

Archaia Presents: Transmedia in Graphic Novel Publishing

Friday, 7/13/12, 4:00 pm - 5:00 pm, Room 23ABC

Get the scoop on Archaia’s latest projects that break the barriers between media, such as graphic novels, video games, and films. This panel will feature titles like Hawken, the prequel to the story of a free-to-play mech first-person-shooter; Cyborg 009, a new interpretation of Shotaro Ishinomori’s groundbreaking manga; and, Space: 1999: Aftershock and Awe, the first of a series of hardcover graphic novels based on the late 1970s sci-fi TV series. 

Archaia Presents: How to Tell a Better Story Through World-Building

Saturday, 7/14/12, 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm, Room 9

Hear established graphic novel creators talk about how world-building strengthens storytelling through character development, settings and environment, choosing the right era, etc. Also, see some rarely seen sketch art, concept designs, and models during the presentation. Presenters will include David Petersen (Mouse Guard), Jeremy Bastian (Cursed Pirate Girl), and Royden Lepp (Rust). 

For more info, click here. 

Also stop by our booth, #2635, for some free give-a-ways, signings, and convention-only sales on our hardcover books. There will be some great deals and even better comics! 

Archaia is celebrating the Fourth of July with more digital releases! Just like every Digital Wednesday, Archaia and comiXology are bringing your favorite comics straight to you! That’s right, you can get your favorite graphic novels in a digital format, including our exclusive line of digital first comics. That means you can check out some of Archaia’s hottest new comics before they’re printed! This week’s lineup gives you a large dose of adventure! 

DIGITAL FIRST RELEASES:

Hopeless, Maine Vol 1, part 4: 

Being Hopeless isn’t just a state of mind.

Trapped on an island off the coast of Maine, the people of Hopeless find life a little darker and more dangerous with every day that passes. The number of orphans rises continually, but who can say what happens to their parents? Plenty of the bodies are never found. This is not the stuff of happy, careless childhoods, it is instead fertile ground for personal demons. In Hopeless, the demons are not always abstract concepts. Some of them have very real teeth, and very real horns.

It’s a peculiar place. Here, almost anything can happen, from the weird and unsettling to the darkly funny. With a cast of freaks, nutters and the odd power crazed psychopath, life in Hopeless is seldom dull.

Hopeless is also about who you choose to be. The tale is a protest against apathy, and against the small evils that everyone takes for granted. The worst monsters frequently aren’t the ones with the obvious teeth – who are merely dangerous by nature – but the apparently ordinary people who choose to do hideous things. Written and illustrated by Tom and Nimue Brown.

Mouse Guard: The Black Axe #5:

David Petersen’s Eisner Award-winning MOUSE GUARD returns with The Black Axe, the third volume of this fantastic series. Set in 1115, this prequel to Mouse Guard: Fall 1152 fulfills the promise the wise oldfur Celanawe made to Lieam the day his paw first touched the Black Axe: to tell the young warrior about the mouse who first wielded the deadly weapon. The arrival of distant kin takes Celanawe on an adventure that will carry him across the sea to uncharted waters and lands, all while unraveling the legend of Farrer, the blacksmith who forged the mythic Black Axe. 

The Grand Duke, part 4:

The Eastern Front during WWII: Oberleutnant Wulf, a young Luftwaffe pilot, is horrified by Nazi barbarism and at odds with his fellow pilots, even as he finds himself taking to the skies to fight the infamous “Night Witches” — the 588th Night Bomber Regiment, the most decorated female unit in the Soviet Air Force. Motivated only by his desire to return home to his daughter, Romy, Wulf tries to survive the increasingly desperate and ferocious Eastern Front, while Lilya, the “Red Witch,” leads her comrades against the German invaders. A Romeo-and-Juliet story set against the backdrop of WWII aerial dogfights. Written by Yann and illustrated by Romain Hugault.

DIGITAL RELEASES:

Cow Boy, Part 3:

“Justice ain’t got no age.”

Nate Cosby (Pigs, Jim Henson’s The Storyteller) and Chris Eliopoulos (Franklin Richards, Misery Loves Sherman) present Cow Boy, the all-ages story of a young bounty hunter determined to send his entire outlaw family to jail. He travels the Old West on a horse that ain’t his, and won’t stop til every one’a his kin’s in the clink.

The Dare Detectives!, Vol. 1, Part 5:

Reformed crook Maria Dare has assembled a team of misfits to crack the world’s weirdest cases! They have brains…they have guts…but they don’t have a clue! And in their first adventure, the Dare Detectives are finished! Rent’s due and their license is suspended, but Dare’s going-out-of-business festivities are interrupted by Madame Bleu—whose abominable snowmen pets are on a chef-stealing, radio-robbing, snowpea-swiping crime wave! Dare races against the clock to hunt down Madame Bleu with the help of corrupt cops and Chinatown’s old crime boss. But can these bunglers really prevent the most audacious—and inexplicably convoluted—crime of the century? Written and illustrated by Ben Caldwell.

Everlast, Part 4:

A pre-apocalyptic tale written by Chad Michael Murray (One Tree Hill), Everlast follows Derek Everlast, a man whose destiny in life is guiding others to a place of rebirth for mankind called Haven. Following an instinct called the Nudge, bestowed on him by a higher power, Derek is guided to the next chosen human destined to survive, a little girl named Melissa. In a harrowing adventure, he must deliver her safely to Haven before the End of Days. Everlast tells a story of choice, love, friendship, and, most of all, survival.

Jim Henson’s The Storyteller, Part 3:

The much-loved, live-action/puppet combination TV show is now a graphic novel series! Archaia and The Jim Henson Company are proud to present ALL-NEW tales of fantastic wonder and extraordinary myth, as told from the tongue of The Storyteller and his loyal canine companion! Witness worded wonderment from a cavalcade of craft creators, including Roger Langridge (The Muppet Show comic, Thor the Mighty Avenger), Marjorie Liu (Black Widow), Ron Marz (Green Lantern, Artifacts), Jeff Parker (Thor,Thunderbolts), Francesco Francavilla (Detective Comics), Chris Eliopoulos (Franklin Richards) and Janet K. Lee (Return of the Dapper Men). Plus: a never-before-seen story adapted from a screenplay by The Storyteller’s original author, Academy Award® winner Anthony Minghella (The English Patient

Until next Wednesday!

Everyone at Archaia would like to wish our fans here in the States a Happy Independence Day, and hope you all have a great week, regardless of what country you are in! Make sure you check out our newest digital releases every Wednesday! 

FOUR reasons (2 Cs and 2 Es) you NEED to check out Archaia in Chicago this weekend:

1. Cow Boy debuts!

Cow Boy, written by Nate Cosby and drawn by Chris Eliopoulos, is the story of a young bounty hunter determined to send his entire outlaw family to jail. He travels the Old West on a horse that ain’t his, and won’t stop til every one’a his kin’s in the clink.

FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER, a limited number of copies of Cow Boy will be on sale! Wrangle one of them up before they run out!

2. Creators, Creators, Creators!

Andrew E.C. Gaska, writer, Conspiracy of the Planet of the Apes, Critical Millennium, Space: 1999: Aftershock and Awe (forthcoming)
Andrew Rostan, writer, An Elegy for Amelia Johnson
Ben Templesmith, artist, Bleedout, Immortals: Gods and Heroes
Brandon Thomas, The Many Adventures of Miranda Mercury
Brent Schoonover, artist, Mr. Murder Is Dead
Chad Michael Murray, writer, Everlast
Chandra Free, writer/artist, The God Machine, Fraggle Rock
Charles Soule, writer, Strange Attractors (forthcoming)
David Petersen, writer/artist, Mouse Guard
David Rodriguez, writer, Starkweather: Immortal
Dennis Calero, artist, Immortals: Gods and Heroes, Jim Henson’s The Storyteller
Gene Ha, artist, Mouse Guard: Legends of the Guard
Janet Lee, artist, Return of the Dapper Men, The Wonderland Alphabet: Alice’s Adventures Through the ABC’s and What She Found There (forthcoming)
Jeremy Bastian, writer/artist, Mouse Guard: Legends of the Guard, Cursed Pirate Girl (forthcoming)
Jim McCann, writer, Return of the Dapper Men
J.K. Woodward, artist, Everlast
Joanna Estep, artist, Fraggle Rock
Joe LeFavi, writer, Fraggle Rock
Katie Cook, writer/artist, Fraggle Rock, Jim Henson’s The Storyteller, Mouse Guard: Legends of the Guard
Mike Kennedy, writer, Bleedout
Nate Cosby, writer, Cow Boy, Jim Henson’s The Storyteller
Phil Hester, writer, Days Missing; artist, Immortals: Gods and Heroes
Ramón K. Pérez, artist, Jim Henson’s Tale of Sand
Royden Lepp, writer/artist, Rust
Sam Humphries, writer, Fraggle Rock
Sean Rubin, artist, Mouse Guard: Legends of the Guard; writer/artist, Bolivar (forthcoming)
Tom Pinchuk, writer, Hybrid Bastards!
Yehudi Mercado, writer/artist, Pantalones, TX (forthcoming)

Visit the Archaia booth to find out when they are signing!

3. Excellent panels!

Friday, April 13
Archaia Presents:  Coming Soon from Archaia Entertainment…
Room: S401abc
Time: Friday, 2:45-3:45 p.m.

The publisher behind Mouse Guard, The Killer, Return of the Dapper Men, Jim Henson’s Tale of Sand, and other great titlesis gearing up for another spectacular year, and here’s where you get to hear all about it! Get the inside scoop on upcoming titles, new projects, and exclusive announcements as Archaia sets its sights on the rest of 2012 and beyond. Join Archaia Editor-in-Chief Stephen Christy, Nate Cosby (Cow Boy), Andrew E. C. Gaska (Space: 1999: Aftershock and Awe), Joe LeFavi (Hawken), Janet Lee (The Wonderland Alphabet),Royden Lepp (Rust Vol. 2: Secrets of the Cell), Jim McCann (Time of the Dapper Men),David Petersen (Mouse Guard Vol. 3: The Black Axe, Mouse Guard: Legends of the Guard Vol. 2), and Charles Soule (Strange Attractors) as they give you a sneak peek of what’s to come!

Sunday, April 15
Archaia Presents: How to Tell a Better Story Through World-Building
Room: N427bc
Time: 10:45 – 11:45 a.m.

Are you an aspiring storyteller? Want to know the keys to world-building and telling a good story? David Petersen (Mouse Guard), Jeremy Bastian (Cursed Pirate Girl), and Sean Rubin (Redwall, the upcoming Bolivar), three accomplished storytellers that have published or are publishing books through Archaia, present an informative, entertaining panel to see how world-building can help you write and/or draw a better story.

4. Editor Tay!

Most of the brilliant Archaia staff is headed to C2E2, including Editor Tay! If you see her hanging around the booth, be sure to say “hi” and give her a huge, enthusiastic “high-five” for us interns.

We hope to see you there!

Bonus points if you know what “C2E2” actually stands for!