HEIR TO FIRE 2 is out!
LOS ANGELES—- ACTIONOPOLIS, LLC announced today the highly-anticipated sequel Heir to Fire: Zephyr Mesa with a Kindle edition first printing. Rob M. Worley, writer of a diverse range of comics for nearly every publisher and audience, returns readers to the Arizona desert town of Gila Flats, home to invading spiders, giant lizards and young Ryan Morales who may just be mankind’s last hope. Heir to Fire: Zephyr Mesa simultaneously releases in downloadable e-book apps compatible on iPad, iPhone, PC, Mac, Kindle, and Android readers.
HEIR TO FIRE: ZEPHYR MESA – Ryan Morales and the town of Gila Flats are still reeling from the events of the first book. Having harnessed his fire abilities he’s dispatched the spider invaders that threatened to snatch the citizens of his town. Now something new trespasses on his home, this time not from under the earth, but from high in the sky. Ryan must travel to Zephyr Mesa to confront these new visitors who may just hold the secrets of his lost heritage and the key to his destiny as the Heir to Fire!
For more information about the HEIR TO FIRE series visit http://www.heirtofire.com.
For more information about the new line of ACTIONOPOLIS books visit http://www.actionopolis.com.
ACTIONOPOLIS: When Adventure Is Your Destination!
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Are Comic Book Movies Kaput?
A few weeks ago Raju Mudhar of the Toronto Star rang me up to ask me if it was all over for the comic book movie. Now, I’ve had reporters calling me up with this question ever since my Comics2Film website caught fire in 1998. Trend-spotting in Hollywood is an ongoing game and as soon a trend starts its upward trajectory, somebody starts predicting the inevitable demise.
I have to say, this is the first time in a decade plus of writing Comics2Film where I’ve switched my answer from “nah” to “mmmmmaybe.”
Raju, who is covering the Toronto International Film Festival and it’s superhero entries Super and Griff the Invisible, was pointing to the weak box office generated by Kick-Ass and Scott Pilgrim vs. The World as the latest evidence.
Scott Pilgrim Gets Knocked Out
While I wouldn’t call Kick-Ass a failure of any kind, I’d definitely score Scott Pilgrim in the “bitter disappointment” column. And I mean that only in terms of the lack of reception for what is one of the liveliest, most enjoyable films of the year so far.
But as I told Raju, you can expand the window all the way back to the end of 2008 and what we have is now a fairly long string of comic book movie duds. That’s the time frame when Punisher: War Zone became the third failed attempt by Marvel to launch their film-friendly vigilante. Hot on the heels of that was Frank Miller’s under-appreciated The Spirit, which was too weird for the average moviegoer and too Frank Miller for fans of Will Eisner’s classic comic.
Then came 2009, and with it: Watchmen. Zack Snyder’s equally gallant and foolish attempt to bring the ground-breaking graphic novel to the big screen fell far short of the massive hype and anticipation that preceded it. 2009′s other comic book movies? Astro Boy, Whiteout, Dragonball Evolution and Surrogates.
It’s a pretty sad year for the comic book movie when the sole winner is the lackluster X-Men Origins: Wolverine.
This year? Throw Jonah Hex and The Losers on the compost heap along with the aforementioned indie darlings. Marvel wins again with Iron Man 2, a box-office titan, however unworthy of the original.
So is it the end for comic book movies? Mmmmmaybe, but nah. It’s a slump.
The mysterious shunning of Scott Pilgrim aside, Hollywood might do better to look beyond superhero fare to other comics that are out there. It could be that we’re having our fill of heroic action adventure but I think it’s more about quality than any trends.
If Green Lantern and Thor are great movies, then people will embrace them.
Check out the Toronto Star article for commentary from myself along with Cameron Stewart and Mark Askwith.
Read MoreHey! I’m in the Dearborn Press & Guide
I got a nice mention in the Dearborn Press & Guide this week, spotlighting my upcoming appearance at Green Brain Comics supporting Scratch9 and giving a sense of my crooked path into writing comics.
Actionopolis is Back!
[singlepic id=186 w=320 h=240 float=right]This has been ramping up all summer, but the announcement officially came down today: Actionopolis is back!
Actionopolis is the book like featuring high-octane, high-adventure prose fiction by a myriad of talented writers from comics, film, video games and the like. The company initially published seven well-received books, including my Heir to Fire: Gila Flats novel, which was illustrated by Mike Dubisch.
Now they’re back with a new wave of 16 new books for the Amazon Kindle platform. The new books include my long-awaited Legend of Tigerfist: Enter the Tiger as well as the sequel Heir to Fire: Zephyr Mesa.
You might be saying, “b-bu-but I love Actionopolis books, but I don’t have an Amazon Kindle reader.”
Well, did you know that Kindle books can now be read on your Mac, PC, iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad, Blackberry or Android device as well as the Kindle reader? Just download the right app for your device!
Broken Frontier (and other sites) has the complete scoop.
Visit Actionopolis.com and start reading!
Read MoreWelcome Dearborn Press & Guide Readers
A big, “howdy” to readers of Dearborn Press & Guide who may have discovered this site via the swell article that the paper ran on me this weekend.
If you’re interested in the new comic Scratch9, I’d ask you to click onward to Scratch9.com for the most complete and up-to-date info about that comic, including upcoming store appearances and ordering info!
Otherwise, you’ve come to the right place!
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Rob Elsewhere...