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

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:

* A new interview with Megan Levens 

* Chapter 1 review

* Chapter 2 review

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"

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)

Read all of their picks now.

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

IF THE DEVIL IS SIX

Tomorrow is Madame Frankenstein #6 day. And if that weren't enough reason to head to the comic book store, it's also your chance to get the debut issue of Brides of Helheim, featuring art by our cover team of Joëlle Jones and Nick Filardi. Please look at this awesome preview of their comic over at CBR.

Coming Up Comics are all-in for MF. They gave the new issue a 10 out of 10.

You just don’t get stories like this every day. When you do, read them, and then read them again. When they’re this good, this deep, and this enjoyable, you don’t want to skip a moment of enjoying them. Issue by issue, more of the story has been given to us and these characters are more complicated than we had imagined. It’s truly a study on how there is no such thing as being completely bad or completely good, but human.

And for you, the first six pages of #6, just scroll through the gallery below.

Current Soundtrack: Prince, ART OFFICIAL AGE

STRANGEWAYS, HERE I COME

As Rose City Comic Con approaches, Rob McMonigal over at Panel Patter is doing a round-up of books by the guests of the show. And he began with Archer Coe & the Thousand Natural Shocks.

What starts off as a fairly straightforward noir story with a man caught up in a set of crimes he didn't commit and a woman with looks that can kill quickly morphs and changes into a plot where reality is questioned at every turn of the page and even when it finishes we aren't 100% sure of the truth of the ending. The saying about making your bed and the having to lie in fits well here. Archer may seems like a stand up guy with a stand up act, but though not a magician, swallowing the reality of his situation is going to require magic.

Read the whole review here.

Rose City Comic Con is going to be September 20-21. Information is on their site.

I'll be at table G-13.

I'll also be hosting a panel on Saturday at 3 p.m. 

Back to the Gutters: Let's Talk Comics
Room: Panel Room 4
Time: 3:00PM - 3:50PM

From part of the team that brought you From the Gutters comes a new take on the comic book panel. Join comics writer and journalist Jamie S. Rich and Ryan McCluskey as they bring their unique unique wit and perspective to a live interview format. Along with their special guests, they'll discuss the intricacies of a life in comics, both in the studio and out.

- See more at: http://rosecitycomiccon.com/programming/#sthash.crLm0p12.dpuf

We're lining up guests now, with the first two being Nate Quarry and Leila Del Duca!

See you there. I'll have comics for sale, most likely just the most recent stuff. If you have a special request, particularly for my prose novels, drop me a line and we can set up my bringing them for you.

After that, it's Long Beach the next weekend!

Current Soundtrack: The Smiths, Strangeways Here We Come

THE SECRET LIFE OF ARABIA

So, David Schulner is the writer of the Image Comics series Clone and also the creator of the TV shows The Oaks and Do No Harm.

He did an interview about Clone this week, and buried in there is some interesting news.

CV: Not everything is ending for you though. You have a pretty exciting project coming up for Universal Television. What can you tell us about that?

DS: Damn, you're breaking a lot of stories here Mat. I'm adapting Jamie Rich's andDan Christensen's Archer Coe and The Thousand Deadly Shocks put out by ONI Press.

CV: How did you land this gig?

DS: ONI actually pitched the book to me. How about them apples? As soon as they told me the premise I was hooked and knew it'd make a great series. And when I read it I was blown away.

More in the link.

We're in the wayyyyyyyy early stages so far, but David's treatment was pretty fantastic. It was totally weird reading someone else's take on a character I came up with, but when I switch gears and look at it as a fan, it's pretty awesome. 

Current Soundtrack: David Bowie, Heroes