Eye Witness Now Available to Even More Digital Readers!

Hey Gang,

I just heard, that my Eye Witness series is now available to users of the New AMAZON KINDLE FIRE, through the Graphicly app on the Head Press website, as well as the BARNES & NOBLE NOOK TABLET...also through Graphicly!

The versions of the books on Graphicly, contain previously unreleased behind the scenes commentary and artwork, from your's truly...exclusive to that app.  For more info, visit:

http://graphicly.com/head-press-publishing/eye-witness
 
RJ Luedke
http://www.headpress.info/
http://www.bobtheartist.com/

Eye Witness: Unknown God is Book Award Finalist

Head Press Publishing received notification today that the fourth book in our Eye Witness series, Unknown God, has been named a finalist for the 2010 Fore Word Reviews, Book of the Year Awards!

According to ForeWord, "The finalists were drawn from more than 350 publishers and were selected from 1400 entries in 56 categories. These books are examples of independent publishing at its finest."

Eye Witness: Unknown God is a finalist for the 2010 Awards in the graphic novel category.  "Given the quality of the titles and creators also named in this year's finals, I'm quite honored," stated author/illustrator Robert Luedke.   Here is a list of the finalists:

■Beasts of Burden by Evan Dorkin
■Binky to the Rescue by Ashley Spires

■Blacksad by Juan Daz Canales

■Book of Hours by George A Walker

■Days Missing Vol. 1 by Ian Edginton, Phil Hester, David Hine and Matz

■Eye Witness by Robert James Luedke

■Gunnerkrigg Court Vol. 2 by Tom Siddell

■Return of the Dapper Men by Jim McCann

■Tumor by Joshua Hale Fialkov

■Wanderlust by Megan Speers

Eye Witness: Unknown God, is the final book in the Eye Witness tetraology and it features a unique and fast paced combination of a modern-day action thriller with an adaptation of the Biblical book of Acts.  Since it's premier in 2004, Luedke's Eye Witness series has garnered four indy book awards and been named a finalist in four others.

ForeWord Reviews' Book of the Year Awards program was established to help publishers shine an additional spotlight on their best titles and bring increased attention to librarians and booksellers of the literary and graphic achievements of independent publishers and their authors.  ForeWord is the only review trade journal devoted exclusively to books from independent houses.

Winners will be determined by a panel of librarians and booksellers selected from the ForeWord readership. Gold, Silver, and Bronze winners, as well as Editor’s Choice Prizes for Fiction and Nonfiction will be announced at a special program at the ALA Annual Conference in New Orleans this June.  The ceremony is open to all ALA attendees and exhibiting publishers.

2011...the Year of Digital Publishing?

All the signs I am seeing points to 2011 being be the year digital distribution busts loose in the book and comic industry.

The foundation of that belief is based upon the number of companies releasing their own iPad type hardware this year...which was the "missing link" in the chain to mobile-digital comic reading. Amazon already has publicly stated their largest selling item is now the Kindle (outselling Harry Potter), so don't think for a minute that other companies are not taking notice (but of course that one's not yet geared for heavy illustrated product yet...but I'm sure will be in future models).

But I do not think it will spell the end of brick and mortal publishing, rather just a market adjustment on how product is made available to the public. I believe this is a very exciting time to be in publishing, as new outlets will mean that many more small, indy or self published creators will be able to get their product into the hands of potential readers...and for a fraction of the price it took to do a traditional print run, and without having to run the "distributor and/or retailer gauntlet" to reach the reading public.

In addition, I think this development will spawn a new type of potential reader...those who might never had, (or very rarely) ventured into a comic store...because they perceived it as unfriendly or too geeky (see Big-Bang-Theory). Now those reluctant readers can explore the wonderful world of comics and graphic novels in the privacy of their own iPads, without having to "out themselves"...so to speak.

Along those same lines, it's a huge advantage to those of us creating works with a spiritual foundation...since it allows people with a spiritual curiosity to explore without fear, ridicule or just having to explain to their comic reading peers why they might be buying a comic about God, Jesus etc...

----------------------------------------------------

Here a bit of info on the developing digital age:

From Andrew Smith and Brent Frankenhoff in the Comics Buyers Guide #1674: Comic sales in digital form sold an estimated $500,000 to $1 million in 2009. Estimates for 2010 are between $6-8 Million (an increase of a minimum of 600%...when print comic sales are predicted to only increase 1% over that same period). Now that's exciting!

Sales of all eBooks tripled in 2010 (from 2009) to over 100 million copies sold.

Both Marvel and DC announced price drops on their print comics late in 2010 (Marvel's was more wide spread across their line) and though neither have yet to admit it in the press, it's rumored that this step was taken only due to the extra revenue they've both taken in from the digital versions of their catalogs.

-----------------------------------------

From my perspective, we (Head Press Publishing) continue to explore new ways to make Eye Witness available to new potential readers each and every day.

In 2010, we dipped into the digital pool by making the revised edition of Eye Witness Book One our first digital offering through Comixology. Later in the year we added Drivethrucomics to our list of digital partners (as they premiered the digital version of Eye Witness: Acts of the Spirit). In addition, in the end of the year our books went live on the Google Books catalog...which is already led to sales and contacts from the amount of visibility the online giant provides.

In 2011, it looks like Graphicly.com will be adding the entire Eye Witness series to their online catalog and we're in the process of converting our books for viewing on Barnes and Noble's Color Nook (Reader) also.

As creators we must embrace these new outlets. Think of each one of them like a retail giant (like a Walmart) with customer reach in the thousands, if not tens or hundreds of thousands annually. And the good news is (excuse the pun) for most of us working in Christian based comics and graphic novels, that we can take our creations way past the niche markets they've been exposed to previously due to market bias (do to the Christian foundation of our works) or our lack of marketing capital...to virtually anywhere in the world where the technology and hardware exist to view them!

So 2011 looks like it has the potential to be a very good year for being a comic/graphic novel creator!

For any of you who haven't checked out Eye Witness yet, here's an opportunity to view one of the outlets we've added to our quiver of digital providers (Drivethrucomics) as well as to see what the series is all about with a FREE Eye Witness download.

R.J. Luedke
headpress.info

Get Your Books in Barnes & Noble's Database

Walking through my local Barnes and Noble location this last weekend, I stumbled upon a kiosk that was promoting the introduction of their new eBook reader...the Color Nook.

This is a wonderful tool in the iPad mold, that offers those who wish to read their literature in digital format access to any books in the Barnes and Noble library.

But when searching their sample for my Eye Witness graphic novels, I found they were not listed, even though they ARE in their online database and available for anyone to order in their printed version through their website.

Doing some research on this subject I uncovered some wonderful news for small and indy press publishers...that Barnes and Noble has the process already in place to make your books (or graphic novels) available to anyone with a Nook reader...even though you might not be distributed by a major wholesaler (since that is not listed as a prerequisite for inclusion).

Quoting their information to me:

Independent publishers and self-published authors are encouraged to sign up for PubIt!, our self-publishing platform. Through the site, you’ll be able to set up an account, load title data, convert files to ePub, and sell on BN.com.
PubIt's website is: www.pubit.com

This is a wonderful opportunity for indy publishers who might have previously struggled to get their products into a mainstream bookseller like Barnes and Noble (and FYI...Books A Million also markets the Color Nook on their website). And for these big-box booksellers, it's an opportunity to stay on top of the current hot trend in readership.

Go for it, my friends and brothers!

R.J. Luedke
http://www.headpress.info/

Eye Witness in the Media

Hey gang, just to update you on what's been happening lately, now that we are winding down from the 7 month long, Unknown God tour.

Over the last couple weeks I've been interviewed on a number or radio programs around the country about our latest release, The Collected Eye Witness Slipcase Set.

Here's a podcast of an interview I did on the Family Life Network last month:

http://www.fln.org/media/family-life-podcasts/detail/bob-luedke-eyewitness-book-4/

Here's one I did last week for the Messiah's Branch radio program:

http://branch.podomatic.com/entry/index/2010-11-22T21_09_39-08_00

...and coinciding with my appearance at the upcoming Wizard world Atlanta Comic Con, I'll be interviewed live on WATV's "Atlanta Live" program on Fri. Dec. 3rd at 7pm.

Enjoy, share them with a friend and post any comments.

R.J. Luedke
http://www.headpress.info/

It's A Digital World

In our quest to make the Eye Witness epic available to more readers than ever...not just in North America...but all around the world, we are happy to announce our new partnership with Drive Thru Comics, who markets their site as, "The First Download Comic Shop."






Available immediately for you to download from their site are, both, Eye Witness (Book One: Revised Edition) and Eye Witness (Book Two): Acts of the Spirit. The two titles are broken up into three chapters, each retailing for $1.99 (so if you purchased all three, you'll save 50% off the hard copy price). AND...as an additional incentive, Drivethru is offering the first chapter of Book One for FREE!




For those of you who prefer to read comics on your ipad or iphone, Eye Witness Book One is still available for those applications/hardware through Comixology!


R.J. Luedke
http://www.headpress.info/

Unknown God Tour Interview: Dallas Comic Con

Hey gang, just got wind of the YouTube posting of an interview I did for the website TheSpectralRealm.com at the 2010 Dallas Comic Con.

*Also, editor Eric Shirey just posted his review of the entire Eye Witness series.

The interview did by Eric ran in two parts (since I had to stop the interview in the middle to answer questions at my table). Enjoy!

Part One:



Part Two:

ReadTheSpirit Calls Attention to Christian Comics

Hey gang,

One of my favorite writers on all matters spiritual is David Crumm, formerly of the Detroit Free Press and now editor of the website, Readthespirit.com

He just penned a wonderful article on the state of the Christian Comic (Graphic novel) scene:

http://www.readthespirit.com/explore/723-comic-book-news-independent-publishers-continue-to-produ.html

There's also a good supplemental story about the bad rap comics (and their creators) have gotten over the years.

Enjoy-
R.J. Luedke
http://www.headpress.info/

The Unknown God Lives!

I know I haven't been doing a very good job of regularly posting here at "Eye Witnessed", but I had been working my tail off for months to get the fourth book in the Eye Witness series...Unknown God...finished and ready for press.

But I'm happy to announce that the book has basically been completed and we are now in the final stages of editing and proofing. So now I have a bit more time to share what we have coming up over the rest of 2010. First things first.



UNKNOWN GOD COMETH

Unknown God is the final chapter of the Eye Witness series, which has been eight years in the making. People will ask me, "why has it taken so long between books (on average, 2 years)?" The answer is simple! Since I do most of the work involved in the books myself (writing, illustration, inking, coloring and production) there is no way I can rush the process on these books, that run from 96 to 120 pages each. The artwork for each book is what consumes about 14 months for each book and I'm pretty consistent that I can pencil or ink 1-2 pages each day I work. I just feel blessed that God has allowed me physically to complete this project, which took close to a decade of my life to complete.

The book is schedule to hit store shelves and websites in July 2010, but I'll start selling copies direct at my convention appearances begining in June (see upcoming post for my summer schedule).


CHANGE IN DISTRIBUTION TO COMIC SHOPS


Like a number of small and indy press publishers, we learned this spring that we have become a causualty of the more restrictive Diamond Distribution order thresholds. These new minimum order levels (established in 2009) have resulted in lots of wonderful indy comic titles to virtually disappear from many comic store shelves over night. Despite the fact that Diamond had filled orders for more than $10,000 of books in the Eye Witness series, it was not enough and now Head Press Publishing has formally severed our distribution with Diamond, ending a 15 year business relationship.

I'll put my prophet cap on for a moment here...when I owed a pair of comic shops back in the 90's, I became concerned when Diamond started signing exclusive deals with publishers (as a way to combat Marvel's move to self distribution at the time) because you could see it immediately started to put a strain on their competition. This trend continued, even after Marvel returned to their ranks, until almost all the major large to medium sized publishers had become exclusive publishers with Diamond.

Now, there is virtually no competition for Diamond and they are pretty much free to do whatever they like where distribution is concerned and we have situations like you see today... that they now determine what publishers and creators are made available to the retailers (hence the readers). And that's not right! I said it 15 years ago...as I sold my shops, because I didn't like how the business landscape for stores was changing....and I continue to say it today, as a publisher effected by their monopoly. Where's Teddy Rosevelt when you really need him?

But the good news? There are more ways to get your comic/gn novel fix then ever before!

Eye Witness is available to the general bookstrade through STL Distribution North America, which makes our books available through basically any book stores, (whether mainstream or Christian), big-box retailers who carry books and/or websites which sell books (including Amazon of course).

We have entered into a deal with Haven Distribution, which is catagorized as a restock distributor...in other words they do carry product/publishers that Diamond no longer carries, but they do not publisher or market a regular monthy order catalog. Retailers go to their site and see what they are stocking currently. So any comic retailer can now get they Eye Witness books from Haven!

And finally, we make all of our books avaible for direct wholesale purchase to the retail community through our website. To help overcome the additional work from ordering direct, we've even upped our wholesale discounts to put more money in the store owners pockets!

HIGH POWER ENDORSEMENT

I'm excited to announce that over the past few months I developed a friendship with comic legend, Brian Augustyn, and he has agreed to supply the forward for Unknown God! If you're not familiar with Brian's work, he has been involved as a writer and editor for some of the best crafted issues of: Batman, Superman, Wonderwoman, JLA, Flash and the X-Men.

More to come....

A Time to Show What/Who You Are?

Hey Gang....

Let me start out by saying how sorry I am that I've not been able to post much anything here lately. But the production of Eye Witness: Unknown God, has literally been consuming my life.

In fact, I just wrapped up the principle artwork on the project by completing the coloring yesterday. So the major hurdles have been cleared and now all that's left is to do the lettering and final editing. So we're still on schedule for a later June, early July release. I'll start posting more regular information and thoughts once pre-production begins to wrap up. Promise!

That being said let me share a few thoughts about Today....Easter Sunday, or ressurrection day, as I like to call it*:

To me, this seems like the holiday we should be celebrating above all others, (as opposed to Christmas), since as Christians it is at the core of what we are all about.

Sure Jesus birth into the world is significant, but his death, (Good Friday) and rebirth, (Easter), are what we are all about. Without them, Jesus would have been just another prophet...not the Son of the Living God, whom walked the earth and helped us to know God, because he was God.

It's Jesus ability to overcome death, (which was witnessed by the way, in over 500 separately reported incidents all around Palestine, over a 40 day time period), that separates him from every other Holy Man or figure, in every other religion. So this event should take on massive importance, (like in the same type of level Islam celebrates their holy week in Mecca, with hundreds of thousands of people taking to the streets in every city in the world where the Church exists).

But when it's all said and done...the public display of worship is just that! Jesus talked about it in fact, that men who worshipped primarily on the street corners were the ones to be weary of, since they were doing it for man, rather than for God. So, as a spiritual person....yes, attending corporate Easter worship at your local church is important, especially in Fellowship with your brothers in Christ...but more important is your personal worship this weekend. I worship God and especially his son Jesus with a personal fervor during this time, that rivals Islam in their shows of public display...in prayer, in compassion shown to everyone I come across, and in trying especially hard to honor Jesus this weekend with a sacrificial act for someone in need. For our love and compassion will show who (and what) we really are.

As Christians we all should hold these qualities within our hearts year-round, but especially during thise three day period... the most important of days in the history of mankind.

RJ Luedke

*These thoughts were a repost of an entry on this blogg from 4/09

Start A New Christmas Tradition

Every since my children become of age to understand the true meaning of Christmas, I've shared with them something that has become a personal tradition for me each holiday season and that is I strive to go out of my way to help someone each and every day.

Helping someone can be pretty widely interpreted and that's what makes this not only fun and creative but also very satisfying....since it brings us closer to how the Lord commanded us to treat our fellow man.

It could be as simple as stopping and keeping a door open for a mother and her children. It could be pulling over to help someone with car trouble (even though you're in a hurry...and aren't we always in a hurry?), or going to walmart and buying a case of blankets and giving them out to homeless people in your community you run across.

You get the idea here...it can be as little or as big as you want to make it. But once you start doing this, a couple things are going to happen:

1. You are going to make a number of people very surprised and happy as they are going to receive something from someone they've never met (re: being a good Samaritan).
2. You are going to be amazed how your internal radar will begin actively looking for people in need, while most times we walk through life looking to avoid conflicts or people that will slow up down in our daily rat race.
3. You are going to feel fantastic! Since we are internally hot wired to be loving and compassionate to those in need, you will find that living life like we were meant to live, brings an incredible and largely indescribable feeling of joy. And besides that of course, the Bible tells us that we will be storing up treasure in heaven.

So start this new tradition on December 14th, with our new "Twelve Days of Christmas", where each day comes with a your gift of a good deed or helping hand given to someone in need. Keep track of them, write them down (in your journal or on your blog, facebook etc....), make it a contest with you kids, your office-mates, your homegroup or ministry.

But a warning.... one other benefit to doing this is, that you'll want to do it more, not just during the Christmas holiday, but every month of the year. So watch out...doing good selfless deeds, is contagious!

If you take challenge on, make sure to send me a note....let me know how it goes and what you accomplished.

R.J. Luedke
www.headpress.info

Dallas Comic Con appearance

Hey gang, though I've basically sequestered myself away in my studio-cave this summer to complete illustrations on Eye Witness: Unknown God, I've decided to poke my head out into the light of day (at least for two days) and attend this month's Dallas Comic Con...since it's right here in my own back yard.

Here's the scoop:

Saturday August 15th (11a to 6p) and Sunday August 16th (12noon to 4p)

Richardson Civic Center

411 W. Arapaho Rd.

Richardson, TX

If you live in the DFW area stop by and say hi. You'll get a chance to not only get copies of all three of the Eye Witness graphic novels, but also a FREE signed poster and if you're so inclined...and opportunity to watch me ink pages from Unknown God.

Also there is quite a nice lineup of Comic (including: Paul Smith, Bill Sienkiewicz, Brandon Patterson, James O'Barr ) and TV/Movie guests (Including: Yancy Butler, Dean Stockwell, Rene Auberjonois) at this show, so bring the whole family!

See 'ya all there!

R.J. Luedke

Going Where Others "Have Gone Before" (A Star Trek Review)

I had a chance to watch the all-new Star Trek tonight and am proud to say that this movie is one of the best big screen adaptations of the original TV series (from the '60's).

Yes, I realize there were movies made with the original cast, (duh), but to me they all seemed a bit out of "phase" with the dynamics of the original show (Wrath of Khan not withstanding). Maybe it was Kirk's hair weave or those constrictive uniforms, but they just didn't seem to capture the same magic. The interactions seems to be a parody of what was created on the small screen.

This totally new cast of old favorites does an excellent job of recapturing the original character dynamics and interaction which made the original series go beyond being just another sci-fi tv show. The real trick for the cast was for them to play these iconic characters, (Kirk, Spock, Bones, Scotty et al), without digressing into merely doing impressions of the original actors.

I feel Kirk (Chris Pine) was played with the mandatory reckless abandon, (but seems to get punched out way to much), Spock (Zack Quinto) was sufficiently serious while wrestling with his human emotions, McCoy (Carl Urban) was a wonderful incarnation of a young angry person who will one day be known affectionately as bones and Scotty (Simon Pegg) captured that playful genius that you can't help but love. The majority of the rest of the standard crew are all accounted for, except Nurse Chapel....who is only mentioned by name, but not seen. I was pleasantly surprised to see Eric Bana playing the Romulan, Nero!

You will find the writers of the story used this time traveling saga to create an environment where they don't have to rewatch the entire 40+ year history of the franchise when creating future story lines. It is a brilliantly crafted piece of writing that effectively frees them from stepping on any trekkie's toes in the future if they veer from continuity.

The special effects were wonderful and the two-plus hours zoomed by so fast, I was wanting more...always a good sign. Just for good measure there is the mandatory appearance by an original Star Trek hand....but you're just going to have to see it for yourself, I won't spoil it for you here!

Star Trek, definitely rates a solid A and after this weekend's box office I would guess it won't be too long till the sequel is announced. This movie should be suitable for most children above 10, but there is a smattering of curse words...all used for humorous effect.

R.J. Luedke
http://www.headpress.info/

An Insiders View of Wolverine Origins

As someone who been puttering around the comics industry since 1989 and been following Wolverine since Uncanny X-Men #98, (circa 1975), I wanted to share my thoughts on the latest X-Men franchise movie, Origins: Wolverine.

I went into the theatre with a bit of trepidation due to the two disappointing reviews I read in the Dallas Morning News and the Houston Chronicle. The thing was, I really understood what the reviewers were bothered by and based upon the trailers I saw I could understand how what they thought could indeed be true (not enough character development, story paper thin and with little explanation, special effects lacking).

But I'm here to say that even though I walked into the theater looking for these flaws, I did not agree with them. Now that may be because I'm pretty versed on Wolverine's (and X-Men) history, but my daughter who watched it with me is not...and she had no problem following the storyline or making sense of the characters and their abilities.

Hugh Jackman's Wolverine was sufficiently agonized, gruff and when circumstances called for it...a bit sarcastic and funny. It wasn't necessary for him to carry most scenes because there were so many other interesting characters with very diverse personalities. This allowed Jackman to maintain Wolvies penchant for being a bit brooding and moody.

Liev Schreiber was sufficiently dark and blood thirsty for Sabertooth, though I would have liked to see someone with a more massive body style, ala the size of Sabertooth from the first X-Men movie. I thought his habit of falling back to charging someone on all fours, like a wild animal, was a nice touch to establish the feral nature of his character.

Ryan Reynolds was at his wise cracking best as Wade (Deadpool), reminiscent of his character in the Blade Trinity movie. The only problem was, there wasn't enough of him! (spoiler warning) I thought Wolvie's explanation of why he wasn't talking late in the movie was very clever, but I would have rather had them trade some witty repartee! (end spoiler warning).

Though I thought the scene with the Blob (played by: Kevin Durand) a bit gratuitous and out of pace with the rest of the movie, I still enjoyed it non the less because of the accurate way they portrayed the character and his abilities.

And last but not least, Gambit was a joy. Watching Taylor Kitsch (Friday night lights) playing him, I couldn't help but picture Johnny Depp in that role! But Kitsch did a good job illustrating gambits attitude and abilities (which never have translated well in print, in my opinion), even though they spent almost no time establishing his background. One of the strongest battle scenes of the movie involved the Gambit, Wolvie and Sabertooth in kind of a free for all.

The negatives?

I thought the prediction of Wolverine's pending memory loss was a bit hokey (what experience or data did Styker have to possibly make that kind of hypothesis)? Just dropping that whole line of dialog and letting it happen naturally would have had much better shock value, where as this way they telegraphed it from a country mile for the audience.

I am a purist where my comic book based movies are concerned. For decades comic book movies basically bombed for one simple reason. Hollywood refused to follow the successful character designs and story lines of the comics and chose to "hollywood-ize" them. With the release of the first X-Men movie, a trend began of not only some incredibly successful movies, but also some of the most loyal to the source material. These type of movies were now being created by directors and producers who were familiar and respected the source material and it showed in the quality and the bottom line. The characters as written have been loved for years (in some cased decades)...so don't mess with what works!

I read a quote by the director (Gavin Hood) for Wolverine, who said that the first writer working on the screenplay wrote a script till the point where he was unwilling to do any further revisions. (paraphrasing) "The difference between that movie and the one we made, was that I didn't want to make the comic book into a movie." He stated he had no problem if his vision differed from the history of the character, as long as it made "his movie" work better. (Spoiler warning) Thus you get things like Wolvie and Sabertooth being brothers and the powers of Deadpool (End Spoiler Warning).

And finally, I would have liked a bit more of Logan/James' formative years (you know, the story we've come to know as Wolverine: Origins...the comic mini-series). As it was you get about 3 minutes of it and then they move on.

But when it's all said and done, the story was very enjoyable. The action sequences with the exception of one were all very thrilling and easy to follow. Special effects...top notch. The movie does nothing to diminish this franchise, nor the career of Hugh Jackman and I'm already to watch it a second time just thinking about it...always a good sign.

I rate it a B+...but it could be too of intense for kids under 12.

R.J. Luedke

www.headpress.info

Rise of The Apostle Finalist for Nat'l Book Award

ForeWord Magazine, just announced that the third book in Robert James Luedke's, Eye Witness series...Rise of the Apostle....is a finalist in the catgory of Graphic Novels in the 2008 Book of the Year Awards.

This is the second industry honor to come to Luedke's Rise of the Apostle...which has already won The 2008 National Best Book Award (for Graphic Novels), sponsored by USABookNews.com.





More than 1,400 books were entered in 61 categories for FOREWORD MAGAZINE'S annual book awards. These were narrowed to 668 finalists from 376 publishers. These books represent some of the best work coming from today's independent press community!

The winners will be determined by a panel of librarians and booksellers, selected from FOREWORD'S readership. Gold, Silver, and Bronze winners, as well as Editor's Choice Prizes for Fiction and Nonfiction will be announced at a special program at BookExpo America at the Javits Center in New York City on May 29, 2009. The winners of the two Editor's Choice Prizes will be awarded $1,500 each. The ceremony is open to all BEA attendees.

ForeWord's Book of the Year Awards program was designed to discover distinctive books across a number of genres. The list of finalists is searchable by category, publisher, title, and author.

About FOREWORD MAGAZINE:

ForeWord affects the choices of booksellers and librarians across the country who weekly advise millions what to read. Their typical publication reaches an audience of 20,000. Foreword also put the magazine in the hands of agents and editors at larger houses who are looking for leads to bring into their fold from the independent press sector. All told, readership is about 85% librarians, 12% bookstores, 3% publishing professionals…and of course, parents.

Other Finalists for the Graphic Novel catagory:

Cleburne by Justin Murphy (Rampart Press)

Good and Evil by Michael Pearl (No Greater Joy Ministries)

Gunnerkrigg by Tom Siddell (Archaia Studios)

No Girls Allowed by Susan Hughes (Kids Can Press)

1000 Years of Manga by Brigitte Koyana-Richard (Flammarion)

The Clockwork Girl by Sean O'Reilly & Kevin Hanna (Arcana Studios)

The Grand Inquisitor by John Zmirak (The Crossroad Publishing Co.)

The Spirit: A Pop-Up Graphic Novel by Will Eisner (Insight Editions)

Congratulations to all these wonderful creators for their nominations, as any these books are worthy of winning an award. We advise any fans of graphic novels, comics and manga to check out as many of these as you can!

The Making of Watchmen: Part 3

Comic Buyers Guide (CBG) in their issue #1652, just did a wonderful job of spotlighting Watchmen, the original series and the upcoming movie, by Warner Bros. As part of their treatment, Andrew Smith (contributing editor) does a very informative Q & A about Watchmen the making of the original comic series (yes, it was a 12 issue comic before it became a graphic novel phenomena).

For the benefit of those of you who may not have access to the periodical, I'll share some of the more interesting information in the form of multiple choice questions/ which I'll then answer...leading up to the movie's release.

QUESTION:

What awards has Watchmen won?

a. A people's choice award

b. A Hugo

c. An Eisner

d. both B & C

ANSWER:

d. Watchmen won an Eisner Award in 1988 for best limited series and a Hugo award, also in 1988, in the "Other Forms" catagory.

The The Hugo Awards, given annually since 1955, are science fiction’s most prestigious award. The Hugos are voted on by the thousands of members of the current Worldcon which is also responsible for administering them.

The Making of Watchmen, Part Two

Comic Buyers Guide (CBG) in their issue #1652, just did a wonderful job of spotlighting Watchmen, the original series and the upcoming movie, by Warner Bros. As part of their treatment, Andrew Smith (contributing editor) does a very informative Q & A about Watchmen the making of the original comic series (yes, it was a 12 issue comic before it became a graphic novel phenomena).

For the benefit of those of you who may not have access to the periodical, I'll share some of the more interesting information in the form of multiple choice questions/ which I'll then answer...leading up to the movie's release.

QUESTION:

Why has the Watchmen creator/writer and industry icon, Alan Moore, requested his name not be included in the movies credits, nor is he doing anything to promote it?

A. Because he wanted to also write the screenplay

B. Because of ownership rights disputes with DC-Time/Warner

C. Because he insisted that Guy Richie be the director

D. Because he basically refuses to have anything to do with Hollywood.

ANSWER:

B. Moore has a long and well documented history of disputes with both Marvel and DC, over his properties, ownership rights, censorship and licensing of his stories to Hollywood...and Watchmen is no exception. In fact, Moore has gone as far as to say in interviews that Watchmen was stolen from him!

The original contact he and artist Dave Gibbons had signed with DC stated, that the rights to the story would revert to them when the graphic novel went out of print (the series was published in 1986, with the original collected trade paperback edition coming in 1987). The problem lies with the fact, that Watchemen has NEVER went out of print...and at this point it would appear they will never allow it to go out of print (since it's won a Hugo Award and named as one of the greatest novels of the 20th century by Time Magazine). According to a New York Times article cited by the CBG article, Moore stated, "You have managed to successfully swindle me, so I will never work for you again."

This situation has resulted in Moore standing in the way of several product licensing deals DC has tried to develop on ancillary products and Moore basically declaring he wants his name taken off any and all books we worked on which he does not own.

This situation is basically why you will also not find Moore's name in the credits for some of his other stories turned into movies (V for Vendetta and League of Extraordinary Gentlemen).

The Making of Watchmen, Part One

Comic Buyers Guide in their issues #1652 (CBG), just did a wonderful job of spotlighting Watchmen, the original series and the upcoming movie, by Warner Bros.

(Plug: if you love the medium of comics and graphic novels, CBG magazine is a must-read to keep up on what's going on in the industry, plus reading monthly columns by the movers and shakers...not quite as PR oriented as a Wizard...more meat and potatoes, especially for those of us who've been around for a bit and like to know more of the industries history).

As part of their treatment, Andrew Smith (contributing editor) does a very informative Q & A about Watchmen, (which Time magazine listed in their top 100 novels...not graphic novels...of ALL TIME).

For the benefit of those of you who may not have access to the periodical, I'll share some of the more interesting information in the form of multiple choice questions/ which I'll then answer...leading up to the movie's release.

QUESTION #1:

Were the Characters in Watchmen originally inspired by:

a. Golden age DC Comics heroes

b. Marvel comics characters

c. Golden age superheroes created by Archie Comics

d. Charlton comics characters

ANSWER:

d. Charlton comics characters (with a some minor modifications)*

DC had bought the rights to the Charlton heroes in the 1980's. Their introduction to the DC universe was suppose to come through Moore's Watchmen conception. After reading it, Managing Editor, Dick Giordano, realized that there wouldn't be enough of them leftover after the series, to do much with...but he loved the script, so he suggested Moore change the characters to one's he created specifically for the project....which he did, but with some familiar traits.

-Rorshach was based on Steve Ditko's Question, with elements of Mr. A added in.

-Nite Owl II, was based upon the Blue Beetle (with lots of similarities also to Batman).

-Dr. Manhattan was Moore's version of Caption Atom, though I personally see him more derivative of Dr. Solar (or Solar Man of Atom).

-Ozymandias was inspired by Peter Cannon, Thunderbolt.

-Silk Spectre II, is loosely based upon Charlton's Nightshade...though Moore's said in interviews that the similarities only go as far as she's the only woman on the team, he was envisioning more of a Phantom Lady or Black Canary type character.

-The Comedian was really a blending of Groucho Marx, Nick Fury with G. Gordon Liddy, though visual elements of his character can be seen with Archie characters, Hooded Justice and Hangman (one of the most brutal comic characters of the 1940's).

*According to Moore, he originally had toyed with the story using the golden age Archie comic heroes, before DC offered him the Charlton ones...which explains some of the similarities to those properties.

Wizard World Texas Audio Interview

Here's a two-part interview (so it's quite lengthy) I did at this year's Wizard World Texas, with Eric Shirey of Movie Geek Feed.

For those of you not familiar yet with my Eye Witness graphic novel series, this should answer a lot of your questions about it.

PART 1:



PART 2:

Wizard World Texas Feedback

I wanted to file my report on this year's Wizard World-Texas convention.

This was the fourth time I've done this convention, since I began the Eye Witness series (http://www.headpress.info/) and I'm happy to report that this was...far and away...the best year for sales I've had here!

The last time I did the show was in 2006, and I was disappointed in both the lack of attendence but also the lack of interested customers at that show. So I didn't have a whole lot of expectations for this year's version. I don't know what the Wizard gang had did differently since then, but for a relatively small venue, there was a real heathly flow of people from open to close on both Friday and Saturday.

It was real refreshing to see how many people stopped by my table that had bought one of the earlier editions of Eye Witness and were excited to see the third. I hadn't seen this much repeat business from previous visits, since Comic Con International.

Also during the con, the Heroes for Heroes gang was on hand both on the exhibit floor and during Saturday night's live art auction, where they raised over $24,000, (see: http://www.heroes4heroes.org/2008/11/heroes4heroes-raises-24000-for-troops-overseas).

Here's my contribution, (my animated style Heath Ledge inspired Joker):

...and here's a pic of me working on the piece.

But overall this was a very good show for the fans, because there even though there was not a whole lot of awe-inspiring exhibits (ala CCI San Diego) there was a sizeable artists alley where both legendary creators, self & small press publishers and those artists looking to get their foot in the door...all hobb-knobbed directly with them.

My overall highlight came on the first day, when I spoke with a young man who let me know that he'd watched my Eye Witness developments over the last few years on the web and he was in awe to be talking to me in person. That's the first time I believe someone's been "in awe" of me (LOL)! But seriously, he went on to share that I had inspired him to also do comics that were spiritually uplifting.

It's little things like this that make all the headaches and hardwork, seem worth it!

R.J. Luedke
http://www.headpress.info/