Pandora Zwieback: Creating Blood Reign’s Cover, Part 1

Posted on June 12, 2015 by steven

Yesterday, I finished up the story behind the creation of the cover for the first Saga of Pandora Zwieback novel, Blood Feud. It was fairly simple in construct: I did a sketch of what I was looking for, handed it off to painter Bob Larkin, and he took it from there. Once Bob had delivered the final art, it went to designer Mat Postawa, who crafted the final look of Blood Feud’s cover. For the second novel, Blood Reign, however, I wanted something a bit more storytelling in its imagery—something that would end up making it a two-artist situation.

Now that the heroine’s-first-issue cover approach had been taken care of by using it for Blood Feud, the idea this time around was to create a dramatic image that would catch the eye of potential book buyers and entice them to explore the novel behind the cover. Of course, Bob Larkin was going to paint this cover, too, so I knew the final results would be amazing—but what, exactly, was I looking for him to paint? And then I remembered a first-issue cover that Bob had painted for Marvel Comics’ Tomb of Dracula magazine, back in 1979.

Tomb_of_Dracula1

The composition was exactly what I wanted, so I did what any smart-thinking publisher would do: I asked Bob to knock off the Dracula painting for Blood Reign. 😀 Just substitute Dracula with Lady Kiyoshi Sasaki, leader of Blood Feud’s Japanese vampire clan, House Otoyo, and replace the damsel in distress with Pan. Bob was okay with that, and was prepared to start sketching, but then I realized something: Since Kiyoshi’s wardrobe, as well as that of her entire clan’s, was based on Elegant & Gothic Lolita fashion—think nineteenth-century clothing with a modern-day twist, popular with not just Japanese youth, but American cosplayers—I’d be asking Bob to try and figure out a clothing style he’d never heard of, and be accurate about it so the image wouldn’t annoy Goth Lolis (as they’re known). My solution? Get another artist to design Kiyoshi and her dress, and then have Bob use that for the painting.

Enter: Eliseu “Zeu” Gouveia, then-artist of The Saga of Pandora Zwieback #0, the free comic that introduces readers to Pan’s world (and still available for download; just click the link to obtain your own copy). Being something of a manga and anime fan, Zeu immediately understood what I was looking for, and soon enough came up with a design for Kiyoshi that he incorporated into the sketch you see here (click to enlarge), based on Bob’s Tomb of Dracula cover. A good start, but I thought the top half of Kiyoshi’s outfit was too oversized—she kinda looks like she’s wearing football shoulder pads—and that her all-black clothes set against Pan’s all-black clothes would be hard to see at a distance. Also, I wanted her looking forward; having her head turned sideways just raises the question “What’s she supposed to be looking at?”

So Zeu went back to the literal drawing board for a second-round sketch…

Next: The exciting conclusion to this pulse-pounding tale of cover artists and Gothic Lolitas!

Pandora Zwieback: Creating Blood Feud’s Cover, Part 2

Posted on June 11, 2015 by steven

Back on June 1st I told you about the start of the creative process behind the cover art for Blood Feud, the first Pandora Zwieback novel: I commissioned painter Bob Larkin to bring Pan to four-color “life,” then sketched out what I was looking for, and not too long after Bob delivered a final sketch that I approved. And then I realized that the bloody smiley face image on Pan’s T-shirt would have to be redesigned, or potentially risk drawing the ire of a French company that’s owned the smiley face trademark since 1972. But what could replace that iconic image? Well…what about a brand-new image?

So I pulled out my drawin’ pencil again and started sketching. I wanted to retain some elements from Uriel Caton’s design, so the Band-Aid across the “nose,” the crosshatched bruise, and the stuck-out tongue stayed; now I just needed a face to put them on. Then the idea struck me: how about the head of a devil girl? Bright-red skin and horns, a pageboy hairstyle, and bright-green eyes would go really well with those “I just got in a fight, so what?” elements. In no time at all I had a design I liked, and e-mailed it to Bob for him to give it a professional finish. Thus was the Official Pandora Zwieback T-shirt born! (Which, by the way, you can purchase from the StarWarp Concepts webstore.)

Now it was on to the actual cover painting, and when Bob was finally able to clear his busy schedule he got right to work, and the result is what you see here. Nice, huh? I had just one problem with it: there was too much red in the background. The concept I’d handed to Bob was that the Hudson River behind Pan—we’re looking at Manhattan’s West Side from New Jersey, for those who were wondering—was supposed to be a river of blood; making the skyline just as red worked against it. Bob’s rationale was that sunlight reflecting off a bloody river would “paint” the buildings red, which I could understand, but still…no. I’d rather have the bloody Hudson made as unsubtle as possible.

So I turned to Mat Postawa, the series’ book designer (and part-time metal head), to ask what could be done. Like Bob, I’ve known Mat—and SWC’s other genius book designer, Mike Rivilis—for years, having worked with him in the trenches of publishing house ibooks, inc., when I was its editor-in-chief. As I explained to Mat, for the Pan series I wanted a distinctive look for the cover designs that would appeal to both teenagers and Goths, but would also draw the eye of a general book buyer curious about the novel’s content. “You’re already familiar with the kind of audience I’m trying to reach,” I told him. “So take your best shot. And, uh, can you do something about those red buildings in the background?”

After a few rounds of give-and-take, each one better than the last, this was the look we settled on:

You couldn’t ask for a better cover! Mat adjusted the buildings’ color; deepened the background and added a hint of blood splash to the edges to make Pan stand out brighter; and even hand-lettered the Blood Feud title. Having Pan on the spine was my idea—for any self-publishers out there, it’s always good to keep in mind that your book might show up spine-out on a store’s or library’s shelves, so an eye-catching graphic is essential. I also wrote the back cover copy, and thanks go out to Mike Rivilis, who, after looking at the first-pass design, remarked that I’d overwritten the copy—there were originally four paragraphs. And since Mike has a long history of designing covers for young adult novels (two examples being Daniel Parker’s Countdown and Francine Pascal’s Fearless series), I listened when he said there shouldn’t be more than three paragraphs on a YA cover. He was right—it makes for punchier text.

“Lock it in!” I told Mat. “This one’s a keeper!”

So, there you have it: the story of Blood Feud’s cover, from first sketch to final design—just as action-packed as you’d expected it to be, right? 😉

Next: Creating the cover for Blood Reign, the current novel in Pan’s saga.

Bob Larkin at Eternal Con 2015

Posted on June 8, 2015 by steven

Eternal Con 2015 runs this Saturday, June 13, and Sunday, June 14. And although the StarWarp Concepts crew won’t be attending, Bob Larkin—cover painter of my Saga of Pandora Zwieback novels Blood Feud and Blood Reign, and featured artist of his own Bob Larkin Sketchbook—is scheduled to be there as a guest of honor, with his own table in Artists Alley. To locate him you’ll probably have to look no farther than the hordes of Doc Savage, X-Men, and Dazzler fans gathering at his table.

Eternal Con is being held at the Cradle of Aviation Museum, in Garden City, Long Island. For more information, head over to the Eternal Con website.

By the way, have you purchased a copy of The Bob Larkin Sketchbook yet? If not, you’re missing out on spectacular pencil drawings of Doc Savage, Spider-Man, Batman, the X-Men, and other subjects, and features a special, full-color cover drawing of a certain Goth adventuress. It’s 24 pages of artistic goodness, available exclusively from the StarWarp Concepts webstore. Visit the Bob Larkin Sketchbook product page for all the ordering information, as well as sample pages.

IndyFest Magazine Profiles StarWarp Concepts

Posted on June 2, 2015 by steven

IndyFest85-cvr

Good news, everyone! StarWarp Concepts is the cover feature of Dimestore Productions’ just-published IndyFest Magazine #85, in which Managing Editor Ellen Fleischer interviews author and SWC publisher Steven A. Roman (that’s me) about the company’s critically acclaimed releases—including my novel series, The Saga of Pandora Zwieback—and SWC’s first lady of horror, Lorelei. Just as exciting is the fact that the cover art is a special illustration of Pan crossing paths with Lori, by Eliseu “Zeu” Gouveia, artist of SWC’s The Saga of Pandora Zwieback #0, The Saga of Pandora Zwieback Annual #1, and Lorelei: Sects and the City!

Although the print version retails for $6.00, you can obtain the digital edition of IndyFest Magazine #85 for free from Dimestore’s website; just download the issue from right here.

IndyFest is the brainchild of publisher Ian Shires, one of the mainstays of small-press comic book publishing. Back in the early, early days of The ’Warp, when it was just me writing and drawing Lorelei comics, publishing things like the original version of Richard C. White’s Troubleshooters, Incorporated, and printing everything on photocopiers, Ian was one of the fellow self-publishers I bought mini-comics from (I think it was his series Dungar the Barbarian). His Dimestore Productions house has grown significantly since then—as has The ’Warp—so it was nice to be in touch with him again. And special thanks go out to IndyFest managing editor Ellen Fleischer for setting up the ’Warp coverage!

Now head over to Dimestore Productions and get your free digital copy of IndyFest Magazine #85!

And don’t forget SWC’s latest releases, which are now on sale: my young adult, dark-urban-fantasy novel Blood Reign: The Saga of Pandora Zwieback, Book 2 continues the monster-fighting Goth girl’s struggles to prevent a monster takeover of the world; and in Lorelei Presents: House Macabre, the flame-tressed succubus tries her hand at hosting a horror anthology comic, in stories written by yours truly and Dwight Jon Zimmerman, with art by Uriel Caton & “Chainsaw” Chuck Majewski, Lou Manna, John Pierard, and Juan Carlos Abraldes Rendo.

Pandora Zwieback: Creating Blood Feud’s Cover, Part 1

Posted on June 1, 2015 by steven

Wow, talk about getting sidetracked! When I wrote the introductory post for this discussion of cover designs, back in March, I didn’t know I was going to about to get caught up in a ton of freelance assignments, mixed with a barrage of promotional work (interviews, mailing out press kits and review copies, etc.) to help get the word out on Blood Reign: The Saga of Pandora Zwieback, Book 2 (on sale now, of course). Let’s recap and pick up where I left off, okay?

In 2008, I’d decided to resurrect StarWarp Concepts after an absence of three years, and turn the company into a book-publishing house, rather than just a home for my comic projects. It also meant a switch in a company focus from the Mature Readers character Lorelei—a succubus I’d created in 1989, and the star of SWC’s first comic series—to something more inclusive of a wider readership. To do that, the first project for the revived SWC would be The Saga of Pandora Zwieback: a young-adult, dark-urban-fantasy novel series I’d shopped around to major publishers for a couple of years, with no success. I still had plans for Lorelei, and for adding more titles to the budding release schedule, but Pan was going to be the new face of The ’Warp—and she was going to make her debut at the 2010 New York Comic Con, where I’d let the world know that StarWarp Concepts was back, better than ever.

There was just one thing, though: I needed a graphic to show off to the con-goers; I needed a banner to hang from the back of the booth. But in order to fashion that banner, I needed images to display—specifically Pandora Zwieback images. Which meant that first I’d have to commission cover art for books 1–3 in the series: Blood Feud, Blood Reign, and (originally) Stalkers. And there was only one artist I had to mind to tackle that assignment: Bob Larkin.

If you’ve been reading this blog for a while, by now you should be familiar with Bob Larkin—I’ve certainly written about him often enough! But if you’re still unfamiliar with his work, here’s a small sampling of what he’s painted:

LarkinArt02

Marvel Comics: covers for Dazzler, Star Trek: The Motion Picture, Star Wars, Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Jaws 2, Battlestar Galactica, Savage Sword of Conan the Barbarian, Tomb of Dracula, Haunt of Horror, Planet of the Apes, Crazy, and The Hulk!

Warren Publishing: covers for Creepy, Eerie, Famous Monsters of Filmland, The Rook, Warren Presents: Pantha the Panther Girl, and Vampirella

New World Pictures, Pathé, TriStar Pictures, Troma Studios, United Artists: movie posters for Heaven’s Gate, Humanoids From the Deep, Night of the Creeps, Piranha, Piranha II, Terror Train, The Toxic Avenger Part II, Troma’s War

So, y’know, the guy knows how to paint. And that doesn’t even count the hundreds of book covers he’s provided to numerous publishers, most notably his run of Doc Savage covers for Bantam Books (and for my own X-Men: The Chaos Engine Trilogy novels, from BP Books/Simon & Schuster). So when I outlined my plans to Bob, he immediately jumped on board. All he needed was for me to show him what I was looking for.

So, loath as I am (not to mention embarrassed) to sketch out things for artists who are far better draftsmen than I, I picked up a pencil and started laying out my idea for Blood Feud. After a couple of days of trial and error, what you see here was the final result; click it to see it in its full horrifying glory. Still, it wasn’t too bad, I thought. The background is an obvious paste-up job, using a photo of NYC’s skyline as the background, but it got across the NY setting and “river of blood” element I wanted for the Hudson River—there were going to be vampires in the book, after all. And Pan stands in the foreground in what comic book fans would recognize as a traditional first-issue, here’s-the-star-of-the-series cover pose. Not the most action-packed image, but I wasn’t going for action so much as establishing Pan’s attitude. And it was still better than most mainstream publishers’ bland, extreme-close-up cover photos. So I sent it on to Bob, who, like most commercial artists, is appreciative of clients who know what they want—it spares the artist the teeth-grinding frustration of playing “I’ll know it when I see it” with clients who ask for multiple versions of a project before, more often than not, deciding that the first version was the right one all along.

A few days later Bob e-mailed me his more realistic interpretation of my cartoony sketch (yes, you can click on this one, too). Sold! He’d subtly changed Pan’s body language and given her head more of a slight attitudinal tilt, and it was all perfect. I gave him the green light to take the sketch to the painting stage, and now all that was left was waiting for him to deliver the final art…

Except I suddenly realized I had a big problem in the making. See the design on Pan’s T-shirt—the bloody smiley face? That’s the look that Pan’s co-creator, Uriel Caton, came up with when he drew the first character sketches in 1998, and I thought it looked great—a T-shirt that had as much attitude as the girl wearing it. And so it remained for the next decade…until the first trailer for Warner Bros.’ movie adaptation of the DC Comics graphic novel Watchmen was released in 2008, and the studio got hit with a notice from a French corporation called The Smiley Company.

A little history, courtesy of Smithsonian.com: It turns out that, although the creation of the Smiley Face is attributed to American graphic artist Harvey Ross Ball, who designed it in 1963 for an advertising client, both parties never filed for a copyright or trademark and it dropped into public domain usage. Enter French journalist Franklin Loufrani, who in 1972 trademarked the image for his Smiley Company—which currently takes in more than $130 million a year for licensing rights.

Apparently no one at the studio had checked to see if an image that had become so identified with Watchmen, and so necessary to its plot—thanks to writer Alan Moore and artist Dave Gibbons—might have rights issues attached that needed clearing before the movie could be released. Oops. Nevertheless, an agreement was quickly reached that included the Smiley Company’s trademark language appearing in the film’s closing credits.

Well…good for Warner Bros., but bad for me, because Pan’s T-shirt needed to be redesigned immediately. Why get hassled by major corporations when I could take the easy way out? And so I set to work on finding a solution…

Next: Making with the cover design magic for the Blood Feud final cover.

Book Expo America 2015: The Goth Takeover

Posted on May 29, 2015 by steven

Yesterday I attended Book Expo America—North America’s annual get-together of book industry insiders, held this year at New York’s Javits Convention Center—to wander the aisles and check to see the placement of my Saga of Pandora Zwieback novels, Blood Feud and Blood Reign, at the booth run by the IBPA: the International Book Publishers Association—a worldwide organization that StarWarp Concepts belongs to, dedicated to spreading the good word about indie publishing companies large and small.

So what were my impressions of BEA 2015? Find out by heading over to the StarWarp Concepts blog for my book festival report, and reading all about it!

BEA2015-PanBooks

The next three stops on the StarWarp Concepts 2015 convention tour are the Brooklyn Book Festival (September 20), the Collingswood Book Festival (October 3), and the “holy crap, it’s full’a zombies!” Walker Stalker Con (December 4–6). Hope to see you there!

Happy World Goth Day!

Posted on May 22, 2015 by steven

world-goth-poster Now celebrating its sixth anniversary, World Goth Day (always held on May 22) puts a spotlight on Goth culture and all its perks (it’s not all about black clothes and clichéd dour attitudes, you know). To quote the official website:

Goth Day is exactly what it says on the wrapper—a day where the Goth scene gets to celebrate its own being, and an opportunity to make its presence known to the rest of the world. It all started off as “Goth Day” just in the UK back in 2009—originating as a musical subculture weekend on the BBC 6 music station which focused on punk, Brit-pop and Goth (the Goth feature was on May 22)—but the following year we decided to push the idea across the globe.

For more information on World Goth Day, including links to the many events being held to celebrate the occasion, visit the WGD website.

Hoover_Pandora And who better to celebrate World Goth Day than our resident Goth adventuress, Pandora Zwieback? Generally a happy Goth (yes, they exist) and major horror fangirl who likes to paint and write and hang out with her friends and her new boyfriend, Javier Maldonado, Pan also has her hands full these days battling monsters in her novel series The Saga of Pandora Zwieback—written by yours truly. And you can check out her adventures in these titles:

The Saga of Pandora Zwieback #0: A free, downloadable comic that serves as an introduction to both Pan—with an 8-page story written by me and illustrated by Eliseu Gouveia—and her first novel, Blood Feud (via a pair of preview chapters).

“Pandora Zwieback and the Bloggy Thing”: A 1,300-word mini-adventure at the site Writing Belle that involves Pan racking her brains to find something to write about herself for the fictional horror site The Society of Classic Monsters—the major problem being she’s never written a guest post before. Coming to her aid is her best friend, Sheena McCarthy, who has an idea or two about how the Goth adventuress can promote the books. Think of it as a sequel to The Saga of Pandora Zwieback #0.

Blood Feud: The Saga of Pandora Zwieback, Book 1: This critically acclaimed novel is the beginning of Pan’s story, explaining how she, her parents, and her friends, are drawn into a conflict among warring vampire clans searching for the key to an ultimate weapon (or so the legend goes)—a key that just so happens to have been delivered to the horror-themed museum owned by Pan’s father. It’s a character-driven action-fest that leads immediately into the second novel:

Blood Reign: The Saga of Pandora Zwieback, Book 2: Pan faces even greater challenges as the clans draw up plans to go to war with humanity. Leading the charge is a fallen angel named Zaqiel, whose previous attempt at subjugating the world was stopped by Pan’s monster-hunting mentor, Annie—who, back in the day, was Zaqiel’s lover!

The Saga of Pandora Zwieback Annual #1: A spinoff from the novel series, this 56-page, full-color comic special finds the teenaged Goth adventuress battling vampires and a jealous, man-stealing siren. It features stories by me and Sholly Fisch (Scooby-Doo Team-Up), art by Eliseu Gouveia (The Saga of Pandora Zwieback #0), comic-art legend Ernie Colon (Amethyst, Princess of Gemworld), and Elizabeth Watasin (Charm School), and cover art by award-winning artist Henar Torinos (Mala Estrella).

Blood Feud, Blood Reign, and the Saga of Pandora Zwieback Annual are available in both print and e-book formats. Visit each of the titles’ product pages for more information, including sales links and sample pages and chapters.

Pandora Zwieback Mini-Story at Writing Belle

Posted on May 19, 2015 by steven

Blood-Reign-FinalCvr The promotional tour for Blood Reign: The Saga of Pandora Zwieback, Book 2 continues today at author Summer Lane’s site Writing Belle, where as part of her Spring Author Program, you’ll find a guest blog post from author Steven A. Roman (that’s me) in the form of a (very) short story about Pan being asked to write a guest post for a horror site’s blog, to promote the book series about her. How meta can you get?!

“Pandora Zwieback and the Bloggy Thing” is a 1,300-word mini-adventure that involves Pan racking her brains to find something to write about herself for the fictional horror site The Society of Classic Monsters—the major problem being she’s never written a guest post before (like her creator!). Coming to her aid is her best friend, Sheena McCarthy, who has an idea or two about how the Goth adventuress can promote the books. Think of it as a sequel to the non-canonical The Saga of Pandora Zwieback #0, the free digital comic in which Pan introduces herself to the reader and shills for the first novel, Blood Feud. In this marketing “splinter universe,” Pan is very much aware that I’m writing books about her—because StarWarp Concepts is paying her royalties for her monster-fighting life story! So head over to Writing Belle and check out her latest effort to help spread the word.

Speaking of promos for The Saga of Pandora Zwieback, over at my Goodreads author page I’ve activated the “Ask the Author” function. So if you’re a Goodreads member and you’ve got a question about Pan’s saga, Lorelei: Sects and the City, X-Men: The Chaos Engine Trilogy, Final Destination: Dead Man’s Hand, or any of the other projects I’ve written over the years, head over there now and ask away!

Happy Children’s Book Week!

Posted on May 4, 2015 by steven

cbw_2015_poster In case you hadn’t heard, this week marks the 96th anniversary of Children’s Book Week, the longest-running national literacy initiative in the USA. Events are being held all around the country to encourage young readers of all ages (that includes you teenagers out there) to either discover the joys of reading, or reintroduce you to them.

Speaking of books for teen readers, have you met Pandora Zwieback, star of my young adult novel series The Saga of Pandora Zwieback? Pan is a 16-year-old Goth girl who’s spent the last decade being treated for mental health problems because she can see monsters. It’s only after she meets a shape-shifting monster hunter named Sebastienne “Annie” Mazarin that Pan discovers she’s never been ill—her so-called “monstervision” is actually a supernatural gift that allows her to see into Gothopolis, the not-so-mythical shadow world that exists right alongside the human world.

And for lovers of illustrated fiction (in other words, comics and stuff), we have a collection of titles you might be interested in:

Snow White: StarWarp Concepts’ presentation of the classic story by the Brothers Grimm features full-color illustrations first published in 1883 (and they really are beautiful drawings), and is available for immediate download for the low price of just 99¢!

The Saga of Pandora Zwieback #0: A free, downloadable comic that serves as an introduction to both Pan—with an 8-page story written by me and illustrated by Eliseu Gouveia—and her first novel, Blood Feud (via a preview chapter).

Troubleshooters, Incorporated: Night Stalkings: Perfect for superhero fans, this graphic novel is about a supernatural team of superfolk-for-hire, consisting of a wizard, a sorceress, a female ninja, a high-tech-armor-wearing rock concert lighting designer, and a werewolf. Written by the husband-and-wife team of Richard C. White (The Chronicles of the Sea Dragon Special) and Joni M. White, and illustrated by Reggie Golden and Randy Zimmerman, Night Stalkings presents the TSI members on their first mission: protecting a multimillionaire from a trio of Middle Eastern demons out to raise a little hell!

The Chronicles of the Sea Dragon Special: Available for just 99¢, this 48-page one-shot stars the mysterious Captain Asheera, his elven first mate, Safir, and the rest of the crew of the privateer Sea Dragon in a rousing, swashbuckling adventure perfect for fans of the Pirates of the Caribbean film franchise and other classic sea-faring epics. Written by Richard C. White (Troubleshooters, Incorporated: Night Stalkings), with art by Bill Bryan (House of Mystery, Dark Oz), the special features cover art by Eliseu Gouveia (The Saga of Pandora Zwieback).

Snow White, The Saga of Pandora Zwieback #0, and The Chronicles of the Sea Dragon Special are digital-exclusive titles, but the Pandora Zwieback novels and annual, along with Troubleshooters, Incorporated, are available in both print and digital formats. Visit each of the titles’ product pages for more information, including sales links and sample pages and chapters.

Happy Birthday, Alex Nino!

Posted on May 1, 2015 by steven

Today, comic artist supreme Alex Nino turns 75. If you’re unfamiliar with his work, then do yourself a favor and check out his website for some of his amazing art. His most recent projects included Image Comics’ zombies-on-the-high-seas miniseries Dead Ahead (the first-issue cover is reproduced here) and Bliss on Tap’s metaphysical series God the Dyslexic Dog, but his long list of credits include comics for Marvel (Savage Sword of Conan the Barbarian, Power Man) and DC (Thriller, House of Mystery) and design work on the animated series The Real Ghostbusters, and the Disney animated features Mulan, Treasure Planet, and Atlantis: The Lost Empire.

dead-ahead-2008 And if you head over to the StarWarp Concepts blog, I have a two-part post—one that appeared yesterday, one that’s up today—that covers the time when Alex and I worked on the graphic novel Sunn, about a teenaged boy with superpowers inherited from his Superman-like father. The twists involved were that the boy was a huge manga fan whose costume is somewhat demonic-looking (based on Japanese oni); that the guy writing the book (me) wasn’t a manga fan; and that Alex, a Filipino artist with decades of credits to his name, was asked to draw in a manga-esque style! Head over to the SWC blog and see how it all turned out.

Happy birthday, Alex!