STARCRAFT TOUCHES DOWN!

The first issue of Wildstorm’s Starcraft comic, based on the bestselling computer game from Blizzard Entertainment, hits stores this week, heralding a whole new comics venture for yours truly. Truth be told, I’m not a huge gamer, but I’ve become thoroughly immersed in the sweeping and epic sci-fi/future war saga that is Starcraft, and the comic spins out directly from the various games and fiction already published/established, carving its own unique bit of Starcraft lore along the way. The comic focuses, primarily, on the War Pigs, a hard-bitten crew of ex-cons drafted (with little or no choice in the matter) into a special (black) ops unit, initially by the Terran Confederacy and later by the Dominion. Utterly expendable and betrayed and double-crossed at every turn, life expectancy is not high if you’re a War Pig. And so, Cole Hickson, Nuura Joss, Romy Pyrius, Turfa Dei and Iggins must face not simply the many and varied threats of the Starcraft universe (protoss, zerg, Ghosts, elite Cerberus troops, mercenaries and more) but also survive the internecine schemes and backstabbing politics of their own controllers as they search for former (renegade) marshal (and Starcraft mainstay) Jim Raynor. Issue #1 of the ongoing series hits stores on Thursday May 28th (in the US)/Friday May 29th (UK), written by me with art by Federico Dallochio. If you’re after more details/depth, check out the interview I recently did for Blizzplanet.com, coming soon. I’ll link to it right here in due course.

MORE REVENGE

A reminder that issue #2 of the official comic book adaptation of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen arrives in comic book stores this week (Thursday 27th May in the US, Friday 28th May in the UK), written by me (based, of course, on the original movie script by Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman) with art by John Davis-Hunt. Published weekly, the four-issue series contains an irresistible amount of sheer spoilerage, prohibiting how much I can really spoil here. That said, I could just mention that Alice reveals far more than is decent (or healthy), Prime fights one, two, three Decepticons, we find out what a certain Sector 7 agent’s been up to since the first movie… and we meet a Seeker! If you want to find out more, then you’ll have to pick up a copy. Go on, you know you want to!

REVENGE IS HERE!

While the Transformers sequel, Revenge of the Fallen, is due to open in cinemas on June 19th (here in the UK anyway), you can get an advance taste of what you can expect on the big screen this week, when the first issue of the official comic book adaptation of Revenge of the Fallen hits stores (May 20th in the US, May 21st in the UK). This was my first stab at turning a movie script into a comic book, so I’m eager to hear what people think. It was actually more of a challenge than I thought it would be, as so much has to be condensed, refined, shuffled or realigned to make it work as a cohesive, coherent panel-to-panel comic book. All the key plot points need to be front and centre and some stuff, inevitably, has to be almost sidelined or skipped over (you’d need eight issues or more to squeeze absolutely everything from a two hour plus action movie in!). I also wanted each issue to feel like a proper comic book, not just one quarter of a whole. But it was fun too. And I was pleased with the end product, especially as artist Jon Davis-Hunt made it all look so damn good! Revenge of the Fallen: The Official Movie Adaptation #1 will be in-store this week, with #2-4 following in quick succession thereafter. For more details of all IDW Transformers releases, check out their website here.

EXPO-SING MYSELF AGAIN!

Next Saturday, May 9th, I’ll be at the UK’s Bristol Comics Expo, which this year is taking place entirely at the Ramada Plaza hotel. Apart from generally loitering around the bar area, I’ll be signing between 3PM and 4PM, and as well as scrawling on copies of anything from Transformers to Torchwood to Terminator and beyond, I’ll have more of those Rad Robots promotional brochures to sign and give away. And maybe some cool stuff for sale too. First come, first served. So, if you have tickets for Bristol (if not, it’s too late, the event is SOLD OUT) pop along and see me for a signature, chat or both. Who knows what I might let slip (especially in the bar)! For more details on the event go here.