Exile on the Planet of the Apes Trade - Less than a Month Away

We're well into November, not even two weeks away from Thanksgiving... And less than a month from the release of the trade of EXILE ON THE PLANET OF THE APES, due in stores the first week of December from BOOM!

Written by Gabriel Hardman and myself, with gorgeous art by Marc Laming, EXILE is a story that I'm really proud of. I'm also incredibly excited to see it in book form!

Want to check it out? You can pre-order it on Amazon right now for $9.97, which is more than $5 off the cover price.

Also, many thanks to everyone who picked it up in its previous incarnation. You all deserve a big chimpanzee style pant-hoot!

Betrayal of the Planet of the Apes - The Trade

It's been out for a week already, but it's still exciting news to me: our BETRAYAL OF THE PLANET OF THE APES miniseries is finally a trade paperback!

All four issues, plus cover art, an intro by Ed Brubaker, and cool extras  bound up in one stylish package. You can find it at your local comic book shop or you can order it from Amazon. Want to see what others have to say about it? You can check that out on Goodreads. Need even more Apes action? Our latest miniseries, EXILE ON THE PLANET OF THE APES is available for pre-order on Amazon now too.

Can't stand to handle print books now that the digital revolution is here? Our Apes work is still all paper, but you can buy our horror graphic novel, HEATHENTOWN, from Comixology for just $3.99.  

And let me say a big thank you to everyone who has read our work so far! These books are labors of love for Gabriel and me. We're thrilled that so many folks have enjoyed them! Thanks everyone!

Where We'll be at Wondercon

Wondercon is here! This year it's in Anaheim instead of San Francisco so Gabriel Hardman and I will be driving down for the weekend. We'll be sharing space in Artist Alley with Matt Maxwell, the amazing creator of STRANGEWAYS. Ready for that booth number? Here it is:

AA-240

Still not sure? It's listed as "Highway 62 Press". You can see a map of the show floor here. That booth number again? 

AA-240

Gabriel will be doing sketches (click here to see his prices or get on his list) and selling original pages, and we will be signing, well, whatever you bring us to sign. We'll also be selling copies of our books. 

We'll also be doing a signing at the BOOM! Comics Booth #311 on Saturday from 2pm to 3pm. Please stop by and say hi! 

Signing EXILE ON THE PLANET OF THE APES - This Wednesday!

Look! Alternate covers!

Wednesday, March 14th is just a few days away. And so is Pi Day! You know, because pi = 3.14... And March 14th can be written as 3.14, so this Wednesday lots of math enthusiasts will be making pies and eating them to honor the coincidence. Isn't it nice when a math joke results in dessert?

Okay, so I'm not actually half as excited about Pi Day as I am about the debut of EXILE ON THE PLANET OF THE APES #1. It's our follow-up miniseries to BETRAYAL ON THE PLANET OF THE APES, from BOOM! Comics, with art by the wonderful Marc Laming. To celebrate, Gabriel and I will be signing copies at Collector's Paradise in Pasadena. You can map it and find all the relevant details here. And, Gabriel will be doing quick free sketches! We'll be happy to sign whatever else you have with you too. So, consider yourself invited! And if you must have pie, there's a Whole Foods right down the street with an excellent bakery.

Stuff is Happening in March!

Fun fact: Bechko rhymes with "echo", really!

Leap Day is over, so it must be March already. Wasn't it just New Year's?

Anyway, March is a month of much Apes madness. There's hardly a week when Gabriel and I won't be somewhere talking or signing something related to EXILE ON THE PLANET OF THE APES.

Where, when, why? Read on, and all shall be reveled.

First up, we'll be at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles on March 4th for a mini comic book convention. We'll have copies of HEATHENTOWN and BETRAYAL OF THE PLANET OF THE APES, and Gabriel will be doing sketches ($125 for one character fully inked, $250 for two characters, or $60 for a head sketch) Click here for more details about the show.

Marc Laming sure draws a nice ape!

On March 14th we'll be at Collector's Paradise in Pasadena for a release signing. That's the day EXILE ON THE PLANET OF THE APES #1 will hit stores, of course! We'll be signing copies of EXILE and of whatever else anyone wants our signature on, and Gabriel will be doing free quick sketches. You can read more about it here.

Next up is Wondercon in Anaheim the weekend of March 16th. We'll be sharing a table there with the incomparable Matt Maxwell, proprietor of Highway 62 Press. Gabriel will be selling sketches here as well.

And then it's back to Seattle for the Emerald City Comic Con the weekend of March 29th. We'll be at table F-22 in Artist Alley. More about this show as it gets closer...

So that's our March. Four different cons/signings, a new miniseries, and fitting in work on our not-yet-announced sci-fi creator-owned project. The only thing I forgot to schedule is time to sleep!

Looking Back and Looking Ahead

One of my favorite images from Betrayal of the Planet of the Apes

Yeah, I missed doing the whole New Year's wrap-up blog post thing. But this week marks my birthday. That's kind of like a personal New Year, right? I'm going with "yes" and so, without further ado, here's what's going on with me, past and future.

2011 resulted in some big transitions. The largest happened when I left my position as a zoo keeper. I loved my job, the people I worked with and, most of all, the animals I cared for. But the commute was  becoming horrific and left me with little time to write. So I took the plunge last spring and became a fulltime freelancer. It's scary to work "without a net", but rewarding too. Since last February I've had a number of prose short stories published (check out the links on the right if you'd like to read any), done several non-fiction articles, and had my sci-fi story "Oceans of Darkness" reprinted in the Zahir Anthology 2011.

And then there were comics! I was thrilled to have a backup short in Fear Itself: the Homefront #2, with art by Lelio Bonaccorso, appear soon after I left my day job. Over the summer I had two shorts published by Double Feature: The Liar, written with my husband and partner Gabriel Hardman (who also did the art), and The Carpetbaggers, with wonderful spooky art by Kyle Latino.

My favorite project of the year was beyond a doubt Betrayal of the Planet of the Apes, the four issue Planet of the Apes miniseries Gabriel and I did for BOOM! Comics. We loved every minute of writing it and Gabriel really outdid himself on the art. We were lucky enough to get Jordie Bellaire to handle the colors too, a real coup in my opinion. The fourth issue just arrived in shops last week, but if you missed it there's going to be a trade paperback collection in July. In fact, you can already pre-order it on Amazon of from your favorite comic shop.

Big Sur!

We also attended what felt like a ton of cons (Emerald City, Heroes, NYCC, and Comicon, among others) and even slipped in a tiny 3 day vacation to Big Sur where I finally saw a condor in the wild. Sadly, we also lost our beloved cat Fredo in October. He finally succumbed to cancer, but not before living five years longer than anyone had dared hope.

And what of the future? Gabriel and I are writing a followup miniseries to Betrayal called Exile on the Planet of the Apes. The talented Marc Laming is handling the art this time around, with Jordie back on colors. The first issue ships in March and I promise there will be plenty of apes riding horses, apes arguing politics, and general ape intrigue. You can hear us talk all about it here. I'l also have a story appearing in Outlaw Territory Volume 3 later this year, as well as a short about hyacinth macaws coming soon from Bizarre New World. Not to mention the sorta secret new sci-fi OGN that Gabriel and I are hard at work on!

As to cons, we are planning on attending Emerald City again, C2E2 for the first time, Baltimore, Vancouver, and NYCC. Whew! To top it all off, we also have a new fuzzy black kitten named Vera, who was rescued from a parking lot. You can read her story here if you'd like. So that's the news. Never a dull moment when you're working freelance, apparently.

Fuzzy Kitten Vera

Betrayal of the Planet of the Apes #3 - Tomorrow!

A page of Gabriel's art from BETRAYAL #3

Where did 2011 go? It's already the first week of January, which means another issue of BETRAYAL OF THE PLANET OF THE APES is hitting comic shops tomorrow.

This is the next to the last chapter of our APES story, but never fear! Another four issue miniseries is on the way, starting in March.

The new story is a sequel to BETRAYAL, called EXILE ON THE PLANET OF THE APES. It's written by me and Gabriel Hardman, with gorgeous ape art by Marc Laming. We're lucky enough to have the talented Jordie Bellaire on colors again too.

The response to BETRAYAL so far has been fantastic. Thanks so much to everyone who has given it a chance! Working on these books has been a great way to round out 2011... And begin 2012! Happy New Year, everyone!