Black Coat/Athena Voltaire One-Shot Preview Pages!

You've seen how the cover came about, now let's take a look at the guts of the book—some of 'em anyway...

Here's how the Athena Voltaire story kicks off.

The book is available for preorder now! Cover price of $2 and available with your choice of cover:

Black Coat cover: DEC083747
Athena Voltaire cover: DEC083748

The Black Coat/Athena Voltaire

This should be in the issue of Diamond Distributors' Previews catalog that comes out this Wednesday:


Find out what a Revolutionary-era Crusader and 1930's Aviatrix have in common, besides their status as two of Ape's most exciting heroes. An adventure spanning two centuries: from the Black Coat facing down a pirate attack to Athena Voltaire encountering the horrifying consequences of the treasure they sought. The two variant covers by Eisner-award nominee Steve Bryant combine to form a poster image.

Try 2 complete adventures from 2 of Ape's greatest heroes for only $2.

The Black Coat/Athena Voltaire: The Covers!

And here are the covers with logos and trade dress in place! I'll post some solicitation information next week and will come clean with everything at that time!

Athena Voltaire & the Black Coat—In Color!

The next step in the project—Jason Millet adds his brilliant colors to the piece!

The artwork begins to take shape!

Updating the pencils that I posted the other day, here are the inks from the Athena Voltaire/Black Coat mystery project.

Okay, here's the deal...

...I can't say what's happening yet. But I can start showing some artwork. This is for something that will be solicited in the December issue of Diamond Distributors' Previews catalog (in comic shops the last week of this month).

Shown here are a concept sketch by Ben Lichius (co-creator of Ape Entertainment's colonial adventurer/hero The Black Coat) and a penciled version of that sketch by me.

More next week.

Thanks to all who have waited patiently for the return of Athena Voltaire as we sort out legalities and publishing schedules. I appreciate it greatly and hope that you enjoy all of the stuff that I have planned for 2009.

Another Podcast Interview, this time with Radio Wayne

Wayne Cordova, of the very entertaining Radio Wayne Podcast, had me on as a guest this week. Wayne and I discussed Athena's past, present and future, as well as talking about movies, comics and my other upcoming Ape Entertainment book, Ursula Wilde. The Athena Voltaire trade paperback collection, Flight of the Falcon is Wayne's Indy Pick of the Month and he tells you how you can get it for a whopping 45% off!

For those of you unfamiliar with Wayne's show, it's an entertaining look at movies, tv, comics and general geekery, all told in a warm, conversational manner. Wayne has years of radio experience and it shows in his podcast.

Download the episode here.