The cover to Star Wars: Blood Ties Boba Fett is Dead #2.

Boba Fett is dead… in April.

Tell your local comic store to order now for April. You’ll be glad you did.

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STAR WARS: BLOOD TIES—BOBA FETT IS DEAD #1 (of 4)
Tom Taylor (W), Chris Scalf (A/Cover), and David Palumbo (Variant cover)
On sale Apr 25
FC, 40 pages
$3.50
Miniseries
The news spreads from one end of the galaxy to the other like wildfire: Boba Fett, the galaxy’s most feared bounty hunter, is dead.
But when members of the team that killed Fett are themselves picked off one by one, Connor Freeman—the son of one of Jango Fett’s clones—gets pulled into the action in a most unexpected way!
• Writer Tom Taylor brings Blood Ties back with Boba Fett!
• Interiors and covers by Chris Scalf!

Darth Vader is squeezing your heart with the force on the cover of Star Wars: Blood Ties – Boba Fett is Dead #3.

The time-lapse video of this cover being made by Chris Scalf can be viewed right here. It’s well worth a watch. Chris Scalf’s time-lapse videos are a kind of magic.

As brilliant as this cover is, I have to say the cover to issue #2 is my favorite. I can’t wait until people get a look at that one.

I received this in an email earlier this week from the organizer of the Stan Lee Excelsior Award.

“I am pleased to inform you that STAR WARS: BLOOD TIES has been nominated for the final shortlist of eight titles and, as such, will be winging its way into over 60 secondary school libraries across the UK!”

Forbidden Planet and Comic Book Resources started reporting it overnight and I thought this was a good note from CBR.

“Here’s what’s interesting about this shortlist: It reflects what tweens and teens are actually reading, as opposed to what the adult gatekeepers think they should be reading.”

I’ve also been invited to the Awards Ceremony in Sheffield next year. I don’t think I’ll be able to make that… but it’s very nice to be invited.

I think this is a fantastic initiative.

“The overall goal of this scheme is to encourage reading amongst teenagers. However, its secondary target is to raise the profile of graphic novels and manga amongst school librarians and teachers. This storytelling medium has been a largely underused resource within education for many years. The Stan Lee Excelsior Award attempts to highlight some of the amazing books that are out there - books that fully deserve to be in our school libraries alongside regular fiction!”

Using Graphic Novels to promote literacy is an absolute no-brainer. Providing subject matter that young people actually find engaging, obviously encourages reading. This was in my thoughts during the creation of The Deep: Here be Dragons and I’ve had a number of parents let me know that they’ve bought this book to encourage reading skills in their children.

Thank you to everyone involved in this Award. Star Wars: Blood Ties is a book that Chris Scalf and I are very proud of, and we’re both very happy to see it’s inclusion in such a worthwhile program.

Boba Fett and literacy. What a combination.

You can get Star Wars: Blood Ties through Amazon right here. And you can check out the Stan Lee Excelsior Award Nominees here – ‘Nuff said.

And here’s a picture of me and Stan from the Lucasfilm party in San Diego earlier this year.

These two story arcs probably contain my largest ever fictional body count.

DC Universe Online Legends #17

Hal Jordan is seriously conflicted as he and the Green Lantern Corps arrive at Korugar to “contain” the war between Sinestro’s Yellow Lanterns and Brainiac–but can they save the planet of innocents caught in the crossfire? And how desperate could things possibly get that would see Hal team up with Sinestro for one final battle?!

Star Wars: Invasion—Revelations #5

Writer: Tom Taylor
Artist: Colin Wilson
Colorist: Wes Dzioba
Cover Artist: Chris Scalf
Release: November 16, 2011
32 pages, issue 5 of 5

Queen Nina and Princess Kaye have successfully rescued the refugees from the Battle of Shramar, but the Yuuzhan Vong invaders may still have another win for their tally. Or is there another revelation in store? Meanwhile, on Coruscant, Jedi-in-training Finn Galfridian finds that in trying to prevent an assassination, he may be complicit in one! The next revelation may be about Finn’s new mentor!

Star Wars: Blood Ties – Boba Fett is Dead

Established Star Wars writer Tom Taylor is back with another stunning Blood Ties series to be released in April 2012.

“Boba Fett is dead. The most infamous hunter in the galaxy has been hunted. He’s lying, broken, on the desert floor. He’s more blaster-holes than man. It’s the ultimate ending. However, this is just the start of our story. With the fall of Fett broadcast across the galaxy, someone rises to avenge him. But who would care about the death of a man like Fett? Bounty hunters aren’t exactly known for their enduring, close friendships but even a man like Boba Fett has family… and now a Blood Tie demands blood.” -Tom Taylor

Yes, the artwork for ‘Star Wars: Blood Ties – Boba Fett is Dead’ has been unveiled as part of the media release. And here it is!

There was no art in the first announcement over at IGN overnight, which prompted me to do this.

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In other news, ‘The Deep: Here Be Dragons’ is sold out AGAIN on Amazon.  If you’re a fan of my Star Wars work, please do check out this book about the adventures of a multi-ethnic family of underwater explorers who live on a submarine. It’s available from the official website for $9.95, it has had rave reviews and I’m very proud of it. Cheers!

Check Out 'The Deep: Here Be Dragons'

The first Blood Ties received a lot of love from fans and critics alike and I’m constantly asked whether there will be more. Well, I can finally say ‘yes, there will be’. It’s 4.56am here in Australia and I’ve been up all night working away on issue #3.

I don’t think Dark Horse have released the cover art yet, so I’ve taken it upon myself to come up with a visual for everyone.

Star Wars Blood Ties – Boba Fett is Dead

(Please note: Not final artwork)

And don’t forget, next week sees my first work in the DC Universe as I pit the Green Lantern Corps against Sinestro and Brainiac in DCUO Legends #16.

Chris Scalf worked with me on Star Wars Blood Ties, and is the current cover artist on Star Wars: Invasion – bringing you insane covers like this.

Chris and I are working on a couple of things that are yet to be announced but one thing that HAS been announced is our upcoming creator-owned series, Voice of a Dragon.

Just posting an image would be an injustice when watching him create the work is a kind of magic. You can tell this by the amount of hits on his youtube channel. With Voice of a Dragon on its way, I figured this Fine Art Friday should be used to show why Chris Scalf is absolutely the man for a dragon story.

I remember when Colin showed me the first moment of the ‘tentaclisation’ of Nina Galfridian on the Heart of Artorias. I was kinda horrified by the tentacles piercing her face.  Oddly enough, this gruesome element stayed in the book, and now it’s made it onto a cover… actually, two covers including Jo Chen’s variant from Refugees.

Click the cover for the preview.