Tag Archive: graphic novel

Looking back at Neil Gaiman’s Sandman 28 years later – part 1 of 11

Eight years ago, Stephen Segal, then creative director at the legendary Weird Tales magazine, asked if he could use some modest writings I had been doing on Neil Gaiman’s Sandman for a 20th anniversary retrospective he was putting together. Naturally, I said yes. What followed was a 11-part online series looking back at that remarkable body of work. The series wasn’t meant to be comprehensive or to uncover things you’d never seen before. Rather, it was meant to be a fun “rediscovery” of those now classic comics – so read these with that in mind. Weird Tales has undergone some changes over the years. Stephen is gone. They’ve faced some controversy. And their website was stripped down and rebuilt into a complete disaster. With it…
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Meet Robert Kirkman, the Man Behind The Walking Dead

The following is an excerpt from Dissecting The Walking Dead: Slicing Into The Guts of Television’s Hottest Show, available in paperback and for Kindle. Dig it: Robert Kirkman is a Kentucky boy. There is no mistaking him for anything but. He is one of TV’s hottest properties of the moment, yes, and for the last decade he has also been the dominant force in creator-owned comic books, but talk to him and he’s still the same quiet, considered dude he’s always been. Thick beard, plain T-shirt, eyes that make you believe he’d rather be anywhere but in the spotlight – his appearance hasn’t changed much over the years, even if his bank account has. Oh, he’ll sport a decent sports jacket now instead of a…
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Watchmen and The Lord of the Rings Are Strikingly Similar Landmarks

Watching The Rings Moore’s Watchmen and Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings Are Strikingly Similar Landmarks   When one talks of vital contributions to the art of comics, one cannot ignore Alan Moore. With a body of work as consistently terrific as his – he has more certifiable classics under his belt than any comic writer of the last 30 years – targeting any given tale as his “best” is an impossible task. But of Alan Moore’s contributions to comicdom, one truly stands as not just an undeniable landmark, but the undeniable landmark, putting its stamp on comic history forever: Watchmen, the powerful 12-issue collaboration with Dave Gibbons circa the Reagan-era 1980s. Just how big a landmark is this now classic tale? Alan Moore’s Watchmen is to modern comics what J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord…
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Some Time With The Family: A comic journey into horror

One of the great joys of working on Pitched! and Pitched! Vol. 2 (you can purchase them here and here, respectively) was having the opportunity to work with a wide range of people while delving into genres I don’t usually write. One of the highlights — and there were many — came when working on a horror story called “Some Time With the Family.” I don’t usually write horror, but I wanted to try my hand at it and had some folks in mind to help me bring a twisted little tale to life.  Artist Logan Reilly brought the story to the page. Inker James Pipik, who illustrated “The End of all Summers” from the first Pitched! anthology, gave Logan’s excellent pages weight with his…
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Yes, Virginia, there is a Pitched! 3

In my head, at least. After two comic anthologies, both of which I’m very proud — thanks to my collaborators, Pitched! and Pitched! 2 were quite awesome — it would be natural to assume a third is on its way. And in fact, as I’ve posted, Pitched! 3 was at one time in progress. Key words being “at one time.” Life happens. A host of factors (none of which are necessary to go into here) ground it to a halt this spring. Though there were brief moments throughout the late spring and summer when I thought maybe I could light a fire under it and get things cooking again, that never materialized. Not the time. Not the energy. Not the people. And most importantly, I…
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