Puttin' the Hammer Down!

February 2010 brings a book I'm very fond of: DEADPOOL TEAM-UP #896 featuring the incredible return of the CHARACTER YOU DEMANDED -- U.S. Ace, Marvel Comics' very own trucker supreme!

Now, that sentence might have confused you. Don't be scared. Here's everything you need to know:

1. U.S. Ace was originally called U.S.1. He was an original character created as a tie-in to a toy truck. The truck is gone, but the legend lives on.

2. U.S. Ace/1 was created to cash in on the CB radio/trucker craze. Sadly, the CB craze peaked around 1976. U.S. didn't come along until 1983. By the end of his twelve-issue run, they had no idea what to do with him, so they sent him into outer space. Somehow this made sense back when Reagan was President.

2a. Despite this, the last issue had kind of a nice fill-in art job by Steve Ditko. Go figure.

3. I took on the challenge of making U.S. relevant to the modern era. (Heh -- got through THAT sentence with a straight face!) Like a lot of working men, his life hasn't worked out quite the way he hoped. So now he's back on Earth trying to make it the best he can...which unfortunately means taking jobs from...

4. ...his brother, the demonic Highwayman. You may have seen the Highwayman recently, when he fought Ghost Rider. If you didn't, don't worry about it. This issue contains all you need to know about him. He runs a trucking company. How EEEEVIL!

5. It's just possible you haven't managed to collect the entire run of DEADPOOL TEAM-UP #1-895. If so, it's your own fault. Call up Mile High Comics or Bud Plant and start badgering them. Rudely.

6. This comic book also has killer raccoons, dated slang, and an original country song. Oh, and Deadpool.

7. It's the funniest thing I've ever written, and a lot of the credit goes to Shawn Crystal. Shawn has done some issues of the regular DEADPOOL monthly lately, but he's totally pulled out the stops here. I'll post some art as soon as I can. You won't believe Deadpool in a trucker hat with a CB radio.

There. All clear now? If not, come by my signing at Jim Hanley's Universe on December 2nd and ask me to explain. (Not rudely.) Or just buy the damn book in February!

December 2nd: Signing @ Jim Hanley's Universe

Wednesday, December 2nd, 2009 from 6:00 to 8:00 PM: I'll be signing copies of WOLVERINE: UNDER THE BOARDWALK, a new one-shot by me and the amazing Tomm Coker. Note tantalizing sample panel above.

Also on hand will be the X-MEN NOIR crew of Fred Van Lente and Dennis Calero, celebrating the release of the second X-MEN NOIR series. I'll also be signing copies of the WOLVERINE NOIR hardcover, and Tomm Coker (not present) is the artist of DAREDEVIL NOIR, so it all fits together holistically. Like a beautiful mandala. Of Noir.

And finally, David Gallaher and Steve Ellis of HIGH MOON fame will be there, signing their brand-new HULK: WINTER GUARD one-shot. So it'll be a big New York comics jam with just a slight holiday flavor.

Jim Hanley's Universe is at 4 West 33rd Street in Manhattan, just around the corner from the Empire State Building main entrance. Details on the signing can be found on their website.



(Above: From WOLVERINE NOIR by me and CP Smith, now available in a beautiful hardcover edition for only $19.95.)

Out Now: Wolverine Noir Premiere Hardcover

I've really got to start paying attention to trade paperback release schedules...out this week (i.e., yesterday) is the WOLVERINE NOIR collected hardcover edition, with story by me, art by the incredible CP Smith, and color by the equally incredible Rain Beredo. Featuring the tragic tale of Jim Logan, P.I., as he plies his trade in New York's skid row Bowery district in 1937.

Update: And beautiful alternate covers by Dennis Calero -- including the image seen above.

Update update: The book also features my original script for issue #1!

We're really proud of this one. A few comments from here and there, carefully edited to make us look good:

"This new title from the Marvel noir run is very entertaining. The art is impressive, providing for a very unsettling and never comfortable tone."
-Alex Rodriguez, Comics Bulletin

"this wasn't a story I want to read in chunks over a few months. I want to know what's coming next. You win, Wolverine. I'm intrigued...The art in Wolverine Noir is gorgeous."
-Nina Stone, The Factual Opinion

"Absolutely incredible, a perfectly paced story, with brilliant artwork all the way until the final last panel. The next wave of Noir books have big shoes to fill, and a long shadow to walk in. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED, YOU MUST PICK UP THIS SERIES!"
- Adam Chapman, Comixtreme



WOLVERINE NOIR - Premiere Hardcover. $19.95. Buy it. It might just save your life.*



*It won't save your life. But buy it anyway.

January - X-Men Origins: Cyclops

Now soliciting: X-MEN ORIGINS: CYCLOPS, written by me with art by Jesse Delperdang and cover (above) by Adi Granov.

I grew up with Scott (Cyclops) Summers, and I was always drawn to his brooding, sometimes over-serious nature. This one-shot tells Cyke's story from childhood through his early years with the X-Men. But it's not just a retelling of previously-depicted events...we show Scott growing into his role as X-Men leader, and his evolving, complex relationship with both Professor Xavier and Magneto.

X-MEN ORIGINS: CYCLOPS stands wholly alone, and is designed to serve as an introduction to this central X-Men character. But it also, very deliberately, plays off the dynamics going on right now in UNCANNY X-MEN, where Cyclops must make hard decisions as new leader of the entire mutant community, even when those decisions bring him into direct conflict with Professor X. That throws a lot of earlier stories into a whole different light, and it made this project much more interesting to write...without seeming artificial or superimposed (to me, anyway).

But really, all you need to know is that he shoots force bolts out of his eyes. A lot, actually.

On sale January 13th from Marvel Comics.

Amazing Spider-What Now?

This one totally sneaked up on me: Marvel recently published the collection AMAZING SPIDER-MAN: FAMILY TIES, which features not one but two Spidey stories by yours truly.

"Bridge and Tunnel" is a little New York love letter with sharp, kinetic art by Val Semeiks. But the much longer tale is "Fear Itself," in which Spider-Man teams up -- if that's the right phrase -- with the monstrous Man-Thing. Featuring lovely art by Joe Suitor that manages to look like watercolors and animation art at the same time. A small taste:



The book also features work by too many cool people to mention, including "The Amazing Spider-Ma'am" by Abby Denson and Colleen Coover. Go grab it for $14.99 now.

December - Wolverine: Under the Boardwalk

On December 2nd, Marvel Comics will release WOLVERINE: UNDER THE BOARDWALK, a one-shot by me and Tomm Coker, the multitalented artist of the recent DAREDEVIL NOIR.

Wolverine's been around for a long time, and as I conceived this story, I started wondering what would happen if he met up again with a woman he'd been involved with, say, forty years ago. She's older; so is he, but it doesn't show as much. I also barely remember visiting Atlantic City when I was very young, before the gambling came in, when it was a washed-up beach town whose glory days were immortalized in the game Monopoly, and whose biggest industry at the time was salt-water taffy. Put the two ideas together, and what you get is...well, it's sort of the tale of a long-lived mutant's midlife crisis. With claws, of course.

UNDER THE BOARDWALK is a very "grounded" crime story -- no X-Men or alien menaces from the stars. (Not that there's anything wrong with that.) Tomm Coker absolutely drew the hell out of it. He's developed a mixture of tight figure work and photorealistic backgrounds, and he does it as well as anybody in the business. The action scenes are great, but the quiet panels are the ones I find really haunting. Here's just a small taste.



WOLVERINE: UNDER THE BOARDWALK. Color by Daniel Freedman. $3.99 for 32 pages of story. Soliciting now.

Out Today: Wolverine Noir #4

Concluding the dark 1930s miniseries by me and CP Smith.

Above: a screengrab from the Marvel Hotline trailer, where I sum up the series pretty well, I think. Go there and spend one minute forty seconds in Logan's and my world.

I should do some San Diego wrapup, but I'm still exhausted, especially after The Comic Book Club last night (which was awesome, as always). For now, big wet kisses to all the girls and boys I saw last weekend.