Jim Kuhoric Gets a New Job

Congratulations to James Kuhoric, who will be joining Avatar Press as their new Vice-President of Publishing and Managing Editor at the end of the month. He’s leaving Diamond Comic Distributors, where he’s served in a number of roles for the last 16 years.

I worked with him for many years on getting The Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide out to retailers on a timely basis, as well on a number of projects outside work.

There are lots of folks who know him as a writer instead of as a Diamond guy. He has written a lengthy and acclaimed run on Dynamite’s Army of Darkness and the hit Freddy vs. Jason vs. Ash mini-series and its sequel for Wildstorm, and he created by the horror series Dead Irons and the all ages title Legendary Talespinners for Dynamite.

And yeah, he's "Award-Winning Jim Kuhoric," too. He won the 2006 Spike TV Award for “Best Movie to Comic Book” for Army of Darkness: Shop Till You Drop Dead and the 2009 ComicMonsters.com Horror Award for “Best Mini Series” for Dead Irons. He also won two Gem Awards for Freddy vs. Jason vs. Ash. He has been nominated for three other Spike TV Scream Awards and a Bram Stoker Award (for Kolchak, the Nightstalker).

Along the way he also wrote Stargate SG-1 (Avatar), Battlestar Galactica (Realm Press, of which the less said the better, I think), and a number of other projects. We look forward to seeing what new things he'll cook up at Avatar.

Thanks, Jim, and good luck!

EXCLUSIVE BEDTIME STORIES FOR IMPRESSIONABLE CHILDREN #1 at VIRGINIA COMICON

Limited to 250 copies, the Virginia Comicon Exclusive edition of Bedtime Stories For Impressionable Children #1 will debut at the November 20-21, 2010 show in Richmond, VA.

This new horror anthology features three stories, including "One of Those Mother-Daughter Things" by yours truly, J.C. Vaughn, with Gene Gonzales (Tales of the Cherokee) and Mark Wheatley (Lone Justice, Blood of the Innocent) on art, "Life Stinks" by James Kuhoric (Dead Irons, Army of Darkness) and Joe Keatinge (PopGun), and "Madman / Dead Man" by Robert Tinnell (EZ Street, The Wicked West) and Rich Woodall. The host segments are illustrated by Michael Malbrough.

The covers are by Mark Wheatley (Cover A) and Jacob Jordan (Vampire, PA, Cover B). The sketch cover variant is by Wheatley.

In many ways, this is a dream project for me. Bedtime Stories was the first real attempt I made at writing a screenplay... as far back as high school. It represents that first time I have worked with Gene Gonzales and Mark Wheatley on the same project, and we have a lot of great creators working on stories for future issues.

BEDTIME STORIES FOR IMPRESSIONABLE CHILDREN

A brand new horror anthology in the spirit of the classics!

Meet Alonzo Del Vecchio, a former construction work forced by the tough economic times to become, much to just about everyone’s regret, a babysitter.

Modern horror masters James Kuhoric (Dead Irons, Army of Darkness), Robert Tinnell (The Black Forest, The Living and The Dead), Mark Wheatley (Breathtaker, Blood of the Innocent) and J.C. Vaughn (Vampire, PA, Zombie-Proof) provide a series of terrifying tales the babysitter probably should have left at home.

Covers by Mark Wheatley and Jacob Jordan.

32 pages, B&W $3.99

In the AUGUST 2010 issue of PREVIEWS, on sale in October!

Gene Gonzales, artist on the acclaimed Tales of the Cherokee, is now on board for Bedtime Stories for Impressionable Children #1. Gene and I have worked together many times over the years, most recently on The Overstreet Guide To Collecting Comics, which was Gemstone Publishing's Free Comic Book Day 2010 offering.

More news to follow soon.

BEDTIME STORIES FOR IMPRESSIONABLE CHILDREN

Sometimes a good idea just won't die. Of course it sort of helps when it's undead to start with.

To say that Bedtime Stories For Impressionable Children has been percolating for a long time would be something of an understatement. I had read Creepy and Eerie, of course, but years and years before I got to work on The EC Archives, even before I discovered Bruce Jones' Twisted Tales, the first screenplay I tried to write while I was still in high school was Bedtime Stories For Impressionable Children.

Sometimes, as was the case with Antiques: The Comic Strip, you just don't know enough to do a good job writing a project when it first hits you. Then later -- sometimes much later -- how to actually do it hits you suddenly. That's the case with this one.

I was having lunch with James Kuhoric, my good friend and the only comic book writer who has made Army of Darkness really come alive (so to speak) for me (he's also the creator of the great Dead Irons and Legendary Talespinners). We weren't even talking about horror anthologies are first, but then (with a nod to Ross Richie and company) ... BOOM!

A couple of minutes later we had the whole first issue figured out.

That same night I had dinner with two other good friends, photographer Michael Solof and multi-media artist Mark Wheatley (creator of, among other things, Vertigo's Breathtaker and the recent graphic novel EZ Street). We talked it over, and it really got rolling.

I wrote up a quick proposal about the one-shot (we're ready to do more if it's a success), sat on it a few days, good some feedback, and then sent it off to Joe Gentile and our friends at Moonstone.

The result will be a 32-page comic book of horror tales by the aforementioned creators along with one by writer-director Robert Tinnell (The Black Forest, The Wicked West). It should be fun, and I already have a lot of other really talented friends ready to roll if people like this one.

We've already started a Facebook page on it, so check it out.

More to follow.

VIRGINIA COMIC-CON PHOTOS

I had a blast at the Virigina Comic-Con! I sat next to my pal Jim Kuhoric, who has written a ton of Army of Darkness and other horror comics (including his own Dead Irons), but he had people stopping by left and right to see the cover art from his new book, The Legendary Talespinners. It's in Previews right now, so check it out.




Jim Kuhoric












Xena. Don't mess with her.














Jim and I hosted a panel on working on license properties.











Elijah Pipkin entered the costume contest as me. It's an outrage that he didn't win!














My pal Alex Saviuk was there and it was great to get to hang out with him. We're hoping to work together in 2010. He still inks the Amazing Spider-Man daily strip and draws the Spidey Sunday page.





Artist Mark McKenna, who is another really nice guy on top of being so talented. It's always cool when guys whose work you like turn out to be awesome people.








Brett Carreras, co-promoter of the show, was a great host with his staff, friends and family!







It was also very cool to get to meet writer Chuck Dixon after years of having friends in common!









Here I am with a new fan whose name of course I lost. We sold copies of Zombie-Proof, Shi: Ju-Nen, the 24 Omnibus, Antiques: The Comic Strip and more. It was a fun show supported by great fans, most of whom seemed really happy to have a good comic show in their hometown. I'm definitely looking forward to them putting on another one so I can go back!

Thanks to Mike Solof for the great pictures!