Nonplayer: From Concept to Comic

April 6, 2011 10:33 PM

Illustrator Nate Simpson was a longtime veteran of the video game and concept art industries. Back in 2009, he opted to take a year off from work to work on Gordon and the Stareater, his first attempt at sequential art.This week, Simpson's first major-publisher creator-owned comics project, Nonplayer, hit the stands courtesy of the folks at Image. How'd the experiment work out?

Well, Nonplayer's fantasy MMO premise and stylish execution has already received roaring critical praise from creators like Jean "Moebius" Giraud, who stole the preview copy from a friend of Simpson's at the Angouleme comics festival earlier this year. More interesting to read than just the previews and interviews, though, is the process Simpson went through to reinvent himself as a comics creator-- documented in full at his blog, Project Waldo.

posted by fairytale of los angeles (17 comments total)

I promise, although I know a lot of comics folks, I do not know Nate Simpson. I haven't even managed to get my hands on a copy of the book yet; everywhere I've gone is sold out. I figured that alone made it FPP-worthy.
posted by fairytale of los angeles at 10:34 PM on April 6, 2011

OMG that looks so damn good. No wonder JG was ape. I have errands tomorrw and it looks like one involves a comical book store for the first time in years.
posted by mwhybark at 10:46 PM on April 6, 2011

Ha! In Greenwood no less!
posted by mwhybark at 10:50 PM on April 6, 2011

Good luck getting a copy of this book. Hype has been through the roof, and retailers all over the country have been shorted their orders, which is a goddamned shame, because it is absolutely gorgeous and it puts all of the video game-influenced comic guys (O' Malley, Stokoe, Graham, Lewis) in their place.
posted by one.louder.ash! at 10:51 PM on April 6, 2011

Can you buy this stuff online? Does one have to.... go... into a comic book store?
posted by xmutex at 11:00 PM on April 6, 2011 [1 favorite]

Really nice work. Thanks. Hopefully they'll reprint it.
posted by doctor_negative at 11:02 PM on April 6, 2011

Heh. I was gonna say, "Looks like Moebius"!
posted by klangklangston at 11:03 PM on April 6, 2011 [2 favorites]

I am not a comics person at all. Except for Moebius, who I love. And this looks so beautiful! So I'll echo xmutex, where online can I place an order for the second printing? Yes there are comic stores near me. No I do not wish to enter them.
posted by Joh at 11:17 PM on April 6, 2011

I will ask the friendly people at my local comic book store to add this to my pull list.

And then I will go there and purchase it, along with other comic books that I enjoy reading and collecting, and I will chat with the owner and the employees as I do a couple of times a month, and I will have a perfectly nice and relaxing time, because I am not afraid of being judged by the Cool Kids for entering a comic book store. And I already have Nerd Cooties, so I won't worry about that, either.
posted by BitterOldPunk at 12:02 AM on April 7, 2011 [8 favorites]

I'm not usually into American comics, for a whole host of reasons, but this has been on my radar for a while. I love the art style, so I'll definitely check it out.
posted by anaximander at 1:00 AM on April 7, 2011

This certainly looks beautiful.
posted by tumid dahlia at 1:59 AM on April 7, 2011

Can you buy this stuff online? Does one have to.... go... into a comic book store?

I actually asked Nate that via Twitter. He said there's a possibility of a digital purchase via Comixology soon.
posted by Neale at 8:05 AM on April 7, 2011

Seattle, Brett at Arcane Comics in Ballard has about ten on his new rack this morning. He suggests swinging by pronto, and he will not hold multiples. He also told me that Nate's studio is close by, like around the corner or something.

The book is as pretty as it looked like it would be.
posted by mwhybark at 12:17 PM on April 7, 2011

Golden Apple in Hollywood, CA and Hi De Ho in Santa Monica: both sold out, at 10am yesterday. They were not permitting multiple holds either.

Meltdown may or may not have some. Comic Bug in Manhattan Beach might, too.
posted by fairytale of los angeles at 1:09 PM on April 7, 2011

BitterOldPunk, I'm sorry that came off as more judgemental than I meant. I regret phrasing it that way. I too have nerd cooties, and I don't fear being judged. I just don't like going to new and unfamiliar small stores where I need to ask a stranger behind the counter about something I am unfamiliar with. Frankly I fear clothing stores more than I fear comic stores. I hate game stores (and I am a gamer, who works in the game industry) because I can't just walk in anonymously, buy my item and disappear. I just prefer the simplicity of buying things online, and I would buy my weekly groceries on amazon if I could!
posted by Joh at 2:19 PM on April 8, 2011

Does anyone know of a digital distribution format for this series? I read the preview and would be happy to pay real money to read the rest of this issue and the following series in just the same format. Bonus points for being able to do so on my Ipad.

--JB
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 10:19 AM on April 9, 2011 [1 favorite]

Really have to get out of the habit of throwing initials at the end of posts. My secret identity will be revealed to all of Gotham's underworld.
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 10:21 AM on April 9, 2011