Blood Bowl | Forbeck.com

Killer Contract Acquired

Jun 192008

As you know, Blood Bowl: Killer Contract #1 hit comics stores yesterday. My authors’ comp copies are on the way, but I couldn’t wait. I drove over to the best (and only!) comic-book store in town, AK Comics, where owner David Loftus had a copy of both Cover A and Cover B waiting for me.
I wrote the issue, I’ve seen the art, and I’ve even read a PDF proof of the final pages. Still, there’s nothing like holding the final product in your hands: full-color, glossy-coated tree pulp and all.

However, due to the graphic nature of the book—hey, it’s Blood Bowl!—I can’t share the book with my kids. And let’s just say it runs perpendicular to my wife’s usual tastes. They’re all happy for me, of course, but this one’s just for me—and those of you who share my tastes!

While I was at AK Comics, I signed the rest of their stock and left it there on the shelves. At the moment, these are the only autographed issues in the universe, so if you’re in the neighborhood be sure to stop by and grab them fast.

[Edited to update link to Boom Studios' spanking-new website.]

Blood Bowl Killer Contract #1 in Stores Tomorrow

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Jun 172008

The first issue of Blood Bowl: Killer Contract should be in stores across North American tomorrow. Be sure to pop down to your local comics shop and pick up one straight away.

I’ll actually be in Milwaukee tomorrow afternoon. Can anyone recommend a good shop there?

Killer Contract Complete

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Jun 112008

Late last night, I turned in the script for issue #5 of Blood Bowl: Killer Contract, the final installment in my comic-book miniseries for Boom! Studios. I’ve had a blast working on these books, and I cannot wait to see them on stands. I still have an approval hurdle or two to parkour, but the bulk of the project is over.

(To top this all off, I finally have word that issue #1 is due out June 18th! Ask your local comics retailer about it now!)

Most of the best part is still to come. To me, this involves seeing Lads Helloven transforming my script into sequential art. I saw a preview of the first issue, and it’s filled with amazing stuff. Lads’s art makes everything I wrote even better. Click on the image above for the final version of the cover, complete with logos and bar code.

See the cover for issue #4 (both version A and version B) for more examples. Every issue comes with two regular covers, plus other variants like incentive covers given out to retailers who order lots of copies. These are all wonderful pieces of work.

Cover B for issue #1, for instance, is one of the grossest/coolest covers I’ve ever seen. It’s so very Blood Bowl that I wonder how wise it is to have people draw the images that pop into my head. (The text of a novel feels somehow safer—or more subversive.) And the interior art is just as over the top.

Blood Bowl: Killer Contract

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May 062008

I just sent off the script for Blood Bowl: Killer Contract #4 to my editor Ian Brill at Boom Studios. I’m having a ball writing these comics, and I can’t wait to see them in print, which I’m told should happen soon. I’m eager to wrap it all up with issue #5, just so I can see what happens.

I mean, I know what happens in the larger sense. I outlined the entire miniseries before I started in on it. But there’s so much distance between an outline and a script, and I invariably come up with all sorts of ideas while actually writing that the two don’t often match up. As with reading, writing is an act of discovery.

Right now, though, I need to write an outline for my next novel for Wizards of the Coast. After that, I can get back to my next computer game project or three.

To celebrate finishing issue #4, though, here’s an image of the cover I found while wandering around the web. I hope you enjoy it.

Blood Bowl Script #3 Done

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Apr 212008

I was up late last night, but I polished off the script to Blood Bowl: Killer Contract #3. To celebrate, here are some shots of some of the artwork slated for that very comic. The one to the left is the main cover, and the one to the right is for a variant cover.

The BOOM! Studios crew gave the series a mention during their panel at the New York Comic-Con last weekend. According to Comic Book Resources:

Boom! has also acquired the rights to produce a comic adaptation of what they call “The REAL Fantasy Football”, “Blood Bowl.” Slated to become a 5-issue miniseries, the game is produced by British company Games Workshop and is a parody of American football, only with far more lethal rules. Author Matt Forbeck, who has also written several “Blood Bowl” novels, will be penning the series.

Blood Bowl on the Game Screen—and Issue #2

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Apr 082008

The folks at Cyanide have a site up for the upcoming Blood Bowl computer game. There’s a slew of screen shots there, plus if you dig a little you can find a document that explains how the game works in more depth. I’m especially geeked by the fact you can play the game in two very different ways:

A real-time video game.
An exacting, turn-based simulation of the board game.

Combine this with the comic-book series I’m working on for BOOM! Studios, and you have a bloody great year for Blood Bowl. Speaking of which, here’s the cover for issue #2.

Revisions, Revisions

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Mar 172008

I spent the last week revising things, it seems. This includes the latest draft of the Mutant Chronicles novelization and the final draft of Blood Bowl: Killer Contract #2, both of which I can’t wait to see in print.

While revisions are a necessary evil for writers of all stripes, they’re never as much fun as working on the first draft. That’s mostly because it’s hard to budget time for revisions. They often reach my desk at unexpected times and need to be taken care of as soon as possible. Fortunately, they’re rarely as rough going as I fear, and I can usually wrap them up fairly fast.

Many of my editors don’t bother asking for revisions and just accept the first draft. Other than the occasional typo, my work is fairly clean. I attribute that to the years I spent editing other people’s work. I’ve been trained to spot mistakes, even in my own work.

Of course, that doesn’t mean they don’t still slip by. I just do my best to keep them to a bare minimum and hope my editor catches the rest.

Good-Bye, Brett

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Mar 042008

My pal Rich Dansky ruined my morning by pointing me to the news that Brett Favre is retiring. As a lifelong Packer fan, I recognize this as the official end of the greatest era in the NFL since the Lombardi years.

As I told Rich, though, I think this is the right thing for Favre to do. He came back last year—after flirting with retirement for months—because he didn’t want to leave his beloved sport on a bad note. This year, he broke all sorts of records and brought the Packers back to the playoffs. He’s not likely to top that again, so now’s the time to go.

Favre might have been erratic at times, but when he was on his game he was truly great. The saying around here has long been, “As Favre goes, so go the Packers.” Here’s hoping they can find their way without him.

If you read my Blood Bowl books, you might recognize Rhett Cavre, star blitzer of the Bad Bay Hackers. He’ll still live on, I think, even after his inspiration retires. I’ll miss the original though, every damn game.

Blood Bowl Goes Boom!

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Feb 192008

Boom! Studios today banged out a press release for my upcoming Blood Bowl comic-book miniseries: Blood Bowl: Killer Contract. See below for the full text.

While we’re at it, here’s the concept art for the one of the three variant covers for issue #1. That’s #7 Dunk Hoffnung sailing over the crowd, with M’Grash and Spinne opening the way. Lads Helloven provided this piece and handles the interiors too.

Blood Bowl Coming

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Feb 042008

On a lighter note—and on the day after a crackerjack Super Bowl (I didn’t have a dog in that fight, but what a great 4th quarter)—ICv2.com reports details about the Blood Bowl comic I’m writing for Boom! Studios. As reported:

The Blood Bowl series, scripted by bestselling fantasy author Matt Forbeck, will be based on the Games Workshop fantasy football parody game. Blood Bowl: Killer Contract, like most other Boom! GW titles, will be a five-issue miniseries, which will then be collected into a 128-page trade paperback.

As for the “bestselling,” I don’t know for sure where they got that, but I like it. As far as I know, the only such list my novels have made was when my first Blood Bowl novel cracked Locus’s bestselling tie-ins list, so I suppose that’s it. Either way, I’ll take it.

Now, back to writing the next issue!