There’s a lot to find in your Local Comic Book Store today! First, Intertwined#4, the new issue is out! It’s probably hard to find on shelves with the insane amount of comics released every week, so please ASK your retailer for it. But today is also Image Comics Day. And Image Comics has a special place in my heart: it’s the home of my first ever creator-owned, One-Hit Wonder!
IMAGE COMICS MEMORIES
I still remember how I came to Image Comics. I met Eric Stephenson, Image’s boss, in 2012 at the San Diego Comic Con (I was introduced by my buddy Joe Keatinge). Eric knew about Spider-Man Noir and said he was interested in my new projects. A few months later I sent him the first pages of One-Hit Wonder and he immediately expressed his interest in the series. The fact that I had convinced Ariel Olivetti to draw the series was, of course, a huge factor. We signed the contract just before summer 2013 but the book only came out on Feburary 2014. Unfortunately, as I explained several times, Ariel had to leave after two issues (he just did the layouts for #3). Then the replacing penciller started running late and the book lost momentum. The ultimate offense came with issue #5 when the second artist left the book after drawing 9 pages to go to DC Comics, leaving me with no back-up plans. When the book concluded, in April 2015, it was met with indifference. And it taught me a lesson about how hard creator owned books can be. Image Comics never released the collected edition after that, so One-Hit Wonder remains only available in separate issues. One could think I could be bitter about all this, I’m not. I’m grateful Image Comics has let me be a part of their incredible roster. I’d love to do another series there, and I certainly have tons of concept in my vault. But, lesson learned, I won’t go back there unless the series is almost finished to avoid lateness and frustration.
Image Comics is a beautiful place, but you have to be prepared for it. I love that there’s an Image Comics Day today. And I certainly encourage everyone to go into their shop and buy some of their books. This is a creators home. There’s no big corporation behind it. They have the best deal for comic book creators, hands down. Everybody knows it. Their production team is awesome. Please take a chance to discover series that you never heard of. Don’t just buy the Millars, the Vaughans, the Deckoninks. These are awesome creators. But there are so many others at Image, just like I was with OHW. Take a chance on new books. You won’t regret it.
INTERTWINED#4
Now, this isn’t just Image Comics Day today. This is Intertwined day! So PLEASE, buy and support our book. We need you. Dynamite Comics has been a wonderful publisher up to now, but there’s no way they can make good business if you guys just buy DC and Marvel series. This fourth issue is rock solid! The story moves forward in an unexpected way, the main character finally gets in costume, there’s as always, some social background and… kick ass Kung Fu scenes beautifully choreographed by Fred Pham Chuong and Vero Lopez. Plus, we have a cover by French sensational artist Gerald Parel! Don’t wait. Buy the book. Talk about it. Support it.
Intertwined#4 can be found in stores and here:
https://www.comixology.com/Intertwined/comics-series/78247?ref=Y29taWMvdmlldy9kZXNrdG9wL2JyZWFkY3J1bWJz
One-Hit Wonder#1-5 can be found in select stores and here:
https://www.comixology.com/One-Hit-Wonder/comics-series/13633?ref=Y3JlYXRvci92aWV3L2Rlc2t0b3AvbGlzdC9jcmVhdG9yTGlzdA
PS: the One-Hit Wonder pin-up up there has been drawn by the amazing Leila Leiz (who’s working on Alters for Aftershock Comics, another book you should buy!!!!).