I've been busy. Maybe you've noticed. I have, at present, five creator-owned comics projects approved and in production at various publishers. You've heard of two of them. The rest will be unveiled as the summer convention season winds on. I've also been fielding offers and exploring opportunities to do more 'company' comics work, which flatters me after not working for the big publishers like Marvel and DC Comics for so long while off chasing "Crappy Horror Remake X" and "Shitty Splatter Sequel Y" in hopes of finding elusive creative satisfaction that matched the seductive money working as a writer in Hollywood can bring. I'll be revealing what these particular plans are as they solidify. But, for now, an update:

GHOST PROJEKT proceeds. Issue #2 comes out next week (May 5th) after being held back a couple of weeks to let retailers sell through copies of the first book. The response has been tremendously gratifying and artist Steve Rolston and I are confident the book really picks up steam with the next issue. Anyone who thinks they know what's going on with the 'Dosvidanya Projekt' is in for a few massive surprises. (ONI PRESS)

THE HASHISHIAN graphic novel is moving along. We'd all hoped to have this done and out sooner, but you can't rush greatness. Or, at least, you want to let your plants mature into big, sticky buds so they can be dried and cleaned and entered into the Cannabis Cup contention and-- well, anyway. The book is gorgeous and should re-establish former Bat-books mainstay artist Trevor McCarthy as a comics talent to be reckoned with. I've long maintained that the stoner crowd is woefully under-served in the comics industry. THE HASHISHIAN is going to change that. (ONI PRESS)

ETHAN VAN SCIVER and I have created a batshit crazy horror title for WildStorm that makes me feel dirty with each page I write. The best words I can use to describe it are 'irreverent' and 'audacious'... I think it's going to be really fucking great too. Keep an eye on WildStorm as the Summer Cons pick up. Cannot wait to talk more about B*********D!

My old creative partner and eternal friend, ADAM POLLINA and I have a young adult fantasy graphic novel in the works from Oni Press. It's something we've been sitting on for over a decade and it took us both being out of the comics mainstream for a bit, not to mention a great relationship with the Oni gang, to finally make this book a reality. Like me, Adam had left mainstream comics to pursue other things. He returned last year to do Marvel's ANGEL series and show everyone how much he's grown and where the crazy hell he's taken his talent. Well, you haven't seen anything yet. Oh man...

I'm also working on a new title with artist BRETT WELDELE. It's a supernatural thriller, my Oni Press followup in the genre to GHOST PROJEKT, that takes place in small town America and concerns a peculiar and fabled affliction with a Hitchcockian name. Sorry to be vague. All will be revealed in short order...

Finally, I'm looking to direct a new short horror film... my first since WITCHWISE was completed back in 2006. I've learned a lot about myself as a storyteller and a movie maker and am looking forward to getting back behind a camera. The film takes everything I love about classic 'car horror' like RIchard Matheson's DUEL, Stephen King's MAXIMUM OVERDRIVE and John Carpenter's adaptation of CHRISTINE and turns it on its head.

That's my story, for Spring/Summer 2010. If we cross paths at one convention or another, be gentle with me. I'm not seeing much daylight these days... but I will drink your liquor (or share your other stuff), if offered!

Joe Harris
New York City

We announced my first two creator-owned comics titles at the San Diego Comic-con's Oni Press panel this past weekend. Newsarama has the details, but I wanted to elaborate a bit.

I've had a journey, from Marvel mainstay on both Spidey and X-books (if you remember these, wonderful, but I can't bring myself to flashback in this post), to horror movie Hollywood and back again. Oni seems to get what I'm about and what I'm trying to do. I've been blessed to have two incredibly talented co-conspirators and am ecstatic to bring my first original comics to the fore.

First up for me is GHOST PROJEKT (illustrated by Steve Rolston).

The story takes place in the former Soviet Union and revolves around the idea that during the Cold War, the Soviets experimented with all sorts of weapons of mass destruction, including the supernatural.

An American weapons inspector discovers a project that involved the Soviets trying to weaponize ghosts that "went horribly wrong," Harris said. It's due in late 2009 or early 2010.

The series will mark Steve's first color work for Oni and is going to be a tense, action-packed thriller with some very creepy moments of horror. I'm writing it now and can't wait to get this out.

The second title we announced is THE HASHISHIAN, an original graphic novel with former DC and Bat-books artist, Trevor McCarthy.

Harris said the name comes from a sect of assassins during the Crusades who were sent out to perform assassinations "drugged out of their minds," Harris said.

"But that's not exactly what our story is about," he added. It's about two Brooklyn stoners who find a magical stash of marijuana, and when they smoke it, "they have flashbacks to the 12th century where these characters were alive and well and doing their duty," he said. The owner of the pot, one of these 12th century assassins, shows up and hunts them down to reclaim his pot - later they learn he's there to assassinate the president.

I love stoner buddy movies in the Cheech and Chong tradition. I look forward to Pineapple Express like few others. But I've never seen anyone do with the genre what we're trying to pull off here. I've been describing this as a sort of "Harold & Kumar meets The Bourne Identity" with a serious action/adventure bent and some subversive politics thrown in for good measure to go along with the drug comedy.

I've had the idea for THE HASHISHIAN percolating in the back of my head for a very long time and I can't tell you how excited I am to finally be telling this story.