DUPLICATE IS EPIC (PART 1 OF 2)
I’ve mentioned that DUPLICATE, my OGN with from Kickstart Comics is a sci-fi/espionage book. I’ve tended to focus on the sci-fi aspects, mainly because Andy MacDonald draws the best robots out of anyone in comics (if you don’t believe me, check out his Terminator work with Zack Whedon or my personal favorite, his NYC Mech work with Ivan Brandon and Miles Gunter).
But it’s very much a spy book, albeit the James Bond/Nick Fury: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. and Casanova tradition). Meaning, it’s more fun and less realistic (although no less-researched) than UNTHINKABLE or GRAVEYARD OF EMPIRES.
UNTHINKABLE took our characters from a D.C. think tank to the C.E.R.N. reactor to the Temple/Mount and Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem. DUPLICATE very follows in that globe-trotting tradition. Above, you can just see a few of the locales Andy we transport you to, from the gambling dens of Macao to a not-so-dormant Icelandic volcano to a the one-percenter apartment complex looming over the teeming masses in Mumbai.
Grant Morrison has talked about how his life started imitating art in the Invisibles. For me, it works both ways. I’d like to think my travels to China last year (which I still plan on blogging about when I have the time) informed the Macao section of DUPLICATE, while my work on UNTHINKABLE and GRAVEYARD OF EMPIRES helped grant me to the privilege to travel to places like Dubai for the Middle East Film & Comic-Con (which I want to blog about even sooner).
Hopefully there’s more art and travel in my future. (I’d LOVE to travel to Romania and Turkey for DRACULA: SON OF THE DRAGON). One way to ensure that is to pre-order DUPLICATE from your retailer today, using Diamond code MAY121187).
As part of my DUPLICATE tumblr barrage, I thought I’d debut the new logo for DUPLICATE (the OGN formerly known as “DECOY”). It’s designed by artist Andy MacDonald’s studio mate Jared K. Fletcher, who I think does some of the best design work in comics today. You can check out his work here.
And of course, if you’re in a comic shop today, you can pre-order DUPLICATE, my sci-fi/espionage OGN with Andy MacDonald (and colors by Nick Filardi) with pre-order code MAY121187.
It occurs to me that, if you’re a new follower, you might not know the story of duplicate, so here’s a quick synopsis to whet your appetite.
DUPLICATE 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 Duplicate wasn’t created to be used in the field or fake his death. The Duplicate 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 Duplicate 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 Duplicate was programmed to protect is put in jeopardy; this unlikely pair has to team up to save them.
Next up…some interiors by Andy and Nick. If they don’t sell you on DUPLICATE, I don’t know what will.
Breaking Into Comics with Joshua Hale Fialkov
I’ve probably mentioned this before but in addition to writing I also teach writing, primarily for The Writers Boot Camp in LA (although they offer online courses to students all over the world). I taught comics and screenwriting at The University of California Santa Barbara this semester and a couple years ago at Long Beach Comic-Con.
There’s a lot of seminars on “How to Break into Comics” (or screenwriting or whatever) and I most of them aren’t worth a damn. But there’s one this weekend in Long Beach that, if I were an aspiring comics creator, I’d definitely check out.
It’s being taught by Joshua Hale Fialkov. He burst on the indie comics scene with the amazing “Elk’s Run” and has continued to produce remarkable work, from Archaia’s “Tumor” to Image’s “Last of the Greats” to DC’s “New 52” ongoing “I, Vampire”.
Fialkov is as smart as they come about the comics business, and in full disclosure, a friend.
This weekend is the second annual Long Beach Comic Expo, which I unfortunately won’t be attending. This is a small one day show that’s a part of the bigger Long Beach Comic Con that happens around Halloween.
This year, Fialkov is hosting TWO workshops with Rob Levin. These Seminars last two hours, have extremely limited seating, and will cover how to break into comics and what to do once you’re there.
Each individual seminar costs $45 (including admission to the show), or you can do BOTH seminars for a paltry $55. That’s a full day of intimate knowledge from two veterans of the indie and mainstream comic world. More info, and sign up here: longbeachcomiccon.com/buy-tickets.php
Again, I wish there were things like this when I was breaking in, and I can’t recommend these seminars enough.
Here’s the Previews solicitation for my upcoming graphic novel with Andy MacDonald, DUPLICATE. For those of you who don’t know, Previews is the book comic book stores use to order their comics in advance. In this case, retailers are using May Previews to order books that will be out in July, like DUPLICATE.
Retailers have been great to me, and I’d prefer you buy the book that way rather than wait for Amazon or buy a digital copy. Since Previews is as thick as a phonebook, it always helps when readers come in and ask them to pre-order it. If your retailer won’t, contact me and I’ll put you in touch with a retailer that will.
It’s the same $8.99 price as Kickstart’s digest-sized book, but will be the first full-sized Kickstart book in order to showcase Andy’s art (and Nick Filardi’s colors). In today’s world of $3.99 20 page comics, 88 pages at $8.99 is a steal.
If you’re in a comic book store (like say, this Wednesday), I’d appreciate if you pre-order it. I have a feeling that like Rift Raiders this will be under-ordered. While announcements that my books sell out are nice, that also means those who don’t pre-order the book are going to have a hard time getting their hands on it.
Fashion forward X-Men redesigns courtesy of DUPLICATE artist Andy MacDonald. Someone recently said they X-Men don’t need costumes and I agree. Check out more here.
(DUPLICATE is our sci-fi espionage book out in July and available for pre-order now using Diamond code MAY121187).
tonydonley:
WHO WANTS A FREE SKETCH? All you have to do is post a picture of yourself reading my book “ALBERT EINSTEIN: TIME MASON” to your Facebook Wall with this link-
http://graphicly.com/bacon-hut-studios/albert-einstein-time-mason/gn
Tag me in the photo & I’ll get started right away on your sketch. It can be of your favorite super hero, zombie whatever. It can be you or your kids, your dog whatever. The sketches will be digital, like the one of this handsome devil, so I will email it to you right away. They are great to use as you Avatar or you can print them right at home. Please Share this around. I wanna be doing these sketches all month.
Free Comic Book Day may be over, but here’s a great opportunity to get a free sketch with a digital comic by my Drink and Draw Social Club buddy Tony Donley.
More Dracula Son of The Dragon concept art from Salgood Sam.
The Scholomance which Salgood refers to was fabled to be a legendary school of black magic run by the Devil, supposedly located near an unnamed lake in the mountains south of the city of Hermannstadt (now called Sibiu in Romanian) in the Transylvania region of Romania.
Bram Stoker, referred to it twice in Dracula, once in chapter 18:
The Draculas were, says Arminius, a great and noble race, though now and again were scions who were held by their coevals to have had dealings with the Evil One. They learned his secrets in the Scholomance, amongst the mountains over Lake Hermanstadt, where the devil claims the tenth scholar as his due.
And in chapter 23:
He dared even to attend the Scholomance, and there was no branch of knowledge of his time that he did not essay.
DRACULA: SON OF THE DRAGON is serve as a prequel to Dracula, explaining how the historical Vlad The Impaler became the vampire in Bram Stoker’s Dracula. The Scholomance will play a big part in that transformation.
salgood:
Vlad, Vlad “the Monk”, and Radu as boys, from the days at the Scholomance.
Vlad the Impaler 1431–1476 trying to draw 12,13yrs old
Vlad_”the Munk” 1425 - 1495 trying to draw 18yrs old
Radu_the Handsome 1435–1475 trying to draw 8yrs old
Ref: Scholomance
Another panel from my #occupycomics story with Megan Hutchison. Just wanted to show you that despite the autobiographical nature of the story, you won’t be forced to look at a picture of me on every page.
black-em:
A whale and his vices #occupycomics (Taken with instagram)
