Interview | The Sample Chapter Podcast

Jason Meuschke is a Hellbent for Letterbox listener who has a great podcast of his own. It's called The Sample Chapter Podcast and it's all about the process and business of writing. Each episode, Jason interviews a different author about their writing life and then invites them to read a sample chapter from their work. Jason's a great, fun host and I had a blast talking with him. And then I had a blast reading from Kill All Monsters, describing panels, doing sound effects, and generally just being a giant goof.

Take a listen and then check out Jason's archives for interviews with Lou Diamond Phillips and Diane Franklin (aka Monique from Better Off Dead).

Kill All Monsters review in Publishers Weekly

I missed this at the time, but the Kill All Monsters Omnibus got a very nice review in Publishers Weekly:

May’s tales of betrayal and determination bring freshness to well-worn subject matter, aided by Copland’s emotive grayscale illustration and some terrifically nuanced lettering from Ed Brisson. This collection also includes the new story “Island of Giants,” an intriguing and mysterious coda that skillfully expands an already impressive series.

If you haven't already, you can get your copy at Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Comixology, or wherever fine comics are sold.

While I Was Out: N3rd World and Nerds United

I was on a couple of different podcasts that came out while I was in Britain. First was the latest episode of N3rd World where we talked about James Bond (including this post about expanding the Bond Movie Universe), role-playing games, remaking classic monster movies, and Star Trek, among other things.



And I was also on an episode of Nerds United to talk about Kill All Monsters, my current feelings about Marvel Comics, and whether or not Die Hard is a Christmas movie. That was a fun conversation, so many thanks to Greg Mehochko for having me on.

I want a podcast. Chicks dig the podcast.

A lot of podcasting going on this week.

On the most recent Mystery Movie Night, David, Dave, and I were joined by my wife Diane (also David's mom and Dave's sister), who also happens to be the creator of the Mystery Movie Night concept. You can listen to her tell that story as we reconsider a couple of maligned superhero movies and a family classic.



Then at Nerd Lunch, Evan Hanson and I talked with the fellas about "adult" snack cakes and Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2. It was an impromptu episode that turned out to be a blast.



So much of a blast that the outtakes made it into their own mini-episode.



Promotion for the Kill All Monsters Omnibus is ramping up, so I've been on a couple of podcasts to talk about that. First was Word Bros with the amazing Bob Frantz and Kevin Cuffe, a super fun and funny writing team with a ton of joy and enthusiasm for comics. I was grinning all the way through that conversation.



And finally (for now), Jason Copland and I were both on the Happy Haven podcast to talk about the book, our partnership, Renaissance Festivals, and Cassingles.

The KAMnibus is coming

My advance copy of the Kill All Monsters Omnibus, Volume 1 showed up today. And it is a glorious monster-killing weapon all by itself. Dark Horse did a really nice job with the package and I can't wait for people to read it.

Coming to comic book shops on July 19. Give your shop order code MAR170061 if you'd like to pre-order.

Coming everywhere else in August.

The Kill All Monsters Omnibus will be here soon!

If you look at page 65 of this month's Previews catalog (that's the one with the March 2017 cover date for stuff hitting shops in May 2017), you'll see the solicitation for the Kill All Monsters Omnibus, Volume 1. Because of the way the book market works, our ginormous hardcover isn't actually hitting in May with the single-issue comics being advertised in the same catalog. We're coming out on July 19.

And we'll be everywhere. It'll be very easy to find the book, especially online. But if you prefer to buy it at your local comics shop on the day that it comes out, now is the time to let them know that you'd like a copy. Or if you forget, they can special order it for you later. That works, too.

It's going to be awesome. I just this week got to read the whole thing for the first time and I'm really happy with it. Jason is, too. We can't wait for you all to see it. It's going to be a brick of a book: 368 pages containing the previous Ruins of Paris volume (slightly edited, so the original book is still a unique object), the continuation and conclusion of that story, the complete Dark Horse Presents story (reformatted for widescreen presentation), a whole new story set in a different part of the Kill All Monsters world, and pin-ups by some amazing artists. And all of that for about $25.

It's almost here, you guys!

Panels and Pizza with Adam Vermillion (and me)

The Twin Cities area has a fantastic comics community from its excellent shops and enthusiastic fans to its vibrant creators and great local conventions. Podcaster Adam Vermillion celebrates that community every week by getting together with a local creator to have some pizza and talk some comics on his Panels and Pizza podcast. It's a fun format and I'm super happy that he invited me to join him for the latest episode.

We talk about Kill All Monsters, of course, but also Alpha Flight and why Bronze Age comics are awesome. I pitch my dream Marvel writing gig and we also get into podcasting in general and the pizza we enjoyed. It was a great time and I think that comes through in the episode. Thanks again to Adam for having me on!

Introducing the Kill All Monsters Tumblr

Know what’s really hard to do, apparently? Update the Kill All Monsters site.

Know what’s really easy to do? Run a Tumblr.

So Kill All Monsters now has a Tumblr page. The main site isn’t going away and I’ll try to do better about updating when something important happens, but the KAM Tumblr is going to be a lot of fun and you should totally follow it. It’s part love letter to kaiju and giant robots, part news aggregate for developments in the genre, and part source for everything you need to know about Kill All Monsters. Check it out!

Fall ComiCon was fantastic

The Midwest Comic Book Association's Fall ComiCon was Saturday and it went great. As always. Those folks put on a wonderful convention and it's always nice to see friends that I don't usually see more than a couple of times a year at MCBA shows.

Kill All Monsters did well, but in a different way than I'd predicted. I sold a little over half of the Dark Horse Presents bundles, which was less than I expected (though Jason Copland will tell you that anthologies are difficult sells and he's right). Because the graphic novel didn't sell super well at MSP ComiCon last spring, I thought that maybe I'd already reached my local market for that book. I figured that people who already had the graphic novel though would be interested in the all-new, color tale.

What actually happened was that I ran into a bunch of people who weren't familiar with KAM and wanted to try it out. They went for the graphic novel, though several of them did the whole shebang and picked up DHP, too. The result is that I'm down to a little over a dozen copies of the graphic novel. If the spring show goes like this one, I'll be sold out.

Because I had a hard time getting my act together, David didn't have a lot to sell at the show. We left a whole box of stuff at the house, so all he had was the comic he'd made for the spring show. He sold a few of those though and spent the day drawing robots and monsters and robots fighting monsters. I'm amazed by the imagination on that kid and love the inventiveness and humor of his drawings. He's got ideas for a new comic, but we're also going to put together a sketch book with the stuff he drew on Saturday.



Diane did great as well. She's made a reputation for herself as a nerd-friendly face-painter who can reproduce anything on your head. If she can look up a reference on her phone, she can put it on you. And she's got a following now of people who come to her first thing so that she can complete their costumes with make-up. She does an awesome Two-Face, for example.



I spent most of the day at my table, but did get around for a little shopping in the afternoon. Found an awesome General Ursus figure for an even more awesome price and also got caught up with Kaijumax, Zander Cannon's inspired mash-up of kaiju and prison stories, signed by the author of course.



It was also cool to talk to people about non-comics things. I got to visit with a reader of this blog and geek out about A Christmas Carol a little, and also had a conversation with a buddy about the Starmageddon podcast. My dad even showed up for a while and I walked around with him and got to hear him interact with a creator about their mutual interest in The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. That's what's great about this show and others like it: People finding all sorts of things to connect over and to be nerdy about. It's fun on the Internet, but it's even more fun in person.

Get your Kill All Monsters at Fall ComiCon!

This weekend is Fall ComiCon here in Minnesota and I'll be there with Kill All Monsters. In addition to the graphic novel, I also have bundles of the three issues of Dark Horse Presents with the new Kill All Monsters story in them. These issues are the only way to get the story in color (it'll be in black-and-white when it's collected in the omnibus), so if you don't already have it, come on down and see me. Supplies are limited though, so swing by early!

Hope to see you there!

Kill All Monsters: "Ministry of Robots" concludes today!

The final installment of the Kill All Monsters story in Dark Horse Presents is in comics shops today! It's DHP #14 and that's a preview above. Words by Macho Michael May, pictures by Jazzy Jason Copland, balloons by Extraordinary Ed Brisson, and colors by Breathtaking Bill Crabtree.

Here's the cover you're looking for:



Because I suck at promotion, I missed announcing last month's middle volume in Dark Horse Presents #13. Here's a preview and the cover for that one. Hopefully you got it without me reminding you, or maybe your shop still has a couple of copies on the shelf.

Signing tomorrow at The Source Comics and Games

Just a reminder for anyone in the Twin Cities area that I'll be at The Source Comics and Games tomorrow, signing copies of Dark Horse Presents #12, which kicks off the new Kill All Monsters story.

See you there!

Kill All Monsters: "Ministry of Robots" concludes in September

The 3-part Kill All Monsters story, "Ministry of Robots," wraps up in Dark Horse Presents #14 and Dark Horse has announced the release date: September 16.

Here's the full solicitation:

Eisner, Harvey, and Stumptown award winner!
Dark Horse Presents #14

Steven Grant (W), Brendan McCarthy (W/A), Alex de Campi (W), Rich Woodall (W), Michael May (W), Anthony Zicari (W), Paul Gulacy (A/Cover), Jerry Ordway (A), Craig Rousseau (A), Jason Copland (A), and Oscar Capristo (A)

On sale Sept 16
FC, 48 pages
$4.99
Ongoing

Steven Grant and Paul Gulacy resurrect the Warren Publishing character the Rook—a time-traveling, gunslinging monster fighter! And the next chapter of Brendan McCarthy's Dream Gang begins here!

Plus, new chapters of Alex de Campi and Jerry Ordway's Semiautomagic and Rich Woodall and Craig Rousseau's Kyrra: Alien Jungle Girl! Michael May and Jason Copland's Kill All Monsters and Anthony Zicari and Oscar Capristo's Grimm Arcane conclude!

Dark Horse Presents: Kill All Monsters preview!

The Dark Horse website has a preview of Dark Horse Presents #12, which will be on sale next Wednesday, 15 July. The issue contains the first of three-parts of an all-new Kill All Monsters story... in COLOR. The story will be collected in the Kill All Monsters Omnibus next year, but it'll be reformatted for widescreen and will be in black-and-white. DHP will be the only place to get it with Bill Crabtree's glorious colors.

In addition to a preview page of our story, the Dark Horse site has previews of each of the other stories in the issue, including the second chapter of Rich Woodall and Craig Rousseau's Kyrra: Alien Jungle Girl story. That makes me really happy since Kyrra was part of the Artist Alley Comics digital comics project that Kill All Monsters participated in back in the day. Feels good being neighbors to Rich and Craig again.

Noel Tuazon likes to Kill All Monsters

I forgot to share this great drawing that Noel Tuazon made for my birthday last month. If you don't know Noel, he's the amazingly talented artist on Elk's Run and Tumor. Both of those are awesome thrillers written by Josh Fialkov and you should check them out.

Thanks again, Noel!

Kill All Monsters: "Ministry of Robots" Pt 2 in August!

The second installment of Kill All Monsters: "Ministry of Robots" is coming to Dark Horse Presents #13 on August 19. Make sure to let your store know you want one!

 Here's the full solicitation:

Dark Horse Presents #13

Alex de Campi (W), Ken Pisani (W), Rich Woodall (W), Fabian Rangel Jr. (W), Michael May (W), Anthony Zicari (W), Jerry Ordway (A/Cover), Arturo Lauria (A), Craig Rousseau (A), Pablo Clark (A), Jason Copland (A), and Oscar Capristo (A)

On sale Aug 19
FC, 48 pages
$4.99
Ongoing

Alex de Campi and Jerry Ordway's Semiautomagic returns! Occult professor Alice Creed has rules when it comes to magic, and she's broken them—and breaking mystical rules never goes well!

Plus, new chapters of Michael May and Jason Copland's Kill All Monsters, Anthony Zicari and Oscar Capristo's Grimm Arcane, Ken Pisani and Arturo Lauria's Colonus, and Rich Woodall and Craig Rousseau's Kyrra: Alien Jungle Girl! Fabian Rangel Jr. and Pablo Clark's Black Past concludes!

MSP ComiCon 2015

The first annual MSP ComiCon (formerly SpringCon) was a big success. The reason they changed the name was in part because WizardWorld came to town last year and - like they do - scheduled their big pop culture/media convention near the date of the small, local, comics convention. Last year, when my friends outside of the comics community asked if I was going to "Comic-Con," they meant WizardWorld. It was a pretty big deal in the Twin Cities; the closest we've ever got to something like San Diego with all the movie and TV stars there. But it was grating to have to explain that no, I wasn't going to that show; I was instead going to the actual comics convention in town. The one that had been around for decades.

SpringCon has always had an excellent reputation among comics fans and creators and has been gaining wider attention locally in the last few years, but it was being held back by its name. As popular as comics are these days, all those fans and interested people didn't know what SpringCon was. So this year it became MSP ComiCon and when I was asked by civilians if I was going to "Comic-Con," that was the one they meant. That's a success, but so is the fact that people turned out in droves.

Here's a picture of the line to get in fifteen minutes after the show opened. I heard that it took another hour for it to finally shorten and that fits what I saw inside the building. The floor was packed all morning on Saturday.



It slowed down Saturday afternoon and Sunday, but overall the attendance was record-breaking. And even more encouraging than that were the kinds of people who were walking around and enjoying themselves. Comics readers have become a steadily more diverse crowd over the last few years and it really struck me at the show how true that is. There were people of all ages and races and I saw a lot more groups of just women and girls than I have in the past. This wan't a surprise; just very very reassuring.

Kill All Monsters did pretty well Saturday morning and I was pleased to donate a copy to a library in Wisconsin. Even though sales dipped Saturday afternoon and Sunday, I got a lot of questions from people who've already read it and wanted to know when the next volume is coming. It was really great to be able to tell them about the Dark Horse Presents story in July and the hardcover omnibus scheduled for next year. Saw some very excited faces about both of those things.

David did well with his new mini-comic, a fantasy story about an heroic goat who recruits a middle-school boy to defeat a powerful evil. I can't wait for the second issue.



And Diane did extremely well with her face-painting. She'd mastered Groot and Rocket Raccoon and those were popular, but she's also able to make up stuff on the fly, especially if she has a reference. She maintains a constant line of both kids and adults and she's thinking about maybe bringing in a partner to help meet the demand.

All in all it was an awesome show. The volunteers of the Midwest Comic Book Association were fantastic as usual; always welcoming and often checking in with creators to bring a drink or a snack or anything else a table-bound person might need. Couldn't ask for a nicer show.

Back from C2E2

C2E2 was amazing. Jason and I have shared a table there for three years now and it gets more exciting every time. The photo below of Jason sketching was during a quiet moment, but we had an average year in terms of sales and thanks to the Dark Horse news, an excellent year in terms of buzz about Kill All Monsters. Lots of people were asking when the next installment is coming out and it was great to have something to tell them.



One of the biggest thrills of the show was when Geof Darrow (The Big Guy and Rusty the Boy Robot, Shaolin Cowboy) came to get a copy of the book. Jason and I are both huge fans of his work. He's so friendly and cool and it took us several seconds to recover from our surprise enough to go over to his table afterwards and ask if he wouldn't mind taking a picture with us. What a kind, gracious man.



Which leads me into the best part of any convention: the people you get to meet and visit with. That goes for readers - both of Kill All Monsters and this blog - and other friends. I'm always afraid I'll get into trouble if I start naming names, because I know I'll leave someone out, but one group I have to mention is the Nerd Lunch crew. I've been on their show several times, but this was my first time meeting any of them in person, including Carlin, my co-host on Dragonfly Ripple. We arranged to have a special Nerd Very Late Dinner on Thursday, but it was awesome that we also kept randomly running into each other at the show the rest of the weekend. They're great guys and it was a pleasure hanging out with them as much as I was able to.

It was also a special treat to meet Kay from the FANgirl Blog. We've been on a couple of Nerd Lunch episodes together and are scheduled for a few more, so it felt sort of like a family reunion. I also got to meet Andrew and Christian from the Atomic Geeks podcast, hosts of the network that Nerd Lunch and Dragonfly Ripple belong to. Both guys are super nice (thanks again for the T-shirt, Christian!) and since Andrew and I were on Nerd Lunch's Trial of M Night Shyamalan episode, that was another fun reunion.



All in all, an extraordinarily fun convention. Thanks to everyone who stopped by to say hello! Next up for me is the all new MSP COMICON (formerly SpringCon) in a few weeks. But more on that later.

Michael and Jason at C2E2

Jason Copland and I will be at C2E2 this weekend, hanging out at Table L2 in Artist Alley (right next to Eric Freaking Powell!). C2E2 is the one, big show I do every year and there are friends that I don't see any other time. This year I also get to meet the Nerd Lunch guys in person for the first time.

But one of my favorite things about the show - or any convention really - is just sitting at the table and meeting readers. If you're there, I hope you'll come by and say hello.

Kill All Monsters is coming to Dark Horse Comics!

Dark Horse's solicitations for July are out, including the announcement of a Kill All Monsters story in Dark Horse Presents #12. As the first year of the relaunched DHP comes to a close, Jason and I are ecstatic to be part of the legendary anthology series. Having Kill All Monsters published by Dark Horse is seriously a dream come true. I can't even tell you how much without totally embarrassing myself.

This will be a brand new story, serialized over three issues and - for the first time ever - in FULL COLOR thanks to the breathtaking Bill Crabtree. Extraordinary Ed Brisson is still on the KAM team too, lettering the story.

The blurb for the issue also mentions that it's "a tie-in to the Kill All Monsters hardcover," which is certainly true. That the hardcover is "on sale now" isn't accurate though. We're working on that and it's going to be amazing, but it'll be a while longer yet. We'll keep you updated. For now, Dark Horse Presents is puh-lenty to be excited about.

One last thing. There are plans to collect the DHP story at some point, but not in color. If you want to read it that way (and you totally do, because I've seen the finished version and wow), the Dark Horse Presents issues are the way to do it.