Our Library of American Comics line of deluxe comic strip reprints grows by two titles in November (not to mention Volume 1 of THE COMPLETE BLOOM COUNTY, too–that one’s in stores on October 6. So soon enough, we’ll actually have enough books to start our own library, albeit a rather small one…):

In the September issue of Previews, we’re offering the first issue of a new 3-part series by Steve Niles and Bernie Wrightson called THE GHOUL. And in Previews, there’s a little “Certified Cool” stamp that some books in the catalog get; in this case, the book was given that status, but we updated the image to make it “Certified GHOUL.”

Anyway, here’s the art for the second issue of the series, both the colored version (hues added by Tom Smith/Scorpion Studios) and Bernie’s original lineart, too.

Angel: Smile Time HC
Astro Boy: Movie Adaptation #1
Doctor Who #2
G.I. Joe: Origins #6
Star Trek: Spock: Reflections #2
Transformers: All Hail Megatron #14
Transformers: Animated AllSpark Almanac

When WEEKLY WORLD NEWS #1 hits in January, one of the covers will emulate the look of the newspaper itself. Which allowed me to be the reporter/headline writer and Alan Robinson to be my “photographer,” as you can see in both the full-color and newsprint variant versions:

For the variant cover, we wanted to pay tribute to the great Alex Ross, so Joe Corroney did just that with this cover (note: Bat Boy does not appear in spandex in the actual comic):

And the original Alex Ross image:

Joe Hill posted the artwork over at his site, so I’ll do the same now: Gabriel Rodriguez‘s amazing cover art for the coming LOCKE & KEY: CROWN OF SHADOWS #2. The series returns in November.

Last one for now. UFO Alien might be from another galaxy, but he’s predicted every Presidential election outcome since the Reagan era. However, he did get the Obama election results wrong (so in that, he and Ed Anger agree. In that and nothing else). In the miniseries, he’s a talkshow favorite, funny and engaging and, until 2008, always right about his predictions. But something seems to be clouding over his prognostication abilities. And this something just mmmmight (okay, is) be related to Ed’s travails in the series, too.

UFO Alien also gives me a nice bridge between my last series, GROOM LAKE, and this one. Which paves the way for a possible future Archibald guest-spot in the WWN series…

The brains of the operation in the upcoming WEEKLY WORLD NEWS series, lovingly rendered by series artist Alan Robinson. PhD Ape is a psychologist to the stars, sort of a better-looking and more civilized and hirsute Doctor Phil. And really, it’s no contest between the two anyway: when’s the last time Phil peeled a banana with his foot while helping counsel damaged celebs?

This scaly, beer-drinkin’ good ol’ boy from the Florida Panhandle plays a good role in helping Ed Anger through a big problem in the coming WEEKLY WORLD NEWS miniseries. Because who wouldn’t accept help from a half-man/half-reprtile with a slight porn addiction?

In the WEEKLY WORLD NEWS series coming in January, the main character in the mini will actually be Ed Anger, even more than Bat Boy. Ed is the WWN’s columnist who sits to the far right of the far right (for example, he thinks the rain forest should be paved). In fact, the series revolves around the guy, since the first miniseries subtitle is “The Irredemption of Ed Anger.” (I’m pretty sure “irredemption” will eventually be deemed an actual word and added to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, after the dictionary people read this series.)

Below are Alan Robinson‘s original sketch, and the finished version. Ed was modeled just a bit after Clint Eastwood’s character in GRAN TORINO. Even though Ed thought the character in that movie was a hippie liberal…

At Comic-Con, we too some people by surprise in mentioning that we were going to be doing comics based on the WEEKLY WORLD NEWS tabloid newspaper characters. I’m going to be writing the series, which debuts in January, and Alan Robinson is handling the art. I thought I’d show a bit of what we’ve got cooked up so far (as I type this, two scripts are written, two covers each for the first two issues are done, and the first half of issue 1 is drawn, so we’ve got a good jump on where it’s all headed. And where that is is, somewhere far afield of even GROOM LAKE. It’ll have a good narrative and tells a solid story, but it does have bits of ridiculousness that top anything I’ve done so far. Issue 2 is the most fun I’ve ever had on a script).

Before getting more into that, though, let’s lead off with the look of our main character, Bat Boy. In this series, as in the tabloid, he’s our Zelig, our Forrest Gump, an innocent who happens to turn up at momentous events. But is he really that innocent? And how does he turn up everywhere like he does? That’s what another of the characters, Ed Anger, sets out to find out. More on Ed tomorrow. For now, BAT BOY:

Alan’s initial sketch:

And the final look of the character (art and colors by Alan; this image will make up one part of the final first issue cover, which will emulate the newspaper’s look and design. I’ll post the first issue covers later this week. One of ’em is a nice Alex Ross swipe… I mean, tribute.):