Good news for Black Coat fans everywhere! Ape Entertainment is pleased to announce the up-coming release of the 52-page Black Coat Special! The Special will contain two unique, self-contained stories that shed some light on the history of Colonial New York’s masked hero. The first story, “Heart of Ice”, is written by Black Coat co-creator Ben Lichius and features art by the incredible Gabriel Hardman (War Machine, X-Men and Spider Man 3 films). The Black Coat ventures into the untamed New York wilderness to do battle with the legendary Chenoo – a man-eating beast from the North. As he prepares for a fight with the unknown, The Black Coat finds allies in unexpected places and enemies that are too close for comfort. The second story, entitled “First Blood,” is reprinted from its initial appearance in issue #2 of “Comics Now” magazine. Written and drawn by Ben Lichius, it follows The Black Coat, Josiah Morgan, and his wife Ursula, as they defend the city from a mysterious new threat – dragons! “First Blood” features the first color (yes, color!) Black Coat story to date! Black Coat fans have been patiently awaiting the continuation of the second series, “…Or Give Me Death” since last Spring. “We’re still working on it,” said Lichius. “It’s not dead. We appreciate everyone sticking with us and we’ll put out more information as we have it. As soon as we get the chance, we’ll get the rest of the series out there.” “In the meantime we hope everyone enjoys these new stories,” continued Lichius. “They’re full of all the swashbuckling, action, and adventure you’ve come to expect from The Black Coat and should be a lot of fun!” The Black Coat 52-page special is available for preorder now (Diamond Code: MAY3590) and will be in stores this July. The book will retail for $6.95. Visit the forums for preview pages!

Boy, it’s been a while! But I’m (finally) back with some good news! If you pick up this month’s issue of Comics Now Magazine (issue 2), you find a nifty little gem tucked in there. A while back the editor, Bryan, asked me to do a short story for an upcoming issue to go along with an (awesome!) article on the resurgence of pulp comics. I couldn’t resist! So I wrote and pencilled a 14 page story that should be a lot of fun! As I eluded to it last Fall, it’s called “First Blood” and tells the story of the Battle of Golden Hill – an armed skirmish between New Yorkers and Redcoats 5 weeks before the Boston Masacre. Oh, and there are dragons! (It is a BC story after all… 🙂 ) It was inked by Jeremy Colwell, colored by Joe Suitor, and Lettered by Chris Studabaker. And we’ll have more info about this later, but we are also getting ready to solicit a brand new 48 page special! In addition to reprinting “First Blood”, a new 30-page story called “Heart of Ice” will be included. It’s written by me and drawn by the incredible Gabriel Hardman (War Machine, X-Men and Spider-Man 3 films). Swing by the forums to take a sneak peek at both of these stories! The 48 page special should be in stores in early July. 

 It’s getting about time to let the cat out of the bag! 🙂 Here’s a sneak peek at the upcoming BC one-shot titled “First Blood.” It’s a 14-page backstory that’s set against the Battle of Golden Hill – an armed conflict between colonists and British soldiers that took place in NYC about 5 weeks before the Boston Masacre. And oh yeah,  BC fights a dragon! The one-shot is going to be printed in an upcoming issue of Comics Now magazine (www.iwantmycomicsnow.com – I think it will be in issue #2) and should be available next spring. I’m doing the writing and pencilling chores. I’ll post more as we get closer to completion!  

The Black Coat will be featured in the first issue of a new comic magazine that is sure to take the comic world by storm! Brian Deemer (of Comic Geek Speak fame) and Brent Erwin have created a new magazine called Comics Now (http://www.iwantmycomicsnow.com). The first issue has an article called the “The 22 Page Hook” which I was lucky enough to be interviewed for. Besides being full of BC goodness, it’s just a good read and a must-buy for comic fans. Be sure to ask your comic store to pick you up a copy! The Diamond Preorder code is SEP07411. Issue #1 should be in stores this November! 

We’ll have a more official announcement soon but I thought it was time to put something up on the homepage about it and let everyone know: Yes, the rest of the second series is on it’s way!  Unfortunately, we ran into some scheduling problems this past Spring that set us back a bit, eventually requiring us to cancel our solicitations for issues 2-4. It’s not what we wanted, but it had to be done. We’re sorry for any trouble and confusion it may have caused, but we’re regrouping and will indeed be publishing the remainder of the series. At the moment, we’re looking at resoliciting early next year so that we can have books on the shelf by around April or May. We know that’s a long time to wait between issues, but the good news is that there are lots of other BC things going on next year too. So even though 2007 turned out to be a lean year for BC fans, 2008 should be a busy one for the Black Coat!  As I mentioned, we’ll have a more official update with lots of info (and pictures 🙂 ) in the coming weeks so be sure to stop back soon!   Thanks for sticking with us, and please, please, please if you have any questions, drop us a line – we’ll be happy to help however we can.