NYCC 2010

Hey all, Square 1 Press will be setup at NYCC (that's New York Comic Con) at Booth #2384. It's real easy to find. Just go to DC comics and then follow through straight behind them towards the back wall. We will be on the left, second from the end. Emerging Artist Victor Castro will at the booth most of the time, along with signings by Walter and Louise Simonson. Please check the booth for signing times.
We will have Walter Simonson Sketchbooks available for sale, vols. 2-4, The Howard Chaykin sketchbook, and all new for NYCC 2010, A Geofrey Darrow sketchbook numbered to only 300 copies!

Also we will have the signed Walter Simonson "Thor" print ($20) which is a companion piece to the exclusive T-shirt available only from Epic Proportions Booth #2537

Sometimes, it's OK when the phone rings...

Maybe that title should be, "Sometimes , it's pretty damn awesome" when the phone rings." Last night I got a phone call from from Geoff Darrow. Yes, THAT Geoff Darrow (as I am sure there are more than 1) He of the "Hard-Boiled", "Big Guy and Rusty, the Boy Robot" and "Shaolin Cowboy" fame. He rang me up to inquire about having a sketchbook printed up to sell at the New York show coming up the 2nd weekend in October. So , after picking up my jaw off the floor, we continued our discussion about sketchbooky matters. Hopefully, he will decide to put to gether the requisite artworks and get them to me and S1P will have another sketchbook to sell at the show. Geoff will be in Artist Alley at NYCC as well, so it should work out nicely.

We will be setting a signing schedule for Walter and Louise Simonson at the Square 1 Press booth #2384) sometime this week and we will update the blog and have information at our Facebook page. Walter will also be signing at the Epic Proportions booth (#2537) Check out their blog here for times. They will have the 2nd EXCLUSIVE shirt with Walter's original artwork available for sale. Picture here. Also, they will have a Geoff Darrow shirt available as well, here's a shot of that one. Incredible stuff!

Hopefully I will have more info about Geoff's sketchbook within the next couple weeks, so keep yer eyes peeled.

Man, that just sounds painful.

Ugh..Once again, I have been neglecting you all...all 3 of you

SO , I finally log in to my blogger acct. and see that the last time I updated the blog was in March. Terrible. Now, in my defense, we have readjusted some scheduling and have changed our approach to some projects here. Valkkadia is no longer going to come out in individual issues, it will be released as a graphic novel comprising approximately 6 issues worth of material. So, that willbe sometime next year (we hope!)
We are currently preparing the 4th volume of the Walter Simonson sketchbook series and will be putting the signed/ sketched edition up for sale in the coming weeks. If you're on Facebook, follow our fan page, "www.facebook.com/sqaure1press" I know, I know...I screwed up the spelling and submitted it before realizing what I had done and you can't ever change it. So, yeah, that happened.
We are also putting together the 1st volume (to try out a new format) of a collection of inked finished Simonson artwork. More on that as it's available.
I have been so busy for the last couple months, with general work stuff and working at SDCC and will working at Celebration 5 in a week or so. then, finally a vacation before having to rush things together upon my return for Baltimore Comicon.
September looks to be fairly quiet, hopefully fill lots of orders for Simonson sketchbooks and get ready for NYComicon in October where we WILL be setup and have Walter and Louise Simonson signing at our booth exclusively. Then, Halloween weekend we will be setup at the Long Beach ComicCon in California in Artist Alley with Howard Chaykin.
So, I think that's all the updates I have for now. As always we are working on other stuff that we hope we can announce soon. Keep your fingers crossed. Talk soon.

Comic Geek Speak Super Show '10

Hey all, Square 1 Press will be making it's first convention appearance of the year at the Comic Geek Speak Super Show '10 in Reading, PA the weekend of March 27 & 28th with Walter and Louise Simonson. All info is HERE.
S1P will have the last few (recently discovered) copies of Volume 1 of the Walter Simonson sketchbook series.
We will also have copies of Volume 2 for sale as well.
For the first time, S1P will have a Limited Edition Walter Simonson print available as well. Limited to just 50 numbered copies, this print features an image never reproduced in print anywhere before. Featuring Walter's creator-owned "StarSlammers", this ultra-limited print (just 50 numbered copies) is the first of what we hope to be a long line of convention exclusive prints. Since Walter will be in attendance, you can get the print signed by the master himself. Any leftover copies will be available at the S1P webstore. Here's what it looks like:
So there you go, we think this is a great place to start, and we'll be having another print for the C2E2 show in April as well. Stay tuned for more info!
For all you attending the CGSSS in Reading, PA next weekend, see ya there!

WOW...has it really been THAT long?

Well, once again, I have to apologize for taking so long between updates. We have sort of hit a lull in our evolution as a publisher. This lull is known as money. There are many, many places on this internet where you can read about the difficult world of publishing and comics. I will not bore you with that here, just suffice to say that a good portion of what you read is legit. Life's tough. Wear a helmet. Move on.
So, we are. We will do what we can, when we can and hope for the best. I have been busy working on some new story ideas for both film and comics. Updates to other projects to follow:

Valkkadia.
We have all the artwork for issue #2 finished and ready to go. All the pencils for #3 are done and ready to be inked. #4 is already rolling along in the pencil stage. We are currently reviewing the possibility of printing the whole arc in one TPB rather than wait for individual issues to be printed. We'll see what comes of this plan.

Walter Simonson Studio.
Volume 1 of the sketchbook series is SOLD OUT.
Volume 2 is still available at the Square1Press webstore.
Volume 3 will premiere at C2E2 in Chicago, the weekend of April 16-18th.

That's where we're at for now. As I get other things moving along, I will write about them here. along with updates about availablity and appearances.

Thanks to any and all who stop by take a minute to care.

Back from Long Beach...and off to Baltimore

So, Long Beach Comicon was a raging success and now i'm home for another 4 days and then I'm off to Baltimore Comicon, the fine show put on by Marc Nathan and company this upcoming weekend.

OK, besides all that the travel stuff, the first issue of Valkkadia was sold over the weekend at the LBCC show and will be available at the Baltimore show as well. They will be available at the same table as Walter Simonson. He will be signing copies of the book (which he inked the cover for) as well as copies of Volume 2 of the Walter Simonson artist sketchbook series which will be premiering at the baltimore show. We will also have a EXTREMELY limited number of copies of Vol. 1, as it is nearly SOLD OUT.
More news about Vol.2 to follow soon.

Long Beach turned out to be great for the planning stages of future projects for Square 1 Press. We got a number of new projects in the discussion stage and will let all of you know about them just as soon we possibly can. Getting these projects off the ground can be difficult sometimes, but not as difficult as actually getting the people involved to sit down and do their parts. This is not a knock on professional artists of any type, I know they're busy and in a lot of cases, they are making a living at a "real" job, not the freelance artist lifestyle that they might prefer. Just another reason why sometimes you hear news about new creative teams or project announcements and then hear nothing. Sometimes for years. Or ever.

We don't want to do that here. We don't ever want to let you believe we are capable of something we aren't. Projects will only be announced once they've been started or even, nearing completion, just to be sure.

We also got a number of inquiries at Long Beach about publishing finished projects by outside creators. So, there may be news of that ilk as well. All in all lots of new contacts and friendships were made at the show. THAT alone, makes it a success.

coming up quick...

It's been a crazy couple of weeks. Finally, the check and print files have been sent. The book is literally at the printers. In 10 days or so, hopefully I should have actual copies of the book in my hands. When I stop to think about all the work that has gone into this and the incredible amount of help we've received from friends and co-workers, (and ex-co-workers) it really can be sort of humbling. So many people gave freely their help and support to us to see that this project would see the light if day, we can't even begin to thank them all individually, I only hope that they understand how grateful we are to have them as friends and colleagues and how much their continued help has led us to this point.

Today, I am sorting through stacks of artwork to select the images that will go into the next Walter Simonson sketchbook, which we hope to have available at the Long Beach Comicon as well. If not, then certainly at the Baltimore Comicon the following weekend. Looking at the stuff I have pulled out, I now think that maybe I should consider changing the format size from the previous sketchbooks and see what the cost would be to get them produced at a full 8 1/2x 11. I'll have to see what I can do about that.

Oh well, just rambling now. So much to get done still for the LongBeach show, not sure where to begin. Oh, almost forgot. Square 1 Press will be located at booth #348 at the LBCC and we will also proudly be sharing our space with the talented and prolific writer, Steve Niles. Yes, he will be camped out at our booth all weekend long, so be sure to bring all your SN books down to get 'em signed. Well, not all of them, because, quite frankly, you probably couldn't carry all the books he's done. At least, not in one trip, anyways.

As always, we will have the first Walter Simonson and Howard Chaykin sketchbooks available for sale, but the first Simonson sketchbook is almost SOLD OUT, very few copies remain.

Also, available at the show (time allowing) will be a special edition of the 1st issue of Valkkadia #1. It will be signed by all 4 creators who worked on the book. Hassan Godwin (writer/pencils/creator), Steven Hoveke (finishes/lettering), Walter Simonson (cover finishes) and Dennis Calero (cover color). This special edition will be limited to 75 numbered copies. It will come bagged & boarded with a S1P certificate of authenticity.

More info will be up here first, as it's available.

Well, it only took a year or so...

Tah-DAHHHHHHH! Here is the final cover image as it will be printed. Less than a month away, we're so excited to have it finally ready and on the verge of being available.

I've been busy trying to get all my S1P miscellaneous convention stuff together as well. 1st time having our own space at the convention and so I need a sign, tablecovers, etc. all the stuff you never think about. SO, I've been running around, so to speak, the web searching for the best prices on things. So, we'll see what I can find by the end of the month.

We hope some of you can come to the Long Beach Comicon on October 2nd-4th to see us as well as a lot of REAL comic stars.
The lineup just seems to be getting better and better even as we close in the show date. I'll have our booth location listed here just as soon as I get the notification for the con folks.

Back to work...

A quick shot of awesome...

This came in late last night and I thought I'd share it with all of you. It's the finished cover image, colored and all. Colors by the always amazing, Dennis Calero, co-creator and artist for the X-Men:Noir miniseries and too many other comic projects to list here. Check out his website here for more info, also, listed in the links section.

My apologies

Howdy all, sorry for the long absence between posts. After I got back from SDCC, I was fried, both mentally and physically. I spent the next couple weeks decompressing and working on a side job I have going (construction) and getting ready for a week's vacation in the southern outer banks in North Carolina. We got back on Sunday and now things are going into overdrive. We have the preliminary cover colors done and will be showing the completed colors here just as soon as we get them and we'll be passing along who's coloring it as well.

We'll still be premiering the 1st issue of Valkkadia at the Long Beach Comicon, however,and hope to have signed premiere copies of the book available for purchase at the show as well as regular single copies. Signed by whom? You ask? Well, how about all 4 artists involved in the creation of the book.
These will probably be signed, numbered and very limited. More on this as it develops.

Other things, well, have been sort of put by the wayside in the rush to finish this first issue and get settled into a workable schedule se we can keep releasing future issues in a timely manner.
We feel this is an important thing and we have all the pencil art finished for issue #2 and it's over half inked, with the script coming in the next week. We are excited about this finally getting out there and getting some feedback. This book isn't your typical modern comic, there's a lot of story and a lot of action. Currently, we don't have the ending in sight. It has begun to take on a life of it's own and continues to grow (unexpectedly) larger as we create it.

Well, it's late and I'm headed to the city tomorrow for a meeting. I will do my best to keep the updates a tad more regular as we approach the date of the show and the release of the book.

Thanks to everyone who continues to support and help us and we appreciate any and all attention we get from all of you out there in comicland.

Talk to ya soon.

SDCC...Round 3/Preview night...It begins

SO, I woke up this morning at 7:30 or so and looked out my window, to behold....a line. Really? The doors wouldn't open for another 10 hours. I hope it was worth it guys.

I went to meet a buddy for coffee in the AM befoe checking in with the GGbooth to see if the crew from LA had arrived yet, which they had not and so I fiddled around getting some things organized and such. Once they arrived we were on automatic.

They had brought the display signage and we put it all up and had all the cases sealed back up in about an hour. All we had left to do was stock the booth with the 7 pallets of exclusives and wait for 5pm to roll around.

So at approximately 12:30pm...we had finished the booth setup and were allowed to wander off and do our own thing for the rest of the afternoon. I went looking for a few friends I knew were gonna be here and said hello to a bunch of others. Nice to see so many friendly faces in one place having a good time at a great show.

I thought I'd show a couple more pieces from GG as well.

And finally, at long last...Lando!

SDCC...Round 2

OK, this is the second time I am writing this entry as I had it finished and accidentally closed the tab and lost the whole fucking thing. Technology can be swell sometimes, and sometimes, well, it can be downright annoying.


SO anyhoo, we had an excellent day today, got the booth setup finished to within a few hours. We have the display info to setup tomorrow, but the prototypes are all placed and all that's left to do in the morning is some cleanup and get the displays finalized and locked up.


To anyone who has worked at one of these shows before, you know how remarkable and amazing this feat is. We will actually be finished, I believe, hours before we need to be. Well in time to wander around a bit before the show opens in the evening tomorrow night.

This due, in large part to the colossal pre-show prep work done by GG at their HQ well before sending all the stuff down here to SD.

And well, since this fine fellow wants be to bid you all adieu, I think I will listen and head off to bed.

BTW, this little buy is NOT GG product, but it is from the niftiest vinyl toy company out there. Rocket World. Check them out, they do excellent stuff.

Welcome to sunny San Diego!

Well hello all you readers of the Square 1 Press blog. Today is the first day of something a little different. I thought I'd keep those of you who don't attend the SDCC or can't attend, up to speed a bit on what's happening with me out here. Nothing too boring I hope, just a few pics and tidbits, maybe an update of the status of a new project as I get things finalized. Who knows.

Thought I'd start out with a shot out of my hotel window when I got in this afternoon. I left Newark's Liberty airport @ 7am and arrived here just after noon local time, after a quick stop and plane change in Salt Lake City, a "Starbuck's"-free airport, apparently. Yeah, never going there again if I can help it.

This is a nice shot looking up at the 6'tall "Voldemort" maxi-bust, I guess you'd call it, that Gentle Giant has created for the show booth display.










There is also a 6' tall Boba Fett.



















A nice shot of the (currently) empty hall, Monday is early setup day, most of the larger exhibitors can get in a day early to make sure they have enough time to get all their displays setup.

Also, in this picture, Brian Jouan, aka StaticJoe, creator of the "Valkkadia" logo and which I found out tonite, winner of not 1, but 2 Emmy's. That's right, THOSE Emmy's. He doesn't like to brag, and because they are for production...HE HAS EMMY awards in his house with HIS name on them. How cool is that??



















So we wrapped for the day, met up with our good friend John McGonigle for a nice dinner and then we all kinda parted ways. John and I were beat after having been up since the early morning dark to make our flights out here.


I just took this one out of my hotel room window, of approximately the same shot as when I got here. How awesome is this.

One beautiful place.

I'm leavin' on a jet plane...

Well, it's that time again. SDCC, (San Diego Comic-Con) as it is mis-labeled is upon us again (it's actually Comic-Con International). I have been busy getting some things ready for the show, mostly promotional stuff, as S1P will not be exhibiting at the show. I will be present, but I will be working for Gentle Giant Ltd. at the convention. Come on by and say hello, if you're gonna be there. I'll be the one in the "Square 1 Press" hat. I'll be happy to show you one of these little honeys:


Complete Valkkadia #1 ashcans. I have printed up 10 copies of it for promotional usage, showing friends, and hoping to push the project to other media. They are all B&W printed, same format as the artist sketchbooks, cardstock covers and all

They also have this delightful sticker on the back:



There are currently no plans to make these available to the public. However, if I get any interest in them, I'll reconsider. Since the issue is due out in a couple months, I'm sure folks can wait until the Long Beach Comic-Con in October to grab up their copies, especially when the book will have a full color cover and be in standard comic size format.

So, other things on the clipboard for SDCC, begin gathering artists and writers for a new anthology project. It is themed, and I will be making an announcement concerning it shortly, I hope. Also, will be pitching a couple new project ideas to companies while I'm out there. I think Long Beach will really be our coming-out party, but why waste a good opportunity?

Well, I have one more day to get things together as my flight leaves 7am from Newark airport on Monday morning. I will try to update this at least once while I am out there this coming week. If you're in attendance, and looking for the Walter Simonson or Howard Chaykin sketchbooks, some will be available at "Stuart Ng Books" booth, you'll have to look up the number, or else just get them at the website here.

Safe travels, everyone.

Cover inked!

I picked this up the other day and have been dying to post it but just have been too busy. Well, here ya go, the cover I showed several weeks ago now finished with inks by the legendary Walter Simonson.

Just a note, the black background and the logo have been added via Photoshop just for fun. I hope to have some info about a colorist soon. Stay tuned!

Busy, busy, busy...

Alright, so, I've been busy getting the ballons made and getting the pages lettered. I am doing this the only way I have figured out on my own. Of course, since then, I have discovered other easier ways to do this and will be experimenting with these processes on future issues. Onward and upward, Here's a preview of the first 2 pages of issue#1 of Valkkadia, lettered and all. Just click on them for a larger version.

I hope you like them and if all goes right in the universe, I might even have a sneak preview of the finished cover, with inks by Walter Simonson tomorrow. I plan to approach a couple of professional colorists I know to color the cover for us. Keep your fingers-crossed as I will be doing this at Comic-Con Intl. in 2 weeks and I hope that one of them has the time for it.

Well, I have the cover setup to finish, an ad to create, and the setup of the inside covers of the book and the book will be all done. This has been quite the journey. We, Hassan and myself, started working in this project (in this form; Hassan's been working on this story in one form or another for almost 10 years!) over a year ago, and we've seen many deadlines we created for ourselves come and go. This isn't anyone's fault, things just took longer than we planned. Now, we have a better, more solid plan and have been picking up a more consistent pace on page production and we hope to maintain some competent form of release schedule.

While we our printing this book ourselves and will continue to do so as long as humanly possible, we will be shopping the book around to established comic companies in the hopes that someone may actually pay us to create it. Geez, wouldn't that be nice, huh?

It just ain't in the cards...

I'm sad to report that we are not going to be able get our first issue out in time for SDCC. There just isn't enough time to do everything we have to do and for me to learn what I have to learn in time to get the whole package together. So... we have re-adjusted our schedule and will be printing the book for release at the 1st Long Beach Comic-Con in California the weekend of Oct2-4th. It will still have the cover inked by Walter Simonson, in fact we may end up having that cover be an exclusive for that convention. Seeing as we will be doing our best to have Walter there in person to sign copies for Square 1 Press. If things don't work out the way we like, then we will definitely have them the following weekend at the Baltimore Comic-con as well, where Walter will absolutely be attending.

As Square 1 Press, we are learning this business as quickly as we can and there are just some things that we can't rush.

This actually works out better for us as a whole. This allows a couple things to happen, seeing as S1P had planned on setting up at the con, we will be able to have the "Valkkadia" writer/artist Hassan Godwin at the show as well. I will be working for the convention itself, S1P will need to have some extra help on hand so this goes great leaps to this end. Hopefully we will have more products available for sale at Long Beach as well. There are several other sketchbook opportunities and a possible limited lithograph run as well. More to come on that front as it develops.

I do have the finished "Valkkadia" logo to show off, courtesy of the awesome Brian Jouan. A link to his website is available at the upper right of this blog. And it looks a little like this...

There may be some small tweaks to the finish and such, but the core is there and we really dig it. Brian, we can't thank you enough. We really appreciate the help.

Tuesday, I'll be having dinner with a couple of guys who are bringing me a story they want adapted visually. More on that next week.

So, there it is. We still have the Howard Chaykin and Walter Simonson sketchbooks available at the webstore here.

Thanks for everyone's continued support, we truly appreciate it.

Script is in my hand!

OK, I got the finalized script for Valkkadia#1 tonite. which means...

I need to get my ass movin...I have 6 panels to finish inking and the whole book to letter and balloon. I may be up for awhile.

Also, above is the latest version of the "Valkkadia" logo as being developed by my good friend, Brian Jouan. There is more to be done, I'll try and keep everybody up to speed. But now, back to the drawing board, literally.

A quick apology to a friend...

Just this morning I was checking out the comment threads on some of the stories posted about this past weekend and I ran across one posted by Joe Rybandt from Dynamite Entertainment at the ComicsWorthReading.com post.

I quote Joe "It was always our intention to have Howard upfront with us and any confusion comes down to miscommunication between us at Dynamite and Howard, but no fault to Wizard on this one."

Joe, this was not how it was explained to me on Friday, so I only got part of the story. No offense was intended to you or Nick, you guys have always been very good to me and extremely supportive. Clearly, I assumed the part I heard to be true and the source was also not completely clear on the details. However, I'm the one who put it out there, so I'm the ass here.

Sorry , guys, I sincerely apologize.

--Steve