Dover Announces Border Worlds Graphic Novel for August 2017!

Dover Graphic Novels, an imprint of Dover Publications Inc., has announced the Border Worlds graphic novel for August 2017! It is already listed on Amazon.com. The hardcover will be 336 pages, with a new 30-page concluding chapter and portfolio of unpublished art, with an historical overview introduction by comics legend Stephen R. Bissette.

This is the Image Comics house ad which ran in Splitting Image 80-Page Giant (2017), announcing the Border Worlds hardcover.

The official blurb: "With nothing left to lose, Jenny Woodlore joins her brother's ramshackle trucking business on Chrysalis, a huge floating platform on the edge of the galaxy — only to find herself in the middle of a cosmic conflict that could change the very fabric of the universe. This deluxe hardcover collects the complete run of Simpson's epic space drama as published by the Kitchen Sink Press in Megaton Man and its own self-titled series, finally adding an all-new concluding chapter. New Afterword by Stephen R. Bissette. Suggested for mature readers."

Another dust jacket design under consideration.

About the Author

Donald E. Simpson is an American comic book cartoonist and freelance illustrator, most noted as the creator of the series Megaton Man, Border Worlds, and Bizarre Heroes, as well as the official King Kong adaptation. He has also freelanced for nearly every major comic publisher. His most widely seen work are the illustrations he created for Al Franken's 2004 bestseller, Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right. In 2013, he earned a doctorate in history of art and architecture from the University of Pittsburgh.

Shades of the Futures Past: Border Worlds #8 Unused Cover Art!

Here is a detail of the original art for Border Worlds #8, which was announced and appeared in a house ad in Border Worlds #7 (August 1987). However, because of sales that continued to slip in the wake of the black-and-white comics boom-and-bust (paradoxically fueled by Rolling Stone's recent coverage of Frank Miller's Dark Knight Returns that set off a speculative feeding frenzy for titles like the Miller-inspired Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles -- I told you, paradox!), I made the painful decision to put my sci-fi saga on hiatus to focus on freelance work like Wasteland to pay my bills.

Jenny Woodlore and Drasin Revell in an intimate moment (detail).

When the issue finally appeared as Border Worlds: Marooned #1 (1990), the scene depicted was still a part of the story, but I decided to go with a more dramatic cover. The original cover was drawn on Duo-Shade, a classic medium memorably used in EC Comics and still available in the 1980s, but now another historical oddity. I'm glad I got the chance to use it on #7 and portions of Marooned!

The entire cover shows a more organic logo than the one I created when Border Worlds was a back-up feature in Megaton Man. Somehow the figure of Drake looked more dead than about to have a romantic moment with the series' heroine, Jenny.

The collected complete Border Worlds, forthcoming from Dover Publications in 2017, will include rarities like this and other unpublished art, plus reflections by me (the author) and an essay by comics legend Stephen R. Bissette! Stay tuned for more details soon...

The greyline, hand-painted with Cel-Vinyl paints, didn't do much to enliven the mood of the scene, and no doubt reflected my own mood as I watched my labor of love succumb to the tumultuous comics market.

My second stab at the cover was much more dramatic and pleasing (and the romantic scene between Drake and Jenny much more dynamic, earning the book and upgrade from "Mature Readers" to the more properly Underground "Adults Only").