Still More Invasion...

To coincide with WonderCon (currently underway this weekend) here's a link to a short interview with our Dark Horse Editor Randy Stradley where he supplies a few more details about our new Star Wars series Invasion. The big news is that we have secured the wonderful Jo Chen to produce the covers for the series, the first of which can be seen here.

Both Tom and I are big fans of Jo's work, and her beautifully painted covers will really broaden the appeal of the whole series. One of our hopes with Invasion is to introduce Star Wars comics to a whole new audience, and having Jo on board is a huge step towards achieving that goal.

More Invasion...

Reaction to the NYCC announcement of our new Star Wars series Invasion has been all over the internet these last couple of weeks, and both Tom and I have been kept busy doing interviews and answering fan questions in all sorts of strange places. It looks like we might be onto something here....

Our Comic Con season also kicks off next month, and we will be attending the Supanova Pop Culture Expo in both Melbourne and Brisbane. We will be presenting the Comics Masterclass on the Friday evening that opens both events... look out for some lame explaination of how we initially teamed up on The Example, how we currently work together, our addiction to good coffee, and maybe we'll even talk up Invasion a little. Ask Tom politely and he might even show you his juggling skills. Should be fun.

Look out for a two-page interview with the both of us in the current Supanova Magazine, soon to be appearing at an venue near you...

Star Wars: Invasion

This weekend at the New York Comic Con, Dark Horse announced details of the project Tom Taylor and I have been working on since the middle of last year. Invasion is a new Star Wars series, and the first book of our first 5-issue story arc is scheduled for publication by Dark Horse Comics this July. Two 8-page "prequels" to launch the new series will go online at www.starwars.com in May and June.

Although Tom and I have been working together on a variety of projects over the last couple of years, this is the biggie, and we are both giving this new series our best shot. Invasion, set 25 years after the Battle of Yarvin (just in case you wanted to know!) introduces the readers to the Galfridian family, and the peace-loving planet of Artoria. Unfortunately the Yuuzhan Vong are about to arrive...

For more details check out the Comic Book Resources NYCC coverage here, and online interviews with both Tom and myself here and here.

I'll write more about all this in the next few days, but at the moment it's hard to get excited about any of this in light of the huge bush-fires that have raged through parts of Victoria this weekend following the 46 degree day we all suffered yesterday....

Games = Fun? Well, not always...

Over the last couple of months, I've spent way too much time playing GTAIV and, despite some very frustrating gameplay in places, I've enjoyed myself, immensely.

Now normally I'm a Mac person, always have been, and so I come at this Windows stuff with a great deal of scepticism, but for PC gaming, you just don't have many other option. Macs just don't get games... never have, probably never will. Last December I thought the whole Rockstar/GTAIV online registration process was pretty damned unnecessary (I prefer keeping my Windows box offline, for obvious reasons...) but this morning I picked up a copy of Saints Row 2. A friend thought that after playing GTAIV for the last two months, I'd rather enjoy it.

Well, not yet. Like GTAIV, Saints Row 2 requires online registration, this time with something called Steam. Just why I should have to register online a game I've just ponied up $80 for instead of simply entering my perfectly legit 25-digit(!) serial number beats me, but there it is. Do I have a Steam Account? Well, yes I do. But first it wants me first update my old Steam account (or application, or whatever) and I'll need to change my password details. OK... it updates itself download any amount of stuff on my connection, and then I have to wait for an email confirmation before I can actually use my new, updated account. All this takes, ohhh, another 10 minutes or so. And of course when my new password (not to mention an answer to a "secret" question) does arrive (via my Mac), its one of these codes that contains at least one '1', or is that a capital "I"? Morons. Several minutes go by while I try all the various combinations, but finally I'm allowed into "my" Steam account.

Now we are cooking, and I can begin to install "my" copy of Saints Row 2? Well, no, I can't. Steam requires that I allow it to do this for me. Well, just why I can't do this offline beats me, but OK, be my guest. Soon I get to the part where I need to enter my 25-digit serial number, which I do, and we are almost there. It will probably take another 30 minutes or so to actually install the game, but hey, GTAIV took nearly an hour, and so being the old hand that I am, I can live with that.

Ahhh, but what's this? Now Steam is telling me that "Sorry, but the following items are not available for purchase in this country". Well sorry, but I just bought the fucking game this morning! But I can always drop Steam Support a polite note? Well no, I'll have to set up another "account", because apparently Steam "Support" is different to Steam "Membership", and.... well, forget it. I'll call the THQ Customer Support number kindly supplied me with on the inside back cover of the game booklet that comes in the box. At $2.45 (inc GST)?!... like hell I will!

And they wonder why people pirate these games.....