Comic books and ghostly tales

Okay, first thing's first, do you have Savage Tales #8 yet? If not, why not? As well as featuring Red Sonja, Quartermain By Lieberman, Wolpert and Bernard and The Trials of Osin by Lieberman and Fabiano Neves, this issue sees the return of Battle for Atlantis!
Yes, the evil Vacharn the necromancer is back and once again we've teamed up with PabloMarcos (yes, THAT Pablo Marcos) to bring you the next chapter of the fabled doomed island. I don't think I'm giving too much away if I say there are a hell of a lot of Harryhausen style skeletons running round.
http://www.dynamiteentertainment.com/htmlfiles/p-C109827.html

Supernatural wordsmith extraordinaire Brian J. Showers & John Reppion.

This weekend just gone saw the launch of my new book 800 Years of Haunted Liverpool here in Liverpool city center. The launch went far better than I could have hoped and we completely sold out of books. Thanks to everyone who came (some people from as far away as Dublin and Northampton) and helped to make the event a truly wonderful experience.
More info and images over at hauntedliverpool.blogspot.com

The book isn't officially released until the middle of the month so keep your eyes peeled for more news coming soon.

Tori Amos SDCC launch

Promoting the release of Comic Book Tattoo (which we're in!), Tori Amos has scheduled a couple appearances at the San Diego Comic Con. Plans begin with a Comic Book Tattoo panel, hosted by comics and music critic Douglas Wolk, and featuring discussion between Tori, editor Rantz Hoseley and several of the contributing creators on Saturday, July 26 from 11:30 AM - 12:30 PM.

Shortly thereafter, 2:00 pm to be exact, Tori will be doing a signing on site. Fans wishing to meet Tori can receive tickets to her signing, limited to 200 fans, by purchasing a copy of Comic Book Tattoo at the Image Comics booth.

Tickets will be made available in increments with 20 given out on Wednesday, July 23, 75 on Thursday, July 24, another 75 on Friday, July 25 and 30 on Saturday, July 26.

Comic Con takes place at the San Diego Convention Center. More details to follow once specific locations within Convention Center have been determined.

Keep an eye on http://www.toriamos.com/ for regular updates.

Spring-heeled Jack Visits Liverpool in this month's Fortean Times (#238)

This month's Fortean Times Magazine (#238), which officially goes on sale tomorrow, features an extract from my forthcoming book 800 Years of Haunted Liverpool. The article is all about the elusive Spring-heeled Jack and his reported appearances in Everton.

The magazine costs £3.99 and is available in all good newsagents.

Eva, The Darkness and Benny Peiser

It only seems like yesterday (well, maybe a month or so ago) that we were doing all the press for the launch of our Dynamite/Top Cow crossover The Darkness vs. Eva - Daughter of Dracula. Sadly though, all things must come to an end and the concluding part of the four issue mini is on sale now at your local comic shop or internet retailer.
Of course, if you've missed out on the mini, you could always head over to our PayPal Shop where you can purchase the full series, signed by Moore & Reppion, for only £6 plus P&P.

In either case, you might like to take a look at some exciting preview pages over at http://www.wizarduniverse.com/061608darkprev.html

D vs. E has been a really fun series to work on and we've got really positive feedback from the Top Cow fans especially. We've really enjoyed working with artist Edgar Salazar too and hope to be able to team up again on future projects.


On a completely different note, back in March 2007 I interviewed lecturer, Spaceguard member, neo-catastrophism expert and all round good egg Benny Peiser for The End is Nigh #4 which, sadly is yet to surface (it's okay Mr. Molcher, we know that you're very, very busy). Benny emailed me a little while back to ask if it would be possible to publish the interview elsewhere and I passed my transcript on to him.
The full interview can now be read over on Die Achse des Guten ("The Axis of Good") and is a must read for anyone who is interested in the end of the world, asteroids, religious fundamentalism and all that good stuff.

Thoughts on Bristol (long overdue)

Cast your collective minds back to the second week of May and the Bristol Comics Expo 2008. We were there and we had too much to drink but a grand time over all. What's more, as ususal, we promised a report of sorts that never really surfaced. Well, consider this a far too late, sorry excuse for said report.

First of all, we completely failed to take any pictures of the convention despite having our fully charged camera and several spare memory cards with us. We did however have an iMac in our hotel room with free internet connection (which we utilised only to listen to Last.fm really ;-/ ) and therefore can offer the following evidence of our visit.


Now obviously I can't really remember what happened very well now suffice it to say we met up with lots of lovely people including Oliver Redding, Matt Timson, James Fletcher, Paul Cornell, Caroline Symcox, Al Ewing, Misako Rocks, Sonia Leong, Emma Vieceli, Ian Whelan, Al Nolan, Bob Byrne, Colin Mathieson, Dave West, Andy Bloor, and seemingly millions of others. Thanks to everyone who bought stuff and got stuff signed by us and, of course, to everyone who set us on to new, exciting things and/or bought us a drink.

We did come home with a massive haul of stuff as ususal and this was due in no small part to Mr. Mike McLean of Asylum Books and Games (a very fine establishment) who pressed a big pile of (mostly zombie related) comics into our hands as soon as we ventured near his stall. Though we were very grateful to receive them, it has to be said that many of these books (without naming names) were, to be perfectly honest, awful. The standard of zombie series out there is, sadly, pretty uniformally dreadful with occasional blips of good stuff and the odd true gem. Why do people think they can get away with just putting a load of crap out? Anyway, enough of that. Mike also saw to it that we got our Elephantmen and Goon fix so we really couldn't fault him. Top chap!

Other noteworthy items which traveled home with us included...

The Art Of Cake Diving- by Cliodhna (www.ztoical.com)

Rock and Roll Love- by Misako Rocks! (www.misakorocks.com)

The Hookah Girl and other true stories Vol 1- by Marguerite Dabaie (www.hookah-girl.margoyle.net)

Robots- by various (including us) (http://www.accentukcomics.com/)

Mister Amperduke a story in pictures- by Bob Byrne (www.clamnuts.com)

Sancho the Life and Death of Jose Maria Garcia- by Alan Nolan and Ian Whelan (www.20000-leagues.com)

Duke Etrange's World of Weird One Step Beyond- by various (with us, again). (Nova X-press)

Omnivistascope Model 4- by paul scott and various (www.omnivistascope)

Marraquai The Forest and the city- by Ben Disckson and Joames McKay (www.scarcomics.com)

Other favorites included Finland Finland Finland- by Philip Barnett Bevis Musson and Tony Lee (http://mrtonylee.blogspot.com/) and Al Ewing presents- Iron Man noble defender of fascism in "hippy Trouble"- by Al Ewing (beatgirlcomics@gmail.com).

*PHEW* So then, there you go; we did go to Bristol and we had a great time and we loved meeting both new folk and old friends and the comics were better than ever.

Here's hoping we see you at the next one, or perhaps Leeds or Birmingham? Cool, see you there.

Haunted Liverpool Launch next month

800 Years of Haunted Liverpool will be officially launched at the Unity Theatre in Liverpool on Saturday the 5th of July 2008 between 6 and 8pm. The Unity bar is fully licensed with Cains Bitter on tap.

I'll do my very best to give a short talk giving a bit of background on how the book came about and what it was like to work on. Limited edition copies of 800 Years of Haunted Liverpool will be on sale for £9.99.

If you do plan on coming, please drop me an email at haunted_liverpool@btinternet.com as places will be limited.

Looking forward to seeing you there!

More info and updates over at www.hauntedliverpool.blogspot.com

Message board down

In the early hours of this morning there was a small explosion outside the place where ProBoards' (our board providers) servers are kept. The explosion caused a power failure and, as a result, ours and many other message boards are temporarily offline.

We expect the board to be back online within the next few days but, initially, it will not be fully restored and may be missing data including posts and accounts/log in details. This will only be a temporary situation until ProBoards can restore the data from their backup servers.

For updated information see http://support.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=status&action=display&thread=244738

We apologise for this and if things aren't sorted out soon, we'll look into the possibility of getting a temporary alternative board just to keep things ticking over. In the meantime, you'll just have to find somewhere else to occupy yourselves... but what are we going to do?

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UPDATE, June 2nd 2008: The board is now back online and working but currently missing the last two month's worth of data (posts, newly registered members' details, etc). Hopefully, this will be resolved soon.

Comic News Insider Podcast Interview

We met many, may very nice people while at the Bristol comics Expo last weekend (pseudo report coming soon, although we did forget to take any photographs :-/ ), one of whom was Mr Jimmy Aquino of the Comic News Insider. Jimmy did an interview with us (as well as one with our good mate Paul Cornell of Doctor Who, Wisdom and now Captain Britain fame) which can now be heard at http://cni.libsyn.com/index.php?post_id=339129
Amazingly, we don't even sound all that hung over...

Accent UK's Robots ready to order

Accent UK's 2008 anthology Robots will be launched this coming weekend at the Bristol Comics Expo but , if you're not going to be there, you can now order a copy online at...

www.accentukcomics.com

As per ususal, this year's anthology features just about anyone who's anyone in the UK small press scene (oh, and us as well...) and looks to be even bigger and better than last year's Zombies!

Get ordering!

New comics and signings coming up soon.

Coming this week from Dynamite Entertainment: The Darkness vs. Eva- Daughter of Dracula #2 (23rd April USA, 24th UK and Europe).

"This crossover of dark and demonic dimensions continues as Eva and Jackie Estacado are drawn together by mysterious forces and when they meet - darkness meets darkness and you can bet there's gonna be a fight"

----

As you probably already know, the Bristol Comics Expo is next month, running from the 9th until the 11th. It's probably the single most important yearly event in UK comics and, naturally, we will be there (along with pretty much everyone else involved in British comics).


We'll be signing both Saturday and Sunday from 1-2pm and generally lurking around the Accent UK table for much of the rest of the weekend. Please come and say hello and maybe get you hands on a signed Raise the Dead hardback or two. ;)

----

Before Bristol however, we will be doing a little signing back in Leah's hometown of Northampton at Phoenix Comics.


The signing will take place on the afternoon of Thursday the 8th of May at
Phoenix Comics
29 Abington Square,
Northampton,
Northamptonshire
NN1 4AE
UK

If you're in the area then please do pop in and say hello.

Haunted Liverpool special edition pre-orders

I am very pleased to write that we are now taking pre-orders for the the special edition of my forthcoming book 800 Years of Haunted Liverpool (limited to 26 lettered and 24 numbered copies) featuring an exclusive bookplate by artist Mo Ali, signed by myself (I'm John Reppion by the way - you knew that didn't you?).

Also included is a special bonus article “The Underground Empire of Joseph Williamson” in the form of a handmade booklet signed by me and its illustrator Leah Moore.

Each volume costs £9.99 (plus postage and packing).

Click on the banner above to reserve your copy (books will ship in early July 2008).

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If you would like to add a banner to your own website, weblog or message board you can find the code below (please email me and let me know so that I can return the favour and link back to you on the Haunted Liverpool Blog).

HTML code (for webpages, Blogger, etc)

<a href="http://moorereppion.bigcartel.com/product/pre-order-800-years-of-haunted-liverpool-limited-edition" target="_blank"><img src="http://i299.photobucket.com/albums/mm319/hauntedliverpool/Haunted-Liverpool-banner.gif" title="pre-order limited edition 800 Years of Haunted Liverpool" alt="pre-order limited edition 800 Years of Haunted Liverpool" border="0" /></a>

BBC code (for message boards)

[url=http://moorereppion.bigcartel.com/product/pre-order-800-years-of-haunted-liverpool-limited-edition]
[IMG]http://i299.photobucket.com/albums/mm319/hauntedliverpool/Haunted-Liverpool-banner.gif[/IMG][/url]

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Tori Amos' Comic Book Tattoo - first press

Comic Book Tattoo cover by Jason Levesque AKA Stuntkid.

Comic Book Resources has a nice big feature/interview with writer/editor Rantz Hoseley over at http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=15838 which also has some really nice full page previews (not one of our pages sadly but you can't have everything).

Apart from our good selves, collaborating with Pia Guerra on Hey Jupiter, the book features work from mega talented folks such as Elizabeth Genco, Carla Speed McNeil, Mike Dringenberg and many, many more. With more than 50 stories in the book, all based upon/inspired by different Tori Amos songs, this is obviously going to be an amazing and diverse volume.

We're certainly looking forward to seeing it.

The Darkness Vs. Eva #1 OUT NOW!

Issue #1 of our new Dynamite Entertainment/Top Cow crossover series The Darkness Vs. Eva - Daughter of Dracula arrived in comic shops Wednesday/Thursday last week.

To celebrate we've been yakking on in a load of interviews which can be viewed online at http://forum.newsarama.com/showthread.php?t=150642 and
http://www.wizarduniverse.com/031908darkeva.html


Lots more preview images accompanying the interviews too.

Hope you enjoy the new series.

The Bleeding Horse and other ghost stories

I've been a fan of Mr. Brian J. Showers' Swan River Press chapbooks ever since I first got hold of them at a Dublin convention a couple of years ago this time last year.

Brian is currently getting ready to launch his new book The Bleeding Horse and other ghost stories at the Phoenix Convention (Dublin) at the end of the month. After the launch, the Moonlight Theatre Company will present two tales from Edgar Allan Poe, "The Cask Of Amontillado" performed by Vincent Fegan and "The Black Cat" performed by Paul Kealyn, directed by Gary Egan.
Sadly, we won't be attending P-Con due to our heavy workload and lack of funds but we encourage anyone with the time and means to visit the con; it's always a good one and this year looks to be one of the best ever.


In the spirit of Le Fanu's classic trio of tales, Brian J. Showers' The Bleeding Horse and Other Ghost Stories infests his own Dublin neighbourhood with an authentic population of ghosts, ghouls, and goblins. Showers has filled each story with fascinating regional history, local atmosphere, and architectural details that are clearly visible today. While this gives the stories a factual flavour, the supernatural elements are entirely fictional. The result is a realistic and shadow-filled portrait of a modern neighbourhood, written in the traditional style of the classic literary ghost story.

Each story features a recognisable Dublin setting and infuses it with a spectral history. Among the mysteries you will be invited to unravel are: the origins of The Bleeding Horse pub's gruesome name ('The Bleeding Horse'); the mysterious events leading to the discovery of Jack B. Yeats' final painting ('Oil on Canvas'); the eerie and persistent repercussions of a tragic omnibus accident in 1861 ('Favourite No. 7 Omnibus'); the possible resting place of the stolen Irish Crown Jewels and what guards it ('Quis Separabit'); the identify of the strange entity that plagued a 19th c. curate ('Father Corrigan's Diary'); and more. The Bleeding Horse and Other Ghost Stories features black and white illustrations throughout by Duane Spurlock, an introduction by Le Fanu scholar Jim Rockhill, and a cover by Harvey Award winner Scott Hampton.

Read more and order your copy now at www.brianjshowers.com

I've Written A Book!

Remember back in September last year when I said I was writing a book called Haunted Liverpool for Tempus Publishing? Well, as of tonight (technically tomorrow morning I suppose), the manuscript and a disk containing all the images are on their way to the publishers. I have finished!

Thank you very, very, very much to everyone who has helped me with stories, reference and artwork. Leah has been slaving away checking my spelling, preparing maps and generally slogging her guts out for me these last few days and I'm so grateful for her help; no idea how I'd have done any of it without her.

Anyway, I've started a Haunted Liverpool Blog over at www.hauntedliverpool.blogspot.com.

It's pretty basic at the moment but I hope to get more stuff like links to the artists involved, etc soon-ish. There's an abridged piece from the book on there as a taster of what's to come. Hope you like it.

Cheers.

Dakness Vs. Eva interview and previews

With issue #1 of our new four part Dynamite/Top Cow crossover scheduled to arrive in stores in a few weeks we spoke to Shaun Manning over at Comic Book Resources about the upcoming series.

In this corner, Top Cow’s tortured mobster-turned-hero Jackie Estacado, wielder of The Darkness; and in that corner, the challenger, from the pages of “Army of Darkness” and her own Dynamite Entertainment one-shot, Eva, Daughter of Dracula! Refereeing this Edgar Salazar-illustrated match-up are writers Leah Moore & John Reppion, who spoke with CBR News about March's Dynamite miniseries “Darkness vs. Eva” and the dangerous subject of what’s up next. [read on and see preview pages here]

SteamPunk Magazine #4 available now

#4 - Our Lives As Fantastic As Any Fiction

Contents

Narratives:
A Fabulous Junkyard. by David X. Wiggin
Doppler and the Madness Engine (Part One of Three). by John Reppion
The Duel. by Nicholas Cowley
Antonio’s Answer. by the Catastraphone Orchestra
An Unfortunate Engagement (Part Four). by G.D. Falksen

Interviews:
Donna Lynch & Steve Archer. a pair of remarkable creators
Ann & Jeff VanderMeer. power couple of speculative fiction

Features
Letters.
For Freedom. being the remarkable life of one Isabelle Eberhardt
Build Yourself A Jacob’s Ladder. mad science for the sake of mad science
An Unexpected Hat. an introduction to DIY millinery
Green Fairies, Witch-Cradles, and Angel Tongues. victorian approaches to altered states
Paint it Brass. the intersection of goth and steam
Brass Monkeying. how to turn copper into brass

Hire Our / About Our Contributors.
Publishing Schedule, Submissions, Etc.
The Future.
---------------------------------------

Download in PDF format for free >>HERE<<

Or purchase a paper copy for 3 USD (+ P&P) >>HERE<<

All previous issues are also still available for download or purchase.

Happy reading.

Raise the Dead - it really, really is out now!

The Raise the Dead Hardcover edition is definitely, positively, absolutely arriving in shops in the USA on the 27th of February, 2008 (28th in the UK & Europe... I think) which, if I'm not mistaken, is today! Hooray!

If you haven't already reserved your copy (and you like ordering stuff online) you can get a copy from...

>>Forbidden Planet International<< (UK and Europe)
or
>>Amazon.com<< (USA & Canada)

And, just in case you need a bit of encouragement, here are the first 11 pages!!! *drool*

George A. Romero Interview

As some of you might already know, the multi talented chap that is George Khoury is now writing a column for Comic Book Resources entitled POP!

George has a fantastic interview just up with the legendary George A. Romero which he was kind enough let me help out with (a little). With Diary of the Dead soon to be released it seemed like the perfect opportunity to pick the great man's brains.

Visit http://comicbookresources.com/columns/index.cgi?column=pop&article=2992 to read the interview.

Raise the Dead hardcover out now! [edit]

"[Raise the Dead] thrilled me, captivated me, angered
me in places, and left me thinking, knowing, that as I switched off the light,
and lay alone in the dark, that somewhere out there, was a pair of red glowing
eyes."

-- Max Brooks (author of World War Z and
The Zombie Survival Guide) in his introduction to the Hardcover
edition of Raise the Dead.

Order now from Forbidden Planet International

Also, my 20 questions are now up on "Our Worlds at War". check it out.

L.