Dracula World Order

Robot6 was nice enough to have me contribute to their Looking...

ibrill — Wed, 02 Jan 2013 21:53:59 -0500

Robot6 was nice enough to have me contribute to their Looking Forward, Looking Back article. There, I show off some sweet upcoming DWO art from Antonio Fuso (G.I. Joe: COBRA). Things can move slow in the world of independent comics, where things are done for love and not money. But I do indeed love bringing you the further adventures of Alexandru, Vince, and Mai (and ol’ Drac-stacks is still in the mix). 2013 will see more of this book, come Hell or highwater.

"You fellas think of comics in terms of comic books, but you’re wrong. I think you fellas..."

ibrill — Wed, 10 Oct 2012 22:50:14 -0400

“You fellas think of comics in terms of comic books, but you’re wrong. I think you fellas should think of comics in terms of drugs, in terms of war, in terms of journalism, in terms of selling, in terms of business. And if you have a viewpoint on drugs, or if you have a viewpoint on war, or if you have a viewpoint on the economy, I think you can tell it more effectivley in comics than you can in words. I think nobody is doing it. Comics is journalism. But now it’s restricted to soap opera.”

- Jack Kirby addressing fans in the late-60’s, as quoted in Sean Howe’s brilliant book MARVEL COMICS: THE UNTOLD STORY. I find so much inspiration in that quote. It reaffirms my aims for DRACULA WORLD ORDER, as well as what I do everyday when I write my own books. Kirby is the eternal inspiration, the guiding light always shining in the sky.

Marvel in the '70s: She-Devils, LSD, and God

ibrill — Thu, 04 Oct 2012 14:28:09 -0400

Marvel in the '70s: She-Devils, LSD, and God :

I eagerly await Sean Howe’s history of Marvel Comics (it has its own own Tumblr you can follow). What could whet my appetite more than an excerpt focused on a time in Marvel’s history I find fascianting: the early- to mid-70’s. Jack Kirby left for DC, Stan Lee left for Hollywood and the speaking circuit, and the generation raised on Lee and Kirby’s creations were now given the keys to the kingdom. Oh yeah, and a generational and societal upheaval occurred. Fun times!

I’ve discussed how TOMB OF DRACULA was an influence on DRACULA WORLD ORDER. That’s just one example of how the books from that era had an impact on my creative outlook. During college 70’s Marvel was an obsession of mine, thanks to another great book about Marvel, Tom Spurgeon and Jordan Raphael’s Stan Lee and the Rise and Fall of the American Comic Book. Knowing there was a ton of comics with a “the inmates took over the asylum” feeling, I was set on gathering enough back issues and Essentials volumes whenever I could. I dived headfirst into the world of Steve Gerber, Steve Englehart, and Jim Starlin. HOWARD THE DUCK, WARLOCK, MAN-THING, DEFENDERS, and Englehart’s “Celestial Madonna” and “Secret Empire” stories were combed over like they were the lost books of the Bible. I found a new way to tell genre stories that is now forever a part of me.

Embedded deep into this era I discovered the appeal wasn’t just to gawk at what these creators got away with (although something such as Starlin’s STRANGE TALES #181, a shrouded criticism of Marvel done in one of their own books, remains impressive just because it exists in the first place). These were young men using the comic universe they grow up with to process their internal struggles. One of the reasons the Marvel universe as we know it exists is because Lee was frustrated with the stories he was telling, so he created more dysfunctional and dramatic heroes such as the Fantastic Four, the Hulk, and Spider-Man. That combination of introspective pathos and the fantastic reached its greatest heights in this era. As Howe writes, Gerber seemed unable to NOT insert his id into his works, whether that’s Shanna the She-Devil reading Camus or his odes to ennui that constantly surfaced in ADVENTURES INTO FEAR/MAN-THING. Starlin’s stories were similar informed by an introspective journey, whether that’s Thanos inspired by studying nihilism in college or the “cosmic awareness” that fueled Captain Marvel. Exploring outer space and facing your own inner-self became different faces of the same battle. That is the eternal inspiration.

I’ve explored how my personal concerns and curiosities inform DRACULA WORLD ORDER on this blog and in the text piece of the first issue (yes, more is being made, and I want to announce more but I can’t right now. But Alexandru’s revolution continues). The stories from this era told me it was possible to tell great stories of spectacle fueled by angst, stress, and the search for serenity. Those will always be elements of my personality, and it was these comics that revealed that the act of writing is the greatest blade I have trekking through the jungle my own psyche. That’s still what excites me the most about writing. Whenever I face a script I know that the tools to create the most exciting and meaningful work is inside of me. To any creators reading it, know that those tools are inside you as well.

From Twitter user reclaim UC

ibrill — Mon, 17 Sep 2012 23:43:19 -0400

From Twitter user reclaim UC

Another word for satire: reruns

ibrill — Mon, 17 Sep 2012 20:58:00 -0400

DRACULA WORLD ORDER is a book about the most powerful people in the world gathering together to grant themselves immense power at the expense of the rest of the population.

Sometimes it feels like a pretty far-fetched idea.

Sometimes it doesn’t.

I’m working on a larger piece about how I feel my work is compelled to be political. In the meantime, enjoy a true rarity…someone running for president speaking their true feelings.

My look at the video game influences on DRACULA WORLD ORDER ends...

ibrill — Fri, 24 Aug 2012 21:33:49 -0400

My look at the video game influences on DRACULA WORLD ORDER ends with a leap into the 16-bit world. I had a Sega Genesis first, then swapped it for a friend’s Super Nintendo. I’ve enjoyed many of the games on Genesis, especially the strange and seemingly never-ending game KID CHAMELEON, but my allegiance with Nintendo’s products continued as I still subscribed to NINTENDO POWER, intrigued by the variety and creativity coming from both Nintendo itself and third-party developers who created games just for that console. One place the SNES beat Genesis was in RPGs, thanks most to SquareSoft (now Square Enix) giving Nintendo exclusive access to the Final Fantasy series.

I followed the articles on the original Final Fantasy as well as Dragon Quest but never played the games since my main way of getting games was through renting them. Clearly I was not going to get through these expansive adventures over a weekend. But then my friend Jason got FINAL FANTASY III (as it was dubbed in America, it was the sixth game in Japan) and we got to see this thing the whole way through. My ideas about what video games could do, and the power of storytelling, grew to monstrous proportions all thanks to this game.

I had seen STAR WARS, but I never truly felt it was my epic. Perhaps because it felt like it belonged to a past generations (my dad actually made me watch the trilogy, which I am thankful for now, but it did confirm for me that the films were not “mine”).

Here was something in a strange new medium adults didn’t partake in. Here was something I was an active participant in. This game took place in a strange world where magic and science, past and future, existed as one, nothing like we had ever seen before (we didn’t know the word “steampunk” yet). You never played as just one character. You built a team, so while some of your gameplay was based around strengthening the male hero Locke you also had to keep the damsel-in-distress Terra a vital character on her own. A previous generation had tabletop RPGs to develop team-building dynamics in their storytelling, but I was learning it here. Everyone had to matter, from the aristocratic Edgar to the ninja Shadow.

Environments were varied, and the world itself changed. The villain Kefka takes over the world and your entire map of gameplay is different (a villain takes over the world and the story continues…hmmm, where would I put an idea like that). Every twist, every new corner of the map told me that if I had a heartfelt story at the core, such as Terra and the plight of the Espers, I could go to many different places in a single tale. Also, I didn’t know the Miyazaki and other influences the game was using. One of the great legacies of Nintendo is that it was how millions of kids in the Western world were exposed to Japanese storytelling and imagery. I am still feel tremendously lucky to be there for such a cultural tide shift.

The entire time this game was unfolding I was putting pen to paper, imagining my own epics that could stand toe-to-toe with this game. Same thing with CHRONO TRIGGER and later, the last game I really spent time with, FINAL FANTASY VII. For whatever reason being an audience to such grandeur compelled to sharpen my creatives knives and craft my own stories. I feel I am still in that mode, and forever will be.

My exploration of the classic video games influences on DRACULA...

ibrill — Fri, 24 Aug 2012 00:06:14 -0400

My exploration of the classic video games influences on DRACULA WORLD ORDER continue with this oddity MONSTER PARTY. Much like Castelvania, the appeal was that you got not just one monster but every monster. Here they were from some alien planet (a planet where everyone’s a monster, what shall I do with that idea?) called Dark World. The idea that there’s a place where monsters are “normal” and have their own environment, no doubt with its own systems and laws, intrigued me as a child.

So you have one monster choosing to fighting against his brethren (again, this may be an idea worth exploring). That would be Bert the dragon…thing. He and the human boy Mark fuse together and live in the same body. It’s a bit like Captain Marvel, although I did not know the reference at the time (and I wonder if the Japanese designers did as well). The idea of a boy and a monster living in the same body freaked me out. It was probably my first exposure to something resembling body horror, which remains a fascination to this day. As a kid, I loved being freaked out, and always delve deeper if I was feel uneasy and scared. Now I make horror comics.

There is an overwhelming dream/nightmare feeling to MONSTER PARTY, from the way it starts down to the look of the final boss. Is he a brain thing, like Mother Brain from METROID made even more grotesque? Is he an overgrown face with no skin? The fact that a complete world could be filled with such things made me want to create my own stories as a kid, and that enthusiasm has not let up.

When did you first hear about the classic monsters? Vampires,...

ibrill — Wed, 22 Aug 2012 22:52:48 -0400

When did you first hear about the classic monsters? Vampires, werewolves, undead creatures and the like? For me it wasn’t movies or comics. I first encountered them in video games.

As a kid I was as rabid a video game fan as I was a comic book fan. I rented NES video games from the local video stores as much as my parents allowed me, but I needed to know what I should be renting and how to beat the games. That’s where the magazine NINTENDO POWER comes in. I had a subscription that lasted years and was able to read about all the new games coming out in detailed walk-throughs. The detailed maps and characters descriptions lit up my imagination as much as the comics I read did, and indeed NINTENDO POWER included manga about METROID and THE LEGEND OF ZELDA, as well as its own comics strip featuring the character Nester.

Now with the news that NINTENDO POWER is ending I want to look back at some of the games that influenced me and the creation of DRACULA WORLD ORDER. Above is video of CASTLEVANIA III: DRACULA’S CURSE.

I know there’s been a billion Castlevania games, but my era of being a gamer covers the 8- and 16-bit years. The Castlevania games were my introduction to the idea of vampires, as you played as a member of the vampire-hunting Belmont clan. But you didn’t just fight vampires. Inside the spooky level designs you had ghosts, werewolves, and even Medusa coming after you. From an early age I associated the use of monsters with the use of all the monsters.

The third installment to the series was ambitious. You could take multiple paths and it had different endings. Also, you could switch characters mid-game. I remember reading that in NINTENDO POWER and being simply fascinated. I didn’t know then by the gears of team dynamics and how to write action for multiple characters was building in my head. Of the new characters were a pirate, a sorceress, and…Dracula’s son. Reading that a vampire, someone from Dracula’s own family, could be a good guy was another big revelation.

Flashforward some twenty years later. Plagued by concerns the eight-year-old me would want nothing to do with, I devise a story using the iconography of monsters to write about a world consumed by greed and corruption. The world would be ruled by Dracula, with Frankenstein taking up arms and leading a revolution. Except Marvel just did the Frankencastle series and DC is doing FRANKENSTEIN: AGENT OF S.H.A.D.E. (both fun comics). So do I chuck the idea? Wait, a minute. What about the old Castlevania game? Where you could play as Dracula’s son…

As I discuss the inspirations of DRACULA WORLD ORDER it was only...

ibrill — Fri, 27 Jul 2012 03:21:25 -0400

As I discuss the inspirations of DRACULA WORLD ORDER it was only a matter of time before I got to this one. Like so many influential works it’s not at the front of my mind when crafting ideas. Instead it’s something deep in the mental library, where my subconscious can rip out pages and piece them back together with hundreds of other texts and produce some strange tapestry. At the end of the process I get a better handle on the original work itself. Here’s what I’ve been thinking about TOMB OF DRACULA lately.

When the Marvel Essentials line got around to ToD it had already been built up for me by friends. Discovering the series in large black-and-white chunks brought both of its major assets to the fore: Gene Colan’s brilliantly moody artwork and Marv Wolfman’s ever-propulsive pulpy (which I always use as a compliment) plotting. What stands out the most to me now, and what I see as the influence on DWO, is that you have a long-running adventure where the antagonist and protagonists are given equally weight. Dracula must face the real consequence of immortality, that one is cursed with an ever-growing history where decisions can have epic consequences that last decades. He is plagued by Harker, Van Hesing, Drake, and Blade, the descendants of those he hurt (and in Drake’s case, his own descendant). Being undead means living with an extreme burden of history.

This symbiotic relationship, with both Dracula and the vampire hunters never rid of each other, led the book to explore all manners of scenarios and environments. A vampire community was built inside the Marvel universe. Other horror elements were also in play, such as a crossover with Jack Russell from WEREWOLF BY NIGHT and Dr. Sun, one of the characters that exemplifies this melding the horrific and superheroic.

I found in ToD the potential of stories about people who are bound to each other forever, and what happens when people both push against and give in to those boundaries in their own ways. I started the series mostly for the Gene Colan art, after all he draws the best women of all the early Marvel artists bar Romita, but I got so much more. I found an important lesson in crafting a wide-ranging narrative. It’s still a jolt to read.

DRACULA WORLD ORDER available on comiXology for 1.99

ibrill — Tue, 24 Jul 2012 11:51:00 -0400

DRACULA WORLD ORDER available on comiXology for 1.99:

For all of you interested in the digital version of DRACULA WORLD ORDER can get it for $1.99 over at comiXology, who have been a wonderful partner throughout the course of this book. It was important for me to have the book available digitally from day one.

The accessibility found in digital is vital for a small-press book like this one. It’s also important for me personally, as I feel there is great potential in both the form and audience expansion in digital. I am deeply interested in learning and considering all there is about the possibilities of digital comics. The audio of a few Comic-Con panels are up, and I highly recommend “Digital Comics Price Fight” for a…shall we say spirited debate. For me, it’s all about seeing where everyone’s coming from.

The World Shapers - NPR on the LIBOR bank scandal

ibrill — Tue, 10 Jul 2012 13:24:58 -0400

The World Shapers - NPR on the LIBOR bank scandal :

What’s everyone interested in the lead-up to Comic-Con? International banking scandals!

NPR’s report on the recent London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) manipulations is the type of story that remind me of why I created DRACULA WORLD ORDER in the first place. There were times when I worried the sequences of Dracula and Alexandru making their ways through the halls of power were too easy and simplistic. But when Brown University professor Mark Blyth describes some of these interests rate manipulations as “really just two guys in a room” I get…well, I can’t feel good that my story resonates as true when this is the truth we live in.

One of the concepts I use DWO to explore is that greed and the thirst for power is like the undying shark: always moving, never truly beholden to attempts to restrict it. What does that look like writ large but also on a personal level? That’s where a lot of the drama in the book comes from.

“World Destruction” by Time Zone (with John Lydon)....

ibrill — Thu, 05 Jul 2012 11:10:33 -0400

“World Destruction” by Time Zone (with John Lydon). When I was in college this song was on my mind a lot. Now, let’s admit this upfront, there may not be a song that sounds more 80’s than this. With Afrika Bambaataa and the former Johnny Rotten (pus Bill Laswell’s production) you have a song that is early hip-hop and and new wave smashed together without either sound making concession against the other. I still love it but I can see how someone could never get over how much of an artifact this is. That’s before you get to the lyrical content, which is a summation of the various crises the world was in when it seemed like the Cold War was at a breaking point.

Truth be told I couldn’t get over the era this song was coming from once I, rather selfishly, figured out how it related to me. This came out in 1984, when I was one-years-old. I couldn’t get over the fact the world was in such a fucked-up place by the time I had just arrived on the scene. It created a certain sense of angry hopelessness in me. I knew activists in college and could only think “any power structure you fight has had a decades-long head start, so what do you think you could accomplish?” I discovered the song from an episode of THE SOPRANOS, and it’s a Tony Soprano quote that hung over my whole outlook when I was in my early 20’s: “It’s good to be in something from the ground floor. I came too late for that and I know. But lately, I’m getting the feeling that I came in at the end. The best is over.”

Turns out delving into that sentiment through fiction gave me a chance to explore the very opposite way of seeing things. The feeling that everything is firmly and irrevocably fucked is half of the inspiration of DRACULA WORLD ORDER. I wanted to tell a story where everything went wrong and the whole game is rigged. But I knew that alone isn’t a story. To make DWO compelling and interesting I had to look towards hope. I had to create characters that believed they could change things, and entered alliances they never would have otherwise based on faith. The juice to DWO (and I’m seeing this more and more as I write further stories, of which I hope you will see soon) is the tension between hopelessness and hope. In my life now it’s something I bounce between almost everyday, and telling these stories is a part of the thinking process.

Of course, I may have just forgotten that Afrika Bambaataa is dresses like Dracula at the end of this video and the entire book is a long recovered memory.

I have mentioned many films that are an influence on DRACULA...

ibrill — Fri, 29 Jun 2012 09:55:00 -0400

I have mentioned many films that are an influence on DRACULA WORLD ORDER. One that is a major influence, to the point where I am surprised people haven’t mentioned it to me, is John Carpenter’s THEY LIVE.

Carpenter is a huge influence overall, and the DNA for many of his films can be found in DWO (I mentioned THE THING in the backmatter, ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK and PRINCE OF DARKNESS are big influences too). THEY LIVE had a particular impact because it showed me how not just certain political issues, but an entire cultural malaise can be used as fuel for a storyline. THEY LIVE is still vital today because the paranoid feeling it engenders isn’t based off on any particular dated talking point. The film is from 1988, but the script doesn’t use buzzwords like “trickle-down economics”. Instead, fear is built off of the universally relatable feeling that big decisions are being made, and that you have no access to them even though your life is deeply affected. That story resonates in a political sense, but it also on a deeper personal level going back to our feelings towards our parents and authority figures in school. This film exists where the personal meets the political, which is an area I like exploring in DWO.

One thing that amazes me about the film every time I see it is that it speaks for the proletariat not just in story, but in its overall approach. The film feels blue-collar in every sense, down to Roddy Piper’s plain (but heightened when it needs to be) approach to acting (the best performance by a wrestler, sorry NO HOLDS BARRED fans). Downtown Los Angeles, a part of the city oft-forgotten in both film and actual city life, is shown warts and all with Carpenter’s precise, no-muss, film style.

I was heartened to hear that Shout! Factory’s new horror brand Scream Factory has a special edition of THEY LIVE coming soon (but first, I have to pick-up that version of HALLOWEEN III with the Tom Atkins commentary!). Perhaps it will include the Carpenter/Piper commentary only available in European DVDs, which of course is totally impossible to find in our day and age. But special edition or not, THEY LIVE will be around forever due to its bravery in staring down a feeling of paranoia and disenfranchisement that never truly leaves our cultural soul.

A review and a recommendation

ibrill — Fri, 22 Jun 2012 08:14:12 -0400

Before I get to another cultural artifact that influenced DWO I want to thank the people at HorrorTalk.com for making DWO their pick of the week! I’m grateful to be singled out amongst a lot of great books.

I’ve talked about the pop culture that was on my mind when crafting DWO. But when it comes to the aspect of the book that explores the tension between the powerful and the powerless, there was one particular news program I kept turning to.

NPR’s Planet Money podcast looks at economic activities across the world in a smart way that almost always contains a human element you can latch onto. The emphasis is on how the wealth of nations can affect humans on a day-to-day level, which is my guiding light for DWO (filtered through the action/horror genre in my case). In particular I’ll recommend the recent episodes such as “Why is Syria Locked in Endless Conflict?”, which examines the conflicts and class systems in Syria through a Cinnabon franchise that opens there, and “In A Leaderless World, Who Wins?”, where the global powers and would-be global powers are examined (this one just looks at the grand scale, but in a way that’s easy to grasp and think about). The segment’s are 15-20 minutes long, perfect for a short break or car ride.

As vital as it is to stay informed about global economic issues, it can be a slog. No adult wants to feel like they still have to do homework. Planet Money is the economic show the masses need right now.

(The above trailer for LIFEFORCE features NSFW material) I...

ibrill — Mon, 18 Jun 2012 22:10:22 -0400

(The above trailer for LIFEFORCE features NSFW material)

I mentioned LIFEFORCE in the text-piece for DRACULA WORLD ORDER, and I worry that many people may not be familiar with the film. I do recommend it. Not because it’s a great film, but because it’s a great experience.

Based on Colin Wilson’s THE SPACE VAMPIRES, the film is a hodgepodge of vampire, alien, and Lovecraftian cosmic mythos. The first act of the film is space horror akin to Ridley Scott’s ALIEN (Dan O’Bannon, the co-writer of ALIEN, is the screenwriter for this film). When the film lands on Earth, and Great Britain in particular, there’s a paranoid relationship with the unknown that feels thematically similar to Britain’s Quatermass series. The third act culminates in scenes that combines tropes of zombies (O’Banon is also the writer and director of RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD), aliens, and vampires. It’s the vampire myth, here in one of its most sexually potent realizations (Mathilda May must hold a record for on-screen nudity) that strings along such disparate concepts. At the core of the film is the obsession between May’s exotic alien vampire and Steve Railsback button-downed astronaut, an obsession that seems to reveal many of the supporting players’ personal kinks. This is not the smoothest road story-wise but for those looking for juicy ideas to contemplate concerning what horror fiction can do, LIFEFORCE has a lot to offer. Tobe Hooper directs the film with great vigor, and it’s clearly one of the biggest productions from legendary cult film studio Cannon Films (THE APPLE, DELTA FORCE, the MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE film, and much more).

It’s rare to find a film that is both a positive inspiration and a cautionary tale, but I have one in LIFEFORCE. It’s ambition and versatile use of vampires was very much on my mind when crafting DWO. I also saw that traveling between big, heady concepts is delicate work. I do admire LIFEFORCE for striving from one batshit idea to the next with such confidence. That’s half the game. Including explanations for the audience that is in itself interesting and satisfying is the other half. LIFEFORCE isn’t too interested in that.

As Leonard Maltin says in his review “you got to meet [LIFEFORCE] halfway.” If you do you are in for a film that arrives from a different world, where summer tentpoles are interested in strange and disturbing subject matters as much as special effects.

Review round-up

ibrill — Fri, 15 Jun 2012 09:42:00 -0400

I’ll close out this first week of DWO’s “birth” with some nice reviews. It’s been a new experience keeping up on reviews of the book. After a while, I avoided reading reviews of my assignment work, this even after the first reviews of Darkwing were pretty good. When reading articles written online about the work I was doing…it felt weird. It’s not eavesdropping on people talking behind your back, but it felt eerily close. I felt that there was something wrong about reading article after article about oneself online.

One of the true joys of self-publishing is that previously-held notions get challenged. I knew I couldn’t be the only one people heard from regarding this book. Obviously, I’m a biased party. So I wanted to spotlight reviews that have perceptions and conclusions that give readers an idea of what this book is. I delved into reading as many reviews of the book as I can find (many sent me theirs, which I appreciate). In all honesty, I was scared every time. But I realized my earlier thoughts about reading reviews was too personal. A review of your efforts (and certainly not just yours alone) is not a referendum on you as a person. When I told myself that I knew I could venture forth and find reviews that helped the audience be informed customers. So with that, here’s what people have been saying:

The Event Magazine (Scroll down one)

Geek Goggle Reviews at ComicList

Stumptown Trade Review

Comic Bastards

Troll in the Corner

Fair Trade Comics at Comics Bulletin

Bleeding Cool

Most everyone has remarked upon how great all the artists did. I could not agree more. It’s been amazing to see what Tonci, Rahsan, Declan, Gabriel, Stephen, Jordie, and Josh have done with this book, it provides a sense of reward that never runs dry. It’s a great feeling to share their accomplishments on this book, and I enjoy seeing reviewers sing the praises of my collaborators.

Have a great weekend. Monday I’ll post some videos pertaining to perhaps the craziest, and my favorite, vampire movie of all time.

Hey folks, DRACULA WORLD ORDER has gone to a second printing!...

ibrill — Wed, 13 Jun 2012 09:09:55 -0400

Hey folks, DRACULA WORLD ORDER has gone to a second printing! Same-day sell out! I am all sold out here at DWO HQ and am now taking order for our second print copies now. If you’re a retailer just e-mail me at theworldwillbleed@gmail.com to pre-order! Thank you to all the retailers for their support.

Copies are still available from all the fine folks listed here. You have your choice of retailers from all the country, digital, and mail-order.

I’ll be signing at two retailers today, Beach Ball Comics in Anaheim from 12-2, and Collector’s Paradise in Winnetka, CA from 5-8. Rahsan is joining me for the CP signing.

Here’s the press release:

DRACULA WORLD ORDER EARNS SECOND PRINT!

THE HORROR SENSATION OF THE YEAR FEATURING IAN BRILL, TONCI ZONJIC, DECLAN SHALVEY, AND GABRIEL HARDMAN CONITNUES TO BLOW MINDS!

June 13^th – DRACULA WORLD ORDER, the self-published and self-released horror comic books that brings together some of the biggest names in comics, has sold out of its initial print run on the day of release!

The DRACULA WORLD ORDER second print will sport a new color scheme by critically-acclaimed colorist Jordie Bellaire (FANTASTIC FOUR, BETRAYAL OF THE PLANET OF THE APES) over the original cover art by fan-favorite artist Declan Shalvey (THUNDERBOLTS, 28 DAYS LATER). This edition will be available for retailers to order at draculaworldorder.tumblr.com/retailers

Available simultaneously as a digital download via comiXology, in print through mail order at thingsfromanotherworld.com and select direct market stores, the first printing of DRACULA WORLD ORDER has been consumed by retail pre-orders.

Reviews have been praising DRACULA WORLD ORDER as a bold new take on the vampire mythos

“The book launches into a story that was so engaging I found myself holding my breath until the ending…I can’t remember getting this jazzed up over a first issue book since Chew” - ComicList

“This is one that just worked. If you’re keeping track of what’s happening in the news and politics, you could read this and say, ‘No… Well, maybe …’” – The Event Magazine

Newsarama interview about DWO

ibrill — Tue, 12 Jun 2012 22:10:14 -0400

Newsarama interview about DWO :

I talk a little DWO, a little but about what comics on the Internet might be, a little bit about death. You know, fun stuff.

My interview on Graphic Policy's podcast

ibrill — Mon, 11 Jun 2012 23:00:14 -0400

My interview on Graphic Policy's podcast:

I had a great conversation with Brett about the comic, that then veered off into topics like Kickstarter, how people’s expectations and tastes are changing. Enjoy.

DRACULA WORLD ORDER may have still happened if I had not...

ibrill — Mon, 11 Jun 2012 09:27:16 -0400

DRACULA WORLD ORDER may have still happened if I had not discovered Ministry and the song “N.W.O.” off of PSLAM 69, but it probably would have had a different name.

Ministry’s middle period during the 90’s is a portrait of perfect intensity. Alien Jourgensen’s forceful and paranoid outlook (apparently the big hats is a fashion choice to distract any would-be assassins) crystallized into some of the loudest and most severe rock and roll ever recorded. The song is inspired by then president George H.W. Bush’s use of the term “new world order” during his speech to Congress about the first Gulf War (sampled in the song) and the conspiracy culture that grew in a post-Cold War world (see also THE X-FILES and elements of Bill Hicks’ comedy). I’m not one for conspiracies themselves, but I am interested in the feelings of loss and powerlessness that leads one to such a drastic outlook. What I found most fascianting is that Jourgensen phrases the relationship of power in romantic terms:

How to love without a trace of dissent

I’ll buy the torture cause you pay for the rent

and

I’m in love with this malicious intent

You’ve been taken but you don’t know it yet

It intimates all kinds of relationships of domination and submission, whether they be one ones of economics, romance, or drug use (a subject of many Jourgensen’s song…as well as his life). DRACULA WORLD ORDER sets out to use the vampire myth to explore all of that.