Amazing but true!

David Ellis and I won the first ever Writer’s Guild of America video game writing award for our work on Dead Head Fred! I’m still snapping out of my initial shock. Wow!

Sorry friends, I know it’s been a long time since last I posted, but at least I have something to talk about. And in fact I did a lot of talking about it right here and here.

On a sadder note, I’m still recovering from the loss of one of my greatest heroes: Gary Gygax, who passed away on March 4^th of this year. Gygax’s work on the Dungeons and Dragons series had a profound impact on my life, both creatively and emotionally. I would never have become a video game designer if I hadn’t been exposed to his ingenious games, games that fully embraced and enhanced our imaginations. The world is a darker place without him.

Before I sign off, I want to give a quick shout out to RAUL TREVINO, the talented new artist working with me on ONE WAY TICKET. I will be posting some sample artwork as soon as he lets me.

Also, my good pal ROB DUENAS has been kicking serious hiney on our MOSAIC pitch. Want to see a little sample? Sure you do:

It’s been a looooong time since I posted an update, so let’s rehash.

Previously on Monster Menace…

After the birth of our beautiful bouncing baby girl in March (bouncing is one of her many talents), I put her in a rocket ship to escape from the planet's imminent destruction and sent her off to Earth to live with farmers. No, actually my wife and I decided that with a baby, it was high time to high tail it back to Maine, so that’s what we did. But before I get into that, did I mention this is one huge baby we're talking about? She’s in the 97^th percentile! She's giga! She looks like she ate another baby. Forget sugar and spice, this girl’s made exclusively of cheeks and thigh rolls. She’s now 16 pounds of giggling, gurgling, stinky, screaming fun. Extra screaming today since she’s running a fever, which is not so fun. Actually, fevers are not only not fun, but I’m here to report they are just plain terrifying to new parents. You know, it’s hard to remember life without her, and yet I’m still periodically stunned when I remember I’m now a father.

Back to the big move--we found a nice house in Scarborough, about 10 minutes from Portland, where the main export appears to be mosquitoes. We’re surrounded by salt marsh, and perhaps five minutes from the beach. Sometimes I can walk out into my backyard and smell the ocean (high tide, not low tide). My wife now works at a clinic, which is also about five minutes away from the new house (but alas, not on the beach). It’s five days a week, but at least she’s home in a flash. I’ve left Vicious Cycle and now I’m picking up contract game design work here and there and getting back to writing again—and it’s about time I did. The grandparents are helping with the baby, and so far I’ve had a decent amount of time every week to work on various projects. Thankfully(?) work has been pretty constant so far.

I just few back from the ’07 San Diego Comic-Con, and boy are my feet tired (drums). As I understand it, the show sold out Friday through Sunday, which I don’t think has ever happened before. Due to fire code violations, I doubt it can actually even get any larger without expanding to a larger building. Maybe we hit a plateau. Every year I ask myself why I keep mindlessly braving the gazillion sweaty fanboys just to be rejected by a handful of beleaguered, wild-eyed editors who look ready to bolt or fall on their swords if they get handed one more stupid book pitch. And then I get back home and completely forget all the minuses and end up committing to next year’s show. Do you have any idea how hard it is to get time with editors at a show? It ain’t easy, brother. If there’s one thing editors do NOT like to do, it’s read stuff.

Not a bad trip this year, all told. When I got to the hotel, I noticed Aaron Douglas, the actor who plays Chief Tyrol on Battlestar Galactica, hanging out in my hotel lobby for what seemed like hours, but I successfully resisted the urge to go ask him if he didn’t have something better to do, like patching up Vipers or drinking paint thinner or making out with androids. I saw him, he saw me recognizing him, and we decided to leave it at that. The hotel was right across the street from the convention center, which was a HUGE change from previous years. I could definitely get used to that. I split a room with Ben Lichius of BLACK COAT fame, so we had some chances to hang out throughout the show. He spent most of the time at the Ape Entertainment booth signing copies of the BC trade and issue #1 of the great new series that he recently launched. It was great to hear he had four or five producers stop by the table and leave their cards! That’s a book that deserves the Hollywood treatment.  

Most of my time was spent wading through the reeking costumed masses, nudging aside Narutos and shoving storm troopers to reach the nearest editor and pitch my books. Luckily I had some very favorable responses, even from publishing giants Random House and Scholastic, both of which are companies I wouldn’t cry about working for. We’ll see. Both of them were interested in MOSAIC, and I think it helped that the arteest Rob Duenas was onhand at the show to help me pitch the book. He’s a San Diegoan, which doesn’t seem fair. Actually, he was one of many people this year who voiced some negative opinions about the show. Over the last ten or fifteen years he’s watched the show deteriorate from a popular comics event where top talent was there and very approachable, to a pop culture extravaganza that isn’t really about comics anymore. Some of the guys at Ape were saying that it’s difficult to sell books at the show, despite the sea of humanity, and that very few people were there to buy comics. Strangely, they were better off going to Wizard World Chicago and smaller venues, where they’d sell more comics and spend half or less on the same sized table. I’ll continue to go to the show, but I agree that the focus seems to be less about comics every year, and I doubt there’s any chance things could turn around. And you know, it’s really wonderful that manga has caught on in such a big way, and (even better) that girls are getting interested in comics, but unfortunately, there doesn’t seem to be the slightest bit of crossover between the two forms of media.

I also attended a DEAD HEAD FRED media event a few blocks away from the convention center and got to reunite with my producer and friend Ryan Kaminaga. I left there with a great new DHF poster that uses the slickly designed European game cover. Woot! Ryan went to the show the next day, and I’m hoping to convince him to go for the whole weekend next time.

By the way, IGN just started posting periodic DHF head descriptions penned by yrs trly. And if you missed them, I wrote a few developer diaries that shed some light on the early formation and evolution of the game. While you’re there, be sure to check out Dave Ellis’ follow up diary about how he crafted his brilliant script for the game.  

Back to the show--I only signed at the Viper booth on Saturday, which really wasn’t long enough, but it turns out I picked the right day to be there. An hour or so into the signing, a camera crew stopped by and asked to interview me about VILLAINS! Deer in the headlights. I’m pretty sure I was too nervous and completely blew the interview, but there’s a slight chance you can catch it on G4’s show Electric Playground in August. That’s what you get for asking the most introverted guy in the world to get in front of a camera. I will definitely do an update if it airs. Ah, well. It was good to see Ryan Cody (VILLAINS) while I was there. I’m a little late writing the new VILLAINS volume and I was sitting right there within arm’s reach, and yet he never strangled me. That, my friends, is a pro.

This year Rob and I tried to get a small press table, but we were eventually denied for some secret reason they didn't disclose to us. The SDCC needs to expedite that process so that people aren’t finding out these things at the last minute. Anyway, next year I’m determined to be sitting behind a table for most of the time. Hopefully it's a table at the convention. My feet won’t stand for less. Until next time, true bee-levers!

If you're reading this, you've probably noticed that we've finally wrestled the website back up again after a group of confused hackers shut us down and left behind some anti-Bush propoganda. There are just so many problems with this plan, I'm not sure where to begin. First and foremost, if they really wanted to spread their messages to the masses, I think their time would have been better spent hacking a website that had some occasional visitors.

Anyway, the important thing is that we're glad to be back. Here are two other important things: THE BLACK COAT and VILLAINS are now available in trade paperback! If you were interested in either book but missed one of the issues, this is your second chance to read the stories in full.

News Flash: VILLAINS is profiled in this month’s Wizard Magazine! Ryan Cody posted a quick scan of the Secret Stash article here.

“Secret Stash” refers to the 2-page space allotted by Wizard to cover one book from the indy comics scene. Only one gets the full treatment each month, and some months don’t even have a Secret Stash section. In other words, getting selected is a rare thing and a great honor. I don’t mean to gush here, but this is the section I always flip to first whenever I get the latest issue. It’s just a phenomenal feeling to see one of my books occupying that spot.

Also, issue #3 of The Black Coat has been getting some enthusiastic reviews lately, and I thought I’d share a few of them:

Silver Bullet Comics

--“With outstanding writing by Cogan and an opulent tapestry of black and white uniqueness from Francavilla, The Black Coat once again arrives as welcome pulp adventure.”

Comic Book Commentary

--“So much better than a black-and-white period piece with a throwback storytelling sensibility has any right to be, I can't imagine that Hollywood won't come calling at some point, and deservedly so.”

Broken Frontier

--“ Cogan, along with artist Francesco Francavilla, have managed to create an entire world with pencils, inks and words. The reader sits down with the story and is instantly transported to this rollicking, fictional, Colonial New York.”

Kamikaze.com

--“If you love great comics, great art and a great story then ask you comic shop to carry The Black Coat.”

In other news, I’ll be attending the San Diego Comic-Con again starting this week from Thursday the 20^th to Sunday the 23^rd. I hope you’ll stop by the Viper Comics booth and say hello, since Ryan Cody and I will be there once a day signing copies of VILLAINS and selling t-shirts. Ryan loves doing sketches, and I think he plans to give them away for free. Also, Francesco Francavilla will be at booth 4609 selling comics and doing lovely sketches, and Ben Lichius and I will be swinging by there periodically throughout the show. This time around is much more about promoting my current books, rather than securing new ones. I only have one real book to pitch around this show and I’m anticipating a little more liesure time. I’m also in full production on another book at the moment and thought I’d post a little teaser of things to come.

Wow!
I have TWO comics on the shelves as of last Wednesday--The Black Coat #2 and Villains #1. Not bad for a beginner, eh? If you read either of these books, please write me back and let me know what you thought.
A couple of new reviews for Villains #1:

http://www.popsyndicate.com/index.php/site/story/villains/

http://www.brokenfrontier.com/reviews/details.php?id=799

Well, I’d love to slow down and bask in the moment right now, but we continue to rocket along at a blistering pace over at Vicious Cycle. Thanks to announcements at E3, I can finally talk a wee bit about the game I’m designing. It’s called Dead Head Fred, coming out for the PSP some time around January. We were nominated for best action game on a handheld over at IGN. Here are a few new articles about the game: 

http://www.gamespot.com/psp/action/deadheadfred/news.html?sid=6149036&mode=recent

http://psp.ign.com/articles/705/705201p1.html

I have great news! We’ve been lucky enough to find a new home at Ape Entertainment, and now things are moving at lightning speed. Even though the first issue was originally due out in early March, we will still be honoring all the initial pre-orders that were made through Speakeasy. I am told that Issue 1 should be appearing in stores in early April, with issue 2 following closely on its heels. Looks like we’ll be back to our original schedule by the end of the month. Yes, I’m biased, but this really is an astounding move. I’ve never heard of another comic—or another publisher—pulling off a stunt like this before. What a great first start!

And to celebrate the new partnership, here’s a wicked cool drawing by Francesco Francavilla—The Black Coat rides again!!!

And please visit the Black Coat forums and talk about the book HERE

Speakeasy Comics is closed. That has yet to be verified by Adam Fortier, but I just got off the phone with Ben Lichius, who pointed me to this article.

We were never contacted by anyone representing Speakeasy, so we got this news at the same time as everybody else. The timing couldn’t be worse for BC, considering that the first issue was slated to be on store shelves on March 1^st, and at this point we don’t even know if it’s gone to press.

 I want to assure those of you who have been looking forward to the book that this isn’t the end for The Black Coat—he’s too stubborn to die! We will do our best to find a new publisher in a timely manner.

 I feel particularly awful for Ben, who had invested so much time and energy into coordinating with Speakeasy and struggling to make things happen. While our experience with Speakeasy had negative elements and it would be easy to start slinging dirt and accusations, I still admire what they were originally trying to do (previous to Ardustry’s involvement). One less independent publisher, especially one of their size, is a blow to the entire industry, both for the present and the future. It means that there are less unique books on the shelves and fewer opportunities for new voices to be heard.

First of all, I want to make it known that Rob Duenas is the new artist on Mosaic. He’s an extremely talented guy with a background in animation, which has led him to develop an art style that is incredibly expressive and dynamic.

I also want to direct everyone to the Villains interview I did over at Broken Frontier, one of the best comic websites on the net. You can find the interview right here. And let us know what you think of the book by posting on the official Villains forum.

I also want to remind everyone that Villains is available for pre-order RIGHT NOW! Just give your neighborhood comic shop owner the following Previews order code: FEB 063371

Pre-order figures are what publishers use to decide how many copies of a book to print. Books can easily “die on the vine” without ever getting printed if they don’t receive enough initial pre-orders! Especially with Diamond’s new minimum requirements. So, if you like the concept for the book and you want to support independent comics, please don’t pass this up. Sorry for sounding like an NPR beg-a-thon. 

The Black Coat Issue #2 is also available for pre-order this month. That order code is: FEB 063247.

Please go pre-order those books now. Don’t make me do it. I don’t make any money if I do it. If you don’t do it, my mother’s going to buy them all, and you’ll have to buy them from her. That could get ugly. She gets very sentimental about her son’s creations.

In case you missed it, an official press release for The Black Coat was recently posted on Newsarama, arguably the most influential comic site out there. It’s like the CNN of comics.
Our artist Francesco Francavilla just put that issue to bed and he’s already well underway with the third installment. I wrote the whole shebang for issue 2 (I only co-wrote bits and pieces of issue 1), so seeing it all come together was particularly exciting for me.

Cover for The Black Coat issue #2

The new Villains forum is officially live and online, so run over to Viper Comics and introduce yourselves, we want to hear from you: http://www.vipercomics.com/messages/forum.asp?FORUM_ID=26

Pretty snazzy, no? If you’re not familiar with Viper Comics, hop on over to their website and have a look at their great selection of books, or better yet, ask your neighborhood comic store proprietor to see what he/she has in stock. And if he/she doesn’t have anything in stock at the moment, make that annoying “tsk, tsk” sound, spit on the floor, and walk out the door, muttering that he just lost another customer. On your way out, go ahead and pause in the doorway and flip him the bird. What a jerk!

And while you’re surfing, browsing, disapparating, or whatever you kids are into these days, you might want to pop by the Black Coat forum on Speakeasy’s site and say how-dee-do. You will be richly rewarded with glimpses of future covers, interior artwork, character designs, and sundry colorful yet highly inaccurate tales of American History. The second issue is well under way now, and it’s looking even better than the first! Here’s where you go:

http://www.speakeasycomics.com/phpbb/viewforum.php?f=31

The first issue of The Black Coat is now available for preorder in the current issue of Previews (page 312, Order # JAN063242).

They got the credits wrong--the cover is by Francesco Francavilla. And it was written by Ben FRANKLIN and Adam Cogan. Otherwise they did good. So anyway...when’s that book come out again? It’s in March! MARCH! So March over to your local comics store and tell ‘em to order a stack.

And since I never got around to it before, Happy New Year!