Current Soundtrack: Belle & Sebastian, Girls In Peacetime Want to Dance Deluxe Bonus Tracks
LIVE FROM CRUSH PALACE
Happy Valentine's Day from Ares & Aphrodite!
Yes, we know that the actual high holy day is not until this weekend, but this is also to celebrate the digital finale of the first volume over on Comixology. Have you read it yet?
Megan Levens and I are excited to have this book out in the world at last.
Here's something to listen to while you read. Gigi quotes this song in an earlier chapter, in a way that is as much a threat as a promise. :)
Current Soundtrack: Karen O, Live from Crush Palace
TRUE LOVE WILL FIND YOU IN THE END...OF ARES & APHRODITE
The digital edition of Ares & Aphrodite wraps up this Tuesday. You can get that and previous chapters from Comixology.
Needless to say, this gallery previewing that sixth installment has spoilers. If you've not been reading, scroll through at your own peril.
I was surprised with a first-look advance copy of the actual printed comic this week. It came out gorgeous! Hilary Thompson at Oni Press really did a marvelous job bringing it together. And I think Megan's colors look even better on paper.
And remember, when this bad boy comes out in April, it has a bonus story, process material, and an afterword not available in the serialization.
Current Soundtrack: Cornershop, Hold On It's Easy
LOVE IS MORE THAN WEDDING DAY...
...but today is the day in Ares & Aphrodite when we find out who wins the bet, Will or Gigi. Is this particular knot about to get tied?
It's the penultimate chapter. You're going to know how this whole little romance turns out next week, just in time for Valentine's!
Download Ares & Aphrodite #5 now.
Scroll through the preview below.
The printed book is out in April. Order it now.
Current Soundtrack: The Charlatans, Modern Nature
THE MORNING AFTER THE NIGHT BEFORE
The fourth digital chapter of Ares & Aphrodite: Love Wars takes us into the final act. Get “The Morning After the Night Before” on Comixology now.
Two issues to go, still plenty of time to catch up. Scroll trough the preview of #4 for more.
This chapter also has a self-deprecating two-panel exchange that never fails to crack me up.
And don’t forget to preorder the print edition coming in April.
Current Soundtrack: Taylor Swift, 1989
DISCUSSING MADAME FRANKENSTEIN, ARES & APHRODITE, LADY KILLER, & BUFFY
Megan Levens and I were on the Weird Girls video cast with Danni Danger discussing all of our books.
Current Soundtrack: Jungle, Jungle
SO MUCH FOR THE CITY
You can now grab Ares & Aphrodite chapter 3 from Comixology. Preview gallery below.
Thought, technically, it's chapters 5 and 6, since the digital versions have two chapters each. With their own special titles, even.
Major Spoilers has been giving the book a lot of great coverage, including:
Don't forget to tell you favorite retailer to order you the print edition in April. Details here.
Megan's first issue of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Season 10 also goes on sale tomorrow from Dark Horse Comics. You can see a full preview at Comic Book Resources, ut here is a quick tease.
Current Soundtrack: The Thrills, So Much for the City
FEEL RIGHT
Chapter 2 of Ares & Aphrodite hit Comixology today.
The book is written by me, with art by Megan Levens, and lettering by Crank.
Published by Oni Press.
If you dig romantic comedies with a little bit of mystery, then this is the book for you. Published weekly through Valentine's Day digitally, with a print version in April.
Scroll through the gallery below for a preview.
Current Soundtrack: Mark Ronson, Uptown Special
LOVE YOU LIKE A LOVE SONG
Ares & Aphrodite debuted today on Comixology. You can get the first installment and sign up for a subscription right here.
The full print version is going to follow in April. Diamond has details. It has some extra features, including a small sketchbook section, an afterword by Sequential Crush's Jacque Nodell, and the "Two Wheels, Two Feet" short story that Megan Levens and I did for Double Feature a couple of years ago.
Here is a short preview. Click on the image to scroll through.
PRESS RELEASE:
Portland, OR (January 6th, 2015) – Oni Press is pleased to announce the launch of Jamie S. Rich & Megan Levens’ newest graphic novel, ARES & APHRODITE, the first chapter of which is now available at ComiXology and Madefire!
ARES & APHRODITE is the second collaboration between Levens and Rich, following 2014’s MADAME FRANKENSTEIN, and will be split up into weekly chapters, released every Tuesday for $1.99. There will be six chapters of ARES & APHRODITE in all, finishing up on February 10th—just in time for Valentine’s Day!
ARES & APHRODITE follows the exploits of divorce lawyer Will Ares and wedding planner Gigi Averelle. Under normal circumstances, they’d probably never meet, but their respective clients are getting married! Set against the beautiful and duplicitous backdrop of Hollywood, this romantic comedy is sure to satisfy even the most bitter of hearts.
Intrigued? Readers can click HERE to get Chapter 1 of ARES & APHRODITE from ComiXology, or head over to MADEFIRE.COM for the first installment!
***
Current Soundtrack: Charli XCX, "Gold Coins;" Rita Ora, "Grateful"
KEEP WATCH
Wow, this Comics Alliance write-up of Lady Killer is really amazing.
Annnnnd...they have a full preview of the book's opening sequence. Please check it out.
Followers of Jones’ cartooning and illustration will recognize her fondness for period imagery. Her Tumblr routinely features artwork that calls back to the vintage fashion and pin-up illustrations of mid-century America, and her and Rich’s graphic novel You Have Killed Me dives head-on into the period with more of a straightforward noir approach. But Jones has also demonstrated a penchant for action, particularly in her recent work on Adventures of Superman and the awesomely violent Viking fantasy series Helheim.
With Lady Killer, Jones found a way to synthesize both of her artistic strengths to magnificent effect in a first issue that I had the chance to read. The book is at once adorable, funny, sexy and savage. It’s Americana viewed in a funhouse mirror that calls special attention to details like wallpaper, furniture, the contents of a kitchen cabinet, the way clothes hug a body, and the way a knife sticks out of a corpse. It will be obvious to anyone who reads Lady Killer that Jones relished drawing every page.
In other comics news, the Outhousers give a really swell write-up to The Double Life of Miranda Turner #4.
George Kambadais designs echo Batman The Animated Series, with his clean line work and simple coloring. The sepia toned flashbacks separate them from the present time and when the two time lines are side by side, they’re easy to follow. The panel of Miranda seeing Lindy’s ghost for the first time is genius use of using dialogue to have the reader’s eye create its own sense of motion in a single panel. A small, yet smart design comes from letterer Crank! using blue speech bubbles for Lindy echoing her blue ghost nature.
This issue is the darkest so far of the short series, but retains the humor and playfulness of previous issues. The mystery is unfolding smoothly, as Miranda gets one step closer to finding her sister’s killer. The Double Life of Miranda Turner is well worth the $0.99 price tag on Comixology, especially if Rich and Kambadais can get this book back on a regular schedule.
In regards to that scheduling, The Double Life of Miranda Turner #5 is set for a January 7 release, the same day as Lady Killer #1 and the day after the first digital chapter of Ares & Aphrodite: Love Wars. So never you fear!
Current Soundtrack: Wu-Tang Clan, A Better Tomorrow
APRIL COME SHE WILL
Comics Should Be Good have been really swell to my books lately. Their four-part write-up of Joëlle's work, their review of Lady Killer, and now their "Flippin' through Previews" column has chosen Ares & Aphrodite: Love Wars as one of their top choices from the new Diamond catalogue.
Jamie S. Rich is a sucker for romances, so on page 358 we find Ares & Aphrodite, a new graphic novel by him and Megan Levens from Oni. Like a lot of romantic comedies, it sounds painful on the surface – there’s a bet between an attractive divorce lawyer and a cute wedding planner (no points for guessing which is the male and which is the female) and there’s a wedding to plan, confound it! Yes, it sounds fluffy, but Rich really good at writing romances, and Levens is a pretty good artist, so I’m checking this out. (15 April)
Current Soundtrack: The Colbert Report (December 1, 2014 episode)
BRING IT ON HOME AND DROP THEM GUNS ON THE FLOOR
We have a final cover for Ares and Aphrodite: Love Wars, my romance graphic novel with Megan Levens.
The comic, which Megan is finishing the coloring on right now, will start being serialized on Comixology in January, and then Oni Press will publish the book edition in April.
Here is the marketing copy:
Will Ares, a successful divorce lawyer, find himself working alongside Gigi Averelle, a wedding planner, when their respective clients - movie producer Evans Beatty and Hollywood starlet Carrie Cartwright - plan to marry. As Beatty's ex-wives come out of the woodwork to cause mayhem, Gigi and Will make a bet - Gigi agrees to go on a date with Will if Evans and Carrie really do go through with the wedding. Should they break up, however, Will must reveal, in a full-page newspaper ad, how many marriages he's ruined. Is Will a fool for love, or is this the start of a beautiful relationship?
Current Soundtrack: Jim Bob, A Humpty Dumpty Thing
MONSTER LOVE
The video above features a few minutes of Megan Levens talking Madame Frankenstein. Issue #7 is just a week and a half away!
Also, Megan posted a sneak peek image from our Oni Press romance comic Ares & Aphrodite that's just too darn cute.
Current Soundtrack: Andrew Montgomery, Ruled by Dreams
A man, a cat, and a golf club. A sneaky peaky panel from Ares & Aphrodite, art and colors by Megan Levens, out next year from Oni Press.
Current Soundtrack: Luke Haines, New York in the '70s
THE DAYS OF PEARLY SPENCER
In Ares & Aphrodite, Gigi's french bulldog is named Spencer. After Spencer Tracy.
Art and coloring is by Megan Levens. The comic will be released through Oni Press in 2015.
Current Soundtrack: The Raveonettes, Pe'ahi
FROM THE OLDEST SWINGER IN TOWN...
Just proofed the script for Ares & Aphrodite one last time before sending it to Crank! to letter. It's been a year, I forgot how much I really like these characters.
Megan Levens posted this sneak peek image of the female lead, Gigi Averelle, on Facebook yesterday. The coloring has begun!
Current Soundtrack: The Beautiful South, "Let Love Speak Up Itself (BBC Session - Emma Freud 28/3/94"
LOVE WARS
Oni Press has announced their upcoming slate of titles for the next twelve months or so. Lots of great stuff, check out the whole thing right here.
In amongst the list is mine and Megan Levens’ romantic comedy Ares & Aphrodite, which she is drawing and coloring. We are chasing the classic horror style of Madame Frankenstein with our ode to the rom-coms of golden-age Hollywood. The official description is below the image:
ARES & APHRODITE
2015
A new original graphic novel by Jamie S. Rich and Megan Levens! Will Ares is a successful divorce lawyer — which means, invariably, that he’s always pissing someone off. He’s also a hopeless romantic (go figure). Gigi Averelle is a wedding planner who’s seen enough failed marriages to know that true love doesn’t exist. And with their respective clients — movie producer Evans Beatty and Hollywood starlet Carrie Cartwright — getting hitched, Will and Gigi are about to see a whole lot more of each other. As Beatty’s ex-wives come out of the woodwork and cause mayhem for the upcoming marriage, Gigi proposes a bet — should Evans and Carrie go through with the wedding, Gigi will go on a date with Will. Should they break up, as Gigi suspects, Will must put a full-page ad in the paper revealing the number of marriages he’s ruined. Is Will a fool for love, or is this the start of a beautiful relationship?
*
Current Soundtrack: my This is My Jam feed