BlackGirlNerds.com is giving away 20 signed copies of my VISION MACHINE graphic novel, which was illustrated by the great RB Silva and explores a world transformed by the most powerful piece of personal technology ever created.
2015.02.14 – “Happy Fun Room” screens for FREE at the Seattle Asian American Film Festival
If you’re in Seattle, you clearly need to spend Valentine’s Day at the Seattle Asian American Film Festival, where my short film “Happy Fun Room” screens for FREE at 9 pm in the “Animated, Horror & Sci Fi Shorts” program.
2015.02.04 – ACTION COMICS #39 in stores today!
“Action Comics” #39, written by yours truly with art by the great Scott Kolins and Aaron Kuder, hits stores today! This is the conclusion to the big “Horrorville” storyline, wherein Superman, Lana, Steel, and Hiro have faced mysterious horrors in the misty cornfields and creepy farmhouses of Smallville. Find out the truth behind the horror — and the origin of the Ultra-Humanite!
Check out a big lettered preview.
Huge Comixology sale on my ETERNAL WARRIOR run!
For a limited time, you can get all eight issues of my ETERNAL WARRIOR run in digital form from Comixology for just $6.99. That’s a 69 percent savings and I highly recommend it. Check it out.
The second story arc, issues 5 to 8, feature the Eternal Warrior and his granddaughter making their way through a post-disaster world, and it’s one of my favorite things that I’ve written in the last two years. Robert Gil did the art and it’s just spectacular. Alex Mansfield just reviewed that storyline for All-Comic.com, and here’s what he had to say:
Eternal Emperor is magnificent epic journey through what feels like an entire epoch. It’s small and unimaginably vast at the same time with the question of the inevitable curiosity of man leading to its own destruction at the heart of it. Greg Pak and Robert Gil leave all the detritus of the past, both Gilad’s fictional history and the publisher’s established continuity thus far, and plunge the reader into a fully realized future that is mesmerizingly beautiful. Nothing is required to enter into this arc, save for an open mind and a taste for truly captivating adventure.
So get on that!
And if you’d rather buy a signed physical copy of the paperback, visit the Greg Pak Shop before they’re sold out!
2015.01.21 – “Batman/Superman” #18 in stores TODAY!
“Batman/Superman” #18, written by yours truly with art by Ardian Syaf hits stores today! Includes the shocking revelation of exactly what’s been attacking those close to Superman!
Check out the preview at Nerdist.
Ask your local comics shop to hold a copy for you!
Buy it digitally at Comixology!
All my Apple software problems
Glenn Fleishman recently posted a list of software problems he’s been encountering in his Macs. The post resonated with me — for about two or three years now, I’ve had the sense that problems with my Apple computers are constantly increasing. I’m not about to switch — I’ve been using Macs since 1985 and have gotten myself pretty locked into the ecosystem. I also essentially owe much of my career to Macs — the advent of cheap digital video editing with Final Cut Pro made it possible for me to make the majority of my shorts and my feature film “Robot Stories.” And the introduction of the iPad has enabled digital comic distribution to develop as an actual business that helps pay my rent. So yes, I’m grateful to and very appreciative of Apple products and generally very comfortable using them.
But that doesn’t mean everything shouldn’t work better. The company’s made a lot of hay over the idea that “It just works.” But increasingly, it doesn’t. So here’s my list of problems, and here’s to hoping the company’s paying attention and working on improvements.
- The whole file system of iOS seems overly complicated. I understand the system isn’t built for my specific needs. But I want to be able to plug an iPad into a computer and see a hard drive pop up on the desktop that I can move files to and from. And I want to be able to access those files with any app that can read them on my iPad. Instead, I have to figure out how each separate app uploads files — and I have to upload the same file separately to different apps if I want to view it in different apps. This seems wasteful of both user time and space on the device.
- The rollout of Final Cut Pro X and the lack of support for FCP 7 makes no sense to me as a pro user. I’ve stuck with FCP 7, like every other filmmaker I know because FCP 7 has all the features I need and because I have fifteen years of edited films that I CANNOT OPEN with FCP X. But I know eventually Apple will release an OS that I have to upgrade to in order to do my other work that isn’t compatible with FCP 7. And that’s going to be a terrible day. The writing is already on the wall — since upgrading to Yosemite, I can’t export from FCP 7 to QuickTime. I have to export via Compressor — which works, so at least there’s a workaround. But it’s a sign of things to come, and I don’t like it.
- Apple hardware has become increasingly difficult to fix/upgrade at home. I was pretty easily able to upgrade many parts of my old Pismo or even my black Macbook back in the day. Much more difficult to do anything with any current hardware.
- Searching in the Apple Mail program is a disaster. I admit — I have a HUGE number of emails in my program. But doesn’t everyone? For about a year now, using the search function to find anything in Mail frequently takes up to a minute. Since upgrading to Yosemite, it’s improved for me a bit. But it still can take many long seconds to complete a search. And sometimes it doesn’t complete the search ever — I have to clear out the search terms and try again to get a response.
- I’ve had similar problems just using the Finder to search my computer. Searches used to be instantaneous. Now they can take a few seconds or what feels like a full minute.
- Image Capture fails if I’ve kept it open and done other things between sets of scans. Upon returning to do a second set of scans, it typically loses its connection to the scanner and sometimes the entire computer has to be restarted for it to recognize it again.
- For the first time ever, Preview started giving me trouble, taking forever to open and scroll through a document that was only 25 mb in size. This happened after I upgraded to Yosemite and after I’d been working with a pdf with fields you could fill in. I’ve finished what I needed to do with that document and haven’t had trouble again.
- Every time I start up my computer, I get a message saying Text Expander wants to open up System Preferences so I can give it permission to work on my computer. I have already given Text Expander permission. But this dialogue box comes up anyway.
- Mac Pro frequently doesn’t recognize USB drives it recognized moments before. The drive in question is a Lexar USB 3.0 drive.
I’ll update this post as I discover/remember additional problems.
Rave reviews for ACTION COMICS #38
Pretty blown away by the response to the Horrorville storyline we’re doing in ACTION COMICS last night. Hugely appreciate everyone who’s been talking it up — and big props to artists Aaron Kuder and Jae Lee, colorists Wil Quintana and June Chung, and letterer Dezi Sienty. A few excerpts:
“Pak and Co have taken Superman, and readers, out of their comfort zone and show the wonderful combination that is Superman and horror. It’s something that’s not been seen that often, and they pull it off with aplomb.” — Daniel Kalban, Word of the Nerd
“Horror needs to be … well … horrific if it is going to work. And this book, from the monsters to the acceptance by the victims, is horrifying. And throwing Superman into this mix, a place he is going to as unsure of himself as normal people gives this a fresh feeling.” — Supergirl Comic Box Commentary
“The latest arc of Action Comics has been one filled with some fairly gruesome horror elements. Superman rarely ever gets to play in the horror genre and for that reason, among others, these issues have been a great deal of fun.” — Mike Logsdon, IGN
“There’s a lot to love about “Action Comics” #38, from the creepy art (Kuder’s tentacle-drawing skills are dynamite) to the nature of the creatures that they’re fighting. If you haven’t checked out Pak and Kuder’s take on Superman, this is as great a time as any to start.” — Greg McElhatton, CBR
Ask your local comics shop to hold a copy for you today!
New swag at the Greg Pak Shop!
We’ve added some fun new cheap stuff to the Greg Pak Shop, including signed, personalized bookplates and a six pack of buttons from “Code Monkey Save World” and “Robot Stories.”
Greg Pak talks STORM with Newsarama
Chris Arrant interviewed me for Newsarama about the STORM book I’m writing for Marvel. An excerpt:
Nrama: In these first seven issues, one thing I keep being hit on is how Storm always roots for the underdog. I know you’re a well-read fan of Storm, so how did that aspect of her become known to you and how do you feel about playing it up here in this story?
Pak: The truth is that almost every superhero sticks up for the underdog — that’s typically what makes them heroes and it’s why we love them. What makes Storm stand out is that over her life she’s spent time with so many different people and communities — she identifies with many different people, not just mutants, for example.
Nrama: That being said, the upcoming covers and issue solicitations promise a dark time for Storm – being wanted and hunted. Can you say what’s coming down the pipe for her?
Pak: Anyone who stands up for the right thing runs the risk of getting knocked down by people who benefit from the wrong thing. Storm’s cut loose over the first six issues of the book, doing the right thing regardless of the consequences. Now she’s going to have to deal with the consequences as the big villains of the series make their presence felt in a huge way.
I talk about diversity for the Comics Beat 2014 Year End Survey
Heidi McDonald interviewed me for the Comics Beat’s 2014 Year End Survey, and I said a few things about diversity. The money quotes:
What was the biggest story in comics in 2014? Diversity. After the success of MS. MARVEL, there’s no going back. We’re going to continue seeing more and more diversity of casts and genres and art styles in mainstream and independent comics, and that’s a fantastic thing that’s healthy for the entire industry in every way.
What will be the biggest story in comics in 2015? Diversity. Not just among casts, genre, and art style, but among actual creators. I think there was a time not too long ago when I was the only person of color writing for the big two. That’s going to change. And we’re going to see more and more women writing and drawing, and comics will continue to tap into new audiences as a result, which will be better for the entire industry.
Mark my words, etc. etc.