WE'VE GOT LIFT-OFF!

Roughly a year since the launch of Perihelion, I feel the time is right to inaugurate this brand-new page devoted to The Mysterians.

"What the hell is The Mysterians?" you ask.

The Mysterians is an in-the-making sci-fi/fantasy comic book series (ideally, a 3-book series) to be published by Los Angeles-based Tokyopop, Inc. -- the largest publisher of licensed manga (Japanese & Korean comic books) in America.

A couple of years ago, Tokyopop began producing original material.  In spring of 2005, filmmakers Chuck Russell (The Mask, Eraser) and Michael Uselan (producer on the Batman franchise) approached Tokyopop, and pitched their idea about a secret ring of superheroic kids battling an invasion of a most troublesome alien race.  The Tokyopop honchos loved the pitch, and, soon thereafter, I was hired to tackle the task of fleshing out the concept, the characters, and laying out the storyline for the first book.

Book One was written between May and September of 2005, with considerable creative input from my trusty editor Paul Morrissey.  Ever since, our artist Matt Henschen has been painstakingly transforming merely descriptive passages into gorgeous pictures.  The street date for The Mysterians (Book One) is early 2008.  Stay tuned to this page for news, updates, pictures, and links.

Trust me, it'll be well worth your creative curiosities to track this baby.  It's a great book (and I ain't no slouch about these things.  I'm not.  Really, I'm not.) that you'll want to scoop up as soon as it's hot off the presses.

In the meantime, I'd like to point you to a couple of links and a whole lotta pictures.  Below, you'll find a link to my recent appearance as a guest on my friend Richard Hamilton's comic book-related online TV show, Thought Balloon.  It originally aired on Thursday, May 10.  I had a blast being on the show, discussing all things manga, pop culture, the process of re-writing, and of working on The Mysterians.  Here it is:

Thought Balloon with Guest Jay Antani

And right here's a link to host Richard Hamilton's own way-cool comic-book promo site:

Dial C for Comics

And check out the delirious universe of all that is manga right here:

Tokyopop

In the immediate future, I'll also be posting new pages of Mysterian's artwork.  Fret not!  I'm not through.