DerekMcCulloch.com
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The Only Page for All Your Derek McCulloch Needs
Portrait of the artist as a young man...
(aka "...I've been some places...")
(aka "...I've been some places...")
Derek McCulloch is an award-winning writer of
graphic novels and other stuff. Check this site regularly for news on
upcoming projects and appearances.
Be part of the Derek McCulloch Experience on Facebook!
New Stuff:
Another week of Gone to Amerikay!
It was quite a first week for our little book. The launch party in New York was a great success, with good company, good music, good food, and a good bit of money raised for the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund. In its first week of release, Gone to Amerikay got great reviews, great responses from fans, and cracked the Diamond top 50 Graphic Novels list for the month of March. Some highlights are below.
* Ain't It Cool News gave Gone to Amerikay what can only be described as a rave review.
* Page 45 kind of liked it too.
* Vertigo editor Karen Berger posted some of Colleen's unpublished sample art (a piece I'd completely forgotten existed) and my historical notes (which got cut from the book for space).
* We got a great plug in the Pogues forum!
* Comics Bulletin, the site of GTA's very first review, ran interviews with both Colleen and me.
* CBLDF ran an article about the book launch, with many photos. Photographer Paul Flannelly has put up a page of photos from the event as well..
* Ten lucky winners got free copies of Gone to Amerikay from Goodreads. Congratulations to them! Hope you all like the book.
* The Irish Sunday Times ran a big article on GTA!
* Largehearted Boy ran a "Book Notes" column by me. This is where an author describes a "soundtrack" for their book. In my case, I discussed all the songs that are quoted in Gone to Amerikay, and select versions of each for your listening pleasure.
* I did a podcast interview with Comic Geek Speak.
* A store in Northampton, MA, is doing a book club night for GTA on April 26!
* And, last, there was an article about the GTA book launch in The Irish Echo.
I think that's everything. And if it isn't everything, it's enough for now!
The week of Gone to Amerikay!
More brief updates...but at least I'm doing them BEFORE the events in question! Here we go...
* TOMORROW, Wednesday March 28, 2012, Gone to Amerikay, my Vertigo graphic novel collaboration with living legend Colleen Doran goes on sale in stores in the greater North America area. Maybe beyond as well, I'm not sure. Anyway, it's been something like three and a half years in the making and we couldn't be more proud of the finished product or more thrilled to finally be able to share it with you all. I hope you'll all head straight to your local comic shop to pick it up first thing tomorrow.
* We haven't really done that much press for this book, all things considered, but here's our big get for the week of release: a tremendously complimentary blog post on the Wall Street Journal's Speakeasy page! I particularly like this part: "It’s a sweeping, detailed, beautifully drawn story of love, betrayal and survival, with a small but crucial touch of the supernatural. It’s deliberately paced and slow to build, but the payoff, as the three stories converge, is worth it."
* Yesterday, we had our first review show up, on Comics Bulletin, and I would have to call it overwhelmingly positive -- 4.5 stars out of 5. "Gone to Amerikay is a wonderful example of the possibilities of the medium... McCulloch and Doran have created a work of art, there is no denying that, and I think it succeeds on every level." And: "Doran's dazzling art...adds further evidence to the argument that she deserves to be held up as a modern master."
* And! This Friday, March 30, 2012, Colleen and I will both be in New York City for the official Gone to Amerikay Book Launch. It will be from 6-8 pm at Harbor Lights restaurant--address and details in the link. The event will include copies of the book on sale, and a portion of every sale will go to benefit The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund. Admission is free, everybody's welcome, and I hope to see you there!
* And lastly...not GTA-related, but the Stagger Lee reading at The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis was magnificent, and I'm so sorry if you weren't there. We had a completely unexpected standing-room-only crowd and they were riveted by the performances of our fabulous cast and musical director Jon Spurney. I'm very eager to continue moving forward with this showing and see it through to its full staging.
So much going on this month...
It seems like I'm always apologising for failing to update here, but there's so much going on this month that it really is hard to keep up. For example...
* I'm in St. Louis right now, workshopping the stage musical adaptation of my graphic novel Stagger Lee for the Ignite! festival at The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis. I've written the book for the show and have co-written lyrics with the composers, Stew and Heidi Rodewald, the gigantic talents behind the Tony-winning Passing Strange. We're working with director Amanda Dehnert to shape the show, and have assembled an amazing cast to put it on. This Thursday, March 15, we'll be presented an in-progress reading of the first act to a very lucky audience of St. Louis theatre lovers.
* When I get back to the Bay Area, I'll have a couple of days to catch my breath then I'll be going to The Escapist in Berkeley for a pre-release signing of my new book, Gone to Amerikay. The Escapist will be the first store in the world to have copies of this book for sale, so if you're anywhere near, come by and join the party! The Escapist is at 3090 Claremont Avenue in Berkeley. The signing is on March 21 from 4 pm to 7 pm.
* On March 30, the legendary Colleen Doran and I will be in New York City for a book launch for Gone to Amerikay. The party will benefit The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund. I sit on the board of The Comic Legends Legal Defense Fund, the Canadian counterpart to the CBLDF, and we've been partnered on the case that this party will benefit -- it's a cause very dear to my heart, and if you're in or near NY on the 30th, I hope you'll come by and support the cause. Midtown Comics will be on site to sell copies of Gone to Amerikay, and a portion of all sales will go to the CBLDF. Colleen and I will be there to sign copies, and we'll be joined by the book's entire creative and editorial team (except Sarah!). The party is March 30, 6-8 pm, at Harbor Lights Restaurant, South Street Seaport, Pier 17, Third Floor. Please come!
* Speaking of Gone to Amerikay - you can see a couple of great previews of pages from that book on the CBLDF and Publisher's Weekly web sites.
* Check out this Goodreads promotion - enter to win one of ten FREE copies of Gone to Amerikay!
* And lastly - if you want more timely news about projects and whatever else crosses my mind, go to Facebook and Like The Derek McCulloch Experience. I'm posting updates on progress of the workshop right now.
News!
I've been pretty delinquent about posting here and it's a shame because there's been a lot going on and a lot to tell. This past weekend Greg Espinoza (my Pug collaborator) and I were lucky enough to have a booth at the inaugural Image Comics Expo in my home town of Oakland. For three days we met with fans, retailers, and fellow comics professionals, sold books, and had a grand old time. I had with me the galley of my new Vertigo GN, Gone to Amerikay, drawn by the incomparable Colleen Doran, and everyone I showed it to was blown away by the work of Colleen and our fabulous colourist Jose Villarrubia.
Which brings me to a segue -- Gone to Amerikay will be hitting stores on March 28. Between then and now, I'll be posting up a bunch of links on this page as press stuff starts to appear. I'll also shortly be making an announcement about the first official signing for the book, which will take place in advance of the release date.
And, in an entirely different arena -- just a couple of weeks from now I'll be in St. Louis working with two gods of rock and stage, Stew and Heidi Rodewald, on the musical version of Stagger Lee. If you've never seen Stew and Heidi's incredible musical Passing Strange, do yourself a large favour and click on that link and get it now. With noted director Amanda Dehnert, we'll be workshopping the play and presented a work-in-progress reading on March 15 at the Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, as part of their Ignite! festival. Tickets are on sale now -- if you're going to be in St. Louis on March 15, you have an opportunity for a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
That's all I've got right now, but there will be much more coming this next month.
Comic Geek Speak Podcast Interview with Derek
Derek McCulloch's Book Notes on GTA, in Largehearted Boy
Irish Sunday Times Article on GTA
Paul Flannelly Photos of GTA Book Launch
CBLDF Article on GTA Book Launch
Comics Bulletin Interview with Derek McCulloch
Comics Bulletin Interview with Colleen Doran
Page 45 Review of Gone to Amerikay
Ain't it Cool News Review of Gone to Amerikay
Wall Street Journal on Gone to Amerikay
Comics Bulletin Gone to Amerikay Review
STLtoday Stagger Lee reading review
KDHX on Stagger Lee reading
Stage Left - Chuck Lavazzi on Stagger Lee reading
iFanboy Pug Review
ComicBookCollectorsBlog Pug Review
Ain't It Cool News Pug Review (scroll down to "Cheap Shots" section)
iFanboy Pug Preview
Comics Bulletin Review of Pug.
Pacifica Tribune T. Runt! Article
Interview with Derek up on Newsarama.
Interview with Derek and Shep up on The Pulse.
Interview with Derek up on Comics Bulletin
Be part of the Derek McCulloch Experience on Facebook!
New Stuff:
Another week of Gone to Amerikay!
It was quite a first week for our little book. The launch party in New York was a great success, with good company, good music, good food, and a good bit of money raised for the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund. In its first week of release, Gone to Amerikay got great reviews, great responses from fans, and cracked the Diamond top 50 Graphic Novels list for the month of March. Some highlights are below.
* Ain't It Cool News gave Gone to Amerikay what can only be described as a rave review.
* Page 45 kind of liked it too.
* Vertigo editor Karen Berger posted some of Colleen's unpublished sample art (a piece I'd completely forgotten existed) and my historical notes (which got cut from the book for space).
* We got a great plug in the Pogues forum!
* Comics Bulletin, the site of GTA's very first review, ran interviews with both Colleen and me.
* CBLDF ran an article about the book launch, with many photos. Photographer Paul Flannelly has put up a page of photos from the event as well..
* Ten lucky winners got free copies of Gone to Amerikay from Goodreads. Congratulations to them! Hope you all like the book.
* The Irish Sunday Times ran a big article on GTA!
* Largehearted Boy ran a "Book Notes" column by me. This is where an author describes a "soundtrack" for their book. In my case, I discussed all the songs that are quoted in Gone to Amerikay, and select versions of each for your listening pleasure.
* I did a podcast interview with Comic Geek Speak.
* A store in Northampton, MA, is doing a book club night for GTA on April 26!
* And, last, there was an article about the GTA book launch in The Irish Echo.
I think that's everything. And if it isn't everything, it's enough for now!
The week of Gone to Amerikay!
More brief updates...but at least I'm doing them BEFORE the events in question! Here we go...
* TOMORROW, Wednesday March 28, 2012, Gone to Amerikay, my Vertigo graphic novel collaboration with living legend Colleen Doran goes on sale in stores in the greater North America area. Maybe beyond as well, I'm not sure. Anyway, it's been something like three and a half years in the making and we couldn't be more proud of the finished product or more thrilled to finally be able to share it with you all. I hope you'll all head straight to your local comic shop to pick it up first thing tomorrow.
* We haven't really done that much press for this book, all things considered, but here's our big get for the week of release: a tremendously complimentary blog post on the Wall Street Journal's Speakeasy page! I particularly like this part: "It’s a sweeping, detailed, beautifully drawn story of love, betrayal and survival, with a small but crucial touch of the supernatural. It’s deliberately paced and slow to build, but the payoff, as the three stories converge, is worth it."
* Yesterday, we had our first review show up, on Comics Bulletin, and I would have to call it overwhelmingly positive -- 4.5 stars out of 5. "Gone to Amerikay is a wonderful example of the possibilities of the medium... McCulloch and Doran have created a work of art, there is no denying that, and I think it succeeds on every level." And: "Doran's dazzling art...adds further evidence to the argument that she deserves to be held up as a modern master."
* And! This Friday, March 30, 2012, Colleen and I will both be in New York City for the official Gone to Amerikay Book Launch. It will be from 6-8 pm at Harbor Lights restaurant--address and details in the link. The event will include copies of the book on sale, and a portion of every sale will go to benefit The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund. Admission is free, everybody's welcome, and I hope to see you there!
* And lastly...not GTA-related, but the Stagger Lee reading at The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis was magnificent, and I'm so sorry if you weren't there. We had a completely unexpected standing-room-only crowd and they were riveted by the performances of our fabulous cast and musical director Jon Spurney. I'm very eager to continue moving forward with this showing and see it through to its full staging.
So much going on this month...
It seems like I'm always apologising for failing to update here, but there's so much going on this month that it really is hard to keep up. For example...
* I'm in St. Louis right now, workshopping the stage musical adaptation of my graphic novel Stagger Lee for the Ignite! festival at The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis. I've written the book for the show and have co-written lyrics with the composers, Stew and Heidi Rodewald, the gigantic talents behind the Tony-winning Passing Strange. We're working with director Amanda Dehnert to shape the show, and have assembled an amazing cast to put it on. This Thursday, March 15, we'll be presented an in-progress reading of the first act to a very lucky audience of St. Louis theatre lovers.
* When I get back to the Bay Area, I'll have a couple of days to catch my breath then I'll be going to The Escapist in Berkeley for a pre-release signing of my new book, Gone to Amerikay. The Escapist will be the first store in the world to have copies of this book for sale, so if you're anywhere near, come by and join the party! The Escapist is at 3090 Claremont Avenue in Berkeley. The signing is on March 21 from 4 pm to 7 pm.
* On March 30, the legendary Colleen Doran and I will be in New York City for a book launch for Gone to Amerikay. The party will benefit The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund. I sit on the board of The Comic Legends Legal Defense Fund, the Canadian counterpart to the CBLDF, and we've been partnered on the case that this party will benefit -- it's a cause very dear to my heart, and if you're in or near NY on the 30th, I hope you'll come by and support the cause. Midtown Comics will be on site to sell copies of Gone to Amerikay, and a portion of all sales will go to the CBLDF. Colleen and I will be there to sign copies, and we'll be joined by the book's entire creative and editorial team (except Sarah!). The party is March 30, 6-8 pm, at Harbor Lights Restaurant, South Street Seaport, Pier 17, Third Floor. Please come!
* Speaking of Gone to Amerikay - you can see a couple of great previews of pages from that book on the CBLDF and Publisher's Weekly web sites.
* Check out this Goodreads promotion - enter to win one of ten FREE copies of Gone to Amerikay!
* And lastly - if you want more timely news about projects and whatever else crosses my mind, go to Facebook and Like The Derek McCulloch Experience. I'm posting updates on progress of the workshop right now.
News!
I've been pretty delinquent about posting here and it's a shame because there's been a lot going on and a lot to tell. This past weekend Greg Espinoza (my Pug collaborator) and I were lucky enough to have a booth at the inaugural Image Comics Expo in my home town of Oakland. For three days we met with fans, retailers, and fellow comics professionals, sold books, and had a grand old time. I had with me the galley of my new Vertigo GN, Gone to Amerikay, drawn by the incomparable Colleen Doran, and everyone I showed it to was blown away by the work of Colleen and our fabulous colourist Jose Villarrubia.
Which brings me to a segue -- Gone to Amerikay will be hitting stores on March 28. Between then and now, I'll be posting up a bunch of links on this page as press stuff starts to appear. I'll also shortly be making an announcement about the first official signing for the book, which will take place in advance of the release date.
And, in an entirely different arena -- just a couple of weeks from now I'll be in St. Louis working with two gods of rock and stage, Stew and Heidi Rodewald, on the musical version of Stagger Lee. If you've never seen Stew and Heidi's incredible musical Passing Strange, do yourself a large favour and click on that link and get it now. With noted director Amanda Dehnert, we'll be workshopping the play and presented a work-in-progress reading on March 15 at the Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, as part of their Ignite! festival. Tickets are on sale now -- if you're going to be in St. Louis on March 15, you have an opportunity for a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
That's all I've got right now, but there will be much more coming this next month.
Comic Geek Speak Podcast Interview with Derek
Derek McCulloch's Book Notes on GTA, in Largehearted Boy
Irish Sunday Times Article on GTA
Paul Flannelly Photos of GTA Book Launch
CBLDF Article on GTA Book Launch
Comics Bulletin Interview with Derek McCulloch
Comics Bulletin Interview with Colleen Doran
Page 45 Review of Gone to Amerikay
Ain't it Cool News Review of Gone to Amerikay
Wall Street Journal on Gone to Amerikay
Comics Bulletin Gone to Amerikay Review
STLtoday Stagger Lee reading review
KDHX on Stagger Lee reading
Stage Left - Chuck Lavazzi on Stagger Lee reading
iFanboy Pug Review
ComicBookCollectorsBlog Pug Review
Ain't It Cool News Pug Review (scroll down to "Cheap Shots" section)
iFanboy Pug Preview
Comics Bulletin Review of Pug.
Pacifica Tribune T. Runt! Article
Interview with Derek up on Newsarama.
Interview with Derek and Shep up on The Pulse.
Interview with Derek up on Comics Bulletin
