Saturday Note on Sundays!

I'll be posting an interview this weekend, but at an odd time, more than likely, as I've got a full plate this weekend. This 12:50 post will stand as my Saturday post, given the running around I'm doing later today (like, after I wake up), but hopefully it's welcome news.

I've just returned home from CCS, where I delivered my self-standing one-page story for the Sundays anthology (which Sam Gaskin referred to this week in his interview; you'll be reading more about in this weekend's interview with CCS senior Alex Joon Kim). Alex, Joe Lambert and Chuck Forsman were there to receive it, and all seemed very pleased with it --
-- my first new Tyrant page for publication in over ten years!

That's all I'll say for now.

It's done, it's in, and it'll be featured in the Sundays anthology debuting at MoCCA on June 23rd.

Now all that's left on my board with the clock ticking is a story CCS pioneer class graduate Sean Morgan invited me to jam on with him, "Area Stoned." I'm drawing the aliens and their spacecraft for Sean's tale, and we're having some fun with it. Sean's interview -- here, later this week -- will discuss this new anthology he's debuted at MoCCA, the comic that will feature this extraterrestrial extravaganza (along with the zombie story he completed for the Accent UK Zombies -- but proved too controversial for that collection!), so I'll leave it for Sean to tell you all about it.

So, that's three books I'll have new work in that you can peruse and purchase at MoCCA, folks -- Sean's anthology, the oversize Sundays anthology, and the new Trees & Hills anthology comic.

And, speaking of Zombies -- if the package on the slow boat from the UK arrives in time, you may also have a shot at picking up a copy of Accent UK's Zombies anthology there, too! As already shamelessly ballyhooed here all this year, that features a new cover and a four-pager by my son Daniel and I (along with some terrific stories by a clutch of CCS talent and Accent UK's lineup of their native contributors, including Leah Moore and John Reppion). Here's hoping the package shows up this week.

There will also be some vintage Bissette for sale at MoCCA, at the King Hell Press table -- and it's primo vintage Bissette & Veitch stuff, at that.

Rick Veitch will be at MoCCA and he'll have copies of Shiny Beasts there for sale, featuring our full-color "Monkey See" story -- unseen since its first (and until now only) appearance in 1980 in Epic #2.

Dig a little deeper between those covers and you'll also find my rendition of the ravages of cosmic VD in Rick's and Alan Moore's long-lost Epic collaboration "Love Doesn't Last Forever"... along with a plethora of mind-bending, eye-popping solo Veitch delights, making Shiny Beasts one of the must-have acquisitions at MoCCA for those who care.

So, there ya go. Three, hopefully four new titles with all-new Bissette comics creations, and one corker of a reprint collection sporting one of my sweetest pre-Swamp Thing collaborations, and one of my few painted full-color efforts at that.

My retirement from the comics industry stands, but there's plenty to make you happy in reach as of this week! I fully expect all these comics to sell out, then, right? There's nothing in it for me -- though you'll sure make a crew of CCSers happy! -- but plenty in it for you.

All of these are or will be for sale online, too; once the CCS titles debut at MoCCA, we'll post the sales venue links here. So, if you're craving a fresh Bissette comics fix, thanks to my son Dan, the CCSers, Accent UK (and Leah and John) and the Trees & Hills folks, you can feast for the first time in years.

OK, signing off. It's after 1 AM, and I'm off to bed.

Have a splendid Saturday...

Shiny Beasts is Here!

Alan Moore Fans, Take Heed --

Well, we did it -- Rick Veitch, Alan Moore and I signed the same pieces of paper for the first time since 1999.

The earth did not shift, the sky did not fall, all went well.

But fair warning and high-alert to Alan Moore fans: this is likely to be your one and only chance, ever, to get all three signatures in one book, in one place.

You snooze, you lose. Jump on this opportunity.

To celebrate the release of Rick Veitch's latest trade paperback collection Shiny Beasts, Panel to Panel.net offers a once-in-a-lifetime, exclusive tipped-in bookplate signed by Rick Veitch, along with collaborators Alan Moore and Stephen R. Bissette.

As I've already boasted on this very blog, this new King Hell collection of primo past Rick Veitch treasures features one of Rick's and my key collaborative efforts, "Monkey See," from Epic #2. It's a story I'm still extremely proud of, and hope you'll enjoy. Shiny Beasts also features the one-and-only Epic story Alan Moore ever scripted, "Love Doesn't Last Forever," which also sports a graphic interstellar VD diseased panel ghosted by yours truly (making it yet another Moore/Veitch/Bissette collaborative effort from our personal 'golden age').

Like "Monkey See," "Love Doesn't Last Forever" has been out of print and hence out of reach for most avid Moore fans for almost a quarter-century, and it's well worth picking up the entire collection for this single jewel alone.

But Moore fans will want to jump on this singular signed bookplate most of all. It's no secret that (a) Alan has ceased attending any comics conventions or any US event whatsoever since the late 1980s, and (b) Alan chooses not to have any relations with yours truly, making a joint signing venture ever again in this lifetime highly unlikely (the last publicly-available signing was for Tim Underwood's hardcover limited edition of Stanley Wiater's and my own Comic Book Rebels, almost 15 years ago -- long out of print and out of circulation; FYI, the last co-signing of the three of us was for the contract necessary to the somber 1999 division of the '1963' characters and concepts as a legally-shared property).

Thus, PaneltoPanel is offering something exquisitely singular and rare here -- and quantities are extremely limited (there's only about 80 signature plates), so really, don't wait a moment to order. This may be your only window of opportunity.

Of course, all of this is gravy, really. Shiny Beasts is a collection well worth owning in any case, offering a one-stop overview of all of Rick Veitch's color comics work prior to his leap into the graphic novel form with the serialized Epic sf-adventure epic Abraxas and the Earthman (also recently collected by King Hell in a single volume, and essential reading). Actually, the Shiny Beasts body of work is sandwiched between Rick's first two graphic novels -- our collaborative effort on the Heavy Metal/Simon & Schuster movie adaptation graphic novel 1941: The Illustrated Story (1979) and Rick's Abraxas and the Earthman -- Rick really is one of the unsung pioneers of the graphic novel form, plunging into the expansive format a mere year or two after Will Eisner codified it with the pioneer A Contract With God (1977/78).

But what the hell, hardsell internet commerce sometimes requires further sweetening of the proverbial pot. All right, potheads, if you need any further coaxing --

order now, and receive free shipping on any other trade paperback collection from Rick Veitch's King Hell Press (here's the list, via this link).

So c'mon, what are you waiting for?

Don't forget to check out PaneltoPanel's other great exclusive bookplates, here; there's some great cartoonists, graphic novels, and rare signatures and bookplates to be found here!

Bryan Talbot's Alice in Sunderland, Rob Walton's Ragmop (among my favorite graphic novels of all time, pictured at left -- and one of the precious few graphic novels that's also hilarious), Michael Zulli's TMNT: Soul's Winter, Mark Martin's Runaway Comics (and the ultra-rare Runaway Comics 2.1), Bob Fingerman's delightful kids'n'zombies opus Recess Pieces, Gene Colan (!!!) signed bookplate for the Doctor Strange vs. Dracula collection, two volumes of Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and more Rick Veitch -- Abraxas and the Earthman and Rick's masterpiece Can't Get No -- are among the choice books and bookplates still available (others are sold out -- so don't miss out on your personal fave while it's in reach).

Now, I get nothing from all this; PaneltoPanel proprietor John Rovnak is indeed an old friend, and former owner of the late, great defunct comic shop Comics Route (the best comic shop Vermont ever had). But I love the fact that John is so engaged with promoting such quality work, and ceaselessly promoting the artists and creators whose work he loves. That's something worth supporting across the board. If we can't get more John Rovnaks in this world, let's all support the John Rovnak we've got -- and if this signature event is what initiates your making PaneltoPanel a primary online source for your comics, so be it.

But most of all, this fine Monday morning, it's important to alert those of you who are mutual fans of Alan, Rick and I to this singular opportunity to snag Shiny Beasts with this rare signed bookplate -- an artifact of happier times, for some comics fans and readers -- and to do so now.

Have a great Monday morning, one and all -- it's a beaut of a morning here in Windsor, VT, and I'm eager to get on with my day.