Apr
03

Apr
01

DRACULA: SON OF THE DRAGON is at 40% of it’s goal with 2 weeks to go.  That’s a good start, but not nearly good enough.  This is a book that, quite frankly, doesn’t get made without your help.  If you’d like to pledge, please check our Kickstarter here:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/78669939/dracula-son-of-the-dragon

DRACULA: SON OF THE DRAGON is the story of Vlad Dracula’s transformation from Impaler to Vampire.  Part historical fiction, part horror fantasy, it’s a comic book prequel to Bram Stoker’s Dracula.

We’re not asking for money for nothing - you can pledge to get everything from copies of the book (DRM free digital copies, TPBs, hand bound leather graphic novels - you name it) - to original art from illustrator Salgood Sam.  Hell - Salgood will even draw you into the story.

That’s Salgood’s art above.  Specifically, it’s a Janissary Officer

Historically, Janissaries were the elite shock troops of the Ottoman Empire.  They were taken as young boys from mostly Christian countries as tribute, forcibly converted to Islam and pitted against their former familes.

If that’s not scary enough, we’ve added a twist.  In DRACULA: SON OF THE DRAGON, their armor - which covers them from head to toe - conceals the fact they are vampires.  A vampire army that is both inhumanly strong, and also dependent upon their enemies for the blood that sustains them.  Enemies of Vlad the Imapler, they are commanded by the Ottoman Sultan.  But can anyone really control them?

There’s only one way to find out…

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/78669939/dracula-son-of-the-dragon

Mar
31

GAME OF THRONES SEASON TWO KILL COUNTER

(again, SPOILERS and NSFW c/o Egotastic)

And again, if you’ve been looking for the next Game of Thrones, Salgood Sam and I are going to try and bring it to you in comics form with DRACULA: SON OF THE DRAGON, the story of the transformation of Vlad Dracula from Impaler to Vampire:.  Please donate to our Kickstarter campaign here:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/78669939/dracula-son-of-the-dragon

GAME OF THRONES - SEASON ONE KILL COUNTER (c/o Egotastic)

(SPOILERS and NSFW).

Just in time for the 3rd Season premiere, a visual record of every death in the 1st Season of Game of Thrones.

And I’d be remiss if I didn’t say that we still need your help to make DRACULA: SON OF THE DRAGON happen by pledging to our Kickstarter campaign:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/78669939/dracula-son-of-the-dragon

If it seems like I’m just trying to jam my DRACULA Kickstarter into every one of my tumblr posts, I’m really not.  If there was one project I could most compare DRACULA: SON OF THE DRAGON to it would be Game of Thrones.  Both are medieval fantasy epics with heavy emphases on intrigue and brutal violence.  We’ve just got vampires instead of White Walkers.  And instead of dragons - wait - WE HAVE ACTUAL DRAGONS.

Mar
29

mellon:

Dracula: Son of the Dragon pin-up for Mark Sable and Salgood Sam’s Kickstarter. Check it out. They’re good people and it looks amazing.

Inks done in Manga Studio. Pencils in Sketchbook Pro.

@Kmellon was kind enough to do a pinup for @Salgood & my DRACULA: SON OF THE DRAGON Kickstarter:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/78669939/dracula-son-of-the-dragon

We just passed the $5,000 threshold today, and we need your help to make this book a reality.  Backing this book - the story of Vlad Dracula’s transformation from Impaler to Vampire - through Kickstarter is the ONLY way to make it happen, the ONLY way to get a copy of this, whether it’s a digital subscription, a high end limited edition leather trade or something in between, like our color BLOOD TRADE, which will feature pin-ups like this one and from other guest artists who we’ll be announcing shortly.

If you can’t give, or you’ve backed us already (thanks) please re-blog, re-tweet and share this link wherever you can.  This is a book that will only exist if you want it.  In return, we think we’re giving away some damn cool incentives, like cameos in the book, or a chance to have Mark Sable (me) write you a comic and/or Salgood draw you one.  And if there’s an incentive you don’t see?  Just ask us, and if it’s within reason we’ll create one.  We’re asking a lot of readers, but we’re willing to give back even more.

As far as Kevin goes, I first became aware of his work when I read his Image Comics book HEART, written by Blair Butler.  It’s the “Rocky” of Mixed Martial Arts in comic book form and if you like any of those things yo should buy it.  Kevin also works for ARCHER on FX, which my friends in the intelligence community tell me is not only hysterical but also maybe the most accurate TV show about the CIA ever made (that’s not a joke, that’s a real thing I was told).

For more on Kevin: http://about.me/kevinmellon

Reblogged from mellon

Mar
28

Mar
27

DRACULA: SON OF THE DRAGON - RADU THE HANDSOME Radu III the Fair, Radu III the Handsome or Radu III the Beautiful (Romanian: Radu cel Frumos), also known by his Turkish name Radu Bey (1435–1475), was the younger brother of Vlad Dracula. He’s one of the principle characters in DRACULA: SON OF THE DRAGON, my upcoming comic with artist Salgood Sam chronicling Vlad Dracula’s transformation from Impaler to Vampire, which we need your help backing on Kickstarter: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/78669939/dracula-son-of-the-dragon The first volume of SON OF THE DRAGON focuses heavily on the Dracula family.  There’s VLAD DRACUL, Dracula’s father who allows Dracula and Radu to be held by the Turkish Sultan as hostages in return for Dracul’s loyalty to the Ottomans.  Dracul betrays his pledge to Sultan Murad II, endangering Dracula and Radu’s lives. Later in life, Radu - like his illegitimate half-brother VLAD THE MONK - would be one of Vlad Dracula’s rival for the throne of Wallachia.  (Dracula’s older brother Mircea, who Dracula looked up to, ruled while Dracula and Radu was hostages and along with their father Vlad Dracul had his life cut short before he and Dracula could clash over succession).  The above drawing by Salgood Sam - which you can see him working on in the our Kickstarter video - shows Radu during one of his brief periods of rule in Wallachia. But I think it was their formative years spent as captives that determined who Dracula and Radu would become as adults. They’d both be educated by some of the great Islamic scholars of the day along with the Sultan’s own children, but Dracula would receive much harsher treatment than the, well, more handsome Radu.  Dracula seems to have also picked up his penchant for impaling among the Turks, where he was witness to the brutality that propped up the regime. Radu’s method of survival during captivity seems to have been to…ingratiate himself with the Sultan Murad’s son Mehmed, who would soon be known as ”Mehmed The Conqueror”, a future Sultan himself and ultimately Dracula’s mortal enemy.  It seems to have paid off, as Mehmed would install Radu as a puppet ruler of Wallachia more than once. The nature of Radu’s ingratiation is unknown, but it’s believed that Radu gave in to Mehmed’s homosexual advances after Dracula resisted them (and tried to defend his brother’s honor).  That will be a part of what we show in DRACULA: SON OF THE DRAGON, but it’s important to me that we don’t show homosexuality as a weakness or a sin.  In our take, it’s less about Radu succumbing to a particular sexual prefence but the pleasures of the decadent Ottoman court.  Those pleasures will not only be those of the flesh, but of the blood - vampire blood.  Vampire blood will be a precious commodity in DRACULA: SON OF THE DRAGON.  It can be used to extend life, as a WMD that can spread the plague of vampirism…and as a drug that can enhance or dull ones senses, depending on the user’s desire.  This allows for a lot of metaphorical expoloration of the vampire myth on our part, but as always, I’m looking for the readers own interpretations lend even more meaning to our work.

DRACULA: SON OF THE DRAGON - RADU THE HANDSOME

Radu III the Fair, Radu III the Handsome or Radu III the Beautiful (Romanian: Radu cel Frumos), also known by his Turkish name Radu Bey (1435–1475), was the younger brother of Vlad Dracula.

He’s one of the principle characters in DRACULA: SON OF THE DRAGON, my upcoming comic with artist Salgood Sam chronicling Vlad Dracula’s transformation from Impaler to Vampire, which we need your help backing on Kickstarter:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/78669939/dracula-son-of-the-dragon

The first volume of SON OF THE DRAGON focuses heavily on the Dracula family.  There’s VLAD DRACUL, Dracula’s father who allows Dracula and Radu to be held by the Turkish Sultan as hostages in return for Dracul’s loyalty to the Ottomans.  Dracul betrays his pledge to Sultan Murad II, endangering Dracula and Radu’s lives.

Later in life, Radu - like his illegitimate half-brother VLAD THE MONK - would be one of Vlad Dracula’s rival for the throne of Wallachia.  (Dracula’s older brother Mircea, who Dracula looked up to, ruled while Dracula and Radu was hostages and along with their father Vlad Dracul had his life cut short before he and Dracula could clash over succession). 

The above drawing by Salgood Sam - which you can see him working on in the our Kickstarter video - shows Radu during one of his brief periods of rule in Wallachia.

But I think it was their formative years spent as captives that determined who Dracula and Radu would become as adults.

They’d both be educated by some of the great Islamic scholars of the day along with the Sultan’s own children, but Dracula would receive much harsher treatment than the, well, more handsome Radu.  Dracula seems to have also picked up his penchant for impaling among the Turks, where he was witness to the brutality that propped up the regime.

Radu’s method of survival during captivity seems to have been to…ingratiate himself with the Sultan Murad’s son Mehmed, who would soon be known as ”Mehmed The Conqueror”, a future Sultan himself and ultimately Dracula’s mortal enemy.  It seems to have paid off, as Mehmed would install Radu as a puppet ruler of Wallachia more than once.

The nature of Radu’s ingratiation is unknown, but it’s believed that Radu gave in to Mehmed’s homosexual advances after Dracula resisted them (and tried to defend his brother’s honor).  That will be a part of what we show in DRACULA: SON OF THE DRAGON, but it’s important to me that we don’t show homosexuality as a weakness or a sin. 

In our take, it’s less about Radu succumbing to a particular sexual prefence but the pleasures of the decadent Ottoman court.  Those pleasures will not only be those of the flesh, but of the blood - vampire blood. 

Vampire blood will be a precious commodity in DRACULA: SON OF THE DRAGON.  It can be used to extend life, as a WMD that can spread the plague of vampirism…and as a drug that can enhance or dull ones senses, depending on the user’s desire. 

This allows for a lot of metaphorical expoloration of the vampire myth on our part, but as always, I’m looking for the readers own interpretations lend even more meaning to our work.

Mar
26

DRACULA: SON OF THE DRAGON INSPIRATION: ROY THOMAS, ESTEBAN MAROTO, TOPPS COMICS & VLAD THE IMPALER

As part of my series of tumblr posts about art, stories etc. that inspired DRACULA: SON OF THE DRAGON, my new comics project with artist Salgood Sam telling the story of how Vlad Dracula transformed from Impaler to Vampire.  Please help us bring that story to life by backing our Kickstarter here:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/78669939/dracula-son-of-the-dragon

Earlier, I mentioned that Mike Mignola adapted Francis Ford Coppola’s “Bram Stoker’s Dracula” for Topps Comics and shared some of the covers and art.  Again, to my mind it’s one of the most stunning comics adaptations ever made.

What I later learned was that Topps did a follow-up comic telling the story of Vlad The Impaler.  It was written by the great Roy Thomas and illustrated by Estaban Maroto.  Maroto is a Spanish artist, who according to wikipedia designed Red Sonja’s chainmail bikini, re-designed Satana for Marvel and did a ton of horror and sword and sorcery comics, making him kind of perfect for the gig.

To call this comic an influence on DRACULA SON OF THE DRAGON really isn’t accurate, as I read them only after finishing the story for our project.  It was kind of a relief actually, because their’s is a pretty straightforward tale (seemingly heavily influenced by Florescu and McNally’s Dracula: Prince of Many Faces) with a bit of the supernatural at the end, whereas ours weaves in the horror and fantasy elements throughout.  I also think we had access to a bit more research, if only because Google Images didn’t exist in the 90s (I can only imagine how hard it was to get good reference back then…most of my comics scripts have hyperlinks in them).

Just something I found cool, but I still feel reassured that no one has ever truly told the story of how the historical Vlad Tepes becomes Count Dracula in Stoker’s novel.

talkingwithtim: Sable: My favorite scene is a two-page spread in the first issue (below) that depicts an ordinary day in the life of the Marines at Combat Outpost Alamo before the zombies attack. Read horizontally, it shows each the range of activities different Marines are engaging in at that particular moment, from cleaning their weapon to burning the waste from a Porta Potty to looking at porn. Read vertically, you can follow an individual Marine as he goes from the day. The same marine that was inking his fellow leathernecks with badass tattoos in the morning might be praying by himself at night. It allowed us to do a lot of character development really quickly, and I think shows off Paul’s storytelling chops. — A snippet from my @Robot6 email interview with Paul Azaceta and Mark Sable. From @talkingwithtim’s @Robot6 interview with me and @PaulAzaceta about GRAVEYARD OF EMPIRES TPB (and also touching on the DRACULA: SON OF THE DRAGON KICKSTARTER).  I think this really is the favorite sequence I’ve ever done in comics, in no small part due to Paul’s art and Matt Wilson’s colors.  I love it for all the reasons above, but also because it’s so much research into Combat Outpost life in Afghanistan distilled down to two pages.  I’ve talked about how collaborative the process was between Paul and I, and this was a case where Paul said we needed to show what downtime was like at the base, plus develop a whole bunch more Marines Paul added to the cast.  We were already at 32 or more pages, so we had to make this count.  Hopefully it worked, and consciously or unconsciously when something happened to each of these guys you felt a little more because you’d seen a human side to them. The GRAVEYARD OF EMPIRES TPB is out in May and available for pre-order now (Diamond Comics code MAR130502, ISBN 978-1-60706-739-9). @ImageComics has releasing the 1st Issue of GRAVEYARD OF EMPIRES for FREE on @Comixology.  Download by clicking here, and feel free to share the link: https://comics.imagecomics.com/#/view/11175/Graveyard-of-Empires-1-of-4- I’m going to try and top this sequence with DRACULA: SON OF THE DRAGON, which I would really appreciate if you could back and/or share the following link: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/78669939/dracula-son-of-the-dragon

talkingwithtim:

Sable: My favorite scene is a two-page spread in the first issue (below) that depicts an ordinary day in the life of the Marines at Combat Outpost Alamo before the zombies attack. Read horizontally, it shows each the range of activities different Marines are engaging in at that particular moment, from cleaning their weapon to burning the waste from a Porta Potty to looking at porn. Read vertically, you can follow an individual Marine as he goes from the day. The same marine that was inking his fellow leathernecks with badass tattoos in the morning might be praying by himself at night. It allowed us to do a lot of character development really quickly, and I think shows off Paul’s storytelling chops.

— A snippet from my @Robot6 email interview with Paul Azaceta and Mark Sable.

From @talkingwithtim’s @Robot6 interview with me and @PaulAzaceta about GRAVEYARD OF EMPIRES TPB (and also touching on the DRACULA: SON OF THE DRAGON KICKSTARTER).  I think this really is the favorite sequence I’ve ever done in comics, in no small part due to Paul’s art and Matt Wilson’s colors. 

I love it for all the reasons above, but also because it’s so much research into Combat Outpost life in Afghanistan distilled down to two pages.  I’ve talked about how collaborative the process was between Paul and I, and this was a case where Paul said we needed to show what downtime was like at the base, plus develop a whole bunch more Marines Paul added to the cast.  We were already at 32 or more pages, so we had to make this count.  Hopefully it worked, and consciously or unconsciously when something happened to each of these guys you felt a little more because you’d seen a human side to them.

The GRAVEYARD OF EMPIRES TPB is out in May and available for pre-order now (Diamond Comics code MAR130502, ISBN 978-1-60706-739-9). @ImageComics has releasing the 1st Issue of GRAVEYARD OF EMPIRES for FREE on @Comixology.  Download by clicking here, and feel free to share the link:

https://comics.imagecomics.com/#/view/11175/Graveyard-of-Empires-1-of-4-

I’m going to try and top this sequence with DRACULA: SON OF THE DRAGON, which I would really appreciate if you could back and/or share the following link:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/78669939/dracula-son-of-the-dragon

Reblogged from talkingwithtim