Cover B of THE MASK OF NIGHT #2 Revealed!
Yesterday I posted the first cover THE MASK OF NIGHT #2. Today I'm posting the special sub-variant cover (aka really rare), created by artist J.K. Woodward for our upcoming Kill Shakespeare board game.Guilty or innocent? What says you?
The Mask of Night #2 cover!
It's scary how quickly time passes... We're now only two weeks ago from the release of The Mask of Night #2 (due in comic shops on Wednesday, July 23rd)!We've been pretty busy in the last couple of weeks with finalizing the rest of this mini-series (as well as some other things that will be announced soon) but we're excited to present our second issue of the series, picking up with Captain Cesario and his lover Viola, harboring Hamlet, Juliet, Othello and Shakespeare, and at the mercy of the Lavinia, Titus' main vessel. It's a tale of mutiny and love and should be one of our finest.Here is the first cover of the issue, done by our own Andy Belanger:
Check out the issue in two weeks at all comic book shops around the world!
First Page of The Mask of Night
With just over a week before the release of Kill Shakespeare: The Mask of Night #1 (released next Wed, Jun 18th) we're excited to release this first page of the issue. You can check out the amazing artwork by Andy Belanger (with colouring by Shari Hess) here:
This first page of the series introduces a brand new character into our story - the masked pirate Captain Cesario, who has a very interesting backstory and tie-in to one of Shakespeare's most beloved characters.Keep checking back for more sneak peaks!
Cover #2 for The Mask of Night!
Two days ago I previewed Cover A of the first issue of our new upcoming mini-series THE MASK OF NIGHT. The reaction online was really positive - people got excited about the art (by Andy Belanger) and the series.Today I'd like to post a preview of our second cover (Cover B), this time by renowned artist J.K. Woodward. J.K. was brought on by IDW Games to create the art for our upcoming board game Kill Shakespeare: The Board Game, and the art was so good that we decided to include it on the covers for the new series (which is a tie-in to the game). Here is the cover designed by him:
The Mask of Night revolves around Viola, the heroine from Shakespeare's Twelfth Night. In our take she has become a bloody pirate and her discovery of Hamlet, Juliet, Othello and Shakespeare leads to a series of events that challenges her, her love, and her devotion to the sea.J.K.'s done a great job here of capturing Viola in action and I think will become a very popular piece of art in the Kill Shakespeare canon.Look for The Mask of Night #1 at comic shops on Wednesday, June 18th!
Our new series is around the horizon!
"Though know'st the mask of night is on my face..."Yes, it's been a while since I've posted an update on our new upcoming series but that's because I've been quite busy (working from New York) and we've got a lot on the go. The thing I'm most excited about, though, is our brand new comic mini-series, KILL SHAKESPEARE: THE MASK OF NIGHT. And great news - the series debuts this month!I'll be posting art from the first issue over the next two weeks but the current release date of the first issue is Wednesday, June 18th! Yes, in just over two weeks from today!And here is a look at our first cover of the series, by series artist Andy Belanger (the B cover is by J.K. Woodward, based upon art from our upcoming board game). One of the central characters, the pirate Captain Cesario, is defined by his mask, which appears on Andy's first cover.
So keep checking for more information - we'll be posting quite a bit in the next couple of weeks!
Uncertain Life and Sure Death
As the Ides of March approaches I’m kind of pondering that whole: “my thoughts be bloody or nothing worth” dilemma that Hamlet wrestles with. I mean, on one hand, murder is awful, bad, and often really messy – even if you’ve already covered the bathroom floor with a tarp and have the hack-saw and bag of quicklime on the go.On the OTHER hand – when Shakespeare does it, murder is pretty awesome. I mean, heads get chopped off, poison is consumed, there is not one, but TWO mass stabbings, people, Shakespeare once offed two kids by BAKING THEM IN A PIE and then SERVING THAT PIE TO THEIR MOM (“Mmm, this is good! Is this veal?” “No, it’s your kids, BOOM!”).So that got me to thinking about OTHER people who love Shakespeare like we do, and especially love the peculiar joy that comes with snuffing out some punk’s all too brief candle.This led us to David Malki ! and Ryan North – two of the creative engines behind the most excellent Machine of Death series of books and games. (PLUG ALERT: You may also know Ryan from his Blockbuster To Be or Not To Be: That Is The Adventure Kickstarter campaign.)Since Machine was such a HUGE success we thought it likely that it’s blend of wit, wordplay and cold-bloodedly hilarious focus on mass murder might be popular with you guys too, so David ! kindly let us design a BONUS SET OF CARDS for Machine of Death that has an all-Shakespeare flavour. You can download the card set here – these print and play beauties are ready to seamlessly fit into any Machine of Death game.
DOWNLOAD THE CARDS HERE: http://alice.idwpublishing.com/_7NERTM4cugLoZRBonus points (and prizes!) go to the first five people to correctly post in the comment section what play each card represents (or tweet us @IDWGAMES or @KillShakespeare). And if you know anyone who plays Machine, send’em over here – the more crossover between fans of Bardicide and fans of murder in general, the better.(plus, it means more credible suspects to throw the cops off your trail).Murderously yours,Conor
Kickstarter Update: Day 1
Wow!What a first day.You guys and gals are AMAZING! We’re already more than 50% of the way to our goal and that’s because of your incredible support. I’m more excited than that time Falstaff and I went on a bender and TOTALLY spilled beer all over Richard III’s gimpy hand!Thank you SO much for getting this campaign off to a great start. This is the first Kickstarter that Anthony and I have been involved in and it’s been a great success so far.Please keep supporting our campaign, with your help we can reach more and more people and start to unlock some of the UNBELIEVABLE stretch goals – yes these goals are so mind-blowing you will literally find your brain short-circuit until you start saying things like: “I simply cannot believe they are offering me this – they must be mad, as mad as that rascally King Lear!”As a little bonus for you awesome-sauce folks we want to share with you an EXCLUSIVE piece of art from the game that NOBODY else in the world has seen (and those that have we’ll kill – just to make this even more special for you).
Take a bow, you magnificent bastards, you!
So please, keep sharing this with your friends, harass the tastemasters of the internet to talk about this, tell your Grandmother to finally get on the interwebs – because we want to make the Kill Shakespeare Board Game the best Shakespearean thing EVER!Oh, and for future sneak peeks – vote down in the comments if you want to see more exclusive game art or get a glimpse at ANOTHER awesome Kill Shakespeare project we’ve got on the boil (and bubble).The Game Play’s the thing! Conor McCreeryBardicidal maniacToronto, February 2014
Fifth and Final Board Game Character Revealed! Something New Coming Next Week!
After posting character teaser posters for Hamlet, Juliet, Falstaff and Viola (Captain Cesario), today we are happy to release the fifth playable character in our upcoming board game, Othello. How could we not put the Moor in our game? He's a fan favourite (as artist Andy Belanger likes to say, he's the Incredible Hulk of our story) and should be a fun choice to play as in the game.Here's the poster featuring art by artist J.K. Woodward.
In addition to these five characters, Lady Macbeth and Richard are also key players in the game (characters you'll be fighting against) and we're also going to work in at least a dozen other throughout missions, events, etc.
Come back next week to find out more about a new development for the board game - we'll probably announce it mid-week or so.
A New Character Boards Our Game!
We've had quite a bit of fun in the last couple of weeks showing off the character Wanted poster teases for our upcoming board game. The social media reaction to Hamlet, Juliet and Falstaff have been very strong. But today we introduce a completely new character to the Kill Shakespeare world!This is the poster (artwork by JK Woodward) for the pirate Captain Cessario (aka Viola)!
When we began to collaborate on the board game with IDW Games, Pandasaurus Games and designers Thomas Vande Ginste and Wolf Plancke, we immediately wanted to add to the experience by introducing a new character into our world. One of the most popular female characters in Shakespeare's oeuvre has been Viola from Twelfth Night and we've wanted to play with her traits so here she is!When the game is released we'll tell you more about the back story that we created for her but it's an interesting one, and something that people will be talking about quite a bit (and yes, it involves the famous trope of cross-dressing)!We're going to have another big announcement for the board game starting in just over a week so pay attention to this spot or our Twitter, Facebook or Tumblr pages.
Find This Fool (in our board game)!
After posting teaser Wanted Posters of Hamlet and Juliet, we're now onto our third character reveal for our board game coming out in June of this year. And today's prey is... Falstaff!As per usual, the game designers have thoroughly enjoyed putting the fat comedic sidekick into the story and we're looking forward to drafting up some of the missions for him as well.
Once again, look for the game's release in June of this year by IDW Games and Pandasaurus Games!
Enter the Radical (into our board game)!
Last week we revealed that the first playable character in the upcoming Kill Shakespeare board game is Hamlet (of course). And this week we reveal our second playable character - Juliet!Yes, it's pretty much as obvious as Hamlet is but why mess with a good thing? We've gotten great feedback over the last few years on our interpretation of Juliet and we look forward to new audiences experiencing the great Prodigal leader when the game is released in May/June of this year.
Again, great artwork by J.K. Woodward!
First Character of Board Game Revealed!
Though I haven't been posting many updates in the last couple weeks it's because things have been pretty busy on this end, with some big announcements coming in the future.The item that is public knowledge, of course, is our upcoming board game, slated for release in late-May of this year. We're excited about it and the progress has been a blast to be a part of.IDW has just released the first character teaser for the game (created by artist J.K. Woodward), which is right here:
Surprised? Not really, I'm guessing. Hamlet is our main character in our story so it would be inevitable that he would be featured as a character in the game.Over the next few weeks we'll be revealing more characters so stay tuned to this site, our Twitter account, or our Facebook page (and we should also have a Tumblr page up in the next week or two as well).
Board Game Enlists Two Murderously Talented Artists
It was announced yesterday by IDW Games that award-winning artists J.K. Woodward and Dave Dorman have signed on to serve as artists for the KILL SHAKESPEARE BOARD GAME. We're excited to work with these talents on the design of the characters and worlds as we move forward with the game. We're currently in the design process of the game and have enjoyed working with everyone thus far - IDW Games, Pandasaurus Games, designers Thomas Vande Ginste and Wolf Plancke. It's going to be a really fun game and experience!
You can read the IDW Games press release here.
Prospero attacks Shakespeare (sneak peek)!
Last week we posted a preview of Page 1 of The Tide of Blood #5, the final issue in our mini-series. Here you'll find Page 5 of the series, as Prospero prepares to take all of Shakespeare's knowledge from him...
The issue comes out next Wednesday (the 28th). Be prepared to be shocked by our ending...
The Long Wait is Over - final Tide hits stores on August 28th
After what seemed like FOREVER, the final issue of Kill Shakespeare, The Tide of Blood is steaming its way from the printers in Korea to YOUR local comic book shop!(o.k., it probably isn't STEAMING its way here, since this isn't 1910, but "dieseling" doesn't have the same romance now, does it?)The issue will finally run aground at your LCS on the 28th of August. We apologize for the big gap between issues #4 and 5 -- there were some script issues we had to iron out and Andy hit a crazy busy patch in his work and personal life and it all conspired to see us JUST miss our July deadline.But that is the past, and the future is....... well, one HECK of an amazing end to the latest series! Issue #5 is a wild, break-neck race across the island you've grown to fear.This puppy will wrap up the increasingly jagged love triangle between Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, will result in a wild three-way between Prospero, Shakespeare and Lady M (a WIZARD BATTLE you sicko, get your mind out of the gutter), and we'll get a better sense of just what Sycorax has in store for our heroes as well.I might even say it all ends on a "high tide"?(No? No, I shouldn't? In fact I should never try that pun again?Fair enough...)"Groaners" aside, because we're generous guys, below is a sneak preview of the VERY first page. I don't know how many other special peeks we can give you, every page is a spoiler in this 28-page juggernaut, but we can at least get you licking your chops for some Shakespearean action!Thanks for being patient, and for being the best fans in the world! (and for those of you who may have missed it, I'm also including the cover here as well)
CONOR
Tide of Blood #5 Cover!
Though we've been a little more silent than usual with our blogging and updates this summer, the entire Kill Shakespeare team has been pretty busy with a number of cool things that we'll hopefully be able to share at some point in the near future. One of those things, though, we're quite happy to announce - the release of the final issue (#5) of The Tide of Blood!We haven't received an official release date from our publisher IDW yet but we expect that it will be either Wed, Aug 14th or 21st - which is great as it'll be just in time for Toronto's FanExpo (the biggest show for us every year). Once the official release date is confirmed we will announce it here.And in anticipation of this release, here is the official cover for Issue #5, done by British artist Simon Davis (who did our wildly-popular The Tide of Blood #1 cover).
Yes, the cover hints at a number of things that will take place in the issue - books, blood and... Prospero (I couldn't think of something else that starts with a "b"...). So keep coming back and checking for more information and sneak peeks of the issue!
Bonus Sneek Peak of Issue #4
With the skies pretty dreary here in Toronto and the temperature being a jerk and dropping from the lovely 20 degree days we'd enjoyed a week ago to as low as nine (seriously?). I know that I really need a pick-me up.So, I thought I'd share that impulse with the rest of you. Normally we only toss out four preview pages from any given Kill Shakespeare installment, but with issue #4 due out tomorrow and such a grey day around me I thought, what the heck? Go nuts.So here I am, going nuts (I'm a wild man, you should see me eating full-fat yoghurt... bad!).Enjoy! (As always all pencils and inks are by Andy B. while Shari Chankhamma turns in another superlative colours job).
Preview Pages of The Tide of Blood #4
Just completed a full day of meetings and story activity here in London and head to the MCM London Expo tomorrow for the weekend...In the meantime, here are a couple preview pages of The Tide of Blood #4, to be released next week (Wed, May 29th)... As usual, all artwork is by Andy Belanger and colouring by Shari Chankhamma.
Cover for Issue #4 (sneak peek)!
We've received word from IDW that the fourth issue of The Tide of Blood is being released next week - Wednesday, May 29th. We're pretty happy with the fourth issue - it takes the story in some new and cool directions. And, of course, the artwork by Andy Belanger is amazing.We'll be posting previews of the artwork from the next issue all of this week. Today we'll start by posting the cover of the issue.For this cover we brought in uber-talented Canadian illustrator Nimit Malavia to design a cover of Juliet and Romeo. It's a bit of a variation from earlier covers but I think adds a really nice flourish to the series. For those unfamiliar with Nimit's work check out his website here and Twitter page here.
And don't forget to pick up The Tide of Blood #4 in comic book shops next week!
Issue #3 is released today!
The day has arrived! Issue #3 of The Tide of Blood is in comic book shops around the world today!
We're quite excited about this issue. The continuation of the saga of Juliet, Romeo, Hamlet, Miranda and Prospero continues in this issue and not only are we happy with the story but Andy Belanger's artwork is amazing. He has a great take on the look of Prospero but also the mad wizard's setting.The early reviews are quite positive as well.Keith Silva from Comics Bulletin writes: "As aesthetics go, Kill Shakespeare: Tide of Blood comes as close to perfection -- to some sort of golden ratio of comic books -- as any art aspires to achieve. "Lyzard from AintitCoolNews.com writes: "What Belanger chooses to do with Prospero’s “study” works as both an homage to the source material and a giant leap from anything put to paper, canvas, stage, or film."Samantha Roehrig from Comic Bastards writes: "I love how raw the pictures are in this comic. It draws me into the play and I can’t stop thinking I should drink poison or stab myself with a dagger in order to fit in. I can’t wait for the big fight scene. I love Shakespeare and I am wondering why it took me so long to pick up this comic. So don’t miss out on this newest installment."
