Lots of love from people this week as we wrapped up the first story arc on Skullkickers. Thank you to everyone who has let us know how much they’re enjoying the book and telling their friends about the series.

Here’s our current schedule:

January Skullkickers #5 – wrapped up the first arc
February Skullkickers #6 – our short story extravaganza with guest creators
March Skullkickers Vol. 1 – value priced collection of SK #1-5 and the two Popgun short stories
April Break Month – our first break since the series launched in September. Promoting the trade.
May Skullkickers #7 – kicking off our 2nd story arc “Five Funerals and a Bucket of Blood”

Some great reviews have come in from sites like Comic Buzz, From the Tomb, Multiversity and Image Addiction. It’s also Comics of Doom podcast’s ‘Pick of the Week’ (Skullkickers coverage begins at 20:50 in the podcast).

We’ll keep plugging away.

Skullkickers #5, the last issue of our first story arc, arrives in comic book stores today. All of us on the creative team are excited to hear from fans and retailers about what they think of the big action climax in this issue.

At the back of the issue is a special letter I wrote about the future of the series. You can check it out by clicking the thumbnail below –

Here’s the text:
Here we are – the first story arc of Skullkickers is complete!

The original “2 Copper Pieces” short story that Skullkickers is based off of was pitched to Image for Popgun v2 back in November of 2007. Just over three years later I’m writing this letter to you, our readers, as we wrap up the fifth issue of our ongoing series.

Yeah, ongoing. You can’t imagine how happy typing that makes me.

When I outlined the story for Skullkickers I made sure there was a back-up plan to wrap things up after five issues if sales came in where we expected them to. We’d tell one complete adventure of these two mercenary morons and that would be it. This issue is where things would have ended.

I probably don’t need to explain this to you, but the comic book industry doesn’t generally embrace new series with open arms. Titles launch all the time and the vast majority crumble under deadline or sales pressures. There was no reason to expect our book would do any better and I planned accordingly. As my Dad would say, “Plan for the worst but hope for the best”.

And the best is exactly what we received.

The best from the creative team, our publisher, reviewers, retailers and fans. Thank you, all of you. You’ve helped make creating this book an incredible experience and a highlight in my creative career.

Our little sword & sassery book has surprised a lot of people and done a pretty good job at carving out a tiny niche to call its own. The back-up plan has been filed away and is ideally never needed. Now we can dig in to a bigger epic story and poke holes in an even larger fantasy milieu. It’s gonna be a hoot.

Is there more depth coming? Yes, absolutely.

Now that the series is established we can plan ahead and do a lot more than I’d originally thought possible. A single ridiculous swashbuckling adventure is now the opening salvo of a much bigger story I have planned. Baldy and Shorty may not understand anything past the end of their weapons right now but a whole lot more is happening behind the scenes. These two monster killers are caught in a maelstrom of political and magical machinations that’s going to take them across this fantasy world and beyond. Just like this first chapter it’ll be big and loud, sarcastic and explosive.

The mercenaries will finally be named, the cast will grow, history will be explored, destiny will be foretold and monsters will have their brains squished in new and amazing ways. It probably won’t win us any awards for advancing the storytelling medium, but we’ll do everything we can to make it fun and well worth your $2.99.

I think comedy gets a bad rap. People feel guilty enjoying something goofy when there are deep and meaningful works they “should” be partaking in. Don’t get me wrong, I have a dozen ideas for stories that delve in to the depths of the human condition and make people cry bulbous tears of pure emotion, but Skullkickers is not that kind of book. This is a sugar shock of silly action carved out of my pre-teen enthusiasm for fantasy and over-the-top action movies. It’s built to make a 12 year old little Zub freak out with excitement and run around the house pretending he’s kicking an animated skeleton in the teeth.

Sincerely,
ZUB

I’m a guest writer on today’s ‘What Are You Reading?’ column at Robot 6, discussing a few titles that have been on my reading pile as of late. Click through and give it a read.

We’ve added a second signing to our England trip in early February!

I’ll be signing at the Forbidden Planet comic shop in Middlesbrough, England on February 12th at 3pm. If you live in the area it would be great to see you there!

Click here for the Facebook Event

As part of my trip to the Animex festival next month I’ll be signing at Orbital Comics in London, England on February 5th at 4pm. If you live in the area it would be great to see you there!

I should have details for another signing event in Middlesbrough soon as well.

Click here for the Facebook Event

NOW is the time to let your local comic shop know that you want to per-order a copy of Skullkickers Volume 1, which arrives in March.

Image is value pricing our first trade at the incredibly low price of $9.99 (as they have with hit series including The Walking Dead, Invincible and Chew) and we want to make the biggest splash possible when it’s released, increasing our readership and showing the comic community that fun non-superhero stuff is worthy.

Here are 3 solid pre-order options:

1) Go to your local comic shop

Use the spiffy Comic Shop Locator website to find the closest shop and let them know you want a copy of Skullkickers put aside for you.
Skullkickers Book 1- 1000 Opas and a Dead Body JAN110576

2) Pre-order from Barnes & Nobles

Click here to pre-order from B&N:

3) Pre-order from Amazon

Click here to pre-order from Amazon.com:

A week before Christmas I pulled together a group of friends to head over to Corey Mintz’s place to play some Dungeons & Dragons. Corey’s a columnist for the Toronto Star who interviews people over dinner parties he throws at his apartment. It makes for cool hybrid Cooking-People style articles and is a fantastic ice-breaker for getting people to open up.

The Toronto Star article just went live and it’s a fun nostalgic look at Corey’s D&D past mixed with his more self-aware present. He also has a slightly more in-depth run through of our get-together (along with some great photos) over on his Porkosity blog.

Our game crew for the night:
Ray Fawkes
Stacy King
Robin Laws
Corey Mintz
Tory Woollcott

Three show appearances for 2011 have been nailed down, so here they are:

February 7-11 Animex: In early February I’ll be heading to Teesside, England for the Animex game and animation festival as a guest speaker and lecturer.

March 4-6 Emerald City Comicon: About a month later we’ll be launching the first Skullkickers trade paperback at the ECCC in Seattle and I’ll be stationed at the Image booth.

May 7-8 TCAF: Then in May I’ll be exhibiting at the Toronto Comic Arts Festival here in downtown Toronto. With free attendance and an easily accessible location it will be busy and exciting, as always.

Comic Book Resources and Robot 6 team-up for a brand new interview all about Skullkickers that includes exclusive artwork and a sneak peek at issue #5!