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Gerard Way has managed to make quite a name for himself in the comics industry over the past year—racking up an Eisner for Best Limited Series, and a Harvey for Best New Series, for his breakthrough miniseries The Umbrella Academy: Apocalypse Suite. In tandem with series artist, multiple-Eisner winner Gabriel Bá, Way has created a bizarre world which defies the space-time continuum, and pits a dysfunctional family of super-powered siblings against animated monuments, talking chimpanzees, a secret society of robot assassins, and each other.
Right on the heels of the first issue of Way/Bá’s highly anticipated follow-up series, The Umbrella Academy: Dallas, Dark Horse Deluxe is proud to announce the release of a new figure set depicting the six members of The Umbrella Academy introduced in Apocalypse Suite, as well as a book-and-figure set that includes a hardcover edition of the first collected graphic novel and a 4-inch figure of Vanya, AKA The White Violin, the shunned UA sibling with the sinister set of strings!
The Umbrella Academy Book and Figure Set features a previously unused cover by Gabriel Bá for the special digest-sized hardcover. The included 4-inch figure depicts Vanya as The White Violin, poised to end the world in concert with The Conductor and his evil Orchestra Verdammten! It is scheduled for release in April 2009 at a suggested retail price of $24.99.
The Umbrella Academy Figure Set features the six members of the Academy, sized to scale, with Spaceboy measuring a beastly 5-inches as the largest figure in the set, and The Boy stacking up at a small-but-substantial 2-inches. The Dark Horse Product Development team worked closely with Way and Bá, adding bold shadowing and strange angles to create uncanny likenesses that evoke the characters exactly as they appear in the comic. The final product is as unique and quirky as the story itself, encasing the six siblings in cylindrical 360-degree packaging that displays the team under an umbrella-shaped dome. See these superheroes in all of their splendor when they hit retail stores in May 2009, with a suggested price of $39.99.
“In my six years at Dark Horse, I have never experienced this much cooperation and inspired creativity on a project,” says Rebecca D’Madeiros, Senior Product Development Manager for Dark Horse Comics. “Gerard and Gabriel, the team here at Dark Horse, and the manufacturers have contributed a wealth of ideas for the figures and the unique packaging. It’s been great fun along the way. We are all proud of the outcome: a 6-piece figure set worth displaying on a revolving shelf with spotlights and soundtrack music!”
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Gerard Way's Umbrella Academy brought to life!
Art Adams - 5 Quick Questions
Arthur "Art" Adams is an American writer and comic book illustrator.
Art Adams was born on April 5, 1963 in Holyoke, Massachusetts, and dreamed of becoming a comic book illustrator from a very early age, largely teaching himself the skills he would later use. He became a fan favorite when he penciled the critically-acclaimed Longshot miniseries, written by Ann Nocenti and published in 1985 by Marvel Comics. Adams' highly distinctive and detailed artwork gained him considerable popularity and he found it easy to find further work in the field. However, due to the labor-intensive nature of his detailed art, Adams found it difficult to meet the short deadlines often found in the comics industry. This has led to him to pursue work for shorter projects such as miniseries, specials, and annuals rather than pursuing work for ongoing comic book series. Exceptions to this include a 1989 two-issue run on X-Factor, and a 1990 three-issue run on Fantastic Four. He also had a ten-issue run on Tom Strong's Terrific Tales (2002-2004), which being an anthology, required only eight pages from him for each issue.
Most of Adams' work has been on properties owned by others, but he is also the author of the creator-owned series Monkeyman and O'Brien, also published by Dark Horse.
Adams is also a highly-regarded cover artist, and he has provided cover images for issues of Superman, Batman, Justice League of America and Vampirella, among other titles. In addition to his work on comics themselves, he has also produced popular commercial art, such as numerous illustrations for trading cards, posters, shirts, and various other comics-related merchandise. Outside the field of comics, he has also provided illustrations for various magazines, movies, games, worked in toy design, and even a series of X-Men-themed Campbell Soup cans.
He agreed to answer 5 Quick Questions
1) What would you say is your greatest achievement in comics?
That I have a job.
2) Who was your favorite writer or artist that you worked with & why?
I've liked all of them so far, except for one.
3) What character you have never worked .., would you like to do & why?
Do you mean sexually? None of your business!
4) Who are your influences?
Walt Simonson , Michael Golden, and many others.
5) What hero or villain would you like to change if you could and why?
I have no answer for that one. Sorry.
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Gerry Conway - 5 Quick Questions
Gerry Conway is an American writer of comic books and television shows. He is best known for co-creating the Marvel Comics vigilante The Punisher (with artist Ross Andru) and scripting the death of the character Gwen Stacy during his long run on The Amazing Spider-Man. He is also known for co-creating the DC Comics superhero Firestorm (with artist Al Milgrom), and for scripting the first major, modern-day intercompany crossover, Superman vs. the Amazing Spider-Man.
At 19, Conway began scripting The Amazing Spider-Man, one of Marvel's flagship titles. His run, from issues #111-149 (Aug. 1972 - Oct. 1975), included the landmark death of Gwen Stacy story in #121 (June 1973). Eight issues later, Conway and Andru introduced the Punisher as a conflicted antagonist for Spider-Man. The character went on to become a popular star of numerous comic books and to be adapted into two movies. Conway additionally scripted Marvel's other flagship, Fantastic Four, from #133-152 (April 1973 - Nov. 1974)
Conway succeeded Marv Wolfman as editor-in-chief of Marvel Comics in mid-1976, but held the job only briefly, relinquishing the post before the year was out and succeeded in turn by Archie Goodwin.
Conway returned to DC Comics in mid-1975, beginning with three books cover-dated Nov. 1975: Hercules Unbound #1, Kong the Untamed #3, and Swamp Thing #19. Shortly afterward, he was chosen by Marvel and DC editors to script the historic intercompany crossover Superman vs. the Amazing Spider-Man #1, a 96-page, tabloid-sized, $2 one-shot, at a time when comic books sold for 25 cents.
Firestorm #1 (March 1978), cover art by Al Milgrom
He continued writing for DC, on titles including Superman, Detective Comics (starring Batman), Metal Men, Justice League of America, 1st Issue Special #11 starring Codename: Assassin, and that of the licensed character Tarzan, yet briefly returned to Marvel as editor in mid-1976. For a time, a confluence of publishing schedules resulted in Conway stories appearing in both Marvel and DC comics in the same month: The prolific Conway's comic books with January 1977 cover-dates alone, for example, are Marvel's The Avengers, The Defenders, Captain Marvel, Iron Man, The Spectacular Spider-Man and the premiere issues of Ms. Marvel and Logan's Run, and DC's flagships Superman and Action Comics (starring Superman).
After leaving Marvel's editorship, he again wrote exclusively for DC, writing both major and lesser titles — from those featurng Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, and the Legion of Super-Heroes to such books as Weird Western Tales, Atari Force and Sun Devils — through mid-1986. His co-creation Firestorm, "the nuclear man", debuted in the eponymous Firestorm #1 (March 1978), which lasted five issues before being canceled during a 1978 DC retrenchment. The character then starred in a backup feature in The Flash before again receiving his own series, The Fury of Firestorm (later Firestorm the Nuclear Man), from June 1982 - Aug. 1990; Conway wrote most of the first half of the run, plus four of its five annuals.
Conway returned to Marvel in the 1980s and served as the regular writer of both The Spectacular Spider-Man and Web of Spider-Man from 1988 until 1990. He relinquished writing duties on both titles when he became the script-editor of TV's Father Dowling Mysteries.
He agreed to answer 5 Quick Questions:
1) What would you say is your greatest achievement in comics?
Inadvertently making super-hero comics "grow up" with the death of Gwen Stacy.
2) Who was your favorite writer or artist that you worked with & why?
Ross Andru; he was a genius storyteller and a brilliant layout artist, and a highly underrated draftsman in his own peculiar way.
3) What character you have never worked .., would you like to do & why?
I've never written Green Lantern as a solo hero, and I'd love to; of all the powered super-heroes, he's the only one I could ever seriously imagine myself becoming. After all, he just wears a ring; I could do that, right?
4) Who are your influences?
In comics, Stan Lee, Roy Thomas, Jack Kirby, Denny O'Neil, Julius Schwartz, Gardner Fox, and John Broome.
5) What hero or villain would you like to change if you could and why?
Not being all that up to date on the current versions of most heroes and villains, I can't really answer that one. I guess I wish Barry Allen were back as the Flash; no, wait...
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