Posted in: Comics | Tagged: james tynion iv, razorblades

Okay, So Now There Will Be A Second Printing Of Razorblades #1

Published Thu, 30 Jul 2020 15:29:53 -0500

Bleeding Cool covered the rapid sale and sell-out of James Tynion IV's horror comic anthology magazine, Razorblades #1. Sold as a $20 limited-to-500 copies edition, it sold out within the hour, even as it was made available as a pay-what-you-will digital comic book.

But it seems that James has had a second thought over whether there would be a second print. And is commissioning a new cover – it is not available yet. He tweeted;

We just commissioned a new cover for a second print run of @ReadRazorblades , keeping the first run limited and special, but we want to do what we can to meet demand! But in the meantime, please keep buying the digital edition, pay what you want, at http://ReadRazorblades.com

Though some collectors who had pointed up the $20 and were wondering how high it might go for, were less than enthusiastic.

Stephen Hale: "The current plan is that when these sell out, we will not reprint the book." Oh how fast things change when they sell out so fast a $20 a pop. lol.

John Potten: You did justify the price by the small print run guys… Seems a bit off??

Muji Grant: I bought the digital but will definitely double dip

Zombie:No 2nd print stated. So many bought under that premise. Sells out – then a 2nd print. Interesting.

William Blood: you said no reprint. shame on you. purposely tricking people into buying

Though those that missed it and have been filling my inbox complaining that they didn't have enough notice will probably appreciate the opportunity. Here's what Tynion said about it before…

He writes;

This is the comic I have been calling Project Nightmare in my last few newsletters. It is a 76-page self-published horror anthology book, curated and co-created by myself and Steve Foxe. It is the first book wholly published by my production company, Tiny Onion Studios.

I came up with the name Razorblades. Steve came up with the best justification for the name. Razorblades is meant to evoke a collection of small, sharp things, that can cut you. The goal here was to create a modern horror anthology, with a focus on the most exciting young voices in the comics and horror art communities.

The cover illustration is by the amazing Trevor Henderson, creator of Siren Head, and a whole host of amazing horror illustrations. You should all go follow him here.

The issue features comic features by Me & Andy Belanger, Sam Johns & DaNi, Steve Foxe & Michael Dialynas, Marguerite Bennett & Werther Dell'Edera, Lonnie Nadler & Jenna Cha, Michael Walsh, and Trung Nguyen. There are Ilustrations by Brian Level, Francine B/WitnessTheAbsurd, Nick Robles, Aaron Campbell, and Jock. There is a prose short story by Danny Lore, and I have an in-depth interview with Scott Snyder about horror as a genre.

The first issue sees the start of one incredible serial feature, A DREAM OF TIME, by Ram V & John J Pearson. It also sees a 2-page preview advertising my upcoming serial feature, THE ADVENTURES OF KILLBOY, by myself and Ricardo Lopez Ortiz.

Razorblades was lettered by Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou, Aditya Bidikar, and Serge Lapointe, and designed by Dylan Todd.

I have two stories in the book:

THE WASHING MACHINE

Andy Belanger and I have been talking about doing a horror comic together for ages. I think the first time I pitched him on doing an anthology book with me was back when I was on Talon. I absolutely love Andy's work. The story comes from a real place. Well… Real to an extent. It's based on the most horrible nightmare I've ever had. The down-in-your gut horror at what I thought I did has always stuck with me. And so, I processed it the best way I know how, by turning it into a comic book, and convincing Andy to draw what I am proud to say is the most disturbing image in the entire first issue.

THE ADVENTURES OF KILLBOY

Killboy, in my head, is the mascot of Razorblades. I was chatting with Matt Rosenberg the other day and I described the feature as I see it as "Johnny The Homicidal Maniac, if it were a Shonen Manga." I've already laid out the first full length feature, which will run in the Halloween issue, and when I sent it to Steve Foxe, he responded with a very simple "Jesus Christ. What are you trying to work through with this?!" This is the most obscene violent thing I have ever conceived, and I fucking love it. I cannot wait to bring you the Halloween gift of Ultraviolence. I've loved Ricardo's work for years. I actually have a comic I bought off him at Mocca back around 2015/2016? I'm thrilled I get to work with him on this… I might have a second RLO project in the works, but that's still very top secret. But we've got big plans for Killboy.

Sincerely, we have big plans all around (The above pages are by Trung Nguyen, and John J. Pearson). Razorblades is not a one-and-done project. As I said before, we're going to be releasing the book Quarterly and we've got the first year mostly already lined up. We've have some incredible horror creators from all corners of the comic book and horror art community lined up to create some truly stellar issues for you. Now that the project is out in the public, I'll probably start teasing these out more in the lead-up to Issue #2.

This first issue, which I am extraordinarily proud of, was first and foremost to prove that we could do it, and pull a full-sized anthology project together. Now the goal is to keep the beast alive. And what this beast needs to live is some money.

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