And a deep thank you to everyone at the Isoptope. It was an amazing event. And thanks to the fans who came to hang out with us, it was great talking and having a party with everyone.
And James, I’m still the bigger Blondie fan! 
xoxo
DC Comics – The New 52 Art Tour
Featuring BATWOMAN @ Isotope
w/ JH Williams III & W. Haden Blackman
Saturday, December 3rd 2011
DC Comics celebrates the incredible creativity behind The New 52 with superstars, artwork and events at a store near you with The New 52 Art Tour!
In honor of this historical event the Isotope in San Francisco and DC Comics proudly present JH Williams III and W. Haden Blackman for a BATWOMAN signing, celebration, and original art installation. Meet the creators behind this gorgeous and critically acclaimed new series for a duo of once-in-a-lifetime events. Take an uncommon look at The New 52 Art Tour Portfolio, including six 11×17 sets of artwork (from script to inks to the final full-color production pages), including a three piece BATWOMAN collection. And on display for the entire month of December in the Isotope’s legendary original art gallery will be twenty pages of JH Williams III’s hand-drawn artwork for BATWOMAN issue #3. These pages will only be displayed together for the public this one time, and nowhere else on the planet.
All-Ages Autographing Session
3pm – 6pm
A signing session with the creative team behind BATWOMAN! Isotope’s personal, intimate signings provide a unique fan experience by eliminating the uncomfortableness of long lines and the awkward moments of meeting your favorite creators. While you wait for your signing reservation, hang out with fellow fans in the Isotope’s posh lounge and indulge your eyes in gorgeous BATWOMAN original artwork hanging in the gallery. For those who want to peek even further behind the wizard’s curtain at the process that goes into actually creating this comic, guests will also get a rare glimpse at Williams and Blackman’s original scriptwork.
In an effort to make this as personal of an experience for everybody (and also we’ve promised Jim and Haden we wouldn’t kill them!) we do ask that you bring no more than 5 items to get signed, please. But don’t forget your camera – the Isotope staff will be on hand to help ensure you get great documentation of your meeting!
Batwoman Afterparty
8pm – Midnight
An after-hours 21+ celebration of BATWOMAN with JH Williams III and W. Haden Blackman. Featuring an exclusive, original JH Williams III pin-up pirate girl highball glass made just for attendees of this event.
Isotope Tickets
The glass
Below is the art designed for the glass, the grey areas are there just to represent where the image is see through on the glass…
The date for Batwoman #1 art will be Saturday, November 19th, noon Pacific time. And for your enticement…
Can’t believe we’re already on issue 3. I always find it a strange feeling to work on a project that takes awhile to accomplish, but then its release to the public is rapid by comparison to the time it takes to write and draw this stuff. It creates this weird time distortion in my brain. Below is the final print version of this issue’s cover. As you can see, the trade dress is quite different than when I originally posted this cover months ago. After seeing what DC wanted to do for the company logos, my original Batwoman logo colors and placement didn’t work anymore. So I made adjustments, and I think I like this one better…
Music the last couple days…
Monster Magnet- Mastermind
Lordi- Babez For Breakfast
True Blood- Volume 3 deluxe itunes version
Drive-By Truckers- Go Go Boots
Bauhaus- Mask remastered 3 disc omnibus edition
And Friday we’ll be posting the sale date for art to issue 1!
Because in the latest Rolling Stone, Batwoman has made the Hot List!
While toiling away here, working on Batwoman stuff. This is the eclectic mix of music we’ve been playing in the house lately…
Motorhead- The World Is Yours
Ladytron- Gravity The Seducer
Social Distortion- Hard Times and Nursery Rhymes
Grinderman- 2
Hussey-Regan- Curios
Hank III- Ghost to Ghost / Guttertown
The Kills- Blood Pressures
Orange Goblin- The Big Black
Wednesday 13- Skeletons
Amon Amarth- With Odin On Our Side
Black Box Recorder- The Facts Of Life / England Made Me / Passionoia
Wendy James- Racine 2
Leaves’ Eyes- Lovelorn / Vinland Saga
K.D. Lang and the Siss Boom Bang- Sing It Loud
The March Violets- Love Will Kill You
Miss Li- Dancing The Whole Way Home / Late Night Heartbroken Blues
Patti Smith- Horses
AC/DC- Black Ice
ELO- My own mix
Beck- One Foot In The Grave
And music I’m excited to be arriving at my doorstep shortly…
The Smiths- Remastered Boxset (I’ve been eagerly awaiting the day this stuff would get a sound upgrade. The Smiths are one of the most influential bands, and deserved a sonic improvement long ago)
The Black Belles- full length album is finally on the way (ever since hearing their ep I’ve waited anxiously for a full album, and thanks to Jack White & Third Man Records I’m gonna get one)
The first bit of art for Batwoman will be made available October 22nd at noon PST.
We’re starting things off with pages from Batwoman: Zero. A couple images from that are below. But I feel I should clarify a few things. This issue was an interesting art experiment, in where I shared art space on almost every page with Amy Reeder (our artist for the second arc). This was done to produce simultaneous threads of story, partial Kate Kane, and partial Batwoman. Amy did the Kate Kane scenes, and I did the Batwoman scenes. This approach was brought on to garner different results on how to tell the story, even across double page spreads. And I was the lead on it so my pages presented in the sale are at full size but with blank areas that would fit Amy’s art in digitally. So when looking at the art pages here you’ll see that they do not feature Amy’s portions but show where those would be placed by the open space allocated, as it was done separately from mine. There are some single pages that are all me, as she has a single page thats all her as well. But in most of these we share top or bottom space as exampled below. So hopefully this answers any questions on what to expect when you see these original pages from Batwoman:Zero. If you’re interested in Amy’s art from the issue, you can contact her at her website.
And now for your enticement…
Batwoman #2 released this week. Below is the final trade dress version…
Above is the slightly tweaked second print cover to Batwoman #1, due out in a couple weeks I believe. The tweaking was done by Mark Chirarello, altering the logo color, adding red behind Batwoman’s head, changing the steam wisps from green to white-grey.
I will be making a few store appearances for October, 2 of which are next Saturday on the 1st in Las Vegas. At Comic Oasis earlier in the day, and then Alternate Reality Comics in the afternoon, times and locations are listed in the schedule section for this site. Also Alternate Reality is hosting a small gallery of the art to Batwoman # 1 from now till the end of October. If you’re in the Vegas area or feel like getting away from home, come by either store, or both, and say “hi”, hang out and chat with us. In addition to the gallery showing of Batwoman #1 art, I will be bringing plenty of portfolios to sift through at each store, including preview pages of upcoming Batwoman issues.
The next appearance will be on October 8th at Comics Plus in Los Banos, please check for time and location in the schedule. I will have art with me there too, come and hang out for awhile. (No link to a website that I could find)
I won’t be making any other appearances until December, which will be at the Isotope in San Fransisco, this one will have some special stuff going on, details soon.
MUSIC lately, more old school and newer stuff…
Duran Duran – just some b-sides and mixes
The Makers
Enigma
Leaves’ Eyes
The Eden House
Black Box Recorder
Jimmy Destri
Mount Sims
Sons & Daughters
Closed On Account Of Rabies: Poems and Tales of Edgar Allan Poe (a fun and strange mix of music and Poe readings)
Danielle Dax
Well, as everyone can see the new DC initiative is paying off in spades. Everything is selling out it seems and having to go back to press. Yay us!! I’m happy that the response has been so good, and this is with orders that were much higher than everyone anticipated. So its a good time for DC, and it also seems that fans are enjoying most of what they’re trying out too.
I’m hearing that Batwoman has become hard to find in some places depending on where you’re located, but more copies should be ready soon.
I want to say thank you to all of the fans that have supported our efforts all of this time. Your enthusiasm has been humbling. Thank you to Greg Rucka for creating the foundation of Kate Kane with me on Elegy, and then graciously letting us take over the wheel. Thank you to Mike Siglain for getting this whole thing going before leaving DC. I’d also like to thank everyone involved on our team for this first issue of Batwoman’s continuing story, Dave Stewart, Todd Klein, Mike Marts, Janelle Asselin, all of the editorial support team at DC, and most of all my partner in crime, Haden Blackman. Haden and I’ve been friends and creating together for many years before tackling this version of Batwoman. His partnership with me on this has been priceless, and we feel the best is yet to come, or so we hope.
And foremost, I want to thank my wife, Wendy, everything she does makes this possible.
While waiting for new second prints, or for issue 2, please continue to share comments here and also drop Haden a line at the link below. I know he’d love it.
Haden’s site.
Tomorrow and Now…
Well, its finally here. Check it out at your favorite place to buy comics. And I hope you enjoy our efforts, they’re just revving up!
5 days to go…
If you haven’t done so already, read Batwoman: Elegy and Batwoman: Zero issue, the story continues…
In the CD player of late, a good mix of sounds, old school and new…
Duran Duran
Radiohead
Phoenix & The Oracle
Alabama 3
My own mix, rare tracks from individual members of Bauhaus (David J, Peter Murphy, Daniel Ash, Kevin Haskins)
Prince
Milla Jovovich
Devlin Love (of Alabama 3 fame)
HIM
The Makers
Ramones
Blue Oyster Cult
The Damned
Boris
Portishead
The Kills
Tricky
Killing Joke
9 more days to go. Here are pages 2 and 3 without the frills…
And here is another new interview for Frontiers.
Drew part of a venus flytrap yesterday.
13 days to go till the launch of Batwoman. It has been a long road, but hopefully worth it to you who are going to pick this up. I know I’m happy with what Haden Blackman and I are building. So as we come closer to the release date, I’m going to feature some art every couple days here. A page or two at a time. The art in raw form, black and white, no lettering, no color. I decided to show some of it in this way because preview pages of the finished work are already online through other venues. So here is page 1…
At last we get to have a trade collection on the full Chase material that I had any involvement in, available for pre-order now. Its going to be pretty comprehensive, featuring the full prematurely cancelled series and some short stories. This is just in time for people to get caught up in the origins of Cameron Chase and the D.E.O., as these ideas will have relevance to other work. This was early work by me (along with other cohorts), and I’m still proud of it today. This was also my first foray into writing my own series, along with co-writer D. Curtis Johnson, who sorely needs to return. His talents were tremendous and comics could use his mind again.
Chase was one of those series that came out at time when almost everything new from DC was getting the axe within a year due to slow sales. Ironically, as we were getting chopped, a groundswell buzz was happening around what we were doing, but unfortunately not in time to save the series. In all the years since then, Chase The Series had garnered a cult status, becoming almost more popular after it’s death than when it was alive. I still hear from fans today about it, wondering if we’ll ever get to bring the series back. Even though this work never saw its full completion, that doesn’t detract from it’s worthiness to be on people’s bookshelves. It’s still a good read (or at least I hope so).
The stories were inventive and entertaining, and brought some new ideas to DC, that others enjoyed enough to keep Chase and the D.E.O. alive through other means. These ideas managed to have strong impacts on other titles as Cameron Chase (or the organization she works for) was featured in many series to follow, some of it short appearances, while in others as major supporting roles. But here in this new collection you’ll find the original stories that lead to some interesting ideas, viewpoints on what it may be like to live in a world of fantastic super-powered heroes and villains, on where the normal human being may fit into the grandiose drama of the DC Universe. Sure this isn’t anything new, as many series have touched on this over the years. But I can say we were one of earliest titles to do so. These stories allow the reader to see the DCU from a different point of view, one that I feel can still be valid today. And ideas that I would love another chance to explore more fully. If you are going to be reading Batwoman, this will be essential reading, as it gives some insights to how I view things, and where Haden Blackman and myself may be headed. The full solicit is below…
CHASE TP
Written by D. CURTIS JOHNSON and J.H. WILLIAMS III
Art by J.H. WILLIAMS III, MICK GRAY, CHARLIE ADLARD, YANICK PAQUETTE, BOB HALL, ERIC CANETE, EDUARDO BARRETO, RICK BURCHETT, GREG SCOTT and others
Cover by J.H. WILLIAMS III
On sale DECEMBER 21 • 352 pg, FC, $29.99 US
Collecting a cult favorite series from the 1990s spotlighting the amazing artwork of J.H. Williams III, CHASE stars Agent Cameron Chase. On field assignment for the Department of Extranormal Operations, a government agency with jurisdiction over superhuman activity, she’s about to encounter some unexpected surprises, as her own mysterious powers come into play – powers she doesn’t fully understand.
This spectacular collection includes appearances by Batman, Green Lantern, The Flash, Martian Manhunter, Teen Titans, the Justice Society of America and more, in stories from CHASE #1-9 and #1,000,000, BATMAN #550, DC UNIVERSE SECRET FILES #1, SECRET FILES GUIDE TO THE DC UNIVERSE 2000 #31, SUPERMAN: OUR WORLDS AT WAR SECRET FILES #1, JSA SECRET FILES #2, THE FLASH SECRET FILES #3, THE JOKER: LAST LAUGH SECRET FILES #1, BATGIRL SECRET FILES #1 and HAWKMAN SECRET FILES #1.
One for Multiversity Comics, and they feature a couple articles on me, as well some great ones with other people too, but you can check out the interview here.
Another was done for a french website called ComicsBlog, and here it is in english.
Well, things have been moving along on Batwoman. Which is good since its right around the corner for its release next month. Art on it has been some tough going, but worth it, and I think we’ll have most of the fifth issue of the first arc wrapped by launch date, or pretty close to that. Been working on various scripts, Batwoman, and another unrelated thing. Starting work on scripting for issue 10 in the next couple weeks.
Reading lately has been some random things, a little old school comics stuff, and a newish Image book…
Dark Shadows-Hermes Press (a collection of the old comics from around the time the TV Show was on way back a few decades). Some fun wacky stuff, vampires, witches, werwolves, ghosts, and even time travel. Enjoyed it a lot. I’ll have to pick up the rest of the volumes.
The Atomic Knights- DC (another collection of old school comics). Impeccably illustrated by Murphy Anderson. This has some really bizarre stuff going in here, men (and one woman) in old medieval suits of armor, running around in a 1986-2000 post apocalyptic world, driving hotrods, shooting ray-guns, fighting monsters of all sorts, and fascists. Hell, there is even telepathic waking plants to be seen!! It reads a bit stiffly like a lot of the old comics do but I couldn’t help find it charming, in its willingness to go to some far out imaginative ideas. Whence you immerse yourself into the kookier mentality of it all, the old school style of writing, actually compliments the feel of it all.
Fractured Fables-Image Comics (a new collection of some very fine short stories). It has a plethora of very talented people working in a wide variety genres and styles centered around old and new fable ideas. So it has a nice fresh and playful quality to the whole thing. Very enjoyable.
On The Tube…
Been watching on BBC America a show called Outcasts. It’s a slow burn type show, with lots of character building. It essentially is about the last vestiges of humanity having colonized an Earth like planet, that of course has some mysteries to it, but you have to be patient on the speed of the reveals. It seems to be leading to a revelation of some kind. I like it enough to stick with it, slow burn shows can really pay off if you have the patience to see where they’re headed.
Breaking Bad this season has been a slow burn as well, but still as gripping as ever. The first episode of the new season is pretty damn disturbing. This show remains one of the most brilliant things on TV.
Recent Music…
Prick
David J
Daniel Ash
The Black Belles
Bauhaus
Adele
David Bowie
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club
Paul Weller
Faith and The Muse
Deirdre
Monster Magnet
Drive By Truckers
Placebo
Morphine
Explosions In The Sky
LCD Soundsystem
Marissa Nadler
Wanda Jackson
Some time ago, I was contacted by the book publishing branch of LucasFilm. That they were planning a very special art book based on Star Wars with Abrams Books. This book was going to focus on the art of Star Wars comics, and asked if I’d like to participate, presenting a newer image for them. I was excited to be involved. So I came up with an idea that could feel like a snippet of a comics story, an untold tale, and the page would be like we’re getting to see only one key moment of the story. And this scene would be a widescreen fold out. They liked the idea. I wanted something that was a new character of my creation. I had been told that George was a longtime comics fan. So I also wanted to go for this classic giant monster versus hero idea, like stuff you might see in old Kirby comics, but here it needed to be a mechanical weapon that looked like a creature, giving a sense of story beyond fighting a giant monster. This gives more weight for the snippet of a bigger unseen plot idea. And the scene had to have a strong design sense to it, so it could have a signature look that could be identified with my sensibilities, but still felt like Star Wars when you look at it. I think it was successful. It was a lot of fun to do. The image was done using all simple line and tonal work, then coloring was done using photoshop. The effect I wanted was something that seemed like a meld of line work and paint work, but still had a bit of a graphic punch to it. Here is a preview of the image…
The art-book will be available October 2011, but can be pre-orderd at the following places or at finer book and comics shops everywhere…
Well the San Diego Show is right around the corner. The only appearance I will be making will be on the Gays In Comics panel via a short filmed video. I’m hard at work on the new Batwoman material and unwilling to take time away from that to go to SD for almost a week. But for those of you going please go check out the panel. Below is more information about it, hosted by longtime contributor Andy Mangels. There is going to be some sort of after party gathering, and an auction benefit to which I’ve contributed a quick Batwoman sketch toward (see preview below). I wish I could be there, as I’m sure it’ll be a good time to be had.
Gays in Comics: Year 24!
Saturday, July 23
5:45-7:15, Room 6A
5:30-7:00 Gays in Comics: Year 24! — This all-star panel examines the rising diversity in the comics world today as the long-running “Gays in Comics” panel continues into its third decade at Comic-Con! As mainstream companies DC and Marvel are continue to frontline gay characters such as Batwoman and Northstar, and hire top-level gay or gay-friendly creators, independent publishers and creators are publishing unequivocal content spotlighting gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender characters, to the cheers of the thousands of fans who are out of the comic book closet. Welcome a top-level panel of GLBT and straight creators, who will give amazing insights and glimpses of surprises to come!
Joining founding moderator Andy Mangels, the USA Today best-selling author of Star Trek novels and Iron Man: Beneath The Armor, as well as numerous comic books, are: Robert Kirkman, writer of The Walking Dead and Invincible and head of Image Comics’ Skybound imprint; Chip Kidd, award-winning author, editor and designer of books such as Bat-Manga, Rough Justice, and Jack Cole and Plastic Man; Dan Parent, writer and artist for Archie and Betty & Veronica, and creator of Archie’s new gay character and series, Kevin Keller; Jon Macy, writer and artist of 2010 Lambda Literary Award-winning Teleny and Camille and Prism Queer Press grant recipient for Fearful Hunter; Paul Cornell, writer for TV’s Doctor Who and DC Comics’ upcoming Stormwatch and Demon Knights series; Greg Pak, writer of Incredible Hulks and co-writer of Alpha Flight and Herc; plus, a special video appearance by J.H. Williams III, co-writer and artist of DC’s Batwoman series! Plus, there’s always a surprise or two…
Afterward, stick around for the hour-long gay comics fan mixer/social, hosted by PRISM Comics, with prizes and surprise special guests! Room 6A
7:00-8:00 Gays in Comics Mixer and Silent Auction — hosted by and benefiting PRISM Comics, the nonprofit organization that supports gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered comics, creators, and readers. Mingle with comics fans and creators plus stay for the special drawing of a “Comics Gift Basket” and the silent auction of hot comics items, including original art by Alex Ross, Dan Parent, and J H Williams lll! Room 6A
Auction quick sketch…
Music for your roadtrip (good mix of modern and retro)…
Florence+ The Machine: Lungs deluxe edition
Beach House
The Pretenders
Dead Confederate: Wrecking Ball
Echo And The Bunnymen
The Greenhornes
The Human League
Miss Kittin
Blondie: Panic Of Girls Fanpack edition (I know I’m biased but this album is just damn awesome!!!)
Batwoman is scheduled!
Another interview that I’d done sometime ago for a magazine, but now has the article online…Moonlight.
Music rotation…
Vast
Lou Reed
Lykke Li
Neurosis
Fever Ray
Von Iva
The 69 Eyes
Amarcord (tribute to Nina Rota)
Terror Lake
Soundgarden
Lots of remastered Julian Cope (The Teardrop Explodes: Kilimanjaro, The Jehovah Coat Demos, Peggy Suicide, Jehovah Kill)
Some really cool news has broke about a dream come true for me. As some may know, and certainly close friends do, I’m a huge Blondie fan and always have been. Last year Wendy and I actually got the opportunity to meet the band, it was astounding for me, and that is an understatement. However, certain things developed which allowed me to stay in touch with Chris Stein from the band. It was mutually decided to work together. First discussion was doing cover art for them on their next project following the current release of Panic of Girls. I really didn’t want to post this info until the band brought it up publicly themselves, which they’ve now done. I’m excited beyond words to work with them. Haden Blackman and I also developed a video concept for one of the new songs late last year. They seemed to really like the concept, but don’t know if the video will get done because of budgets and such. Thats how it goes sometimes, but there is gratification just getting the chance to present them with ideas. Seeing a published confirmation from them about doing the cover work on the next thing is just damn cool, I’m over the moon.
I of course let friends know. Who wouldn’t, right? And my good friend, James Sime of San Francisco’s Isotope Comics Lounge, has truly humbled me by this very sweet article he has posted about the night we hung out with Blondie. He’s the most awesomest! He describes it by far better than I can, so here is the link…
Isotope
Panic of Girls
Blondie
Untitled from JH Williams III on Vimeo.
Untitled from JH Williams III on Vimeo.
Wink, wink, grin. (disclaimer: does not actually feature either of these people’s voices, just us being cheeky)
