Arena #4: The war to settle the score

And the last issue of Arena arrives in stores today, ending what was a fun work month for me. It's been enjoyable hearing the different reactions to the series after working in a bubble on it for so long. I don't have my printed copies of the last issue yet, shipping seems to have been thrown off by the holiday. But I was very happy with the PDF that I proofread earlier this month, I think the ending works well and spins out in a way people won't expect.

To put the frosting on the cake, I did a commentary track of the fourth issue for Comic Book Resources. I'll edit this and post a link when it goes live today/over the weekend.

And that's a wrap...until THE ATOM #19 ships next month.

(Edit) Here's the linkage to the commentary track of #4. It basically spoils the whole finale of the series so, if you care about that kind of thing, I would recommend reading the issue first.

http://www.comicbookresources.com/news/newsitem.cgi?id=12663

Hamster Droppings #2

Hope everyone out there had a nice Christmas. If you're a friend of mine and didn't get a Christmas card, it may not be because you've been blacklisted. Or it might be but probably night. More than likely, it's because I haven't gotten around to sending them yet. We got Jack's picture taken a little later than usual this year but have every intention of getting them sent out before next Christmas.

Anyway, the second installment of Hamster Droppings went live today at Newsarama, wherein I interview Don Chin. It's the first time I've ever interviewed anybody so I did the smartest thing I could and copied the Vaneta approach, attempting to make it seem as if Don and I were talking instead of emailing.

Here's the link...

http://forum.newsarama.com/showthread.php?t=140790

A potpourri

OK, I have no idea how to actually spell potpourri. Potporri? Potpouri? Ah, who cares.

ARENA #3 arrives at your friendly neighborhood comic book store today. I got my copies yesterday and was really happy with the way it read. Which doesn't mean it's any good, just that I was happy with it. But if you're enjoying the book to date, I don't think #3 will make you my enemy.

In other news, DC announced their March solicits the other day and I've got nothing new shipping in March. However, I was surprised to see:

JLA PRESENTS: AZTEK — THE ULTIMATE MAN TP

Written by Grant Morrison & Mark Millar
Art by Stephen Harris, Keith Champagne, Drew Geraci and others

Cover by Howard Porter and John Dell

From writers Grant Morrison (52, BATMAN) and Mark Millar (Ultimates, Civil War) comes Aztek, the visionary hero from the 1990s! In these stories from Aztek: the Ultimate Man #1-10, Aztek fights the forces of evil in Vanity City, where he meets costumed characters including Green Lantern and The Joker!
Advance-solicited; on sale April 30 • 240 pg, FC, $19.99 US


Weird to see this long-ago-cancelled book dusted off and collected out of the blue. I really loved Aztek. As an inker, I literally had no idea what I was doing on each page but it was a very fun, sly read thanks to the two writers, whom you may have heard of before. I have no idea what Drew Geraci is doing in the solicit. He's a really good inker but I don't remember him working on the book, I think every issue is all me. Anyway, I've inked many a comic over the years and when people ask at conventions, I always list Aztek (and Young Heroes In Love) as my two favorites.

I don't expect to have anything new solicited until May, when the project I'm writing now is scheduled to begin shipping. For anyone who cares enough about my career to play detective (Hi, mom!), for reference on my desk, I have copies of Batman: Year One, The Killing Joke, and The Man Who Laughs.

I might do a post about The Killing Joke at some point. It was interesting to read it again after all these years. Holds up pretty darn well.

Hope you enjoy Arena #3. Lewis, I'm sure you'll tell me if you don't!

Hamster Droppings: Part One

Building up to the release of the new Adolescent Radioactive Black Belt Hamsters next month from Dynamite Entertainment, I'm writing a series of four columns for Newsarama, sort of a behind the scenes production blog and interview series to (hopefully) drum up some noise and interest in the book. The first one went live today.

I proofread a PDF of the first issue of the Hamsters this afternoon and I think it's coming together nicely. A little tweaking here and there and we got ourselves a real, live comic book.

Here's the linkage:

http://forum.newsarama.com/showthread.php?t=140025

For Wally West 888

Merry Xmas!

Arena #2: Electric Boogaloo

ARENA #2 ships tomorrow. I think now that the necessary exposition and set up has been handled in the first issue, the second really hits the ground running and the story has room to begin building. So if you enjoyed #1, the second issue is a much better read, at least in my opinion.

If you didn't enjoy #1 (and I read one blistering review-coughfuckyouIGNcough), go ahead and skip the rest. I won't be offended. From my admittedly limited skimming of the Internet for reaction, it seems to be running about 70-30 in favor of the book. Most of the negative opinions seem focused on a disenfranchise with Countdown in general, carrying over those hard feelings onto my project. Nothing I can do about that, I just hope the book is judged on its own merits when all is said and done. There's definitely a second level running beneath the surface of this story and there is an actual story running through the book. Sure, it's Monarch's story but it's more than you might be expecting.

As a little Easter Egg, here's the original version of Page 5 from issue #1.

Blast off!

Bring it on, Internets!

Four, three...TWO

And resuming the cover countdown, here's #2 featuring three fighting mad Green Lanterns.

There was an advance review of ARENA #1 posted on Newsarama this morning, here's the link:

http://forum.newsarama.com/showthread.php?t=138290

The reviewer had a couple of issues with it and, while it's probably a waste of time, I want to take a second to rebutt a couple of points he made.

REVIEWER'S THOUGHT: "While it’s ably rendered by McDaniel and company, and while Champagne manages to capture distinct bits of characterization from a vast cast that’s drawn from dozens of specials and mini-series from the past couple of decades, it represents in many ways a certain cynical approach (a spin-off mini of a 52-part weekly that you need to read in order to understand parts of the initial 52 parter that won’t actually finish until another mini next year) that’s the worst by-product of plot-first event comics."

KEITH'S THOUGHT: For better or worse, the business model at both Marvel and DC these days is predicated on 'event' comics. Big stories, editorially driven, maximized with spin off books to capture more of the reader's dollar. ARENA is one of those books but, while it is a spawn of Countdown, it also stands as a self-contained story with a beginning, middle, and a definite ending that then joins back up with the mothership to tell the next chapter. I'd like to see it judged on its own merits: Plot, script, art, colors, if possible, and not slammed because the primary nature of its existence is to make a buck.

Variantly yours

Got this in my email this morning. Sure, it disrupts my cover-posting-COUNTDOWN to ARENA #1 but it sure does look nice in color!

From what I've seen, the big head theme runs through Dale Eaglesham's other variant cover too.

I'm pretty sure the actual printed version won't have www.badgercomics.com plastered across the bottom. This must have been lifted from their website.

Wonder Woman powers...ACTIVATE!

And here's Andy Kubert's cover to Arena #3, featuring three very determined Wonder Women duking it out.

For those playing along at home, you may notice that I'm posting these covers in reverse order, (not so cleverly) COUNTING DOWN to the cover of #1 on Wednesday the 5th. Because that's how I roll.

It's been a quiet, low pressure week spent writing the third issue of the Adolescent Radioactive Black Belt Hamsters. I think this is going to be a sleeper book that will surprise a lot of people. Tom Nguyen is knocking it out of the park and with Moose Baumann on colors, it's gonna be pretty. It's good to know that even if I write a lousy book, those boys will save me with their talented ways.

In exciting news, I'm working with Doug Mahnke on my next project for DC! Between Tom and Pat Gleason and now Doug, I'm very lucky to have worked or be working with the trifecta I affectionately call the Minnesota Wrecking Crew. Doesn't get much better!

Now in color...

This is Andy Kubert's cover to ARENA #4 and isn't it great? This is the first time I've seen it in color and I just had to share.

I really love all four covers that Andy pulled off on this series. They're definitely distinctive, no other book will look similar to ARENA next month and that's the hallmark of good cover art. They really stand out.

Why Flash, what a big lightning bolt you have!

DC released their February solicit info today, and here's what I've got cooking for the shortest month of next year.

THE FLASH #237
Written by Keith Champagne
Cover by Freddie Williams II
Art by Koi Turnbull & Art Thibert

Wally West is at a crossroads — now that he’s got a family, how does he provide for them when he’s never wanted to be anything else but The Flash? The question dogs him throughout an adventure high above Metropolis in this moving stand-alone tale by guest team Keith Champagne (GREEN LANTERN CORPS) and Koi Turnbull (SUPERMAN CONFIDENTIAL).

On sale February 20 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US

Usually, it comes down to the writer of any given issue to provide the solicitation blurb for the story but in this case, I think editor Joan Hilty went old school and did it herself. I might have put more focus on the twins but the info provided does the trick. It even says the story is "moving."

Didn't much care for the idea of the twins when I first heard about their role in the new direction of the title but after writing them, I have to admit they were the most fun part of the issue. I'm a softie for kids though.

Not sure what I'll have solicited next. I wrote an issue of Action Comics but I'm unsure when that will see print. Rick Leonardi is drawing it though, which is pretty cool. Just about to stop inking and get back to writing full-time on a prestige format series for DC but I can't say what it is yet. I guess even if I don't have anything in the solicits for a few months, I'll still be here, working away.

OH, and I should definitely mention that Adolescent Radioactive Black Belt Hamsters #2 will also be shipping in February! I'm loving how this book is coming together, hope you all will give it a try.

(Look, I made it through a whole post without mentioning Arena!)

Voting results

I forgot to mention that I learned the results of the Arena fan voting a couple of weeks ago. Obviously, I can't come right out and say who won which battles, I do want to work again afterall. But I will say that two of the four winners were the ones I expected, one outcome was a moderate surprise but not completely unexpected, and one was way off base with my own line of thinking. Not that it makes any difference creatively, we have contingencies to cover every possible outcome. Just that in one case, I was completely surprised.

Arena pimpage

As the shipping date for the first issue of Arena gets closer and closer, expect the pimpage to really get sickening...but at least it'll be different kinds of pimpage, I think I'm pretty much done with my interviews at this point.

Here's a link to a preview of #1: http://www.newsarama.com/dcnew/Nov07/previews/14th_1.html

And here's a link to all four of Andy Kubert's glorious covers:

http://forum.newsarama.com/showthread.php?t=136020

In other comic news, Robin Annual #7 has sold out across this great nation of ours and is going into a second printing. I thought that was pretty cool news! And also, for my millions of New York area fans, I'll be signing at Jim Hanley's on December 6th from 6:00-8:00. I have it on pretty good authority that Big Poppa himself, the mighty Jamal Igle will also be on hand to draw in the female crowd.

Come check us out!

Collected

I noticed to my surprise today that I have a couple of things hitting stores tomorrow, trade paperpacks collecting some of my writing work from Green Lantern Corps and World War III.

The two pieces (or is it bodies?) of work being collected got a very different reaction from the Internet comic readers which, surprisingly, was exactly the opposite of my own feelings. Funny how that often happens; I think one thing about my work and the rest of the world thinks another.

Green Lantern Corps (#7-9, collected in the Dark Side Of Green trade) was, from what I could gather, pretty warmly received by readers. At the time, I was very happy with the reception the story got, it did a lot to help the powers that be think of me as an actual writer (as opposed to an inker dabbling in scripts). I grew a lot as a writer, figured out some things about how comics workover and Pat Gleason drew the hell out of them but...they're far from perfect. There are nice bits in there but the pacing is a little weird at points and I ran out of room in the third issue (something that also happened to me on the JSA stuff I wrote).

World War III, on the other hand, got a quite chilly reception among the Internet crowd. I feel that if one were to read it now, separated from the hype surrounding the initial release of the book, they would enjoy it much more taken as what it is: A continuity patch for almost the entire DCU, as told through the eyes of The Martian Manhunter.

WWIII will always be the job that made me feel like I was an actual writer and not just an inker dabbling in scripts. It was demanding, full of constant behind-the-scenes mandates and changes, written under impossible deadlines, and tied together fifteen different plot points while finding ways to relate them to the actual war against Black Adam. The assignment taught me to write on demand as opposed to daydreaming leisurely about story beats and tying them together at my own pace (which is how I wrote the GLC stuff).

I loved working in conjunction with John Ostrander and got my first taste of how sharp Siglain is when it comes to story editing. You're only as good as your editor and between Tomasi, Siglain, and rising editorial star Gearline, I was in the best possible hands with World War III.

It wasn't too very long ago that I was ridiculously frustrated and unable to catch any sort of break as far as getting any writing work in comics. So having two things I've written released in collected form on one day is a nice reminder that, while every inch forward is still a battle, when I wasn't looking my career took a few steps in the direction I've been striving for.

And while I've learned to take the Internet with a grain of salt, I hope we have the same opinion about Arena.

Robin Annual #7

Tomorrow, the long awaited (by me, at least) Robin Annual #7 arrives at local comic shops across the country.

I still haven't received my comps so I don't know what the book looks like in color yet but, based on the black and white Jpegs Jason Pearson and Derec Donovan sent along while they were working, I'm pretty confident in saying it's one freakin' beautiful looking comic book. It's always a treat to see Jason Pearson do interior work. Everyone knows how great he is and I feel very lucky that I got to see one of my scripts filtered through his imagination.

The real revelation to me on this book, though, was Derec Donovan. Don't get me wrong, I've enjoyed his work for years but I didn't appreciate how good he was until I got a chance to work with him. His black and white pages are STUNNING and I guarantee this won't be the last time I work with him. At least I hope not!

As I mentioned previously (in the interview with Jen Contino), the solicitation info for this issue, which listed three separate stories, was wrong. There are only two, one featuring Damian (Batman's biological son) and the other an adventure starring Tim Drake (Batman's now-adopted son).

The Tim Drake story was originally intended to be my first issue as the regular writer of the monthly Robin comic. Unfortunately, when Tomasi left staff at DC, those plans changed and the book moved to a different writer. That's comics and DC (and Mike Siglain) have taken good care of me, keeping me writing other work. But I had big plans for Robin and hopefully, I'll get another crack at the title at some point or other, or at the least a chance to do another annual to conclude the grim little tale this one started.

I listened to some mood music while writing this annual so, if you want to get in the same frame of mind as I was, I recommend 'Comfortably Numb' by Pink Floyd for the Damian story and 'Gimme Shelter' by the mighty Stones for the Tim Drake tale. I tried to channel the mood of each song for each story.

This Robin Annual is my first writing work released since WORLD WAR III, so I'm glad the wait is over. ARENA is up next, which is basically going to own the month of December, followed by The Atom in January, The ***** in February, and then a much larger project shortly thereafter.

Can you tell I'm bored tonight? I keep writing and writing.

Enjoy the annual, I hope everyone likes it. And Happy Halloween!

Can't stop talking...

...about Countdown: Arena, this time with Jeff Renaud over at Comic Book Resources. Jeff has an interesting approach to the way he edits an interview together. Some points I make are edited together to give a slightly different context, others answers are quoted verbatim. I like what he does.

Here's the linkage:

http://www.comicbookresources.com/news/newsitem.cgi?id=12191

Halloween Sneak Preview

The second year in a row I've done this so I think it qualifies as a blogging tradition.

Robin annual interview

An interview I did to promote the upcoming ROBIN annual that I wrote is up at The Pulse. Because I can't link directly to the interview (for whatever reason, one can only link to the main Pulse page), I thought I'd just cut and paste it here.

Thanks to Jen Contino for the interview and for about half of the Quintas family for appearing as characters in the annual. Always fun to work my friends in when I can. The annual ships on Halloween, BTW.

BY JENNIFER M. CONTINO

October is horror, so it's the perfect time to add a little scares to the world of Robin. Keith Champagne gave us a treat by telling THE PULSE what it was like writing a handful of tales featuring Tim Drake, Dick Grayson and Damian.


THE PULSE: In the old days, we used to have Christmas and Halloween stories almost every year, but those seem few and far between lately. Whose idea was it to make this Robin Annual with a horror tinge?

KEITH CHAMPAGNE: The blame goes to Pete Tomasi, who originally assigned this issue to me. He told me to come up with a Robin story for the Halloween issue. After he left staff, Mike Marts picked up the pumpkin and now...here we are.

THE PULSE: The Robin Annual seems to be of an October theme with a handful of scary tales featuring Tim Drake, Dick Grayson and Damian. How did you come up with those types of stories? What inspired you to get your spook on?

CHAMPAGNE: The scary thing is that I wrote this right after Christmas, so it was kind of hard to channel the whole Halloween vibe while cleaning up wrapping paper and building toys. But, you know what they say...that's why they pay me the big bucks!

And actually, there's no Dick Grayson story in this annual. That was a mistake in the solicits. Once Jason Pearson came on board, we decided to double the page count of the Damian story to give the world an extra dose of his gorgeous art.

THE PULSE: You really got to work with a variety of characters in this Annual. Which one was the toughest to script?

CHAMPAGNE: I had a hard time finding a voice for Damian. He's a fairly new character and I had only read one issue of Batman in which he appeared. So it took me some trial and error until I felt comfortable with his characterization.

Fun character though, for a testy little brat!

THE PULSE: Which story almost wrote itself?

CHAMPAGNE: Ah, wouldn't it be a beautiful world if that was the way things worked? As far as characters go, I will say that Harvey Bullock, who plays a role in the Robin story, came snarling onto the page and wrote himself.

THE PULSE: What do you personally view as the greatest attributes to Damian, Tim Drake and Dick Grayson?

CHAMPAGNE: With Damian, I sort of feel that deep down, he wants to be a good kid. He's just never had a stable role model to guide him through his young life. But even when he's acting like a little shit, I don't see him as deliberately being a brat. He's just never learned to play nice with others.

As far as Tim goes, he's a pretty well defined character at this point. I'd say his greatest attribute is his brain. He's a really smart, clever kid.

Plus, they both know kung fu.

THE PULSE: What do you view as each's Achilles heals?

CHAMPAGNE: I think they're opposites in that Tim is always hoping for the best from people and Damian is always expecting the worst.

THE PULSE: Who or what influenced you the most when you were coming up with these stories? Which storytellers do you think are masters at doing something like incorporating a holiday into a comic story effortlessly?

CHAMPAGNE: "Comfortably Numb" by Pink Floyd was a big influence on the Damian story. "Gimme Shelter" by the Stones set the mood nicely for the Robin one. In fact, I'd recommend listening to both of those while you read the annual.

I think holidays like Christmas are very hard to incorporate into a comic story in a non-cheesy manner. The Halloween atmosphere lends itself more easily to that same purpose. It's a lot easier to write creepy than it is to write heartwarming.

Off the top of my head, I can't think of anyone who was a master at this kind of thing. There's so few of them that are done that it's hard to single out one person who has mastered the form. It's an interesting challenge, though.

I do love both the Peanuts Christmas and Halloween specials so maybe Charles Schultz was on to something there.

THE PULSE: What have you enjoyed the most about getting to tell these types of Halloween stories?

CHAMPAGNE: I enjoyed the chance to stretch beyond writing traditional super hero stories and do something a little darker and more atmospheric.

It was fun to use Tim Drake, I like the character and I feel like I have a good voice for him. Based on the Tim Drake story, I was slated to take over writing the monthly Robin book for a while. However, as they often do, those plans changed after Tomasi left staff.


THE PULSE: When you were younger, what was the coolest Halloween costume you ever wore?

CHAMPAGNE: One year, I was the boogeyman, which entailed dressing all in black and covering my face with oatmeal, mixed with something to make it stick to me. I remember that being a really cool costume.

Oh, wait...that might have been for my second grade school play. It's all a haze so I'll just say...SUPERMAN!

THE PULSE: Which artists do you think are the best at drawing horror? Why?

CHAMPAGNE: It's hard to find someone these days who puts as much atmosphere into a book as Tom Mandrake. I think of the current generation of working comic artists, he's our darkest light. Gene Colan might be the all-time great, based on his Dracula stuff.

I'd be an ass if I didn't say that Jason Pearson and Derec Donovan are doing AMAZING work on these stories. Derec's stuff is, in my opinion, the best of his career to date. I love his pages so much I want to marry them.

And I still have to pinch myself, it's hard to believe that Jason Pearson is drawing one of my stories. Mike Marts sent me some pages from each the other day and we both agree that this Robin annual will be, bar none, the best looking book on the stands in the month of October. These guys are bringing their 'A' games!


THE PULSE: What do you personally enjoy the most about Halloween?

CHAMPAGNE: I like handing out the candy to the kids when they come to the door, checking out the different costumes. I live in an area where we get HEAVY traffic on Halloween, we go through like ten bags of candy. It's great to see them all.

Of course, nothing beats taking my son out trick or treating. Especially now that he's older and can say "TRICK OR TREAT!"

THE PULSE: What other projects are you working on?

CHAMPAGNE: Countdown: ARENA is the big one. Four weekly, double-sized issues covering the month of December.

A LOT more to be announced soon.

Scanner test

I'm getting my work computer back up to speed after a system crash and burn. Here I am, testing my scanner. This is a panel from the upcoming All-New Atom #18, my inks over Andy Smith's pencils.