A Battle Hymn Universe

Some concept art, preview art, and general mucking about as we build toward THE MID-NITE HOUR and BATTLE HYMN 2.

Artists are Jeremy Haun, Steven Gordon and Ben Passmore.

DOC SAVAGE #5 in August (order now!)

So, I was recently asked to handle a quick fill-in on DC’s DOC SAVAGE, and since the book has already been solicited, I thought I’d give a heads-up to anyone who cares.

DOC SAVAGE #5 is in the current PREVIEWS, for an August release. I’ve included the original cover (by JG Jones, one of my favorite people in comics), but the “new” cover will probably look a bit different. The book was originally solicited with Paul Malmont scripting. I stepped in and wrote a stand alone story (loosely linked to events in the book), featuring Doc and his crew running into some strange happenings on a ship off the coast of Greece. Art will be handled by the regular team of Howard Porter and Art Thibert.

Obviously, it was lots of fun to be involved in the First Wave universe, and I’m hopeful it won’t be the last time I get to do so (Blackhawks, anyone?).

Love in Tights

Googling for news of a book I wrote that hasn’t been “announced” yet, I stumbled across this ancient review of an early issue of LOVE IN TIGHTS, the very first thing I ever did in comics:

Love In Tights Anniversary #1 (Slave Labor Graphics). This anthology title presents five short stories of love among costumed adventurers. The first story, ‘Triangle,’ takes place in 1948. Dan Durham, aka The Mid-Nite Hour, is deeply in love with Julie Benton. But can he give up his nightly crusade against crime for love? In another story, Fruit-Bat and Swallow the Teen Sidekick have been taken prisoner by the Choker, who recently broke up with his boyfriend and so is in quite a foul mood. Plucky the Fearless Boy and Kid Viking are nervously preparing for their first date while, a few pages over, Sister Singe has some bad news for her husband, Moses Mayhem.

I love Love in Tights. The series is just the right mixture of tragedy and comedy, high jinks and action; some stories are quite serious, while others are sheer fun. The artistic and writing styles vary widely. For instance, B. Clay Moore and Kalman Andrasofsky’s tale of The Mid-Nite Hour is fairly straight-forward, while Josh Blaylock’s ‘For Your Own Medicine’ features the zoomorphic Penguin Brothers. Mickey White’s Plucky and Kid Viking are absolutely adorable, while Ted Tucker’s Sister Singe is quite beautiful.

If you are looking for off-beat and/or realistic stories about love among costumed crime fighters, pick up an issue of Love in Tights. Fair warning, however: the humor can be quite raunchy. And, unfortunately, you will either have to dig through the back issue bins or order copies directly from Slave Labor Graphics. The series has been discontinued.

Our Fighting Forces solicited for September

OUR FIGHTING FORCES #1
Written by B. CLAY MOORE
Art by CHAD HARDIN & WAYNE FAUCHER
Cover by MARK SCHULTZ

For Captain Storm, Sgt. Clay, Gunner Mackey and Johnny Cloud, a sabotage mission on a Nazi airfield is just another deadly suicide run! But what secret is Allied Command keeping from them? This is a war that men like The Losers can’t ever hope to win…

ONE-SHOT – On sale SEPTEMBER 15 – 32 pg FC, $3.99 US

The Losers

I already mentioned the Losers story I wrote.  I thought I’d pop one of my favorite original Losers covers up since I haven’t been posting a lot lately. I’m a huge fan of Joe Kubert’s covers for the series.

For what it’s worth, as much as I enjoy Jack Kirby’s Losers run, my story is more in the vein of the Robert Kanigher stories drawn by the great John Severin. Kirby seemed to have trouble embracing the notion that soldiers could be real “losers,” and took his stories in a different direction.

Oh, I just finished another small gig handling another old DC property. When that one’s solicited, I’ll probably share some of my favorite work associated with that character, too.

By the Time I Get Home From Phoenix…

Blah blah blah. Picture by Brian Miller.

The Phoenix Comicon was a great time. Well staffed, well attended, and generally well run.  The panels I did were well attended, and people had engaging questions and seemed to enjoy themselves. Even when a bag full of HAUNT and DARKNESS comics arrived in the middle of  a panel about comics and movies.

Due to the geography, not many of my standard homeboys in comics were there, but I did hang with Andy Kuhn all weekend. My table was nestled comfortably between Dan Wickline and Ethan Van Sciver. I’ve known Dan casually for years, but this was my first real chance to get to know Ethan, and I greatly enjoyed the chance to compare differing philosophies and to get a better concept of Ethan’s thought process. And he has great ideas. Also, he has collected some amazing autographs from gracefully aging movie stars, and I’m suddenly obsessed with the notion of having Lauren Bacall sign a copy of To Have and Have Not or The Big Sleep.

The Look.

Shared the dinner table with some of the WildStorm gang, and sat up late into the night solving the nation’s educational issues with Nelson Blake and Ryan Cody. Compared notes on Kansas City with Hi-Fi Color’s Brian and Kristy Miller, and enjoyed catching up with Shannon Denton before Sterling Gates ditched us at the door of the Geek Prom (which was sold out, anyway). John Layman was clear-eyed and charming, and agreed to sit in on the Breaking Into Comics panel with me, and the astonishing Cory Walker was unexpectedly wandering the floor.

In short, I was reminded once again how great it can be to spend time with enthusiastic fans and committed creators. Every now and then I need a battery recharge along those lines.

Even if my laptop did pass away during the weekend.