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Peregrine Interview Nuria <aka Undedgurl>: I have a James O'Barr related question... Remember when Death Rattle had that special on the re-release of the uncut crow comic's? What ever happened? (Was Death Rattle by KCP? I can't remember! David @ Peregrine Entertainment: Death Rattle was published by Kitchen Sink Press. The third issue (published in February 1996) was hyped as having "unpublished" Crow pages, as if the pages were lost or left out of the original book. However, of the 8 illustrations they published, only 2 or 3 were actual pages meant for the interior of a comic book, and only 1 of them was finished. There was also another book that James showed me (although I don't know who published it)[for all you that are drooling over Crow #0... this is what he's refering to] which contained several other Crow illustrations James had done (recently, at that time). Each illustration was a collage of images but they were not comic book story pages either. James was extremely unhappy with how the illustrations were printed. Because of how unhappy he was with how those illustrations were handled, James has asked Peregrine to reprint them as a portfolio. James has also redrawn a couple of them. Plus, we're planning on running poems or some other text under each image. The other semi-cool thing about this portfolio is that James has added to each illustration so that all of the images now connect. So, the portfolio will have 8 images which you can connect, end-to-end, to create a long mural. The portfolio will hopefully be coming out in October (just in time for Halloween). Okay, sorry for the digression. Back to your question... Kitchen Sink was also planning on reprinting The Crow trade paperback with 12 additional pages in it. Kitchen Sink went out of business before they could print the trade but I do have a photocopy of the entire book, which they sent me, which includes the 12 pages. :-) The 12 additional pages were actual finished story pages (unlike the stuff in Death Rattle). James still wants this "Author's Edition" of The Crow to see print. However, his new plan is to add about 40 pages to the series. There were scenes he had to shorten or leave out of the original version which he has always wanted to put back in (I think James describes this the issue of Death Rattle). So...he is.James is currently working on this project but I have no idea when he will finish. Nuria <aka Undedgurl> : Can I regurgitate any of this? I've been reading what other fans are posting... about when the directors cut of the graphic novel is going to be released... Believe me... they are hungry for more O'Barr Crow stuff!!! David @ Peregrine Entertainment: Yeah, you can repeat the stuff I wrote. It's not a secret. Although I'm trying to keep it "hush-hush", James talks about it at conventions. The only difference is that James will say stuff like, "it's coming out in August." People then turn to me, their eyes wide with excitement, and ask, "Really?!" I then have to do the "publisher's dance" of saying...well, we're working on it...no release date has been scheduled yet but we're hoping to make an announcement soon...etc., etc., etc. James' plan is to re-release the series as a mini-series. Each book would run 32 pages and contain at least 22 pages of story in it, with at least 4 of those pages being new. Each book would have a new cover and the rest of the book would be filled with a commentary by James -- discussing what he added in the book and why...what he changed and why (since he is also redrawing pages)...plus stuff like his REAL thoughts on the movies...photos of him and Brandon...a little more information about the story behind The Crow (the personal tragedy stuff)...etc. If theAuthor's Edition of The Crow is published as a mini-series, it will probably need to run 12 issues. What are your thoughts on this? Do you like the idea or hate it? Speaking as a Crow fan, of course. Nuria <aka Undedgurl> : As a Crow Fan this all sounds wonderful! I know there are quite a bit of rumors going around about the way he feels about the movie and how he actually came to write the Crow in the first place... it'll be good to get everyone on the same page... There's also talk of James doing a completely different Crow Story, a woman comes back... Is this true or just another Rumor? David @ Peregrine Entertainment: James was working on a Crow story featuring a woman as the basis for the second Crow movie. He even did several illustrations of the woman in a wedding dress. However, when Pressman canned the idea, James stopped working on it. Although, James and I have talked about including the drawings in the 12th (and final) issue of the re-release mini-series, as kind of a "see what could have been" ending. The chances of James doing another Crow story are about "slim and none" right now. James has no desire or intent to do another Crow story. Any rumors to the contrary are based on fiction. However, I should also add that this...much like everything else surrounding James...is subject to change. The man can always change his mind. I, for one, would like to see him do something new. But that's just me. Nuria <aka Undedgurl> : I too would like to see him do something other than The Crow... As you know, I'm not just a fan of the Crow... but a like a fan of James' work! I love his earlier stuff, prior to The Crow (maybe even during the first or second The Crow books)... He needs to stretch his 'creative wings'... to say. After you spend too much time dwelling on one subject it becomes stagnant! (That's why I moved away from drawing vampires so much... They became boring.) David @ Peregrine Entertainment: Yes, I agree with you 100%. I'd like to see James spread his wings, too. That's why I keep trying to get James to work on other things. I wrote a Books of Lore story which he started to illustrate, but never finished it. He also keeps talking about working on a project called "Zeitgeist" with another artist named Jason Alexander (who does a book called "Empty Zone" for Sirius), but (again) he just doesn't seem to get around to finishing writing it. But I am working on James. :-) Oh, James is also writing a vampire story.;-) Nuria <aka Undedgurl> : Really!? A vampire story... Gideon's was kind of a Vampire story!!! Well sorta in the “James O'Barr” way... ;o) I remember that Books of Lore story – it was called "warriors ring" right? And there was a full page ad in Previews a while back… "Zeitgeist", with Krishna & Vox right, is this the continuation? David @ Peregrine Entertainment: The Books of Lore story was titled, "Warrior's Ring." The name was later changed to "Lacrymose Hill." It's 16 pages long and James has laid out about 90% of the pencil work. Of course, he started the story back in 1997. :-) You're also 100% correct on "Zeitgeist." He wants to do a continuation, something along the lines of a 4 issue mini-series. He would write and maybe do layouts or pencil it. Yes, he is doing a vampire story. I don't know many details. However, last year around this time, I was trying to convince James to write "Countess Vladimira", a book about a female vampire I was publishing at the time. In order to help boost sales, James agreed to write a story for the series. A few weeks later, James started describing this vampire story to me and I stopped him and said, "This is good! You might want to save it for a book of your own." I ended up not renewing Vladimira after its slated 3 issue run and James still has the vampire story. Nuria <aka Undedgurl> : I've been to your website, James has a book coming out in August, titled "Savages". Tell me more!!! David @ Peregrine Entertainment: As the website states, "Savages" is a collection of fantasy illustrations from O'Barr's personal sketchbooks. The book also includes a commentary by James on his love for fantasy and why he wanted the book to see print. The "why" part, once again, has a lot to do with Kitchen Sink. As some fans may recall, Kitchen Sink advertised that they were going to publish a portfolio containing something like 12 barbarian illustrations by James. Needless to say, the portfolio did not see print. James came to me with the idea of publishing the portfolio but, when I looked at the piles and piles of illustrations he put in front of me, I found it difficult to pick just 12. That's when we came up with the idea of doing book instead. When all was said and done, we ended up with a 32-page book with no advertisements. That is what will be published in August. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Well that's all I've gotten so far!!! if you like you can visit his website:
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