Making this comic with Sami Kivela, Lauren Affe, Jim Campbell, Dan Hill, Matt Pizzolo, and the team behind Black Mask Studios was a dream project that was the result of years of hard work and passion. It was the fifth story Sami and I worked on [and hopefully not the last] and this massive sci fi tale of a mother trying to get her dead son’s DNA back from the disgusting hands of an absent, yet oppressive, ruler was a story both personal in nature and satisfying in the creative energy of it.
EVERFROST cover by Sami Kivela
There were over 200 comics added to the Long List for this award, so to be in the top ~20 is a true honour. I don’t know if we’ll win – there is a very cool array of spectacular comics in the mix and I’d like to see a lot of them win, so I’ll feel no displeasure in losing out.
If you’re looking for some amazing Aussie comics content, hit up that short list, and also browse the Long List as there is a lot of good four colour entertainment that comes from the ecclectic brains of this land down under.
I am really psyched, and genuinely honoured, to announce that the EVERFROST tpb lands in December with a Foreword written by one of my favourite modern writers Lonnie Nadler!
You can still preorder the trade collection of all 4 issues of EVERFROST at your LCS so it’s ready for you when it hits shelves in early December! Here is all the info you’ll need.
We got two lovely pages of erudition from Lonnie Nadler for this collection, and I asked him along for the ride because he’s someone I massively admire, but he also fit the sensibilities of this book perfectly. It’s a big sweeping sci fi epic told in very specific and formulated chunks across 4 issues. It’s got structure, and huge ideas, and meaning behind it all and that all made me think of Lonnie.
To recap the brilliant work Lonnie has done, which I’m sure you’ve read, let me go through my highlights!
Before any comics were made, I met Lonnie at the Seattle Sheraton in 2013 and he instantly stood out as a Good Bloke. That kind of introduction is something you always file away for later use. And so, later, in 2017, when I’d meet him again, it would be as I tabled at ECCC with Eric Zawadzki who was in the midst of producing THE DREGS with Lonnie and co-writer Zac Thompson [another Good Bloke].
Now, I loved THE DREGS, it’s this insanely smart and disgustingly beautiful homeless noir story that grabbed me by the collar and shook me awake with each issue. So, naturally, I was stoked to make time with Lonnie throughout that weekend to talk comics, movies, and life alongside some burgers or just the buzz of the showfloor.
Since then, Lonnie has continually ascended in comics opportunities and quality. Putting out a few more creator owned books eventually led to some Marvel opportunities for him and Zac, which they both ran with through some wild storylines, and the whole time I could see Lonnie putting meaning into his writing, wanting everything to matter and be quality and use comics as part of the story, not just the final delivery method.
It’s then that Lonnie wrote BLACK STARS ABOVE with Jenna Cha co-creating as artist, and the book absolutely floored me. It’s eerie and beautiful and such a delight for the brain to read. It might be Lonnie’s masterpiece, which says something as it stands atop an already hugely impressive career.
So, yes, when it came time to think of someone to write a Foreword for EVERFROST, there was only one name I thought of. Lonnie had already read the first few issues and given me some lovely feedback in am email, so I took my shot and was grateful he said yes.
The way I work with Forewords is I think of the one right person for the project and then I ask and hope. With every book I’ve written so far, I’ve asked just one person, and have usually been lucky enough to get them. If the book has no Foreword, it’s because that one person declined, or didn’t manage to make it in time. I was lucky enough to have Lonnie agree, and step up well before the deadline.
Thanks for choosing to preorder the tpb, indie comics are a small gig, and every single order matters, and tells stores that this book will sell, so then they’ll add another order for 1-2 for the shelf, particularly important as this lands right at the start of the holiday buying season. Thanks for telling your mates, or sharing my good word about the story, or for just being awesome. It is all appreciated.
EVERFROST the trade collection lands in December, preorder from your LCS today to get this epic sci fi tale from me, Sami Kivela, Lauren Affe, Jim Campbell, and Dan Hill, all through Black Mask Studios!
This has been a year of me hyping EVERFROST, so it makes sense we’d close the year with a trade paperback release of the whole story in December.
If you are a trade waited, we got you covered — if you dug the issues, well, it’s just in time to buy a copy for a mate as a holiday season gift [I swear, more people need to give random comics as gifts – gifts aren’t about finding exactly what someone needs and filling that gap, they’re about finding something they didn’t know they needed and then expanding that pocket for them; normalise giving random things you *think* they’ll love].
Anyway, EVERFROST, our sci fi story of heartbreak and a big sword, is being collected in a tpb and it lands in stores everywhere in December and you need to preorder your copy now to ensure your store has one for you!
The tpb has the same cover as #1
EVERFROST
Written by Ryan K Lindsay
Illustrated by Sami Kivela
Coloured by Lauren Affe
Lettered by Jim Campbell
Edited by Dan Hill
Published by Black Mask Studios
I’m crazy excited about this story dropping in one book. I’ve worked so long on it, and I’ve loved it so deeply for that entire time, so getting it in its final form is going to be a heartwarming pleasure.
I’ll post more about it in the coming month – about our excellent reviews, and why the story is a banger, and the awesome Foreword we got written by an absolute genius – but for now, short and simple: tell your local comic shop you want a copy and prepare yourself to read and enjoy when it drops in december [or to not read but gift it like a boss]. Here are all the details you need!
The second chapter to the sci fi comic miniseries from me and Sami Kivela lands in comic shops this Wednesday!
Love the colours on Sami’s cover!
EVERFROST #2 – Bootleg Fidelity
Artist: Sami Kivela
Colourist: Lauren Affe
Letterer: Jim Campbell
Editor: Dan Hill
Writer: Ryan K Lindsay
Publisher: Black Mask Studios
Van and Eight have stepped back into the bustle of the Precinct to discover her son is still alive, there’s an epic war between the Bloom and the Warlords bubbling over, and time has become a little fluid since she went out to live on the ice. She needs a whole mess of answers, so she goes to the one person she thinks might be able to help…her mother. Join us for a tale of echoes through time we could only call ‘Bootleg Fidelity’ as two key characters meet untimely deaths!
I’m really proud of this issue. The first one did a lot of heavy lifting and world building and brain stomping – so this one slows things down a little, we let van steep in this new world. I think you’ll dig it.
Hopefully you already asked your LCS to set you aside a copy, but if not, they should have some on the shelves so go in this week and get yourself the second issue to this series that’s been another hit for me and Sami!
“I am a huge fan of both Lindsay and Kivela; I love how neither are just settling as creators. Instead they continue to push their talent forward with stories that feel as diverse as any of the big indie publishers output. For a book that mixes scope of environment with the scope of human emotions, Everfrost, through Lindsay and Kivela, surely delivers.” – 10/10 Johnny Hughes @ Comic Crusaders
“EVERFROST #1 is a remarkably well executed debut issue that serves up a perfect blend of dystopian fantasy Sci-Fi with a heavy dollop of human drama threaded through it’s center laced in the tragedy of a world in turmoil and decline. Highly recommended to fans of esoteric Sci-Fi.” – 10/10 Ross Hutchinson @ Comic Watch
“Every page is a delicious treat that leaves one craving more.” – 9/10 Scott Redmond @ Comicon
Everfrost has been so long in the making, I’m now wildly excited to see it finally hit the shelves, and there are all kinds of emotions coming to the surface. The usual excitement mingled with fear is natural. Relief, pride, maybe even contentment. I’m really proud of this book, and it coming out heralds another new complete story I’ll have put into the world.
Getting the chance to tell a story is no small feat. I don’t want to brush over this, I never want to brush past this. Creating a full world, populating it, and finding some moments worth a damn that you want to share – that’s the alchemy of writing.
I really hope you like Everfrost, but honestly, I hope any of you get a chance to love it as much as I do.
Comic shops will have their copies this week – whatever day you head in, I hope you find a copy on the shelf [or you wisely preordered so they’d put one aside for you and you have no risk of missing out]. Buy it with a smile, tell your comic shop retail magus how excited you are to read it – I bet they love hearing that kind of thing. Comic shop peeps aren’t in it for the millions of dollars, either, they just love seeing stories connect from one human to another.
This sci fi heartbreak is full of passion and creativity and hope and lived experience and desire and energy and I could not have asked for a better team than Sami Kivela, Lauren Affe, Jim Campbell, Dan Hill, and Matt Pizzolo at Black Mask Studios to help bring it to the page.
Thus begins our 4 issue miniseries, each issue packed with fun back matter pages, and our whole walking hearts. Keep your eyes out for this cover, and if you get a chance let us know what you think.
This week has two very important things going down straight outta RKL HQ:
EVERFROST #1 – FOC is Monday!
The Final Order Cutoff is the date where retailers lock in any tweaks to their orders, so you still have a chance of securing your copy for June 02, when we land on shelves.
Please tell your comic shop you want this comic preordered and waiting for you because then you are guaranteed it, and won’t be subject to possible sell outs on the day. Retailers tend to order less indie comics than they do the latest X-Event [I know, insane business model] and every preorder tells the shop it’s a winner, so they’re more likely to order an extra 1-2 for the shelf. Every preorder actively helps to move our initial sales much higher than just your 1 order. Here’s what you can say, or email:
“Hey [INSERT SHOP NAME, or employee name if you’re really something special], can I please preorder a comic, it looks amazing. It’s called EVERFROST, from Black Mask Studios, the order code is APR211533 – I’d like all 4 issues set aside, please.”
Yes, in fact, tell your shop you want all 4 issues, because this is a 4 issue mini, and you don’t wanna get started and then get shorted on future installments of this, trust me. Here’s a look at the first 2 covers from Sami Kivela:
And also…
BLACK BEACON is in Heavy Metal #306 – THIS WEEK!
I have a shelf debut this week, my sci fi collaboration with Sebastian Piriz lands this week in the pages of Heavy Metal Magazine – pick up #306 when it lands from Wednesday and find the opening 22 page chapter of BLACK BEACON!
This is a huuuuuge sci fi story, and we’ll be in the next 5 issues of the magazine. Here’s a look at the first page:
You can pick up a copy this week, or tell your LCS to put it aside for you while you are talking to them about EVERFROST :] The cover looks like this:
Or, if you really wanna commit: BLACK BEACON is also getting a single issue release later in the year, and the first issue is up for preorder, so you can tell your comic shop to preorder BLACK BEACON #1 for you, it’s from Heavy Metal, with order code MAY211491 – here’s the cover:
It’s a lot to remember – maybe keep this newsletter open while you have the chat, if you need the support. I am, if nothing else, always here for you.
To summarise, here’s the date list rundown:
Here’s the rundown, because the list is bigger now:
May 12 – HEAVY METAL #306 – sees the start of BLACK BEACON with me and Sebastian Piriz
June 02 – EVERFROST #1 lands – this miniseries starts here from me and Sami Kivela
June – HEAVY METAL #307 – the second chapter of BLACK BEACON lands in this issue, I assume, at this date
July 14 – EVERFROST #2 lands
July [insert number here] – BLACK BEACON starts to get a solo single issue release here, so if you missed the magazine, you can get our first chapter, with some back matter, right here.
EVERFROST runs for 4 months, BLACK BEACON will run for 6. Really excited about both of these, so hope you find your copies, set aside time to read, and know that I appreciate your support an insane amount.
You can preorder this issue with your LCS – or just ask them to set aside all 4 issues as they come in – and I guarantee after everything we lay out in the first issue, you are going to be dying to come back to see where Van and Eight go off to.
Here’s the cover from Sami Kivela!
So. Gorgeous.
I could make comics in the snow with Sami all day long.
Here’s the official solicit info, just to wet your whistle – at this stage, I’m just having fun writing these things.
Van and Eight have stepped back into the bustle of the Precinct to discover her son is still alive, there’s an epic war between the Bloom and the Warlords bubbling over, and time has become a little fluid since she went out to live on the ice. She needs a whole mess of answers, so she goes to the one person she thinks might be able to help…her mother.
Join us for a tale of echoes through time we could only call ‘Bootleg Fidelity’ as two key characters meet untimely deaths!
Ryan K Lindsay, award-winning writer of ETERNAL and NEGATIVE SPACE, teams again with Sami Kivelä, the artistic juggernaut behind ABBOTT and UNDONE BY BLOOD, alongside Lauren Affe, the colourist of THE WITCHER, STRANGER THINGS, and FIVE GHOSTS, as they drop an absolute bomb of sci fi insanity and heartbreaking emotion in the grandest Black Mask tradition.
EVERFROST #2 hits shelves July 14 – you know what to do.
The start of an issue is the Opening Contract and it establishes everything the creative team is about to attempt across and throughout the story. We give character, the world, the tone, the style – it’s an indication of the ride you are in for, the way we wish to connect with you.
In these 5 pages, you will find awesome page layouts from Sami Kivela, beautiful world building colours from Lauren Affe, the balanced and thoughtful placement of lettering items from Jim Campbell, and a flow of prose and ideas from my writing.
If you dig what you read, then you’ll need the subsequent 21 pages when issue #1 lands on June 02 – talk to your comic shop about securing your preorder, they will finalise their orders on May 10.
For now, enjoy the free taste, have a great day, and we’ll see you on June 02 for more :]
Here’s the second page because I love it so much – Sami nails it, natch. The angle, the moon, this is Van Louise. Lauren Affe gives us this haunted feeling of cold and isolation. And look at those captions from Jim Campbell. Utterly perfect in alignment with the art and the tone.
Sami Kivela and I have a new comic coming out in June – EVERFROST is being published by Black Mask Studios – we think you’re going to dig it!
The last time Sami Kivela and I made a comic together, it was also through Black Mask Studios, and it was called BEAUTIFUL CANVAS.
This was a comic about a hitwoman who is contracted to kill a small child and in the same week finds out her girlfriend is pregnant. It’s an emotional tale soaked in blood and Sami and I loved making this comic with Triona Farrell, Ryan Ferrier, and Dan Hill.
We were given many amazingly thoughtful reviews, so I thought I’d pluck out a few key quotes that will prepare you for what you are in for now that Sami and I are back together again for a new comic – EVERFROST launches in June.
Here’s what they said about us last time in some reviews for BEAUTIFUL CANVAS #1
“Aiding and amplifying this is Sami Kivela’s artwork, which is nothing short of fantastic. It’s not just the great details and exquisite imagery. – While Lindsay definitely creates some relatable characters, it’s Kivela’s artwork that makes them real.”
“What really sets the art apart is the scenery in the scenes, the half splash panel of the ferris wheel with a half buried animatronic clown head look beautiful and reminiscent of something that was once vibrant”
“Sami Kivela shines on the art. He takes a scene I’ve seen hundreds of times and makes it sublime; I’m talking specifically about page 4, where Lon enters a house to carry out a hit and Kivela’s staging of the scene, page layout with the inset panels, and the discrete moments in time he captures on the page really emphasize the artistry involved in telling a comic story.”
“The first action sequence in which Lon encounters conflict and she has to make use if her gun is very short, but also very effective in showing you 1) Lon is good at her job and quick with her hands, and 2) artist Sami Kivelä masterfully pulled this short burst of action off using one entire page and it’s a testament to an artist who knows their way around some damn panels. Throughout the book, Kivelä is manipulating panels and cutaways to really maximize the action scenes and ensure the pacing is good enough for the scenes with more emotional weight. He also has a really solid art style that helps keeps the reader stay invested visually.”
“The issue is written by Ryan K. Lindsay and drawn by Sami Kivela, and both turn in excellent work. The script is smart and always one step ahead of us, and the art shows great design skill, with strong characters and vivid environments on display.”
“Sami Kivela, whose slick, expressive style sizzles alongside Lindsay’s story, creating an effortlessly cool aesthetic. A little bit David Aja, a little bit Tyler Boss, Kivela throws in some fantastically inventive panel layouts, including one particularly brilliant page where snorting drugs off a carrot leads seamlessly into a brutal ‘hit’ from Lon.”
And this is a big beautiful slab of love for Kivela!
“Sami Kivela delivers tasteful, sleek modern art that fits the issue’s tone perfectly. The first page, which may very well be the single best page in the issue, is a great example of the blend of normal and strange that is yet to occur in the book, and Kivela blends the two elements like they were simply meant to be. Kivela includes telling details in the background of the room – things that indicate a normal, modern household like small plants by the window, a bottle of vodka, star-patterned cushions and a desktop computer. Yet, at the focal point of the page, a body lies dead, with blood splattering from a bullet wound to the eye. Lon herself sits on the couch next to him, looking just as astounded as you, the reader, are at this visceral scene. It’s a perfect opener, giving readers the low down on what to expect from this book.
“Kivela draws refreshingly normal looking humans, like David Aja’s style if you read his seminal “Hawkeye” run a few years back. Lon displays a wide variety of emotions as she reacts to all the strange events during the issue. A scene occurs in which she talks to her lover Asia on the phone, and a panel depicting each person sit opposite each other. Each panel can only show one emotion, but are drawn with subtle detailing that make them feel more real than they are. The way Kivela draws Lon looking down her shoulder, the way her eyes look away in doubt, and her just-ajar mouth are more telling about her emotional state talking to Asia than the words themselves are. Contrasting to this, it’s almost funny how Kivela draws the bad guys with the fashion and looks of models and super-stars. Milla, the limb-gardening psychopath, is a slender blonde clad in makeup and a bold red dress. It’s a reversal of roles that makes the portrayal of these characters so engaging.
“Kivela’s sequential action is great when established. A sense of movement is always established when necessary, so that the flow of the comic is easy to follow. Right from the start, Kivela guides the reader’s eye around a boxing ring with multiple camera angles as Lon moves around it. It’s a small touch here, not noticeable only because it makes the reading too smooth to make it obvious. The first scene in which Kivela’s talent is immediately obvious is during the shootout with Julie, in which reading time is slowed down to having three seconds play out over three panels. Each big panel is intersected by smaller close-ups of each sudden movement – the carrot flinging, the gun firing, the collision of objects – it’s so wonderfully constructed that you can’t help but stop to take it all in.”
We’ve been putting out comics for nearly a decade, and our latest story, EVERFROST, lands in June through Black Mask Studios.
Way back when, Sami and I first worked on a pitch for a comic that would become CHUM at ComixTribe. I loved the character acting and clear page layouts he brought to the project, and I loved how he made everything I wrote work better on the page. I was writing a surf noir story and Sami made every pulp trope I wanted to play with, and invert, come to life on the page.
Imagine being a nascent comic book writer/creator and getting this cover in your inbox? I was so deeply deeply in love.
While I pitched CHUM around, I talked to him about building a weird sci fi world with me and Dan Hill and so he co-created and illustrated the first issue of CURRICULUM. His work on this story is phenomenal, and it’s one of life’s great failings for me that we never managed to get this story completed [that’s a whole other post, sadly, and it mostly focuses on my ineptitude].
I loved this opening panel so much it was the back of my phone case for the next 5 years.
Dying to keep working with Sami, I pitched him on the idea of doing a one-shot and taking it to Kickstarter. He was down and thus DEER EDITOR was born. I’d written this script on my phone as I wandered my neighbourhood late at night, trying to keep my kid asleep in a Baby Bjorn while letting my wife rest at home, and I was so excited when Sami trusted me to go on this journey with him. This is still one of my favourite comics I’ve created, and Sami and I ended up rounding out a trilogy of connected one-shots that were super successful on Kickstarter, and I still plan to collect in a trade paperback [one day].
CHUM was made and Sami just continued to level up, so I asked him if he’d be again willing to swing for the fences with me on a pitch. Legend that he is, he agreed, and within a year we cooked up BEAUTIFUL CANVAS, pitched it, got it picked up at Black Mask, and it started hitting the shelves.
Sami’s work on BEAUTIFUL CANVAS really showed his ability in a new light. Perhaps it was the colours of Triona Farrell, perhaps it was having more people read this book than any of our stories before, or perhaps it was just the right time: but Sami knocked this one out of the park. His page layouts continued to become dynamic and full of narrative, his character designs jumped off the page and kicked you in the guts, and his star went on to shine as he made ABBOTT with Saladin Ahmed, MACHINE GUN WIZARDS with Christian Ward, and UNDONE BY BLOOD with Lonnie Nadler and Zac Thompson.
But all along, Sami and I had yet another collaboration cooked up and now it’s finally appearing – EVERFOST is coming.
This might be our greatest work yet. Some of the pages Sami has dropped in this series are shockingly electric, and he’s illustrated all 4 issues, so I’ve seen it all. You are going to love Sami as much as I do, and that’s going to fill both your heart and your eyeballs.
I get the privilege of seeing Sami’s character sketches, his ability to capture characters out of my brain and get them onto the page perfectly. I get to cruise through his thumbnails that show the amount of class and emotion he’s going to put on the page – and the fact he can show that in thumbnails is just astounding. I get the pencils, and the inks, and the thoughtful notes on story. I see where Sami explodes a page, or alters the flow, or [usually] improves every scene as it transitions from script to art. The guy is a stone cold genius, and working with him to create a world and tell a story is one of the most satisfying things I’ll do in comics, or in my life overall.
But mostly, I’ve just enjoyed working with one of my best mates to tell a huge story. From every cover thumbnail, to script edit notes, to these small moments he drops all over each issue that made me hold my breath while reading emails, this comic has been a true labour of love.
It took about 4 years to get this comic onto the shelves, and I cannot tell you how happy I am to finally share all of Sami with you once more. If you’re a fan of beautiful art, or nuanced moments, or great comics, then I have to imagine you are a Sami Kivela completist [I know I am]. So if you want more Sami Art in your life, this is a good year for you. ABBOTT 1973 has been coming out, he’s drawing the next volume of UNDONE BY BLOOD, and we’ve got EVERFROST landing for you in June. I’m just lucky to be writing that last one, but I’m pushing all of them constantly to mates.
I know we appreciate your support, and the best support is telling your comic shop you want them to order a copy of the comic before it hits shelves so they definitely have one for you when we hit the streets on June 02. Here are the details, you know what to do!
EVERFROST #1 is in the latest Previews for a June 02 release – Order Code: APR211533
Without Fear 