Introducing My New Project with Ryan Browne!
MY GIFT 2 U
It's December! 2021 is almost over, and feels like it almost didn't happen at all. I know that's not true. I'm sure many things occurred in your lives and mine, (and I'll be doing my typical year-end retrospective/look-ahead in next month's update) but the sound 2021 makes in my head is whooooooosh.
A lot to cover in this installment - so much big, awesome news! I'm finally revealing one of my next big creator-owned projects, a book with my CURSE WORDS co-creator Ryan Browne.
I have a huge new Star Wars project dropping this week - CRIMSON REIGN, and I'm doing a very special live interview about it with a **very** ***special*** friend.
I'm returning to convention-land again this week, at C2E2 in Chicago from Friday to Sunday. Should be fun - Chicago's a heck of a town.
All that... and more! READ ON, friends!
MAKE A WISH
I am beyond thrilled to tell you about the next comic book project from me and incredible artist Ryan Browne. We made CURSE WORDS together, and now we're making this. We've been working on it for at least a few years now, and I couldn't be happier about how it's coming together. Beyond just being a staggering artistic talent, Ryan is one of my closest friends in all this lonely world, and getting to work with him is always a joy.
So - without further ado, I present to you... EIGHT BILLION GENIES!!!
What is this book? Very simple: at exactly the same moment, everyone on Earth gets a genie, and one wish. What happens next? How would that be anything other than total chaos? Why would Ryan and Charles write a story about something so audacious and boundary-breaking?
Because we can, friends. Because we can. COMICS, BABY!
The series will begin in May 2022 from Image Comics, but Ryan and I have created a limited edition version of the first issue we're going to have available at C2E2 in Chicago this weekend.
(The tone here, by the way, is slightly more grounded than CURSE WORDS, but still pretty wild. It's very much the kind of thing you're expecting from us - but an evolution.)
WAITIN' ON A REIGN-Y DAY
Did you know I have a kickass Star Wars comic coming out this Wednesday? (Well, two, actually - Star Wars #19 is out as well as the one I'm about to discuss.) It's CRIMSON REIGN, here at last!
With spectacular art from Steven Cummings, this is a five-issue limited series following directly on from the hit series I did with Luke Ross: WAR OF THE BOUNTY HUNTERS. It's part two of what you could call the Qi'ra Trilogy, and features many of your favorites old and new, from Darth Vader to the Knights of Ren.
(I didn't choose those two at random, by the way. As I announced on a recent podcast, Issue 4 of the series features a heist on Fortress Vader by our scuzzy Dark Side-wielding friends the Knights of Ren... I've written the script and it's RAD.)
But CRIMSON REIGN isn't the only book Marvel's putting out this week with the word "reign" in the title. It's also time for DEVIL'S REIGN #1, from my friends Chip Zdarsky and Marco Checchetto.
To celebrate this incredibly potent corporate synergy, Chip and I will be doing a LIVE one-on-one podcast sort of Zoom interview thing where we will talk to each other about our respective Reigns, what it feels like to both write Daredevil and maybe... friendship? We'll see where it goes. No promises on that last one.
This will happen at 6 PM EST on Thursday, December 9 at this link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84574222342?pwd=dGNLODBWcGJuUmJHM2Q3NEQvV013QT09 . The password is 'darepalz.' Keep it secret! Keep it safe!
See you there! Be there or be square! If you dare! Devil!
Also, if you want to see me in person... I'm signing Crimson Reign #1 this Wednesday, December 8 at MIDTOWN COMICS DOWNTOWN in Manhattan, from 5-7 PM. You can get that book, or bring anything else you'd like me to sign. I am there 4 U!
IN THE EYE OF THE STORM
Today (December 6) is the last day to order EYE OF THE STORM #1, the origin story for Marchion Ro, the primary villain of the new High Republic era of Star Wars. I just did the final edits on the first issue, and it is GOOD STUFF. Guillermo Sanna did an amazing job. This isn't your standard comic - it's longer, and more of a meal. It incorporates some prose elements, and jumps around in time in a really interesting way. I'm very proud of it, and I hope you'll get it.
If you do want it, I urge you to tell your local comic shop you'd like to order it, because that's the only way you can be sure it will be there for you on release day, which is January 12. Seriously - ORDER IT - with paper shortages and such, second printings are becoming more rare. You can order a number of different versions of it at this link, and I will have VERY LIMITED COPIES AVAILABLE on my site store - but just a handful.
Here's the amazing variant cover by longtime friend Giuseppe Camuncoli to issue 1!
OTHER THINGS!
Some quick bits and bobs - I've been doing more podcasts and such than I usually do, which means you have a holiday cornucopia of places to check out my face talking at you from a screen (or potentially just my voice talking to you from a speaker.)
First: I did Rare Drop's Commix show on Twitch with frequent collaborator and Irish dreambot Will Sliney. We talked about Star Wars (including our work on Rise of Kylo Ren and how it felt to see a character we created adapted into Star Wars animation, our upcoming Image series HELL TO PAY. Watch that here!
Oh, and speaking of RoKR - my webstore has the origin of Kylo Ren back in stock! If you want a signed copy of the beautiful collected edition of the entire comic from Will Sliney and me, click here. And if you want to support the next story Will and I are doing, you can order the first issue of our next thing - HELL TO PAY by clicking here or on the gorgeous image below, and even get it signed or sketched by Will and me!
Second: I was a guest on the wonderful KINGCAST podcast, hosted by my friends Eric Vespe and Scott Wampler! It covers all things Stephen King, and I was on to talk about GERALD'S GAME - both the 1992 novel and the recent film adaptation by Mike Flanagan. It was a rip-roaring good time, and you can listen to it here.
I also did an episode of Hypothetical Island, which is a fun, free-form sort of interview-y show where the hosts present a made-up island to the guests and then we all just sort of... go with it. Kind of D&D-y, but patently absurd! It was a great time, and you can hear it here.
As I mentioned, I'll be at C2E2 in Chicago this week, signing lots of comics and with lots of things for you to check out. I'm doing three panels, including a spotlight panel on Saturday with Ryan Browne where we'll talk more about EIGHT BILLION GENIES, moderated by our friend (and friend to all comics creators), the wonderful John Siuntres. My full schedule will be up soon here: charlessoule.com/appearances.
I'm just ALL OVER THE PLACE, eh?
HAPPY HOLIDAYS!
I think it's time to wrap this one up. If the mood strikes, I might send out that year-end retrospective before 12/31.
If you have any questions on outstanding orders from my site store, especially if you're hoping to get stuff by Christmas, reach out to my assistant at souleassistant@gmail.com and he can help you out!
Speaking of which, I am also taking pre-orders for my DARTH VADER and DAREDEVIL omnibuses that will be coming out later this month, each of which collects EVERY ISSUE of these runs. I got very limited quantities, like low single digits, so if you want a signed copy from me, click on through.
As always with anything you get from my store, you'll get an email with tracking information once they've been sent out.
That's it from me! Have a wonderful holiday season, and I've turned replies on for this one - so let me know if you have any comments or questions. Here's to seeing 2021 out, and to a better 2022.
--Charles