Archaia Studios Press (ASP) has announced their line-up of new titles—both comic books and games—for release later this year. “Co-publisher Aki Liao, Editor Joe Illidge, Art Director Pauline Benney, and I have pored over some amazing submissions,” said ASP publisher Mark Smylie, “and the crop of creators and titles we’ve selected we think not only fit the company’s focus and direction and mission, but will be greatly enjoyed by fans of ASP’s current titles and new readers who we’re sure will jump at these new books we’re so extremely proud to publish.”
The titles which seem to be of most interest to genre fans include:
The Grave Doug Freshley, written by Josh Hechinger, illustrated by mpMann ($3.95, 32 pages, debuting in April), “tells the yarn of a cowboy who, sworn to protect his charge, Bat McNally, keeps his promise after Bat’s Ma and Pa are killed and despite a bullet hole between the eyes and a really nasty exit wound out the top of his head. Together, Doug and Bat are hot on the trail of the Delancey gang, and they mean to dispense a little frontier justice. The Grave Doug Freshley features twice the grit and all of the mayhem of a spaghetti western directed by Tex Avery.”
Gunnerkrigg Court: Orientation by Tom Siddell ($26.95, ISBN: 978-1-932386-34-9, 296-page hardcover, April) collects the author’s “popular all-ages web comic, the story of Antimony Carver, a girl who attends school at gloomy Gunnerkrigg Court. The story is about the people she meets, the strange things that happen, and the things she causes to happen as she and her new friend, Kat, unravel the mysteries of the Court and deal with the everyday adventures of growing up at a school that has robots running around alongside body-snatching demons, forest gods, and the odd mythical creature. (See ASP’s page for the book.)
Runners: The Big Snow Job by Sean Wang. “Coming in May, Wang’s critically acclaimed sci-fi adventure returns… in color! Hard times have fallen on Roka Nostaco and the smuggling crew of the Khoruysa Brimia. Tired of scraping by on small-time runs for petty criminals, they take on a big job to get back into the top tier of mob-level work. But high pay comes with high risk, and if the freezing climate of Planet Ciceron doesn’t kill them, the hostile native population might.”
Titanium Rain by Josh Finney and Kat Rocha. “Coming in July, the team behind the acclaimed cyberpunk series, Utopiates, will bring Titanium Rain, a sci-fi war epic for the post-millennial age. In year 2031 mankind’s survival instinct is put to the test when a civil war in China spirals into global conflict. Nations are destroyed. Millions are killed. And for many, like US Air Force pilot Alec Killian, survival will mean shedding some of his humanity in exchange for biotech and machine.”
The Bond of Saint Marcel by Jennifer Quintenz and Christian Gossett. “In July, writer Quintenz and five-time Eisner nominee Gossett take us inside a mysterious order of priests who for centuries have guarded the secret of the Bond of Saint Marcel: an occult ritual that enabled priests of the Order to enslave vampires and use them as unwilling soldiers against their own kind. When 16-year-old Kat Johnstone inherits an ancient family signet ring she is swept into a centuries-old quest for vengeance. But Kat has also inherited the power to command a vampire, and he may be her only hope of survival.”
The God Machine by Chandra Free. “In Summer 2008, writer/illustrator Free introduces us to Guy Salvatore. Stricken with grief from the death of his girlfriend Sith, Guy can’t go through a morning without hallucinations of monsters coming out of the bathroom mirror to torment him, or without being harassed at school with friends’ nauseating concern over his well-being. One night Guy seeks solace in the graveyard by Sith’s tombstone. There, he learns that Sith might be alive. It seems that the two Gods that govern all of existence let her be stolen from her world, now left to float aimlessly in and out of dimensional planes. Implored to take action and call upon his latent power to break through his world’s plane, search out Sith, and take vengeance upon the vile Gods that caused this atrocity, Guy has to decide whether he’s going out of his skull, or if he should believe the suspiciously cliché and creepy man in the graveyard.”
Mouse Guard Roleplaying Game ($29.95, 240-page hardcover, ISBN: 978-1-932386-88-2). “In August, it will be everyone’s duty to join the Mouse Guard and defend the Mouse Territories against predators and dangers in this role-playing game for the Mouse Guard comic book series. The game is intended for all ages and levels of game-playing experience and is designed by award-winning game designer Luke Crane and is based on a simplified version of his Burning Wheel rules system. Includes art and extensive background material on the Mouse Territories specially prepared by Mouse Guard creator David Petersen.”
ASP also wants to correct “an attribution error on Villard’s recently released trade paperback edition of Mouse Guard: Fall 1152 (ISBN: 978-0-345-49686-7, $17.95). On the cover of their edition, it is incorrectly noted that author David Petersen was the recipient of an Eisner. In actuality, Petersen won the 2007 Russ Manning Most Promising Newcomer Award, which is presented by Comic-Con International and the West Coast Comics Club during the Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards ceremony, but it is not considered to be an Eisner Award. Villard Books sincerely apologizes for this mistake.”