Things have been relatively busy over here in Tokyo, when not wrapped up to ward off the bloody cold mornings (I know, I whine too much, but I am waking up on average at around 3:30~4:00 am, so strong black coffee, the heater, an old scarf of Yoko’s and these crazily delicious fish sausage goodies are the only way to survive.
With March around the corner (kind of) over at IF? Commix we’ve just launched #1 of my new comic book series Trista & Holt, which as I mentioned last entry is based on the Tristan & Iseult legend of yore. I rambled on a bit about the background for Pulp Pusher a couple of weeks back, and it’s already got some bloody nice feedback, plus reviews from Steven Alloway @ Fanboy Comics and David Melton @ Comic Up Comics.
Also out in March will be the 12-issue, 348-page collection of my Bullet Gal arc, thanks to IF? and Under Belly Comics in North America.
That’s got the bonus of 13 other artists involved, mostly doing pin-up art of the various characters, along with a short Bullet Gal story illustrated by Matt Kyme.
I’ll post here as soon as it comes out of the printers in Quebec, with pictures, links, and other senseless gushing.
There’s a giveaway for this trade paperback at Goodreads until March 31st, so check in there if you want a chance for a freebie. And I think I forgot to mention this, but last month Derek & Andy at the hugely respected Comics Alternative podcast did a spotlight on Bullet Gal in Episode 118. Mind-blowing stuff… but very, very cool.
Mitzi, by Andres
BTW, one of the pin-ups in the Bullet Gal book is this one of Mitzi by Andres Silva Blanco, which really captures the melancholia of that particular part of the tome.
Meanwhile?
#9 in the monthly series (the “silent” one) has just been published in Australia—garnering a choice review from Dan Leicht @ All-Comic—while #8 scored bloody luv’ly praise from Josh McCullough @ We the Nerdy, Cory Anderson @ Geeks With Wives, Steven again @ Fanboy Comics, Dan again @ All-Comic, and Paul Bowler @ Sci-Fi Jubilee.
Otherwise, I have comic shorts accepted for upcoming anthologies by 8th Wonder Press in North America and Dirty Rotten Comics in the UK—and Australian artist Adam Rose recently finished the artwork for the next Roy & Suzie story, the stalwarts of IF? Commix‘s Tales to Admonish anthologies. Adam’s taken the baton from Matt superbly here, living up to the earlier style/feel and sheer bliss of Matt’s character designs.
Roy Scherer, by Adam Rose
Man, I’m lucky sometimes.
Matt and I are talking about Tales to Admonish #4, which will likely be in the vicinity of 100 pages and also feature a wad of other compatriots; more news as we start to wind things up.
Oh, and I have a new miniature story up online as of today, if anyone’s vaguely interested, done for the suave people at Solarcide. “Click Tock”, they say, “is a quick and dirty tale. About a hat. A grey felt fedora.”
Books-wise I’m currently reading Patrick deWitt‘s The Sisters Brothers, having just come out of a second reading of The Lady in the Lake by Raymond Chandler, and comics? I continue to be a huge fan of Matt Fraction, David Aja and Matt Hollingsworth’s work with Hawkeye (sadly about to wind up), and writer Ed Brubaker collaborating with amazing colourist Elizabeth “Bettie” Breitweiser and artists Sean Phillips (The Fade Out) and Steve Epting (Velvet).
My own last novel—Depth Charging Ice Planet Goth—which directly relates to Bullet Gal (though I didn’t tell you that here, I swear!) just received a brilliant review from Benoit Lelievre @ Dead End Follies (ta, mate!), and the paperback itself is currently sitting at 65% off at Amazon—just $7.42
Depth Charging Ice Planet Goth — artwork by Kmye Chan.
And lastly, it was official a couple of weeks ago—my 2013 novel Who is Killing the Great Capes of Heropa? has now outsold 2012’s One Hundred Years of Vicissitude with almost 4,000 unit sales! Thanks to every single crazy cat who acquired a copy.
Interestingly, just over 200 were the paperback. The rest digital. As I say? WOW.
Now that that’s uttered… I’m outta here. Bed sparkles in the corner of my eye.
Ciao fer now.
Andrez Bergen / Little Nobody 