Now Available - The Brutal Blade of Bruno the Bandit Vol. 4 AND Bruno the Bandit: A Card Game!

Looks like Xmas came early! As of today, not only do I bring you the latest volume of The Brutal Blade of Bruno the Bandit, available now in print and digital download formats, but I am proud to announce Ian McDonald's latest creation, "Bruno the Bandit: A Card Game"!

"The Brutal Blade of Bruno the Bandit" Vol. 4 features seven more stories from the webcomics archives of www.brunothebandit.com, featuring some of the finest stories and characters from the comic's history, including Elysia the fame vampire, Eunyce, Warrior Hottie,and Shub-Megawrath, the single mother she-goat with a thousand young!  

This issue features a brand new cover by "Thieves & Kings" and "StarDrop" artist extraordinaire, Mark Oakley, as well as a pinup by Weird Tales and Lovecraft Ezine alumnus Steve Santiago.  It's a package I'm proud to present, and one I know you readers (and Brunatics!) will love.

"The Brutal Blade of Bruno the Bandit Vol. 4" is available right now in print from Amazon and digitally from DriveThruComics.  Check it out today! 

But that, as they say, is not all!  Launching today only at DriveThruCards.com, we have "Bruno the Bandit:  A Card Game".  It's a fantastic new game, quick to learn and easy to play. Now you can take Bruno beyond the printed page and try your skill against your fellow bandits in this game of loot or be looted.

One night at the Belching Hydra (the seediest and most dangerous watering hole in the kingdom of Rothland) an argument breaks out:  who is the best thief in the land?  You and your fellow crooks make a deal: whoever steals the most valuable loot in one night shall be  declared the greatest thief in Rothland!  But beware:  the Rothland Imperial Guard are on the lookout for criminal activity this night.  Not only that, other Rothland citizens are out and about this eve, and can cause you no end of trouble. Finally, your fellow thieves are not above stealing your ill-gotten gains from you, should you let your guard down.  You will need nerves of steel, dogged determination, and a ruthless streak a mile wide to be crowned Rothland's King (or Queen) of Thieves!

The game includes 85 cards, a downloadable rule book, and even has a code for a free digital copy of the first volume of "Brutal Blade of Bruno the Bandit". All in all, it's a fantastic deal, and a game so good, it's criminal!

"Bruno the Bandit: A Card Game" is only available at DriveThruCards, so get over there and loot your copy right now!

UPDATE: Here's a photo of a hand from the first copy of the game printed, now proudly owned by Ian McDonald.

 

Quick Update....

I'm fooling around with a store page, which you'll now see in the top navigation bar. It looks a little ugly right now...bear with me while I proceed to break everything trying to figure out how to make this work.

Brutal Blade of Bruno the Bandit Vol. 4: Cover Artist Announcement!

Volume 4 of "The Brutal Blade of Bruno the Bandit" is coming together at this moment.  The book is largely compiled and is just waiting on a pinup and a couple of spot illustrations (I guess I'd better get those done, huh?).
A huge step forward for this volume is the fact that I've just received the cover art for the book, and let me tell you, it looks great!  Rather than keep you guessing, let me introduce the cover artist for BBoBtB Vol. 4, Mark Oakley!
Those of you who know Mark's work must surely be as stoked as I am to have him aboard for this issue.  Those of you who don't know Mark's work owe it to yourself to get out there and get your hands on some of it as soon as possible.
Mark is the creator of the popular and incredibly good comic book series "Thieves & Kings", as well as the more recent and likewise good series "Star Drop".  As both a self-publisher and a comics creator his work has been an inspiration to both Ian McDonald and myself.  I count his work on Thieves & Kings as one of the two major influences on my design decisions for the current incarnation of "The Journals of Simon Pariah". 

I was lucky enough to meet Mark at a local signing a few years ago, and have run into him at several events since then.  I think I've had him sign just about everything he's ever published for my collection (be sure to check out all the items for sale in the sidebar of his site to see the wide variety of work he has available).
.After the last Hal-Con, I finally got in touch with him about doing some art for a collection of Ian's work, and just this past Sunday, I was delighted to hold in my hands a Bruno the Bandit original by Mark Oakley!

One of the best perks of publishing Brutal Blade so far has been that I get to do color work under art by some of my favorite artists in the fantasy genre.  This time, I'm going to get the pleasure of working with Mark's art, and just hope that I can do it justice.
Meantime, while I'm bringing it all together, here's a preview of one of his character sketches from the Brunoverse, the foul dread lord Numth'kul.  Enjoy!

Update: The Journals of Simon Pariah #1

This is just a quick post to let everyone know that I've made corrections to the files for issue 1 of "The Journals of Simon Pariah", and the revised versions are now available on CreateSpace and DriveThru Comics, with copies soon to be available on Graphicly and Wowio.  So get out there and grab the new and improved Simon Pariah today!

Lessons Learned in Self-Publishing: Be Careful What You Wish For

In my opinion, the next best thing to a sale is a review.  I'm always happy to send out a review copy to anyone who writes for a public forum and is interested in reviewing one of the books I publish.  Even better when a reader takes the time, unbidden, to write some helpful comments about something they've read.
So, I was briefly thrilled to check my email this morning and find that someone had both read and reviewed my new book, "The Journals of Simon Pariah" on DriveThruComics.

Very briefly.

Apparently this reviewer was less than thrilled with my book, rating it a mere two stars, an adding the following comments:

"I felt like I had been misled based on what I had read in the description. I thought I would be reading original ideas using past events/figures both real and imagined. This story was basically a retelling of RE Howard's "The Thing in the Crypt" featuring Conan the Barbarian. The author freely admits after the tale his character was inspired by Howard's creations as well as another sword/sorcery author.
The art was good and supported the story but I found the illustration of Wolverine to be unnecessary and detrimental to the feeling of the time period the author was trying to create.
The text could have benefited from a good proofreading. There are numerous grammatical mistakes in punctuation and spelling that could have been caught.
I did like the format. I like comics that are text heavy with fewer illustrations allowing for better fleshed out storytelling.
All in all this might not have been the strongest issue to start the series. Perhaps it might have worked better as a flashback."

 Ouch!

What I'd like to do is go through this review point by point, constructing a good argument to explain how this reader has misunderstood the book, and how what he sees as flaws are the same things I consider strengths.

I'd like to do that, but I won't.

I won't do it because there's nothing to be gained by it.  If I respond to every bit of negative criticism, I'm only going to make myself look worse, and not add anything productive to the conversation.
I also think that no matter how good an argument I construct, I won't change this reader's mind...he's read the book and formed his opinion, and that's that.  Better luck next time.
I won't do it because I think he's right.  At least insofar as to say that his criticism is as valid as anyone's, and whether I agree with him or not, he's got every right to express it.
Finally, and most importantly, I appreciate that this reader took the time to write this review and let me know what he thinks.  It's well written and attempts to be constructive, and balanced with some positive commentary as well.  Whether he enjoyed the book or not, at least he took the time to respond to it, and give me something I can learn from and, hopefully, grow on.  That's worth a lot to me.

The lesson is, if you're looking to get into self-publishing, you'd better grow a thick skin when it comes to reviews.  Not everyone is going to praise your efforts, and people will more quickly jump on the keyboard when they've got something negative to say.  Don't turn every bad review into an argument or it will only weaken you in the eyes of your readership.  Instead, try to appreciate the feedback, learn something from the comments and move on.  That's just one of the ways you grow as a creator.

In the meantime, why don't you try the book for yourself and tell me if you agree with this review?  If you're a blogger/reviewer/journalist, contact me and let me know where you'll be writing your review, and I'll set you up with a comp copy of the book.  Everyone else can grab a copy for under a buck over at DriveThru Comics and then join in the conversation.

Presenting: The Journals of Simon Pariah #1

After a long wait, and a long-traveled road, "The Journals of Simon Pariah" is live and now available on Amazon.
Some readers may remember Simon from his old incarnation at webomics host Keenspace (the files are still up at http://simonpariah.comicgenesis.com for now), or perhaps from my earlier days of trying to get other publishers and distributors interested in the book.  I've been working on this idea for a long time, and although it's been publicly dormant for a few years, I've never let go of it.  More than any other, it's the story that I want to tell and I'm beyond thrilled to finally be able to bring it to the world on my own terms and under my own banner.
For the uninitiated, the book description I've used at Amazon and elsewhere tells you all you need to know for now:

""The Journals of Simon Pariah" visits entries from the career of an immortal adventurer, charting his travels through time and around the world. Encountering figures whose shadows loom large over history and legend, he is sometimes witness, sometimes participant, sometimes prime mover to the events that have shaped our world. 
Written and illustrated by Dominic, this book combines a love of classic fantasy, historical fiction and pulp adventure with a Japanese influenced art style in an attempt to make something that is as entertaining as it is thought-provoking. Won't you join the adventure?"

Further to that, I can tell you that there is an overarching story to the Simon Pariah books that will unfold slowly over time.  In the meantime, the book will be very episodic, with self-contained stories set in various times and places.  The whole thing will make a coherent whole one day, but I'm in no rush to get there.

The book is 28 pages, black and white with a color cover.  Like anything else I publish, it will be done on an "as soon as I can get to it" basis, but I plan to get out several issues a year, so it won't be a glacial pace.  Regarding the first issue, I can tell you that I don't try to hide my influences in this one, and fans of Robert E. Howard's work will find it very interesting.

So....from here it's up to you, the reader.  It's up to you, in large part, to determine how well this book does, and through that how well I do at producing this book.  And the best way you can determine that is by buying the book.  It's available right now in a print edition for $3.99 USD at Amazon, and in a digital edition at DriveThruComics for just 99 cents.  Get out there and give it a try!  Then come back here and drop a comment to let me know what you think of it; I'll be waiting to hear from you.

Seasons Greetings from AIM Comics!

This is coming a day late, and we're always a dollar short around here, but here's wishing a Happy Whatever You Do to all and sundry this year.  To celebrate, here's a nifty piece of art I swiped from two-time Brutal Blade pinup contributor Mike DeStasio.  It's a holiday themed tribute to Frank Frazetta and all things wintry and wonderful. 
Be sure to check out Mike's self-published comic, Blod, especially if you're a fan of all things sword-and-sorcery.  It's great old-school barbarian fun!