This year at the San Diego Comic-Con, I was finally able to find this fourth, lost chapter in the Futurians saga. Also, the copy I bought is signed by the creator himself!
For anybody who doesn't understand what I'm talking about, here's a brief history that Dave included in #0 (August 1995):
quote:The Futurians began as a graphic novel for Marvel (Marvel Graphic Novel #9), wherein I recounted the adventures of eight extraordinary humans with powers gained by way of genetic manipulation from the future. The graphic novel did pretty well, went to three printings, and a series was called for.
Unfortunately, I let myself be lured away from Marvel and did the series for an independent publisher who promised pie-in-the-sky money. If I'd stayed with Marvel, we might be publishing Futurians #250 or something by now. Instead, I went with the independent, occasionally called Lodestone Publications, and my run only lasted three issues. A fourth issue was finished; this book you hold in your hands. Due to the vagaries of publishing, however, it never saw print as an individual issue until now. It was collected together with the previous three issues into a limited-edition second graphic novel in 1987. That second graphic novel was short-printed and is next-to-impossible to find.
There has been a renewed interest in The Futurians in recent months, and my friends at AARDWOLF and I decided to reprint the "lost" fourth issue, now numbered 0 for this edition, to test the waters for a possible new series. If you bought the three Lodestone issues but never saw the second graphic novel (and I know there are lots of you out there), here's your chance to finish the story.
Dave Cockrum
I didn't even know that Dave had finished the story began in The Futurians #1-3, until I asked Dave about it several months ago. I immediately started searching for either the second graphic novel or the 0 issue. And Sunday was my lucky day!
From: San Diego, CA | Registered: Jul 2003
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That would be a great thing to read. I've never been able to get my hands on any of the Futurians let alone the graphic novel.
From: Utah | Registered: Jul 2003
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quote:Originally posted by Poverty Lad: Scott, hie thee NOW to www.milehighcomics.com -- they currently have 1-3 of the Lodestone series priced under $1 each!
POV I meant to thank you for the link. I actually just picked up the 3 issues with the 0 issue special for 3 bucks off eBay. Now just to find the time to read them.
From: Utah | Registered: Jul 2003
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Which brings up a question. Is the 0 issue special really #4 and should be read as such or should it be read first?
From: Utah | Registered: Jul 2003
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And yeah, Scott, do let us know what you think of the series. I'd be interested in how well Dave sets up the story for those people who haven't read the Graphic Novel.
Is it confusing? Did he explain and establish the characters enough? I'm curious.
[ August 06, 2003, 08:40 AM: Message edited by: Nightcrawler ]
From: San Diego, CA | Registered: Jul 2003
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It sounds like I must be one of the only people who actually read the 4th part of the story when it was printed in color-- in the collection, published some years before #0. At the time of #0, I thought, an okay idea for those who bought #1-3 but didn't want to "have" to buy them over just to get #4... but at the same time, slapping a #0 on it, and it being the conclusion of a 4-0part story begun many years earlier... Was there really any hope for a thing like that to sell??? (I bought it anyway-- but that's me.)
Registered: Aug 2003
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Fact is, Futurians #0 sold 15,000 copies, which is pretty damn respectable for a small independent. And yes, if you get 1-3, #0 should be read as #4.
Also, the entire Futurians was reprinted a couple years ago in France by Semic publishing, including two new splash pages.
Dave
-------------------- Hey! Where the hell is my bamf smiley?
'D'OH!' --Dave Cockrum, 2003
From: Pine Bush, NY | Registered: Sep 2003
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