Category Archives: Blood Feud

13 Days of Pan-demonium: T(r)oll Bridge

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Week One of The 13 Days of Pan-demonium concludes, yet we’re still celebrating the publication of BLOOD FEUD: THE SAGA OF PANDORA ZWIEBACK, Book 1, on sale right now from StarWarp Concepts and all fine online bookstores.

Now on deck: CAANAN GRALL!

Visitors to the news site Comic Book Resources may recognize Caanan’s style from their ongoing feature “The Line, It Is Drawn,” in which artists take readers’ ideas for pinups and really go to town on them. The one that really grabbed my attention was an X-Babies Christmas drawing he did: the X-Babies all asleep in their beds—except for Lil’ Rogue, who’s staring up in wonder at Santa Claus flying by overhead in his sleigh. It was so charming I thought, Well, I just have to get this guy to do a Pan drawing!

His idea: Pan and Annie try to cross a footbridge, only to have a troll demand payment. My response? Give him a uniform! After all, who’s to say New York’s Bridge and Tunnel Authority wouldn’t hire trolls to collect tolls? They’re experts at it!

Good thing Annie brought her change purse…

Check out Caanan’s webcomic “Max Overacts” at his Occasional Comics site (the link’s above), and keep an eye out for his latest “The Line, It Is Drawn” appearances at Comic Book Resources.

The 13 Days of Pan-demonium continue! Come back tomorrow for the return of Pan comic artist Eliseu “Zeu” Gouveia!

13 Days of Pan-demonium: Chopping Maul

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Day 6 of The 13 Days of Pan-demonium has arrived, and we’re still celebrating the publication of BLOOD FEUD: THE SAGA OF PANDORA ZWIEBACK, Book 1, on sale right now from StarWarp Concepts and all fine online bookstores.

Give a big welcome to ELIZABETH WATASIN!

I first became aware of Elizabeth through her small-press minicomics starring A-Girl, and then followed her full-size comic work in the anthology Action Girl and her own self-published comic, Charm School—think of it as Twilight long before there was a Twilight, only with better writing, romance without being cloyingly overwrought, and interesting characters. 😉

When I was putting together plans for the 13 Days, I started looking around for artists I thought would be a good fit for the project, and remembered Elizabeth. A quick Google search for her site, an exchange of e-mails, and YAY! she agreed to join the party!

The idea of Gothic Lolita vampires mixing it up with Pan and Annie at a mall is all her idea, and made complete sense to me—after all, where else would you find the “vampire fashionistas” mentioned on the cover of Blood Feud? The lame title for the piece, however, is entirely my fault.  😀

Currently, Elizabeth is working on the final draft of her first dark-fantasy novel, Wit’s World: Never Was. You can read the latest serialized chapters at her site (click her name link above), and check out her A-Girl and Charm School comics. You’ll be glad you did.

The 13 Days of Pan-demonium continue! Come back tomorrow to see who our next artistic guest is!

13 Days of Pan-demonium: The Pan-tom of the Opera

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It’s day 5 of The 13 Days of Pan-demonium, in which we’re celebrating the publication of BLOOD FEUD: THE SAGA OF PANDORA ZWIEBACK, Book 1, on sale right now from StarWarp Concepts and all fine online bookstores.

Say hello to artist LOUIS SMALL JR.!

Those of you who follow horror comics and “good girl” art (and combinations of the two) probably remember Louis as the penciller of Harris Comics’ Vampirella comic books during the 1990s, when scantily clad bad girls were all the rage—if a comic back then had Vampirella in the title, odds were good he was drawing it!

I first met Louis at the 1993 Great Eastern Convention in New York, shortly after Harris’ Vampirella #1 (volume 1) had hit comic shops. I was pleased to meet him; he was annoyed that Harris was promoting the artist drawing the story arc after his, instead of the guy currently drawing the series—they didn’t even have copies of Vampirella #1 for sale at the show!

But Harris’ screwup turned out to be a boon for me. Based on the respect I’d shown him at the convention, Louis offered to draw—for free!—the cover to my upcoming Lorelei #0: the first full-size comic starring a succubus character I’d created a few years before. And then he came back to draw the cover for Lorelei #1!

These days Louis is…I guess you could say semiretired from the comics industry, but you can still find him sketching away at conventions and taking on tons of commissions.

And before you ask…”Pan-tom of the Opera”? Yeah, definitely one of my ideas. And that’s probably one of my least lame Pan-related puns!

The 13 Days of Pan-demonium continue! Come back tomorrow to see who our next artistic guest is!

13 Days of Pan-demonium: You Want a Salad With That Stake?

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It’s day 4 of The 13 Days of Pan-demonium, in which we’re celebrating the publication of BLOOD FEUD: THE SAGA OF PANDORA ZWIEBACK, Book 1, [link] on sale right now from StarWarp Concepts and all fine online bookstores.

Today’s artist is DAVE HOOVER!

When I joined DeviantArt a couple years back and started looking around at the kind of amazing stuff posted there, it was Dave’s pinups of Supergirl and Red Sonja that caught my eye, and I added them to my Favourites. There was something familiar about his name, although it took me a little while to figure out where I’d seen it—why, in various comics titles during the ’90s!

Invaders and Captain America for Marvel, GrimJack for First Comics, Starman for DC…fantastic! And now he was drawing Charmed for Zenescope. Great! Hey, how can I get this guy to do a pinup of Pan and Annie for me?

Turns out all I had to do was ask.  😀   And as for the result…well, it’s a real beauty, isn’t it?

And somewhere in the art archives is a convention sketch he did of LORELEI, the succubus character I created who was StarWarp Concepts’ first leading lady—and who’s returning to print shortly in the graphic novel Lorelei: Sects and the City. I came across Dave’s drawing a few weeks ago while straightening up the crypt; maybe I’ll run it as part of the promotion I have in mind for the SWC site when Lori’s book makes its debut.

Hmm…maybe I should talk to him about a new Lorelei pinup…

The 13 Days of Pan-demonium continue! Come back tomorrow and meet an old friend of mine who knows a thing or two about drawing pretty girls himself!

13 Days of Pan-demonium: Alas, Poor Zombies…

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Welcome to day 3 of The 13 Days of Pan-demonium, in which we’re celebrating the publication of BLOOD FEUD: THE SAGA OF PANDORA ZWIEBACK, Book 1, on sale right now from StarWarp Concepts and all fine online bookstores.

Today’s artist is: TERESA CHALLENDER!

Those of you who follow indie comics may recognize the art style in the above illustration, but not the name of the artist herself. That’s because Resa used to go by the name Teri S. Wood, famous for her character-driven science fiction comic Wandering Star. (Ahhh, now you remember her!)

I’ve long been a fan of Resa’s art, and when I stumbled upon her new Web site in my Internet travels I was pleased to see she’s still in the game—only now as one of those big-timey webcomic creators all the kids are digging these days. Fortunately, she was able to find time in her busy schedule to present her unique vision of the dreaded Zombie Apocalypse. (Hey, even ravenous dead guys need time off from constant brain-munching to catch up on their reading!)

Currently Resa’s posting a Wandering Star issue each month on her site (she’s up to #4 of 21), but she’s also working on her long-gestating dark-fantasy project, Darklight. You can check out her latest doings at Resa Fantasy Arts.

The 13 Days of Pan-demonium continue! Come back tomorrow to see who our next artistic guest is!

13 Days of Pan-demonium: Are These Ghouls in Trouble, or What?

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Welcome to day 2 of The 13 Days of Pan-demonium, in which we’re celebrating the publication of BLOOD FEUD: THE SAGA OF PANDORA ZWIEBACK, Book 1, on sale right now from StarWarp Concepts and all fine online bookstores.

Today’s artist is: JIM COON!

I first saw Jim’s work in his self-published comic 8-Ball—and as so often with any artist, he doesn’t like to be reminded of his early efforts. So just walk off the pain, son!  😉

Years later, I had the pleasure of sitting next to Jim at one of the Small Press Expos that are held every year in Maryland. He didn’t do much business at the show (neither did I), but we and my friend Richard C. White (writer of the comic Troubleshooters, Inc., and the Star Trek e-book Echoes of Coventry) had a fairly good time in the depths of misery. 😀

I hadn’t been in much contact with Jim since those SPX days, but when I started formulating plans for the 13 Days promotion, I knew he was one of then artists I had to approach. And I was right! The Gahan Wilson approach he used for this illo is just great.

Who’s next on our list of amazing artists? Find out tomorrow!

The 13 Days of Pan-demonium Are Here!

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Welcome to our artistic celebration of the publication of my novel BLOOD FEUD: THE SAGA OF PANDORA ZWIEBACK, Book 1, which is on sale right now from StarWarp Concepts and all fine online bookstores.

We kick things off with the art of:

HENAR TORINOS DE LA TORRE!

DeviantArt visitors may recognize this Madrid-based artist by her pseudonym: Liester.

It was on DA that I came across her incredible manga-influenced work, and quickly became a fan. See, after I’d gotten my own page up and running, one of the first things I did was go searching for “happy Goth” art to add to my Favourites gallery—hoping there actually were happy Goths out there, otherwise I might’ve been in some serious trouble with Pan connecting with any potential fans (her being a happy Goth, and all).

Luckily, one of the first images to pop up was Henar’s “Happy Goths Exist!” It was such a fun piece that I immediately added it to the gallery. And after looking at the rest of her art I decided that if there were ever a Pan-related project, I’d have to approach her and ask her to contribute. And so, here she is to lead off the “13 Days” event!

The piece is called “Pandora Rocks!” Pan and her best friend, Sheena McCarthy (another Goth) attend a death-metal concert starring their favorite band, Sarkophagia. And what an audience turnout! Demons! Gothic Lolita vampire girls! Lollipop-stealing zombies! And keeping an eye on everything is Pan’s monster-hunting mentor, Annie.

It’s fun, it’s vibrant, and I think it’s the perfect piece to unleash all this pan-demonium—don’t you?

What artistic Panterpretation comes next? Stop by here tomorrow to find out!

Welcome, Boils and Ghouls, Fiends and Nayboars!

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Hey, there! Welcome to the Interwebs home of fictional full-time horror fangirl and part-time monster hunter Pandora Zwieback.

I’m author Steve Roman, and THE SAGA OF PANDORA ZWIEBACK is my first attempt at a dark-urban-fantasy book series. This isn’t my first time writing, however—if you check out the author section you’ll get all the background on my novel, short story, and comic book writing credits. (X-Men, Final Destination, zombies, succubi—I’m a reg’lar idea factory!)

 

 

As for the star of this book series…

Pandora Zwieback is a 16-year-old Goth who’s just discovered the world is brimming over with monsters, and a lot of them are fixed on either ruling humanity… or eating it! But with the help of an immortal, shape-shifting monster hunter named Sebastienne Mazarin—Annie, to her friends—Pan will learn how to stop them…hopefully. That’s the idea, at least…

(FYI, it’s pronounced ZWY-back, not “zwee-back.” Yes, both pronunciations are correct, but I prefer the long-I sound. In fact, at last year’s New York Comic Con I met two women with that very name—and that’s how they pronounce it, too.)

Pan’s story kicks off with BLOOD FEUD: THE SAGA OF PANDORA ZWIEBACK, Book 1, in which competing vampire clans seek the key to unleashing hell on earth—and the only people who can stop them are a teen Goth and her monster-hunting mentor. (And trust me, not one of these vampires is of the sparkly variety!) Click on the Blood Feud book cover at the top of the sidebar for more information.

The print edition of BLOOD FEUD will be available through the Starwarp Concepts webstore, as well as online stores Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble.com, WH Smith in the UK, and Angus & Robertson in Australia, among others. And I (and everyone at Starwarp Concepts) would certainly appreciate it if you helped spread the word and got your local indie bookstore to order it, too.

And don’t worry, e-readers! There are PDF, Kindle, Kobo, Nook, and iPad editions in the works, as well. I’ll keep you updated as each version becomes available.

But that’s not all the good news! To whet your appetite for my Goth girl’s weirdsome tales, check out the online schwag:

• The Saga of Pandora Zwieback #0! It’s a full-color e-comic—with sample chapters from Blood Feud—in which Pan herself gives you the lowdown on her book series. Story by me, art and color by Eliseu “Zeu” Gouveia, the extremely talented artist of such comics as The Phantom and Infiniteens. You’ll find the comic link in the sidebar.

• Downloads! Give your computer the fiendish makeover it’s always wanted with action-packed wallpapers of Pan and Annie, and print out your very own copy of the Pan bookmark that I hand out at conventions. Just visit the Downloads page to get started, and you’re sure to become the envy of every ghoul in the nayboarhood!

• A Blood Feud trailer! Animated by Web designer extraordinaire Dave De Mond, using Zeu’s artwork from the Pan e-comic, it’s a fun little intro to Pan’s world.

And starting next week, we’ll be unleashing The 13 Days of Pan-demonium! It’s an artistic celebration of Blood Feud’s release in which thirteen artists present their unique interpretations of our resident Goth girl, with a new piece of art posted each day on this blog. More news on that in the next blog post!

That’s all for now. Thanks for stopping by, and…pleasant screams!