Summertime, and the Reading Is Easy…

Posted on May 25, 2023 by Steven

Next Monday, May 29, is Memorial Day in the United States—a time when the country takes a moment to recognize the sacrifices of the members of our armed forces who’ve given their lives to protect our and the world’s freedoms.

Generally, it’s meant to be a solemn occasion, but Memorial Day Weekend is also considered the unofficial start of summer (which officially falls on June 21, and ends September 23). For many Americans who may or may not have made vacation plans, tomorrow is the start of a four-day weekend—and that means it’s beach season. And beach season means summer reading. And you know what would make for perfect reading this summer? The currently most popular titles from our awesome backlist!

From the Stars…a Vampiress: An Unauthorized Guide to Vampirella’s Classic Horror Adventures, by Steven A. Roman (that’s me!) is a nonfiction history that takes an extensive look at the queen of cpomic book bad girls, from the debut of her series in 1969 to the death of Warren Publishing in 1983. I provide an in-depth guide to all her Warren stories, a checklist of all her Warren appearances (plus the publications from Harris Comics and Dynamite Entertainment that reprinted her Warren adventures), and an overview of the six novelizations by pulp sci-fi author Ron Goulart that were published in the 1970s by Warner Books. Plus, there’s the story behind the rise and fall of Hammer Films’ proposed Vampi movie of the 1970s that was meant to star Playboy model Barbara Leigh and horror icon Peter Cushing—along with a peek at Peter Cushing’s personal copy of the ’70s Vampirella screenplay—and my look at the awful 1996 direct-to-cable-TV movie that was made, produced by b-movie icon Roger Corman and starring Talisa Soto (Mortal Kombat) as Vampirella and rock god Roger Daltrey, legendary lead singer of the Who, as Dracula. There’s also a foreword by Official Vampirella Historian Sean Fernald, a frontispiece by Warren artist Bob Larkin, and photographs from the personal archives of Vampi’s cocreator (and creator/editor of Famous Monsters of Filmland), Forrest J Ackerman.

Terra Incognito: A Guide to Building the Worlds of Your Imagination is our popular how-to book for writers and role-playing gamers in which fantasy author Richard C. White (Harbinger of Darkness, Chasing Danger: The Case Files of Theron Chase) takes you through the step-by-step process of constructing a world for your characters, from societies and governments to currency and religion. A bonus feature is an interview with New York Times bestselling author Tracy Hickman (Dragonlance) that discusses his methods of world building, as well as his creative experiences during his time as a designer for gaming company TSR, the original home of Dungeons & Dragons. In fact, the book is so popular that it’s currently being used as a textbook in the Interactive Media & Game Development program at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Worchester, Massachusetts!

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 “Satana, the Devil’s Daughter,” it’s written by yours truly, Steven A. Roman, and illustrated by Eliseu Gouveia (The Saga of Pandora Zwieback Annual, 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 art by a trio of comic-art legends: a cover painting by Esteban Maroto (Vampirella, Zatanna, Lady Rawhide), a frontispiece by original Vampirella artist Tom Sutton (Ghost Rider, Man-Thing, Werewolf by Night), and a one-page history of succubi illustrated by Ernie Colon (Vampirella, The Grim Ghost).

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).

A Princess of Mars, one of our SWC Illustrated Classics, is the first in the “John Carter of Mars” series by Edgar Rice Burroughs, best known as the creator of the pulp-fiction jungle lord, Tarzan. Unlike Tarzan’s African adventures, Princess is the story of a post–Civil War era American who suddenly finds himself transported to the Red Planet, where he must constantly fight to stay alive against all sorts of alien threats—and where he falls in love with Dejah Thoris, the titular Martian princess. It served as the basis for Disney’s 2012 film adaptation, John Carter and inspired works like Alex Raymond’s Flash Gordon, George Lucas’s Star Wars, and James Cameron’s Avatar.Our edition features six incredible illustrations by SWC artist supreme Eliseu Gouveia (Carmilla, Lorelei: Sects and the City, The Saga of Pandora Zwieback Annual #1), and a special introduction by Mars-fiction expert John Gosling, author of Waging the War of the Worlds.

And Carmilla is J. Sheridan Le Fanu’s 19th-century classic vampiric tale of love gone wrong. Laura is so desperate for a friend that when a young woman named Carmilla practically turns up on the doorstep of the castle owned by Laura’s father, she thinks her prayers for companionship have been answered. But as she comes to realize, Carmilla isn’t as interested in making friends as she is in spilling blood. Regarded as the one of the earliest female vampire tales—if not the first—Carmilla was an influence on author Bram Stoker in the creation of the vampire brides in his seminal novel, Dracula, and remains a popular character in fiction to this day. Just like with A Princess of Mars, our edition contains six original illustrations done especially for StarWarp Concepts by the super-talented Eliseu Gouveia. 

All titles are available in both print and digital formats. Visit their respective product pages for ordering information.

Posted in Carmilla, Classic Fiction, Comic Books, Graphic Novels, Holidays, Horror, Illustrated Classics, Lorelei, Nonfiction, Princess of Mars, Reading, Science Fiction, Summer Reading, Writing Reference Books | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Summertime, and the Reading Is Easy…

SWC at 30: Exit: the Monster Hunter!

Posted on May 24, 2023 by Steven

Continuing the history of StarWarp Concepts, which is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year.

Last week, I was telling you the history of Heartstopper: a 1994 femme-fatale spin-off from the Lorelei comic series I was publishing at the time. Starring an immortal, shape-shifting monster hunter named Sebastienne “Annie” Mazarin, the project has made its debut in NightCry #1—a horror-comic anthology published by indie house Visual Anarchy—as a four-page introduction written by yours truly and penciled by Vampirella artist Louis Small, Jr.

However, when the VA project fell apart, I found a new home for Annie at Millennium Publications, along with an all-new artistic team: penciler Uriel Caton (Ex-Mutants), inker Alan Larsen (Femforce), and colorist Dan Peters (Troubleshooters, Incorporated). But after the first issue was published, things quickly fell apart…

It started when Uriel had to bow out in the middle of the second issue, after completing pencils for eight pages. Then Dan left for Hollywood to pursue his digital-effects-artist career (starting with a run as an animator for the syndicated animated series Roughnecks: Starship Troopers Chronicles). 

In order to get the miniseries back on track, I needed replacements—fast. So I immediately called my Lorelei artist, David C. Matthews, and asked him to pencil the remaining pages. Dave, thankfully, said yes and got to work right away. Finally, unlike his experience with Lorelei, he was going to get to draw one of my bad-girl characters outside and inside the same comic!

Except another problem popped up: After showing Dave’s work in progress to Millennium, I was told he wasn’t the right match for the style Uriel had established, and either I dropped him, or they’d cancel the project. I balked and argued that since I was packaging the project, providing them with the final product to print, and that it was my project to begin with, I should get to decide who works on my comic.

They refused to budge. Find a new artist, they said, or Heartstopper ends here and now.

Sigh.

So I explained the situation to Dave and thanked him for his help, and then turned to an artist I’d recently met at an NYC comic con.

Fauve (real name Holly Golightly) had a background in drawing biographies of adult film stars for indie house Carnal Comics (I think Louis did one or two of those, too), so sexy leading ladies were kinda right in her artistic wheelhouse. She was game to jump in when I offered Heartstopper to her, wanting to do something outside of adult-movie comics; drawing bad girls seemed like the next logical step. And with Holly came her friend Zeea Adams—daughter of comics legend Neal Adams—who offered to provide color. 

The only mainstay, other than myself, was inker Alan Larsen, who wound up doing a stellar job of taking the art of three pencillers and finding a way to make it all look consistent.

In a decent amount of time we were finally back on schedule, the materials got delivered to Millennium, and issue 2 eventually hit comic shops. Thank God. So, on to issue 3!

But then Millennium dropped a bomb on me.

Despite selling over 15,000 copies of issue one (outselling the then-current issue of Harris Comics’ Vampirella), Millennium’s publisher informed me there would be no money coming my way—and therefore no money for me to pay my collaborators. 

He quoted printing costs, design costs, shipping costs, and office production fees as the reasons for why I’d never see a dime on the net-sales royalties deal I’d signed (a pretty standard arrangement in publishing, so I’d signed the contract fully knowing what was involved). Issue two was going to turn out the same, but, I was told, if I’d just hang on until the series was completed and the trade paperback collection eventually came out, why, gosh almighty, there should be plenty of money to make by then.

Truth be told, that didn’t really work for me. People were expecting to get paid for their work—hell, I was expecting to get paid for my work. The thought of two more issues of free story and art with no guarantee of ever seeing money for our efforts…nah, that just wasn’t going to happen. 

(As I often tell people who’ve approached me with unpaid, “for the love” projects—in other words, contributing one’s efforts just for the love of doing it—if I want to work for free…well, that’s why I have my own company.)

So after much mental anguish, I canceled the project just after Holly delivered the third issue’s pencils and the inked cover art. It would have turned out to be a good-looking issue—Alan Larsen had already moved on after finishing issue 2, but an artist named “Chainsaw” Chuck Majewski, whom I’d met through my day job as an editor for Byron Preiss Visual Publications, had already delivered the inks on Holly’s first four pages, and they looked spectacular.

Even worse, I’d already negotiated a deal for Sebastienne’s first crossover with an even more successful indie comic series (and one of my favorites): writer Paul Fricke and artist Scott Beaderstadt’s urban fantasy Trollords, which debuted in the late 1980s and starred a trio of knuckleheaded bridge trolls inspired by the Three Stooges. 

Rough cover design for Heartstopper/Trollords. Colors by Eliseu Gouveia.

Heartstopper/Trollords would involve the Trolls—Larry, Harry, and Jerry—helping their ongoing nemesis Death try to spark a romantic relationship with Sebastienne, with whom he’d become infatuated. The cover, already penciled by Holly and Scott, and inked by Bill Lavin (of our graphic novel Troubleshooters, Incorporated: Night Stalkings), featured Annie attending a shotgun wedding—her own, with Death!—with the Trolls definitely on the groom’s side of the aisle. Scott had also penciled the first three pages, which Bill had also inked. I thought it was a great opening: Death attending a family reunion, where he was going to be nagged by relatives about “why can’t you find a nice girl to settle down with?,” which would set the plot in motion.

Unfortunately, when I broke ties with Millennium, that was the end of the crossover as well.

So it was back to limbo for The ’Warp. Lorelei had been shelved, and now Heartstopper got tucked away in the Drawer of Ideas, hopefully to be revived in some form or another down the road—which it was. But that’s a story for another time…

But was StarWarp Concepts (and me) finally out of comics now? Not for long…

(By the way, you can currently download all three existing issues—for free—from our Heartstopper page. Go check them out.)

Posted in Comic Books, heartstopper, Sebastienne Mazarin, StarWarp Concepts History, Steven A. Roman | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

SWC at 30: Convention Memories: Uticon 1992

Posted on May 18, 2023 by Steven

It was while I was still making the rounds as a small-press-comic publisher that September 1992 saw me hop an Amtrak train and head upstate to the city of Utica for a one-day comic con.

The show, created by comics fan and small presser Bob Elinskas—publisher of the reviewzine Small Press Feedback and writer of the minicomic series The Adventures of Mister Mid-Nite—was launched in 1990 to help raise money for the American Diabetes Association, for which Bob had served as a youth advisor. I can’t remember if Bob had contacted me about attending as an exhibitor, or I’d reached out to him, but either way I’d packed a box with copies of the digest-size Lorelei and Troubleshooters, Incorporated comics, shoved a sketchpad, pencils, and markers in a bag, and set off to meet the upstate comic fans.

Back then, the convention didn’t have a name—as you can see from the flyer, it was just listed as the “3rd Annual Comic Book & Card Show,” and held in a high school gymnasium—but today it’s known by a much catchier name: Uticon.

When I attended it, the con had a real homey feel—in fact, on the night before the event Bob invited all the guests to his house for a home-cooked meal! (I think it was lasagna.) I remember it as a dining-room-table gathering mainly of fellow small pressers, with mainstream writer Tom Peyer from DC Comics (Sandman, Legion of Super-Heroes) being the “big” name at the meal.

I don’t remember making many sales the next day—certainly not enough to cover the round-trip Amtrak fare to and from Utica, and the hotel room—but I do remember having a good time there, and coming back feeling confident about my involvement in the comic creator community (holy alliteration!). I think by this time I’d already decided that SWC would be expanding to full-size comics; being at this show and getting positive feedback about Lorelei just confirmed on I was on the right track.

Over 30 years later, Uticon is still run by Bob, and still features a mix of indie/small press creators and mainstream comic veterans. With all the mega-pop-culture conventions out there loudly making noise, if you’re looking for a quieter, more relaxed con experience, maybe you should give Uticon a try.

Stay tuned for more Convention Memories!

Posted in Convention Reports, Conventions, StarWarp Concepts History, Steven A. Roman | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments Off on SWC at 30: Convention Memories: Uticon 1992

SWC at 30: Enter: The Monster Hunter!

Posted on May 16, 2023 by Steven

Continuing the history of StarWarp Concepts, which is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year. 

Part 1 covered our earliest days, as a small-press publishing house that dealt in digest-size comics starring Lorelei and the supernatural superhero team Troubleshooters, Incorporated. In Part 2, we covered the premiere of Lorelei as a full-sized horror comic series that SWC released between 1993 and 1995—a series I ultimately canceled due to overwhelming production costs, just as the comic distributors market was collapsing due to Marvel Comics’ machinations (what timing!). 

But although I put Lori on the shelf, that didn’t mean The ’Warp was entirely out of the game…

In 1995, before I stopped publishing Lorelei, I’d cut a deal with another company, Millennium Publications, to launch a full-color, four-issue miniseries that would take advantage of the “bad girl” comics currently in vogue. (Basically, “bad girl” comics were any that had a leading heroine who wore as little clothing as possible while acting like a total badass; see Vampirella, Lady Death, Shi, and the 1990s Catwoman for prime examples.) 

Titled Heartstopper: Sorrow About To Fall, it would star an immortal, shape-changing monster hunter named Sebastienne “Annie” Mazarin who spent her days as a freelance writer and her nights chasing the creatures of the night…although, this being a bad girl comic, her nocturnal activities in this particular story would involve her working as a stripper in a Times Square “gentlemen’s club”—strictly as research for an article, you understand.

Annie/Heartstopper had originally made her debut in the pages of NightCry #1, published in 1994 by Visual Anarchy, the indie house run by Joseph Monks, who had been the writing half of the creative team behind the popular horror series Cry for Dawn (the other half being, of course, artist Joseph Michael Linsner). Monks had been very interested in publishing Heartstopper, especially when I told him the name of the artist eager to be involved: Louis Small Jr. of Vampirella fame (and the artist for the covers of Lorelei #0 and #1).

NightCry #1 turned out to be a big deal, with a headlining Evil Ernie story by Brian Pulido and Leonardo Jimenez; a story of the homicidal bad girl Razor, by creator Everette Hartsoe and artist Ed McGuinness (yes, the same McGuinness currently drawing Spider-Man); and tales by Monks with art by Ken Meyer and Thomas O’Connor.

Unfortunately, after delivering the first four pages of “Heartstopper,” Louis had to bail on the project due to the demands of better-paying mainstream work. Monks still wanted to publish what there was—they were done by a popular Vampirella artist, after all—but he insisted on having them inked. Louis didn’t have the time, and the inker that Monks eventually assigned was…let’s just say not the best fit. Louis, to put it mildly, was not pleased with the results.

The pages got published, of course, but there ended the project, and Heartstopper’s association with Visual Anarchy.

But then later that year, through my friendship with artist Delfin Barral, I was introduced to Uriel Caton, who’d done work for Eternity Comics in the late 1980s under the name “Uriel Antonio” (Ex-Mutants Annual #1, Starlight) and was currently working on a reboot of Starlight as The Outer Space Babes (hey, who needed subtlety during the Bad-Girl Era?) for indie house Silhouette Studios. As he was described on the back of the Vampirella trading card he drew for a 1995 set from Topps: “Uriel Caton: He’s a mystery man. Not widely known by the public, yet any number of of artists, including Buzz, Caesar and Steve Crespo cite this graduate of New York’s School of Art and Design as an inspiration for their own work.”

(For a bit of context, Buzz—real name: Aldrin Aw—Caesar Antomattei, and Steve Crespo were all Vampirella artists at Harris Comics at the time.)

Uriel and I discussed rebooting Heartstopper, junking Louis’s design and starting fresh. It didn’t take him long to come up with a new look, and we started the whole project over, 

So, I put a proposal together for a four-issue miniseries and showed it around to some indie publishers, to see if anyone wanted to pick up what would be a proper, full-color bad-girl comic. No just-on-the-cover femme fatale this time—Annie would be front and center cover to cover doing seductively murderous bad-girl stuff. I’d learned my lesson with Lorelei!

And so Millennium Publications became the house that made me an offer, and sent me a contract. Once the paperwork had been settled, Uriel and I got to work—he drawing, me writing and hand-lettering—with help from colorist Dan Peters (he of small-press Troubleshooters, Incorporated artistic fame), and before you knew it, the first issue of the miniseries now titled Heartstopper: Sorrow About to Fall was complete and off to the printer. 

But before it hit comic shops, in a setup that Hollywood refers to as a “backdoor pilot,” in which characters being considered for their own television series are introduced first in an established show—think Gary Seven in the Original Star Trek episode “Assignment Earth,” Mork from Ork (Robin Williams) in the Happy Days episode “My Favorite Orkan” that led to Mork & Mindy, and the organization Torchwood in Doctor Who—I had Annie debut in a cameo role in Lorelei #5 (the final issue published), drawn by Lori series artist David C. Matthews, as a lead-in to Millennium’s Heartstopper #1. 

There were also discussions about them taking over the publishing chores on Lorelei, as well, if things worked out with the initial project. Again, things were looking up for SWC. 

I should’ve known that good feeling wouldn’t last…

To Be Continued…

Posted in Comic Books, heartstopper, louis small jr., nightcry, Sebastienne Mazarin, StarWarp Concepts History, Steven A. Roman | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

A Vampire Lord…But Probably Not the One You Were Expecting

Posted on May 12, 2023 by Steven

We finish out a week of announcements with yet more news of an upcoming project—except this one isn’t a comic book!

Coming this winter from indie publishing house Black Coat Press is the anthology Tales of the Shadowmen 20: Fin de Siecle (French for “end of century”), a collection of tales that span time and space, starring a trainload of public domain characters—and I was asked to contribute one of the stories! 

In “Her Cheek’s Last Tinge, Her Eye’s Last Spark,” the bloodsucking Lord Ruthven—created in 1816 by Dr. John Polidori, the traveling physician of Lord Byron, in the novella “The Vampyre”—crosses paths with Isaac Laquedem, an immortal who’s perhaps better known as the mythical Wandering Jew, who made the mistake of taunting Jesus along the route to the Crucifixion and was cursed with eternal life.

(Laquedem, by the way, stars in the Black Coat Press novel The Wandering Jew’s Daughter, written by fantasy author Paul Féval (1816–1887) and originally published in 1864; the BCP edition features a translation and “adaptation” by SF author Brian Stableford. Lord Ruthven: The Vampire, which reprints Polidori’s story along with the screenplays for a pair of stage adaptations performed in the 1820s, is also available from BCP.)

The Tales of the Shadowmen series is edited by the husband-and-wife team of Jean-Marc and Randy Lofficier, who are also the publishers of Black Coat Press. I’ve known Jean-Marc since the late 1990s, when I was the editor in chief of ibooks, inc. and he was the agent for comic-art legend Jean Giraud, aka Moebius. Jean-Marc is also recognized worldwide as one of the great authorities on the British sci-fi series Doctor Who, and as a comic-book writer, most recently on Dynamite Comics’ Barbarella projects.

This isn’t my first contribution to BCPs’s popular anthology series, though. Tales of the Shadowmen 4: Lords of Terror (still available) includes my story “Night’s Children,” which has thief Irma Vep (from the 1915–16 French movie serial Les Vampyres) match wits with Count Graf Orlock from the classic German horror movie Nosferatu; it was later reprinted in BCP’s French-language collection L’Almanach des Vampires (The Almanac of Vampires), and then in the English-language The Vampire Almanac, Vol. 2. (That’s right: from English to French and back again. It’s a story with a lot of mileage!)

Tales of the Shadowmen 20: Fin de Siecle goes on sale in December. Stay tuned for more information!

Posted in Horror, Publishing Announcements, Steven A. Roman, Vampires | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on A Vampire Lord…But Probably Not the One You Were Expecting

Lorelei Meets the Mummies? The Crossover No One Expected (Including Me!)

Posted on May 11, 2023 by Steven

It’s been a week for announcements, hasn’t it? On Tuesday, I revealed StarWarp Concepts’ first licensed-comic project, the sci-fi miniseries Lester del Rey’s Time Ring, by the creative team of writer Steven A. Roman (that’s me!) and artist Eliseu Gouveia. Yesterday, I told you about Lorelei: Sweet Soul Music, a 48-page one-shot special (and another Roman/Gouveia collaboration) that’s also the first full-color adventure of our resident succubus. 

And today? Yup, yet another announcement, this one sure to appeal to fans of good girl/bad girl art and comic-book crossovers!

A mashup image of Sisterhood of the Mummy and Lorelei art (the latter by Bob Larkin)

Currently in the early planning stages from indie publishing house Boom Press—in association with StarWarp Concepts—is Lorelei/Sisterhood of the Mummy (or Sisterhood/Lorelei, we’re working out the details), a full-color one-shot special in which Lori teams up with a group of reanimated (and incredibly sexy) female mummies from around the globe to interfere with the machinations of the immortal sorceress Nagara—the Queen of Evil! As with all of Lori’s adventures, it’s written by Lorelei creator Steven A. Roman (that’s me!), with the script based on a plot by Roman and Sisterhood of the Mummy creator/writer and Boom Press publisher Richard Boom. An illustrator will be announced as the project progresses. 

Lorelei Munro, for those of you unfamiliar with the character, is a succubus who was originally a human woman named Laurel Ashley O’Hara—until supernatural forces transformed her into an irresistible sexual demon. Now she uses her powers for good, draining the lives of evildoers while still coming to terms with this unusual life she never asked for. She got her start as the star of SWC’s first comic book series, back in the 1990s, and in the years since has reappeared in various projects, including the graphic novel Lorelei: Sects and the City, the horror anthology comic Lorelei Presents: House Macabre, and the digital-exclusive comic Lorelei: Genesis.

The Sisterhood of the Mummy is the creation of Richard Boom, owner of the European comic-art agency Boom Art Department and director of the news site Comics for Sinners (for which I used to do comic and graphic novel reviews). The Sisterhood is a group of formerly deceased, formerly mummified high priestesses from around the world who were revived in the 1920s. And in a nod to their past “lives” as mummies, the majority of the clothing they wear are the minimal remnants of the bandages in which they were wrapped. 

(Did I mention that not only is Richard a fan of Lorelei, he also has a great love for 1990s “bad girl” comics, in which the female protagonists often wore little more than what the Sisterhood’s “costumes” consist of? Or that he’s the one who introduced me to the super-talented Eliseu Gouveia? No? Well, now you know—and as they used to say in the G.I. Joeanimated series, knowing is half the battle!)

Lori and the Sisterhood’s nemesis in the crossover is Nagana, Queen of Evil, who was first introduced in the pages of Fantastic Comics #22, published by Fox Comics in 1941. A high priestess of the goddess Isis in the time of Ancient Egypt, Nagana had no love for the deity she served and desired to possess powers of her own that would make her the equal of any god. Standing in her way, however, was the high priest Kalkor, and their initial clash led to them both being entombed as Isis’s temple collapsed around them. It wasn’t until the 1940s that the two enemies were unearthed, and from then on Nagana and Kalkor continued crossing paths—right up to the present, where Lori and the Sisterhood are drawn into the eternal conflict.

The intercompany project got its start last year when Richard e-mailed me to ask if I’d be interested in having Lori cross paths with his bandaged angels of vengeance. Well, on face value it sounded like a good fit, and the notion of Lori crossing over with somebody else’s characters—in the tradition of such awesome meetings as Superman vs. The Amazing Spider-Man, X-Men/Teen Titans, Vampirella/Lady Death, Archie Meets the Punisher, and Laurel and Hardy/The Three Stooges—definitely had its appeal, so I said, “Hell, yes! Let’s do this!”

Lorelei/Sisterhood of the Mummy will eventually be heading its way to Kickstarter for a fund-raising campaign that Richard will be running, with all the ancillary tchotchkes—variant covers, stickers, etc.—that he can dream up to entice backers. All that and an exciting comic book team-up—what more could you ask for?

Stay tuned for further information!

Posted in Comic Books, Lorelei, Publishing Announcements, Steven A. Roman | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Lorelei Meets the Mummies? The Crossover No One Expected (Including Me!)

Lorelei: Sweet Soul Music: A Horror Comic Special Coming from StarWarp Concepts!

Posted on May 10, 2023 by Steven

Yesterday, we announced a special comic miniseries currently in development for release in 2023 (our 30th Anniversary year); in fact, it’s SWC’s first licensed-comics project: the sci-fi miniseries Lester del Rey’s Time Ring, by the team of writer Steven A. Roman (that’s me!) and artist Eliseu “Zeu” Gouveia. 

Well, today we have another exciting announcement: a comic project sure to appeal to fans of horror comics and good girl/bad girl art, starring SWC’s First Lady of Horror!

Planned as a Kickstarter campaign, Lorelei: Sweet Soul Music is an all-new, 48-page, full-color special in which our resident succubus, Lorelei, and her girlfriend (and third-generation monster hunter), Felicia Agincourt, attend a nostalgia concert starring a famous 1960s folk group and run into another succubus—only this one is from another planet and the distant future! 

It’s written by Steven A. Roman (that’s me!) and illustrated and colored by Zeu; our previous collaborations include the SWC graphic novel Lorelei: Sects and the City, the SWC comic books The Saga of Pandora Zwieback #0 and The Saga of Pandora Zwieback Annual #1, and Piko Interactive/Virtual Comics’ The Legend of Calamity Jane: The Devil Herself.   

The special also boasts three covers to choose from: the main cover by Zeu, and two variants—one by legendary Warren Publishing painter Bob Larkin (Vampirella, The Rook, Creepy, Eerie, Famous Monsters of Filmland), the other by fan favorite bad-girl artist supreme Louis Small Jr. (Vampirella, Vampirella Strikes, Vampirella/Lady Death). And keep an eye out for cameos by a few indie-comic heroes—and a very special guest appearance by a star from the days of Warren Publishing!

Lorelei Munro, for those of you unfamiliar with the character, is a succubus who was originally a human woman named Laurel Ashley O’Hara—until supernatural forces transformed her into an irresistible sexual demon. Now she uses her powers for good, draining the lives of evildoers while still coming to terms with this unusual life she never asked for. She got her start as the star of SWC’s first comic book series, back in the 1990s, and in the years since has reappeared in various projects, including the graphic novel Lorelei: Sects and the City and the horror anthology comic Lorelei Presents: House Macabre.

Lorelei: Sweet Soul Music is also a sequel of sorts to a digital comic we’ll be releasing at the same time: 

Lorelei Presents: Vampires of the Void will be a free, digital-only reprint of the Golden Age comic story that inspired the Lori special. In the 38th century, Earth is attacked by a race of interstellar warriors who live off the life force of human souls—basically, they’re succubi and incubi…in spaaace! And the only Earthman with any hope of stopping them is Captain Dave Kenton of the Star Patrol! 

Originally published in Avon Periodicals’ Strange Worlds #4 in 1951, “Vampires of the Void” is the work of three legendary comics creators: writer Gardner Fox (Justice League of America, Green Lantern), penciler Wallace “Wally” Wood (Daredevil, T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents), and inker Joe Orlando (Superman, Tales From the Crypt).

Stay tuned for further information. And stop by here at the SWC blog tomorrow for another thrilling Lorelei announcement!

Posted in Bob Larkin, Comic Books, Crowdfunding, Eliseu Gouveia, Horror, Lorelei, louis small jr., Publishing Announcements, Steven A. Roman | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Lester del Rey’s Time Ring: a Sci-Fi Comic Miniseries Coming from StarWarp Concepts!

Posted on May 9, 2023 by Steven

Do you like comic books? Do you like science fiction? You do? How about science fiction comic books—with dinosaurs? Even better! Then do we have a fantastic project in the works that you’re sure to enjoy!

In a departure from our normal horror and dark fantasy offerings, I’m proud to announce that, a few months back, StarWarp Concepts signed a deal with indie fiction house Wildside Press to license one of its classic science fiction novels for development as a comic book adaptation. It’s SWC’s first-ever licensed-property project!

Originally written by legendary Science Fiction Writers of America Grand Master Lester del Rey (1915–1993) and first published in 1966, Tunnel Through Time is a fondly remembered, fast-paced time-travel adventure. (LDR, in case you hadn’t figured it out already, was also the man behind Del Rey Books, the Ballantine Books sci-fi imprint that he launched in 1977 with his wife Judy-Lynn del Rey.) 

Planned as a Kickstarter campaign and now moderately retitled to avoid any confusion with the classic TV series The Time Tunnel (and other books with the same or similar Tunnel Through Time title that have been published in the decades since), Lester del Rey’s Time Ring is the story of Bobbi Miller, a seventeen-year-old cosplayer and comics fan whose scientist father, Sam, has created the Time Ring, an experimental time machine. When Dr. Tom Thornhill, the well-respected paleontologist father of her best friend, science nerd and fellow comic fan Pete, goes missing during a visit to the Cretaceous Period (80 million years ago), Pete and Bobbi step through the Time Ring to search for him. But the dangers they face—including some very hungry dinosaurs looking to eat them—threaten to make this the deadliest field trip the teens have ever gone on!

Lester del Rey’s Time Ring will be a four-issue comic book miniseries adaptation by writer Steven A. Roman (that’s me!) and artist/colorist Eliseu Gouveia; our previous collaborations include the SWC graphic novel Lorelei: Sects and the City, the SWC comic books The Saga of Pandora Zwieback #0 and The Saga of Pandora Zwieback Annual #1, and Piko Interactive/Virtual Comics’ upcoming The Legend of Calamity Jane: The Devil Herself. 

Variant covers—all the rage these days for crowdfunded comics—are being considered. We’ll let you know who’s signed on to contribute when we have more details.

Acting as consulting editor on the adaptation is acclaimed science fiction and fantasy author—and Wildside Press president/publisher—John Gregory Betancourt (The Things from Another World, Roger Zelazny’s Dawn of Amber, Star Trek: The Next Generation: Double Helix, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: Devil in the Sky, Star Trek: Voyager: Incident at Arbuk). 

And thanks go out to literary agent Vaughne Hansen of the Virginia Kidd Agency for working out the licensing deal, and for her enthusiastic participation in the approvals process.

Stay tuned for further developments!

Posted in Classic Fiction, Comic Books, Eliseu Gouveia, Publishing Announcements, Science Fiction, Steven A. Roman | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

StarWarp Concepts Gets Back in the Comic Book Game

Posted on May 8, 2023 by Steven

Hey, comic fans! With 2023 being StarWarp Concepts’ 30th Anniversary year, and this past weekend marking our annual celebration of Free Comic Book Day, the time is perfect to announce that we’ve got three special comic projects currently in development: two involving our resident soul-stealing succubus, Lorelei, and one that marks our first licensed publishing deal.

The Lorelei projects are extra special to us here at ’Warp Central because it was her comic book adventures that helped launch the company, first in small press form in 1989, and then as a full-size comic in 1993. This time, Lori will not only star in her first full-color one-shot, but then she’ll be co-starring for the first time in a cross-company team-up! Holy Batman/Spawn!

As for the other special event… Well, if you like science fiction and dinosaurs, plus the work of the creative team of writer Steven A. Roman (that’s me!) and artist Eliseu Gouveia—whose collaborations include SWC’s Lorelei: Sects and the City, The Saga of Pandora Zwieback #0, and The Saga of Pandora Zwieback Annual #1, as well as the upcoming Piko Interactive/Virtual Comics one-shot Western, The Legend of Calamity Jane: The Devil Herself—then you’ll want to see what we do with yet another licensed property!

Be sure to check back here tomorrow for the first announcement!

Posted in Comic Books, Eliseu Gouveia, Lorelei, Publishing, Publishing Announcements, Steven A. Roman | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on StarWarp Concepts Gets Back in the Comic Book Game

Happy Free Comic Book Day 2023!

Posted on May 6, 2023 by Steven

Today is Free Comic Book Day around the world: that annual event celebrated on the first Saturday in May, and usually timed to coincide with the release of Marvel Studios’ latets movie—as is the case with the super space actioner Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 3, the concluding adventure in the Guardians Trilogy (plus the Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special, on Disney+) and the Marvel Universe swansong of writer/director James Gunn, who’s now in charge of guiding the superfolk of the DC Cinematic Universe to hopefully the same level of success he achieved with their properties The Suicide Squad and Peacemaker. (I just saw Guardians 3, by the way—it’s really good!)

Free Comic Book Day is when publishers make available free print and/or digital comics for comic fans (but not free, of course, to the retailers who ordered all those comics to hand out), and we here at ’Warp Central are no different—you can download the following titles right here and now:

Heroines & Heroes: A collection of comic stories and pinups all drawn by Steven A. Roman (that’s 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 (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 indie superheroine The Blonde Avenger.

The Saga of Pandora Zwieback #0: 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 Eliseu Gouveia (The Saga of Pandora Zwieback Annual #1, Carmilla, A Princess of Mars, Lorelei: Sects and the City), and includes two sample chapters from Blood Feud, the first Pan novel.

Heartstopper: The Legend of La Bella Tenebrosa #1–3: Before she became Pan’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-creatorUriel Caton (JSA Annual) and inker Alan Larsen (Femforce), and colored by Dan Peters; issue 2 is penciled by Uriel, Holly Golightly (School Bites), and David C. Matthews (Lorelei), inked by Larsen, and colored by Zeea Adams; 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.

(Warning: Heartstopper is designated a “Mature Readers” comic for violent scenes and some sexual innuendo, so younger Panatics should avoid it.)

All these comics are available for free download right now, so visit their respective product pages for more information, including sample art.

Posted in Comic Books, Digital Comics, Events, heartstopper, Pandora Zwieback, Sebastienne Mazarin | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Happy Free Comic Book Day 2023!