Murky Depths

MURKY DEPTHS will begin its serialization of DEAD GIRLS – Richard Calder’s graphic novel adaptation of his acclaimed, cult cyberpunk novel of the same name – with ISSUE #9, available early August 2009.
Leonardo M Giron – the Manila-based artist fast making a name for himself who has appeared in previous issues of Murky Depths – will be illustrating.
Calder wrote Dead Girls while living in Thailand – principally Bangkok, and later, Nongkhai, a town on the Mekong River bordering Laos. The novel is largely set in Bangkok, and is heavily influenced by manga, anime, and Asian cinema.
Calder says: ‘Leonardo M Giron’s indigenous grasp of the ambience that Manila shares with Bangkok, and his ability to translate this into a unique, manga-like idiom, makes him perfect for delineating the cyberpunk exuberance and sheer down-and-dirty exoticism of Dead Girls.’
According to The Washington Post Book World 'On the evidence of his brilliant debut novel, Dead Girls, Richard Calder bids fair to make off with Alfred Bester's mantle of charmed literary omnipotence. A master of baroque pyrotechnics, rapid pacing, cosmopolitan sangfroid and knock-your-socks-off conceptualization, Bester has left traces everywhere, but no solid progeny. Until now.'
Dead Girls the graphic novel represents a substantial re-imagining of Dead Girls the novel. The characters, and the fictional universe they inhabit, remain essentially the same, but all else has been worked into something new.
MURKY DEPTHS is available at murkydepths.com.
To read DEAD GIRLS – THE GRAPHIC NOVEL in its entirety, subscribe now!

Mike Carbo's Comic Book Marketplace Hits the Big Apple!

Last Saturday saw droves of comic book fans flock to the Big Apple for Mike Carbo's Comic Book Marketplace. A single day event that rocked Penn Plaza despite the chilly weather. This year's con featured an impressive line up of artists and writers from some of the best titles around, plus comic book movie legend Ilya Salkind, the original producer of the first three Superman films.

The first panel of the day featured master X-Men scribe Chris Claremont (Uncanny X-Men, X-Men Forever) along with Dan Slott (She-Hulk, The Might Avengers), Jim Starlin (Captain Marvel) and Larry Hama (G.I. Joe) discuss the art of storytelling in comics over the years. While a little later in the day another panel featured artists J.H. Williams (Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight), Bill Sienkiewicz (New Mutants, Moon Knight) and Micheal Golden (Wolverine: First Class, New Exiles) talking everything from cover art to sketch cards.

Attendees also got a unique chance to partake in some classic gaming during the con. As NYCBM's video game room allowed fans of all ages to relive the glory days of Goldeneye on N64 and games like Contra and Gauntlet on the original Nintendo entertainment system.

Then there was of course the comics, with rows upon rows of vendors dealing in everything from the golden and silver age to the variants and trades of today. Manhattan's own Midtown Comics was on hand as well as some of the independent comic shop owners in the business today, and with the recent purchase of Action Comics #1 for a cool million dollars right here in New York, the energy at the market was almost at fever pitch. With all sorts of sweet deals to be had the Market was definitely open business to bad it was only one day.