Dragon Con 2019: Catching Up with the Pruett Brothers
September 11, 2019For the Pruetts, comic book writing runs in the family. We recently caught up with the two publishers, who both spearhead production initiatives at their respective indie companies, at Dragon Con, to spitball on all things AfterShock Comics and Scout Comics, as well as the then-impending Hurricane Dorian, which has since come-and-gone.
Enter Joe Pruett, creator and publisher at AfterShock Comics, which continues to encourage fans to ‘Read Dangerously’, all while ‘Shattering Expectations’. The industry vet has over 25 years of experience and has won and been nominated for numerous Eisner and Harvey award(s) for his work. He also founded Desperado Publishing, which held partnerships with both Image Comics and IDW. His current book, Black-Eyed Kids, follows two creepy kids, with all-black eyes, that ‘need to use the telephone’, a home invasion, but instead, the invaders are welcomed inside! At that point, it’s already too late.
GXP: What new series are you excited to see readers raving about?
Joe P.: “Knights Temporal, from Cullen Bunn and Fran Galán, just came out and it sold out before it even hit shelves, so it’s already in a second printing. Dark Red is another one, from Tim Seeley and Corin Howell, that is also already in a second printing as well.”
GXP: Anything coming up that you can tease the fans with?
Joe P.: “In October, we have an original graphic novel coming called, Horrid. It’s from Marguerite Bennett and Leila Leiz. Marguerite thinks it’s the best story she’s ever written and we all agree it is going to be epic, along with Leila’s awesome art for it as well. Midnight Vista is another one that we had come out recently. It’s a unique story of an alien abduction of a father and son.” [Side Note: Check out our Midnight Vista preview, HERE.]
GXP: As AfterShock Media continues to build its brand, can you touch on any possible projects being developed for TV/Streaming/Film?
Joe P.: “We are excited to announce we have a lot of projects currently in development. Animosity is slated to become a feature film and seems to be moving along pretty well. Adam Glass and Dennis Calero’s The Normals, just got picked up by FOX, but I’m not sure what the latest is on it as of right now. Lost City Explorers was also picked up, that one for television. Lastly, and I don’t even know if I’m supposed to be talking about this, but A Walk Through Hell has some serious interest and the pilot from Garth Ennis is really, really good! We have a lot more of our many awesome series announced for various platforms with major players, but I unfortunately can’t talk about them right now. I will say, it’s not always the series that are the best-selling or most-popular that turn into shows or movies. That said, there are at least three of our titles where the deals are almost done and the news will drop soon.”
GXP: Other than penning your most-recent series, B.E.K., what else have you been up to?
Joe P.: “I’ve been laser-focused lately as the publisher of the company. It’s a full-time job, that’s for sure. I haven’t been writing as much as I would like to, but I would love to do some more B.E.K., if I can find the time to do it. I did write a few short stories in our Shock Anthologies, which I love doing. We just released our second volume in that series as well, which I wrote in and it also has a story from R.L. Stine in it too. I’m so proud of these because it’s just all of our creators coming together to publish an awesome book of short stories. I’m also going to start doing the Art-Of books again, which I used to do at Desperado, Image and IDW. I’ve got at least two of those lined up.”
GXP: Have you noticed any AfterShock-themed cosplay this weekend (or is there any you’d hope to see in the future)?
Joe P.: “I haven’t seen anything yet, but it would certainly be cool. If I saw any B.E.K. cosplay with some kids with black contact lenses, that’d be so freaking cool. I’d love that.”
Next up is James Pruett, publisher and writer for Scout Comics. He carries with him extensive industry experience over the past 20+ years. He, too, has garnered Eisner nominations and awards, while having also propelled then-Caliber Comics to Top-10 publisher status. Following his time there, he worked in financial securities, where he has served for the past 14 years. His latest series, which just launched, is called, Midnight Sky, and makes for a beautiful mashup of the classic sci-fi films, Invasion of the Body Snatchers and They Live. Check out our July preview about it, HERE.
GXP: Your new series, Midnight Sky, is out now. Where did the idea for the series come from?
James P.: “I took it from a coworker’s dream she was telling me she had. I took bits and pieces and ran with it. For instance, in the dream, her son woke up with demon eyes, like a changeling, so I researched and initially set it up as a short story, but it quickly became a series as the ideas kept flowing in.”
GXP: So, that said, will this series be ongoing or limited?
James P.: “Yeah, that is the plan, for it to be ongoing. We have high hopes for it, so we’ll see how sales go and if it fits in as a Nonstop! series.”
GXP: You beat us to the punch. The company started an imprint called, Nonstop!, can you explain it for those that may not have heard of it yet?
James P.: “We do a single issue, that serves kind of like a movie trailer, which gives you a glimpse into the first story arc and then it builds from there. Ultimately, the rest of the series is compiled in a trade, so that the reader can binge, similar to how we view our shows now. So, the first issue comes out, three months later, the trade drops and then you have the first arc right in front of you.”
GXP: We reported on your series, Solar Flare, by James Haick, being developed for TV. Can we expect any other announcements to come soon?
James P.: “We have a lot in the works for both television and film, actually. Long Lost is one. There’s also a script being written for Smoketown and, as you said, Solar Flare was just picked up, as well as an animated feature for Once Our Land is in development too. We have some big ones coming down the pipe, but we still can’t talk about those until the paperwork is signed!”
GXP: Can readers expect anything new on your end in the near future?
James P.: “Yeah, Midnight Sky is my focus right now. I think that, along with my duties as publisher as well, I can only handle one series at a time. It’s a full-time job and I definitely still want to eat and sleep. I can tell you that I’m co-scripting an upcoming book called, Devereaux, with an actor from The Walking Dead and, as soon as we get an artist on it, we’ll be (hopefully) launching it around spring or summer of 2020. I am, however, working on a series called, Toxic, right now too, but that is still in its infancy stages as it stands.”
GXP: So, where’s the next stop for you, with Hurricane Dorian looming?
James P.: “I’m driving back on Tuesday, so we’ll see where it goes. As of right now, it may shift East and it will be smooth sailing for me. Obviously, if it swings West, we may be stuck in Georgia for another day or two (laughs).”
Keep it here for all the news you can use regarding both AfterShock and Scout and be sure to add their current respective titles to your pull lists!
