The Year in Books - 2008

Since this is my professional blog, I thought it might be interesting to see all the things I read over the course of this year. As a writer, everything I write is informed by the things I read and this list is sort of a roadmap to show you how I got from January 1 to December 31, 2008. In an effort to be honest, I should mention that I finished The Guards before I went to bed on New Year's Eve, though it WAS technically 2009. For instance, it may not surprise anyone who reads the new Hurricane Kids work that I have been reading early Dragonball. This is me. Most of it I read because I wanted to, but every so often, there were other motives. I'll not qualify though. Some were great, some were not so great. But I read them all.

The Year in Books - 2008

January

Novels

Peter and the Starcatchers – Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson
Survivor – Chuck Palahniuk
The Conqueror Worms – Brian Keene
13 Bullets – David Wellington

Graphic Novels

Criminal – Volume 1 – Coward – Ed Brubaker
Superman/Batman vs. Alien and Predator – Mark Schultz

February

Novels

Monster Nation – David Wellington
The Keeper – Sarah Langan
The Blonde – Duane Swierczynski
Con Ed – Matthew Klein

Graphic Novels

Manhunter – Book 1 – Street Justice – Marc Andreyko
Manhunter – Book 2 – Trial by Fire – Marc Andreyko
Manhunter – Book 3 – Origins – Marc Andreyko
Star Wars Omnibus – Tales of the Jedi – Vol 1 – edited by Randy Stradley
Batman Turning Points – Ed Brubaker, Greg Rucka, and Chuck Dixon
Light Brigade – Peter Tomasi
Empowered – vol 1 – Adam Warren
Aliens Omnibus – vol 1 – Mark Verheiden and John Arcudi
Scalped – vol 1 – Indian Country – Jason Aaron
Buffy the Vampire Slayer Omnibus – vol 2 – edited by Scott Allie

March

Novels

Money Shot – Christa Faust
Bangkok 8 – John Burdett
The Butcher’s Boy – Thomas Perry
Blackmailer – George Axelrod
Bust – Ken Bruen and Jason Starr

Graphic Novels

The Terminator Omnibus – vol 1 – edited by Chris Warner
Punisher: War Journal – Book 1 – Civil War – Matt Fraction
Fantastic Four: The End – Alan Davis
Batman: Terror – Doug Moench
The Quitter – Harvey Pekar
Cairo – G. Willow Wilson
Sentences: The Life of M.F. Grimm – Percy Carey
The Boys: vol 1 – The Name of the Game – Garth Ennis
The Immortal Iron Fist – vol 1 – The Last Iron Fist Story – Matt Fraction and Ed Brubaker
El Diablo – Brian Azzarello
Dynamo 5 – Jay Faerber
King City – Vol 1 – Brandon Graham
Sloth – Gilbert Hernandez
Y the Last Man – vol 2 – Cycles – Brian K. Vaughn
Y the Last Man – vol 3 – One Small Step – Brian K. Vaughn
American Virgin – vol 2 – Going Down – Steven Seagle
Y the Last Man – vol 4 – Safeword – Brian K. Vaughn

April

Novels

Slide – Ken Bruen and Jason Starr
Cop Hater – Ed McBain
Plunder of the Sun – David Dodge
Driving With Dead People – Monica Holloway

Graphic Novels

The Exterminators – vol 2 – Insurgency – Simon Oliver
Ultimate Spider-Man – The Clone Saga – Brian Michael Bendis
The Abandoned – Ross Campbell
Snow – vol 1 – Morgan Luthi
D. Gray Man – vol 1 - Katsura Hoshino
Zombiepowder – vol 1 – Tite Kubo
Bloody Mary – Garth Ennis
Repo – vol 1 – Rick Spears
Cable & Deadpool – vol 1 – If Looks Could Kill – Fabian Nicieza
Cable Classic – vol 1 – Louise Simonson and Fabian Nicieza
Warhammer 40,000: Damnation Crusade – Dan Abnett and Ian Edginton
Batman: Gotham County Line – Steve Niles

May

Novels

Grifter’s Game – Lawrence Block

Graphic Novels

Claymore – vol 1 – Norihiro Yagi
Boy Vampire – vol 1 – Carlos Trillo
Indiana Jones Omnibus – vol 1 – edited by Jeremy Barlow
Grendel Archives – Matt Wagner
Gunsmith Cats – Revised Edition – vol 1 – Kenichi Sonoda
The Irredeemable Ant-Man – vol 1 – Low Life – Robert Kirkman
Zombies Calling – Faith Erin Hicks
Blank – vol 1 – Pop Mhan
Thor – vol 1 – J. Michael Straczynski
Judas – vol 1 – Suu Minazuki
Tank Girl – book 1 - Alan Martin and Jamie Hewlett

June

Novels

Psychosomatic – Anthony Neil Smith
Stiff – Mary Roach

Graphic Novels

Justice League International – vol 1 – Keith Giffen and J.M. DeMatteis
Batman and the Outsiders Showcase – vol 1 – Mike W. Barr
The Champions Classic – Vol 1 – Tony Isabella and Bill Mantlo
The Punisher – vol 1 – In the Beginning – Garth Ennis
Kimmie66 – Aaron Alexovich
Black Cherry – Doug Tennapel
Metal Men Showcase – vol 1 – Robert Kanigher
The Killer – vol 1 – Matz

July

Novels

Dark Hollow – Brian Keene
When You Are Engulfed in Flames – David Sedaris
Go-go Girls of the Apocalypse – Victor Gischler

Graphic Novels

Pounded – Brian Wood
Popgun – vol 1 – edited by Mark Andrew Smith and Joe Keatinge
Hellboy – Vol 1 – Seed of Destruction – Mike Mignola
Hellboy – Weird Tales – Vol 2 – edited by Scott Allie
The Question – Vol 1 – Zen and Violence – Dennis O’Neil
Hellboy – Vol 2 – Wake the Devil – Mike Mignola
Hellboy – Vol 3 – The Chained Coffin – Mike Mignola
Hellboy – Vol 4 – Right Hand of Doom – Mike Mignola
The Brave and the Bold Showcase – vol 1 – Bob Haney
Hellboy – Vol 5 – Conqueror Worm – Mike Mignola
The Umbrella Academy – vol 1 – The Apocalypse Suite - Gerard Way
Hellboy – Vol 6 – Strange Places – Mike Mignola

August

Novels

Somebody Owes Me Money – Donald Westlake
Bonk – The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex – Mary Roach
Dead Sea – Brian Keene
Snuff – Chuck Palahniuk
The Hunter – Richard Stark

Graphic Novels

Black Metal – vol 1 - Rick Spears
Mini-Marvels – Rock, Paper, Scissors – Chris Giarusso
Hellboy – Vol 7 – The Troll Witch and Others – Mike Mignola
The Mask Omnibus – vol 1 – edited by Mike Richardson
2 Guns – Steven Grant
Dark Horse Heroes Omnibus – vol 1 – Edited by Chris Warner
Burnout – Rebecca Donner
Hellboy – Weird Tales – vol 1 – edited by Scott Allie
Army@Love – vol 1 – The Hot Zone Club – Rick Veitch
Elephantmen – vol 1 - Wounded Animals – Richard Starkings

September

Novels

Bad Monkeys – Matt Ruff
No House Limit – Steve Fisher

Graphic Novels

Green Lantern – Vol 1 – No Fear – Geoff Johns
Hellboy – vol 8 – Darkness Calls – Mike Mignola
Gantz – vol 1 – Hiroya Oku
Hell Girl – vol 1 – Miyuki Eto
MPD – Psycho – vol 1 – Eiji Otsuka
Franklin Richards Son of a Genius – Collected Chaos – Mark Sumerak and Chris Eliopoulos
Invasion! – Pat Mills
Wormwood: Corpse Gentleman – vol 2 – It Only Hurts When I Pee
Marvel Adventures The Hulk – vol 1 – Paul Benjamin
Dragonball VIZBIG vol 1 – Akira Toriyama
Shin Megami Tensei (Kahn) – Kazuaki Yanagisawa
Spider-man j – vol 1 – Japanese Knights – Yamanaka Akira
The Vinyl Underground – vol 1 – Watching the Detectives – Si Spencer
Batman Black and White – vol 3
Sand Land – Akira Toriyama
Mouse Guard – Book 1 – Fall 1152 – David Petersen

October

Novels

The Man With the Getaway Face – Richard Stark
The Year of Living Biblically – A.J. Jacobs
The Blade Itself – Marcus Sakey

Graphic Novels

Crecy – Warren Ellis
Peace Maker – vol 1 – Nanae Chrono
Kamikaze – vol 1 - Satoshi Shiki
Iron Man – Enter the Mandarin – Joe Casey
PX! – vol 1 – a girl and her panda – Eric Anderson
The Un-Men – vol 1 – Get Your Freak On! – John Whalen
Wisdom – Rudiments of Wisdom – Paul Cornell
Black Jack – vol 1 – Osamu Tezuka
Emiko Superstar – Mariko Tamaki
Northlanders – vol 1 – Sven the Returned – Brian Wood

November

Novels

Tarzan of the Apes – Edgar Rice Burroughs
The Cleaner – Brett Battles

Graphic Novels

Astro Boy – Books 1 & 2 – Osamu Tezuka
Ballad of Halo Jones – Alan Moore
Ex-Machina – deluxe – vol 1 – Brian K. Vaughn
Ghostbusters manga – vol 1 – Ghost Busted – Nathan Johnson and Matt Yamashita
The Alcoholic – Jonathan Ames
Tokyo Tribes – vol 1 – Santa Inoue
Thirteen – Mike Carey
The Embalmer – vol 1 – Mitsukazu Mihara
Bullet Points – J. Michael Straczynski
War Angels – vol 1 – Jae-Hwan Kim
Swamp Thing – Book 1 – Saga of the Swamp Thing – Alan Moore
The Incal – book 1 – Alexandro Jodorowsky

December

Novels

Quantum of Solace – Ian Fleming
Gun Work – David Schow
Killing Castro – Lawrence Block
The Guards – Ken Bruen

Graphic Novels

Dead Space – Antony Johnston
Shaman Warrior – vol 1 – Park Joong Ki
Banya the Explosive Deliveryman – vol 1 – Kim Young-Oh
Mail – vol 1 – Housui Yamazaki
Batman: Death Mask – Yoshinori Natsume
The Drifting Classroom – vol 1 – Kazuo Umezu
Freakangels – vol 1 – Warren Ellis
Kamiyadori – vol 1 – Kei Sanbe
The Complete Ace Trucking Co. – Vol 1 – Alan Grant
Planet Blood – vol 1 – Kim Tae-Hyung

Totals:

Novels: 39
Graphic Novels: 130

New and improved!!!!

Until it gets printed, it's a work in progress. Here's the new and improved version.
Thanks to Lawrence for all the learnin'. For the record, the reason the other post looks so oversaturated is entirely my fault. I had the color setting wrong. This is the "director's cut" version with colors as Lawrence intended.

EDIT: And thanks to Charlie Clark for pointing me to the awesome movie poster font. Without it, it just don't look the same.
I am lucky to be surrounded by super talented folks.

It's good to work with talented people...

UPDATE

2007 sucked.
2008 is the year.
Here's what I'm working on.

Project 1 - Secret Superhero Project - with Seth Damoose. I ain't tellin'.
Project 2 - Dinosaur book - with DJ Keawekane. Fun actiony blockbuster.
Project 3 - Hurricane Kids - with Ryan Cody. Back as a reimagined webcomic?
Project 4 - Freaks - with Matt Schuler. This one's a mystery.
Project 5 - Stolen - with Craig Henderson. This one's gonna find its legs in 2008.
Project 6 - Tales From the Front - with Mike Boldt. A webcomic. Look for it bi-weekly starting in April.
Project 7 - Triad - with Zack Finfrock. This is my first attempt at manga.

Also on deck is a short in volume 2 of Villains, drawn by Charles Clark.
And my story, The Wager, should be debuting in volume 2 of Popgun.
So as you can see, I'm quite busy.
And I have a couple more irons I want to put in the fire.
Look out.

Stolen pages

Here's the cover for my book, Stolen. All art is by Craig Henderson and it's some of the best art I have ever been involved with.




I'll come back and post the pages once I switch computers.

sneak peek

Can't tell you too much about this book just yet, but this is a great piece by artist Seth Frail.
I love the work and the guy. He's a great dude and he lives right down the street.

News

Ok, time for some comic news.

1. Stolen is still on. Craig Henderson is working on our cover and a color page as we speak for some submissions we're working on. So that should be ready soon.

2. I have a new book I'm working on with a local artist named Seth Frail. It's set in a prison. Other than that, I'm keeping this one on the down low. We're gonna be looking for a publisher in Chicago. But we're working on that one as we speak.

3. "Freakus" is a book I'm working on with Matt Schuler. We're sort of in a holding pattern. No news really.

4. The anthology is still moving along. Derek and I spoke earlier in the week and we really want to get that moving. So if we're waiting on a script from you, please try to get it to us as soon as possible.

5. A novel. I am currently reading the novel, Monster Island, which was originally published online sort of like a webcomic, in chapters. Upon completion, it was published in print form. I am inspired by this, so I am going to start working on a book to be published in the same manner. Keep your eyes open here and I will be posting the link at which I will be publishing said book.

6. Chicago - as I said, I will be attending. I look forward to seeing old friends and meeting new ones. And the big push of the day is to find publishers for my two books.

More news as it breaks.

Wizard World LA 2007

Well, Grant Alter will be making his first convention appearance of the year at 2007's Wizard World LA.
I had not intended to, but Derek Ruiz can be very persuasive when he wants to be.
I will be bringing some pages from Stolen and some information about a few series I would like to get going.
I will be looking for artists to work with.
If you happen upon this and you happen to be a good artist and you happen to be going to the con, then hey, look me up.
If I am not around the Dabel Brothers' booth, Derek Ruiz should have a good idea of how to find me.

I'm excited and nervous, but looking to have fun with friends I don't often get to see.