24: NIGHTFALL #5 Now On Sale

The fifth and final issue of the 24: Nightfall mini-series is on sale now. This prequel to Season One of the Fox TV series 24 spells out just what happened on Jack Bauer's ill-fated mission to tale out mass murderer Victor Drazen. It's written by Mark L. Haynes and me with art by Jean Diaz.

This series, and our previous 24 work, was written up this week in Beau Smith's "Busted Knuckles" column on the Silver Bullet Comicbooks site.

We're looking forward to doing more 24 with IDW in the near future, and I'm presently at work on the Season 5 trading cards for Artbox Entertainment.

Two-Fisted Tales - Volume One

THE EC ARCHIVES: TWO-FISTED TALES - Volume One

This first volume of the critically acclaimed Two-Fisted Tales showcases the work of writer-artist-editor Harvey Kurtzman, writer-artist-editor Al Feldstein, and artists Wally Wood, Johnny Craig, John Severin, Will Elder and Jack Davis. It also sports an introduction by Steve Geppi.

If you think you know war comics but haven't read Two-Fisted Tales, you definitely don't know war comics.

Like the rest of the volumes in the EC Archives series, it's $49.95, full-color, 212 pages.

JCV Interviews SALVADOR's Sebastian A. Jones

A couple of weeks ago, I interviewed writer Sebastian A. Jones, who collaborated with filmmakers Michael and Mark Polish (The Astronaut Farmer) on their upcoming comic book Salvador, for Scoop.

Check it out!

Beau Smith's COBB: OFF THE LEASH

The great thing about having really good friends is that they don't have to do anything remarkable to keep being your friend, but when they do, you really get a chance to celebrate.

Right now, that's the case with my amigo Beau Smith.

His comic book mini-series Cobb: Off The Leash has been collected into the graphic novel size Cobb Magazine, and it's superb. Here's my review, combining elements of what I wrote for Scoop and some new thoughts on the subject:

When the story collected in this magazine-sized graphic novel was first serialized, the first issue grabbed us, put us in a chair, slapped us around and bit and made us confess it was a really great comic book story. In other words, it had Beau Smith written all over it. Now, with the story complete in one publication, it reads like a great action-adventure story should. There isn't much in the way of posing, there aren't any stupid catch phrases, and the action isn't over the top. Instead, what readers get is a well-paced story packed with pragmatic bad guys in the form of Russian mobsters, relentlessly solid good guys who don't have a lot of contrived angst for doing the right thing, and circumstances spiraling out of control when the two sides meet. The action is spectacular, but not unbelievable. Likewise the plot, and Cobb and his friends are people you would definitely want to have your back in a fight.

In a career marked thus far by diverse characters from a variety of publishers, ranging from The Black Terror at Eclipse Comics to Guy Gardner at DC, Smith has established himself as a writer with a distinct take on things. Whether he's been working on someone else's characters, such as Wildcat, or his own, like Wynonna Earp, his characters have had a certain rough-and-tumble directness to them, a straight forward honesty akin to John Wayne's Rooster Cogburn in True Grit. That said, even Smith's diehard fans might not find themselves ready for Cobb. Matched with the fluid linework of artist Eduardo Barreto, Smith has poured himself and his sensibilities into this story and the results are outstanding, a real page turner of a read.

Earlier Interview with Beau Smith

Cobb #1 Picked as #3 Comic of 2006 by Scoop

A couple years ago...

In October 2005, Baltimore Smart CEO named Steve Geppi as their CEO of the Year. I hadn't thought about that party in a while, but recently I was forwarded some photos from the evening Steve received his award.

John K. Snyder, Jr. (my boss at Gemstone Publishing and President of Geppi's Entertainment Museum) and I were among the attendees who saw Steve receive his award. It was a pretty cool evening and I'm glad to have it as a memory.

John K. Snyder, Jr., JCV, and Steve Geppi