And, because it’s yet another way to put off my packing, I’m posting my schedule for the Con.

With the dual releases of The Deep and Rombies #1, I will be spending most of the con at the Gestalt Comics booth – booth 4500 and 4501. I will be signing every day at 2pm (except Friday – Friday is Star Wars day) but I’ll probably be hanging out there a fair bit aside from my official signing. This year Gestalt are incredibly well represented, and the booth will be full of great Australian creators (and just damn fine people) in Ben Templesmith, Nicola Scott, Justin Randall, Andrew Constant, Christian Read, Emily Smith, Rombies artist and Gestalt Art Director, Skye Ogden and, of course, the head huncho, Wolfgang Bylsma.
The full signing schedule for Gestalt is right here – http://www.gestaltcomics.com/newsworthy/2011/07/

THE DEEP: HERE BE DRAGONS Tom Taylor & James Brouwer		ROMBIES #1Tom Taylor & Skye Ogden

And on Friday, July 22, 1 p.m.–2 p.m., Room 7AB. I will be part of…

The SDCC – Star Wars Panel!

“In celebration of what seems like a lifetime of collaboration between Star Wars and Dark Horse Comics, we’re unleashing a panel of Star Wars comics giants just for you, the fan!

Share favorite moments in Star Wars comics with our resident Jedi, Randy Stradley, and a host of Star Wars guests from comics and beyond, including Mick Harrison (Dark Times—in his first public appearance!), Dark Horse editor Dave Marshall, writers Scott Allie (Jedi: The Dark Side), John Jackson Miller (Knight Errant), and Tom Taylor (Invasion), as well as Dave Filoni (director of The Clone Wars TV show), artists the Fillbach brothers (The Clone Wars comics), Leland Y. Chee (Lucasfilm’s “Keeper of the Holocron”), author Timothy Zahn (Choices of One), Shelly Shapiro (editor at large, Del Rey), and more.

Plus, there will be an exclusive Knight Errant print for attendees and a chance to win a custom stormtrooper helmet illustrated by Chris Scalf (Blood Ties)!

Oh yeah, and you certainly won’t want to miss the exciting news about the future of Star Wars digital comics . . .”

After this panel, myself and many other Star Wars creators will be signing at the Dark Horse booth. Feel free to bring along anything you’d like me scrawl on.

Also, check the brilliant Chris Scalf stormtrooper helmet you can win.

THE DEEP: HERE BE DRAGONS Tom Taylor & James Brouwer		TORN Andrew Constant, Nicola Scott & Joh James		ELDRITCH KID: WHISKY & HATE Christian Read & Michael Maier
ROMBIES #1Tom Taylor & Skye Ogden

Gestalt Comics have opened up a new ‘online comics’ section at their official website and Rombies #0 is the first of their comics to be offered for free in its entirety.  As well as the #0 issue of Rombies, issue #1 is also set to appear with new pages being revealed every week until it’s all up.  Issue #1 is where our tale truly begins and, joining myself and the brilliant Skye Ogden on issue #1, is the newly announced series colourist, Mikiko Ponczek.

Skye and Mikiko are doing brilliant things on this series.  I’ve just finished writing the script to issue #4 and I can’t wait for the world to see what comes next.  Click the picture to start reading Rombies, right now, for free.

Rombies #1

by Tom Taylor, Skye Ogden & Mikiko Ponczek

A father’s sorrow.

An unbearable heartache.

His desperate action, though wrought of love, unwittingly unleashes a dark force in the time of Emperor Titus.

A dark force that can be… harnessed?

Tying to real life historical events and crossing the paths of real life historical figures, our story twists, turns and weaves its way through theologies and empires, leaving no one unscathed, be they citizen, soldier or Senator.

Written by Tom Taylor
Illustrated by Skye Ogden
Colours by Mikiko Ponczek

24 pages, FC  | View all issues of ROMBIES

“…a captivating new take on both history and horror. A carefully laid Roman Road of brilliant mythos and endless macabre potential” - Nicole Sixx- Comic Booked

“Awesome start. Can’t wait to read the rest.” - Bruce Moyle – Cool Shite

“This blew me away!” – Kris Bather – Extra Sequential

Don’t forget, you can ‘Be A Rombies Extra‘.  Just post a picture of yourself up at the facebook page for the chance to shuffle along the streets of ancient Rome.

A huge congratulations to Wolfgang Bylsma, Colin Wilson, Skye Ogden and Gestalt Publishing.  It’s awesome to see these Australian-made books cracking the international market and kicking head.

So remember, wherever you are in the world this Wednesday (Thursday in Australia), head into a comic store and pick up a copy of Rombies and The Example.  If they don’t have any copies, rant at them.  If an Australian comic store hasn’t ordered any copies, stage a sit-in protest.

A comic store would be a great place for a sit-in protest; you could read comics while calmly demonstrating your outrage.

Praise for Rombies

A large part of the book’s success stems from the stellar artwork of Skye Ogden. Working in a slightly cartoony style, Ogden’s art is lively and leaps off the page without sacrificing a stunning attention to detail. The Coliseum and its gladiators are beautifully rendered, featuring exquisite period design elements and decorative flairs. His figures are robust and expressive, the pencils impeccably inked with a nice heavy line that lends each character weight and solidity. It’s a unique style, wonderfully matched to Tom Taylor’s crisp, fast-paced script.  Like his collaborator’s artwork, Taylor’s script achieves a fine balance between levity and real emotional moments… Taylor delivers a rousing, fun story even if it’s steeped in half-devoured corpses and rivers of blood.” – Broken Frontier

“Did I get what I expected out of this book? No, I got a hell of a lot more. I loved the animated style artwork, and hey how can you not love a zombie lion? The story was done right. It didn’t go where I thought it would, which is a good thing. It’s not a B-movie story that is told here. It is an action pack death fest. I will say this, if Romero directed Gladiator this is what it would have looked like. Check this one out, it is highly enjoyable and I think a must read for zombie fans. 4 stars” – ComicMonsters.com

And The Example

“This Schrödinger’s Cat scenario is explored comprehensively via Taylor’s rhythmic dialogue. Sam and Chris riposte to and fro with the sort of casual offhandedness afforded to transient relationships. It’s almost flirtatious, but never dull, and the naturalness of their humour contrasts beautifully with the silent menace of the briefcase… a burst of applause to all concerned, and a note to other creators and publishers out there – this is an example worth following.” - (Cool) Shite

Rome was big.  Very big.  Populating it (and depopulating it in Zombie form) in a comic is a big task.  Skye Ogden and I have decided we want real people to walk (and shamble) through Rome’s streets.  We want you!

Gestalt Publishing have set up a facebook page – “Be a Rombies Extra.” – If that link doesn’t work just type ‘be a Rombies extra’ into facebook’s search – “Here’s the deal: Post a photo of yourself as a Zombie or Citizen (or both) for the chance to appear in the upcoming Rombies comic series from Gestalt Publishing, written by Tom Taylor (Star Wars/The Authority) & illustrated by Skye Ogden (Vowels)”

A special #0 issue of Rombies will be available in comic stores in August but it it is already available in other places and early reviews have been great.

“A large part of the book’s success stems from the stellar artwork of Skye Ogden. Working in a slightly cartoony style, Ogden’s art is lively and leaps off the page without sacrificing a stunning attention to detail. The Coliseum and its gladiators are beautifully rendered, featuring exquisite period design elements and decorative flairs. His figures are robust and expressive, the pencils impeccably inked with a nice heavy line that lends each character weight and solidity. It’s a unique style, wonderfully matched to Tom Taylor’s crisp, fast-paced script.  Like his collaborator’s artwork, Taylor’s script achieves a fine balance between levity and real emotional moments… Taylor delivers a rousing, fun story even if it’s steeped in half-devoured corpses and rivers of blood.” – Broken Frontiers.com

“Did I get what I expected out of this book? No, I got a hell of a lot more. I loved the animated style artwork, and hey how can you not love a zombie lion? The story was done right. It didn’t go where I thought it would, which is a good thing. It’s not a B-movie story that is told here. It is an action pack death fest. I will say this, if Romero directed Gladiator this is what it would have looked like. Check this one out, it is highly enjoyable and I think a must read for zombie fans. 4 stars” – ComicMonsters.com

Skye and I have also been interviewed recently right here, which includes a six-page preview of Rombies #0.

The Rombies one-shot and The Example are both being offered through Diamond this August – meaning I now have five comics coming into comic stores in August… and that’s even with Invasion skipping that month.

Rombies has been flying along.  I’m really happy with the last script I turned in and Skye is about to rip into the series proper.  All of this momentum has seen a fair bit of pimping by Gestalt Publishing.

Rombies now has an official website – ROMBIES.COM – which currently has a violently-brilliant new image by Skye Ogden to check out.

Comics website ‘Broken Frontier’ have written a great article about the series and included a 6 page preview (7, considering one is a double page splash) of Rombies.

Skye and I have also done several interviews which should also appear soon.

First up, Colin Wilson and I were interviewed by the Comic Spot radio program about Star Wars and The Example.  You can hear all of that right here

Next up, Rombies artist Skye Ogden and I were interviewed by the awesome website Cool Shite about our upcoming Rombies series.  It’s a slightly awkward interview, as two interviewers try to interview two creatives in two different countries, but it has Zombie Gazelles and no one needs more than that.












Luke Skywalker and the Treasure of the Dragonsnakes is reviewed by the EU Review here (at about 18 minutes).  The script and Daxiong’s art both come in for some high praise.  “A very good read’ that they ‘highly recommend”.

Over at Half Hour Wasted and the Legion of Dudes, an entire extended edition has been dedicated to a review of Star Wars: Invasion #4 & #5 and they like us… they really like us!  Click the pic for the podcast. 

Also just done two magazine interviews, another radio interview and three other website interviews (links when they all appear).

In the coming days, the website is being revamped – it will look pretty.  When it relaunches, I should be able to speak about a few of the ‘secret’ things that I’ve had to keep close to my chest, including ‘The Example’ film news and another great piece of news about ‘The Authority’.

After happily announcing that I was the new writer of The Authority on Wednesday, I was then flown to Perth on the Thursday (Thursday morning… I don’t do morning) by Gestalt Publishing for Gestaltapalooza!

Comic Book Jesus posted about the night right here.

And the night was capped off with the announcement that our one-shot ‘Rombies‘ was just a teaser.  Yep, Rombies is set to be a series!  The Dead will walk again… in sandals.

The depth and breadth of the story Skye Ogden and I have planned was not even hinted at in the first publication.  This story is tied to real-life historical events and crosses the path of real-life historical figures.  It weaves through theologies and empires and leaves no one untouched, be they citizen, soldier or senator.

It will be fun.

A great celebration of the first five years of Gestalt also included a sneak peek of the incredible ‘Changing Ways‘ by one of the fine artists working on my upcoming Brief Cases, Justin Randall.  Gestalt asked if I could provide a pull-quote for this incredible book.  Which meant that I got to read an advance copy.

“Changing Ways grabbed me by the eyeballs and wouldn’t let go until it was done. The art demands you stop and admire every extraordinary rendered panel while the tension of this perfectly-paced thriller forces you to turn the page. Justin Randall balances beauty and terror on a rusty razor’s edge.” – Tom Taylor, writer of Star Wars: Invasion and The Authority.

Gestalt are having a sale at the moment so you can get quite a sizable discount if you order through them.

The artist, Skye Ogden, has also posted a nice look at his process in creating three pages from the book.

Click the image below for a look at Skye’s process.