Brigid Alverson of Comic Book Resources’ “Robot 6” (and Eisner Awards judge) revealed her short list of 2011 comics that would have received Eisner nominations were it up to her alone.

We were very flattered to find SPONTANEOUS listed at the very top…

Best Limited Series

“One of my favorite series of 2011 was Spontaneous, by Brett Weldele and Joe Harris. It’s a great crypto-mystery about spontaneous human combustion, with a nerdy know-it-all played off against an aggressive reporter… I couldn’t put it down.”

SPONTANEOUS, of course, was last year’s Oni Press-released title by artist Brett Weldele and myself (now available in a gorgeous hardcover collection, as Oni is famous for producing).

Phenomenon, conspiracy or delusion? “Kelvin” Melvin Reyes was only three years old when Spontaneous Human Combustion took his father from him. He’s since devoted his life to exploring the mystery behind the phenomenon, searching for a pattern and predictors that he might save others from that same fiery fate. But the closer he gets to his goal, the further things lead down a well of secrets, horrors and terrible truths. Is SHC real? And, if so, can it be stopped?

Format: Trade (Collection), Hardcover
Content Rating: T+ (Teen Plus)
Street Date: Jan 25, 2012
Diamond™ Order Code: OCT111183
ISBN: 978-1-934964-74-3

DC Comics solicited FURY OF FIRESTORM #12 this week. Coming in August (cleanup and “nation building” to continue far into Autumn)!

• The quest for ASHRA KHAN takes a new turn!

• The menace of ZITHER is revealed!

Written by:
Joe Harris

Art by:
Yildiray Cinar
Marlo Alquiza

Cover by:
Yildiray Cinar
Marlo Alquiza

Color/B&W:
Color

Page Count:
32

U.S. Price:
2.99

On Sale Date:
Aug 22 2012

FURY OF FIRESTORM #11 coming from DC Comics on July 25.

JASON and FIREHAWK head to Russia and discover the secret origin of POZHAR! • Ronnie, Rakshasa and Pozhar head to the wilds of mountainous Pakistan to continue their hunt for the heart of the rogue threat: ASHRA KHAN!

Written by:
Joe Harris

Art by:
Yildiray Cinar
Norm Rapmund

Cover by:
Ethan Van Sciver

Color/B&W:
Color

Page Count:
32
U.S. Price:
2.99

On Sale Date:
Jul 25 2012

The fourth issue of my VAMPIRELLA VS. DRACULA miniseries is out today from Dynamite. You can check out this exclusive, free extended preview at Comic Vine…

I’ve got a couple of books from DC Comics out today, including FURY OF FIRESTORM #8 with Ethan Van Sciver on all the artwork. It’s a fun issue, my second of the run, and introduces the officially sanctioned “Nuclear Men” of France and Great Britain, Firehawk and Hurricane. The free preview released earlier this week follows:

I’ve also been helping out on BATMAN: THE DARK KNIGHT. Following my scripting over David Finch in Issue #6, I’m credited with “words” over Ed Benes’ very pretty artwork in Issue #8.

DC Comics announced their new plans for digital weekly comics today and I can finally talk about this very cool BATMAN project I’m doing with the very talented Jason Masters on art. Jason and I have been working together on a couple of things for a while now and I’m really excited for people to see his work.

Without giving too much away, I’ll just say that it’s a three-part story featuring Batman, and involves ghosts, psychological horror and a haunting in dear old Arkham Asylum. Fun stuff!

I used to write monthly comics. Marvel titles like SLINGERS and BISHOP: THE LAST X-MAN feel like a lifetime ago, honestly… but it was a steady stream of work for a few years (that also included numerous miniseries’, one-shots, fill-ins and specials) before the company changed directions and I ended up on a whirlwind tour of Hollywood’s back offices writing horror movies that both made a decent amount of money and nearly drove me to a psychotic break.

After at least ten too many studio deals, pitches, lawsuits, writers’ strikes and excruciating near-misses on every horror franchise sequel, remake, relaunch and re-imagining you can probably think of (I wrote CHILDREN OF THE CORN 8, for example) I knew I had to save my creative soul. I had an abundance of ideas I didn’t feel were finding the right homes, and I found myself chasing opportunities much more than building on what I’d already done in an artistic sense. I’d staked out ground, but wasn’t tending it. As a result, I wasn’t happy with what I was leaving behind. I felt adrift, unsatisfied and lost.

Since coming back to comics a couple of years ago, while keeping one foot in the entertainment industry, I’ve gotten to do so much that I’m proud of. My creator-owned series’ like GHOST PROJEKT (currently being developed for television at SyFy) and SPONTANEOUS from Oni Press, the in-the-works GREAT PACIFIC series you’ll be hearing so much more about later this year… an absolutely humbling amount of work (graphic novels, digital web series’ and print runs) that’s in the can and awaiting announcement and release from Oni, Image, DC Comics and other houses… all constitute the tip of the proverbial iceberg for me in terms of output. I have a lot coming down the pike.

But one of the coolest wrinkles to Joe Harris v2.0’s comics career has been coming onboard the newly relaunched DC Comics series, FURY OF FIRESTORM… the first issue of which, #7 comes out today.

I hope you’ll consider picking it up. Ethan Van Sciver’s artwork (I guess it’s his monthly return too) is stunningly cool, and the places we’ll be taking this book, along with regular artist Yildiray Cinar (who’s back on pencils with Issue #9), are pretty damn compelling if I do say — Geopolitics and nuclear brinksmanship crossed with widescreen science fiction, young super-hero pressures and ambitions and a big, dark over-arching storyline I hope we get to build out for a long time.

I’d like to think Issue #7 ends with the first of many shocking moments we’ve got in store for this series. And I hope you’ll let me know what you think on either Facebook or Twitter.

Thanks!

Joe Harris
NYC

PS — And check out these preview pages…

DC solicited the June “Justice League” titles recently and I hadn’t reposted here until now. Things start really picking up when we introduce another of our “International” Firestorms in Issue #10 — India’s own RAKSHASA!

This cover by Yildiray Cinar and Ethan Van Sciver is simply godly, as much so as the Shiva-inspired design of this badass Firestorm…

THE FURY OF FIRESTORM: THE NUCLEAR MEN #10

Written by JOE HARRIS and ETHAN VAN SCIVER

Art by YILDIRAY CINAR and NORM RAPMUND

Cover by YILDIRAY CINAR and ETHAN VAN SCIVER

On sale JUNE 27 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US • RATED T

• RONNIE and POZHAR face off against INDIA’S officially sanctioned FIRESTORM, RAKSHASA!

• JASON RUSCH begins to develop strange new abilities related to the Firestorms’ mysterious connection to the chaotic Quantum Field.

MTV Geek posted a first look at the cover and solicitation copy for VAMPIRELLA VS. DRACULA #6, on sale this June from Dynamite Entertainment!

VAMPIRELLA VS. DRACULA #6 (of 6)

32 pages FC • $3.99 • Teen +

Written by JOE HARRIS

Art by IVAN RODRIGUEZ

Cover by JOSEPH MICHAEL LINSNER

The mysterious Order of the Dragon has their new champion, one to replace Dracula in their timeless tale of horror, violence and love tragically lost. But as forces and narratives converge and the final chapter is almost complete, will Vampirella be more agreeable to that fate than Dracula proved to be? And as timelines collapse and the two vampire titans prepare for one, final showdown, what sort of world… which manner of legend… will be left for the winner to inherit? The epic series of myths, monsters, muses and mysteries concludes!

We finally unveiled my new creator-owned series, GREAT PACIFIC today after sitting on the thing for a very long time. I’ve been conjuring this thing up for a while now and am incredibly excited to get it out there.

To support this endeavor, we’ve launched a fundraising drive on Kickstarter. I’m highly intrigued by this model for creating, promoting and proliferating original work and hope we can both meet our money goal as well as build some good will for the series. It’s unlike anything I’ve ever done and, I do hope, something you’ll find startling and original. I’ll be posting here, and on the Kickstarter page, to update people on the latest regarding the title. I can promise you this: artist Martin Morazzo is a fantastic talent and when you learn more about what this series is about, I think you’ll agree that he’s the perfect illustrator for a very unique comics title.

I’m very proud of GREAT PACIFIC and I hope you’ll check it out…