Posted in: Comics | Tagged: HRL, image, rich tommaso, spy seal

Rich Tommaso's Spy Seal Hits Trade Paperback In January

Published Thu, 30 Nov 2017 13:30:27 -0600

Rich Tommaso's Spy Seal is getting a trade paperback collection from Image Comics in January, according to a press release sent out by the publisher today.

Tommaso created the character, a British secret agent who is also an anthropomorphic seal, when he was 13 years old, and revived the character in 2017 as an Image Comic. However, initial sales for the single issues didn't go as well as hoped, causing Tomasso to lament on Facebook:

In my 24-year "profession" as a cartoonist, I have never felt more angry, depressed, frustrated, confused, disenchanted, burned out, suicidal, and just plain fed up working in the comics medium than I do right at this moment. After a grueling, 3-year-long, 7-day-a-week work schedule of writing, hand lettering, penciling, inking, and coloring various original projects at IMAGE, I have just experienced a total meltdown after discovering the narrow sales figures for Issue #1 of my third series for them, SPY SEAL, now mere weeks from its release date.

But while Spy Seal might be a tough sell within the American superhero-industrial complex, it's a concept that could potentially do much better both in the bookstore market for a general audience and outside of North America. On January 30th, new readers will have a chance to discover Spy Seal, in deluxe oversized format, as the press release notes:

Visually reminiscent of such classic comics as The Adventures of Tintin and Usagi Yojimbo, SPY SEAL welcomes readers into the thrilling world of international espionage.

One of Britain's most covert MI-6 divisions, the Nest, has recruited a brand-new secret agent to their team: Spy Seal! Follow the newbie spy and his furred and feathered colleagues on exciting train rides, high-speed car chases, high-flying air adventures, and down secret underground tunnels, all in an effort to hunt down a dangerous British-turned-Soviet double agent—a slippery spy who poses as an upscale art dealer while covertly killing off important figures of Parliament.

SPY SEAL, VOL. 1 (Diamond code: NOV170686, ISBN: 978-1-5343-0479-6) hits comic book stores Wednesday, January 24th. The final order cutoff deadline for comics retailers is Monday, December 11th.

It will be available in bookstores Tuesday, January 30th and is available for preorder via Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Indiebound, and Indigo.