I've been blathering on for a while about the pulp RPG supplements I've been working on for Adamant Entertainment. 

Typically, these are PDF only—we publish through DriveThruRPG/RPGNow—and the system available to us does allow for print-on-demand. 

That said, the individual supplements are designed to be low-cost for the consumer, so they don't run more than 35-40 pages. Meaty pages, but still, not giant mega-sourcebooks. 

This means that the print-on-demand option is not particularly cost effective for the consumer. 

Recently, though, we took a page from the comics biz: we've amassed enough of these supplements to combine into a "trade paperback" of sorts—edited and updated, with some new material into the bargain, and can charge a not-extravagant price for it as a print-on-demand book. (Plus you get the PDF, too.) 

So, I give you, for Thrilling Tales, Second Edition: "Axis of Evil, Volume One," an omnibus of pulp villainy. 

This book contains a heavily updated version of Pulp Villains: Violet, plus:

Pulp Villains: Count Shadau

Pulp Villains: The Yellow King

Pulp Villains: Von Keiner

Pulp Villains: The Subterranean Monarch

Pulp Villains: Baron Korga

Be bad for the holidays, and order a copy from DriveThruRPG or RPGNow! Six villains, twenty bucks. 

Also out, just in time to celebrate the holidays with tales of a soul-crushing dystopian oligarchy: LAZARUS X +66 #5! This issue, we're joined by the incredible Bilquis Evely (Wonder Woman).

LAZARUS X +66 #5

WRITTEN BY: Greg Rucka & Eric Trautmann

ART BY: Bilquis Evely

COLORS BY: Santiago Arcas

LETTERED BY: Jodi Wynne

Sére Cooper has spent years not only surviving but thriving as she delivers the Family approved news via CEEtv. Now, she’s told one truth too many and finds herself sidelined. When a puff-piece story leads to an explosive revelation, she must decide what matters more: the truth or her life.

Image Comics |  Color  |  40pg  |  Mature Readers  | $3.99

Also available now:

BLACK MAGICK #9

WRITTEN BY: Greg Rucka

ART BY: Nicola Scott w/Chiarra Arena

LETTERS BY: Jodi Wynne 

BOOK DESIGN BY: Eric Trautmann

"Awakenings II," Part Three. The Hammer is in Portsmouth. Alex learns the name of one enemy and the face of another. And Rowan's troubles only grow as both Samhain and the baby come due. 

Image Comics | Color & B/W  | 40 pg.  |  Mature Readers  |  $3.99

Joseph Hedges ran a successful Kickstarter for this project—collecting a ridiculous amount of interview material and charting the history of Wildstorm Studios; for non-comics folk, this was part of the upstart Image Comics "movement" years ago, and later was purchased by DC Comics. Wildstorm produced some amazing and innovative comics material from some of the biggest names in comics. To be frank, a lot of them became the biggest names in comics because of their Wildstorm work. 

Joseph hired me to tackle the book's interior layout chores, and I'm pretty pleased with the result. (The cover is by the excellent George Sellas.)

To purchase the print or digital editions, visit the book's official store. 

There's also some cool related material on the book's Tumblr. 

Written by: Greg Rucka

Art by: Michael Lark (with Tyler Boss)

Cover by: Michael Lark

"Women's History Month" Variant Cover by: Michael Lark

Colors by: Santiago Arcas

Letters by: Jodi Wynne

Publication Design: Eric Trautmann

“Cull,” Part Five

Vassalovka strikes. The Beast is unchained. Forever suffers a devastating loss.

Image Comics /  40 pgs  /  Mature Readers  /  $3.99US

Written by: Greg Rucka

Art by: Leandro Fernández

Cover by: Leandro Fernández

"Women's History Month" Variant Cover by: Nicola Scott

Colors by: Daniela Miwa

Letters by: Jodi Wynne

Publication Design by: Eric Trautmann

PART TWO

The Old Guard is revealed. A new immortal is discovered. Things go sideways, fast.

Image Comics / 32 pg. / Mature Readers / $3.99US

Written by: Greg Rucka

Art by: Leandro Fernández

Colors by: Daniela Miwa

Letters by: Jodi Wynne

Publication Design by: Eric Trautmann

PART ONE

Eisner-winning writer Greg Rucka (LAZARUS, BLACK MAGICK, Wonder Woman) and critically acclaimed artist Leandro Fernández (THE DISCIPLINE, Deadpool, Punisher: MAX) team up together to introduce The Old Guard, the story of old soldiers who never die…and yet cannot seem to fade away.

Trapped in an immortality without explanation, Andromache of Scythia—“Andy”—and her comrades ply their trade for those who can find—and afford—their services. But in the 21st century, immortality is a hard secret to keep, and when you live long enough, you learn that there are many fates worse than death.

Image Comics / 32 pg. / Mature Readers / $3.99US

No work update or anything this time—just a goofy little project.

Years ago, I was a freelancer, then editor, then line editor, for West End Games' Star Wars roleplaying game line. 

An illustrator friend, Darren Calvert (who I have wanted to work on something with for more years than I care to count), recently sent me some portraits he'd drawn of the Rogue One primary cast and asked if I wanted to "stat" them in the style of the WEG Star Wars RPG. 

He'd drawn them very much in a style reminiscent of the WEG material, and as I began to hunt for reference material to begin writing up the characters' game stats, I thought it might be fun to not just post the stats, but to lay the whole thing out like an old WEG product. 

That led to a week of design necromancy—trying to remember the approved font choices, the paragraph styles, and so on, in order to create a faithful reproduction (though I did tweak some things that always bugged me, including the "opening crawl"); it's close, but some of it, by design, authentic enough without being a straight up reproduction.

It occurs to me: Much of what I know about page and logo design actually came from sitting in the West End art department, peppering the guys in there with a million questions, so thanks (for many things) are due to Tom O'Neill, Brian Schomburg, Tim Bobko and Stephen Crane. 

Thanks are also due to Darren, who is a hell of an artist and a great guy into the bargain. Thanks for reaching out, my friend.  

I should also point out: these are NOT NOT NOT NOT NOT NOT NOT "official" or approved in any way—I researched the entries just as I would've back in the WEG days, by culling through what official material is available publicly (notably the movie adaptation novel, and the Rogue One visual guide). But I have friends at Lucasfilm, so I want to make sure there's no confusion here. This ain't a real thing—just some goofy fun. It's not for sale, Darren and I don't own the characters, we're not challenging the copyright, we're not using it to make money, and speaking purely for myself, it's not intended as a resumé piece—it's just fan-work. 

Hopefully, it will amuse any of you old-school D6-system fans out there. 

There are two versions of the PDF available: a "mint condition" one, and a "vintage" one that's been digitally weathered and "aged."

(An aside: about the West End Games "sticker" on the inside front cover; one of my first tasks at WEG was taking a bunch of our shipping labels, cutting off the top part containing the company name and address, and stickin' them on the inside front covers of a bunch of the editorial reference library books to mark them as company property. 

Couldn't resist doing it again, though I had to design that one from memory—the original didn't have a WEG logo, if I recall correctly.)