My second eBook from Buffalo Avenue Books has just gone online at Smashwords.com and is available for download! It's called In My Shorts: Hitler's Bellhop and Other Short Stories, and looks something like this...

eBook Price: $8.99 USD. 40,570 words. Fiction by Paul Kupperberg, published by Buffalo Avenue Books at Smashwords.com on December 14, 2010. 

Included are three previously published short stories, "Reflected Glory," (from the anthology Superheroes), "Food For the Beast" (from Fear Itself), and "Man Bites Dog" (from Vampires: Dracula and the Undead Legions), as well as three never-before-published pieces:

Hitler's Bellhop, a story told by a film magazine essay and the lost fragments of a Jerry Lewis screenplay that never was but, really, could have been;

A Stone for the Grave of Mr. Aronson, a mood piece about a man's last hour of life, set in a lonely graveyard;

The Zombie King, a piece of flash fiction that takes a Roger Cormanish look at the New Testament.

The cover is courtesy of Kansas City's own Rick Stasi, my pal and graphic artist extraordinaire.

Have I Mentioned...?

I've launched my own eBook imprint, Buffalo Avenue Books, and my first offering, Two Tales of Atlantis is now available. It contains two connected short stories, "Walk Upon the Waters" and "Passed Lives," 15,000 words of sword & sorcery goodness (from the creator of Arion, Lord of Atlantis, I should point out!) for a mere $3.99 (minus 20% if you used promo code  XC37T when you order!)...about what you'd pay for a comic book that it takes you all of five minutes to read!

eBook Price: $3.99 USD. 15170 words. Fiction by Paul Kupperberg and published by Buffalo Avenue Books on November 30, 2010.

Paul Kupperberg (writer/creator of the DC Comics series Arion, Lord of Atlantis) creates a new Atlantean realm in these two stories of an immortal sorcerer and his oft-reincarnated warrior lover. In “Walk Upon the Waters,” the sorcerer Thalis sails on the enchanted ship Yar with only his memories of those he has lost for companionship as he heads into the final battle for the destiny of Atlantis. Then, in “Passed Lives,” an aging peasant awakens in the middle of her ordinary life to realize she is Khana, the latest reincarnation of Thalis’ warrior lover and must leave her family and home to go off to war and find her lost love...and learn which of the two hearts beating within her she must follow.

My second book, In My Shorts: Hitler's Bellhop and Other Stories, will be on sale December 14!

I'd appreciate your checking it out. And I'd really appreciate your buying a book!

The LAST Adventures of Superboy (#55 Script, Unpublished)

If you were reading comic books in 1984 and one of the titles you happened to pick up was The New Adventures of Superboy #54, you would have read this in the text page by my old pal Bob Rozakis: "This is the LAST issue of NEW ADVENTURES OF SUPERBOY! Our creative team will be taking a couple of months off to catch their breath...and then we'll all be back in July when Superboy and Supergirl will be sharing a 48-page monthly comic tentatively titled DC DOUBLE COMICS!"

Well, that never did happen. Instead of DC Double Comics, DC came up with the Crisis On Infinite Earths instead and both Superboy and Supergirl (which I was also writing) were retconned out of existence and out of my monthly writing assignments. Before Crisis came about however, I had written several scripts for both characters, including the full-script for The New Adventures of Superboy #55, which was supposed to be the final issue of the title and wrapped up the then ongoing storylines, including Jonathan Kent's murder trial and Clark's romance with Lisa Wallace.

But a lot of that got pushed to the side when we switched directions for DC Double Comics, for which I wrote two Superboy scripts (the first of which was penciled by Carmine Infantino, replacing the great Kurt Schaffenberger), and one and two-thirds scripts for Supergirl (penciled by Eduardo Barreto, replacing Carmine). We really did switch gears with these characters and I've always regretted the book was never seen.

And fans have long badgered me to find out what happened in The New Adventures of Superboy #55...and, the thing is, I'd forgotten! I didn't even have a copy of the script and, in fact, no memory of having ever written the issue. I had it in my head that we just stopped with #54 and then I started writing the new direction stories for Double Comics. But, a couple years back, Paul Levitz, combing his files, found a stash of old scripts from Julie Schwartz's files, most of them "written off" by DC in the 1980s (this is a tax thing, charging the costs of unused material against taxes as a business loss), including the original scripts for #55, as well as Double Comics #1 and #2, all with Julie's hand edits (this was written in the typewriter days, on an IBM Selectric, IIRC). As soon as I started reading the #55 script, it all came back to me, but, until then, as I said, I had no recollection of having written it!

So, if it's been gnawing at you for the last quarter century...if you gotta know...Whodunnit?...Does Clark have a future with Lisa?...will Pa Kent go to the chair?...here's your chance...the UNPUBLISHED script for The New Adventures of Superboy #55!

THE NEW ADVENTURES OF SUPERBOY #55 Script..........$20.00

Scooby Doo, Johnny Bravo, The Flintstones, and The Jetsons Scripts

I've written my fair share of comic book stories based on cartoon characters over the years, including many from the old Hanna-Barbara studios and Cartoon Network properties (many published by DC Comics, a sister company in the great big Time-Warner Family).

SCOOBY DOO: "Sunday in the Park With Scooby" Script (Scooby Doo #143)........................................................................$10.00

SCOOBY DOO: "Read All About It!" Script (Scooby Doo #156)........................................................................$10.00

JOHNNY BRAVO: "Johnny Delivers" Script (Cartoons Cartoons #22)..........................................................................$10.00

THE JETSONS: "Student Exchange" Script (The Flintstones/The Jetsons #19)...............................................................$10.00

THE FLINTSTONES: "Sherock Stones, Master Detective of Bedrock!" Script (The Flintstones/The Jetsons #20)..........................$10.00

Superman Online Animation Script

In 2001, I made my first, and so far, only, foray into animation for an online Superman series produced by Brilliant Digital Entertainment. The stories and scripts were being sourced by the good folk in DC's own digital department, so I was able to get in on the fun.

The Multipath Adventures of Superman (which was also released on DVD-ROM and is available for viewing online, I believe, but only on PCs) worked like this: each 6-minute  episode (usually 6 per storyline, of which there were 11 or 12) allows the viewer to make a choice on which way the action will go at several critical junctures of the story. Choose correctly, the story continues. Incorrectly, you could actually kill Superman or Lois! Of course, you then went back and made a different choice to allow the story to continue, but it was a fun interactive experience and the animation was, for the time, not shabby.

I wrote the 11th series, "When Titans Am Clashing!" The story involves Darkseid and DeSaad of the New Gods messing with Bizarro in their eternal quest to spread evil and destroy Superman. The script features all 7 episodes (they let me do a bittersweet little Bizarro epilogue episode to cap the main story), including all the different "choose your own" alternatives, 72 pages of manuscript in all.

SUPERMAN ONLINE ANIMATION Script...........................$40.00

ARION, LORD OF ATLANTIS Series Proposal

Arion, Lord of Atlantis began as a back-up feature in the pages of WARLORD #55 (March 1982), and lasted there until #62, after which he gained his own title, beginning in November, 1982. Somewhere between March and probably summer of '82, I wrote a proposal to turn this back-up into a book-lengther. I no longer own the original, but I did scan it before it left my hands.

The proposal itself is relatively short, a little over a page, but the real treat are Jan Duursema's original character drawing of the main characters, 7 pages of 'em. It also includes the original back-up series story synopses (5 pages), then going under the working title "Atlantis," with a lead character the sorcerer 'Tynan'! Plus, the cover page, so if you like your sword & sorcery, this might be the proposal for you.


ARION, LORD OF ATLANTIS Series Proposal........................$20.00

CHECKMATE #1, Signed by Kupperberg & Erwin

Just found a stash of 6 copies of CHECKMATE #1, signed at the top of page 1 by artist Steve Erwin and myself.

These were the leftovers of several thousand copies we signed to fulfill a subscription offer for the title when it first came out in April 1988. I still get phantom hand cramps thinking of the two days I spent in an office at DC Comics, signing books...signing books...oh, dear lord, >sob!<, the signing never stopped!

Mailed boarded and bagged.

LIMITED COPIES AVAILABLE

CHECKMATE #1, Signed by Kupperberg & Erwin..........$20.00

POWER GIRL Series Proposal, 1987

A glance behind-the-scenes of what it takes to sell a comic book series...in 1987! I had a long association with Supergirl in the days before Crisis on Infinite Earths. In the post-Crisis world Supergirl had been retconned out of continuity, leaving behind two unpublished scripts for a 'new direction' series, the first issue of which was penciled by Eduardo Barreto and lettered. Ditto, by the way, for a never-published last issue of The New Adventures of Superboy, and two scripts for his 'new direction,' the first of which was penciled by Carmine Infantino--both features were to appear in a 48-page monthly, DC Double Comics.

Alas, Crisis killed that dream...

So when it came time to give Power Girl her post-Crisis retcon, she was handed to me, partly because I was the girl-Superman-character writer (yknow, 'cause of Supergirl...honest!!), and partly because Power Girl creator Gerry Conway had conceived of using my magical character, Arion and Atlantis, to replace her Kryptonian origin. PG and I were together, sporadically, into the 1990s, when I was writing her feature in Justice League Quarterly. I also wrote a 1987/1988 Power Girl miniseries, the proposal for which still exists, and copies of which are now available. It's 5-densely packed pages of type, a cover sheet, plus the 3-page outline for the miniseries that ultimately came of the proposal, which includes a few of my hand-written notes, probably scribbled during discussions with editor Bob Greenberger.

POWER GIRL Series Proposal, 1987.............$10.00

PHANTOM STRANGER Miniseries Scripts

Way back in 1987 I wrote a Phantom Stranger miniseries, a moody little drama pitting a humanized Stranger against Eclipso for the soul of humanity. It was magnificently illustrated by Mike Mignola and P. Craig Russell and remains one of my all-time favorite jobs. My scripts, though a tad overwritten for my tastes today, don't entirely suck either.

Copies of the scripts for the first three issues survive, the first two featuring editor Mike Carlin's hand-edits.

The cover to #3 is one of my all-time favorites, featuring President Ronald Regan machine-gunning down the Stranger!

THE PHANTOM STRANGER #1 Script.............$20.00
THE PHANTOM STRANGER #2 Script.............$20.00
THE PHANTOM STRANGER #3 Script.............$20.00

CHECKMATE! The Original Proposal + CHECKMATE! #1 Plot

An interesting look (at least I hope so) behind the pitching process in the comic book biz. This is the proposal for CHECKMATE!, the costumed spy series I created in 1988, spinning out of my 30+ issue run on VIGILANTE. CHECKMATE! ran 32 issues, plus crossovers with other books like SUICIDE SQUAD, as well as a recent 30-issue run under writer Greg Rucka.

John Byrne's original design for the Knights is included, as are Steve Erwin's character drawings for the new supporting characters and Checkmate! HQ designs. It's 9 pages of my proposal (outlining the agency, the characters, the command structure, series tone, possible storylines, etc., followed by 18 pages of art and designs (1 page by Byrne, the rest by Erwin).

But wait...there's more! Not Ginsu Knives (I wish!), but the plot  for CHECKMATE! #1! Act now!


















CHECKMATE PROPOSAL & CHECKMATE#1 Plot...........$20.00

ADVENTURES OF BATMAN Hardcover Anthology

Adventures of the Batman was a hardcover compilation of stories published first published in several paperback Adventures/Further Adventures of Batman anthologies published in the 1990s by Bantam, edited by Martin Greenberg. I had a story, 'Creatures of Habit' in the Catwoman themed collection that was reused here.

LIMITED COPIES AVAILABLE
Adventures of the Batman Hardcover......$20.00

OCEANS OF MAGIC, Paperback Anthology

This anthology, co-edited by Brian Thomsen and Martin Greenberg features my story 'Walk Upon the Waters,' or what I like to call "The Last Arion Story." It's the story of an ancient Atlantean sorcerer embarking on his last journey to face his ultimate fate against old foes and the coming world.

Oh, Arion Lord of Atlantis was a sword and sorcery comic book series I created and wrote in the 1980s.

LIMITED COPIES AVAILABLE
Oceans of Magic paperback............$10.00

Power Girl: The Justice League Quarterly 10-pagers Comic Book Scripts

My association with Power Girl goes back a ways, beginning with the post-Crisis On Infinite Earths revamp of her origin to tie her in with Arion, Lord of Atlantis (not my idea, by the way; PG-creator Gerry Conway came up with the retcon patch, which was handed to me).

I wrote a batch of 10-page Power Girl stories for Justice League Quarterly, including:

"Who's Been Sleeping In My Bed?" (JLQ #6)...............$10.00
"You Bet Your Life!" (JLQ #9)....................................$10.00
"Grandpas and Other Strangers" (JLQ #13)................$10.00

Hawkworld Fill-In: "A Matter of Conscience" Comic Book Script

In the 1990s, I wrote fill-ins for various and sundry titles, some of the prophylactic-variety, stories to have in the drawer and ready in case of an emergency with the regular creative team. Most were so obviously (and out of necessity) out of continuity, that these stories based on this very Silver Age-convention of commissioning fill-ins were usually generally shelved.

Here's one for Hawkworld, intended to be drawn by my buddy Rick Stasi. "A Matter of Conscience" plays off the real-world event of Nazis marching in the Chicago suburb of Skokie and alien Katar Hol's reaction to this seeming contradiction of America's First Amendment applying even to bigots and their messages of hate.

HAWKWORLD: "A Matter of Conscience".......................$20.00

Green Lantern: Emerald Interlude, Parts 1-3 Comic Book Scripts

LEGENDS OF THE DC UNIVERSE was an anthology title that ran from 1999 - 2001. Sometime in there I pitched an idea for a Green Lantern story to the editor, "Emerald Interlude." This was a 3-part arc that was written, drawn (by Peter Doherty, inked by Josef Rubinstein) and lettered but the title was canceled before the story could be used.

It always bugged me that Hal Jordan turned bad so quickly in 1994's Emerald Twilight. I grew up on Hal and always thought him made of sterner stuff. This story was my little attempt to explain Hal Jordan's behavior, an "interlude" taking place in the blink of an eye between seconds, thanks to Hunter and time travel.

As I say, the story went unpublished and, therefore, remains totally unofficial as far as canon goes. These are the scripts for all three 22-page issues.

Green Lantern: Emerald Interlude, Parts 1 - 3.........................$30.00