Friday, September 28, 2007

Hamster powers...activate!

And the other shoe drops on Newsarama today, with the announcement that Tom Nguyen and I are reviving the ADOLESCENT RADIOACTIVE BLACK BELT HAMSTERS for Dynamite. Here's the linkage...

http://forum.newsarama.com/showthread.php?t=131041

Because I can't seem to be too dumb to make links active in the body of a post (Chris Yeoman, where are you when I need you?), anyone that wants to check it out will have to cut and paste.

Having a lot of fun writing this book. It's a great chance to write something silly, yet with a lot of heart underneath. Tom has been waiting a long time for a chance to really dig in and do the complete art on a project and he's going to open a lot of people's eyes on this one.

Two posts in one day...wow. Look at me go.

Yet another...

The blogging machine that I had become seems to have broken down somewhat when I ran out of things to say. Luckily, Newsarama's Lois Lane, AKA Vaneta, conducted yet ANOTHER interview w/ me about the upcoming ARENA (which I always mistype as AREAN, and then have to backspace and fix). This one covers the fan voting aspect of the project, as well as some thoughts on the characters featured in the four main match ups.


At this rate, I'm going to have to give Vaneta a percentage of any royalties I might make on Arena. She's working harder than me.


The project that Tom Nguyen and I have been secretly working on for Dynamite might be announced today, too, which will give me something else to blog about.


Here's the link...


http://forum.newsarama.com/showthread.php?t=131034

Thursday, September 20, 2007

beauty


I got this picture in my email tonight and I thought it was amazingly beautiful and should be shared with my tiny little community of blog readers, who I know are the sorts who appreciate amazingly beautiful things.

Enjoy.

Monday, September 17, 2007

ARENA solicits

Look at me, I'm a blogging machine lately!


Here's the solicit information for ARENA, arriving in stores the month of December, beginning on Wednesday the 5th. As most writers seem to do these days, I wrote the solicitation copy for the books. Still, I'm surprised to see DC insert (JSA) into my name as an example of a past credit. I guess I'm glad it's still relevant but hopefully, one day I'll be known for more than my work on JSA. Still, I guess it was a more popular choice than World War III.


Just this morning, I got a Fed Ex w/ Scott McDaniel's pencils for #2. I'm really, really happy w/ the work he (and Andy Owens) are doing. I wish these books were out today, I'm really excited that they're coming together so well.


COUNTDOWN: ARENA #1-4
Written by Keith Champagne
Art by Scott McDaniel & Andy Owens
Covers by Andy Kubert
Variant covers by Dale Eaglesham


Get ready for COUNTDOWN: ARENA — a 4-issue weekly event written by Keith Champagne (JSA) with art by Scott McDaniel & Andy Owens (GREEN ARROW) that pits the DCU’s greatest heroes against themselves!


The villainous Monarch begins the last chapter of his campaign against the Monitors, combing the entire Multiverse to enlist the most powerful — or deadly — heroes and villains from throughout existence to join his army. The abducted must battle one another in Monarch's specially constructed Arena, where only the strongest will survive to join his battle against the Monitors.


Carefully selected from worlds throughout all 52 universes, including characters from SUPERMAN: RED SON, DC: THE NEW FRONTIER, BATMAN: GOTHAM BY GASLIGHT, JSA: LIBERTY FILES, JUSTICE LEAGUE: THE NAIL, and TANGENT, among many others, three versions of each hero will walk into the Arena, and only one will walk away. Welcome to THE ARENA, where Monarch’s only rule is to survive at all costs.


Retailers please note: Each issue of COUNTDOWN: ARENA will ship with two covers. For every 10 copies of the Standard Edition ordered, retailers may order one copy of the Variant Edition.


Please see the Previews Order Form for more information.


#1 on sale December 5; #2 on sale December 12; #3 on sale December 19; #4 on sale December 26 • 48 pg, FC, $3.99 US

Sunday, September 16, 2007

Gorgeous


C'mon, how sweet is Andy Kubert's cover to ARENA #1?

Friday, September 14, 2007

VOTE!

The voting website for COUNTDOWN: ARENA went live this afternoon and I wanted to throw the link out there for anyone that might not be aware.


http://www.dccomics.com/sites/arena/


I have to admit, I'm absolutely tickled by the existence of the website. It looks cool, it's easy to use, and my name is splashed (well, scrawled at least) on the front page.


While it may be a conflict of interest, I went and voted tonight. My choices will remain my own but there are definite versions I would hope to see win. I will say that Christopher Kent, the bald futuristic Superman is my favorite man of steel. Not too many times in life does someone get to create a brand new Superman, after all, and he's all mine.


So get out there, have some fun, and pick your favorites!

Thursday, September 13, 2007

The round up

I dipped my toe back in the inking pool this week, teaming up with one of my fave pencilers and all around nice guy, "Big Papa" Jamal Igle, on a two-page Countdown back up origin. It was good timing, in the back of my mind I've been wanting to do something small just to keep my hand in practice. This little assignment was actually the first time I've inked anything since early July, when I did a Robin cover with another of my fave pencilers (and all around nice guy) Pat Gleason.


I can't say that I miss inking all that much but I have to say, Jamal's pencils are a lot of fun to work over and I do kind of miss working with him on a regular basis. He's the best kind of guy to work with: Talented and so not a pain in the ass. There are definitely worse jobs to have than inking Big Papa.


All in all, I find myself feeling a little disenfranchised with comics this week. I've found over the years that it's kind of a cyclical thing where, for a while, I'll be really happy and excited about the work I'm doing and then I'll go into a phase where I start to wonder what I'm doing with my life.


I think this particular phase is basically down to not nailing down a substantial project to write since I finished Arena about a month ago. I've been floating along, writing an issue here or an issue there of different books for DC, plus a couple of issues of a project Tom Nguyen and I are doing together for Dynamite. So it's not like I'm unemployed, I just feel like I'm...drifting...a bit.


Arena is going to do a lot of business for DC, plus aside from the fact that it should sell handsomely, I feel confident saying that it's turning out really, really well. I'm proud of the story, Scott McDaniel and Andy Owens are chugging along and Andy Kubert's covers are simply STUNNING. Maybe my problem is that I'm never satisfied. It's easier to focus on not knowing what my next DC project might be instead of feeling a sense of accomplishment in the strides I've taken over the last year in terms of my writing career. Between World War III and Arena, I've been lucky to write two HUGE projects this year and not a month has gone by when I haven't written at least one issue of something, even it it all hasn't seen print yet. But there have also been bumps in the road. I've lost a lot of work this year at DC for various reasons, including my first monthly assignment due to an editorial restructuring. But I also had one approved, something I'm cowriting with Pete Tomasi. So...two steps forward, one step back.


I guess it's just human nature to bitch instead of bask. Or maybe I'm just broken? Either way, I have a feeling I'll be a little edgy until I nail down whatever comes next. There's so much cool stuff being put together at DC right now, maybe I'm just afraid I'll slip through the cracks.

Friday, September 07, 2007

Picks

I haven't posted anything about MMA in a while so here are my quick picks for the main fights on tomorrow's UFC card.

Dan Henderson over Rampage.
Cro Cop over Kongo.
Bisping over Matt Hammill.
I also like Houston Alexander over Alessio Sakara.

I'm not going to predict rounds or KO's or anything, just who I think will win. Let's see how I do.

Monday, September 03, 2007

Curious George

I'm going to try a little experiment here, working under the 'Seven Degrees Of Separation" theory.

My son Jack really enjoys Curious George. It seems like not a day goes by when we don't read him a CG book or two. So in the back of my mind lately, I've been thinking about writing a Curious George book for him. Which I could do just for fun, but if I do, I'd like to take a shot at getting it published.

The Houghton Mifflin Company is the organization that currently publishes Curious George. So what I'm hoping to find out there in Blog Reading Internets Land, is somebody from Haughton Mifflin--or who knows somebody from Haughton Mifflin--that I could speak with about submitting a story. I'd like to skip their submission process and talk to someone directly if I could because, frankly, after reading over their submission guidelines tonight, it sort of reminds me of the frustration people must feel trying to break into comics.

So if anyone out there can throw me a bone, I'd be glad to scratch some backs in return. My email address is available on my profile here, or just leave yours in the comment section and I'll touch base soon.

Thanks!

Saturday, September 01, 2007

The original



Thanks to Mike Negin for digging this up and emailing it to me, the original Hawkman house ad that I copied all those years ago. It puts my little 15 year old effort to shame but then again, it's kinda supposed to.

As a cryptic aside, when the GL: CORPSE series ends up seeing the light of day, think back to this post. You may find a connection between Mike and the deadliest group of Green (black) Lanterns known (secretly) to exist.

Thanks, Mike!