Aardwolf Publishing to release Dave Cockrum's Final FUTURIANS

Contributed art from Ray Lago

Dave Cockrum’s final, never-before-seen FUTURIANS story has everything you loved about Dave’s X-Men work—and more. But Aardwolf Publishing wasn’t satisfied just assembling a sensational graphic novel scripted and penciled by Cockrum, and inked by his X-Men collaborator Bob Wiacek—we also recruited the industry’s royalty to create pin-ups, write-ups, and signed and remarqued bookplates: Neal Adams, Neil Gaiman, Jim Lee, Ray Lago, Ricardo Vilagran, Adam Kubert, Andy Kubert, Bill Sienkiewicz, Walt Simonson, Mark Wheatley, Mark McKenna, and Mike “Bru-Hed” Pascale are just some of the sensational team adding many delicious extras to this project, which also sees the professional return of Paty Cockrum (Amazing Spider-Man, Claws of the Cat) on colors.

Pre-order the hard copy graphic novel now and receive the expanded digital version FREE. You will also have exclusive opportunities to purchase inexpensive original art and signed bookplates from our all-star team--as well as Dave's personal items (his pen, his sword, his personal file copy of X-Men #94).

U.S. Price for THE FUTURIANS RETURN is $25.00 (customers outside of the U.S. will be billed for additional shipping). You can even ask Aardwolf to reserve the book for just $10.00. Are we good guys or what?

To participate in this special pre-Kickstarter offer, PayPal your reserve money to sales@aardwolfpublishing.com and note “Futurians Reserve.”

The Future of Dave Cockrum's Futurians

A number of you have written and even more have hit this blog via keyword searches (yes--we can see you; Google cuts both ways).

The wheels on the FUTURIANS move slowly. There's 20 unpublished, tightly pencilled pages of The Futurians by Dave Cockrum sitting on my desk and inquiries and interest from a number of major comics' publishers to roll-up existing (previously published Futurians' stories) into one BIG book. And there's still the half-interest of occasional Hollywood vecks. Paty Cockrum owns all of the originals and rights to everything so it's not complicated legally, just a question of what we want to do, and with who. Or is it whom?

Dave Cockrum's FUTURIANS Return

If you read this blog or follow the comings and goings of Mrs. Meth’s son Clifford, you’re aware of my decades-long association with The Futurians. Created by my pal Dave Cockrum, The Futurians have had several shots at the big screen that didn’t quite pan out (partly due to the ineptitude of Howard Jonas’ IDT Entertainment, partly due to that disingenuous, mealy-mouthed sleaze ball of a stuffed shirt Richard Saperstein). But interest in this title has never waned and there are a number of Futurians projects on the horizon, and several proposals on my desk.

First at bat is the new Avatar mini-series from David Miller Studios. This is the first time Cockrum’s “Andrew Pendragon” gets top billing. As David Miller explains, “Avatar returns to his English home for a family funeral and encounters an ancient evil from his past; an evil that could consume all of Great Britain.” Issue #1 features a cover by Greg Larocque, who was drawing DC's Flash back when my buddy William Messner-Loebs was turning in the finest scripts that title ever saw ever (note the double use of the word ever). The incomparable Michael Netzer and inker Joe Rubinstien will be joining the series with issue #2.

Avatar of the Futurians #1, which includes an introduction by your rarely humbled author, is available now from the May Diamond Previews (p. 292).

Meth on Saperstein: Writers & Artists Weigh In

Regarding the story...it's sudden removal...and it's speedy return to print at another forum:

"Came to the Saperstein column. Read it, LOVED it." --Harlan Ellison

"Good on ya, friend." -- Josh Olson (writer, "A History of Violence")

"Bravo, Cliff! (from someone who's been there)." -- Batton Lash

"Well done Clifford! It's not possible to suppress such a good story nor to run away from it. You're a big inspiration!" -- Michael Netzer

"This is what I told Harlan when last we spoke a week back and it certainly applies re: your column's abrupt excision: People in comics always err on the side of cowardice." --Robert Morales

"Cliff's article is terrific. I've been calling him my ALPHA DAWG OF THE WEEK." --Tony Isabella
"Some of you will learn from this column, others will just laugh. But Clifford’s essays like “Welcome to Hollywood” are too important to be ignored." -- Jim Reeber
See what all the fuss is about here.

A Tale of Symmetry

My recent account of how producer Richard Saperstein refused to pay me for contracted work on Snaked and how I handled it have brought in e-kudos all day long from friends and strangers:

"Clifford Meth is my Alpha Dawg of the Week," writes long-time comics writer Tony Isabella at his website.

Jason Brice at ComicBulletin.com refers to it as, "The amazing tale of how Cliff Meth and The Futurians got snaked."

Comics journalist Daniel Best gives the story a compelling and appropriate introduction at his blog.

Glenn Haumann at ComicMix summarizes it as "how to deal with producer Richard Saperstein."

Isn't it high time you read what all the hullabaloo is about? Click here.

(note added 3/13/2010: links to the original column were removed)