book signing
Popgun Snowtopia
Feb 26th
It all started with a signing. I’ll be the asshole sitting on the back of his chair.
(In order L-R: Vito Delsante, Elizabeth Purvis, Adam Knave, Frank Stockton, Jeff Powell, Joe Flood, me, Maximo Lorenzo, Jason Ibarra)
The southern New York area got pissed on the Tuesday before the signing: sleet, snow, freezing rain, regular rain. Basically, anything the sky could throw at us that was (mostly) seasonally appropriate. As such, I wasn’t sure a lot of people would make it to the signing. Sure, NYC is hearty (and, in this case, managed to escape with less damage than we did further north) but who likes coming out when the world is a mess of grey/black sludge? When the signing started, it seemed that everyone had rushed to their shelters, giving nary a thought to the stalwart group of Popgun Volume 4 contributors desperately awaiting their love at Jim Hanley’s Universe.
We laughed and joked, we heckled the one or two people who were there at the onset (shit, I even signed a guy’s Spider-Man comics for fun. Confession: Never worked on a Spider-Man book, still waiting for Marvel to call. The guy didn’t care though, so I signed happily). Then, after about 45-minutes, it seemed as though floodgates opened.
There was a line-up of people and we were moving books down the table like a well-oiled assembly line. To those watching closely, it was weirdly reminiscent of an old New York sweatshop. When the dust settled and we looked around us, tended our wounded and mourned those lost, we all realized something:
We sold out of books.
The event was a huge success and, honestly, even if we’d sold one book I still would’ve had a blast hanging out with new and old friends like Vito, Adam, and Maximo. To everyone who made it out, thanks for coming. To those who couldn’t, it’s cool, we’re still friends. I mean, you DID pick up a copy of the book, right?
In other news, this is what it looks like outside the house right now:
Snowtopia
Remember I said that the Tuesday before the signing was a bit of a mess? Well it was nothing compared to the day(s) after.
All told, at present we’ve had between 16″ and 18″ of heavy snow come crashing down on us. It’s still flurrying just a bit, but the majority of the excitement is over. After all, how many more trees can come crashing down across our street?
None Shall Pass
Yeah, that puppy’s blocking one end of the street. Luckily, when it came down it just missed our neighbor’s cars and, even though it knocked down a couple of telephone cables, managed not to disconnect any.
The other end of the street?
Yep, those are power lines
What this picture doesn’t show is the fact that, after 1am last night when the tree came down, no plows were able to pass through. Between being unable to pass and those low-hanging power lines (zap!), they would be completely stuck after a certain point. The one unfortunate sucker who happened across the tree had to back his plow allllllll the way back down the hilly, icy, barely-wide-enough-for-one-normal-car road. Did I mention the precariously parked cars on the side of the road? As such, both ends of the street are, for all intents and purposes, impassable.
But hey, what’s wrong with being shut in with the family for a while, right? I mean, I’ve got plenty of work to do, plus we’ve got movies to watch and LOST to catch up on (we’re starting from the beginning, since Jackie’s never seen it and I haven’t watched since the start of Season 3. We’ve already cleared Season 1). Even now, there’s certainly at LEAST one or two other things I should be focusing on. I’ve got a pitch brewing (and, therefore, an artist to find) and a screenplay (yar, that’s right) that begs for development.
But we’re going to be stuck here for awhile, no way out to the main roads, and we can’t let it, can’t can’t let it get us. You hear it, don’t you? The skittering in the walls and the scratching at the window? Maybe I’ve been down here for too long. I think I hear LOST firing up.
All work and no play…
Right?
REBUILT: Redefining the Spaces That Define Us
Feb 24th
Quick reminder, NYC-area comic fans – Tonight I’ll be signing at Jim Hanley’s Universe NYC for today’s release of Popgun Volume 4! The anthology features Rusted: Faded Signal, the first of a series of interconnected shorts written by yours truly and illustrated by the inimitable Alex Eckman-Lawn. We finished this particular story last May so we’re both PUMPED to see it out today.
Sadly, Alex won’t be able to make the signing today. We’ve got all sorts of nasty weather that came through yesterday and is coming through later in the week, which means Alex has to finish up work on his solo gallery debut.
WHAT?! Solo gallery show?!
Fuck yes. Cool people (that’s you) in the Philly or NYC-area, (or anywhere commutable to Philly) need to get out next Friday night, March 5th, from 6-9pm to check out the show. Info to follow after the invite:
REBUILT: Redifining the Spaces That Define Us
You can save and print the image, or just plug the following into your ol’ internet compass or whatever it is you kids do these days:
2434 East Dauphin Street,
Philadelphia, PA 19125
Hope to see some of you tonight at Jim Hanley’s and more of you next week at the opening. Because you’re awesome. And we love you.
“Death is a portal through which gods and men alike must pass…”
Dec 18th
Even in the metaphysical sense, if you don’t believe in anything higher on the cosmic food chain than ourselves, you should be able to get behind this. After all, couldn’t the transition from holy to mythology be considered death to even the idea of a deity? Or, at the very least, a demotion en route to getting canned, just the first stop on the road to extinction? Though he’s not the first to explore it, my first experience with this sort of thing was thanks to Neil Gaiman, in both Sandman and then American Gods. It’s pretty much been on my mind since.
I’ve also got Sir James Frazer on the brain this morning, hence the title of this post. While I haven’t been reading The Golden Bough, from which the quote is taken, I have been digging through Tim Taylor’s excellent The Buried Soul, which explores the invention of ‘death’, the idea, and the development of the human concept of the soul from an archaeological perspective as some research for the post-Awakening Volume Two book Alex and I are doing. On that same count, if anybody can recommend a definitive, unexpurgated version of The Golden Bough I’d be thrilled. It seems like there are a few too many to choose from for me to be comfortable hunting and pecking through.
In other writing news, I’m pretty excited to note that I finished the first draft on my first non-comic short story in more than five years yesterday. It’s just a baby, only 4,000 words in its current state, but I’m still excited. I’ve mentioned it in interviews, but part of what drove me to write comics when I first started giving it a whirl five or six years ago was my complete distaste with my own straight fiction narrative. A lot of it, all short fiction, read more like an outline for something larger with very cold and detached direction, not unlike a script. After years of studying (not formally, just reading anything and writing comics), I decided it was time to dive back in and see where it takes me. So far so good and I think more is on the way in the coming weeks and months. I’m planning on making 2010 the year of the short…
Some miscellany for you:
Just found this last night, copies of Awakening Volume One which Alex and I signed for Lone Star Comics are available on their website. May be a fun last-minute holiday gift for the noir or zombie fan whom you hold close to your heart. For those of you new to the site, be sure to check out the Awakening Comixography by following the link here, or check out the entire Comixography via the nav bar at the top of the page.
Tweeted by Templesmith, PR Newswire points out the Top 10 PR Blunders of 2009. Some amazing stuff. And when I say amazing, I mean horrifyingly stupid.
Just watched Drag Me to Hell last night, and it was everything I would expect from a fun Raimi horror flick. The last 20-minutes were disappointingly obvious, which led to a bit of a ‘hurry up and end’ face from me but overall I was pretty happy with it. My biggest gripe was the use of CG where traditional effects would’ve matched both the feel of the movie and the history of the filmmaker much better. The same could be said for a few flicks though, (::cough:: Crystal Skull ::cough::), and seems to just be indicative of the times.
I was more enthusiastic about Quantum of Solace. What an amazing movie. Buyer beware though: if you didn’t like Casino Royale, or if you don’t remember it, you may want to stay away or refresh yourself, depending on how you felt about it. This was a direct sequel which picked up shortly after the end of Casino and didn’t explain itself for the benefit of initiates in the audience. I liked that. You rarely see movies with the same type of continuity you get out of, say, sequential fiction, picking up the story with the next ‘issue’ so to speak. It was welcome to not have to sit through 20-minutes explaining who these people were and why I should care, and more welcome that it wasn’t avoided because it was a new story but because they’d already been through all that in the first go ’round. Last I heard this new series is planned as a trilogy or quadrilogy, and I hope it’s true. Looking forward to the next one immensely.
Website note the first, if you’d like to leave a comment you have to click on the title of the entry of choice on the front page. You’ll be brought into that entry and a comment field will be hanging out at the bottom of the page. As I stumble across other quirks, I’ll let you all know.
Off to begin another short while yesterday’s cools off a bit. Happy Friday, everyone.
- Nick
Awakening Halloween Signing Tour – Last Stop This Wednesday
Oct 26th
Being sick and trying to compose a sensible blog don’t really go hand-in-hand. I’m going to give it shot and see what we come up with, though.
OUR TOP STORY…
One more official Halloween Signing Tour stop to go! Everybody in the NYC area, head on down to Jim Hanley’s Universe on 33rd Street on Wednesday, October 28th from 4-7pm to grab your free signed art print, which was created exclusively for the tour, with every copy of Awakening Volume One brought in to be signed or picked up at the store. Then, sign up for the exclusive Halloween preview of Awakening Volume Two debuting at 12am Halloween morning.
Jim Hanley’s Universe is located at 4 West 33rd Street in Manhattan.
THE TOUR THUS FAR…
The other three stops on the tour have been great! Thanks so much to everybody who’s come out to hang with us, talk comics, and celebrate the zombie season. It’s been unreal. Special thanks to the stores who hosted us, Brave New Worlds in Philly, PA and Upstate Comics in LaGrangeville, NY.
For anybody who couldn’t make it to these stops or who can’t make it out to Jim Hanley’s this Wednesday, you’re in luck. Folks in the Albany area can catch me hanging around the Albany Comic-Con this Sunday, 11/1. We may not have any prints left but you can defitnitely grab a copy of the book, or bring yours to be signed, and I might even have the sign-up sheet still available for the Volume Two preview…
And don’t forget, all you folks who’ve got the book but can’t make it out to a signing stop, there’s still time to send a photo with you and your copy of Awakening Volume one to AwakeningComic@gmail.com and get access to that same Volume Two preview. It’s the entire first chapter and it’s definitely our best yet.
AWAKENING IN THE PRESS…
Alex and I got to catch up with Tim over at Robot 6 about the signing tour, sticking it out with Archaia, and defining existential horror. Check it out and let us know what you think in the comments – Talking Comics With Tim – Awakening
Also, for anybody who’s happening on this and isn’t familiar with Awakening, the entire first chapter will be going up on Newsarama tomorrow for free! Keep an eye out and watch the Twitter feed for an update when that goes live.
That’s it for today, I think – I’ve got all sorts of things I want to get down but, for now, I think sleep is what’s going to happen instead. More next time.
- Nick
Awakening Halloween Tour: Next Stop – Baltimore Comic-Con
Oct 7th
OUR TOP STORY…
I’m so freakin’ excited right now I could mess myself. Or you. Either way, I’m PUMPED about this weekend. Why?
BALTIMORE COMIC-CON!
Not only is it always one of my favorite shows each year, but this year it’s the first stop on our Awakening Halloween Signing Tour! The best part is that we get to spend the weekend hanging out with friends, like the talented David Petersen (Mouse Guard, AA Table #58), Kate Glasheen (Hybrid Bastards! AA Table #59), and Jackie Santiago (talented illustrator and darling fiance, AA Table #59) AND we get to talk comics with people alllll weekend and disguise it as “work.”
I’m also pretty tits excited to let you guys know that Alex is going to be taking commissions at BCC. That means you not only get a signed book, an exclusive free print, and equally exclusive Halloween access to the first chapter of Volume Two, you can ALSO get original art from Eckman-Lawn, The Man-Machine himself! Pencil or ink commissions will be done on site but full digital pieces will have to be done at home and mailed. This is one of the first shows where he’ll be readily accepting commissions so don’t miss out!
Bonus points to anybody who comes by the table in Awakening costume. I dunno, what you’ll get, but it’ll be something cool. Maybe an original zombie haiku in your signed book? At the very least, you’ll get our undying love.
What’s that you say? You want to know the details of our illicit Halloween Signing Tour? I thought you’d never ask:
1 – Do you already own a copy of Awakening Volume One but can’t make it to one of our four signing stops? Then hurry up and send a picture of you with the book to AwakeningComic@gmail.com by 11:59pm EST on 10/30/2009!
Example: A one Miss Chandra Free exhibits her hunger for her Volume Two Halloween Preview:
[click thumbnail to enlarge]
(FYI, get ready for her book, The God Machine, to hit shops this month!)
2 – Are you waiting to try out the book but can’t make it to one of our four signing stops? Do you want to see some of what comes next so the wait for Volume Two isn’t as excruciating? Pick up the book at your local comic shop (and promote them by taking your photo with the book in front of the shop) or, if you can’t get it there for some reason (and shame on them for not ordering it for you!), go ahead and grab it at Amazon.com (Awakening Volume One on Amazon). Same deal, email a pic of you with the book to AwakeningComic@gmail.com by 11:59pm EST on 10/30/2009.
Everyone who emails a picture in by 11:59pm EST on 10/30/2009 is going to get an email from us at 12am, Halloween morning with an exclusive link and login info to read the entire first chapter of Volume Two!
3 – Now, let’s say you’re near one of the four signing stops listed below. If you come by and pick up a copy of the book, or bring your copy to be signed, not only will we take down your email so you get a link to the exclusive preview, but you’ll also get an exclusive, signed print created by Alex just for this Halloween tour! Mark these dates on your calenders:
Oct. 10, 10 a.m. -6 p.m.; Oct-11, 10 a.m.-5 p.m.
Artist Alley Table #60, Baltimore Comic-Con
The Baltimore Convention Center
One West Pratt Street
Baltimore, Maryland 21201
(Separate admission fee required for entry into Baltimore Comic-Con)
Oct. 17, 1-5 p.m. [Nick Tapalansky only]
Upstate Comics
Freedom Business Center
1097 Route 55
LaGrangeville, NY 12540
(845) 432- 3320
Oct. 24, 12-4 p.m.
Brave New Worlds Comics
45 North Second Street
Philadelphia, PA 19106
(215) 925-6525
Oct. 28, 4-7 p.m.
Jim Hanley’s Universe
4 West 33rd St.
New York, NY 10001
(212) 268-7088
NEW ART!
That’s right kids, time for some new stuff. Since these debuted on Newsarama today (more on that in a minute), I think it’s high time you got a lookee-loo:
[click thumbnail to enlarge]
This here is the cover to what would have been Awakening #6, now Volume Two, Chapter One, and is one small part of the awesome preview you can get on Halloween. We’ve been sitting on this image for a loooooong time, so it’s nice to finally put it out in the world! When Volume Two comes out next summer, there’ll be ‘covers’ for each chapter which’ll serve as chapter starts, just like we did in Volume One.
[click thumbnail to enlarge]
This piece is really exciting – this is the exclusive print you get for coming out and getting a book signed at one of our four stops this month. Anybody who brings a book to be signed or buys one at the signing gets one of these bad boys signed by Alex just for supporting the book.
AWAKENING IN THE NEWS…
Exciting week for us so far!
Item the First: MTV Splashpage names Awakening one of its Top 5 Favorite Comics Featuring The Living Dead! Considering the company we’re in (The Walking Dead, Marvel Zombies, Dead@17, and Xombie) it’s incredibly humbling. – MTV Splashpage Top Five Zombie Comics
Item the Second: We talk with Newsarama’s own Vaneta Rogers about the signing tour and what to expect from Volume Two, not to mention debuting those two new images! – Newsarama Interview
Item the Third: Fun interview over at Horrorview where, amongst other things, we get labeled Archaia’s prize horse (sorry Mouse Guard. Ha!). – Horrorview Interview
IN OTHER NEWS…
They claim it’s to add levity to some disaster planning, but I think somebody at the University of Florida knows something: Florida Is All Set if Zombies Invade
Also, just discovered Inappropriate Soundtracks on the YouTube. There are a ton of funny ones, but this one got my attention since it’s been a big joke since Awakening #1 came out (for the latest instance, back track to the 4th Letter interview that went up last week):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5m6urLXVOQ
The best part? It’s a fucking zombie song!
Time to start packing and get ready to hit Baltimore in the face with existential horror. Everybody better come out or Alex will convert your breath into fuel for his unnatural body while you sleep.
One. By. One.
See you at the show!
- Nick
Follow Awakening Online:
Awakening on Twitter: http://twitter.com/awakeningcomic
Trailer for Awakening: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0qJQB68NkP0
Nick Tapalansky’s website: http://www.nicktapalansky.com/
Alex Eckman-Lawn’s website: http://www.alexeckmanlawn.com/
First Look At Volume Two? Free Prints? Awakening Halloween Excitement!
Sep 28th
OUR TOP STORY…
I love that we’re finally rolling into October this week – I think my whole year is a build-up to this month. Leaves are changing, it’s cooler out, and the spooks and shadows are creeping to life, peering around corners and following you down lonely streets. Speaking of…
We’ve got some exciting happenings coming in October, courtesy of the Awakening Halloween Signing Tour! For anyone who missed it, let’s run this badboy down one more time because there’s something exclusive and awesome for everybody who’s reading this blog:
1 – Do you already own a copy of Awakening Volume One but can’t make it to one of our four signing stops? Then hurry up and send a picture of you with the book to AwakeningComic@gmail.com by 11:59pm EST on 10/30/2009!
2 – Are you waiting to try out the book but can’t make it to one of our four signing stops? Do you want to see some of what comes next so the wait for Volume Two isn’t as excruciating? Pick up the book at your local comic shop (and promote them by taking your photo with the book in front of the shop) or, if you can’t get it there for some reason (and shame on them for not ordering it for you!), go ahead and grab it at Amazon.com (Awakening Volume One on Amazon). Same deal, email a pic of you with the book to AwakeningComic@gmail.com by 11:59pm EST on 10/30/2009.
Everyone who emails a picture in by 11:59pm EST on 10/30/2009 is going to get an email from us at 12am, Halloween morning with an exclusive link and login info to read the entire first chapter of Volume Two!
3 – Now, let’s say you’re near one of the four signing stops listed below. If you come by and pick up a copy of the book, or bring your copy to be signed, not only will we take down your email so you get a link to the exclusive preview, but you’ll also get an exclusive, signed print created by Alex just for this Halloween tour! Mark these dates on your calenders:
Oct. 10, 10 a.m. -6 p.m.; Oct-11, 10 a.m.-5 p.m.
Artist Alley Table #60, Baltimore Comic-Con
The Baltimore Convention Center
One West Pratt Street
Baltimore, Maryland 21201
(Separate admission fee required for entry into Baltimore Comic-Con)
Oct. 17, 1-5 p.m. [Nick Tapalansky only]
Upstate Comics
Freedom Business Center
1097 Route 55
LaGrangeville, NY 12540
(845) 432- 3320
Oct. 24, 12-4 p.m.
Brave New Worlds Comics
45 North Second Street
Philadelphia, PA 19106
(215) 925-6525
Oct. 28, 4-7 p.m.
Jim Hanley’s Universe
4 West 33rd St.
New York, NY 10001
(212) 268-7088
I wish we could branch out further but, for now, we’re limited in our travel distance – sorry Mid-West, South, and West! If this tour is as big as I think we’re going to make it though, we should be able to go much wider for Volume Two next year!
Hope to see a ton of people at these stops – maybe some folks dressed as Derrick or Cynthia? Zombies, anybody?
AWAKENING IN THE NEWS…
Lot’s of interviews and reviews abound, so hold on to your pants:
First, we catch up with Kris over at Broken Frontier about the launch of the book and what comes next – Zombie Awakening - Lowdown
Jill Pantozzi aka The Nerdy Bird says of Awakening, “Forget Zombies for Dummies. This is Zombies for Intellectuals.” – Read the whole review here and then check out an amazing interview for GEN where Jill and I talk about zombie survival, Alex’s anatomy, and Mexican brothels! - GEN Interview -
Speaking of reviews, here’s one in its entirety from Ain’t It Cool News (link!) that made Alex and I blush heartily:
“Too many zombie comics start with the outbreak and move right into an examination of the human condition when faced with the end of civilization as we know it. We’ve seen it a million times. And frankly, I’m pretty sick of reading that story. While AWAKENING focuses on the beginnings of what looks to be the zombie apocalypse, this isn’t your usual stow a bunch of random people in a house/mall/army bunker/prison/whatever and see them tear each other apart story. At its core, AWAKENING is a detective story, where one private dick is investigating what at first seems like a missing persons case, but soon turns into something a whole lot more diabolical and dire. Detective Peters is a bit jaded, as all good detectives are, but he’s good at his job. When the town crazy woman starts spouting stories of zombies, everyone (including Peters) thinks she’s just nuts. But then some crazy things start happening and unlike most outbreak stories, this one takes its sweet old time. Literally months pass in this story before anyone even believes there may be a zombie outbreak occurring. It’s an extended version of the initial outbreak scenes in SHAUN OF THE DEAD where the dead are walking, but no one is noticing. A very cool statement about the apathetic world we live in and there’s no better backdrop than the jaded world of detective noir for this scenario to play out on. Unlike most zombie books that mix genres, this one isn’t winking at the reader. This is an all too serious look at one man who is opening his eyes and noticing that there’s a problem going on right under everyone’s noses that will most definitely get out of hand soon. I love the tension that permeates from every page. Nick Tapalansky has more patience that I’ve ever seen a writer have, doling out tiny bits of info to disbelieving characters making those who know what’s coming chomp at their own bits in anticipation. Artist Alex Eckman-Lawn literally evolves as an artist as you turn through all five issues collected in this novel. His style starts out blocky and overly dark, but shifts almost seamlessly to a more softy, cloudy tone by the end of the book. But in every page, this looks like a detective/horror book with stark blacks with hints of colors peeking through the scribbles. This is a phenomenal achievement in writing and artistry and proof that when done well even when utilizing the most worn out of genres there still can exist something special.”
Another fun interview, this one with Gavin over at The 4th Letter – if you’ve ever wondered what characters I’d want to write at the big two, or how I’d tackle Johnny Storm’s pal Wingfoot, this is the interview to read. - The 4th Letter -
FOLLOW AWAKENING…
…on the interweb:
Follow Awakening on Twitter: http://twitter.com/awakeningcomic
Trailer for Awakening: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0qJQB68NkP0
Nick Tapalansky’s website: http://www.nicktapalansky.com/
Alex Eckman-Lawn’s website: http://www.alexeckmanlawn.com/
Keep it locked here for updates as we blow through the best month of the year. First stop: BALTIMORE!
- Nick
