PopFUZE #34

Here are two pics of pages from Image United featuring the cast of Youngblood by Rob Liefeld and Savage Dragon by Erik Larsen. The meshing of art styles looks fantastic. This book will rock!

PopFUZE #33

So, one of the big news items from SDCC (the biggest?) was the announcement of Image United, a new series featuring the launch characters of most of the original Image founders (minus Jim Lee who is under contract to DC Comics) and a new character called Fortress, created by While Portacio. This is indeed the biggest comics news story for 2008! Image founders, some of whom haven't pencilled their creator-owned books for years, some of whom didn't talk to each other for years, coming together to draw a cross over.

But... this will be a cross over unlike any other. Robert Kirkman is writing the story and all of the founders are contributing art. But... someone will be doing layouts and the Rob Liefeld will draw his character in the panel, Marc Silverstri will draw his, Todd McFarlane will draw his, etc. WOW! This is going to be one of the most unique comics ever produced. Even though I am trying to stay away from floppies, I will definitely pick this up as each issue hits the spinner racks, but I can't wait for the HC!!

Kirkman must be nearly wetting his pants! He was recently named Image partner at SDCC and now he gets to write a cross over featuring the characters and the art of the artists who launched the Image revolution! As much as I love his writing, the coolest thing for me about Kirkman writing this book is that he is a huge fan of the original Image books; he will do this series justice (and it will probably be the best written story to feature the original Image characters).

No word yet on when the book will debut, but whenever it does make sure you grab a copy while you can! I hope each issue has a cover by each artist! You know I'll always be picking up the Liefeld variant.

PopFUZE #32

Rob Liefeld is a creator that I have a lot of respect for. He is bubbling with enthusiasm for comics/ pop culture, bursting with fun ideas and has had his heart set on Hollywood for almost 15 years. I know that he has a lot of movie projects in various stages of production and at one time was looking at working with Steven Speilberg and Tom Cruise on separate projects.

Well, now it looks like the Hollywood system has come through for my favourite creator!

Warner Bros. is trying to develop another potential comic franchise by acquiring the superhero project "Capeshooters," with Bryan Singer in negotiations to produce.

J.P. Lavin and Chad Damiani will write the screenplay, which follows two down-on-their-luck slackers who specialize in shooting videos of superheroes. They find themselves on the run when they uncover evidence that a legendary superhero actually is evil.

The story is based on an upcoming graphic novel by Rob Liefeld.

WOW this is such a great concept! I love the idea of two guys who do nothing but go around shooting video of superheroes in action. The twist is great ... plus we get to see a comic book too!

With Bryan Singer (X-Men, Superman Returns) and Liefeld on the same project, this movie has real credibility for fan boys. While I would rather see a movie based on his Youngblood property, it will still be a huge buzz to see 'Based on a graphic novel by Rob Liefeld' in the opening credits!

PopFUZE #31

CONGRATULATIONS! to Robert Kirkman who has been announced as the new partner at Image Comics in recognition of his service to the 'i' brand. I have so much respect for Kirkman, his success is certainly inspirational to me. I don't say that in a way that suggests that I am seeking to, or that I think I can, emulate his success. I say that in a way that communicates how much I admire his creativity, skill and achievements.

Judging by the stories that he writes, Kirkman has a good sense of the diversity that is needed in comics. This makes him perfectly suited to his new role at Image.

I always suspected that the big Image announcement at SDCC would be that Rob Liefeld was returning to the fold as a partner. Kirkman was instrumental to Liefeld's being reborn at Image. I can't see them both rising to the heights of Image at the same time, so I guess, while there will still be Liefeld/ Image news at SDCC, Rob won't be back at the top of the company for some time yet...

DragonFUZE #24

I did some plotting work on the weekend on my new fantasy tale Tikki's Giant - I didn't get a whole lot done, but it's a start and I am happy with that. I am enjoying the begining of a new adventure with two of my favourite creations. I also caught up with Kimban The MechaMage and his daughter Eryn in the pages of a much larger tale I am telling, that also stars Tikki and Malinki; all is good in my fantasy world!

So Tikki's Giant is off and away. This will be a full size comic, 22 pages long, so that will be cool. Actually, when I say 'full size comic', this will likely appear online first. Hopefully I can do a full color version for the web and then print a black and white omnibus edition boasting a Tikki's Phayrie/ Tikki's Giant flip book!

I'm playing the story mostly for fun. Just like their first adventure, in which Tikki and Malinki escaped an enraged mage from the Crystal Spire, this time around there will be danger at every turn as the two thrill seekers head off into the Troll Haunt Mountains in search of giants!

DragonFUZE #23

I haven't written a single word of comic book script in more than one month!

Scary, but true. The last thing I wrote was the script for I Hate You. I do have some projects that I should be working on, namely a short horror story called Scratch and then there is my horror/ action book HellGrunt.

I have also been throwing around some ideas for a sequel story featuring Tikki and Malinki called Tikki's Giant. Lastly there is a fantasy story that I have been working on for years that features Tikki and Malinki and I keep thinking I should get back to that one...

For a person with so little time, it's crazy that I have four comic book projects on my plate, especially considering that none of them are progressing at all. Here's the current status of each project.

HellGrunt - character descriptions and plots fully written. About 15 pages of script for issue #1 are done. This project is 2 issues long.

Scratch - this is a 10 pager. All I have written is a short pitch. I should be able to knock this together in a few days, if I prioritise it and make the time available to do it.

Tikki's Giant - I envisage this as being a 22 page story, so it is more than double the length of the original Tikki tale. All I have for this is two lines of scribbled notes on a piece of paper, but most of the story is in my head... I just need to write this!

Mystery Fantasy Book - it breaks my heart that I haven't really progressed this project. I have been working on this for at least four years, if not longer. I have two of eight issues written, but I haven't worked on this for at least 2 years. This is the one story I want to tell the most. The reason I haven't progressed it lies largely in the reality that an unknown writer is not going to have much chance of getting an eight issue book picked up. So, I am focused on building up a body of work from smaller projects.

Hopefully I will be back soon with a more optimistic update and with some details on real progress on these projects!

PopFUZE #30

Here is an amazing digitally painted page from a new Rob Liefeld project called Extreme Forces. There was another project by that name which was solicited around 2000, but I think that morphed into X-Force Volume 2, because the villain was also called Skornn and that character appeared in X-Force. But, I digress.

This new book looks, um, explosive! Now, I am a keen Liefeld fan, and a fan of Marat Mychaels whose art is featured here, and I think this new digital painting vibe that Rob is going with for his art, and now for Marat's, looks awesome. But... I am a little worried. Two new series have been announced, Assembled and now Extreme Forces... I hope they are both completed. Rob also posted revised designs for the New Men on his forum; I think these characters are appearing in Extreme Forces rather than in another new book.

I also wonder if both of these projects herald the re-launch of the Extreme Universe over at Image? That would be very cool, but...

With Rob's last major publishing venture, Awesome Entertainment, there were many great looking projects that were never completed or solicited and never published. I am a bit concerned that Rob now seems to be looking at four series when he is years behind on Youngblood: Bloodsport and months behind on the re-colored, re-scripted HC of the original Youngblood mini series.