But you must avoid the mighty chorus line of Death to do so. Here is where to go to read all of AGENTS OF ATLAS #1 without paying jack. Come on aboard.

Ugly secrets of Atlantis await you, as well as the history of Mr. Lao, which I prefer to call DRAGON FIGHTING A GENIE. Go see your friendly local comics retailer and get that sweet action, now.

I wasn’t there, but Pat Sun was at Heroes, and if you were there, odds are good you’re in his Flickr photo sets. You can see the pieces that were being done for the famous Heroes auction, lots of costumes (like Scarlet Witch, who was well-documented in almost everyone’s photos) and some good shots of the discussion panels. Well done, Sun!

Adam Healy made a facebook video of the place he spends so much of his life, COSMIC MONKEY COMICS on Sandy Boulevard, mere blocks away from my house. I keep talking about how impressive this store is (and how very Portlandy) but this video shows it better than I can describe. At the end is a barrage of monkey sketches that artists have done for the shop over recent years. Right on, Adam and Andy.

In preparation for our watery wedding next week, CBR has a big preview of Agents of Atlas #7. Because that is how they roll beneath the ocean, don’t you judge. Art is by Glorious Gabriel Hardman!

AGENTS OF ATLAS #0 is up at Marvel.com for you to read, gratis. Spread this around to people you think will like our book but haven’t stuck their toe in the water yet. Or on a forum where you hang out.

To go with that, here’s Craig Rousseau drawing Namora this past weekend in Charlotte, courtesy the collection of Robert Jewell- thanks Robert!

So we’ve set up a page for reviews on the Underground official site, and so far advance readers are responding as we hoped. How do we have reviews already when the book doesn’t come out until September? Because we’re GIVING IT AWAY in pdf form! It’s black and white that way, but Lieber’s art always works even without color- which you can also see some of the color pages too in the Preview section.

If you’re a supporter of more down to (and below) earth adventure stories like this, please link undergroundthecomic.com and let people know on message boards where you think it will be welcome news. I’m so entrenched in superheroes from my day job, that I don’t know the better places to go and talk the book up. We also hope to get the word out to outdoors camping/hiking/climbing/caving enthusiasts who don’t know there are comics they would be into. The book is up for order now (Diamond Order code: JUL090341) so now is the time.

One of the all time great comics shows, Heroes is happening in Charlotte, NC this weekend, and I won’t be there. Which eats me, I hate missing that show but I’ve got deadlines to make and it’s not as easy to get to now that I live in the Northwest. I plan to return next year by any means necessary.

If you’re going though, you’re in for good times. And you should seek out Gabriel Hardman and make him sign lots of copies of AGENTS OF ATLAS. He’ll be at the SUPER HUMAN RESOURCES | BOOTH 530 with Corinna Bechko, so you can also pick up their keen horror gn, Heathentown. It’s a new show for them, so bring them some sweet tea and biscuits and say Southern things at them. Once that’s done, you can work your way through the massive guest list of the comics industry’s best.

Agh, this kills. I’ll be checking your tweets and postings all weekend for vicarious experience, have a good time.

Mysterius 6 is in stores today, the last we’ll see of Delfi and The Man for a while. It became obvious that most people who knew of this book planned to tradewait it early on, so it’s real life is going to happen in February (I know, I know) when the trade comes out. The inverse math on this boggles my mind- I think it’s easily one of the best books I’ve been involved with, and easily one of the least read. At least they’re giving me and Tom Fowler the chance to stuff it full of neat extras, maybe even a little original material. For those of you who did seek it out and praise it, thank you, your support means a lot to us.

Ooh, I wonder how it ends…

Right on Lieber and Rucka, the movie ball is rolling forward full steam…

WHITEOUT MOVIE TRAILER at Slashfilm. Okay, that got taken down.

Here’s one at Youtube!

It’s quite a day to be Steve Lieber. And no, we did not know this trailer was coming out today when we were planning to launch the UNDERGROUND site. But we’ll accept this.

Zack Smith talks to me and Steve Lieber about our new book UNDERGROUND coming out from Image in September. Which means one must order now! And which also means I better go over to the Underground website and make a real post. I don’t know why Zack grabbed black and white pages when I provided color ones *UPDATE- The culprit was Matt Brady! (Zaaaack!) (BRAAAA-DYYY!), but you can see a color preview at the site, as well asread an entire black and white pdf.

Since Steve and I are finally back to creator-owned material, obviously building awareness is the challenge. I would appreciate it if you could spread our website link far and wide, click Recommend at the Newsarama article, and leave a note about Underground for your local comics retailer atop a box of chocolates. Okay, if you could do just two of those things, I’d be grateful. Hope you enjoy the first issue…

AGENTS OF ATLAS #10 & 11
Written by JEFF PARKER
Penciled by DAN PANOSIAN & PAUL RIVOCHE
Covers by DAVE JOHNSON
There’s no enemy quite like a former lover, is there? The gloves are all the way off as Jade Claw and her forces begin assaulting Atlas on every front! The Agents throw everything they’ve got at the Great Wall, but to no avail. Gorilla-Man is convinced only ONE member of the team can possibly stop the rain of pain…
32 PGS.(each)/Rated T+ …$2.99 (each)

For other rocket nerds out there, I found this article over at RocketryPlanet.com. The builder is Steve Eves who does autobody work and undertook the task of making a 36 ft. scale model of the Saturn 5 rocket. You can then get closure by watching one of the youtube videos of the launch, which goes off perfectly- and surprisingly lands straight up thanks to the multi-chute recovery. Pretty inspiring.

UNDERGROUND #1 (of 4)
story JEFF PARKER
art & cover STEVE LIEBER
SEPTEMBER 23
32 PAGES / FC
$3.50

As WHITEOUT readies to hit theaters worldwide, artist STEVE LIEBER returns to the adventure genre with a new thriller, pairing with acclaimed writer JEFF PARKER (AGENTS OF ATLAS, EXILES)!

Park Ranger and avid caver Wesley Fischer is on a one-woman mission to stop Stillwater Cave from being turned into a tourist trap, but public opinion is not on her side. When locals begin blasting in the cave, Wes and a fellow ranger investigate – and a confrontation spirals into a deadly chase deep under the Kentucky mountains!

Creator owned baby. Spread the word!

That’s right, host John Siuntres didn’t call his podcast show Speech Balloon or Speech Bubble, because that’s not what those are called. It’s Word Balloon, and this latest segment John and I talk about everything under the sun. And he must have had to edit an hour out, because I rambled off topic like crazy. So go listen to my weird Mike Nesmith-y voice and John’s perfect radio baritone as we go in depth on every book I work on, and some I don’t.

And yes, there are 70’s decade variants from Marvel, not just 80’s and 90’s. You know this is what Marvel has been building to for almost 50 years, ask for it.

I can’t keep straight what it’s called, but it’s going to be fly…

Giant-Size Special #1. This is misleading as I only write the bookend bits, but you’re going to love Scott Gray’s (his name- he was born to write them) handle on the mutants, and Craig Rousseau’s art. Also, I illustrate a Roger Langridge story! Read the Preview at CBR.

You can get THREE books today from me- you get your Exiles 3, your Agents of Atlas 6, and the collected Age of the Sentry- all just by walking into a comics shop! That’s fat readin’.

Dave Richard and I talk about all things Agents of Atlas over at Comic Book Resources, and it’s chock full of art from way upcoming issues. Including MR. LAO FIGHTING A GENIE. Atlas 6 is in stores Wednesday, art by my man Gabe Hardman.

Over at CBR, another fat, juicy preview of Agents of Atlas 6 where some taboos get broken, Atlantis style. I wish I could take credit for the Pirate recap page.

Come out to the shop and see me and original creator Kyle Hotz get behind the cloak of Parker Robbins. And yes, I still think editor Bill Rosemann thought of asking me to write just because of the character’s name.

So Colleen and Lieber have already done their Hero Initiative charity covers, and I have not. This time it’s Wolverine: Weapon X blank covers to be drawn on and auctioned, and since I don’t draw regularly, I needed to spend some time doing warm-up roughs to click into gear. Unless I change my mind, my piece will probably be based upon this last sketch.

I think I can do something cool with this basic notion. But as I said, I needed to do roughs just to get to this point because I’m so rusty. And for some reason, all my roughs had Wolverine being a complete a**hole. I have to get stuff like this out of my system, it’s for charity. Below the cut- snikt! Read more »

Talking with Kevin Mahadeo over at Marvel.com today, mostly about THE HOOD series, but other books as well. (laughs)

Another winning Comics Reporter Sunday Interview, this time with Jim Ottaviani talking about his book with Kevin and Zander Cannon, T-Minus: The Race To The Moon. For some reason I was inspired to write one of those bafflingly cheeky Hollywood Reporter/Variety style headlines. I apologize.

Another FAT preview courtesy Comic Book Resources. Where Agents of Atlas 5 just made the Buy Pile, too.