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.)

Very belated update; work has been…full and rich, and personal stuff has prevented me from being as diligent about updating the site and the newsletter. A newsletter update is coming, I swear.

In any event, here's some info on the most recent Adamant Entertainment product I worked on (and co-wrote): Thrilling Tales Pulp Villains: The Subterranean Monarch!

Here is the official skinny on it:

Adamant Entertainment is pleased to present the latest in our new line of Thrilling Tales products: Pulp Villains!

Each Pulp Villains release will detail a nefarious non-player-character, ready to be dropped into your pulp-genre Savage Worlds game, fully statted, with details on their methods, motives, special gear, henchmen, allies and more -- along with a collection of adventure hooks for their use.

In this installment:

AN UNDERGROUND EMPIRE!

A MERCENARY ARMY!

A TERRIFYING DESPOT!

“Oh, yes, my children! Like you, I have been hunted. Like you, my birthright was lost to misadventure and folly. While you toiled in darkness, deep beneath the surface, you lost your way. You forgot your illustrious history! And above you, weak-minded simpletons have forged kingdoms that are but pale imitations of your forebears. They have grown fat and decadent, and are unworthy of their purloined place in the sun.

“But no more! I will restore your kingdom. I will rule. And I will nally reap the rewards owed to me...and elevate you back to your rightful glory! 

“Woe betide any who stand against the Subterranean Monarch! Forward, my Mantle Men! Forward to victory, in the name of your god-king!” 

Pulp Villains: The Subterranean Monarch, by Keith A. Garrett and Eric Trautmann, uses the Savage Worlds rules system, as featured in THRILLING TALES 2nd Edition.

(Also, it costs a mere three of your surface-dweller dollars!) 

Available in PDF only, via DriveThruRPG and RPGNow.

My work making stuff for roleplaying game publisher Adamant Entertainment continues! 

Adamant Entertainment is pleased to present the latest in our new line of Thrilling Tales products: Pulp Villains!

Each Pulp Villains release details a nefarious non-player-character, ready to be dropped into your pulp-genre Savage Worlds game, fully statted, with details on their methods, motives, special gear, henchmen, allies and more—along with a collection of adventure hooks for their use.

In this installment:

AN ASTONISHING AIRSHIP!

VICIOUS VALKYRIES!

A TEUTONIC TERROR! 

The mysterious scourge of the skies, and a self-declared "citizen of the air", Kapitän Nikodemus von Keiner embarks on a reign of terror, striking the nations of the Earth with no warning!  A night-black airship appears from the clouds, blasting the terrified cities below with tremendous bolts of lightning.  

Who are von Keiner and his seductive Sky Witches?  What do they want?  Who can possibly stand against them?

Pulp Villains: Von Keiner, by David Larkins, uses the Savage Worlds rules system, as featured in THRILLING TALES 2nd Edition.

As a special bonus, Pulp Villains: Von Keiner comes with a folder of high-resolution, 11x17 copies of the schematics/deck plans for von Keiner's airship, the Himmelhexe, suitable for printing at any copy shop.  

Included are a black-and-white line art version, a colorized version for an "artifact" look, a blueprint-style version, and a greyscale version as well.