Here’s an excellent look into some of the cave systems of the American South East over at NPR right now. One part looks similar to a scene coming up in Underground, so we’ll be studying it closely…

Steve will be in Artists Alley: table FF-16, between Colleen Coover and Ron Randall. He’ll have copies of the Underground #1 ashcan available for 3 dollars.

He’ll also be at two panels:
Thu, July 23, 2pm – 3pm
A Darker Shade of Ink: Crime and Noir in Comics— Crime comics are back with a bang! Darwyn Cooke (Parker: The Hunter), Greg Rucka (Gotham Central), and Steve Lieber (Whiteout, Underground) join moderator/noted mystery and comics writer Max Allan Collins (The Road to Perdition) to talk about the new incarnations of crime and noir in comics. Room 5AB

Friday the 24th:
11:30-12:30 Comics Arts Conference Session #6: Can College Prepare Creators for Comics Careers?— Hope Larson (Chiggers), David Petersen (Mouse Guard), Nick Langley (Rocket Llama), Jaque Nodell (Super Human Resources), Marko Head (Marko’s Corner), and Steve Lieber (Whiteout) discuss whether college education can really help people pursuing comics careers. Room 30AB

CraveOnline: Jeff, what do you find to be most appealing about doing creator-owned material as opposed to work for DC or Marvel? Do you find it easier to understand the inner-workings of your own characters?

Parker: First, I don’t have to compete with reader’s preconceptions of how a character should be depicted, I get to start fresh. Also no troublesome or convoluted continuity to have to wrangle before I can get started. And yes, I can build a character on something I know from life, so he or she rings true. Wesley Fischer is not going to suddenly have a different personality because of the return of the Phoenix force.

Steve and Jeff talk to Joey Esposito at Crave Online.

TF: Can you describe your working relationship a little so people can better understand your “creative process”?

SL: We just yell at each other all the goddamn time.

Chris Ullrich interviews Steve Lieber and Jeff Parker at The Flickcast

Some more terrific reviews have come in for the first issue of Underground. Our review page is here.

“…a slow burn early on that leads to an explosive finish that has the reader begging for the next issue. Underground strikes a delicate balance between plot and character development and immerses the reader into the town of Marion.”
Stumptown Trade Review

“Parker has managed to find time in his busy schedule of revamping the EXILES book (which I am loving, by the way) to come up with this grounded and interesting story. Lieber’s art is more than decent; gritty and real without being too dark or jaded, synonymous with the script, and as stated before, the opening sequence hit a very haunting note. If you are interested in nature, be it human or earth related, UNDERGROUND is worth checking out.”
Avril Brown, Comics Waiting Room

“Parker’s writing is great here. He does a good job in Underground with the many different aspects of the story. Parker’s control of the romantic dialogue, witty banter, and mysterious foreshadowing does the comic well. Lieber is no slouch either as his artwork really brings Wesley and the cast alive with the excellent detail in both facial features and background work.”
Aaron Albert, About.com

In the wake of the Macbook Caper (in which Steve Lieber lost his laptop to thieving thieves), we’d like to thank the comics internet for rallying to spread the word on this book. A nice big influx of people visited this site and checked out the preview of Underground #1 last week, largely sent by retweets on Twitter. Probably much more than Steve could have waved in on his own had he not left a big sign on his house saying FREE LAPTOPS-OH, AND TAKE THE ADAPTERS TOO!

We want to thank you comics activists out there for spreading the word and giving us a boost at a dour time. You rule. And while Underground doesn’t condone vigilantism, we do admire the creative lengths some have gone too, notably writer Paul Tobin who has been invoking a variety of curses and arcane magic.

Thanks again, everyone!

- Parker

“Parker and Lieber offer up an extremely well-done (and in some scenes educational and informative) comic with a strong female protagonist and story ripe with realistic characters and situations.”

I particularly like this review at Powered By Pop Culture because writer Mike Cassella mentions Steve drawing our main character Wes Fischer three years ago at a show. And that’s a reality of these personal projects, just like me with my graphic novel The Interman back in ‘03, we have to work on them in our spare time and wait until we’re far enough ahead to finally start talking about the book.

For retailers and the curious who want to see more reviews, there’s our Reviews page for more convincers.
-Parker

Steve here: now with crappy news!
My wife and I were just burgled. They stole our laptops, so we have no computers at home anymore, and we’ve got several days ahead of us of running around dealing with police, insurance, checking to make sure backups work, etc. This means that all the time at home I’d planned to spend doing promotion is gone, as are the machines I’d planned to it with.
Lots of folks have asked “what can I do to help?” The answer, if you have a comics audience, is blog or tweet something about the book. Send them to this site, or this specific post, or just tell them that Parker and I have a new Image book coming out. Your RTs and facebook posts can make a big difference.

Thanks!
Steve

First I scribble out a doodly layout. I scribble this out directly on my Cintiq. Layouts on this comic have been a breeze, probably because my writer used to support himself as an artist. Eagle-eyed readers will note that when I first drew Corey, the blonde guy in panel 5, I was working off my memory of Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker Jack Lambert.

Then I turn it blue in Photoshop and add lettering- some digital and some by hand. The digital font I’m using in Underground was designed by the great Tom Orzechowski, based on hand-lettering I did in Whiteout.

I print the lettered blueline out onto bristol board and ink it with traditional tools: Winsor Newton brush and India ink. I might be a dinosaur, but I still love dipping a brush into a bottle of fresh ink.

Then a miracle happens. Actually, it’s Ron Chan, who does beautiful things with color in Photoshop.

We’re kicking off the UNDERGROUND website with an interview conducted by Zack Smith over at NEWSARAMA! Steve and I talk about how the project came about and some of the characters within.

Keep checking in here, we’re going to be filling this blog up with process-related posts, answering questions, and dropping caving tips in case you should ever find yourselves in a large hole in the ground. We appreciate any linkage you can spare on your own sites. And of course…

Call your local comics shop and preorder Now! Underground #1 comes out in September from Image Comics! And welcome to the site.