BLUE on Myspace

Go see.

Well, that's rather fun...

Dirk Deppey mentions BLUE on Journalista today. With artwork!

Fun.

A few BLUE bits

BLUE has been out for a week, and so far, so good! I stopped by the excellent Forbidden Planet here in NYC a couple of days ago and said hello to the manager, Jeff. Looks like they were selling a healthy number of copies, which Jeff confirmed ("everyone loves your book").

(Can I just say how gorgeous Forbidden Planet looks these days? I haven't been in in a while and I love what they've got going on there now.)

James Sime of Isotope also wrote to report that "everyone was picking it up" and that it sold out on release day. Yay!! It's been a long time since I've seen the Isotope crew; it'll be great to see them in SDCC this week!

Many thanks to our good friend Mr. Wood, too, who had some wonderful words for BLUE on his blog this week:

"This is a good book, a seriously ambitious re-working of the classic and very bloody fairytale Bluebeard, but I didn't realize that when I first read it, and so I had a couple interesting experiences reading and re-reading the book. I could relate to a lot of it; reminded me in some ways of parts of Demo and Local, so I felt a kinship to what these creators were doing. It was something I was drawn to right away."

While I wasn't going for DEMO or LOCAL per se in BLUE, Brian's writing and sensibilities are a big inspiration to me, so this was nice to hear.

Lastly, BLUE was featured in Newsarama's "Best Shots" column this week.

The eagle has landed!

And it looks totally gorgeous...





Seriously, the production value on this thing is CRAZY good. Blue's hair came out perfectly. The cover is so shiny! And I actually sound like I have my act together in the back matter! :P

If you haven't asked your friendly retailer for the book yet, it's not too late! Order code is MAY083778.

(Pix by Sami and nipped from his blog.)

New Interview + ad to go in NO FORMULA

Sami reworked the cover for an ad for BLUE that'll go in the back of NO FORMULA - nothing like a little cross-promotion...



Also, I recently answered a few questions for Tim O'Shea, which you'll find on his blog here.

"That’s usually how I work with songs and stories - I look for a line to set it all off. In this case, I was looking for a way in, and even though the song has a real meaning and mood for me, I was struggling. We were specifically asked to avoid “illustrated lyrics.” Makes perfect sense, and I’m not interested in that anyway. But that still left me looking for a way in!"

The Chemistry Set's first anthology: NO FORMULA

I've been out of town at a marketing seminar so I'm a little late to the party on posting this cool news.

In other news, remind me to hire Mr. Jim Dougan to write all my press releases in the future!



August 2008 marks the print debut of the webcomics collective The Chemistry Set in an anthology collection from Desperado Publishing entitled 'NO FORMULA: STORIES FROM THE CHEMISTRY SET, VOL.1' (Diamond Order Code JUN083849), just in time for the Set's two-year anniversary. "There's no better way to celebrate our Terrible Twos than with a big release like this," said Jim Dougan, an original ChemSetter approached by Desperado publisher Joe Pruett to edit the anthology. "The only problem was choosing from among the literally hundreds of pages of great comics we've got on the site. Joe wanted only self-contained stories, though, so while that unfortunately left out a lot of great stuff, it helped me narrow it down. Are these the best 120 pages of comics ever to appear at the ChemSet? No. Are they the 120 pages that fit together best as a book? I think so."

NO FORMULA will feature 12 stories from the two-year history of the ChemSet, in both black-and-white and color, all under a gorgeous color cover by Hyeondo Park. The story contents, most of which can be previewed online at www.chemsetcomics.com, are:

"The System" by Tony Goins and Tom Williams

"Night's Plutonian Shore" by Neil Kleid and jamesmith3

"Rest Stop" by Jim Dougan, Dean Haspiel and Michel Fiffe

"Red" by Elizabeth Genco and Kevin Colden

"Snowblind" by Chris Arrant and Jessica Hickman

"The Legend of Caraboy" by Andrew Drilon

"Yes, Mother" by Elizabeth Genco and Sami Makkonen

"I'm Madly in Love" by Vito Delsante and Michel Fiffe

"Grinwit" by Andrew Drilon

"Dinner Date #9" by Steven Goldman and Rami Efal

"Come the Dawn" by Jim Dougan and Hyeondo Park

"Rosa" by Steven Goldman and Rami Efal

"Joe Pruett has been an extraordinary supporter of the ChemSet virtually since its inception, and NO FORMULA is just an outgrowth of that," said Dougan. "At least half a dozen issues of NEGATIVE BURN have featured ChemSetters, and in July we've got the graphic novel BLUE (Diamond order code MAY083778) coming from Elizabeth [Genco] and Sami [Makkonen], who also have a short story together in NO FORMULA. The relationship with Desperado is something we're thankful for, and hope will continue to grow (thus the perhaps-optimistic 'Vol.1' in the title). For that to happen, folks need to go out and buy the books, though – so please pre-order your copies!"

NO FORMULA is found on page 256 of the June PREVIEWS (for comics shipping in August) - conveniently right next to the short order form.

Official Solicitation Text:

Haunting. Humorous. Harrowing. Those are just some of the words to describe the short stories compiled in this inaugural collection from the international comics collective the Chemistry Set. Founded in 2006, the Chemistry Set has served as the breeding ground for tomorrow's comic all-stars and includes three Xeric Award winners. Combining talents from America, Australia, Europe and Asia, their chemistry together is seen in stories that range from the heartfelt to the horrifying, from the mythological to the macabre.

NO FORMULA: STORIES FROM THE CHEMISTRY SET, VOL.1
Color / B&W, 120 pp. 6in x. 9in.
Price: $16.99
Diamond Order Code: JUN083849
ISBN-10: 1935002090
ISBN-13: 978-1935002093

Get your orders in!

My friendly local retailer tells me that May 27 is the cutoff date for May orders. So if you haven't yet pre-ordered BLUE, now's the time. :)

You can see previews online at The Beat, Stainless Steel Droppings, and (of course) at Newsarama.

Oh yeah! Pages are also available on this very blog, here.

The order code is MAY083778.

Thanks, everyone!

BLUE on SSD

Carl Vincent gave BLUE some coverage on his excellent blog, Stainless Steel Droppings, including yet more preview pages.

If you've never read SSD before, you're in for a treat. I discovered SSD only recently, but it has already become one of my favorites. If you're interested in mythic fiction and art, you'll definitely want to check it out. I've made so many cool discoveries thanks to Carl! ("Just so far," as Leland would say.)

BLUE @ The Beat

Heidi has three more BLUE preview pages over at The Beat. Go look!

Elizabeth Genco, founding member of The Chemistry Set, sends us word of her first graphic novel, BLUE, which will be illustrated by Finnish artist Sami Makkonen and published by Desperado. It’s the tale of a young woman locked in the apartment of a long-lost boyfriend with the ghost of a young girl. “It’s a new take on Bluebeard, a fairy tale about a serial killer first written in 17th century France,” says Genco. “There are some crucial differences, of course. In the most popular version of tale, the young woman is saved at the last minute by her brothers, who ride in on thundering horses armed with big swords. Let’s just say that doesn’t happen here!”

BLUE will be published by Desperado Publishing and is featured in the May issue of PREVIEWS for a July release (order code: MAY083778). 80 pages, 6×9, full color, 9.99. News, reviews, sample pages and special extras can be found at the frequently updated BLUE blog, http://bluecomics.blogspot.com.