April 2021 Updates!

And... we're back!

Well, this is nice. It's been a few months since the last newsletter went out, and in that time, I've gotten my first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine (YAY HOORAY YAY), daylight savings sprung forward (HUGE YAY) and the weather turned from frigid to buddingly gorgeous (OH HECK YES). I'm sitting outside as I type this, and little bugs are buzzing around... I needed this. I hope you're seeing your world take a turn for the better too. Day by day, I think it's coming back.

In this installment, we'll be talking about the huge new Star Wars comics crossover I'm writing for Marvel - WAR OF THE BOUNTY HUNTERS; maybe a bit of High Republic stuff; you'll have an opportunity for a very first look at my next Image Comics series HELL TO PAY; and I've hit the stockroom to get some cool items up for sale in my store, including more custom bookplates for my New York Times #1 bestselling novel LIGHT OF THE JEDI. I realize it's still a drag that I can't see everyone at  conventions (but the world is coming back!), and I wanted to make sure people could get signed items if they want them. So... read on!

Hell To Pay

Let's start off with something new! This summer, my next comic series for Image Comics will be released. It's called HELL TO PAY, and it's a supernatural horror romance adventure - Indiana Jones meets Hellboy (or Hellraiser!) The art for the book is provided by my RISE OF KYLO REN partner Will Sliney, with colors by Rachelle Rosenberg - she's been doing amazing work on my STAR WARS comic for Marvel.

The story is about Sebastian and Maia Stone, a married couple, highly trained in all sorts of magical and non-magical techniques, tasked with retrieving six hundred and sixty-six very special coins that have wreaked supernatural havoc on Earth for centuries. These coins are called qurrakh, and they are the very currency of Hell Itself - the Devil's Dollar. Each one can buy you the services of a demon... like I said - havoc.

While the regular comic will be out this summer, we wanted to make a special version of Issue 1 available for our superfans - Will's got a big Twitch audience, for example, and I have you lovely people! So, we've created a unique, exclusive cover that you can only get from us, which will print as a limited run. We're offering a set number signed by the whole team, as well as a short run of sketches from Will with dialogue by me. An early, uncolored version of the cover is to the right.

GET THE EXCLUSIVE VARIANT OF HELL TO PAY #1 HERE!

If you have any questions, feel free to email my assistant Tommy. He can help you out.

War of the Bounty Hunters

On Wednesday, May 5, aka Revenge of the Fifth, the WAR OF THE BOUNTY HUNTERS BEGINS, with a special issue from me, my frequent collaborator and all-around amazing artist and person Steve McNiven, colorist Laura Martin and letters from Travis Lanham. It's one of the coolest issues I've ever been involved with, and I can't wait for you to see it.

The story for WotBH, as I call it in my notes and emails to my devoted, patient editors, follows Boba Fett as he attempts to deliver Han Solo-in-carbonite (aka the Hansicle) to Jabba after Empire Strikes Back. Things go very wrong, and basically every interesting power player in the galaxy gets involved, from the Rebels to Vader to Aphra and many more. That story begins with the Alpha issue out on May 5, and I urge you to tell your comic shop to reserve you a copy NOW. The orders for this end on Monday, April 12 - in two days - so this is your shot. It'll run through its own limited series, as well as the four main Star Wars titles Marvel is putting out now (except for The High Republic, that is.)

(Speaking of Star Wars: The High Republic - I've seen speculation online wondering if I'm still involved, or if I'm going to be writing more stories for it beyond just LIGHT OF THE JEDI. The answer is yes.)

Undiscovered Country Vol 2 Available Now!

The second volume of Undiscovered Country my ongoing Image Comics series about an expedition through a transformed America three decades after the nation seals its borders, was released on March 24th. This one's called "Unity," after the Zone the explorers travel through, and it's a creepy sci-fi tribute to the great history of American innovation. To help promote it, we created another set of five "state" postcards (art by the series team Giuseppe Camuncoli, Leo Grassi, Matt Wilson and Crank!), and released them to various news outlets - but you can see them all below.

I have a few signed copies of volume 2 on my store as well as some remaining stock of signed volume 1's. I'm even offering a bundle deal if you want to start the series and be ready for issue #13 on June 23.

(That said, if you're only here because you liked Light of the Jedi and you're not sure if this comic is for you, you can read the first issue for free here!)

Goin' Back To BrowneTowne

The follow up to CURSE WORDS, the brilliant exploration of finding magic in an all-too-pedestrian world that starred a talking koala, from Ryan Browne and myself... is in the works! 

It's an all-new concept, and should be out later this year from Image Comics, and Ryan's hard at work drawing the pictures that will make it into an actual comic book (as opposed to just a bunch of silly words by yours truly.)

This story is a magnificent beast, a step forward creatively for both of us, and we think you'll like it. Here's a tiny sneak peek at one of Ryan's pages-in-progress!

SHOP TIL YOU DROP (money in my online store)

With spring finally here, and all of us itching to do nothing more than stay in and read after a year of staying in and reading, I've added quite some cool new items to my store that I think you'll like. The biggest one (literally) is the omnibus for my entire run on SWAMP THING, which also includes Scott Snyder's whole run on the title, and incredible art by Jesus Saiz, Yanick Paquette and more. It's one giant story, a huge mulchy epic. You can get a copy signed by me here - but I have very few of these, so grab it now, if you're interested. I'm not sure this is even out in stores yet!

I also have bookplates for Light of the Jedi which have been a huge hit. If you want your copy of LotJ signed by me, this is the best way to do it until we can see each other face to face again... and it'll be a while.

If you missed our Curse Words omnibus Kickstarter campaign, I have a few of those available as well if you click here. And finally, as mentioned before, I have volume 1 and volume 2 of Undiscovered Country available as well! Click here to check out the bundle. You can poke around the store in general here, too - lots of fun things.

And that's that! See you next month... and keep reading!

--Charles