william harms | writer

Impaler Update

We're in the homestretch on the final, over-sized issue of Impaler. Matt has around four pages left, then it's just a matter of getting the book lettered and sent off to the printer. My best estimate is that the book will hit stores in late February/early March (depending on how long the printer takes), and the trade will be out a month or two after that.

I know the wait for this issue has been extremely long, but we're really giving this everything we've got. Matt's work is amazing, and I actually went back and rewrote the ending. It's going to be quite the finish.

In the meantime, here's a little sample of what Matt's been cooking up.

Wes Anderson's Spider-Man

I'd pay good money to see a real version of this.

Impaler V2 Ships in March

The second volume of Impaler (which collects issues 1 through 5, along with bonus material) is scheduled to ship in March. Series artist Matt Timson has drawn an amazing wrap-around cover for the trade, shown to the left.

Impaler volume two is in the current Previews, so be sure to reserve a copy with your local comic book store.

Gamespot Nominations

Gamespot has revealed its nominations for Game of the Year and other awards, and inFamous was nominated in several categories. All of Gamespot's awards have a Readers' Choice section, so if you dug inFamous (or any of the other listed games) be sure to vote.

InFamous is nominated in the following categories: Best Original IP; Best Action/Adventure Game; Best PS3 Game (Readers' Choice); Game of the Year (Readers' Choice).

Update: inFamous has won Best Original IP.

Impaler 5 & 6 Combined

 After a good deal of discussion, we (meaning me and the guys at Top Cow) have decided to combine Impaler # 5 and # 6 into a single, double-sized issue. There are quite a few reasons to do this, but the main ones are that we want to finish this arc with a bang and that'll help us sales-wise.

It's no secret that Impaler isn't as selling as well as it could, so we're hoping that by combining the last issues (at a $4.99 cover price, which is less than the issues would've cost separately) we can build some momentum for the second trade.

In January, I'm going to be announcing a contest for folks who've never read Impaler. Be sure to watch for it.

I should also mention that after the second trade comes out, the book will be going on hiatus. This doesn't mean that it's cancelled forever, it just means that we need to take a look at how the trades sell and then gauge whether or not it makes sense financially to continue the book.

IGN awards inFamous Best Story for 2009

IGN recently posted its end-of-the-year awards, and inFamous was given the award for Best Story 2009 (PS3). This was extremely exciting news, both personally for me, and for everyone at Sucker Punch who worked so hard on the game's story-related elements. It's a great way to end the year!

GDC Austin

Although it's a conference for professionals, I thought I'd mention that I'll be on a panel (along with Mark Nelson of Big Huge Games, Timothy Cubbison of Blindlight, and Steve Jaros of Volition) at GDC Austin that focuses on the challenges of writing for open-world games. I wish we had more than an hour, but it should be a lot of fun. If you're interested in what's discussed, Gamasutra usually posts summaries a week or so after GDC.

Impaler # 4 On Sale

The fourth issue of Impaler goes on sale Wednesday, August 26th. I'm really, really happy with how this issue turned out, especially the art. Matt gave this one his all.

If you'd like to read a preview of # 4, head on over to CBR.

NY Times Reviews inFamous

This will probably be the last of the "Hey, this game I worked on is getting awesome reviews" posts, but it's a real biggie since it's the NY Times. Maybe their game reviews don't carry much weight with the hard-core gaming crowd, but for writers, it doesn't get much better than this. (Hell, this might be the only time in my life something I worked on gets reviewed by them.)

If you want to read the review, simply follow this link.

Impaler # 4

Here's a sneak peek at a page from Impaler # 4. Matt's done some great work over the course of the book, but this is probably my favorite page thus far. The first two panels perfectly capture what I had in my head when I wrote the script.

This issue should be on sale sometime in July.