AHOY Comics Debuts This Fall With Comic Book Magazine Format

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

AHOY Comics Debuts This Fall With Comic Book Magazine Format

Featuring

THE WRONG EARTH by Tom Peyer and Jamal Igle
HIGH HEAVEN by Tom Peyer and Greg Scott

CAPTAIN GINGER by Stuart Moore and June Brigman

And The All Star Anthology Series EDGAR ALLAN POE’S SNIFTER OF TERROR

Featuring Contributions by Mark Russell, Peter Snejbjerg, Tom Peyer, Hunt Emerson, Fred Harper, Cienna Madrid, Carly Wright and More

Every AHOY Comic Book Magazine Features a Full Length Lead Story *And* Extra Content, Including Prose Stories by Grant Morrison, Cartoons by Shannon Wheeler, Poetry by Hart Seely and Backup Comic Book Stories

 

(Yes, We Said Poetry)

 

June 14, 2018: AHOY Comics is looking to shake up the publishing industry with a bold new format: comic book magazines. The startup company is the brainchild of Publisher Hart Seely, an award-winning reporter whose humor and satire has appeared in The New York Times and on National Public Radio; two founding editors of DC Comics’ Vertigo imprint, Tom Peyer and Stuart Moore; and Chief Creative Officer Frank Cammuso. The comic book magazines will feature traditional, full length comic book stories―by Peyer (Hourman) and Moore (Deadpool the Duck) and top talents including Jamal Igle (Black), Mark Russell (Flintstones), Ann Nocenti (The Seeds) ―accompanied by extra material, including prose fiction by writer Grant Morrison (Happy!), cartoons by Shannon Wheeler (God is Disappointed In You), poems by Hart Seely (Bard of the Deal: The Poetry of Donald Trump), and traditional comic book back up stories. AHOY Comics will debut in comic book stores across the country in September of 2018.

“It’s time to expect more from comics,” said AHOY Comics Editor-in-Chief Tom Peyer. “AHOY Comics offers a wide breadth of contributors from the worlds of mainstream and indie comics and humor magazines. We’re publishing comic book magazines with full length stories, backup stories, one-off gags by a bestselling New Yorker cartoonist, political poetry by a regular Poltico contributor, and prose stories by Grant Morrison, Cienna Madrid and a sundry of talent. And I don’t want it to sound too serious, because these comic book magazines are both fun and funny. It really is a unique reading experience.”

The company will launch in September 2018 with two titles:

 

THE WRONG EARTH 6 Issue mini-series by Tom Peyer and Jamal Igle

AHOY Comics launches with a biting superhero satire written by Tom Peyer (Captain Kid, Hourman), penciled by Jamal Igle (Black, Supergirl), inked by Juan Castro (Transformers),and colored by Andy Troy. On one world, Dragonflyman and his sidekick Stinger enjoy a life of adventure. On another Earth, the Dragonfly hunts criminal parasites like a lethal exterminator. But what happens when these two heroes change places?

 

“I just want you to know that I’ve loved Tom Peyer’s genius brain for thirty years and THE WRONG EARTH is just pure, undiluted Tom Peyer as it exists in its most natural form. If you love superheroes, you NEED this. If you HATE superheroes, this will change your mind.”―Mark Millar

 

“I knew this was going to be good when I saw Peyer and Igle on the credits, but now I really want to see how it all plays out.”―Jeff Parker

 

“THE WRONG EARTH is far more than a one-note gag--Tom and Jamal have made a surprisingly deep exploration and commentary on where this medium has been, how it got to where it is, and where it can go.”―Mark Waid

 

On sale on September 12, 2018, THE WRONG EARTH debut issue is a full color, 40 page comic book magazine retailing for $3.99, with extras including:

HIGH HEAVEN 5 Issue Mature Readers mini-series by Tom Peyer and Greg Scott

Chronic malcontent David Weathers dies and goes to Heaven—where everything is terrible, and everybody hates a complainer. HIGH HEAVEN is a savage satire by writer Tom Peyer (Hourman, Batman ’66) with art by Greg Scott (Black Hood, X-Files), colored by Andy Troy. 

 

“Delivered with that Tom Peyer panache and his sneaky habit of undercutting reader expectations at every turn. And gorgeous art by Greg Scott, giving it all personality and (seedy) visuals. I’m hooked.”―Kurt Busiek

 

“HIGH HEAVEN has a great premise. I loved it and can’t wait to see where it goes next. Also: the Hashtag: Danger back-up was a riot. Chris Giarrusso is just the best!”―John Layman

 

“As gorgeous as it is absurd.”―Alisa Kwitney

 

On sale, September 26, 2018, HIGH HEAVEN’s debut issue is a full color, 40 page comic book magazine retailing for $3.99, with a cover by Mad Magazine’s Richard Williams and extras including:

• A HASHTAG: DANGER backup story by Peyer, with art by Chris Giarrusso (G-Man, Mini-Marvels)
• A cartoon by Shannon Wheeler
• An all-new prose story by comics legend Grant Morrison: FESTIVE FUNTIMES AT THE NEW WORLD’S FAIR, illustrated by acclaimed artist Rick Geary

 

In October, AHOY Comics will launch a creator owned title:

 

CAPTAIN GINGER 4 issue mini series by Stuart Moore and June Brigman

When the human race died out, the cats inherited the Earth! Or at least one starship. Now the intrepid Captain Ginger struggles to keep his fellow felines united against a hostile universe. Thirty-five pages of comic adventure—with a bite—by writer Stuart Moore (Deadpool the Duck, Batman: Noir Alley) artist June Brigman (Power Pack), inker Roy Richardson and colorist Veronica Gandini.

 

“The best books usually transport me into a world with which I am largely unfamiliar and reveal its mysteries to me, whether it's the mean streets of a great urban metroplex, a small village lying somewhere on a distant steppe in central Asia, or a starship full of individualist cats trying to keep it together long enough to survive...these may very well be the characters that June was born to draw and Stuart was born to write!" ― Walter Simonson

 

“This is a great start to a great book by Stuart and June. The Captain and his misbegotten cat crew can count me along for the long haul!” ― Peter Gross

 

"This comic book is INSANE, in the best possible way when one describes something as “insane"! I can’t say I got too excited when I first heard the concept, “Cats in Space”, but Stuart Moore and June Brigman have got it goin’ on! CAPTAIN GINGER rocks!  It’s solid sci-fi adventure, beautifully illustrated and electric with wonderful diverse characters, who are CATS (?!)! This “puppy” smells like a sleeper hit (but that could just be the space kitty litter)!” ― Mike Allred

 

On sale, October 17, 2018, CAPTAIN GINGER’s debut issue is a full color, 48 page comic book magazine retailing for $3.99, with extras including:

• An all-new text story by comics legend Grant Morrison: THE ELECTRIC SKY BEAR THAT INSPIRED BEN FRANKLIN, illustrated by Phil Hester
• A cartoon by Shannon Wheeler

 

October will also see the debut of an all star anthology series:

 

EDGAR ALLAN POE’S SNIFTER OF TERROR 6 issue Mature Readers mini series

EDGAR ALLAN POE mangles classic tales and brand new stories in this cross between Drunk History and Tales from the Crypt! First, meet AHOY’s own alcohol-damaged version of Poe in The Facts in The Case of M. Valdemar, adapted by Tom Peyer (Batman ‘66) and drawn by Fred Harper. Then: Sugary cereal meets vampirism in Dark Chocolate, by writer Mark Russell (The Flintstones) and artist Peter Snejbjerg (Starman).

 

On sale, October 31, 2018, EDGAR ALLAN POE’S SNIFTER OF TERROR’s debut issue is a full color, 40 page comic book magazine retailing for $3.99, with extras including:

• Hunt Emerson’s take on The Black Cat
• Unsettling verse by Cienna Madrid illustrated by Carly Wright

 

“There is no house style at AHOY Comics, but one of the things we aim to do is to bring a sense of humor to the comics,” said AHOY Comics “Dark Ops” Manager and Captain Ginger co-creator Stuart Moore. “We’re publishing stories with a strong personal vision that provoke an occasional laugh. You know, like Preacher. Or, more recently, comics written by Mark Russell, whose sensibilities are a great match for ours. It’s a dark humor, we admit.”

 

Upcoming AHOY Comics will feature stories by Gary Erskine, Ryan Kelly, Mariah McCourt, Linda Medley, Peter Milligan, Dean Motter, Ann Nocenti, Rachel Pollack, Roger Stern and others.

 

“AHOY Comics offers an abundance of originality and offbeat humor,” said Hart Seely. “Some might say that launching a publishing initiative in this moment is folly. We disagree! We’re publishing comic magazines with high standards. Each issue features beautiful designs, vibrant art, exceptional colors, experienced editors and dynamic stories. We aren’t planning on being an overnight success. We’re not here to exploit IP or make movies. We’re here to publish stories for people who love comics and who love to read.”

 

For more updates on AHOY Comics on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

 

For additional information and interview requests, contact:

David Hyde

Superfan Promotions LLC

917-803-6684; david.hyde@superfanpromotions.com

 

About The Creators:

A graduate of SCAD, Deron Bennett is the owner and lead designer of the comic book lettering and production studio, AndWorld Design. His extensive list of clients includes Marvel Comics, DC Comics, Image, IDW, BOOM!, and Lion Forge. A jack of all trades, Deron does cover design and illustration for Amazon Publishing as well. His talents have been recognized with two Harvey nominations and an Eisner nod for his work on Jim Henson’s Tale of Sand.

 

June Brigman has enjoyed a long and varied career as a cartoonist, drawing such comic book titles as Alpha Flight, Supergirl, and Star Wars. She is the co-creator (with Louise Simonson) of the Power Pack series from Marvel Comics, which recently celebrated its 30th anniversary. Assisted by her husband inker/colorist Roy Richardson, she illustrated the Brenda Starr comic strip for 15 years, and has drawn many educational comics, as well as doing freelance illustrations for Horse & Rider magazine. The pair have recently taken over the artistic reins of the long-running “Mary Worth” comic strip. June teaches part time in the Sequential Art Dept. at the Savannah College of Art and Design, Atlanta branch.

Her online portfolio can be seen at www.ArtWanted.com/juneart.

Frank Cammuso is the author/illustrator of the graphic novel series The Misadventures of Salem Hyde from Amulet Books. He also created the graphic novel series Knights of the Lunch Table from Graphix/Scholastic. Frank drew the comic Otto’s Orange Day and Otto’s Backwards Day for Toon-Books. He also wrote and drew his self-published graphic novel Max Hamm Fairy Tale Detective, for which he received an Eisner nomination. Frank is the former award-winning political cartoonist for The Post-Standard newspaper in Syracuse, NY. His cartoons have been reprinted in The New York Times, The Washington Post, USA Today and Newsweek. He has written fiction and satire with his good friend Hart Seely. Their work has appeared in The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Village Voice, Slate, and on National Public Radio. He’s the co-author of 2007-Eleven and Other American Comedies.

Gary Erskine has worked in the comic industry for near thirty years for MARVEL, DC Comics, Vertigo, Dark Horse Comics, IMAGE, IDW and other companies with writers Mark Millar, Warren Ellis, Garth Ennis, James Robinson and Grant Morrison on books including The Unwritten, Hellblazer, War Stories, The Massive with Brian Wood, and Grindhouse with Alex De Campi, with characters as diverse as Judge Dredd, Starman, John Constantine, Dan Dare and Captain America. He has also contributed to licenses including Star Wars, Star Trek, Doctor Who, Transformers and Terminator. He mentors film students on storyboarding, teaches workshops at schools and libraries and is currently writing and publishing Roller Grrrls. Future work includes Incendiary.US and Zachariah Gunn: Dakota. Gary has also provided storyboards and concept design work for the games and film industry and also works commercially with clients including D'Agostini, SONY, EA Games COLORS, Team GB British Cycling, J League and the Joshua Agency. He has also contributed a short story, The Final Piece of Me, to the successful Metal Made Flesh series for Subversive Comics  with writer Cy Dethan. Recent work includes the companion graphic novel to the Frontlines series of sci-fi novels by Marko Kloos, written by Ivan Brandon for Jet City Comics with colour by regular collaborator Yel Zamor. Gary also hosts character design workshops for schools and teaches storyboards for the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and more recently provided workshops for the Prince's Trust. Gary lives near St. Andrews with his wife Mhairi and cats, Meg and Mog.

Kek-w writes Fall of Deadworld (featuring Judge Death and the Dark Judges), The Order, Indigo Prime and Black Max for 2000AD and Rebellion. Past credits include Cap’n Dinosaur for Image Comics and Commando for DC Thompson. His work has appeared in New Scientist, Wire, Dazed & Confused, Bizarre and Tattoo, among others. He is the award-avoiding creator of Conspiracy Theory Dog, Heavy Metal Genie and Ted, the Talking Atomic Submarine – characters beloved by dozens around the globe. Kek lives and works in Yeovil, Somerset, deep in the dark, witch-haunted heart of the UK's rural West Country. Also available on VHS and Betamax.

Ryan Kelly is perhaps best known for the twelve-issue run of Local with writer, Brian Wood for Oni Press. Always a Mid-Westerner, Kelly received his art training at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design from which he graduated in 1998. There he studied under comic book artist, Peter Gross, with whom he worked on The Books of Magic and Lucifer for Vertigo. Ryan is on the MCAD staff, teaching classes for younger students and the occasional inking class as well. He has guest inked on American Virgin and drew the graphic novel Giant Robot Warriors as well as another Brian Wood project, Vertigo's Northlanders.

Todd Klein’s comics career began in 1977 when he was hired to work in the DC Comics production department. During ten years on staff there, Todd tried many kinds of freelance work including writing (Tales of the Green Lantern Corps, The Omega Men), inking and coloring, but found lettering suited him best, and developed a freelance career as a letterer and logo designer. Todd learned from and was inspired by the work of Gaspar Saladino, John Workman, John Costanza, Tom Orzechowski, and other letterers then working in comics. After leaving staff in 1987, Todd continued to work mainly for DC, but also for Marvel, Dark Horse, Disney, Gladstone, Image and many other companies, doing lettering and logo designs. Through the years he’s lettered over 65,000 comics pages and covers and designed over 800 logos. Todd has been presented with 16 Eisner Awards for Best Lettering, as well as 8 Harvey Awards and other honors. Recent projects include Sandman Overture with Neil Gaiman and J.H. Williams III, Starstruck with Elaine Lee and Michael Wm. Kaluta, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen with Alan Moore and Kevin O’Neill, and logos for AHOY Comics' THE WRONG EARTH, HIGH HEAVEN, HASHTAG: DANGER, CAPTAIN GINGER, and EDGAR ALLAN POE'S SNIFTER OF TERROR. You can learn more at his website: kleinletters.com.

Carol Lay has created comics and illustrations for many publications including Bongo Comics, The Wall Street Journal, and The New Yorker.  Her weekly comic strip, Lay Lines, can be seen on gocomics.com. www.carollay.com

Cienna Madrid is a former journalist and writer living in Boise, Idaho. Her wisdom can be found on the book lovers' blog, SeattleReviewofBooks.com, where every Friday she answers the nation's most pressing literary questions through her advice column "The Help Desk."

Mariah McCourt is a New York Times bestselling writer and Harvey award nominated editor of comics and graphic novels. As a writer, her credits include the creator-owned children’s graphic novel Stitched #1: The First Day of the Rest of Her Life, the New York Times bestseller True Blood: All Together Now, Anne Rice’s Servant of the Bones. As an editor, she’s curated the Papercutz CHARMZ line, edited The Sandman: Endless Nights by Neil Gaiman, the New York Times bestselling graphic adaption of The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle, Doorways with George R.R. Martin, Fables by Bill Willingham, and Angel, Spike, and Illyria: Haunted (writer and editor). She was a contributor and editor of one of the top-funded Kickstarter comics projects, the anthology Womanthology: Heroic, featuring over 100 women artists and writers of all ages and experience. The follow-up collection, Womanthology: Space! was nominated for a Harvey Award for Best Anthology. She lives in Los Angeles with her family.

Linda Medley has illustrated children's books for Putnam, Grosset & Dunlap, Houghton-Mifflin, and Western Publishing. She has worked in the comics industry since 1987 as a writer, penciller, inker, painter, and colorist; her work can be found in everything from Justice League to The Galactic Girl Guides. She is best known as the creator of the Eisner Award-winning fantasy series Castle Waiting.

One-time Entertainment Weekly Man of the Year Peter Milligan was at the forefront of the revolution in comics for a more sophisticated, adult audience. Shade, the Changing Man for Vertigo offered a skewed look at American culture, while Enigma, Face and Rogan Gosh pushed the boundaries of what comic books could do. The hugely-popular X-Statix was a radical reworking of the X-Men paradigm that led to controversy when Milligan tried to recruit the late Diana Prince of Wales into his celebrity-obsessed bunch of heroes; described by Kevin Smith (Clerks, etc.) as “the most well-observed scholarly analysis of media-manipulation filtered through a pop-culture lens ever committed to the page." While the Princess Diana controversy raged, Milligan was perhaps the most hated man in Britain--at least among Daily Mail readers. Milligan was the longest-running writer of the cult horror comic Hellblazer, and his take on Human Target inspired the TV series. His latest works include the critical hit Britannia, about an Ancient Roman detective, a retelling of The Mummy for Hammer/Titan, and the surreal Kid Lobotomy for IDW.  Currently he is writing a new take the cult TV series The Prisoner for Titan. Milligan has written several screenplays.

Dean Motter, artist/writer and designer, is best known for the comics sensation, Mister X (now in its 35th year.) He has created works for Superman, Batman(most notably the award-winning ‘film-noir’ graphic novel, Batman: Nine Lives), The Shadow, The Spirit, Mad Max: Fury Road, Spongebob Squarepants and Wolverine.  His Vertigo series Terminal City was nominated for both Eisner and Kurtzman Awards. He is also known for the acclaimed graphic novel, The Prisoner: Shattered Visage, based on the '60s British TV series. Motter has also designed several award-winning album covers and book jackets. In the '90s Dean served on staff at both DC Comics and Byron Preiss Visual Publications as editorial art director, supervising graphic novel projects such as the works of Ray Bradbury, Raymond Chandler and Harlan Ellison as well as The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. Motter has worked with the David S. Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies and the Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust illustrating the comic book accounts, The Book Hitler Didn't Want You To Read, and Karski's Mission: To Stop the Holocaust. Though he has spent most of his professional life in Toronto and Manhattan, he now resides and works tirelessly in Dixie.  Further information can be gleaned at  deanmotter.com.

Ann Nocenti’s comic work includes Daredevil and Catwoman, and she created Longshot, Spiral and Mojo (with Arthur Adams), Typhoid and Blackheart (with John Romita Jr.) and more. She was an editor at Marvel Comics in the 1980s, handling the X-Men titles. Her journalism has appeared in Details, PRINT, Filmmaker, and more. Her falcon tale, The Most Expensive Road Trip in the World, appears in Anthony Bourdain’s Best Travel Writing 2008. Her documentary Disarming Falcons was featured at DOC NYC 2014. She wrote the feature film Taking Chances (2009). She taught filmmaking in Finmark, Norway, and in Haiti, for which she was given the Humanitarian Award at the Tulsa International Film Festival. Nocenti was the editor of Scenario magazine, where she interviewed filmmakers such as Christopher Nolan, Darren Aronofsky, Francis Ford Coppola, Charlie Kaufman, and more. She was the writer for MAGIC CITY – The Art of the Street, a traveling exhibition in Germany (2017), and is one of the producers of MARVEL: Universe of Super Heroes, an exhibition currently at MoPOP in Seattle. Nocenti’s new comic is The Seeds with artist David Aja and editor Karen Berger, at Berger Books/Dark Horse. Her work can be found at her website, annienocenti.com.

Rachel Pollack is the author of 41 books, including two award-winning novels, Unquenchable Fire and Godmother Night. Her comics work includes Doom Patrol, The New Gods, Tomahawk, The Geek, and Time Breakers.  She has also written a series of books about Tarot cards that have sold all over the world, and is the creator of The Shining Tribe Tarot, designed and drawn by Rachel herself.  Rachel has taught, lectured, and presented her work on four continents.

Mark Rahner is the author of numerous comics including The Twilight Zone, Vampirella, Army of Darkness, Warlord of Mars, Dejah Thoris, The Avenger, The Green Hornet, Lord of the Jungle, and the independent horror-western, Rotten. A veteran journalist and former talk radio personality, he hosts the long-running Special Ops podcast at KISW in Seattle. www.markrahner.com

Roy Richardson was inspired to pursue a comics career by the work of Jack Kirby, the ground breaking Fourth World series in particular. He has worked for all the major publishers, on such books as Captain America, Iron Man, the Flash, Star Wars, and his own co-creation, the Tomorrow Knights, which has been adapted into a roleplaying game from ZMan Games. He also worked for 15 years in collaboration with his wife, June Brigman, inking, lettering and coloring the Brenda Starr comic strip. The pair have recently taken over the artistic reins of the long-running Mary Worth comic strip. Roy is also hard at work on his first book of short stories, entitled "Hillbillies Prefer Blondes," tales of growing up in the South in the 1970's. His online portfolio can be seen at www.ArtWanted.com/royart.

Mark Russell is the author of not one, but two, books about the Bible: God Is Disappointed in You and Apocrypha Now. In addition, he is the writer behind various DC comic books such as Prez, The Flintstones, and Exit Stage Left: The Snagglepuss Chronicles. He lives in obscurity with his family in Portland, Oregon.

Greg Scott is a comic book artist who pencils and inks his own work. He has drawn such titles as X-Files, Black Hood, Steve McQueen, and Area 51. He broke into comics through espionage: learning the time of day Marvel editors went outside for a cigarette break, he passed them art samples and was quickly given an assignment. 

Hart Seely is a former award-winning reporter and author. His humor and satire have appeared in The New Yorker, The New York Times, McSweeney’s, National Lampoon, Politico and on National Public Radio.  He is the editor of three collections of “found poetry;” Pieces of Intelligence: The Existential Poetry of Donald H. Rumsfeld, Bard of the Deal: The Poetry of Donald Trump and (with Tom Peyer) O Holy Cow! The Selected Verse of Phil Rizzuto. Seely lives in Syracuse, New York.

Rob Steen is the illustrator of Flanimals, the best-selling series of children’s books written by Ricky Gervais: Flanimals, More Flanimals, Flanimals of the Deep, Flanimals: Day of the Bletchling and Flanimals Pop-Up. The third book in the series, Flanimals of the Deep, won the Galaxy British Book Award in 2007 for Children’s Book of the Year. He lives in New York with his wife Jill and cat Minnie.

Andy Troy has colored for Marvel Comics, DC Comics, Extreme Studios, and others, working on such characters as Spawn, Batman, Captain America and Iron Fist. He lives and works in Hunsville, AL, where he used to play in the metal band Diamond White.