Wednesday, June 14, 2006

Morning, one and all --

OK, lazy boy Bissette, cramming in a wee blog before scuttling off for Rutland, VT to meet and greet folks I’ve not seen in some time.

* The good folks at Heretic loved the cover painting I just turned in for Stefan Avalos & Lance Weiler’s pioneer digital gem The Last Broadcast DVD, which will hit the racks September 29th. That package is jammed-packed with extras, including the Jersey Devil mini-comic the CCS Year One student team and I just completed last Monday. More info, art coming to ya via this blog and the new website, up later this month.

* The Last Broadcast will be released day-and-date with another Lance Weiler digital feature, his latest: Head Trauma, which also has some new Bissette comics work for those of you craving a fresh hit after almost a decade. As previously mentioned here, my son Dan and I drew up a faux-Christian comics tract for a special appearance in Head Trauma. What was originally going to be a mere prop grew and grew into an integral element in the film’s complex, creepy tapestry, as its haunted protagonist finds the comic’s imagery fusing with the nightmares and waking visions threatening to drive him around the bend. It was the first time a filmmaker using some component of my own work invited me to organically contribute to the film itself, as Lance sent me rough cuts of the film-in-progress and we worked up new comic panels to further resonate specific key images between the narrative and the comic the troubled hero returns to with growing obsessive dread. Lance was a pleasure to work with, and it was a hoot to see Dan’s and my work gradually taking a greater role in Head Trauma (earning me my first screen credit, along with my son, after the likes of Return of the Swamp Thing, TMNT: Secret of the Ooze, From Hell and Constantine tapped my various creative efforts over the years sans screen credit or acknowledgement).

For the upcoming Heretic DVD release, streeting about the same time Lance is touring the US with Head Trauma’s targetted theatrical release (including a showing in nearby Brattleboro, VT’s venerable Latchis Theater), Lance is including an interview with Dan and I about our work on the comic, and an overview of the production’s integration of our art (and that of another cartoonist, delineating the home-made comics drawn by the next-door neighbor in the film). So, double-DVD-dose of Bissette in the fall, coming your way.

* And that ain’t all! Lance also recorded my reading some atmospheric musings that will be incorporated into the alternative soundtrack CD of Head Trauma, which will also be coming out on September 29th! So you’ll have to keep an ear as well as an eye out for my efforts come Halloween season.

* Speaking of which -- looks like there may indeed be an October H.P. Lovecraft weekend here in Brattleboro, VT this year. Joe Citro and I met with organizer Alan Eames (aka “The Beer King”, author of the popular The Secret Life of Beer tome) on Monday, and it’s looking good for a Halloween-season celebration of Lovecraft’s 1928 visit to the Guilford and Brattleboro area, which inspired and sired his chilling tale “The Whisperer in the Darkness”. More on this as it coalesces into reality...

* I’ll be posting some sales links this month, beginning with this inexpensive blast from the Bissettian past. It’s a nice print, and well worth snagging while you can -- compliments of Overlook Connection publisher and proprietor David Hinchberger, who turned up a small stack of this 15-year-old super-limited edition piece. I signed ‘em last month, and now Dave has them available until all 200 copies are gone:

“Stephen King's
Signed Limited Edition Lithograph
from The Official Stephen King Encyclopedia
The Shape Under The Sheet

Only 200 Copies Signed
by Artist Stephen R. Bissette

Only $14.95
plus Priority shipping
and sent rolled in a tube

This year marks the 15th Anniversary of The Shape Under The Sheet the Official Stephen King Encyclopedia by Stephen J. Spignesi. Stephen King Officially sanctioned this project when it was released in 1991. This was the last book about Stephen King that the author gave his blessing.

Overlook Connection Press released the Signed Limited Edition (signed by 27 contributors!) with a unique cover, slipcase, etc. One of the special features is that we had artist Stephen R. Bisette (artist and writer, known for his work on Swamp Thing, Taboo, and many books and comic projects) commision for us original endpapers and frontispiece art for our limited edition. The frontispiece "The Shape Under The Sheet" as seen in picture here, was bound into the front of the book, but had to be folded in because of it's size.

We have made availalbe this original frontispiece of "The Shape Under The Sheet" from the original printing(!) to you as a frameable lithograph. It's flat (not folded like the book version), and signed / numbered by artist Stephen R. Bissette.


== FEATURES:
Lithograph:
The Stephen King Official Encylopedia .

== Printed on Acid-Free linen stock and frameable.
== Measures: 11" x 15 1/2 "
== This is the original stock that was published fifteen years ago and was set aside for this special release.

== Limited to only 200 copies
== Sent rolled to keep it flat.
== A Framed Signed LIthograph is available - see below for more information.
== Signed, and Numbered by Artist Stephen R. Bisette in red!”


For more info and/or to buy your copy now don’t drag feet! Go immediately to
  • the Overlook Connection --
  • --just scroll down the opening page a bit, and there ‘tis in all its glory.

    Have a great Wednesday and week --

    _______________