Lord of the Jungle!
My adaptation of Edgar Rice Burroughs's Tarzan of the Apes hits stores today, like a bloodthirsty, horny ape. I have high hopes for this one, I really do! Dynamite paired me with a, well, dynamite artist, Roberto Castro. If you haven't seen Roberto's art for Fall of Barsoom... here.
Roberto's going for an oldskool Silver Age look for Jungle, and it's paying off hugely. The best thing about his art, for me, is the beautiful, textured backgrounds. You really feel like you're in the jungle, in every panel.
As usual, Dynamite serves up an awesome panoply of front covers, by Alex Ross, Paul Renaud, and Ryan Sook (featured!). Yes, all the knick-knacks Tarzan is wearing are 100% accurate and in accordance with the original novel. That's the big idea behind Dynamite's adaptation of the story – we're trying to do it the "right way", as close to the spirit of the original as possible. Newsarama did an interview with me about the whole thing.
The reviews so far are very positive – thanks, Stephen and Jimmy!
Wayne Hall at scifipulse.net has interviewed me twice about all my writing for Dynamite. The latest is online. Whole lotta Tarzan.
The best thing about Lord of the Jungle #1 is the price – $1. Check out a preview right here, and buy three copies of each cover variant. Rest assured, Dynamite is losing money on each and every purchase!
Oblivion
I’m back! I’m back. After five days at the San Diego Comic-con and another four in Los Angeles, I’m home. The main purpose of my trip was the short novel I'm working on for Radical Comics, Oblivion.
The story’s about a two-person team, a man and a woman, who monitor and repair drones scouring the surface of the Earth for the remnants of an alien invasion that destroyed our planet 30 years ago. More than that, I dare not say!
Oblivion is the brain child of Joseph Kosinski, the chap who's directing the upcoming TRON: Legacy movie. I finished the first draft just before getting on the plane for my little California adventure – nearly 30,000 words in three weeks.
It's no secret Joe wants to do Oblivion as a film. He's looking for a home for it right now with the studios, and I wish him all the success in the world. I hope the work I've put into it has aided him in his quest. The story's come to mean a lot to me personally.
Regardless of the writing, the book is going to look beautiful – Andrée Wallin, a fantastic concept artist (and a fellow Swede!) is doing over 40 full-page illustrations for it.
The finished product will be somewhere between a comic and straight prose, presented in a cool "widescreen" format. I think it will be like reading a movie.
We had free give-away ashcans at San Diego, just a little taste of the story. Joe and I signed a ton (maybe literally). I forgot to pick one up for myself, which is entirely typical of me, but it's an unbelievable honor to have some of my prose out there in the world for people to read.
So thanks, Joe, and thanks Barry (Barry's the sick genius behind Radical) for picking me. Now that the story’s nearing completion, I know I was the right person to write it. I have a feeling people are going to respond to it once we get it out into the world.
Arvid Nelson (me!) is a comic book writer, responsible for Rex Mundi and Zero Killer, among other things. I live in Northampton, Massachusetts with my lovely wife. more...Coming Up
- Feb. 15: Dejah Thoris #10