Back in July 2009 we announced REVOLVER, an original graphic novel by Matt Kindt (3-Story, Super Spy) on sale this July.

Well, I read an advance copy this past weekend and it’s incredible. If you’re like me and have ever wondered what decisions you’ve made to put you on your current life path and how different your life would be like if you made different decisions this book is for you. Sam is a young man on the brink of turning 30 who works for a major newspaper in St. Louis. Faced with two very different realities—one of chaos and one of boredom–he tries to put the pieces back together.

We posted a design sheet of character sketches here on Graphic Content.

And now, here’s the first look at the cover and a 3 page preview:

By now, you’ve heard the news out of San Diego: Indie star Matt Kindt (Pistolwhip, Super Spy, 3 Story) will make his Vertigo debut with the graphic novel REVOLVER in August 2010. It’s a surreal thriller about an ordinary guy living in two wildly different realities, gradually realizing he alone has the power to avert the series of apocalypses that’s destroyed one world, yet finding himself freer and more alive there than he ever was in the other. (Check out this design sheet, which I think says it all.)

My first introduction to Matt’s work was Mephisto and the Empty Box, his one-shot comic with Pistolwhip collaborator Jason Hall about a magic trick gone heartbreakingly wrong. I fell completely for his loose, gorgeous art and cinematic storytelling in just 24 pages. Now I’ve had the pleasure of working with him on 192 of ‘em.

I’m not just in it for the art, though. Matt’s the dean of what I call the St. Louis School of Speedsters. Like his fellow Missourans Chris Samnee and Brian Hurtt, he’s insanely fast and prolific. I believe Matt squeezed in three 8-pagers, the last bits of another 200-page graphic novel, and one 32-page minicomic for other publishers, all while wrapping up REVOLVER. And REVOLVER is wrapped up — I’m staring at it right now as I type this. All 192 pages of beautiful, creepy, thrilling, deeply moving blue-and-brown-toned magnificence. Done. Finished. In your hands in 2010. Heartbreakingly cool. Like magic, really.

Two Graphic Novels were announced at today’s panel:

From Mat Johnson, award winning novelist and author of the highly acclaimed Vertigo graphic novel INCOGNEGRO, and artist Simon Gane comes DARK RAIN, an uncompromising portrait of the life and death of the American city. Johnson uses the setting of New Orleans and the aftermath of hurricane Katrina intertwined with a suspenseful bank heist to explore social issues with a page-turning plot.

Sam, a 20-something living in Seattle, wakes up one morning to a world where things are out of control—the stock market has crashed, there’s a bird-flu epidemic in Asia and radioactive material has gone missing in Russia. Next, Sam wakes up and the world is fine. REVOLVER, written and illustrated by Eisner Award nominated Matt Kindt, is a tale of two realities and how they both test Sam’s limits until he makes a move that changes his path forever.

And Vertigo rolled out more details on I, ZOMBIE the upcoming new series that was originally announced here on Graphic Content last week:

Written by Chris Roberson and with art by Michael Allred, I, ZOMBIE is the story of Gwendolyn “Gwen” Dylan a 20-something gravedigger in an eco-friendly cemetery. Once a week she must eat a human brain to keep from losing her memories, but in the process she becomes consumed with the thoughts and personality of the dead person until she eats the next one. With a posse of vampires who play paintball, a smitten weredog, a swinging 60s ghost and a sexy but demented mummy, Gwen ‘zombie girl detective’ sets out to fulfill the dead person’s last request, solve a crime, or right a wrong.

And here are the covers to the new 6 issue mini-series JOE THE BARBARIAN (sorry, I mistakenly wrote 3 issue last week) and CINDERELLA: From Fabletown With Love:

For those of you who couldn’t make it to the show or if you missed any of the DC COMICS panels, or, you just want to relive the experience again, you can find photos, podcasts from the panels, and other information, here.