The second Invasion hardcover came out this week in France, and Star Wars: Invasion artist, Colin Wilson, has just sent me this screen grab from the French Amazon site.
Colin spent years creating comics in France and still keeps an eye on what the market is doing over there. I can’t read it but I’m assuming ’17′ is the same in English.
To everyone buying our book in France – ‘Merci beaucoup’.
Announced in ‘Star Wars: Insider’ magazine yesterday (and all over the internet overnight) Star Wars: Invasion returns in July with ‘Revelations’.
This image, featuring art by Chris Scalf (of Star Wars: Blood Ties), has been posted all over the internet, so I guess I can post it too…
“Starting in issue #12, this new story arc sees the heroes of the Galfridian family step into their new roles as combatants in the middle of the biggest war the Star Wars galaxy has ever seen. Finn Galfridian has already lost his father and his homeworld to the Yuuzhan Vong, and now he offers himself for Force training by Master Dray-who just might be insane. Elsewhere, Finn’s mother and sister reach the Imperial outpost of Shramar, where refugees from their home planet hope to reunite with their family members. But a mystery turns dangerous and then threatens violent conflict between the New Republic and the Empire! Writer Tom Taylor and artist Colin Wilson continue their ongoing Invasion saga.”
Voting for the Eagle Awards in the UK is now open and anyone can vote right here – http://www.eagleawards.co.uk/
Some nice person has stuck me down under ‘Favourite Newcomer Writer’ and ‘Favourite Writer’… for the record, even I can’t vote for me under ‘Favourite Writer’ but I’m sure my mum can.
If you’re planning on voting (thanks), Star Wars: Blood Ties and Star Wars: Invasion are also nominated, as is Rombies (be ready for a Rombies update soon…). Also, be sure and vote for Chris Scalf under ‘Favourite Painted Art’ and Colin Wilson under ‘Favourite Inker/Penciller’ – Colin is also on the Honour Roll – definitely vote for him there. Justin Randall is also under ‘Favourite Newcomer Artist’.
Staying in the UK, my play ‘Falling Praying’ has taken out the final of ‘Crash Test Drama UK’! Whoop!
Thanks to the director, Dan Clarke, and a big congratulations to the two cast members, Dan Clarke, who took out the ‘Best Actor’ award on the night, and Steph Weller, who won ‘Best Actress’. Also, a big thank you to organiser, Glynn Oram.
In other UK news, Star Wars Book UK have announced the winners of their ‘Fan Favourites’ for 2010 and it seems we‘ve picked up second place… twice.
“Knights of the Old Republic: Demon by John Jackson Miller et al. was your favourite comic book story of 2010 with 26% of votes cast. However, second place was tied by two different stories by the same author, also a newcomer to the Star Wars expanded universe, Tom Taylor, with his Invasion: Rescues story (with art by Colin Wilson) and Blood Ties: Jango & Boba Fett (art by Chris Scalf) – both gaining 17% of votes cast. Third place goes to another series known to be popular, Legacy by John Ostrander and Jan Duursema, with its concluding arc Extremes (13%).”
Thanks to everyone at SWBOOKS.UK who voted.
Also in the UK, I believe the 5th issue of Star Wars Galaxy is out this week, reprinting Blood Ties and Invasion from the beginning along with Knight Errant. Pick it up if you’re in the UK.
Happy New Year, everyone!
The ‘End of Year Comic Awards‘ over at NFAMOUS.NET have given ‘Best Miniseries’ to Star Wars: Blood Ties, which was also nominated for ‘Best Limited Series or One Shot’ over at COMICBOOKED.COM “…this piece is truly perfect. Perfect in art, perfect in literature, and perfect in Star Wars. Also, Boba Fett takes down a rancor.” – COMICBOOKED.COM
‘The best Damn Comics of 2010′ over at the ‘The Daily Cross Hatch’ also saw The Example get some love.
A huge year of writing comics has come to an end and I decided to do a bit of a review… then I changed my mind and just made a collage – a visual representation of how much sleep I missed last year.
Yep, all of these books came out in 2010 – that’s two for every month.
A huge thanks to all of the people I was lucky enough to work with in 2010
Thanks to all of the artists – Colin Wilson, Chris Scalf, Al Barrionuevo, Mike S Miller, Skye Ogden, Daxiong, Brian Koschak, James Brouwer, Wes Dzioba, Mike Heisler and Em Smith.
To my wonderful editors – Randy Stradley, Jim Chadwick, Wolfgang Bylsma, Freddye Lins, Kristy Quinn, Gary Edwards, Shannon Eric Denton and Ben Abernathy.
To the ridiculous wealth of cover artists – Jo Chen, Dave Gibbons, Kevin Nowlan, Philip Tan, Pete Woods, Howard Porter, Chris Sprouse, Tim Seeley, Sean McNally and Jeremy Raapack.
And of course, an enormous thank you to every single person who read my books in 2010. THANK YOU!
This year is already looking enormous, with a pile of work due for publication and some hints of more big gigs in the pipeline – 2011 preview post coming soon…
The end of the year has coincided with the end of a lot of my stories. We had the end of ‘The Authority’ this month, the end of the first arc of ‘Star Wars: Blood Ties’ a month ago, and now, on December 22nd, we have ‘Star Wars Invasion: Rescues #6′, the final issue to this story arc.
Dark Horse have put a special four-page preview up on their website - check it out right here – make sure you’ve read issue #5 of Invasion Rescues first, or big things will be spoiled.
Here’s the first page, proving once again that Colin Wilson is the master of all, Wes Dzioba’s work here is also brilliant.
The end may be here for some projects but there is a lot more coming in the new year. More ‘Star Wars’ stories are underway, ‘Rombies – the series’ should begin early in the year, Brief Cases will show up, ‘ The Deep’ will finally surface and… a pile of other exciting things will appear that I can’t talk about yet.
We have been insanely fortunate to have the brilliant Jo Chen as our cover artist on this series. It always makes me very happy when these appear in my inbox and as soon as the cover to Rescues #6 appeared, I was desperate to share it.
Issue #6 ran into a few problems with solicitation but it will now be in stores on December 15.
This is the cover. It is stunning.
This week, I strangely have two Star Wars comics coming out on the same day; Star Wars Invasion: Rescues issue #4 and Star Wars: Blood Ties Issue #2.
Fight for my love, children!
STAR WARS: INVASION—RESCUES #4 (of 6)
Tom Taylor (W), Colin Wilson (A), Wes Dzioba (C), and Jo Chen (Cover)
On sale Sept 29
FC, 40 pages
$2.99
Miniseries
Jedi-in-training Finn Galfridian learns a secret about his mother that he never knew, but the knowledge only leads to new questions about himself and his unusual ability.
Meanwhile, Kaye Galfridian leads a New Republic attack against a Yuuzhan Vong base, not realizing that the Vong commander’s tactics are meant to buy him time to learn more about his most hated foe: Kaye’s brother, Finn.
New allies, new enemies, and a turning point in the lives of the Galfridian family!
STAR WARS: BLOOD TIES—A TALE OF JANGO AND BOBA FETT #2 (of 4)
Tom Taylor (W) and Chris Scalf (A/Cover)
On sale Sept 29
FC, 40 pages
$3.50
Miniseries
Then: Jango Fett, the most dangerous assassin/bounty hunter in the galaxy, never fails to get his man. But Jango has never had a success that has affected him this way.
Now: Boba Fett has taken up his father’s mantle and lived up to Jango’s fearsome reputation. But a secret from the past has Boba working a case he would normally dismiss and wondering if he actually knew his father as well as he thought . . .
Across the generations, and across the galaxy, if a Fett is on your trail, you’ve reached a dead end!
Fully painted art by Purge artist Chris Scalf!
A whole lot of good reviews have been appearing recently, including some great words for Will of Darth Vader (Dark Horse’s top-selling trade for July). Here’s a ‘best of’ to check out…
Star Wars Adventures: The Will of Darth Vader AND Luke Skywalker and the Treasure of the Dragonsnakes
“…offering two thought provoking, yet action-filled stories. Luke Skywalker and the Treasure of the Dragonsnakes takes place during Luke’s training on Dagobah with Master Yoda. Taylor allows himself to have fun with Yoda as Yoda in turn has fun with Luke in the name of training. (Teachers who can get this volume away from their students will completely sympathize with Yoda’s desire to gently torment his disciple.) When Yoda sends Luke on a journey to rescue treasure from a ferocious beast, Luke at first cannot understand why his monastic mentor would suddenly be making a selfish request. But, as with all of Yoda’s teachings, there is a deeper meaning. Daxiong’s art is vivid and perfect for action scenes, though he seems unable to draw any facial expressions which would allow his characters to show emotion. Luckily Taylor’s writing is strong enough to carry the story through to a full-circle finish that is not preachy or overly pat.
From there, Taylor turns his focus onto Darth Vader, crafting a story which shows off the massive power Vader commands, while also clearly pointing out the flaws in his philosophy of servitude to the Dark Side. Vader uses a captured smuggler named Luca to get to a Rebel base hidden deep within an asteroid field, but Luca is a wisecracking man who does not lightly given into authority. The brilliance in Taylor’s story is that Luca is not a stand-in for Han Solo. He is very much his own person, a theme which is central to the point Taylor aims to make. The ending of the tale is shocking, powerful, and will force readers to think about the nature of free will.” - Graphic Novel Reporter
The Authority #25 – “This is Gonna Suck”
“Don’t let the title of the issue fool you. It does everything BUT suck! But rest assured, Tom Taylor finds a clever way to present the title too. I personally thought it was hilarious how he did it. But the creative team’s not done with us yet. As the solicits reads ‘The Carrier appears to finally be approaching its ultimate destination’. Taylor not only gives us a cool little twist at the end but also leaves us with a great cliffhanger!” - Wildstorm Addiction
Star Wars Invasion: Rescues #3
“Probably one of the best issues in terms of action and moving the story along.”
“I definitely will say I liked this issue. The action was there and the story didn’t drag out but thrust us to the next level.
Overall the issue was solid and action intense. Taylor and Wilson delivered.” - NJOE.com
San Diego Comic-Con is almost here and, once again, I will brave man-made flight machines with Colin Wilson to get there.
This con is looking a lot busier than the last one. I will be signing for The Authority at the DC booth every day. I will also be signing with Colin at the Dark Horse Booth on ‘Star Wars Day’ (Friday) and, on the Saturday, I will be part of the Wildstorm: Stormfront Panel with some great talent. I will also be signing at booth 4500 for Gestalt Publishing and generally hanging around that area as Colin Wilson has his own table at this year’s SDCC with Dave Dorman (which I’m apparently sitting at too). If you’re around, come say hi.
THURSDAY, JULY 22
12-1pm: SIGNING @ DC booth (#1915)
FRIDAY, JULY 23
12:00-1:00: SIGNING @ Dark Horse booth
2-3pm: SIGNING @ DC booth
SATURDAY, JULY 24
1-2pm: SIGNING @ DC booth
6:30 to 7:30 p.m. WildStorm: Storm Front Panel
What’s new in the WildStorm Universe? VP/general manager Hank Kanalz and senior editor Ben Abernathy bring you up to speed with this inside look into DC’s wildest imprint. Joining Hank and Ben will be Adam Beechen (WildCats), Kurt Busiek (Astro City), Darick Robertson (Fringe: Tales From the Fringe), Tom Taylor (The Authority), Tim Seeley (WildCats), Adam Archer (Ratchet and Clank), Cruddie Torian (Gen13) and others. Room 4
SUNDAY, JULY 25
2:30-3:30pm: SIGNING @ DC booth
MONDAY, JULY 26
Sleeping… hard.
I have three books coming out this month and Dark Horse and Wildstorm have posted previews for all of them.
Check out a preview of Star Wars: Invasion – Rescues #3, featuring the artwork of the always incredible Colin Wilson, right here
For a glimpse of The Authority #24, with Al Barrionuevo art, click here
The other preview is for The Will of Darth Vader but that comes with news of a release date change… which I will share soon.
