Casting the First Stone

In all of the many strange, darkened roads that Barry Nugent has walked in his novels and adaptations, no character casts a longer shadow than Napoleon Stone. For me, he is the Unseen Shadow that gives the project its name. My life up until this moment has been one long training montage, but now Barry has convinced me that it’s time I confronted the Demon Stalker on his own ground.

Eye of Stone is my latest contribution to the collection of "expanded universe" stories set in the Unseen Shadows continuity. Here's a sample work-in-progress page, with art by Heather Sheppard and letters from Nic Wilkinson.

Eye of Stone is a jagged little fragment of Napoleon Stone's personal history. Barry and I had been talking about the possibility of me doing something like this for as long as I've been involved in the Unseen Shadows project, and I always said that if I ever did a Stone story, I'd need to feel it had something worthwhile to contribute to the fabric of the character. I'm hopeful that we've nailed that with this.

I'd been looking for an excuse to grab Heather for a story for about a year, so when Barry floated her name as a possible artist for Eye of Stone I practically bit his hand off. Heather's a staggeringly versatile artist with an extensive background in concept art and illustration. As if further recommendation were necessary, the tough-to-impress Nic Wilkinson is an enthusiastic fan - as evidenced below by her Sheppard-designed Dinobot Teaceratops shirt. Frankly, if you're still unconvinced after that, you can just get the Hell off my blog and never come back...

Eye of Stone is in production now. Updates as and when...

Freak Comic Book Day

For the avoidance of all conceivable doubt - fuck Christmas, Free Comic Book Day is the most magical time of the year. This year, Markosia has put together a showcase edition for the event and one of my upcoming books, The Case Files of Harlan Falk, is among the titles featured in it.

I've talked about this book in greater detail before so I won't recap the whole pitch here, but for the moment let's just call it Columbo meets Scooby Doo in Pan's Labyrinth so you have a rough idea what you're looking at. Look out for it in the Markosia preview book, alongside the likes of Project Luna: 1947 (Martin Hayes / Jim Boswell), Heart of War (James Pearson / Roland Bird) and Hero 9-5: Quietus (Ian Sharman / David Gray).

While we're on the subject of Harlan Falk, the art team of Scott James and Alex Johns have put together a Kickstarter project to help them complete the colouring of the second half of the book. Scott and Alex have concocted a number of exclusive extras for pre-ordering it this way, and it may be the best means of getting hold of a copy if you're in the US. Check out their project page for more information.

You Cannot Kill Merlini!

For me, the escapologist has always been the most primal archetype in all of magic and the allied arts.

In a field that derives the bulk of its drama through deception of the spectator, the escape artist instead stands with us, championing the defiant nature of human effort in the face of overwhelming and uncaring forces. In a world of sly winks and brightly painted boxes, the escapologist represents something altogether darker and more heroic. He spits directly in the eye of authority, of inevitability, of death itself.

Harry Houdini, of course, set this stage for us. The original self-liberator defined and embodied the character of the escapologist, and in doing so captured the imagination of the world so completely that his shadow is still seen throughout popular culture all over the world. In my opinion, few modern performers do such committed and comprehensive justice to the legacy of Houdini as David Merlini, whose pulp-influenced comic book alter-ego I was recently honoured to write.

On the 18th of April, Merlini will be attempting an escape drawn directly from the pages of Master Merlini #1. In character as the renowned crimefighter of the comic, Master Merlini will save both New York City and himself from destruction at the hands of his nemesis, Caligari. After being shackled to a modified WWII-era sea-mine and dropped into the East River via helicopter, Merlini will escape the chains and, as he rises to the surface, defuse the bomb.

This is a genuine first for me - a scene from a comic I've scripted playing out in real life. A character I've written for, and the man who both inspired and portrays him, now face a legitimately life-threatening situation in a scenario that I helped to set in motion.

It's out of my hands. Merlini is in the jaws of Caligari now and only his unparalleled skill and unfailing defiance can save him.

Where: Manhattan Heliport Pier 6, East River
When:  APRIL 18, 2013 at 10PM

• Master Merlini Online at www.mastermerlini.com
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Master-Merlini/576738435671570
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/MasterMerlini

DON'T JUST READ THIS COMIC - HEAR IT!

• Full length comic strip adventure starring Master Merlini
• Full length accompanying soundtrack
• Exclusive escape artist trick videos
• Animated sequences offering alternate storytelling (selected pages)
• Background feature on escape artist Merlini

Available now for iPad, iPhone and Android

• From iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/app/master-merlini/id615910310
• From Google Play for Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.rok.comics.mastermerlini001
• Visit Books That ROK at: www.booksthatrok.com

ROK COMICS RELEASE ‘MASTER MERLINI’ INTERACTIVE AUDIO COMIC

April, 4 2013:

ROK Comics announces the release of Master Merlini, its latest interactive audio comic featuring an all-new incarnation of the real-life, world famous escape artist David Merlini.

Escape artist, crime fighter, adventurer, Master Merlini is all of these things and more, as he battles the villainous Caligari while a mysterious woman helps him discover an incredible truth about his world and his existence!

Written by Cy Dethan, author of the acclaimed Cancertown series and Starship Troopers, with art from Giancarlo Caracuzzo (artist on Marvel'’s Formic Wars and Gorilla Man), the debut Master Merlini audio comic plunges the hero into a strange world beyond our own, linked to a real world event in New York on April 18th 2013!

With full audio 'play' to accompany the comic and escape artist tricks revealed in exclusive videos as well as animations and extra background information on some of the characters, Master Merlini will leave you wondering... where does fiction end and reality begin?

Based on a concept by ROK Comics founder Jonathan Kendrick and David Merlini himself, who also voices his comic alter ego, Master Merlini merges the real world with a fiction that is all too real for its hero!

MASTER MERLINI ONLINE

• Master Merlini Online at www.mastermerlini.com

• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Master-Merlini/576738435671570

• Twitter: https://twitter.com/MasterMerlini

DON'T JUST READ THIS COMIC - HEAR IT!
• Full length comic strip adventure starring Master Merlini
• Full length accompanying soundtrack
• Exclusive escape artist trick videos
• Animated sequences offering alternate storytelling (selected pages)
• Background feature on escape artist Merlini

MASTER MERLINI: CREATOR CREDITS
Script: Cy Dethan based on a concept by Jonathan Kendrick & David Merlini - Art by Giancarlo Caracuzzo - Colour by Kirsty Swan - Letters and Digital Mastering by Jim Campbell

Voice Artists: David Merlini, Shawn Curran, Kirstin Reitter and George Sanders

Available now for iPad, iPhone and Android
• 

From iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/app/master-merlini/id615910310
• 

From Google Play for Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.rok.comics.mastermerlini001
• 

Visit Books That ROK at: www.booksthatrok.com

DESIGNED TO BRING COMICS TO LIFE, OTHER ‘BOOKS THAT ROK’ INTERACTIVE AUDIO COMICS INCLUDE:
For iPhone and iPad

•The Beatles Story
https://itunes.apple.com/app/the-beatles-story/id569176209

•Team MOBILE #1
https://itunes.apple.com/app/team-m.o.b.i.l.e-1/id578981996
Also available for Android

•Team MOBILE #2
https://itunes.apple.com/app/team-m.o.b.i.l.e-2/id579055097
Also available for Android

•Houdini Adevntures #1
https://itunes.apple.com/app/houdini-adventures-1/id579058111
Also available for Android

MUSIC COMICS

•Rick Fury

https://itunes.apple.com/app/rick-fury/id573928983

Also available for Android

OG Niki
https://itunes.apple.com/app/og-niki/id594555051

•ZeZi
https://itunes.apple.com/app/zezi/id573944649
Also available for Android

•Joe Whelan
https://itunes.apple.com/app/joseph-whelan/id562249855
Also available for Android

Introducing Takakage Sanada...

One-page preview of The Company of Killers, a centuries-spanning "samurai noir" thriller I'm working on with Cancertown 2 colourist Peter Mason, and demonstrating just how great Pete's own artwork is. Letters, as always, are by the irrepressible Nic Wilkinson.

 

The script on this seven-part monstrosity is complete, so expect semi-regular updates on the book as and when there's news to tell.

Mystery Project #4: Master Merlini

How long can you hold your breath?

My lifetime best effort caps out at a little over two and a half minutes. I'm actually pretty proud of that. Afterward, I felt like I was drowning. Every part of me ached. I thought I'd never breathe comfortably again.

That's actually a pretty good analogy for how hard it's been keeping quiet about Master Merlini, the new digital comic I'm writing for ROK.

David Merlini, the real-world escapologist, can hold his breath for well over twenty minutes. He's accomplished this more than once, underwater (and in test conditions), and has shattered world records and doing it. He has been launched on a SCUD missile, embedded in concrete, frozen in liquid nitrogen and weighed down in a tank occupied by six tiger sharks. In the field of magic and its allied arts, the escapologists are our superheroes.

Jim Steranko, a world-famous comics writer/artist who achieved equal acclaim as a magician/escapologist, is a personal hero of mine, and I've spoken before about the similarities in technique between writing comics and performing magic. So, when John Freeman of ROK Comics approached me about writing a comic based on Merlini himself, it was an easy sell to get me on-board. Additionally, the fact that I'd be working with the extraordinary Giancarlo Caracuzzo (Marvel, DC, IDW and others) made the opportunity unmissable.

Master Merlini is about a man trapped within the pages of his own story - an adventurer and crimefighter struggling to break free of the traps and machinations of a shadowy enemy. It's my first all-ages work since Starship Troopers and it's been glorious to work on. Most importantly, the story of each issue will lead into a genuine, real-life escape performed live by Merlini himself. I'm grinning all over my disarmingly skull-like face even typing that!

Master Merlini #1, with a metric crap-tonne of extras included is now available:

• Buy from on Apple store
• Buy from Android store

Master Merlini Official Site
Master Merlini Facebook Page
Master Merlini's Tumbler Journal
Master Merlini's Personal Diary

Day of the Demon

Demoncon, organised by Graham Beadle of Maidstone's Grinning Demon comic shop, has quickly grown to be a cornerstone of our convention calendar. It's local, it's well attended and it's a great example of what happens when you get things right.

This was our fourth appearance at the con, and the first where we had neither a new book to launch nor a set of previews to ram down every throat within my surprisingly wide ramming radius. It was, however, the first appearance of Cancertown 2 at a Demoncon event, which lent us an unexpected and very welcome momentum from the outset.

As I've mentioned before, the Demoncon crowd is a very focused one, on both sides of the tables. Attendees are active and interested, and you get a wide variety of creators showing off their stuff - this year ranging from Eva Perkins' beautiful and intricate nail-painting service to people selling some kind of cake sculptures that I didn't get a chance to investigate properly. Particular highlights for me included getting to meet up with the perilously talented Conor Boyle (see Mystery Project #3) along with Lizzie, his Disconnected Press partner (and skilled writer), talking with the devastatingly brilliant Yel Zamor about everything from screenwriting politics to homeopathic quackery and finally meeting scandalous letterer and World's Greatest Name contender, Nikki Foxrobot.

Our table was set in what we've now come to think of as "our spot", with Pete Mason on one side and Barry Nugent, Dan Thompson and Steve Penfold on the other like some kind of Unseen Shadows stealth invasion force.

Our major purchase of the day was the much-anticipated Porcelain, by Benjamin Read and Chris Wildgoose. It's a stunningly beautiful and hauntingly told story and well worth your attention.

We even managed to bag some unexpected art from the gig, in the form of this incredible Crosshair interpretation from Conor...

...and these concepts from Pete, depicting characters from The Company of Killers (see Mystery Project #2):

Long story short, we had a great day, sold a lot of books and whole-heartedly committed to the next Demoncon in September. It can't come soon enough for us.