Collaborators: Jason Latour

So, Latour is pretty much one of the emerging bright lights in comic book illustration. And he also writes. I’ve known Jason for years now, having first connected when I was looking for someone to draw what became BATTLE HYMN back in 2003. Eventually we managed to squeeze out four issues of THE EXPATRIATE at Image, which was left kind of hanging in the air, but taught us both a lot about how we wanted to approach things in the future. For the record, we’ve been slowly crafting an ending to THE EXPATRIATE, with the idea in mind to collect the (slightly revised) existing issues and the new ending together into a single trade. Last year Jason did this phenomenal print to remind those who cared that we weren’t quite done yet (click for a bigger view):

In fairness, Jason’s been doing most of the heavy lifting there, but sometimes that’s how our brand of collaborating falls.

Another project in the works is THE STEEL CITY HAWK, which we fully plan on dropping via Image no later than 2010. This one is a complicated, ever evolving thing, but when it’s done it will introduce readers to a new universe of good guys, bad guys, and spiritual wanderers. The cover below is actually the second cover Jason worked up for the first issue, and by the time the book is published, I have no doubt it’ll be tweaked once again. But I think it’s a thing of beauty, and shows off our protagonist in fine fashion (again, click for the bigger view):

And here’s the original cover for issue three, featuring the White Owl and Vox Populi:

At the moment, Jason’s working on an original graphic novel for one of the majors, and when it’s done I honestly think it’s going to blow anyone with an eye for graphic design and storytelling away.

Not bad for a kid from Hooptyville who believes he “should have been born in the future…or the past.”

FX Show in Orlando

April 17-19th, a few of the gang will be down in Orlando for the FX Show.

I’ll be there, along with fellow Revolvers Seth Peck, Jeremy Haun and Jason Latour. Also listed are Matt Fraction, Kelly Sue DeConnick, Dave Johnson, the Immonens, Ben Templesmith, Ivan Brandon, Andy MacDonald, Brian Hurtt, Matt Kindt, Jonathan Hickman, and on and on.

4/6 of Atomic Revolver: Latour, Moore, Haun, Peck

We were there last year, and they’ve definitely kicked up the star power on the guest list. Should be a good time, to say the least.

New York

Finally getting truly settled after New York, so time for a very brief recap.

Haun and I got into the city on Wednesday and trudged twenty blocks to the DC offices, where we lunched with the Bat Mikes (Marts and Siglain) and Janelle Siegel. And it’s not all that easy to eat a turkey burger with a frozen face. Anyway, those are good folks, and it was nice to relax a bit before the comic mafia fully invaded the city.

Abernathy's not crazy about the hugging. Haun and Cully Bunn behind.

Cam Stew, Ramon Perez and Karl Kerschel join the party.

Thursday night saw the arrival of Cullen Bunn, with whom we had drinks with some of the WildStorm guys, and bounced around the city. Also joining us were Canadian artistes Ramon Perez, Karl Kerschel, Andy B. and Cameron Stewart. Great talents and great guys. Ran into old Image pal Jade Dodge later, and then bumped into Image alumnus Jonathan Hickman with Jeff Parker and C.B. Cebulski at the Irish Rogue. That basically set the tone for a rather relaxed weekend of catching up with friends, publishers and editors, and meeting some great folks for the first time.

Fat and bleary BCM with the ever-charming Pat Loika

I don’t want to turn this into a rambling list of people I ran into, but one reason cons like this mean so much to me is because I get to hang out with people I genuinely like. There are some people in comics who toss friends aside as they work on climbing some invisible ladder that exists only in their head, but hanging with Jason Latour, Sean Crystal, Mike Norton, Tim Seeley, the Canadians (including Eric Kim and Kalman Andrasofsky), Haun, Bunn, Jen Simmons, the iFanboy guys, Andrew Robinson, Nathan Fox, Eric Stephenson, Filip Sablik, Jason Aaron, Janelle and Lucas Siegel, and so on…makes me realize how much I enjoy the people in this industry. And it’s also cool to go to the DC party and bump into guys you’ve known for years, kicking ass across the board.

I would have been glad to share some pictures with everyone, but Jeremy lost his camera in a pizzeria Thursday night and remarkably, no one turned it in… The only shot I managed to salvage was this one of Jeremy waltzing down 34th Street (or thereabouts). Luckily, the hat was lost with the camera:

Projects? Mainly updating the status of current projects with publishers, but I did get to talk to a few people about new and upcoming stuff. Ramon and I pow-wowed a bit about this crime thing we’re working on, Nathan Fox and I kicked around a great idea he has, and Latour and I even managed to sneak some Steel City Hawk talk in while meandering the con floor.

Eric Kim, swiped from Charlie Chu's Flickr page

On Sunday Billy Smoke artist Eric Kim and I sat down with Oni honcho James Lucas Jones and plotted out the book’s future. At this point we’re angling for an April, 2010 release, perhaps to coincide with Reid’s new Chicago show. Eric has already laid down some terrific layouts, and the weekend recharged my batteries.

Good trip. Next up for me: Hurleycon (I think) and KC’s Planet Comicon in March, followed by the FX Show in Orlando in mid April.