News From October 2021
And We're Back!
Lots to share this time around, and not a lot of time to do it! I'll be attending my first comicon in TWO YEARS this weekend - New York Comicon - and wanted to get you my schedule and the particulars. I also want to share some news about a fun Star Wars thing that makes me really happy, and update on my various Hollywood adaptations-in-progress. There's also a really cool exclusive thing I'm making available to you guys first, as always, and a desperate plea for feedback. Read on!
NEW YORK COMIC CON!
I will be at New York Comic Con this weekend. Holy heck, right? I have a weird sense of both normalcy returning and also "whoa, I hope I remember how to do this." In the Before Times, I was at a show pretty much every three weeks, in locations all over the world. I had it down to a science, for everything from how I packed my luggage to the particular Sharpie colors I'd bring. Now... the muscle memory's gone, but I still can't wait. I saw a concert not so long ago (another thing I had to remember how to do), and the performer said something I'll never forget - during a big moment, happy crowd, beautiful music, he said "I'll never take this for granted again." That's going to be ringing through my head all weekend, I'm sure.
I'll be at the show all four days from Thursday to Sunday. You can find my signing times here. As always, the first item is free, all others after that are $5 each. Any CGC signature is $15. If you don't have anything ready to be signed, I'll have plenty of books available for purchase at my signing table (whether I'm there or not!) All purchased items come with a signature (and usually a remarque or terrible sketch or both.)
I'll have copies of my novels, (very) limited copies of hard-to-find things like the Curse Words omnibus and the Letter 44 Deluxe hardcovers, plus various other items from across my career, including a special variant of the War of the Bounty Hunters Alpha issue drawn by Steve McNiven - not available in stores! Come on by! I am dying to see you. I want to drown in a beautiful mad press of humanity! (NOT REALLY - let's all be respectful and mask up and be cool. No one needs to drown here!)
FOR THOSE NOT AT NYCC!
I know not everyone can (or wants to) attend a huge comic convention in New York City this weekend. For those of you in that boat, I wanted to make something special available. I've been the writer on the main Marvel Star Wars comic (just called Star Wars) for coming up on two years now. During that time, we've seen some awesome stuff - Luke got his yellow lightsaber, Lando and Lobot got up to some wild schemes, Leia mounted one heck of a rescue expedition to try to save Han... it's been a ride.
I get very limited copies of these issues for my own collection sent to me. I have six sets total of the issues I've written (that's 1-18), and I am making five of them available in my store. They're bundled in sets based on arcs - 1-6 ("The Destiny Path"), 7-12 ("Operation Starlight") and 13-18 (tie-in to "War of the Bounty Hunters"). Now, here's the cool part - I'll sign all the issues, obviously, but each set will also have a unique 6-part short story written on the covers (a sentence or two per cover.) They'll all shed light on the story within, and each set will have a different story. (So if you get two of Set 1, they'll each have their own story.)
(These include, by the way, the nearly impossible-to-find Star Wars #4, which was released on March 18, 2020 - aka the Wednesday after lockdown began and most of the shops had to close.)
I think this will be a really cool thing, and I hope you'll agree. All sets are available here:
VOLUME 1 - THE DESTINY PATH
VOLUME 2 - OPERATION STARLIGHT
VOLUME 3 - WAR OF THE BOUNTY HUNTERS (tie-ins)
REN!
A little while back, I created a Star Wars comic book with my friend Will Sliney called RISE OF KYLO REN. It told the story of Ben Solo's transformation into Kylo Ren, and it introduced a new character named Ren, who was the leader of the group called the Knights of Ren, which Kylo ended up taking over.
Ren is a cool cat (not literally, though that would be entirely possible since this is Star Wars), and last Friday, he appeared in a television show, walking and talking. Still blows my damn mind, as did this, in the credits:
Nice to see my High Republic pal Cavan Scott in there too! He's the writer on the Tales from Vader's Castle comic series from IDW that inspired the premise of the show, a Halloween special called Star Wars Terrifying Tales - a hugely fun experience currently watchable on Disney+. It's spooky stories all done in Lego; just awesome.
Below you can see Ren as he first appeared, and then how he showed up in the show. UNCANNY. Pretty fantastic milestone for me, too - still can't believe it happened. You'll be seeing much more Ren in CRIMSON REIGN, by the way - the follow-up story to WAR OF THE BOUTY HUNTERS in the Marvel comics. Starts in December!
Now I know seeing Ren in all his plastic glory has got you jonesing for the next thing Will and I are up to. Long-time subscribers will know about HELL TO PAY, my upcoming creator owned series with Will (and Rachelle Rosenberg on colors.) It's a supernatural adventure series that will be out in 2022 from Image Comics.
Because you’re reading this you have special access to a limited edition variant of HELL TO PAY #1, which you can see above. Click this link to grab your copy! We are also offering the ability to have your issue signed and we're doing special sketches of the characters too. Lots of options - just check the store page for more info (seriously, check it first before buying the variant)!
HOLLYWOOD!
I have a bunch of projects in various stages of adaptation from page to screen, and I thought it might be fun to give you a quick update on where it all is. I won't get too specific, and dear god the wheels move slowly - but things are happening!
UNDISCOVERED COUNTRY - Scott Snyder and I are still in the thick of writing the screenplay for New Republic Pictures, but we're well into our second draft. It's a huuuuuge movie as we've written it, and it would be amazing to see it happen.
LETTER 44 - some pretty significant movement just happened on this one. If there are ten steps between writing a comic and seeing it on a screen, this one's on like step five. (Most stuff never gets past step two, even if it's optioned, so this feels pretty great.)
CURSE WORDS - in process. There's a writer assigned to write the TV screenplay, but Ryan and I haven't seen a draft yet. Still, progress is progress!
ANYONE - my pilot script is complete, and the way the producers are approaching the story is VERY VERY VERY cool. I have incredibly high hopes for this one, but obviously it's still a roll of the dice.
THE ORACLE YEAR - the pilot script is complete, written by a wonderful writer, and it's at a pretty critical juncture in terms of what will happen next with it. Cross your fingers - I think this would make a kickass show.
There are a few other things in the works, but those are the biggies right now. Feels good to look at all of that, I can't lie.
And with that, I'm off. See you at the show! (Feels awesome to say that.)
--Charles