That Marvelous News!

The lowdown on Wastelanders: Star Lord

Hey everyone!

Last time I wrote, I announced my first Marvel gig, the Wastelanders: Star Lord one-shot that will be out in December - along with a whole slew of other great books. I’m working with Brent Peeples on art, with a beautiful cover by Josemaria Casanovas.

How did this happen?

Writing for Marvel has been a dream of mine for a long, long time, as I’m sure you can imagine. When I started writing comics about 10 years ago, I was pretty sure it would take me about a year, maybe two, before I was writing the next big, universe-shaking event starring all my favorite characters. I mean, it was inevitable, right? Once the editors read my comics, they’d have no choice!

In reality, though, I now know it was never going to be that easy – for a thousand and one reasons, most of which were far beyond my control.

The one thing I had right was that in order to get a job at Marvel, I needed to have books of my own written, and I needed to have someone at Marvel read and enjoy them. And even then, there are no guarantees.

I kept sending my work in as I completed it, often times not knowing whether anyone was actually reading it. I met editors at cons, and just did my best to let them know I was interested and able - like any of the thousands of people who did the exact same thing.

But the more shots you take, the more chances one of them lands - and I was lucky enough that Mark, my editor on WSL, was willing to take that chance. I really can’t thank him enough for it, and working with him on it has been amazing.

So, yeah… Star Lord!

I never in a million years would have guessed that was a character someone wanted me to write - much less the wasteland version of him, which is a relatively new addition to the Marvel Universe. Not because I don’t love him - I do! But the idea of writing him honestly just never occurred to me.

So no, I didn’t have some amazing Star Lord story in my back pocket that I’d been dying to write for the longest time. I hadn’t dreamed and fantasized about writing the guy - but man, was I ready to jump on it when the opportunity came my way!

I’d been a fan for a while, but I dove back in to reading everything I could get my hands on, like the Annihilation evenr, and some of the excellent Guardians of the Galaxy of the past, like the Black Vortex saga written by Sam Humphries. And of course, I reread all the existing wastelands books, from the original Old Man Logan, to both volumes of Old Man Quill, written by my friend Ethan Sacks.

And through all of that, a picture of Peter Quill emerged - what drives him, and makes him tick - and I set out to tell a story that would sorely test that, and really push him to the limit.

Art has started coming in from Brent, and let me tell you, it’s amazing. You’re not going to be disappointed. I can’t believe some of the characters we’ve been able to use for this, and I wish I could share some sneak peeks, but that’ll have to wait.

NEW YORK COMIC CON!

ARTIST ALLEY TABLE L-4

NYCC is back in… a WEEK? Wow. I can’t believe it’s been over a year since I’ve done a con, but hey, if there was ever a great show to come back with, it’s my hometown jam.

I’ll be with my partner in crime, Joe Mulvey at Artist Alley Table L-4 - where we’ll have an NYCC Exclusive cover of Happy Hill #1 for sale!

If you’re going to be at the show, drop by and say hello! I’ll be there all weekend to sign books, chat about comics, and have a great time!

10/4 LIVE SESSION WITH THE COMICS PUBLISHING INSTITUTE

To help kick off NYCC week, this Monday I’ll be doing a special live session with my friend Gamal Hennessy, for his Comics Publishing Institute program. Gamal literally wrote the book about The Business of Independent Comic Book Publishing, and is on a mission to give everyone the tools they need to publish their own comic books.

I’m really looking forward to talking with him and answering questions from members of his group!

You can sign up for the CPI right here, which gives you access to the entire series of expert talks, and more!

SEA OF SORROWS NEWS!

Just a little reminder that the SEA OF SORROWS trade paperback will be available soon from IDW! If you missed the single issues of our horrific deep sea adventure, you’ll get your chance to read it in full on November 16th!

It’s available for pre-order right now from your local comic store, or Amazon, so if you’re interested, please reserve a copy!

All right, that’s all I’ve got for this week. I’ll be back soon with more news and musings about the comics business. Hope to see some of you at the con!

- Rich