For most of us, Memorial Day is synonymous with vacation, but for those that have or continue to serve in the military it means much more.  In that spirit, I thought I’d take the time to once again mention one small way you can give back to the men and women who continue to serve this country.

One of the most rewarding aspects of working on GRAVEYARD OF EMPIRES has been the chance to interact with so many veterans.  Some helped me research the book, many contacted me to thank Paul Azaceta and I for the book, and others reached out to share their stories.

Paul a I will never forget, for instance, the Marine who after showing us his shrapnel scars, asked us if he could used Paul’s amazing image from Graveyard of Empires #1 as the basis for tattoo.  He wanted to ink the names of the four men in his unit lost in the roots of the poppy plant.

If you spend time with anyone who’s served, and hear the stories of what they and their loved ones have sacrificed…you can’t help but want to do something.  I did.  You can too, and it doesn’t have to cost you anything.

If you’re like me, you’ve probably amassed a huge collection of comic books.  You may not have room for them, and it’s unlikely you’re going to re-read most of them.  The secondary market for comics has collapsed to the point where you not only can’t make money by selling old books, you can’t even get most comic stores to take them off your hands for free.

But there are men and women who could use the diversion that comics provide.  War has been described as “long periods of boredom punctuated by punctuated by moments of sheer terror”.  There’s not much you can do about the sheer terror short of enlisting, but there is something you can do to help alleviate the boredom.

Donate your comics to Operation Gratitude.

Here’s how they describe what they do:

“Operation Gratitude annually sends 100,000 care packages filled with snacks, entertainment items and personal letters of appreciation addressed to individually named U.S. Service Members deployed in hostile regions, to their children left behind and to Wounded Warriors recuperating in Transition Units. Our mission is to lift morale, bring a smile to a service member’s face and express to our Armed Forces the appreciation and support of the American people. Each package contains donated product valued at ~$125 and costs the organization $15 to assemble and ship.  For safety and security, assembling of packages occurs at the Army National Guard armory in Van Nuys, California. Since its inception in 2003, Operation Gratitude volunteers have shipped more than 660,000 packages to American Military deployed overseas.”

I’ve driven hundreds of comics, graphic novels, books, dvds and videogames over to their HQ and the Van Nuys, CA National Guard Armory.  I’m not saying that to brag, but rather to give you an idea how easy it is.

My poorly taken photo doesn’t convey the massive volunteer operation they have going, but I felt uncomfortable taking pictures at a military installation, even with permission.

But everything you see here, and more, gets sent directly overseas to the troops:

(Those are Marines standing by a Cobra gunship like the ones in GRAVEYARD)

You don’t need to drive to Van Nuys, you can mail your comics there.  They don’t need to be comics…You can donate candy, cellphones, cars, even cash (here’s a more complete list of things you can do, including volunteering your time).  But do something.

Trust me…I’m lazy, self-involved and practically a shut-in, and I did.

At the very least, please re-blog, re-tweet and re-post the hell out of this on Facebook so others can.

P.S. Although I hate making this at all about me, for those of you asking where GRAVEYARD OF EMPIRES #4 is, Paul is completely done with the art, it’s just waiting to be colored and lettered, so it should be out in June.  Here’s a never page from the final issue to whet your appetite:

Hope you all had/have a great Memorial Day.

When I first heard that Graveyard of Empires had sold out and we were going to do a second printing, I jokingly suggested to artist/co-creator Paul Azaceta that we should do a zombie Osama Bin Laden cover.  Well…maybe half-jokingly.  Everyone was still excited he’d been killed, and Barack Obama variants had done so well…

Paul (rightly) thought it was in bad taste.  Evidently, the makers of the above trailer (courtesy of Aint It Cool) for “Osombie” disagree.

They have a Kickstarter page to raise money to make an actual film.  Of course, if you donate it will eventually wind up back in my hands after we sue their asses:)

While you’re waiting for Issue 4 of Graveyard of Empires, I thought I would share some of the research that goes into the book.  At some point I’m going to compile a bibliography of all the books, films etc. that Paul and I used for Graveyard - maybe in the last issue, if we have room (it’s looking like a 27 pager now), maybe in the trade.

Paul has an incredibly cool extra planned for the trade if his schedule allows, and I’d like to do something similar to what I did with the Fearless trade, where I showed the evolution of the project from concept to execution in both words and art.  Graveyard might actually lend itself better to that, as the back and forth between he and I on the story has been unlike any collaboration I’ve had so far.

There will be some sources that - as pretentious as it may sound - I’ll never be able to reveal or thank publicly, but I think what follows is pretty safe.  And gives you a good idea of just how intense the research and collaborative process has been.  

Google Images has been a godsend for comic creators, and my scripts have become filled with more and more hyperlinks.  But sometimes you still have to do the leg work.

This weekend, I sent the following images to Paul along with a revised script:

The first image is a cover to “Northwest-Frontier 1837-1947”, part of Osprey Publishing’s “Men-At-Arms” Series.  I highly recommend their books for visual reference on anything related to military history, from ancient times to the war on terror.

Here’s a scan from the book itself.  It depicts a scene from the first Anglo-Afghan war.  What follows are what I really love about the books, the color plates depicting how soldiers were dressed.  In this case, British soldiers (and their Indian Allies) from the 2nd Afghan war at the tail end of the 19th century.

Maybe my favorite image is the of these Afghan Tribesman…because other than their guns very little has changed in the way of dress over the centuries:

I don’t think that sending this much research is that out of the ordinary for a single comic issue.   But this is all for a SINGLE PAGE (which I really hope makes it into the book). 

(At some point, I hope to post the page and along with the reference to show how Paul incorporates it).

The book - and Afghanistan - is called “The Graveyard of Empires” for a reason.  From Alexander the Great to the British and Soviet Empires to our own, it’s been argued that Imperial ambition has been dashed against the rocky terrain of this supposedly unconquerable land.

In Issue 2, we began flashing back to a year before the events of the story.  In issue 3, we flashed back 30 years to the Soviet invasion and the secret war that the CIA waged to kick the Russians out (interestingly enough, part of the motivation for the British occupation of Afghanistan was to keep the Russians from threatening their Empire in India).

In Issue 4, we’re going to be going back further in time.  Way before the British Invasion…although when and why is a secret I’d like to save for the actual book.

Meanwhile, sitting on both my desk and artist Salgood Sam are just a couple of the dozen or so books in the Osprey series I’ve been sending him for DRACULA: SON OF THE DRAGON:

I’ve mentioned it before, but it’s comic that’s part horror, part historical-fiction, revealing how the real 15th century Vlad the Impaler became the (fictional) vampire in Bram Stoker’s Dracula.  It’s something the novel glosses over and Coppola’s film spent very little time on, and has been an obsession of mine ever since I read the novel in high school, if not before. 

As ambitious of an undertaking as Graveyard was, Dracula proves to be even moreso.  Hopefully, the conclusion to the former and the beginning to the latter will be worth the wait.

Courtesy of @KellySue DeConnick (writer of my favorite series of the year, Osborn, and one of the nicest people in comics), here’s another way of sending comics (and other things) to the troops.  It’s actually a bit more personal than Operation Gratitude, as you can direct it to specific service men and women.

“Here’s how it works:

1. Go to anysoldier.com.
2. Click on WHERE TO SEND.
3. Click on ANY SOLDIER SEARCH TOOL.
4. Leaving everything else blank, put either COMICS or COMIC BOOKS into the REQUESTS AND EMAIL CONTENTS field.  (As I write this, COMICS returns 8 units requesting comics–7 Army, 1 Air Force; 5 in Iraq, 1 in Qatar, 1 in Afghanistan and 1 in the Philippines.)
5. Click on one of the soldiers names and read their email, making sure what they want is actually what you’ve got.  Often they’re specific — they want funny comics, or newspaper comics, or Marvel comics, or they may even request a particular hero.
6. Once you find someone who either wants what you’ve got or is just generally requesting comics, click where it says CLICK HERE TO REQUEST THE COMPLETE ADDRESS.

Now, it’s been a while since I’ve done this and I can’t proceed any further right now because I don’t actually have any comics to send, but if I recall correctly, you fill out a short form and then you’re emailed the soldier’s address.  I believe you can request up to 2 addresses per day.  (While you’re at it, you might look at what else your soldier is requesting–sometimes it’s something as simple as cotton swabs.  Surely you can throw a package of q-tips in the box.)

The postage fees you pay to an APO or FPO address are NOT international shipping rates.  You pay domestic rates, so while you are picking up a bill, it’s pretty small considering the effect.  And it’s worth mentioning that our local UPS store in KC used to pack up any donations for troops overseas for free.  They’ve since changed ownership and we’ve since moved, so I have no idea if that’s common practice or not, but it’s certainly worth asking.

Good luck!”

It’s not just 11-11-11, it’s Veteran’s Day.  GRAVEYARD OF EMPIRES’ research and reception afforded me to interact with a many veterans, and as a result the day has added meaning for me.  Spend any time with someone that’s served, hear the stories of what they and their loved ones have sacrificed and you can’t help but want to do something.  I did.  You can too, and it doesn’t have to cost you anything.

If you’re like me, you’ve probably amassed a huge collection of comic books.  You may not have room for them, and it’s unlikely you’re going to re-read most of them.  The secondary market for comics has collapsed to the point where you not only can’t make money by selling old books, you can’t even get most comic stores to take them off your hands for free.

But there are men and women who could use the diversion that comics provide.  War has been described as “long periods of boredom punctuated by punctuated by moments of sheer terror”.  There’s not much you can do about the sheer terror short of enlisting, but there is something you can do to help alleviate the boredom.

Donate your comics to Operation Gratitude.

Here’s how they describe what they do:

“Operation Gratitude annually sends 100,000 care packages filled with snacks, entertainment items and personal letters of appreciation addressed to individually named U.S. Service Members deployed in hostile regions, to their children left behind and to Wounded Warriors recuperating in Transition Units. Our mission is to lift morale, bring a smile to a service member’s face and express to our Armed Forces the appreciation and support of the American people. Each package contains donated product valued at ~$125 and costs the organization $15 to assemble and ship.  For safety and security, assembling of packages occurs at the Army National Guard armory in Van Nuys, California. Since its inception in 2003, Operation Gratitude volunteers have shipped more than 660,000 packages to American Military deployed overseas.”

I’ve driven hundreds of comics, graphic novels, books, dvds and videogames over to their HQ and the Van Nuys, CA National Guard Armory.  I’m not saying that to brag, but rather to give you an idea how easy it is.

My poorly taken photo doesn’t convey the massive volunteer operation they have going, but I felt uncomfortable taking pictures at a military installation, even with permission.

But everything you see here, and more, gets sent directly overseas to the troops:

(Those are Marines standing by a Cobra gunship like the ones in GRAVEYARD)

You don’t need to drive to Van Nuys, you can mail your comics there.  They don’t need to be comics…You can donate candy, cellphones, cars, even cash (here’s a more complete list of things you can do, including volunteering your time).  But do something.

Trust me…I’m lazy, self-involved and practically a shut-in, and I did.

At the very least, please re-blog, re-tweet and re-post the hell out of this on Facebook so others can.

Along with the great FEARLESS TPB review in my preceding tumblr post, someone was nice enough to send me another amazing review of GRAVEYARD OF EMPIRES. 

This is from Ted Brown at Comics Forge:

“I am always on the look out for new unique takes on the zombie genre, as of late they are rare, but Graveyard of Empires from Image Comics is just that a perfect blending of a intense war drama with the looming doom created by an zombie invasion….The war drama sections that make up most of this first issue are of the highest quality and are on par with such war classics as Apocalypse Now and Jarhead. 

Writer Mark Sable does a great job at recreating the war atmosphere….previously I really enjoyed Sable’s work on Two-Face Year one, now after picking up Graveyard of Empires I plan to look deeper into his career. It was very ballsy move in my opinion to even combine the current conflict in the Middle East to a zombie invasion…

…On top of tremendous story telling readers are also treated to some remarkable art from fellow Grounded co-creator Paul Azaceta….the art style is basic and gritty, honestly it sort of reminds me of the way many bible stories were presented early on as they were turned into story books and comics but considering the geographical location the story takes place in it really adds a extra layer of atmosphere. The gore is handled in very realistic and often grisly ways giving the writing more believability by not going too over the top and treading to deep into fantasy. This makes for a far more interesting read in my opinion and really makes the political undertones more effective and prominent…

…if you enjoyed World War Z chances are you will find enjoyment with in the pages of Graveyard of Empires.”

I’m glad someone else remembers my work on BATMAN: TWO-FACE YEAR ONE, which is the work-for-hire book I’m most proud of.   I hadn’t thought of Paul’s work as reminiscent of how Bible stories have been illustrated, but I think Ted may be on to something there.  And any comparison to World War Z is beyond flattering…I think it’s THE masterwork of zombie fiction.  Thanks to Ted for the review.

Assuming you’ve made it through me heavily quoting a positive review of my own work, you are probably asking - WHERE IS THE THIRD ISSUE OF GRAVEYARD?!!!!  Especially since both issues seem to have sold out completely from Diamond.

Along with the FEARLESS TPB from Image and DECOY from Kickstart, I’m also hoping the third book of GRAVEYARD OF EMPIRES will be out in November.

Now free his NORTHLANDERS commitments,  Paul has been hard at work on the third issue of Graveyard.  He’s been trying something new with the inks, adding grays to the issue before Matt Wilson comes in with the colors.

To show you an example, here’s what a black and white page from GRAVEYARD OF EMPIRES #2 looks like:

Now, here’s a NEVER BEFORE SEEN page from Issue 3:

It’s pretty rare to see and artist change his style so drastically in the middle of a series.  As I understand it, the end product won’t be all that different; it’s actually to help communicate the colors Paul wants to Matt better.  There’s some real tricky stuff this issue - Stinger surface-to-air-missiles locking onto heat signatures, night vision etc. 

Oh…and if those don’t look like American helicopters to you, that’s because they are Mi-24 Hind helicopters being taken down by Mujahadeen fighters (some of whom will become the Taliban we met in Issues 1 and 2).  Just as we flashed back to earlier period of Operation: Enduring Freedom in Issue 2, were flashing back to the Soviet Invasion of the 1980s in Issue 3.  Afghanistan is called the Graveyard of Empires because of all the “imperial” armies that have met their end there.  Just wait until you see how far we flash back to in Issue 4.

We’re trying to make all those flashbacks clear from art, color and minimal captions rather than long winded exposition.  At the same time, we want each era’s flashback to have a different feel.

That’s on top of the fact that the present day fighting each issue takes place a little later each day, so we are trying to change the lighting in a way that’s noticeable yet subtle.

All that is time consuming.  That’s not to say Paul is to blame for the book being late (November will mean we’re slightly off our bi-monthly shipping schedule).  Everyone involved in this book is a perfectionist, and Paul and I have been sharing the role of editor.  I’ve never done so many script drafts.  But this isn’t about me trying to please a huge corporate publishing entity, it’s about making sure every scene works right.  When issue 3 comes out, I’ll point out a scene or two we argued over, and it will be interesting to see what readers reactions are.

In the meantime, I thank everyone for their patience.  We’re trying to do something special here, and I hope you’ll find it worth the wait.

I have two - count’em, two - creator-owned graphic novels out in November, and if you’d like to own them, the best way to do that it is to pre-order them TODAY from your local retailer.

First up: out in November, and available for pre-order TODAY is my latest Original Graphic Novel, DECOY, from Kickstart Comics.

DECOY is the story of an seemingly average guy who learns he’s a robot when he miraculously survives a terror attack. But not just any robot - he’s a robot replica for Agent Zekiel Dax, the world’s deadliest secret agent.

Unlike the Life Model Decoys that say, S.H.I.E.L.D. uses, Zekiel’s Decoy wasn’t created to be used in the field or fake his death. The Decoy was designed to safeguard Agent Dax’s family and otherwise provide cover while he’s off saving the world.

When Agent Dax is captured, The Decoy is forced to rescue him…only to learn that the man he was created to replace is a gambling, womanizing gun for hire. When the “family” the Decoy was programmed to protect is put in jeopardy; this unlikely pair has to team up to save them.

The art is by TERMINATOR’S Andy MacDonald and it’s phenomenal.

Just give your local comic shop Diamond Code SEP111131 and they should be able to put one on hold for you.

Also out in November is the trade paperback collection of FEARLESS, my Image Comic book series co-created by writer David Roth and artist PJ Holden (2000AD).

FEARLESS chronicles the adventures vigilante with a crippling anxiety disorder who becomes dependent upon on anti-fear drug - not just to fight crime, but to function in everyday life. Volume One is the story of what happens when that drug supply is mysteriously cut off.

If you weren’t able to pick it up all the single issues, give your retailer Diamond Code SEP110399.

Last, but not least, the first TWO issues of my latest comic book series, GRAVEYARD OF EMPIRES, are available in stores NOW.

GRAVEYARD OF EMPIRES features Marines and Taliban teaming up against zombies in Afghanistan. The first issue sold out and immediately went into a second printing. The second issue (of four) has been out less than a week, so now would be a great chance to pick it up before it flies off the shelves.

The art is by GROUNDED co-creator (and Amazing Spider-Man) artist Paul Azaceta, and I think is his best work to date.

Here’s the cover to issue 2, which I’m not sure I’ve featured on here yet:

Can’t Keep The Players Straight Without a Scorecard!

Which Marine’s been blown up by the Taliban?  Who’s been bitten by a Zombie?  Whose corpse has been left to be eaten by wild dogs?

Given the extraordinary number of characters in Graveyard of Empires Paul and I thought this would be helpful.  It’s planned to be a regular feature through issue 4.

Touching on my last post, you can use this with the 1st issue to play a little Where’s Waldo and find the Taliban hidden amongst the civilian populace.

If gambling weren’t illegal I’d encourage you all to place bets on who will live, die…and come back from the dead.  (I need to remember some time to tell the story I won money by betting - legally - on a TV show I knew the outcome of).

Before I admit to any felonies, big thanks to letterer/designer Thomas Mauer for making these “mugshots” even better than I envisioned.

EDIT: when I first posted this the 2nd page was an interior page and not cast members.  should be fixed now

Newsarama is running an exclusive 6 page preview of some pages of GRAVEYARD OF EMPIRES Issue #2, which is in stores TOMORROW, Wednesday, August 24 2011.

Notice I said 6 page preview rather than the usual “5 page preview” or even “the first 6 pages”.

That’s in part because there’s 25 pages of story (still for the low price of $2.99).  At least 3 more pages of story than you’d get from most books that charge more.

It’s also because I decided not to show the 1st 5 pages in sequence.  Why?

We open issue 2 by cutting back and forth between Marines fighting zombies in the present, and flashbacks that give an “origin story” for some of the Taliban who will start to take more of a role in the comics.

I thought it made more sense to present the Taliban sequence without interruption. 

That means there’s still plenty of this to see:

(For you enterprising comic book journalists, bloggers etc…that means that there are 5 pages of Marines on Zombie action we are willing to give you an exclusive on - just contact me here or dm me at twitter - I’m @marksable).

To get back to the Taliban, there were a lot of thorny issues to deal with.

The first was - most coalition troops in Afghanistan never see the enemy they are fighting up close.  Fighting is done at greater distances than in videogames like say, Call of Duty: Black Ops.  Much of that fighting is done at night, and the Taliban blend into the civilian populace.

So, despite the fact our Marines come under sustained assault by the Taliban twice in the first issue, Paul and I made a conscious (and I think, risky decision) not to show the enemy on panel. 

(Although those of you who re-read the first issue after reading the second might notice that the Taliban we “introduce” in the Issue 2 are amongst the civilians the Marines deal with in Issue 1)

The bigger challenge was - how do we depict of The Taliban? As a writer, I needed to make them, if not likable, at least somewhat relatable.  Meaning human beings whose motives a reader can understand, if not root for.  After all, I’ve teased that they may be teaming up with the Marines to take on the real enemy, the undead.

Make no mistake, despite what some right wing comics bloggers (there’s a niche if there has ever been one) have said - I don’t like the Taliban.  They’ve hurt countless innocents, badly wounded veterans I’ve had the privilege of getting to know, and harbored and/or acted in concert with terrorists who have killed people I’ve cared deeply about.

But the Taliban don’t fit neatly into our perceived notions of them as mindless religious fanatics.  Their tribal culture - Pashtunwali - often plays more of a role than Islam.  The drug trade often plays a bigger role than either.  They are a hybrid of a terror organization, an insurgent movement and a drug cartel.

You may ask, how do I know all this?  Researching the Taliban was the hardest part of making this comic.  The Taliban are more likely to behead journalists than speak to them.

I’ve mentioned before that the late photo journalist and war correspondent Tim Hetherington helped point me in the right direction in this area. He was the Academy Award nominated director of the documentary Restrepo, the best film I’ve seen on Afghanistan in particular and on modern warfare in general.

I’ve been thinking about Tim a lot this week.  Not just because of this issue, which directly benefited from his help and his life’s work.  But also because he was killed covering the conflict in Libya.  As I write this Gadafhi’s government is falling, and I wish Tim were alive to bring that to us in a way no one else could.

Without revealing sources and methods, Tim wasn’t the only person who helped Paul and I in researching the Taliban.  The best thing I was pointed to was a series of interviews with actual Taliban fighters.  The only way the Canadian journalist Graeme Smith was able to safely do so was by having his Afghan researcher go out and ask a series of very basic questions to them with a handheld camera.

He couldn’t touch on things like Al Qaeda or Osama Bin Laden without the natives getting restless.  But you get the idea that ideology is not their primary motivation. Don’t just take my word for it, the interviews are fascinating. 

The goal of spending countless hours researching the hell out of the Taliban was to create as accurate a portrayal of the Taliban as we’ve seen in comics.  That, and to tell an entertaining story.

I hope all the work Paul and I put into bringing the Taliban to life (and un-life) om Issue 2 has paid off.  I’m looking forward to hearing whether you think we’ve pulled it off.

While it’s completely flattering that the first issue of GRAVEYARD OF EMPIRES sold out immediately, the downside is that meant many readers were unable to get a copy.  If you are one of them, the good news is that today Image is releasing a 2nd printing, with a brand new variant cover by Paul Azaceta.  Even if you have the first issue, if you’re a collector how could you not want another simple but iconic Image by Paul.

The 2nd issue will be out in August.  Here’s a “mash-up” of the black and white image’s from Issue 2 (courtesy of Paul’s blog) to tide you over.

I STRONGLY urge you to pre-order/ask your retailers for issues 2, 3 and 4 if you haven’t done so already.  While I just received news that the initial orders were actually HIGHER for 3 than 2 (very rare for a new book in this marketplace), based on the reaction so far I still think demand exceeds supply by quite a bit.

Which, I suppose is great news if you’re a speculator.  As much as I’d love another sellout/2nd printing, I’d much rather you actually be able to read the book. 

We’re trying to put backmatter and such in the individual issues that won’t be in the trade, and again you are getting over 22 pages for $2.99.

To everyone that’s supported the book so far - Image, retailers, readers - thank you.