In Stores This Week: Tiger & Crane #2

by Leung, Zamcheck & Vuycankiat

The plot thickens as we are introduced to master spy, Foster Dulles, and the nefarious Japanese agents of Force 777 who have been tasked with stopping him at all costs. Meanwhile, the paths of Agent Dulles and the Black Tiger converge as they search for the legendary Staff of the Monkey King!"

Co-published with Bluewater Productions

407 Titles in the April Previews

That is to say, Studio 407 titles in the April Previews in general, not that we actually have four-hundred-and-seven individual titles in the issue! One day, but not yet. Right now we've got about eighteen in the pipeline, so we're on our way! But I'm babbling.

What was this post about? Oh, yes! That we have two titles listed in the April issue of Previews, that great tome of wonderful books and objects that comic shops order from. The one with the jaw-droppingly awesome Indiana Jones cover this month. Indy might be published by Dark Horse (oh how I hope their new series is as awesome as the Indy miniseries they used to put out back in the nineties!), but it's still cool to share pages with him in previews. (Indiana Jones? Dark Horse? "Why are you promoting other companies???" they're yelling at me. I better stop.)

The point is, we've got something just as awesome. If you like Indiana Jones, then you should definitely check out Tiger & Crane, written by my good buddy Randy and my own Night & Fog collaborator Alex, and illustrated with a furious gusto by Mark Louie Vuycankiat. It's Indy meets Bond with Kung Fu. Try it; you'll like it! Just to confuse things, it's solicited in the Bluewater section of Previews rather than the Studio 407 because they're publishing it. But I swear it's a 407 book! Under Studio 407, you'll find another comic: Hybrid. Hybrid is an incredibly creepy new maritime horror story by Peter Kwong & Pablo Churin. The full solicitation copy for both follows, along with covers. I have to say, that Tiger & Crane one with the rising sun is probably my favorite cover on any of our books yet! Isn't it a thing of beauty?

Tiger & Crane #3

Baron Akashi and Force 777, Japan’s infamous secret service, leave a swathe of terror in their wake as they continue their search for the mythic Staff of the Monkey King. Meanwhile, Agent Foster Dulles races to find the Black Tiger and enlist the martial arts hero in his cause to find the Staff before the Japanese can get their hands on it.

Hybrid #1

When four friends decide to rent a schooner for the day, everything is smooth sailing until they encounter a derelict ship adrift in the ocean--a massive trawler that looks as if it had been dragged from the bottom of the sea. When they spot a frightened little girl waving at them from the bow, they have no choice but to investigate. As they get closer to the ship, they discover that the girl is not alone.

A Bumpy Start

Are we up and running? Is anyone there? I suppose the answer to the first one is yes, but the second has yet to be revealed...

Well, I mentioned that we'd be sharing the trials and tribulations of getting a new comic book company up and running, and that's all it's been so far! We're learning some lessons.

We all waited with baited breath for our first book, Tiger & Crane, to drop on February 27 via Bluewater, and then the big day came... and it didn't. Co-writer Randy Zamcheck hit the local comic shops, excited, found nothing, and started calling us. But we didn't have any answers. Turns out there was a shipping delay (let's hope that's not fortuitous!) and our big debut would be put off a few weeks. Word came through that the new date would be March 19. Then the book turned up this past week, out of the blue! Maybe that's just on the West Coast, but it is out there, and it should definitely be in your local store, wherever you live, by this coming Wednesday. So go out and pick it up! The delay may have created some brief anxiety, but we're pretty damn happy with the way it came out.

So what other lessons have we been learning? Communication is key. I guess that probably goes for all small companies, but it's certainly true in the comic biz. We've got a fulltime staff of three right now, running the office, and several part-timers (including myself) with other fulltime jobs, and some very diligent interns who come in when they can. But since we don't all see each other that regularly, it's easy for lines to get crossed. Luckily, we're working on this one too, and like the delayed release date, it will soon be nothing more than a past mistake. The fact that this blog is now live (for real) is proof of that. Like we promised, we're sharing the highs and the lows.

And if this post focuses a little too heavily on the lows, stay tuned for the highs in the next post...