It’s time to celebrate the Spooky Season—with e-books and digital comics! E-book distributors DriveThru Comics and DriveThru Fiction—along with sister site DriveThru RPG—have kicked off their annual Halloween sale, during which you can purchase thousands of horror-themed digital books and comics and roleplaying games at special prices! It runs until November 1—and yes, you’ll need to set up an account (it’s free) to take advantage of this promotion.
Included among the many participating publishers is StarWarp Concepts (of course), which means you can get select titles at lower prices. (To be honest, I’m never sure which titles are involved until the sale happens, as DTC never sends out notifications and they’re kind of loosey-goosey with their choices.)
Again, the Halloween sale runs through November 1 (the Day of the Dead!), so head over to the StarWarp Concepts publisher page at DriveThru Comics and start shopping!
Hey, Monster Kids! The celebration of King Kong’s 90th anniversary this year continues with the return of our Kong-related feature Hail to the King (Kong), a series of occasional posts in which we spotlight images related to the god-emperor of Skull Island—some you might recognize; some might be completely new to you.
Our latest entry is from comic-art legend Gray Morrow (Creepy, Zatanna, Chilling Adventures in Sorcery), who provided this spectacular front-page illustration for The Monster Times #1, cover dated January 26, 1972. TMT was a horror-magazine competitor of the more well-known Famous Monsters of Filmland, originally published on a biweekly schedule, and always printed in the format of a tabloid newspaper like The New York Times—the front cover was “above the fold,” the back cover “below the fold.” Plus every issue had a foldout centerfold poster! (In all honesty, TMT was the first monster mag I became aware of as a horror fan, not encountering Famous Monsters until I was in the middle of my Star Wars fandom in the late 1970s, when they put R2D2 on the cover of an issue.)
The Monster Times ran for 48 issues (plus three specials, two of them devoted to Star Trek), ending its run in July 1976, but it was never far from the memories of its Monster Kid readership. And its spirit lived on a bit in a magazine that followed in the 1990s, The Phantom of the Movies’ Videoscope, from former TMT editor Joe Kane (aka the Phantom).
But it was Kong who got the ball rolling, with that striking Gray Morrow illustration for the first issue (not to mention a Bernie Wrightson Frankenstein poster as the centerfold). Kong: the King of Monster Mags!
And while we’re on the subject of the big ape, in case you’re unfamiliar with the story of Kong and his obsession with struggling Depression-era actress Anne Darrow, the Beauty to his Beast, it just so happens that your friendly fiends here at ’Warp Central have the perfect book for you…
King Kong is a digital-exclusive republication of the 1932 novelization of the original movie classic. Written by Delos W. Lovelace, based on the story by Edgar Wallace and Merian C. Cooper and the screenplay by James A. Creelman and Ruth Rose, it includes scenes that didn’t appear in the final cut of the film—including the notorious “spider pit” sequence in which Kong’s human pursuers are attacked by horrific arachnids and insects. Our version features six original black-and-white illustrations by comics artist Paul Tuma, whose work has appeared in the pages of The Twilight Zone, Paul Kupperberg’s Secret Romances, and Bloke’s Terrible Tomb of Terror.
King Kong is available for download right now, so visit its product page for ordering information.
As pop culture and comic fans know, today is the opening day for New York Comic Con 2023—which, if it runs true to form, will be an absolute madhouse this weekend!
Unfortunately, StarWarp Concepts won’t be part of the festivities. But that doesn’t mean you can’t experience a sort of scaled-down SWC version of the big show right here!
You want vendors? Our webstore is open 24/7, so at any time you can order our amazing titles that range from comics and graphic novels to fantasy and dark fantasy novels, and from Illustrated Classics to nonfiction books about gaming and comics history. Not to mention Pandora Zwieback T-shirts and art prints!
Convention giveaways? Our Downloads page has a bunch of free stuff—Pandora Zwieback wallpapers for your smartphone and computer, and book samples. We also have free digital comics:
The Saga of Pandora Zwieback #0 is a full-color introduction to the young adult novel series of the same name, hosted by Pan herself. Pan is a 16-year-old New York City Goth who’s not only a horror fangirl but someone with the rare ability to see the for-real monsters that regular humans can’t (she calls it her “monstervision”), and with the help of a 400-year-old, shape-shifting monster hunter named Sebastienne “Annie” Mazarin, she’s learning how to protect her family, her friends, and the world from the supernatural dangers out there—and maybe even have some fun while doing it. This 16-page comic features a seven-page story written by me, with art and color by my ofttimes collaborator Eliseu “Zeu” Gouveia (The Saga of Pandora Zwieback Annual #1, Lorelei: Sects and the City, The Legend of Calamity Jane: The Devil Herself), and includes two sample chapters from Blood Feud, the first Pan novel.
Hearstopper: The Legend of La Bella Tenebrosa #1–3: Before she became Pandora Zwieback’s monster-hunting mentor, Sebastienne “Annie” Mazarin made her debut in this short-lived, 1990s Mature Readers series from Millennium Publications. A nefarious heavy metal band has arrived in New York City, and its lead singer is more than just a sex magnet for his female fans—he’s a soul-stealing incubus! Will Annie put an end to his plans for worldwide chaos, or fall prey to his supernatural charms?
Written by me (of course), issue 1 is drawn by Pan and Annie co-creator Uriel Caton (JSA Annual) and inker Alan Larsen (Femforce); issue 2 is penciled by Uriel, Holly Golightly (School Bites), and David C. Matthews (Satin Steele) and inked by Larsen; and issue 3 is penciled by Holly, with four pages of inks by “Chainsaw” Chuck Majewski (Harvey Kurtzman’s New Two-Fisted Tales). As a special bonus, issue 3 includes a brief look at the never-published Heartstopper/Trollords, a crossover special that would have had Annie meet Harry, Larry, and Jerry, the Three Stooges–inspired trolls created by Scott Beaderstadt and Paul Fricke for their popular comic series of the 1980s. H/T was to be written by me with pencils by Holly and Scott and inks by Bill Lavin (Troubleshooters, Incorporated: Night Stalkings), but unfortunately it just never got past the starting gate.
And Heroines & Heroes is a collection of comic stories and pinups all drawn by me, dating back to my days in the early 1990s small-press movement—that age of dinosaurs in which creators like me used to make our comics by printing them out on photocopiers and then stapling them by hand. In H&H you’ll find mainstream heroes and small-press heroines, and even a couple of anthropomorphic bikers. Leading off is “V-A-C-A-T-I-O-N (in the Summertime),” a three-page Wonder Woman vs. Harley Quinn story that I wrote and drew in the late ’90s as a sample for a DC Comics editor who thought I’d be a good fit for their Batman: The Animated Series comic (long story short, it didn’t work out). The WW/Harley matchup is followed by an adventure of small-presser Jeff Wood’s rabbit-eared superspy, Snowbuni; three pages from the long-canceled indie comic Motorbike Puppies; and an adventure of the 1990s indie superheroine The Blonde Avenger.
Artists Alley? Our Gallery area—think of it as an online artists’ alley—features two sections, The 13 Days of Pan-demonium and Visions of Lorelei, both containing original renderings of our two best-known characters by a host of artists from indie and mainstream comics, including such notables as Mike Mignola (Hellboy, Cosmic Odyssey), Elizabeth Watasin (Charm School), Teri S. Wood (Wandering Star), Neil Vokes (Tom Holland’s Fright Night), Frank Thorne (Red Sonja), Louis Small Jr. (Vampirella), Dave Simon (Ghost Rider), Bill Ward (Torchy), and Joseph Michael Linsner (Dawn/Vampirella)!
So the StarWarp Concepts crew might not be hanging out at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center over in Manhattan, but at least you can have a con-like experience from the comfort of your home!
Concluding the history of StarWarp Concepts, which is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year.
For all the promotion Pandora Zwieback got at New York Comic Con 2010, it was The Bob Larkin Sketchbook that became StarWarp Concepts’ first book release, in May 2011: a collection of pencil drawings (that later became paintings) by the legendary cover painter for Marvel, DC, Warren Publishing, and many other publishing houses and movie studios.
It was followed in June by a two-fer: Blood Feud: The Saga of Pandora Zwieback, Book 1, with the much-hyped teen Goth monster fighter making her literary debut behind a Bob Larkin cover painting; and Carmilla, a reprint of J. Sheridan Le Fanu’s 19th-century female-vampire novella that was the first entry in our SWC Illustrated Classics line.
The mesmerizing cover image for Carmilla was provided by Marc Witz, a professional photographer whose work you would have seen in DC Comics at that time—it was his pictures of various DC licensed products (action figures, statues, etc.) that appeared in the company’s in-house ads. Marc later provided an equally impressive photo for our second Illustrated Classic, Edgar Rice Burroughs’s A Princess of Mars, published in 2012, in time for the book’s 100th anniversary.
There was one hiccup, though. Carmilla’s interior artist was originally announced as Louis Small, Jr., who had built up a legion of fans from his work in the 1990s for Harris Comics on their various Vampirella comic books; Louis had also provided cover art for my own Lorelei, Vol. 1 #0–1 in 1993. For reasons I can’t remember Louis became unavailable (I think it was he just dropped out of touch), and I had to scramble to find a replacement.
Luckily, I had already been working with Eliseu “Zeu” Gouveia on what would become the graphic novel Lorelei: Sects and the City (published in 2012), and he was happy to jump in and deliver what turned out to be his first (but certainly not last!) spectacular job for SWC. It just meant I had to slap a sticker in every copy of the recently printed 2011 catalog explaining that Zeu was the new artist. (He then went on to illustrate A Princess of Marsas well.)
As the years progressed, we entered into a deal with my friend Richard C. White—whose small-press version of Troubleshooters, Incorporated I’d published in the early ’90s—to publish his book projects, including the graphic novel version of TSI; introduced print and digital comics to our growing list; and launched the SWC Horror Bites line of digital-exclusive short tales of terror.
As one might expect, there have been ups and downs in the dozen years that have passed since those first releases—in particular, the COVID lockdown in 2020 played absolute havoc with the promotion of my Vampirella history book, From the Stars…a Vampiress, which came out the week before we all had to shelter in place. But through the good times and the bad we’ve stayed positive, and look forward to the projects we’ve got in the works, including Lorelei: Sweet Soul Music, her first full-color comic adventure, and Lester del Rey’s Time Ring, our first licensed comic adaptation.
And so we come to the end of StarWarp Concepts’ history…so far. But as the title card says just before the closing credits of 1979’s Star Trek: The Motion Picture:
Continuing the history of StarWarp Concepts, which is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year.
Last time, I was telling you about the creation of our resident Goth girl, Pandora Zwieback, and how she was going to lead a revived ’Warp out of comics and into book publishing. All I needed was a way to get folks’ attention…
I’d decided that the 2010 New York Comic Con would be the launch stage for the company’s return to publishing—certainly the right venue at which to get attention from genre fans. Now the preparations began in earnest.
Steve Roman and artist Bob Larkin (far right) pose with fans at NYCC 2010. Photo by Frank Roman.
I had catalogs printed up, as well as two-sided bookmarks—Pan on one side, and J. Sheridan Le Fanu’s vampiress Carmilla on the other (to promote the first entry in the SWC Illustrated Classics line of books). I hired longtime friend and comic-art legend Bob Larkin (Doc Savage, Dazzler, Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, Star Trek: The Motion Picture) to paint three Pan book covers and then had a banner designed that incorporated the art; it would be the booth’s backdrop. And then I dreamed up the major bait to draw attendees to the booth:
The Saga of Pandora Zwieback#0—a free, full-color comic book that would introduce Pan and preview the first novel, Blood Feud. Not exactly a small investment on my part—I planned on printing 3,000 copies to give away—but I felt it was a necessary expense in order to make an impression.
I contacted artist Eliseu “Zeu” Gouveia—whom I’d been working with on what would become the graphic novel Lorelei: Sects and the City—and explained the project. He enthusiastically signed on to draw and color it, I sent him the comic script, and before you knew it—thanks to designer and letterer Mike Rivilis, and the folks at Brenner Printing—we had a finished comic. (And one you can still download for free here.)
NYCC 2010 became StarWarp Concepts’ first convention appearance in five years, and I went full-bore on the setup: an indie publisher booth (about $1,000 for the spot, but I had to bring my own table and chairs); full-color comics, bookmarks, and digest-size catalogs to give away; and an appearance by Larkin, who didn’t do a lot of conventions.
The reaction from con-goers was even more startling than I expected. People flooded in to learn about the company’s upcoming releases—Pan’s, in particular—and to meet Larkin (who was equally shocked to discover he had so many young fans). Bob and I did an interview with the cable show Sci-Fi Ninja Theater (an episode that, to my knowledge, never aired). And a lot of Pan #0 copies got handed out.
So the initial response was overwhelmingly positive. Now all I needed to do was start releasing the titles I’d been at NYCC to promote…
Got a favorite book? Well, odds are good there’s someone out there in the United States who’d liked to see it censored or made completely unavailable—an unfortunate phenomenon that seems to grow larger with each passing year.
According to a March 23rd Publishers Weekly article, the American Library Association “tracked a stunning 1,269 ‘demands to censor library books and resources’ in 2022.” That’s a huge jump from previous years: 319 in 2019, 681 in 2020, and 729 in 2021.
That’s where Banned Books Week comes in—an annual celebration of literacy in which the spotlight is shone on the problem of censorship in U.S. libraries and bookstores. To quote the Banned Books Week website:
Banned Books Week was launched in 1982 in response to a sudden surge in the number of challenges to books in schools, bookstores and libraries…. Banned Books Week brings together the entire book community in shared support of the freedom to seek and to express ideas, even those some consider unorthodox or unpopular.
This year’s theme is “Let Freedom Read,” which, according to an ALA press release, “captures what’s at stake for our democracy: that the safety of our right to speak and think freely is directly in proportion to our right to read. ALA encourages libraries in every context to mark Banned Books Week by inviting other groups within their communities to celebrate and take action to protect our freedom to read all year long.”
And if you’re a resident of Queens, NY (home to ’Warp’s Central), there are events being held all this week at public libraries across the borough to mark the occassion. Check out this article at QNS.com for further info.
Continuing the history of StarWarp Concepts, which is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year.
In late 2009, I decided to take the plunge again and get back to publishing. But what project would be worth restarting the SWC engine? As much as I enjoyed writing Lorelei, I hadn’t been having much luck in reconnecting with the audience that had purchased her 1990s series, so it was probably best to not go back to the well on that character. However, taking the easy path of turning the company into a home for superhero titles didn’t appeal to me at all.
Then I remembered a book project that I had shopped around between 2005 and 2006 to editors and literary agents, with no success: Heartstopper. Yes, the same title as the short-lived Mature Readers comic I had written and packaged during the 1990s “bad girl” era—only this was a revival of a book series proposal that I’d come close to selling in 1998 to Parachute Press, best known for its R.L. Stine–authored, bestselling Goosebumps and Fear Street book series. In this version, the comic’s writer-turned-part-time-exotic-dancer, Sebastienne “Annie” Mazarin, was now more of a fully clothed, supernatural Doctor Who, battling monsters with the aid of a teen Goth sidekick named Pandora Zwieback. Pan had been added because the books were going to be aimed at teenaged readers; she would serve as the audience’s entry point to Annie’s strange adventures.
You can read the whole story behind my interaction with Parachute Press here.
By 2005, I’d overhauled the project after following some really great advice I received from a number of people I knew in the book industry. The one thing they’d all agreed on was that for a young adult readership, Pan needed to become the main character instead of Annie. It made a lot of sense, but to me that meant a title change: Heartstopper had been attached to Annie since her creation in 1994 and it felt wrong to shift it over to Pan. The girl needed her own identity.
So I visited bookstores and wandered through the fantasy and young adult sections for inspiration, checking out titles. Eventually, I began to notice that some novel series were referred to as sagas—well, then, why not the same for Pan?
Thus, The Saga of Pandora Zwieback was born. Sure sounded like a catchy enough title to get people’s attention.
But catchy titles and Goth leading heroines held little appeal for the editors and agents I approached with my proposal. A lot of “It’s not right for us” (book-speak for I personally don’t care for it) responses followed, accompanied by some god-awful suggestions for how I could “improve” the material to make it more marketable: Make it a Twilight knockoff. Ditch Pan’s Goth background. Add more romance, cut out all the violence. Change the ethnicity of Pan’s new boyfriend, Javier (“Does he have to be a Puerto Rican? If you’re trying to get a foreign rights sale, he’s the wrong kind of Hispanic.”). The stupidity ultimately reached the point where I threw up my hands and said, “Screw it! I’ll publish it myself.”
Which brings us back to 2009.
Why notpublish it myself? I thought. Better yet, why not also upgrade the company’s identity from comic publisher to book publisher? StarWarp Concepts: the home of dark urban fantasy (few in the industry call it “horror” anymore) novels, graphic novels, and the occasional comic, aimed at readers from eight to eighty! I liked the sound of it.
All right, so I had a new direction for the company, and a new project to launch it with; now, how to get the word out? I decided that the 2010 New York Comic Con would be the place to make the announcement. All I needed was a hook to catch the eye of con-goers…
Today is National Comic Book Day, an unofficial “holiday” that’s celebrated every year on this date…although no one seems to know why that is, or who exactly started the tradition. Nevertheless, if you’re thinking that the friendly fiends at StarWarp Concepts musthave some illustrated fiction that would be perfect for this occasion—you’re absolutely right!
The Saga of Pandora Zwieback #0 is a free, downloadable comic that serves as an introduction to the adventures of Pandora Zwieback and her monster-hunting mentor, Sebastienne “Annie” Mazarin, with an 8-page story written by Steven A. Roman (that’s me) and illustrated by Eliseu Gouveia (Hell High, Beware the Witch’s Shadow), and a preview of Pan’s first novel, Blood Feud: The Saga of Pandora Zwieback, Book 1. Pan is a 16-year-old Goth girl who’s spent the last decade being treated for mental health problems because she can see monsters. It’s only after she meets Annie that Pan discovers she’s never been ill—her so-called “monstervision” is actually a supernatural gift that allows her to see into Gothopolis, the not-so-mythical shadow world that exists right alongside the human world.
The Saga of Pandora Zwieback Annual #1 is a 56-page, full-color comic special that features cover art by award-winning artist Henar Torinos (Mala Estrella) and contains three original stories. In “Song of the Siren,” by writer Steven A. Roman and artist Eliseu Gouveia, the teenaged Goth adventuress matches wits with a man-stealing enchantress who’s set her sights on Pan’s boyfriend, Javier. It’s followed by “After Hours,” by writer Sholly Fisch (The Batman & Scooby-Doo Mysteries), and comic-art legend Ernie Colon (Amethyst, Princess of Gemworld), in which a demon walks into a bar to unwind after a long day of scarifying. And rounding out the issue is “Shopping Maul,” a short story by Roman with title-page art by Elizabeth Watasin (Charm School), in which Pan and Annie, along with Javier and Pan’s best friend, Sheena, run into a group of Gothic Lolita vampires out to do more than a little window shopping.
Heroines and Heroes is another free digital comic book! It’s a collection of stories (and a few pinups) that I’ve drawn over the years, featuring mainstream and indie comic characters that include the superheroic Blonde Avenger fighting a (maybe?) vampire at a comic convention, the anthropomorphic Motorbike Puppies, the half-human/half-rabbit superspy Snowbuni, and my “legendary” Wonder Woman-meets-Harley Quinn three-page tale that was meant to be my entrée to fame and fortune as a DC Comics artist (it didn’t work out, though).
Heartstopper: The Legend of La Bella Tenebrosa: Long before she met Pan, Annie was the star of this short-lived “bad girl” comic book miniseries published in the 1990s. Here you’ll find Annie doing a bit of research for an article about gentlemen’s clubs in Times Square—research that includes actually performing as an exotic dancer (I did say it was a ’90s comic, didn’t I?). It’s that part-time gig that brings her into contact with Corum de Sade, a heavy metal singer with a deadly secret: he’s a soul-devouring incubus! All three issues—written by me, with art by cocreator Uriel Caton (JSA Annual), Holly Golightly (School Bites), and David C. Matthews—are available for free from this very website, so download them today!
Lorelei: Sects and the City is a Mature Readers graphic novel in which Lori battles a cult of Elder God worshipers attempting to unleash hell on Earth. Basically a love letter to 1970s horror comics like Vampirella, Tomb of Dracula, and Ghost Rider, it’s written by yours truly, and illustrated by Eliseu Gouveia (Vengeance of the Mummy, Lady Death), Steve Geiger (Amazing Spider-Man Epic Collection: Kraven’s Last Hunt, Incredible Hulk Epic Collection: Going Gray), and Neil Vokes (Tom Holland’s Fright Night, Elvira, Mistress of the Dark). It also features work by three Warren Publishing greats: a cover by legendary artist Esteban Maroto (Vampirella, Zatanna, Lady Rawhide), a frontispiece by original Vampirella artist Tom Sutton (Ghost Rider, Man-Thing, Werewolf by Night), and a history of succubi illustrated by Ernie Colon.
Lorelei Presents: House Macabre is Lori’s debut as the hostess of a horror anthology comic. Behind an eye-catching cover by bad-girl artist supreme Louis Small Jr. (Vampirella, Vampirella Strikes, Vampirella/Lady Death), you’ll find stories by me and Dwight Jon Zimmerman (She-Hulk Epic Collection: The Cosmic Squish Principle). Art is provided by Uriel Caton & “Chainsaw” Chuck Majewski (Heartstopper: The Legend of La Bella Tenebrosa), Lou Manna (Infinity Inc., Young All-Stars, T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents), John Pierard (Graphic Classics: Horror Classics), and Juan Carlos Abraldes Rendo (Bloke’s Tomb of Terror).
Lorelei: Genesis is a 24-page, one-shot digital-exclusive comic that collects the original small-press Lori stories that I wrote and drew back in the late eighties and early nineties. Behind a brand-new cover drawing by yours truly (and colored by Eliseu Gouveia), you’ll find a pair of stories: “Lorelei” is an 8-pager from 1991 in which Lori journeys through the streets of New York on an important mission: to pick up her dry-cleaning! It’s followed by “In the Midnight Hour,” the 1989 story that introduced horror-comic fans to our favorite redheaded succubus, who steps in to rescue a couple being menaced by a street gang. If you’re curious about Lori’s early days as a horror heroine, then be sure to order yourself a copy!
Troubleshooters, Incorporated: Night Stalkings is a general readers’ graphic novel about a group of supernatural-superheroes-for-hire taking on their first case. The team consists of a wizard, a female ninja, a sorceress, a werewolf, and a rock ’n’ roll lighting designer wearing high-tech armor. Sure, they might not be on a power level with the Avengers or Justice League of America—they’re more like superpowered Ghostbusters—but they get the job done. The graphic novel is written by the husband-and-white team of Richard C. White (Chasing Danger: The Case Files of Theron Chase) and Joni M. White, and illustrated by Reggie Golden and Randy Zimmerman. Cover art is provided by Richard Dominguez (El Gato Negro).
And The Chronicles of the Sea Dragon Special is a digital pirate-fantasy comic created and written by Richard C. White, coauthor of SWC’s supernatural-superhero graphic novel Troubleshooters, Incorporated: Night Stalkings. Drawn by Bill Bryan (artist of Caliber Press’ Dark Oz and DC Comics’ House of Mystery), and featuring cover art and color by Eliseu Gouveia (SWC’s The Saga of Pandora Zwieback Annual), it’s 48 pages of high-seas adventure perfect for fans of the Pirates of the Caribbean movie franchise, as well as classics like The Crimson Pirate, Captain Blood, and The Sea Hawk—and it’s available for download for just 99¢!
The Saga of Pandora Zwieback Annual, Lorelei: Sects and the City, Lorelei Presents: House Macabre, and Troubleshooters Incorporated are available in print and digital formats. Pandora Zwieback #0, Lorelei: Genesis, Heartstopper, Heroines and Heroes, and Chronicles of the Sea Dragon are digital exclusives. Visit their respective product pages for ordering information, as well as sample pages.
Continuing the history of StarWarp Concepts, which is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year.
Last time, in Convention Memories, I recounted how Lorelei made another brief appearance in comic shops and at the 2005 San Diego Comic-Con, in the form of Lorelei: Building the Perfect Beast, Vol. 1, a little-noticed but critically well-received trade paperback that collected the original Lorelei series from the 1990s.
But was I going to let a little thing like poor sales and a lack of public attention stop me from keeping The ’Warp up and running? Ummm…actually, it did, as I made the tough decision to put the company on hiatus while I figured out the next direction to take it.
In the meantime, I kept busy, writing two books for gaming company Games Workshop, through their licensed-publishing imprint The Black Library: Final Destination: Dead Man’s Hand, an original novel based on the movie franchise, and The Twilight Zone: Chosen/The Placebo Effect, novelizing (under the pseudonym K.C. Winters) two episodes of the early 2000s’ reboot of the classic TV series, this one hosted by actor Forest Whitaker (Ghost Dog, Star Wars: Rogue One). Those were followed by the Fourth Doctor short story “Into the Silent Land” for the 2006 anthology Doctor Who: Short Trips: Farewells, for audio drama producer and publishing house Big Finish Productions, and “To Sit in Darkness Here, Hatching Vain Empires,” in the 2007 DAW Books anthology If I Were an Evil Overlord.
In the works, too, was an intended relaunch of Lorelei—as I also mentioned in that previous Convention Memories post, I had been introduced to artist Eliseu “Zeu” Gouveia, who was initially hired to help me develop Lorelei: Building the Perfect Beast, Vol. 2, the conclusion to Lori’s origin story. However, after really thinking about the finances involved in producing a graphic novel sequel to a book that didn’t sell well to begin with, I put Beast 2 aside to focus on other, non-Lori projects…
…until, that is, I was approached in late 2008 by “Reed Man,” owner and publisher of France-based Organic Comix, who was interested in reviving the Vampirella-esque, Elder Gods storyline I’d introduced in 2001’s Lorelei, Volume 2 #1. Problem was, original artist Steve Geiger was no longer available—but that’s when I remembered Zeu, and offered him the opportunity to help me finish the story. Zeu said yes, and Organic Comix began serializing “Une Marée de Sang” (basically “Blood Tide”) in issue 10 of its anthology comic magazine, Strange, sharing space with Reed Man’s superheroic Fantask Force and a reprint chapter of Godland, a Jack Kirby–inspired series by writer Joe Casey and artist Tom Scioli originally published by Image Comics.
“Blood Tide” ran in Strange 10–14, with the previously published art of Geiger and Neil Vokes appearing in the first two issues, and Zeu taking over with issue 12.
And then we got canceled.
From what I could figure out—Organic’s reasons for stopping us never being made clear to me—it had to do with the change in art style. Reed Man was a major fan of Jack Kirby’s work, which could be seen reflected in his own Fantask Force. Godland appealed to him because Scioli’s style was based on Kirby’s. As for Lorelei…well, it’s no secret that Steve Geiger’s style was influenced by one of his mentors, comic-art legend Neal Adams, so that Adams-esque style also appealed to Reed Man’s love of “Bronze Age” comics—something we had in common.
But Zeu’s art had nothing in common with Adams’s, or Geiger’s, and so the publisher lost interest in continuing Lori’s story—even though, as he later admitted to me, “Blood Tide” was the most popular feature with Strange’s readership, and Lori their favorite character.
Still, despite her popularity, Lori quickly departed France ten pages into her latest chapter, sharing Strange #14 with another Godland chapter and the third installment of Stan Lee’s Alexa, a canceled-after-the-first-issue superhero comic I’d scripted in 2005 for ibooks, inc. (long story short, ibooks’ publisher, Byron Press, had passed away that year and the company was subsequently shut down), and which had been reprinted by Organic starting in Strange #12. (Organic later reprinted the entire Alexa issue as a one-shot special, with new pages written by me and illustrated by Chris Malgrain. But just like the American version, it still ended with “To Be Continued,” and the story remains unfinished to this day.)
That wasn’t the end of “Blood Tide,” though. Since Zeu and I were already deep into producing the story, we just kept going—and the end result was the 2012 SWC graphic novel Lorelei: Sects and the City. So, a happy ending!
But before Lori returned to U.S. comic shops, I was still making plans for introducing another leading lady of horror to followers of StarWarp Concepts: a Gothy teenage monster fighter named Pandora Zwieback…
Well, shiver me timbers! Whether you’re a fan of the Pirates of the Caribbean movie franchise, the HBO Max comedy series Our Flag Means Death, or classic films like Captain Blood, The Crimson Pirate, and The Sea Hawk, it’s time again to celebrate International Talk Like a Pirate Day—and speaking of swashbuckling adventures, StarWarp Concepts has its own pirate-fantasy comic for you to enjoy!
The Chronicles of the Sea Dragon Special is a one-shot digital comic created and written by Richard C. White, author of the fantasies For a Few Gold Pieces More and Harbinger of Darkness, the noir-fantasy collection Chasing Danger: The Case Files of Theron Chase, and the writer’s guide Terra Incognito: A Guide to Building the Worlds of Your Imagination. It’s drawn by Bill Bryan (artist of Caliber Press’ Dark Oz and DC Comics’ House of Mystery), and sports cover art and color by Eliseu Gouveia (Lorelei: Sects and the City, The Saga of Pandora Zwieback Annual #1).
Best of all, it’s 48 pages of high-seas adventure for just 99¢!
“There seems to be a fair amount of deviousness amongst the crew of the Sea Dragon, but I was greatly pleased to see the heroes using their smarts as well as their swords. Lots of high adventure and old-school artwork make this a fun read for those of us that grew up on Sinbad movies.”—Nth Degree
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