I’m a big comic book geek, especially when it comes to vampire comics. So when it was announced that IDW, the publishers behind the Spike and Angel series, were going to be releasing a series of True Blood comics, I had a massive nerd-gasm. Fourteen issues in, and this week saw the news that IDW will be making the True Blood comic series an ongoing monthly release from spring 2012. While this comes as welcome news, I can’t help but feel a degree of trepidation.
True Blood Comic issues 1-12
On paper, the True Blood comics sound like they couldn’t possibly fail to live up to awesomeness of the show that inspired them. The first six-issue arc, All Together Now, has a storyline conceived by head honcho Alan Ball and fellow True Blood staff writers Kate Barnow and Elisabeth Finch. The script is co-written by David Tischman, of the excellent Bite Club comics on Vertigo (like True Blood meets The Sopranos!), and illustrated by David Messina, who did a superb job on the Spike and Angel comics. The second arc, Tainted Love, mixed things up a bit by bringing in Michael McMillian, known to fans as the guy who plays vampire-hating preacher Steve Newlin in the show, to co-write the script. He’s no newcomer to the comic world – check out him and Zachary Quinto’s comic Lucid, a crazy mix of Arthurian legend and secret agents! Also new to the team was writer Marc Andreyko, currently helming the Let the Right One In prequel comics, and illustrator Joe Corroney, a celebrated Star Wars artist for LucasArts, who’s also worked on the Spike and Angel comics. Right now we’re mid-way through the third arc, The French Quarter, and the original team are back, with a story that follows on from the cliffhanger in issue six.
Comic Sookie also has numerous three-way fantasies.
The depictions of characters can’t be faulted, the dialogue crackles with lewdness and hilarity that makes it sound like it could have come straight out of the show, and the tone is the perfect blend of sexy and freaky. All Together Now features an ancient swamp monster that traps everyone in Merlotte’s and feeds off of their shame. Tainted Love is about a contaminated batch of TruBlood that sends vampires bat-shit crazy, and The French Quarter is about Sookie, Eric and Bill travelling to New Orleans to investigate a series of vampire slayings. All fun stuff and highly entertaining.
I know we are all a little sad that the 9-month wait to watch new episodes of our beloved show True Blood has begun, but fret not Truebies! You can still get your True Blood fix by checking out our site for up-to-date information on your favorite True Blood actors and also what they’ve got for sale over at the HBO Store.
We will be featuring items that are of particular interest and hope you will enjoy. First up, the hardcover edition of Tainted Love. The book sells for $24.99, and you can buy it here.
I have been getting all of the comic books and so far the Tainted Love series has been my favorite. The illustrations are top-notch and the story was funnier and co-written by Michael McMillian (Steve Newlin). So if you haven’t purchased the individual comic books, you can get them all in this handy hardcover.
True Blood, Vol. 2: Tainted Love
Marc Andreyko, Michael McMillian (w) • Joe Corroney (a) • J. Scott Campbell (c)
Hoyt, the human boyfriend of Jessica, tries to do a good deed… and it doesn’t go unpunished! Hoyt notices that Jessica has been staring at a poster for a local prom night, which leads him to romantically scheme to throw a surprise one for her at Merlotte’s (with the help of friends Sookie, Sam and Tara). Unfortunately, things go awry when Jessica drinks a bit too much of the punch, which just happens to be part of a tainted batch of Tru Blood! Now out of control on a rampage into the night, Hoyt, Bill and Jason do their best to help their friend. Meanwhile, Sookie and Lafayette try to help Jessica a little differently, by seeking out Eric, and the local sheriff! It’s a thrill ride beyond compare as they fight to bring Jessica back to the safety of Bon Temps stretches dangerously close to dawn.
MTV has revealed that the new, six-issue series hits shelves in August and will follow Sookie and vampire Eric Northman as they travel to New Orleans in order to track down a killer whom Eric and his maker, Godric, thought they killed centuries ago.
“True Blood: The French Quarter” will bring back “All Together Now” writers Mariah Huehner and David Tischman, as well as artist David Messina, who will be joined by Claudia Balboni on the series. Messina and Correney will provide cover art for the series.
OMG buy this comic book and make him even happier!
Michael McMillian looks way happy to be at the Golden Apple Comics advance release party for his Lucid hardback comic yesterday (May 18, 2011) in Los Angeles. The guy looking all, “What the hell?” at Michael is Shawn Depasquale who did the lettering for the book.
Fan Expo Canada began with the launch of the Canadian National Comic Book Expo in 1995 with only five guests and since then, it’s ballooned to thousands of people going every year. The Fan Expo Canada is one of the largest in Canada and they will be celebrating their 17th year in 2011. Our favorite Shape-shifter, Sam Trammell will be attending and we hope that our neighbors to the north get to visit him along with the long list of other stars. Check out who’s going to be there.
Sam Trammell is an American stage, film and television actor. He is best known for his role as Sam Merlotte in the HBO vampire series, True Blood, which saw him nominated for a 2009 Scream Award for “Breakout Performance – Male.
Sam Trammell was born in New Orleans, Louisiana. When he was a child, his family moved to Charleston, West Virginia. Trammell graduated from George Washington High School. He furthered his studies at Brown University and the University of Paris.
Sam Trammell has worked in theater, on-Broadway, off-Broadway, film and television. He is an accomplished New York stage actor whose credits include a Tony nominated performance in “Ah, Wilderness!” at Lincoln Center. Off-Broadway, he starred in “Dealer’s Choice (play)”, “My Night With Reg”, “If Memory Serves”, “Ancestral Voices”, and most recently, “Kit Marlowe” at the Joseph Papp Public Theater, where he received outstanding reviews. Trammell’s big break came when he landed the role of “Sam Merlotte” on HBO series True Blood.
Denis O’Hare has confirmed (via Twitter) that he will be in Clint Eastwood’s new movie “J. Edgar” starring Leonardo DiCaprio. According to IMDb.com, there will be another True Blood alumnus in the movie, Stephen Root, who played Eddie in Season 1. ZZ and I were lucky enough to see some of the filming of J. Edgar while we were onthe Warner Bros. Studio Tourearlier this month.
Logo TV tweeted today that Joe Manganiello will make a specal appearance at the “NewNowNextAwards” 2011 . The show tapes in front of a live audience at the legendary Avalon in Hollywood on Thursday, April 7th with a telecast premiere on Monday, April 11th at 10/9C on Logo. Check it out at the source.
Michael McMillian (Rev. Steve Newlin) reminds us that the new issue of Tainted Love #2 - the True Blood comic book that he co-wrote – is out in comic book stores today. If you aren’t following him, you should be. This guy is a riot. My favorite recent tweet of his (from yesterday), “Thank you, Donut-Muffin, for being there when I needed you the most.” Follow him @McMillzz.
Another funny guy on Twitter, Marshall Allman (Tommy Merlotte) offered a little True Blood Season 4 Spoiler yesterday, “sam and tommy merlotte at the hospital today. who and what for?” – Oh Marshall, you are making us crazy!
HBO aired a new video on The Buzz with Sam Trammell, Rutina Wesley and Deborah Ann Woll. They were at a Barnes and Noble in Los Angeles last week to sign copies of the new hard-cover comic book compilation named “True Blood Volume 1: All Together Now” that contains all six of the comics from the first series. The video looks like it contains some behind-the-scenes filming of season 4, so check it out!
