February 2023 - Sure Thing, College Boy
(Real quick before I dig in - this is the first of two planned updates for this month. The second should drop on February 24, and will focus on my next novel THE ENDLESS VESSEL - you'll hear about the pre-order bonuses as well as something else incredibly cool I've been cooking up. But that's for next week. Right now...)
SURE THING, COLLEGE BOY
Exciting times in the story mines! If you're a long-time subscriber, you know I've been talking about an Image Comics series called HELL TO PAY that I'm creating with longtime pal and Irish superstar artist Will Sliney, with gorgeous colors by Rachelle Rosenberg and reliably perfect lettering by Crank! Three issues are out so far, with #4 on the way. It's an awesome supernatural-horror tale about a global treasure hunt for 666 cursed coins straight outta hell.
It is also the first of seven planned graphic novels that will make up a larger story Will and I are calling THE SHROUDED COLLEGE. News on the second story will be in HELL TO PAY #6 - but you can expect it to begin toward the end of this year.
But today, I am so pleased to be able to tell you that the entire Shrouded College series, all of it, was picked up by Universal in connection with Seth MacFarlane's Fuzzy Door Productions for development as a television series on the Peacock streaming network. What does all that mean? Well, it means that Will and I have a lot of comics to make. It means we can tell the full story as we've planned it. It means we will be working with some extremely awesome people to help bring the adaptation together - Will and I are executive producers on the project, and while you really just never know about this sort of thing, I can say that the people on the other side are fantastic. I've been working with them for a while, actually - they've been developing another series of mine called LETTER 44 for a while now, and I could not be happier.
I can't tell you how awesome it feels to know I've got a good chunk of creative work lined up (years of it, really), with a bunch of people I love working with.
The feel of the SHROUDED COLLEGE series as a whole is basically "supernatural Mission:Impossible" - each book within the series introduces a new agent (or team or family of agents) who works for the College trying to accomplish extremely difficult, dangerous mystical objectives. The College is mixed up in a magical cold war, which they are very much losing. HELL TO PAY introduces married couple Maia and Sebastian Stone... and we'll meet many more agents as we go. (They're called "targets" in the series vernacular - it's a tough gig, working for the Shrouded College.) The books are scary and intense, and full of adventure and action. Right in my wheelhouse... and I hope in yours as well.
Here's the full press release on the deal, if you're interested.
DRAG YOURSELF TO HELL
All right, that's a lot of hype. What the hell is Hell to Pay and why did Universal want to put it on screen? If you haven't already checked out the series, find out for yourself by catching up on issues one through three. I have every cover of all three issues available on my webstore, including the very rare "hellcoin" variant that comes with a custom, individually-numbered actual coin in the design from the comic. We only made 666 of them, and numbers are running low. You can get them signed or unsigned, whatever level of sharpie you prefer! Click the button below to head over to the HELL TO PAY STORE and spend some of your hellcoins (Disclaimer, we do not actually accept hellcoins as payment...yet).
Check out all the beautiful covers below:
JEDI BRAVE IN EVERY WAY
In other news since last month, the final cover for JEDI BRAVE IN EVERY WAY was released! Formerly known by its working title Yoda and the Younglings, it’s a High Republic kids picture book I wrote with my daughter Rosemary. It will be out this fall, has gorgeous art from Valerie Valdivia, and I'm very excited for it. The little Younglings there are named Bree, Jon and Toko, and yes, that's beloved Wookiee Padawan Burryaga Agaburry. I sure hope he doesn't blow up or something!
It was so much fun to do this. The word count isn't massive - it's a kids book, after all. The process felt closer to writing songs or poetry. Putting myself into the mindset of a little kid was a true challenge, and I was particularly happy to be able to work on it with Rosemary, who is closer to the target age than I am. (That's just MATH, people.) A big part of the book is about conquering fear (very Jedi, right?) and she could talk about things that scared her when she was smaller in really precise and helpful ways. This is very much from both of us, and I am so proud of it and her.
If you are interested in pre-ordering the book, there are bunch of links to do that here.
GOODREADS, GREAT GIVEAWAY - GET YOUR OWN EARLY COPY OF THE ENDLESS VESSEL!
I know I said I'd save most of the Endless Vessel stuff for next week, and I will, but if you use Goodreads and you're interested in potentially getting a copy of my next novel THE ENDLESS VESSEL like *months* early (it's out June 6), Harper Perennial is doing a giveaway until 3/15. They're only giving out fifty, and as of this writing, uh, "quite a few more than that" number of people have entered, so I wish you my most sincere good luck. Click on the button below for more information!
PENNING THE PENULTIMATE 8BG
Speaking of comics that are being adapted for the screen, the seventh issue of EIGHT BILLION GENIES just dropped this week. This is the second to last issue of the hit series that I made with my Curse Words co-creator, Ryan Browne. It's a MASSIVE 40 page comic, which we did not charge extra for! Why did we do this to ourselves?? We really could have soaked the fans, and we didn't! We are terrible businessmen but solid comickers.
I'm starting to get sad and anxious at the idea that this series is soon to end. Ryan and I have had the creative time of our lives on it. That said, we'll both be at C2E2 in Chicago at the end of March, and we'll be doing some cool stuff at that show to keep the ride going... you'll hear about that in the March update, I think.
In the meantime, if you're looking for any version of 8BG #7 (including some of the rarer variants in limited copies), click the button below to get yours. Just like Hell to Pay, I have every issue both signed and unsigned.
The final issue will be out in what's looking like late March (possibly early April - we're not rushing this one), with the hardcover collection coming in July! Here are the covers for both.
AND THAT'S THAT!
I always feel like there's so much more to say in these than I manage to pack in, but that's the price I pay for just sending out one per month - except this month, when, again, I'm going to send out two. There's so much going on! Hell, I didn't catch you up on UNDISCOVERED COUNTRY, or what's going on with the Star Wars comics I'm doing at Marvel, or that other thing I'm doing over there, or a new shirt I got for Star Wars Celebration, or this year's special pin I'm having made for High Republic cosplayers at that grand event (this one's Phase II-related...) Anyway, whoosh. It's a lot. Stayin bizzzzzzy, all.
See you next week!
In the meantime, stay happy, healthy and kind.
--Charles