AVATAR PRESS FOR NOVEMBER

Following are Avatar Press' solicitations for November, with information coming from the publisher.

APPARAT TITLES

WARREN ELLIS' ANGEL STOMP FUTURE #1

Written by Warren Ellis, art and cover Juan Jose Ryp.

Warren Ellis launches his new creator-owned line of books with the first four books from Apparat. The four Apparat books are inspired by the pulp magazines of the 1930's and imagine modern-day comic books that evolved from the pulps without the influence of super-heroes. Each issue features a full-length story with extra text material by Ellis. Ellis describes the creation of Angel Stomp Future, "I love the science fiction pulps. Always have. I own dozens of sf pulps from the 30s, and books of their covers. The sf pulps still survive today, in the shape of monthly digest-size magazines. But they don't have the true spark of madness in their covers, and rarely in their content. You could look at those old covers and see people opening up the throttle and just letting rip, getting as crazy as possible, just for the hell of it, just for the art and the sound of it. Ryp is the spiritual heir of those early sf pulp artists working at the upper limit of imagination and endurance, filling every inch of his pages with exquisitely illuminated insanity and producing it at almost impossible speeds. Me and Ryp, making some noise. Angel Stomp Future now."

32 pages, black and white, $3.50, in stores on Nov. 17.

WARREN ELLIS' FRANK IRONWINE #1

Written by Warren Ellis, art and cover by Carla Speed McNeil.

Ellis describes the creation of Frank Ironwine, "The crime pulps were possibly the most influential of that whole publishing movement. Raymond Chandler. Dashiel Hammett. People who changed the face of literature published in the crime pulps. As pulps faded away, the crime writers moved to books rather than comics, and on from there to Hollywood. Crime is the map we build our houses around. Everything's based on crime. This is how Frank Ironwine sees the world. New York's built on the bones of the people who were murdered to make it happen. There are no new crimes in New York City, not really. They've all happened before, and understanding their patterns is a step towards understanding the city. But no crime is ordinary."

32 pages, black and white, $3.50, in stores on Nov. 17.

WARREN ELLIS' QUIT CITY #1

Written by Warren Ellis, art and cover by Laureen McCubbin.

Ellis describes the creation of Quit City, "The aviation pulps were the first to fade from memory. AIR WONDER STORIES. G8 And His Battle Aces. Dusty Ayres And His Battle Birds. Not just combat pilots, but adventurers and heroes, fighting strange wars in the air. From a time when flight was still a little like magic, and aviators were heroes. They were an elite group, brave and skilled, technological explorers. The aviator hero couldn't survive the future, of course. Pilots are no longer rare and remarkable creatures. Like all great leaps, they became old ground. And so has Emma Pierson. She's the truth and the metaphor, and the classic pulp adventure story thrown into reverse. She's the aviator heroine who's turned her back on it all. She's quit and gone home. She actually thinks she can go back to her old life, and that nothing's going to follow her. And she's almost right."

32 pages, black and white, $3.50, in stores on Nov. 17.

WARREN ELLIS' SIMON SPECTOR #1

Written by Warren Ellis, art and cover by Jacen Burrows.

Ellis describes the creation of Simon Spector, "Doc Savage, man. The Shadow. The Spider. They were the guys. The antecedents of the American super-heroes, and sharing something of a tone with the British stuff too. These were the guys who didn't screw around. They were stinking rich, mad as arseholes and so bored or otherwise up themselves that they couldn't help but run around and get entangled with bad guys. And did they turn the bad guys over to the cops? Did they hell. They shredded the bad guys with hails of bullets, often from machine pistols they designed themselves to kill the bad guys more quickly and more messily. At best at BEST they abducted the bad guys and performed back room brain surgery on them to Make Them Better Citizens. And then they'd go home to play the violin badly, shag their secret mistresses and, in Doc Savage's case, play with a little box of vials that even as a kid I was convinced contained drugs of some kind. For those of us who loved the pulp heroes, but thought that back then things were a little too coy and way too white, I give you Simon Spector: superhuman detective adventurer who is also, frankly, here to take drugs and kill people."

32 pages, black and white, $3.50, in stores on Nov. 17.

AVATAR PRESS TITLES

GARTH ENNIS' 303 #2

Written by Garth Ennis, art and cover by Jacen Burrows.

Garth Ennis, the author of Preacher and writer of Punisher, is unleashed on his newest major, full-color, creator-owned epic. This all-new series features the artistic talent of Jacen Burrows and the colors of Nimbus Studios. Russian Spetsnaz battle British S.A.S. for a prize buried deep in Afghanistan's mountains but neither suspects that a third force is watching their every move. Soldiers are reduced to pawns as a lethal adversary makes its move, striking with devastating force at anyone warrior or innocent who stands in its way. Just what is the secret that inspires these men to fight so hard, so far from home? Find out in issue #2 of 303. Available in regular and wraparound covers by Burrows.

32 pages, $3.99.

BRIAN PULIDO'S LADY DEATH: DEAD RISING

Written by Brian Pulido, art by Romano Molenaar and Di Amorim, cover by Juan Jose Ryp.

Lady Death is back, now at her new home of Avatar. Want to know the inside scoop on the two upcoming full-color Lady Death series from Avatar Press and creator Brian Pulido? Then this book is the answer. Learn everything you need to know about the monthly Medieval Lady Death series which picks up right where CrossGen's Lady Death: A Medieval Tale left off. See art and designs from the new series artist Di Amorim! Also, get an intimate look at the reintroduction of the Chaos! Comics era "Classic" Lady Death! The original Lady Death has never been more powerfully portrayed than this series with stellar art by Romano Molenaar! Featuring scripted pages, character designs, a cover gallery, script pages, an introduction by creator Brian Pulido and more. Being dead never looked so good. Available in four special covers, standard with art by Juan Jose Ryp (limited to 6000 copies), Medieval Lady Death with art by Sean Shaw (limited to 2000 copies), Classic Lady Death with art by Matt Martin (limited to 2000 copies), and a Leather cover with art by Juan Jose Ryp (limited to 700 copies). Allocations are likely.

16 pages, black and white, $2.50.

BRIAN PULIDO'S BELLADONNA #3

Written by Brian Pulido, art and cover by Clint Hilinski.

Brian Pulido's full-color tale of vengeance continues. Colleen MacGrath's wedding to Donovan was to unite two powerful Irish families in bliss. Instead, all their hopes and dreams were laid to waste by marauding Vikings. Now a year later, on Samhain, Morrigan the Celtic goddess forces Colleen to rise and claim vengeance as Belladonna. In this issue, the hunt for the Vikings who killed her love leads her into an enslaved town. With a huge number of foes, she must call on her animal friends to help lead the assault/ With art by Clint Hilinski and stunning colors by Nimbus Studios, Belladonna will appeal to the legions of fans of Lady Death. As well as this regular cover, also available with covers by Ron Adrian, a wraparound by Hilinski, and a special Premium by Paulo Sequeira (limited to 2000 copies).

32 pages, $3.99.