Black Summer: Warren Ellis on the Motives Behind the Masks

Posted on March 29, 2007 by Mark Seifert

BLACK SUMMER is a superhero novel. Mostly.

William Christensen is a betting man, and a while back he made me three bets. He bet me I couldn’t get a new spin out of the zombie story. He bet me I couldn’t write a fantasy story. And he bet me I couldn’t get a new angle on the superhero story.

Since I returned to Marvel Comics a couple of years ago, I’ve been tasked with thinking about superhero fiction kind of a lot, with a mandate as a sort of walking one-man R&D department. So, with BLACKGAS and WOLFSKIN already under my belt, I sat down to think about this. And now I own several of William Christensen’s internal organs. Which is just as well, as many of mine are failing fast after having written this.

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Avatar Press in Stores Now 03/28/07

Posted on March 28, 2007 by David

This week looks to be a skip week in many local areas for brand new Avatar Press releases. However, if you’ve been expecting one of your Avatar favorites to come out in your area, you may want to check in with your local store to verify — it is not uncommon for indy release arrivals to vary by a week or so from Diamond’s official release-list date. Ask your retailer about the Avatar Press titles that interest you. Although many retailers make the very latest brand-new releases for the week available on Wednesday in the comic book industry, some may put out restocked items, trade paperback releases, and other items at other times as well, so you may want to stop by and check ‘em out anyway — here’s a list of recent Avatar Press releases.

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Ellis Talks Black Summer with Wizard

Posted on March 26, 2007 by Mark Seifert

No matter where you turn, it’s looking like a Black Summer this year.  WARREN ELLIS’ BURNING QUESTION – WizardUniverse.

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New Warren Ellis interview on Black Summer

Posted on March 23, 2007 by Mark Seifert

SUMMER TIME…BLACK WARREN ELLIS ON BLACK SUMMER – NEWSARAMA

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May 2007 Solicited Releases

Posted on March 22, 2007 by Mark Seifert

The comics and related items on this page are scheduled to ship from Avatar in May, 2007. These items should be available for order from your favorite comics retailer. If not, you can order direct from Avatar via our direct sales agent Comic Cavalcade.

Here’s a link to the complete list of May 2007 Solicited Releases in the store.

Solicited for May:

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Avatar Press in Stores Now 03/21/07

Posted on March 21, 2007 by David

The Avatar Press comics and other items listed below are available in comic shops worldwide beginning this week, according to our distributor. Most retailers in the U.S. display new shipments for the week beginning on Wednesday . Ask your local stores about these items. If you can’t find them locally, the links below will take you to those items in the store, which includes graphics and descriptions of those items.

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Mark Sweeney talks BLACK SUMMER

Posted on March 20, 2007 by David

Working with the likes of Warren Ellis and Juan Jose Ryp is no small order, but colorist Mark Sweeney is ready for the task. Sweeney took some time out of his day to talk about the upcoming project BLACK SUMMER which he is coloring.

How did you come to be involved with Black Summer?

MS: I was dragged in kicking and screaming.

No…. William asked me if I’d like to color a monthly series by Juan Jose Ryp and Warren Ellis. William didn’t elaborate on what it was about, but was very excited about it, and said I’d be perfect for it. Even from the beginning, secrecy was paramount… Continue reading →

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Black Summer quick hits

Posted on March 16, 2007 by Mark Seifert

A couple updates on Black Summer coverage around the web.

  • Political Blog Inside the Beltway picks up the news – “Graphic novelist extraordinaire Warren Ellis’s newest series, Black Summer, has a great chance of being one of the most talked about comics in awhile. After all, the premise is that a superhero decides that the President of the United States is a criminal.”
  • The CBR article hits Digg.
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Black Summer details emerge

Posted on March 15, 2007 by Mark Seifert

Masked heroes at Avatar!? The rumors are true. Williams says: “I’ve always said I’m not going to publish superhero comics at Avatar until I can do them better than Marvel and DC. I just did.”

Interview with Warren about the series and preview artwork at CBR. More discussion at The Engine (1 – 2).

Details & Blurb:

Writer: Warren Ellis
Art: Juan Jose Ryp
Readership: MR
Format: Full Color, 16 page 99 cent #0 issue in June (w/ original story) followed by $2.99 7-issue series.

This summer, the world goes black as Warren Ellis unveils his all-new super-powered heroes and villains epic that promises to be the biggest event of 2007! With art by the genius Juan Jose Ryp, no fan of The Authority or Wanted will want to miss this bleeding-edge eight issue masterpiece. The #0 features an original story that leads directly into the full-size monthly series that starts in August priced at just $2.99 per issue! When the political situation in the USA becomes more than Horus can stand, he moves to take matters into his own hands. But since not all his other team-mates aren’t so eager to throw the world into chaos, an epic conflict starts to form. And no one will be safe as the bodies start to fall.

Keep track of the latest info on this major summer project here and at blacksummer.net.

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Avatar Press in Stores Now 03/14/07

Posted on March 12, 2007 by David

The Avatar Press comics and other items listed below are available in comic shops worldwide beginning this week, according to our distributor. Most retailers in the U.S. display new shipments for the week beginning on Wednesday . Ask your local stores about these items. If you can’t find them locally, the links below will take you to those items in the store, which includes graphics and descriptions of those items.

Garth Ennis unleashes his next major religious epic in the vein of Preacher, but this-time, he’s taking it up a notch! Danny Wormwood is having all the troubles of modern man, his TV shows have issues, he cheats on his wife, and his rabbit talks back to him. But this poor sod also has to deal with the fact that his dad is Satan himself and Pope Jacko and the Catholic church are also raising Hell. Oh yeah, the Armageddon is about to start and Jesus is a right thicko, not much help there. Ennis drags the whole world into the gutter with his trademark razor-sharp dialogue, biting wit, and the stunning art of Jacen Burrows, all in full-color. The Chronicles of Wormwood is an on-going series of series that you will not want to miss! This sacrilegious artifact is available is two covers, Regular and Visions of Hell Wraparound, both by series artist Jacen Burrows.

New to the series, miss issue #1? Check out the recent press releases, information, and reviews which are available on the debut issue of the series.

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