Welcome to Showside

Tomorrow sees the release of Welcome to Showside #3, the latest chapter of Bravest Warrior artist Ian McGinty's creator-owned series about easygoing Kit and his friends defending their town from demons and monsters. This issue tells the story of a school dance, which aspiring sorceress Moon drags Belle and Kit to with the hope of having a relaxing evening. And in the preview pages, that seems to be what they have. This being Welcome to Showside, some manner of demons or monsters will inevitably show up (judging by the cover, probably zombies?), but at least the kids get some dancing in before that happens.

As a kid, there are few things more thrilling than the idea of actually being friends with your favorite comic book characters. I mean, let's be real here, I'm 33 years old and I'm still obsessed with being Batman's best friend, so I can only imagine how exciting it must be to actually have something like that come along. For one young fan, though, there's no imagination necessary. In the second issue of Ian McGinty's Welcome to Showside, there's a new member of the main characters' group of friends named Tolouse --- and he's based on a real-life fan of the book named Patrick, who's probably having a pretty cool week.

We're holding out high hopes for Z2 Comics, the new small-scale publisher launching this fall with a pleasingly eclectic line-up of books, including Ian McGinty's potentially charming Welcome to Showside (soon to be an animated series), Chris Hunt's noir crime adventure story Carver, and the risque fantasy comedy Allen: Son of Hellcock, co-written by one of the Last Week Tonight writers. Z2 Comics has given us an exclusive first look at some of the upcoming covers for all three titles, including Missy Pena's gorgeous Showside cover.

If you know Ian McGinty's name, odds are you associate it with a comics adaptation of an animated series --- Adventure Time, or Bravest Warriors, just to name two --- or the Munchkin card games. But this fall, he's turning the tables; the first issue of his new, creator-owned Z2 Comics series Welcome to Showside comes out in late October, and it's already being developed as an animated pilot, with McGinty serving as showrunner and lead voice actor. McGinty will take the role of Kit, a kid who just happens to be the son of the evil Shadow King, the leader of a netherrealm full of monsters. We sat down with McGinty to discuss the pressure of writing and drawing a creator-owned book while overseeing an animated project, and to dig into the appeal of all-ages comics, pulling stories from real life, and snagging none other than Henry Rollins to do some voice acting.

A new production company formed by film director/producer Sridhar Reddy and Z2 Comics publisher Josh Frankel has announced plans to adapt comics by Ian McGinty and Paul Pope for the screen. Called Modern Prometheus, the company's plan is to bring the upcoming Welcome to Showside by McGinty to television as an animated series, with a film version of Pope's The One Trick Rip-Off to follow.

Z2 Comics, a publisher known as a boutique publisher of graphic novels from names including Paul Pope, Harvey Pekar and Dean Haspiel, announced today that it's expanding into the world of old-fashioned floppy comics. The line will debut this fall with an all-ages comic from Bravest Warriors artist Ian McGinty; a historical fiction book from Chris Hunt --- a protege of Paul Pope; and a farcical fantasy comic from Last Week Tonight writer Will Tracy with collaborators Gabe Koplowitz and artist Miguel Porto.