This is not – stress on not – to lay the blame for the delay at Matthew’s feet. Life happens, with rather apalling insistence, in fact, and one of the problems of working in the “Small Press” as opposed to the “Bigs” is that Real Life™ tends to be much more unforgiving on creators, believe it or not. If Stumptown was a DC book, for instance, or published by Marvel, mechanisms would have been brought to bear to address the schedule conflicts such as we’ve experienced. But it isn’t (whether it could be or not is another question entirely), and there aren’t, and Matthew and I (and James Lucas, and Jill Beaton, and all the rest manning the oars at Oni Press) bear the guilt and the responsibility.

All this having been said, I repeat: It Won’t Happen Again.

Truth is, I hate shipping late. I hate it with an almost unnatural passion. Looking back at my track record with Oni, I know many of you may find this hard to believe. But I swear it on my honor (something I actually try to maintain), I hate doing it, I loathe it, I think it’s a reprehensible way to treat an audience of, essentially, volunteers. I hated it when I worked at DC, and I hate it all the more now that I am working sans filet, as they say on the Continent. At the best, it reeks of a disrespect for the reader (something I, in all sincerity, have never held); at the worst, it speaks of rather dramatic arrogance on the part of the creator(s). Arrogant I may be, but I don’t think I’m that arrogant.

And even with all that, even with – believe or not – a concerted effort to avoid precisely this kind of problem as early as the conception of Stumptown, it happened anyway. My apologies, and Matthew’s, only go so far.

So we’re offering you this:

We will solicit nothing – not a damn thing – until we are satisfied the issues of the next arc, if not the entirety of the run, can and will be in stores as promised.

There is a downside. To whit: it may be some time before you see solicitation for Issue 5, the first part of the “The Case of the Baby in the Velvet Case.” The upside? When you do see that solicitation, you can be certain the issues will be delivered monthly for the duration of the story arc (barring those things that none of us can control, of course, like, you know, flash floods, Lady Gaga, etc.)

From the start, Matthew and I intended a rotating schedule of sorts with Stumptown. While it is an ongoing series, our intention was always to work in arcs of four issues each – complete cases – taking four months ‘on’ and then four months ‘off’ in between. The off months were planned to make sure we got ahead on the next arc, and thus didn’t…uhm…y’know, do the thing we did. The practical result is that you can start looking for Issue 5 to be solicited in early 2011. If we get on top of the schedule, we’ll solicit sooner. If we fall behind, we’ll solicit later.

And that’s enough about that.

In other news, summer is coming to a close here, as evidence by the kids becoming more and more manic. School starts next week, and with it, a return to something resembling a normal work schedule, as well. It’s going to be a busy Fall. I shall be updating as I am able.

On the appearance front:

Vancouver, on September 12th.

Jet City in Seattle on September 25th.

And there’s something going on in October in New York, I believe… the Appearance Page will be updated soon, as well.

Cheers!

Thursday
2:30 – 3:50

Friday
11:30 – 12:50

Saturday
1:00 – 2:20

Sunday
11:30 – 12:50

Greg will also be discussing writing for lesbian/gay/bi-sexual/transsexual characters on a Thursday evening panel:

6:00-7:00 Writing Queer: Creating and Writing LGBT Characters— Creating genuine and well-rounded LGBT characters is a challenge for writers, as they must give voice to a population whose stories have been kept hidden for so long. How do writers, both queer and straight, as well as mainstream and independent, create narratives that reflect the diversity and humanity of LGBT individuals, as well as the obstacles they face? Moderator Justin Hall (Glamazonia, Prism Comics’ talent chair) leads a spirited conversation with some of the best writers working in comics today: Paige Braddock (Jane’s World), Howard Cruse (Stuck Rubber Baby), Gilbert Hernandez (Love and Rockets), Greg Rucka (Detective Comics), Gail Simone (Wonder Woman), and Judd Winick (Pedro and Me). Room 32AB

For more information, see our appearances page.

The specific anthology that Greg is writing a story for is “I Am An Avenger,” and on that project the remit is that in some way, shape or form the story needs to reflect on or relate to the notion of what being an Avenger is all about. What makes one an Avenger? What qualifies one to be an Avenger? In the case of Greg, he spoke to Steve Wacker as he often does, and there was a moment towards the end of “Siege” that Greg felt deserved a little more examination and a little more consequence, and so he’s going to tell that story in this particular issue of “I Am An Avenger.” I read the script just this morning, it’s great. He found a very specific moment and action to explore, and built it into a very personal story that’s about Steve Rogers. That’s a great place to bring in someone like Greg, who hasn’t played on this side of the aisle for a while, and put him in a position where he’s telling a story that means something to him. He can do what he does best and what he wants to do and get his feet wet in our waters again. Hopefully that leads to more work down the line.

Art by JH Williams

The collected hardcover of Greg and JH Williams’ Detective Comics run featuring Batwoman debuted at number two on the New York Times “Hardcover Graphic Books” best-seller list!

The Last Run

Coming to stores October 26, 2010!

For a preview of the novel, check out a post from Greg sharing the Pre-Operational Briefing.

Release information
THE LAST RUN
Bantam US hardcover October 2010 ISBN 0553804758

Walking Dead

Walking Dead, Greg’s latest in a series of thriller novels featuring Atticus Kodiak, has been nominated for a Barry Award, given by the editors of Deadly Pleasures Magazine, in the category of Best Thriller!

Curious about the novel? You can read the first four chapters of Walking Dead at Greg’s blog:

1. Chapter one
2. Chapter two
3. Chapter three
4. Chapter four

Not a terrible amount of update information at the moment; still waiting to hear back from numerous people on numerous projects, ranging from the small to the inordinately ambitious. This has made answering the, “so, what are you doing now?” question a little challenging, as you might imagine. And yes, before you ask, I am well-aware that Stumtpown #4 was promised by the start of June, and here we are approaching its chewy center, and there’s no issue in sight. I shall apprise you all of the ETA as soon as I have that information.

And I SWEAR TO GOD this will be the LAST TIME this happens. When we solicit for the next arc, the issues will ship on time each month. I cannot thank all of you enough for your patience. We will get the schedule nailed down soon, I promise.

As to what I am up to? Glad you asked, here’s a sample or three…

Start of a sequence, pencils and inks by Rick Burchett

Continuing the sequence

Color Test

By way of example, so’s you know.

The Mister8 voting for the final round ends today. I find it vaguely ironic that it comes to a close two days before the World Cup begins. I’m probably the only person who finds that ironic, but I’ve admitted before to being strange. Last I checked, Chace was getting roundly and savagely beaten by the Men from U.N.C.L.E., which is certainly a beating she can take; she’s suffered far worse at my hands, certainly. That said, if you haven’t voted, get your tail over there and cast a vote – Chace or Solo & Kuryakin, whichever may be your pleasure. As I think I’ve said before, I’m still more than a little amazed she made it this far!

Cheers!

Greg will be heading north of the border this weekend for the Toronto Comicon, and will be the featured subject of a panel on Saturday:

3PM
Greg Rucka- A NOVEL APPROACH
Before Greg Rucka entered the comics scene and became an in demand scribe, he had already carved out a career as a crime fiction novelist. Find out from the man himself how he balances a career in both areas of writing and how one complements the other. Greg will discuss in detail his approach to writing the comic book –script and give pointers to attendees.

For more details, see our appearances page, where we’ve also just posted that Greg will be attending the London Film and Comic Con and the San Diego Comic Con!

Schedule

Signing and panel schedule coming soon!

Details

New York Comic Con

Jacob K. Javits Center
655 West 34th Street
New York City, New York

Driving Directions

My dear friend Evan, who’s been posting comments here and at Mister8, wrote up a nice stump speech for Chace. He wrote it as an in-character piece, first-person, her POV; who she is, why she is, what she does, and I thought he did a damn fine job of it. Fun to see her through another’s eyes – it’s a rare treat for a writer, frankly, to create something that another can take hold of so thoroughly as to represent it in their own words. It is, perhaps, a whiff of authorial immortality.

So there’s Tara’s “campaign speech.” And then there’s the one in support of the Boys from U.N.C.L.E., and you can see that it is a very different stripe of cat. Not an in-character piece at all, but rather, an appreciation for what the show was, what it meant to those who followed it, and who still follow it today. No mention of characters, or stories, but rather of style – the word “dash” is used. An appreciation of the show as a product of its ear. It is, frankly, an appeal based on nostalgia and sentiment more than anything else, and there’s nothing wrong with that.

There’s nothing wrong with that at all.

I remember watching U.N.C.L.E., remember the first time I caught an episode. I was fresh from my Bond initiation (which went like this: saw my first Bond film – eyes got wide; saw more films and many more Bond Girls, eyes got MUCH WIDER; saw many more films as quickly as possible; wise uncle (heh, irony) bought me my first handful of the novels; read them and wondered how the movies could have gotten things so wrong) and the show fit right into the mold. But it had so much more that was just…awesome. And it had Illya Kuryakin. ILLYA KURYAKIN!!!

Global amounts of cool.

But, y’know…they also fought THRUSH. And even when I was 12, that wasn’t cool to me; that was silly. And it was confusing, because I’d watched Get Smart, and there was KAOS. And that was comedy, and I got that. Hell, I went to see – God forgive me – the Nude Bomb when it first came out in theaters. So THRUSH…KAOS…confusing.

Like most genres, espionage breaks down into sub-genre. The broad focuses to the narrow. My “espionage education” went from Bond to Le Carré in short order, and in doing so it went from broad entertainment to something that – for me, personally – was a much richer, far more compelling world. And, as I’ve said before, Le Carré lead me to The Sandbaggers, and that’s where I found my home, so to speak.

Bond takes his vodka martini shaken, not stirred. The Men from U.N.C.L.E. always seemed to me to be a mixed drink. And Tara…well, she’s whiskey straight from the bottle, when she can’t find a dirty glass.

So, yes, the final round of voting, and while there seems to have been some *cough* minor acrimony over Chace having made it even this far, to me there’s one wonderful, brilliant fact that is not to be overlooked. No matter how you may vote on this, no matter what you may think. Which is this:

When Mister8 decided hey, May Madness, we’ll have a Spydown, he picked sixteen spies/spy teams for the battle. And of those 16, two were women, and neither – NEITHER – had existed in “mainstream” medium (if we are willing to argue – and in this instance I am, as the Q&C novels haven’t kissed the NYT Bestseller lists even in passing, unlike, say, Deighton or Le Carré). One of them was Chace.

That’s awesome.

To me, that’s fucking brilliant.

We’ll see what y’all think of Elizabeth R. when she shows up….