Oni Press Announces New ‘Double Fine,’ ‘Diesel Sweeties’ Collections And More [SDCC]
Oni Press announced new collections from webcomics creators Scott C. of Double Fine Action Comics and Rich Steven's Diesel Sweeties, as well as teasing some upcoming projects and sharing info about their stable of continuing series at Friday's RevolutiONIize panel.
The big news of the panel -- moderated by Editor-In-Chief James Lucas Jones -- was the publication of print editions of popular webcomics creators, with Scott C.'s Double Fine Action Comics and Rich Stevens' Diesel Sweeties joining the Oni Press catalogue in 2013.
From Oni's press release:
"I'm so very glad to welcome two incredibly talented and wildly popular cartoonists to the Oni Press fold," gushed Oni Press editor in chief James Lucas Jones. "Both R. Stevens and Scott C. are pioneers in our field. The approach to online presentation of DIESEL SWEETIES and DOUBLE FINE ACTION COMICS have served as templates for dozens, if not hundreds, of aspiring creators and the comics themselves are some of the funniest ones I've ever read."
Initially started as a before-work project on video game developer Double Fine Production's website, Scott C.'s Double Fine Action Comics features the exploits of Two-Headed Baby, a knight named Knight, a circus strongman named Muscleman and two astronauts named Captain and Thompson as they "collect rocks and have parties and stuff," according to creator Scott C. (Who, in this reporter's opinion, has really cool hair). Beginning in 2013, Double Fine Action Comics will see a newly-designed reprint of the very rare first volume, as well as a new-to-print second volume. A third volume, collecting the remainder of the run, is scheduled to hit shelves later in 2013.
Rich Stevens' long running Diesel Sweeties (the strip boasts over 3,000 pixel-art strips), will see collections based on their content rather than any sort of production order, with Stevens suggesting a book entirely composed of "pixel kitties." The normally-vegetarian Stevens also lamented the side effects of a recent Kickstarter campaign which saw two backers donating $666 each to see the artist eat a pound of bacon. After asking how he will each two pounds of bacon, Stevens noted that he's been "training," but also added that, "If you're not suffering, it's not comics."
The panel also discussed additional Oni Press series, with Brahm Revel on hand to talk about the recently-released second volume of his "Chimpanzees-in-Vietnam" tale, Guerillas, and artist Matt Dembicki talking about his "heavily-researched, National Geographic-style" graphic novel Xoc: The Journey of A Great White, available later this month.
On hand to discuss their multi-Eisner-nominated series The Sixth Gun, writer Cullen Bunn and artist Brian Hurtt showed off the cover to issue #24, stating that it it kicks off an arc that "sets [the title] on its roller coaster ride toward its conclusion," sometime around issue #50.
Jones also teased a few new books scheduled to be announced at the New York Comic-Con, including Buzz, from Ananth Panagariya (Johnny Wander) and Tessa Stone (Hanna Is Not A Boy's Name), and A Boy And A Girl – "A science-fiction story with a good dose of romance" from Jamie S. Rich ("A love story from Oni Press written by Jamie S. Rich?" joked Jones) and Natalie Nourigat (Between Gears).
Jones also mentioned that there are new volumes of Blue Monday (which should come out sometime in the back half of 2013) and Hopeless Savages, which is still in development, but progressing.