Ghostbusters!

At the San Diego Convention over the weekend, IDW announced during their Saturday panel that I'm writing the revival of the Ghostbusters, a four-issue series we tagged GHOSTBUSTERS: THE OTHER SIDE, beginning in October.

Here are some links to interviews about the project. I even got interviewed by MTV for this one, kind of a nice change of pace. I still heart Vaneta the most though, she always does the best job and one Newsarama reader even called me a douchebag in the comments section. Gotta love my adoring public!

http://www.newsarama.com/comics/080727-GhostbustersIDW.html

http://comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=17427

http://splashpage.mtv.com/2008/07/26/exclusive-the-ghostbusters-return-to-comics-and-weve-got-your-first-look/

I've done a lot of soul searching this year over the type of projects I want to write, something I'll probably blog about more at a later date. The key for me though, my new manifesto in terms of writing gigs can be boiled down into one word: FUN.

Writing Ghostbusters is pure fun and working with Chris Ryall/IDW (and now, Andy Schmidt) has been an absolute pleasure. Top it off with getting to work with my friend Tom on art and I've stumbled into a great situation with this project. I'm a lucky bastard, plus I get paid thousands of dollars a decade!

Speaking of fun, I have another announcement to make but I wanted to hold off until after the San Diego show so it wouldn't get lost in the shuffle. Maybe in another week or so, maybe even on my birthday would be appropriate.

Thanks for reading and if you see any ghosts, give me a call!

Who Watches The Watchmen?

I do!

I just saw the first Watchmen trailer and it literally took my breath away.

...Does whatever an old lady can...

I've gotten kind of jaded over the years to seeing my name on covers or in solicitations, that sort of thing. But I have to admit, I got a little tingle when I saw Marvel's solicitation for this book. I actually started my career at Marvel back in 1993, haven't done any work there at all since '98, and have never written for the company ever.

So to me, this is really exciting! I'm now an extended part of Spider-Man's family!

Your Spidey-Senses are about to tingle a bit more with the debut of Amazing Spider-Man Family #1! Exploring the lives of Spider-Man and the rest of his Brand New Day cast, this brand new series kicks off with 104 pages of friendly neighborhood action! What happened the day after Uncle Ben died? J.M De Matteis & Alex Cal have the answers! And what was life like for Mr. and Mrs. Parker before May “Mayday” Parker was born? You’ll get he answer, courtesy of Tom DeFalco & Ron Frenz! Take a look back at the origin of Venom and a special Aunt May Story by Keith Champagne & Shawn Moll! Plus, your first look inside the Marvel Apes universe, as Karel Kesel & Ramon Bachs, the creators behind September’s simian sensation, reveal the secret origin of Spider-Monkey!

Wrapped up in a jaw dropping cover by Adi Granov, Spidey fans can’t miss the all new Amazing Spider-Man Family!

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN FAMILY #1 (JUN082310)
Written by J.M DEMATTEIS, TOM DEFALCO, KEITH CHAMPAGNE & KARL KESEL
Penciled by ALEX CAL, RON FRENZ, SHAWN MOLL & RAMON BACHS
Cover by ADI GRANOV
RATED A…$4.99
FOC—7/17/08, On-Sale—8/6/08

A potpourri

The last month or two has been grueling healthwise but I think I've finally got this Lyme Disease out of my system. Aside from some aching joints in my fingers and my knees feeling like an old man, I seem to be pretty much back to myself. So a word to the wise from your Uncle Keith, kids. If you've got an insect bite on your body that, instead of going away, grows to the size of a softball, get it checked out before it turns into a bulls eye. Trust me, you won't regret it.

On the work front, I've spent the past week or so inking an 11-page Spidey/Aunt May story (that I also wrote) over Shawn Moll which I'm pretty sure makes me the only writer alive to have worked with the entire Minnesota Wrecking Crew. I believe this story will be out in August in the new Spider-Man Family anthology book, with guest appearances by my two brothers, Kenny and Kyle, and my niece Samantha, all of whom have characters named after them.

All of which is a good warm up to get back in the inking swing of things, as I'm expecting to start Supergirl over the next week or two (Am I close, Jamal?). Anyone who reads my blog knows I love working with Jamal but on our next project together, I think we need to switch things up and work as writer/penciller instead of penciller/inker. Hear me, Big Poppa?

The San Diego Convention is looming and, while I won't be there this year, I should have at least one, possibly two writing projects announced. The first is a project that I'm writing for IDW and the second is a creator-owned series, a western that's already attracted quite a bit of Hollywood interest. Which means nothing, really, but it makes me feel cool to pretend I'm a player. There's also a chance that DC will announce one of two projects I'm writing although I've learned not to get my hopes up there the last few months.

While I'm thinking of Supergirl, let me take another stab at posting the Supergirl promo that Jamal and I did. I freely admit I got a little lost interpreting the mountain peaks, sorry they suck. I'm a little rusty but Rome wasn't built in a day.

That's all for now, unless you're my favorite moral authority. Then you must finish reading this and TURN TO THE RIGHT!

Look! Up in the sky...

This past weekend, DC Comics announced the new Supergirl creative team at the Chicago convention. So let me throw my name in the mix, because inkers don't really get acknowledged in that context.

So...for the seven people that care, I'll be digging out my brushes and pens and coming out of inking "retirement" to join Team Supergirl. Jamal was nice enough to call and ask if I'd be interested and when Big Poppa asks, I say "How High!"

I worry about having the time to properly handle a monthly book again. I'm simultaneously juggling a few different writing projects with five more in various stages of development but, let's face it: having too much to do is the best kind of problem to have in this business. I'm hoping to produce the first six issues with Jamal and then pick my head up, look around, and see what kind of shape I'm in.

So keep one eye up in the sky...we'll try to put together a good book for everyone to read.

(PS- a blogspot "internal error" is keeping me from posting the inked Supergirl promo piece. I'll pop it up when I can.)

Hamsters #4

Well, I'm a little behind the eight ball on this one but it's worth mentioning that Black Belt Hamsters #4 arrived in stores last Wednesday. I've had a hard time plugging this book because I'm never quite sure when they're going to ship.

But the eagle has landed.

Honestly, this entire issue was one big punchline built around the old Richard Gere Hamster rumor, the character of Richard's last name was even "Gear, " spelled differently to avoid any legal problems. Dynamite got squeamish at the last minute and removed any references to Richard Gere or Gear, which is fine. It's their company, their call to do. But as a result, I'm not sure the big joke makes a lot of sense anymore. I'm hoping if/when the Hamsters is collected, I can go back into the dialogue and find a way to make it work again.

I hope the future will bring more Hamsters my way. I had a great time writing the book, working with Tom, and trying to make Don Chin laugh. Thanks to Dynamite for making it happen, love those guys.

Turn to the right!

Wow, I really suck at blogging this month. Even my Adventure Con recap is way overdue.

Well, anyway...

Adventure Con came and went and a good time was had by all. I enjoyed spending time with Doug and Pat and Tom and Andy and Dev and Jamal during and after the show, as well as meeting Michael Golden, Mark Texeira (the funniest man alive), and Arthur Suydam. I never knew Doug Mahnke could bring a man down with the smooth, dulcet tones of his singing voice but his serenade reduced me to tears of hysterical laughter.

The comic readers down in the Knoxville area seem to be about as nice as they come. I'm used to people lying and saying they enjoy my work but I almost believe the Knoxville-ians. It's nice to also see the familiar faces of people that I met last year at this same show, sort of a small family of friendliness down south. I got to meet a few of the media/movie guests and the Smith and Pyle concert after hours on Saturday was a blast. A big thanks to Brandon Mysinger for setting the whole thing up and bringing us all down to Tennessee for the show. I hope to be back next year.

On the work plate this week, I'm finishing the script for the first issue of a project Andy Smith and I are doing for IDW. I'd like to get a couple in the can before I make my return to the monthly inking grind next month, reuniting with Big Poppa himself on our new assignment for DC. And anyone who thinks the only thing Jamal can do is draw has never seen that man dance!

That's about all the up I can think to date at the moment. So, one last thing just for you, Pat (you know it's coming...)

TURN TO THE RIGHT!

Adventure begins

Thanks to the few that posted below in the Artist Wanted thread. It looks like in this case, the mountain came to me and I think I'm all set. I'm sure I'll post more about this project in the coming days.

Off to Adventure Con in Knoxville Tennessee in literally ten minutes. Got to head to the airport and hit the skies. There's a great crew of comic book artists attending, including my beloved Minnesota Wrecking Crew of Doug Mahnke, Pat Gleason, and Tom Nguyen. Big Poppa Jamal Igle and my frequent collaborator, Andy Smith will also be in town, as well as many others. It was a fun show last year and this year looks to be bigger and better.

Back soon!

Artist wanted

Ever wanted to be a comic book artist? Or maybe you are a working artist in the wonderful field of comics and are looking for a project to draw on the side. Or perhaps your mother has long harbored a secret dream of drawing comics and you want to help her to achieve that elusive, life long goal.

Well, I'm looking for you, pal! (or your mother.)

Leave your contact info or website/portolio link in the comments section and I'll touch base with you soon after. If you think I'm an astonishingly gifted writer that you need to work with before you die and also have a love for the old west, we might just be soulmates.

Thanks!

Lost

Wow.

The Lost season finale was all kinds of great!

Green Corpses

So let's talk about Green Lantern: The Corpse for a minute or two.

I logged into the comicbloc message boards for the first time in a while this morning and was surprised to see this thread:

http://www.comicbloc.com/forums/showthread.php?t=58912

Go ahead and check it out. I'll wait.

It shouldn't be but it's surprising/amusing to me that a one-on-one conversation that I had at a small convention in New Hampshire last weekend has grown to include so many different people with so many different opinions and theories as to why this project was killed. Seriously, thanks for caring so much about it, even those of you who seem to think I suck at this writing thing. You try writing something like WWIII or ARENA and see how you do, tough guys! :)

I'm not going to go into the behind the scenes stuff on this because, well, that's why it's called "behind the scenes." To sum up, it doesn't seem likely the series will move forward at this point but I still have hope that I can get the Corpse resuscitated eventually. I'm always looking for new opportunities to plug them back in if the story I wrote won't be used and I do have a couple of champions up at the DC offices. But if it's not meant to be, there's nothing more I can do. If you guys want to help, let DC know you want to see it. This is comics, things change all the time.

In the meantime, I've got plenty of work coming up from DC, both writing and inking, as well as my first writing work for Marvel, a story that will be out in August. So keep an eye out and thanks again for making a little noise about the Corpse series. I'm glad to know people liked and remember the last story and, one way or another, we'll do it again soon.

Hamsters!

Out of curiosity, has anyone in my little circle of blogness been able to find/read Black Belt Hamsters #3? Due to the low print run--er, I mean the scarce, instant collectors item nature of the series, I haven't run across any feedback on the third issue which came out, I believe, a couple of weeks ago.

Rescue Me

Wow. It's been so long, I almost don't know what to blog about. So while I figure out which of many weighty topics to expound upon, feel free to chew on this.

For a brief moment in time last year, there was almost a sequel to ARENA. Almost meaning I had an idea for a fifth chapter, Mike Siglain and I both wanted to do it but...the rest of DC didn't seem to notice. The ending to #4 would have needed some shifting to open things up for the epilogue but aside from that, the story would have stayed as is and lead into...

THE RESCUE

A 38-page COUNTDOWN: ARENA sequel

KEITH CHAMPAGNE

Wonder Woman (New Frontier). Batman (Gotham By Gaslight). Apollo. Jay Garrick. Green Lantern (Earth-32). Lia Nelson (Tangent).

Six heroes left behind in the aftermath of COUNTDOWN: ARENA. Six survivors held helplessly in reserve by MONARCH, a second wave to bolster the despot’s army should the unthinkable occur and his war against the MONITORS go awry.

Of all the participants, only the SUPERMAN of Earth-31 (The Dark Knight Returns), aided by BREACH and using the dimensional harness designed by TED KORD, survived the confines of The Arena and escaped from Monarch’s steely grasp.

Reluctantly, the Man Of Steel was transported away with Breach’s enigmatic words still ringing in his ears. “The harness is fully charged. It will take you where you need to go.”

Now, Superman is coming back, determined to free the remaining survivors and, in the process, throw a wrench into Monarch’s plans.

But thanks to Breach, The Man Of Steel isn’t coming back alone. Unknown to Monarch, Superman was transported to a world where he could find help with his task. Help in the form of a man equally determined to locate the survivors; a lethal, leather-clad killing machine with an agenda of his own: THE MIDNIGHTER, angrily searching for Apollo from the moment his lover first disappeared.

Set against the backdrop of Monarch’s campaign against The Monitors, the twisted “WORLD’S FINEST” team of Superman and The Midnighter enact a war of their own. With the Multiverse burning around them, the mismatched duo infiltrates deep into Monarch’s territory, overcoming THE EXTREMISTS, and finding themselves, ironically, facing off against the same six brave souls they set out to free; all while struggling to find common ground between their wildly divergent methods, morals, and personalities

Free Comic Book Day!

Hey kids, did you know that this Saturday, May 3rd, is Free Comic Book Day?

That's right, like Christmas, it only comes along once every year but unlike Christmas, the date changes every year. Scheduled to coincide with the Iron Man movie, FCBD triumphantly arrives this weekend. To contribute to the good times, I'll be dragging my sorry ass over to Sarge's Comics in New London to sign and chat and generally try to look busy even if no one is talking to me.

I'll be there starting at 3:00 PM for an indeterminate time, 2-3 hours is a safe bet. So by all means, stop on by and grab some free comics.

The most boring post ever

Not much on my mind lately, hasn't been a great deal to blog about.

The NY convention came and went and I enjoyed my time there. Conventions are more or less like a big reunion where, every five steps one takes, you bump into another long lost colleague or friend. It was a productive show in terms of generating writing work, with a gig now upcoming from Marvel and an intriguing opportunity mentioned to me by Rob Levin from Top Cow that got my imagination sparking. I'm increasingly interested in working outside of DC. After fifteen years, it seems like a good time to start stretching my wings so I'm glad to see opportunities opening up to allow me to explore what's out there.

Next up, I'll be in Seattle the same weekend as the Emerald City Convention. While I'm not flying out specifically for the show, I'm sure I'll spend some time there. The weekend after, I'll be in New Hampshire for GraniteCon's 5th anniversary show, followed by AdventureCon in Tennessee again this year. Both were shows I was invited to last year, both well run, and I'm grateful to be invited back to each.

If all goes according to plan, we should have an exclusive, limited edition full color comic to unveil at Adventure Con. Who is 'WE?' Wait and see!

That's all the news I can think to blog about right about now. But check back in soon if you're so inclined. I'll try not to be so boring next time.

Thanks for reading,
Keith

PS- Hi, Mom!

Superman #676

Two blog updates in one day, although I wish I didn't have to post this one. This is DC's brief release regarding the issue of Superman I wrote, originally scheduled to arrive in stores next month. I'll have more to say on the other side...


DC COMICS UPDATES CONTENTS FOR SUPERMAN #676

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Press Release

DC Comics announces new contents for SUPERMAN #676, replacing the story originally solicited for this issue.

In this story, originally scheduled to appear in SUPERMAN CONFIDENTIAL #9, writer Vito Delsante and artists Julian Lopez and Bit tell the tale of how the Man of Steel met the original Emerald Sentinel, Alan Scott! As a mysterious team of scientists tracks a dangerous threat headed toward Metropolis, Superman learns the first lesson of super-heroism from the man who wrote the book!

This issue also will feature a new, previously unseen cover by Alex Ross.

SUPERMAN #676 (MAR080146) is solicited in the March Previews and is scheduled to arrive in stores on May 14.

Because of this change, this issue will be made returnable at a later date.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

I'm not at liberty to say why there was a last minute content switch for this issue but I will say it has nothing to do with the quality of the story or art. It's the best comic I've written (in my humble opinion) and Rick and Dan did a great job. I was told our issue wasn't killed, just postponed although I can't say for how long.

It's frustrating, especially with my still-unannounced project w/ Doug Mahnke pushed to the fourth quarter of this year. I'm left with very little on the stands that I've written for most of 08 at this point, at least at DC. So don't forget about me while I'm gone and hopefully, when the complications surrounding this Superman issue get resolved, everyone will get to see it.

NYCC

The New York Convention is this weekend and, while I don't have a table, any of my millions of fans can find me signing at the DC booth at the following times:

Friday: 4-5pm
Saturday: 11am-12pm
Sunday: 12-1pm

Hope to see you there!

SPARKS #1

I'm going to take a rare break from blogging about myself to mention an independent comic that a friend of mine, Derek, is editing. Quality independent comics can sometimes have a hard time finding an audience, especially those coming from a new company. So keep this one in mind when you place your orders at your local comic shop. From everything I've seen, it looks (and reads) excellent.

The company publishing it was started by William Katt, who most of us probably know best from Greatest American Hero (did he ever learn to use that suit?). He was smart to bring Derek on board and Team Catastrophic has put together a comic that is well worth your time.

Check out the link below and learn more about it.

http://www.fanboyplanet.com/comics/mc-sparks1preview.php

Comic book pet peeve

Does it bother anybody else when characters "sing" in comic books? One of those things that just bugs me.

Full, unfettered fury of Darkseid's junk!

Just enough time before I rush off to pick Jack up from preschool to post this, the full version of the Darkseid page from Countdown #4.

The printed version was cropped and zoomed in on in a way that was quite different from the original page. Not sure why, maybe Darkseid looks especially silly lounging in a recliner? Maybe he's flashing too much junk from beneath his tunic of evil?

Mine is not to question why. But here's the original page!