FRANKENSTEIN Stars in final issue MEN OF WAR!

Friday, January 13th, 2012

By Pamela Mullin

At the helm of the final issue of MEN OF WAR are white hot writers Jeff Lemire (Animal Man, Frankenstein Agent of S.H.A.D.E., Sweet Tooth) and Matt Kindt (Revolver) with art by Tom Derenick.

In this action packed issue, Frankenstein walks through a rain of bombs over 1941 London before being dragged to the depths of the Pacific Ocean and onto the shores of Japan. Will he make it there in one piece so he can team up with GI Robot to defeat the Axis weapon that threatens to turn the tide of the war? Frank’s success will hinge on the help of a four-armed super-spy assassin working in the shadows.

(Cover by Victor Kalvachev)

We asked Jeff and Matt about working on this issue and here’s what they had to say:

“I first met Matt Kindt at the MoCCA festival in New York in 2005. He was selling copies of Super Spy and I was selling my first graphic novel, Lost Dogs. We hit it off right away and since then Matt has become one of my closest friends.

Coincidentally, Bob Harras told me I was going to be writing the Frankenstein: Agent of SHADE series, for the New 52, at last year’s Emerald City Con in Seattle. I was sharing a hotel room with Matt that weekend and we spent the rest of the show talking about ideas for the book. Before long it turned into a full-on brainstorming session with Matt and a lot of the ideas from that weekend went into the first 5 or 6 issues of Frank. So Matt has been a secret contributor to the series since it launched in September.

So, when Joey Cavalieri asked me to write this special “Frankenstein in World War II” issue of Men of War, I immediately asked if Matt could co-write it with me. It was an incredibly fun experience. We just kept trying to top each other in terms of the crazy Ideas we could squeeze into the book, and I think fans are going to have as much fun reading it as we had writing it!” – Jeff Lemire

“It was fitting that Jeff and I worked on Frankenstein’s secret World War II history together. We both dug up the craziest ideas we could think of — literally I think we tried to top each other with some outrageous imagery and story ideas. We stitched it all together and then Tom applied the electricity (art) to bring this monster to life. Tom seriously drew what is my favorite double-page spread of all time in this issue. You’ll know it when you see it. I have to say working with Jeff on this has easily been the most fun I’ve had doing comics so far…and I’ve had a lot of fun. And like all unholy unions I think the sum is even crazier than the parts!” – Matt Kindt

This 40-page event full of espionage and monster mayhem is not to be missed!

Also Out Today SWEET TOOTH #26 with Guest Star MATT KINDT!

And SWEET TOOTH #26 is also out today. It's a great jumping on point to the series, with a brand new storyline starting up called "THE TAXIDERMIST" and features stunning, fully painted artwork by my guest artist extraordinaire, MATT KINDT!

Matt is an incredible cartoonist in his own right. His most recent books include the stunning REVOLVER from Vertigo, 3 STORY:The Secret Life of THE GIANT MAN from Dark Horse and SUPERSPY from Top Shelf. We met at MOCCA about six or seven years ago and hit it off right away. Matt has since become one of my closest friends and agreed to to take on the art chores for this special 3-issue story in Sweet Tooth so that I could finally finish my UNDERWATER WELDER graphic novel for Top Shelf.

The story itself flashes back to 1911 in Alaska and features a whole new cast of characters that, at first glance, seem completely unrelated to out regular cast of Gus, Jepperd etc. But as the tale unfolds we start to see surprising connections and eventually the origin of The Plague will be revealed in Issue 28!

Matt knocked it out of the park, and I think this is some of his absolute finest artwork. I'm really excited about the story and couldn't be happier to finally collaborate with Matt!

I'll leave you with a crazy teaser page from Issue 27!

SAN DIEGO RECAP

Had a great time at San Diego Comicon this year, thanks to all the readers who stopped by to visit. Here's a couple of pics snapped by my Sweet Tooth editor Mark Doyle. The first is Sweet Tooth colorist JOSE VILLARUBIA and I signing at the DC Booth the second is myself with American Vampire's Scott Snyder and Rafael Albuquerque on the VERTIGO panel.

If you missed it there were a few announcements regarding my books.

First, my good friend, the amazing MATT KINDT will be illustrating issues 26-28 of Sweet Tooth while I finish drawing my next OGN THE UNDERWATER WELDER. And furthermore we've decided to expand the Sweet Tooth universe by having guest artists do stand alone stories between all my major arcs. Expect to see NATE POWELL and EMI LENOX return as well as others!

And also we announced that AMERICAN VAMPIRE artist RAFAEL ALBUQUERQUE will be drawing an issue of Sweet Tooth sometime next year and in that same month I will be drawing an issue of AMERICAN VAMPIRE!

And finally visit COMICS ALLIANCE for some ANIMAL MAN and FRANKENSTEIN news and art!

Sweet Tooth reaches 25 in September!

In September, the 25th issue of Sweet Tooth will hit comic shops. It's hard to believe that my little antlered-epic has survived in such a harsh marketplace, let alone thrived the way it has.

So a big THANK YOU to all Sweet Tooth readers. I have some really special things planned for the book as we enter the third year, first off, Issue 24 and 25 will feature my first ever fully painted interior artwork! Years of sitting next to the uber-talented Matt Kindt and watching him paint amazing watercolored commissions for fans finally inspired me to get back to painting myself. Here's a sneak peek at a few painted pages from #24.

Speaking of Matt Kindt, fans of the Super Spy/3-Story cartooning genius will want to be sure to check out the solicits for Sweet Tooth #26 next month...Matt and I are cooking something special up!

TCAF This Weekend

I'll be appearing at The Toronto Comics Arts Festival this weekend at the Toronto Reference Library at Yonge and Bloor on Saturday and Sunday along with other Top Shelfers and Sweet Tooth co-conspirators Jose Villaruba, Matt Kindt and Nate Powell

Top Shelf is on the second floor "Salon" of the library, at tables 231/253/254. On Saturday the show runs 9-5, Sunday 11-5.


I'll be selling these exclusive SWEET TOOTH prints and my limited edition Sketchbooks along with my original art and all my books so drop by and say hello. Admission is free!

Support The Sweet Tooth All-Star Team! Buy Their Books!

SWEET TOOTH #19 is out today (preview below) featuring short stories by three great people and great cartoonists, Matt Kindt, Emi Lenox and Nate Powell. I highly recommend checking out their other work!

EMITOWN by Emi Lenox is out now from IMAGE COMICS. Available here.

NATE POWELL's SWALLOW ME WHOLE and other great book are available here.

And Matt Kindt's Superspy, Revolver and 3Story are available here.

SWEET TOOTH'S Special Guest Stars

Friday, February 25th, 2011

By Pamela Mullin

This month writer/artist Jeff Lemire is joined by indie superstars Matt Kindt (REVOLVER, Superspy), Nate Powell (Swallow Me Whole) and Emi Lenox (Emitown) for a special stand-alone issue of SWEET TOOTH that is not to be missed.

Each writer/artist contributes stories alongside Jeff Lemire for a unique look at Lucy, Becky and Wendy as they go off to collect firewood for the night. Through these vignettes we see glimpses of their past, all of which reveal something more about the mysterious plague that decimated America.

Here’s a look inside:

Art by Jeff Lemire:

Art by Nate Powell:


Art by Emi Lenox:

Art by Matt Kindt:

Pick it up Wednesday, March 2nd.

COVER MANIA! Sweet Tooth 19 and Superboy 5

Above the cover for SWEET TOOTH #19 by Emi Lenox (Emi Town), Nate Powell(Swallow Me Whole) and Matt Kindt (Super Spy) as well as myself and Jose Villarubia. It will be a special issue with 3 short stories each focusing on the pasts of one of Sweet Tooth's female characters.

And below the cover to SUPERBOY #5 by Eddy Barrows. This issue will featuer the first ever Superboy/Kid Flash Race!

TCAF Roundup

I had a fantastic weekend at The Toronto Comic Arts Festival, truly the most diverse and talented line-up of cartoonists at any convention in North America.

I especially enjoyed spending the weekend with fellow Top-Shelfer Matt Kindt who stayed at my place. Matt and have so much in common, and get along so well that and I only wish we lived in the same city. We had fun sketching and drawing together. Here are two of the characters from my upcoming Vertigo series Sweet Tooth. The first is pencilled by Matt and inked by me. The second was pencilled by me and inked by Matt. The results are odd, kind of a mishmash of our styles, but they were lot of fun to do. Check out Matt's blog to see me doing his characters and a few of my drawing that he painted over.

First Look: The Complete Essex County

Here's a first look at Matt Kindt's beautiful book design for the collected Essex County softcover edition.


Matt also has some preview pages of his forthcoming Dark Horse Graphic Novel, "3 Story: The Life of The Giant Man" up on his blog. I've read the book and it is beautiful, Matt's best work yet!