Vertigo Crime continues with THE BRONX KILL by Peter Milligan and artist James Romberger out in March 2010!

For all you Peter Milligan fans and those unfamiliar with this series, SHADE THE CHANGING MAN issue #1 is now available for download. Read it here.

And as a reminder, this November, SHADE THE CHANGING MAN Volume 1: The American Scream will be re-issued and, issues 7-13 will be collected for the first time, in SHADE THE CHANGING MAN Volume 2: The Edge of Vision!

On Sunday, January 17th (8:00-9:00 PM ET/PT), FOX will preview the new TV series HUMAN TARGET– a full-throttle action-drama centered on Christopher Chance (Mark Valley, Fringe), a unique private contractor hired to protect, based on the DC Comics character created by Len Wein and artist Carmine Infantino and reimagined for Vertigo by Peter Milligan (Shade the Changing Man, Skreemer, Greek Street, Hellblazer).

To coincide with its release, Vertigo will collect Milligan’s original 4-issue HUMAN TARGET comic book miniseries with art by Edvin Biukovic along with the follow-up, standalone, 96-page HUMAN TARGET: FINAL CUT OGN with art by Javier Pulido (Robin: Year One) in a 200-page paperback called HUMAN TARGET: Chance Meetings.

HUMAN TARGET was one of the first series my boss gave to me to read when I started working here at Vertigo. If you haven’t already read this outstanding interpretation of HUMAN TARGET, this is your chance.

Cover (Not Final):

For those of you who want to know a bit more about the upcoming FOX TV series:

Call him what you like, because for Chance, it’s about one thing only: saving his clients’ lives. When there is an unusual or imminent threat that can’t be solved through “normal” means of protection, Chance is hired to completely integrate himself into his clients’ lives – to become the human target.Chance — assisted by his business partner, Winston (Chi McBride, Pushing Daisies), and hired gun Guerrero (Jackie Earle Haley, Watchmen) — puts himself directly in the line of fire as he races against time to save his client, while unraveling the truth behind the mission. But does anyone know the truth about who Christopher Chance really is, or what secrets lay buried in his past? What would make a man willingly becomes a HUMAN TARGET?

HUMAN TARGET is a production of Bonanza Productions Inc. in association with Wonderland Sound and Vision, DC Comics and Warner Bros. Television. Jon Steinberg (Jericho), McG (Terminator Salvation), Brad Kern (Charmed), Kevin Hooks (Prison Break) and Peter Johnson (Chuck) serve as executive producers. Simon West (Con Air, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider) directed the pilot.

A shocking new drama unfolds on the stage of GREEK STREET. Disturbed wayward Eddie and visionary Sandy are on the run…and they’re headed for London where Dedalus is investigating a suicide. Issue #6 “The Cassandra Complex” is part 1/4 of an intense new storyline.

Check out the cover by Davide Furno:

And a few character sketches by Davide Gianfelice:

Author, Peter Milligan takes you backstage of GREEK STREET:

GREEK STREET is a rich and complex performance with many strange and sometimes frightening characters. So I thought I’d invite you backstage, so you can get of pants-down look at the actors in what is a very personal project for me.

CURSING AND NUDITY

I’m trying to keep this post free of cursing and nudity. This is ironic because there’s a good deal of cursing and nudity in GREEK STREET. For all its frenzied classical referencing this book tries to be a modern and realistic (sometimes magically realistic) take on life.

And I don’t know about you, but there’s a lot of nudity and cursing in my life.

CHANTEL

A lot of the nudity comes from the ‘strippers” or chorus girls. And especially from Chantel, the “exotic dancer” who gives an often ironic prologue at the beginning of each issue. I really like Chantel. Behind that tough exterior is something more nuanced, more complex.

One of the things that intrigues me about Chantel – and about choruses in Greek Tragedy - is the issue of whether or not they should get involved in the action. If something awful is about to happen, should they try to stop it? Famously, the chorus in Medea is torn on this question when Medea is about to unleash her murderous revenge on Jason.

Chantel confronts this very problem, later in the series, when Eddie and Sandy’s young lives are at risk.

We’ve probably all been in the position of a Greek Chorus at one time. Wondering whether we should remain on-lookers…or get involved in the action.

EDDIE

As we’re back stage I must introduce you to our hero, Eddie. Obviously Eddie’s main role is as a kind of modern-day ragged Oedipus. But whereas Oedipus was of royal blood, our snotty-nosed anti-hero isn’t even sure where his blood comes from. Though primarily Oedipus there are times in the story when Eddie morphs into Orestes, another parent-killer. Eddie is an amalgam of a number of kids I knew when I was growing up. Two guys in particular. I lost track of them both…perhaps GREEK STREET is a way of me imagining a kind of life for them…

Never is Eddie more like transgressive Orestes than when pursued by our awful, modern-day re-incarnations of the those dreadful creatures of retribution…the furies…

THE HOUSE OF FUREY

The Fureys take centre stage – for some of the time – in ISSUE THREE of GREEK STREET, and we hint at their dark past–when an ancestor fought the (real life) London gangster, Bill Hill.

The Fureys are based loosely on a family I know. I’m pretty sure this family doesn’t read comics, which is good. Because believe me, they’re not the kind of people you mess with.

One of the characteristics of this book is that characters and events represent more than one character or aspect of Greek theatre. Therefore The Furey brothers represent the eumenides (or Furies), those terrible vehicles of justice and persecution. But I also see them as a kind of modern House of Atreus, that cursed line doomed by hubris, murder, and wickedness.

Believe me, there is a lot more hubris, wickedness and murder coming up.

PHEDRE

Greek Tragedy is taking over my life. With this thought, I saw Phedre the other week. Jean Racine’s version of Hippolytus, translated by Ted Hughes. I’ve always thought that Euripedes’ Hippolytus is an incredibly interesting play. And seeing Phedre just confirmed to me how bloody modern it is. Its themes of forbidden love and falsely-declared rape, its utter darkness, still shock, after hundreds of years. Phaedra will appear in GREEK STREET episode six, in an unexpected and hopefully shocking way…

THE OLD STORIES

I suppose that’s the idea of GREEK STREET summed up. An effort at making my own versions of some of those old stories fresh and shocking. As Chantel might say,

“The old stories haven’t finished with us yet.”

Superstar cover painter, Simon Bisley has been cranking out gorgeous covers on HELLBLAZER, most recently on #256, 257, and 258. Well, along with the covers, he is also the interior illustrator of the upcoming issues #259 and #260! His style combines a unique realism with a graffiti edge. Just what you would expect from the drummer in a death metal band named Kaotika.

Check out these incredible pages from #259:

Blame The Killer Inside Me.

It’s spring of 1991 — well, really winter since I was living in Ithaca, NY where it’s warm likes two weeks out of the year — there was a big recession on, a war in Iraq, I was only working part-time (some things never change, right? jk) and I’m standing in an independent bookstore and this scary-ass face is staring back at me. It’s the cover to The Killer Inside Me by Jim Thompson. Never heard of him. But loved the jacket design (Day-Glo orange stripes with black type and a creepy black lizard on it) and so I picked it up.

Now, I’d read my share of Chandler, Hammett, Conan Doyle and even James M. Cain, and considered myself a mystery fan…but this book was CRIME. This was a twisted book about a deputy sheriff who had some serious problems. I read half the book standing in the store and the rest that afternoon. I read it again the next day and knew I needed more…

And holy hell, there was more…Willeford, Goodis, Williams, MacDonald, Himes and on and on. It was grimy, sexy, visceral, mind-blowing work and I felt like a poseur cuz I’d never heard of any of them. But I trusted whoever these Vintage Black Lizard geniuses were and I was never the same. The one time in my life when you really could judge a book by its cover.

Which brings us to VERTIGO CRIME…where we’re trying to capture that same flavor. A line of books by some of today’s best crime writers – IAN RANKIN, BRIAN AZZARELLO, JASON STARR, PETER MILLIGAN, CHRISTOS GAGE, DENISE MINA, MAX ALLAN COLLINS and many more – that we believe can proudly sit alongside the best “regular” crime fiction out there.

The first two – DARK ENTRIES by Rankin & Dell’Edera and FILTHY RICH by Azzarello & Santos – drop today in comic shops and next Tuesday in bookstores. They’ve got eye-popping covers (from Lee Bermejo of JOKER fame) and I really hope you’ll take a taste.

Cuz who knows…maybe in twenty years, you’ll be blogging about how VERTIGO CRIME changed your life forever.

God help you.

will dennis

On Tuesday you discussed your favorite works by Peter Milligan. Now, here are the covers to some of his upcoming titles.

SHADE THE CHANGING MAN Vol. 1:

SHADE THE CHANGING MAN Vol. 2 :

GREEK STREET #4:

And HELLBLAZER #260:

Peter Milligan, one of the founding writers of Vertigo, is a busy man. He has captivated us with numerous works over the years including, HUMAN TARGET (soon to be a Fox TV show), SKREEMER, ENIGMA, and SHADE THE CHANGING MAN (Vol. 1: The American Scream will be re-issued in paperback and, for the first time, issues 7-13 will be collected in Vol. 2: Edge of Vision, both to be published in November). Since January, starting with issue #250 Milligan has been the series writer on HELLBLAZER and now, his new ongoing series GREEK STREET is the talk of the town.

With such an accomplished list of work I’m sure it’s difficult to chose just one, but tell us, which is your favorite Peter Milligan title and why? Please discuss.

What better place for a Halloween party than the HOUSE OF MYSTERY? And guess what? You’re all invited.

This October we’re publishing our first ever Halloween Annual. This special 48-page book will contain a framing story by the regular HOM creative team, writer Matthew Sturges and artists Luca Rossi and Jose Marzan Jr. However, it will also included short stories from HELLBLAZER by Peter Milligan, Giuseppe Camuncoli and Stefano Landini and MADAME XANADU by Matt Wagner, Amy Reeder Hadley and Richard Friend as well as a special MERV PUMPKINHEAD tale (the first in over 8 years!) by Bill Willingham, Mark Buckingham and Kevin Nowlan.

What? That’s not enough?

You’ll also be treated to a yarn spotlighting a new monthly series!

Come back this afternoon for the second major part of this announcement.