Our cat Toto has died, well over eighteen years old. For us at-home-working, childfree artists, out cats have always been much more than just pets to us – they are life companions…
Our cats have always found their way into our work. Here’s the last drawing of Toto in the Discovery-series (the book about Love, to be released at a later date by NMB):
Here are upcoming titles, now being solicited in comics stores through Diamond Previews for an April 2018 release.
NEW
THE MERCENARY: The Definitive Editions, Vol. 3: “The Trials”
Written and Illustrated by Vicente Segrelles
To be admitted as protector of the Order of the Crater, the Mercenary must undergo strenuous trials, putting even his life at risk. He must confront gigantic warriors, monstrous beasts, ghostly spirits and moral dilemmas to achieve what he so desires, which is nothing more nor less than to be a participant in the secrets of those monks of the order who seem to have the keys to universal wisdom.
9×12, 64 pp. Full color quarterbound hardcover, $17.99.
ISBN: 978168112154351799 (DIAMOND FEB181666)
RESOLICIT
THE MERCENARY: The Definitive Editions, Vol. 2: “The Formula”
Written and Illustrated by Vicente Segrelles
Continuing the full reprint of the classic series in breathtaking reproduction and handsome keepsake quarterbound editions. The graphic novel series that set comics on a new path! The Mercenary embarks on one of his most perilous journeys ever as he tries to stop an unscrupulous alchemist who has stolen a highly dangerous mysterious formula. Each volume is complemented with articles at the back about the history and the making of this series over its gloried decades-long history.
9” x12”, 64 pp. Full color quarterbound hardcover: $17.99
ISBN: 978168112128451799
RESOLICIT
THE MERCENARY: The Definitive Editions, Vol. 1: “The Cult of the Sacred Fire”
Written and Illustrated by Vicente Segrelles
On the occasion of its 40th anniversary, NBM is proud to bring back one of its bestselling series ever, amongst the world’s first highly realistic fully painted comics. The Mercenary contains all-new scans of the original paintings overseen by the master himself and presented in handsome large quarterbound collectors editions.
In a lost and long forgotten valley high up in the mountains, The Mercenary has been contracted to save a woman from the mysterious and powerful Cult of the Sacred Fire! Each volume is complemented with articles at the back about the history and the making of this series over its gloried decades-long history.
9”x12”, 64 pp. Full color quarterbound hardcover: $17.99
ISBN: 978168112124651799 (DIAMOND FEB181667)
RESOLICIT
DUNGEON: TWILIGHT, Vol. 1: “Dragon Cemetery”
Created by Joann SFAR & Lewis TRONDHEIM
The planet Terra Amata, on which Dungeon resides, has stopped turning. On one side, total darkness and absolute coldness; on the other, a searing desert and eternal day. The survivors live on a thin slice of earth where day and night meet. A territory known as TWILIGHT.
Welcome to the third facet of the Dungeon world, its dark downfall. Marvin, now old and blind, sensing his end, goes on a long trek to the legendary cemetery of dragons.
6.5” x9”, 96 pp. Full color paperback: $14.99
ISBN: 978156163460651499 (DIAMOND FEB181668)
RESOLICIT
DUNGEON: TWILIGHT, Vol. 2: “Armageddon”
Created by Lewis TRONDHEIM, Joann SFAR, and KERASCOET
Marvin, saved at the last minute from certain death in a duel by his young warrior admirer Marvin the Red, simply cannot be let to die like he wishes! Whatever he loses, he regains in different powers. He’s even become invincible. It’s to the point where he’d rather exchange body parts to get back his mortality. But then he is led to a discovery that may make continuing to live actually worth it.
6.5” x9”, 96 pp. Full color paperback: $14.99
ISBN: 978156163477451499 (DIAMOND FEB181669)
RESOLICIT
DUNGEON: TWILIGHT, Vol. 3: “The New Centurions”
Created by Joann SFAR, Lewis TRONDHEIM, KERASCOET, and OBION
The next two chapters in the decline of Dungeon:
Terra Amata has exploded and the Dark Fortress of the Grand Khan needs to master the nitro tech. To that end, they hire Marvin the Red even as others plot malevolently…
In the second episode, Marvin the dragon and Marvin the Red are trapped on a quickly revolving piece of the exploded planet, and must constantly run or fall off into oblivion!
6.5” x 9”, 96 pp. Full color trade paperback: $12.99
ISBN: 978156163578851299 (DIAMOND FEB181670)
RESOLICIT
DUNGEON: TWILIGHT, Vol. 4: “High Septentrion & The End of Dungeon”
Created by Johann Sfar, Lewis Trondheim, Alfred, and Mazan
The last two stories of Dungeon! In High Septentrion, there has been a violent eruption on the planet of Terra Amata. It’s a scramble to find breathable air, but the wizened blind, mystical dragon the Dust King (Marvin) thinks that it is perhaps time for him to die heroically. However the feisty young Marvin the Red refuses to give up and plans to find a way out of this mess, including finding a way to actually breathe…
6.5”x 9”, 96 pp. Full color paperback: $14.99
ISBN: 978156163919951499 (DIAMOND FEB181671)
RESOLICIT
DUNGEON: TWILIGHT COMPLETE SET, VOLS 1-4
Created by Lewis Trondheim, Joann Sfar, Obion, Kerascoet, Alfred, and Mazan
The great saga detailing the end of Dungeon has come to a close. All four books are featured here in one specially priced set.
The planet Terra Amata, on which Dungeon resides, has stopped turning. On one side, total darkness and absolute coldness; on the other, a searing desert and eternal day. The survivors live on a thin slice of earth where day and night meet. A territory known as Twilight.
Welcome to the third facet of the Dungeon world and its dark downfall. Marvin is blind but still dangerous and Herbert the Duck has become the darkest of Lords.
6.5” x 9”, 384 pp. Full color paperback set: $49.99
ISBN: 978168112060754999 (DIAMOND FEB181672)
RESOLICIT
BARBARIAN CHICKS & DEMONS, Vol. 3
Written by Hartmann
The exploits of Barbarian warrior women in an Heroic Fantasy world continue. Cunning and lasciviousness galore with often a tongue firmly in cheek on these beautifully painted stories set to amuse and arouse!
8.5” x 11”, 48 pp. Full color trade paperback: $12.99
ISBN: 978156163596251299 (DIAMOND FEB181673)
RESOLICIT
BARBARIAN CHICKS & DEMONS, Vol. 5
Written by Hartmann
The exploits of Barbarian warrior women in an Heroic Fantasy world continue. Cunning and lasciviousness galore with often a tongue firmly in cheek on these beautifully painted stories set to amuse and arouse!
8.5” x 11”, 48 pp. Full color paperback: $12.99
ISBN: 978156163714051299 (DIAMOND FEB181674)
RESOLICIT
BARBARIAN CHICKS & DEMONS, VOL.7
Written by Hartmann
From the pages of Sizzle comes the continuation of Barbarian Chicks & Demons. One barbarienne gets taken by a savage stone troll, only to find it’s possessed by a horny demon lover; A magic mirror gives a new meaning to being in love with one’s reflection when the reflection materializes into flesh; And an arrogant young apprentice gets a lesson from two sorceresses that he won’t soon forget. A heroic fantasy romp where the busty barbarian babes know how to get cheeky.
8.5” x11”, 48 pp. Full color paperback: $12.99
ISBN: 978168112069051299 (DIAMOND FEB181675)
Enjoy some behind the scenes process development of The Mercenary V.2.
For previous posts, click HERE.
Actually, this volume is the real birth of The Mercenary. In it, the character is better defined: he is not a super-hero at all, he’s an upright and honest soldier of fortune who makes a living with small businesses and who, apparently, has financial problems. Like many self-employed people, actually. Most of the time I was doing The Mercenary, I alternated that with drawing cover art. Most of them were book covers, but some were made for the magazine that published my comics.
This is one of those covers and was specially made for an issue that contained one of the episodes of this second volume. As you can see, it has nothing to do with the album and the Mercenary is in a very dangerous situation. The loss of the mount implies, in the best of cases, a forced landing like what happened to Nan-Tay in this story, but most times it does not end so well.
On the next volume, the Mercenary will face tough tests to be able to enter the Monastery of the Frozen Plains…
Enjoy some behind the scenes process development of The Mercenary V.2.
For previous posts, click HERE.
In this album we discovered characters that will be present in all stories. We’ve met the Lama, an ancient wise man in charge of the monastery, but who is Nan-Tay? And what does a woman dressed as a warrior does in a monastery full of monks?
An educated woman, expert in a wide variety of fighting styles and the use of any weapon, she appears to be aware of everything that happens to the Mercenary. Nan-Tay suspects that, after what just happened at the Crater, Claust will no longer be a peaceful negotiator. She knows the alchemist very well, and she knows he will be an enemy to be aware of. So much so, that she will need help to fight him.
I needed a villain and I came up with this character, Claust. If he had to steal a formula it was necessary he be an alchemist who made deals with the Crater inhabitants. At first I thought him just a stubborn and ambitious guy, but the idea that he systematically eliminated his guards turned him into a twisted character, with many more possibilities and an interesting road ahead. So, luckily for my scripts, something prevented him to blow up when the kettle exploded. And even better: his thirst for revenge would fit very nicely in my stories. As he would say, he would never forget what those maggots hiding in that damned crater had done to him.
Enjoy some behind the scenes process development of The Mercenary V.2.
For previous posts, click HERE.
That the inhabitants of the Crater had a weapon that could aim on a flying animal should give the readers a hint that these monks were more than mere monks. Of course, fixing a high caliber weapon to the saddle is a refinement that, in a more recent age, gave birth to the conventional combat airplane, which, in turn, evolved into the real fighter plane.
When the pilot Roland Garros shot down his first airplane in 1915, his opponents – both upset and incredulous – said they couldn’t figure out how he did it. He shot down two more this way, worrying victories for his opponents. When his Morane-Saulnier L had to land on enemy ground due to a malfunction, the mystery was solved: Garros had a machine gun mounted on the hood that shot through the barrel of the airscrew and didn’t blow it apart because a piece of steel deflected the bullets that coincided with the propellers. The Germans immediately called Anthony Fokker, who in a matter of days designed his own system to synchronize machine gun and airscrew.
This is Roland Garros’ deflector mounted in a Morane-Saulnier N, an exceptional monoplane that helped rule the air during the French monopoly of the Garros system. It proved superior to anything.
And this is the Fokker E III, dubbed “The Whip” due to the absolute supremacy it achieved during 1915 because its machine gun was synchronized with the airscrew. This lasted until its opponents devised their own synchronization system.
Enjoy some behind the scenes process development of The Mercenary V.2.
For previous posts, click HERE.
The medieval crossbow was a weapon that successfully competed against the large bow and was used along with portable firearms for a long time. A good crossbow could throw 6 oz. arrows at a 1300 ft. distance with great precision and huge penetration power, especially if the impact was perpendicular to the target.
Its biggest problem was its slowness and difficulty to load, which most of the time required special mechanisms.
To the Mercenary’s surprise, at the Crater, he finds weapons he had never seen and that were unknown in his homeland. He distrusts anything new, which is to be expected considering the weird weapon carried by the guardian of the monastery.
I added some protrusions to the blades of the arrowhead that unfold when the arrow is shot, due to the aerodynamic resistance caused by the high speed of the projectile.
With a simple look, the Mercenary understands the mechanism of the artifact but his attention is caught by the weird way the weapon is mounted in the dragon’s saddle. Nan-Tay’s crossbow is very powerful without a doubt. The bow is formed by a steel sheet with several smaller support sheets like the suspension springs of a truck. It incorporates a large crank handle on the right for the difficult task of loading. Plus, the weapon moves vertically a little to adjust aim according to the distance of the target. The projectile shown here is not my invention: this system was already in use in the 17th century by the naval artillery to cut the riggings and anything else that stood in its way during maritime battles.
This week, Yiri and I celebrate nine years of marriage and ten years of being together! The funny thing is, I remember saying on our second day or so: “I’m sure that in ten years we’ll still be together, and basically still feeling for each other what we’re feeling now.” And I was right.
These pages are from our graphic novel about Love, which came out in The Netherlands last year, and may be appearing in the US later this year…
