Steven A. Roman's Blog

It was quite the shock, when a friend reached out yesterday morning and asked if I’d heard that Louis Small, Jr. had passed away on Monday. I hadn’t, of course. Louis—an amazing artist who excelled at what’s known as pinup-style “good girl art”—had exited comic publishing a decade or so ago, and it had been impossible to track him down (though I tried a few times). But to learn that he was suddenly gone…yeah, I never expected that.

I’ve told the story before, on this blog, of how I first met Louis, but I’m happy to retell it: In 1992, I was a longtime Vampirella who’d been excited by the launch of Harris Comics’ revival of the character, following the closure of Vampi’s original home, Warren Publishing, a decade earlier. Louis was the penciler of the new comic, teamed with writer Kurt Busiek and inker Jim Balent. Louis had quite the eye for drawing beautiful women (a self-taught artist, by the way), and Vampirella #1 was his first comics work. With sales exploding on that debut issue, Louis and Vampirella helped usher in (for good or for bad) what became known as comics’ Bad Girl Era.

Problem was, for some reason or other Harris Comics didn’t do a whole lot to promote Louis’s contributions, which left him feeling extremely put out. The situation worsened at the 1993 Great Eastern Convention, here in NYC, where Louis appeared at the Harris booth to promote Vampirella, only to discover they were instead promoting the work of the artist intended to follow him on the series.

That’s the point where we met. As I wandered the aisles, taking a break from selling my small-press comics, a fellow smaller presser named Christopher Paris called me over to his table, where he’d been speaking to a genial-looking fellow: “This is the Vampirella fan I was telling you about!” he said to the guy while he pointed at me. “He loves your stuff!”

When Chris’s guest introduced himself as Louis Small, Jr., my eyes almost popped out of my head, and I thanked him (a bit too) enthusiastically for his work on Vampirella’s revival. It totally charmed him, and he asked what I did in comics. I explained I was a small presser with a character named Lorelei—a Vampi-inspired succubus—who was planning on expanding to full-size comics. Louis asked if he could see my stuff, so I led him to my table and showed him my Lori comics.

“You know what?” Louis asked, and proceeded to tell me about his problems with Harris. “But you, you’re showing me so much respect for my work… Would you be interested in me doing a cover for you? I’ll do it for free.”

Wow. Well, how could I say no?

Louis did two covers, in fact, when the full-size Lori comics debuted: Lorelei #0 and Lorelei #1. (You can see his #0 cover on our digital comic Lorelei #1: The 30th Anniversary Edition; I have plans to reprint the cover for #1 on a separate project.) A few years later, he provided cover art for what would become Lorelei Presents: House Macabre. We also collaborated on the original concepts for Hearstopper: The Legend of La Bella Tenebrosa, before he had to bow out of the project early on. And I’ve still got layout sketches from a Lorelei comic story he and I had talked about doing, but never got around to.

Louis became quite the popular artist following his Vampirella debut (of course!). He was artist and cocreator (with writer Robert Rodi) of the sexy spy series Codename: Knockout, for DC Comics, then went on to work on various DC projects that included Adventure Comics 80-Page Giant (a Supergirl story inked by Jackson “Butch” Guice, who also passed away this year) and Batman 80-Page Giant #3. For Marvel, he drew Ka-Zar; for Continuity Comics, Ms. Mystic; for Image, Witchblade; for Valiant, Ninjak, Solar: Man of the Atom, and The Chaos Effect.

He even patched things up with Harris, returning to pencil a number of projects (Vampirella Strikes, Vampirella Strikes Annual, Vampirella/Shi, Vampirella/Lady Death) as well as tag-team with fellow artist Amanda Conner on story arcs for a relaunched Vampirella monthly series written by megastars Grant Morrison and Mark Millar.

I was last in touch with Louis around 2012. He’d contributed a pinup (“The Pan-tom of the Opera”) for “The 13 Days of Pan-demonium” art project that promoted the launch of my Pandora Zwieback character, and I’d sent him a copy of the graphic novel Lorelei: Sects and the City, which he enjoyed.

After that, Louis just sort of faded away from the comics industry. I know he taught art for a number of years, and I understand he became a regular at conventions and comic shop appearances, keeping in touch with his fanbase while inspiring the next generation of comic artists to pursue their dreams, as he had done. I’m glad he was able to know how much he was appreciated.

Louis, you were a hell of a great guy, and a hell of an artist. I wish we’d been able to work together more, but I’m glad for the time we had, and appreciate the encouragement you showed to a struggling small presser.

Rest in peace, buddy.

Here’s a blast from the past about an old writing project I never thought I’d be discussing these days—but there’s a good reason for it…

This past September, I was contacted by Chad Anderson, the host of Graymalkin Lane, a podcast series dedicated to exploring the past and present of the X-Men, Marvel Comics’ hugely popular group of superhero mutants. The reason he reached out? To discuss X-Men: The Chaos Engine, a trilogy of original novels that I wrote between 2000 and 2002 for BP Books, a branch of the publishing company I was editor-in-chief for at the time, ibooks, inc.

Spoliers ahead: In case you’ve never heard of the project (and why should you, the books have been out of print for over 20 years), the trilogy involved the X-Men returning to Earth from an outer space mission, to find it’s now ruled by Doctor Doom, the Fantastic Four’s archnemesis—and he’s married to Storm of the X-Men! Worse yet, he’s made all this happen by taking possession of a Cosmic Cube: a device that alters reality to match its owner’s wishes. (Fans of the Marvel Studios movies know it better as the Tesseract—the glowing blue box that was one of the Infinity Stones, as seen in Captain America: The First Avenger, Avengers: Infinity War, and Avengers: Endgame.)

Matters quickly spiral out of control, leaving Betsy Braddock, the ninja warrior known as Psylocke, the sole X-Man who’s tasked with saving the world—not just from Doom, but from Magneto, mutant master of magnetism, and Captain America’s Nazi enemy, the Red Skull! What kind of realities do each of the villains construct? What effect do their authoritarian visions have on other dimensions? How is Psylocke supposed to put the pieces of a fractured multiverse back together? You’d have to read the books to find out!

What Chad wanted to discuss is “Fascism in Science Fiction,” a topic he’s covering all this month, and given my X-books involve a trio of dictators who bend the world, and the subjects they rule over, to meet their diabolical needs (especially the Red Skull)…well, considering the current shape of the country these days, with its constant attacks on science, intellectualism, books, sexual orientation, and race, the topic is certainly a timely one…unfortunately.

But we also touch on lighter subjects: my history with the Marvel Novels program of the 1990s and early 2000s; some behind-the-scenes tales of the creative process behind the Chaos Engine project; and my background as a comic creator and author. So, come for the discussion on the X-Men and fascist superheroes, stay for the dirt on my adventures dealing with the Marvel Licensing division.

Plus: the Graymalkin Lane Players perform an audio-drama adaptation of X-Men #99!

Check out and/or download the Graymalkin Lane episode by clicking this link to Redcircle. I had fun being on the show; hopefully you’ll have just as much fun listening to it!

Established in 1919, Children’s Book Week is an annual celebration of reading that actually runs for two weeks—one in the spring, and one in the fall. This week, of course, is the Fall Edition, with the theme of “An Ocean of Stories,” “celebrating the vast, collective ocean populated by the stories we read, share, and tell.”

To find out more about the event, which runs November 3–9, and to download free stuff like bookmarks and activity pages, visit Children’s Book Week’s home at Every Child a Reader.

And speaking of books that inspire, if you’re looking for an awesome digital book for the children in your life (or even your own inner child!), then may we recommend Snow White, the classic fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm.

An evil, vain queen sets her jealous sights on her beautiful stepdaughter, and only an unusual group of gentleman can help Snow overcome the queen’s nefarious plans. Even more exciting, the StarWarp Concepts edition is enhanced with beautiful full-color illustrations that were first published in 1893!

“Snow White delivers a timely message about survival even when the odds are not in your favor.”—The New Yorker

“One of the best-loved of the stories collected by the Brothers Grimm.”—Long Long Time Ago

Snow White is an e-book exclusive, so visit its product page at DriveThru Fiction for ordering information and sample pages.

Halloween’s over for this year, in the U.S. tomorrow is the time to turn the clocks back an hour as Daylight Saving Time ends, and the chill of fall is fully upon us, And with that comes the annual November event called National Novel Writing Month—or at least it used to be NaNoWriMo (now there’s a mouthful) until its organization imploded back in April due to mismanagement and an unwise consideration toward allowing authors to use AI to help write their novels. It didn’t take long after that for the whole organization to fall apart. Ah, well.

To explain what it was, I’ll let this quote from the organization’s website provide you with some background:

National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) is a fun, seat-of-your-pants approach to creative writing.  On November 1, participants begin working towards the goal of writing a 50,000-word novel by 11:59 PM on November 30. Valuing enthusiasm, determination, and a deadline, NaNoWriMo is for anyone who has ever thought about writing a novel.

Well, even if NaNo-etc. no longer exists, any time is a good time to work on your writing, so if you’ve got plans to launch a project this month in the spirit of NaNo, it just so happens that StarWarp Concepts has a book that’s perfect for writers!

Terra Incognito: A Guide to Building the Worlds of Your Imagination is our popular how-to book for writers and gamers in which bestselling fantasy author Richard C. White (For a Few Gold Pieces More, Gauntlet: Dark Legacy: Paths of Evil, The Chronicles of the Sea Dragon Special, Troubleshooters, Incorporated: Night Stalkings) takes you through the step-by-step process of constructing a world for your characters, from societies and governments to currency and religion. Included is an interview with New York Times bestselling author Tracy Hickman (Dragonlance) that discusses his methods of world building, as well as his creative experiences during his time as a designer for gaming company TSR, the original home of Dungeons & Dragons.

What you’ll find in its pages is information that’s vital for just about any writer, especially when it comes to world building, and Rich shows you how to do it:

Avoiding the pitfalls of naming characters, regions, and countriesApplying the technique of “outside in” to develop and then refine ideas for your worldCreating a world your readers can relate to, regardless of its technological levelsIdentify how to create backstories and conflict by observing how your world comes togetherAdding details to make your story richer without overwhelming your readersIdentifying useful resources for research

From its first publication, the book has been a hit with not just fantasy writers, but role-playing gamers as well. When it debuted in October 2015 at the e-book distributor DriveThru Fiction and its sister sites DriveThru RPG and RPGNow, it immediately shot to the #1 position on all three as their top-selling title, and then remained for weeks as DriveThru Fiction’s #1 Hottest Nonfiction Book and #1 Hottest How-To for Writers! If you’re a writer or gamer, you might just want to check it out. In fact, it’s currently being used as a textbook in the Interactive Media & Game Development program at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Worchester, Massachusetts!

“I think Terra Incognito is a solid introduction to the subject of world building. The book succeeds in helping the aspiring writer in creating a skeletal framework for which to hang the moving parts required of a believable fictional setting.”—The Gaming Gang

Terra Incognito: A Guide to Building the Worlds of Your Imagination is available in trade paperback, hardcover, and e-book formats, so visit its product page for ordering information.

Have you been to the Pandora Zwieback website recently? If not, you’re missing out on the spooktacular graffiti art that can be found on…Horror Street!

Horror Street is an occasional feature on the blog: my ongoing journey in search of awesome yet spooky graffiti art on the streets and little-traveled corners of New York City. Its origin lies in the Covid pandemic lockdown of 2020–2021, when wandering the deserted back streets and industrialized areas of Queens and Brooklyn to take photos of graffiti murals was a safer bet, health-wise, than meandering the far busier streets of Manhattan. And imagine my surprise when I realized just how much of the art I found was horror-related!

Over time, I’ve accumulated quite a few pics of some really incredible street art (and continue to do so), which I post from time to time at the Pan blog, where I give the pieces such titles as the Brooklyn Vampire, the demonic D-Rod, Where the Gene Wilder Things Are, the beast called Queens’thluhu, the scarifying Ghoulmobile, the regal Griffin, the Spooky Forest, and the Demon Door.

In recent weeks, I took a “ride” on the Spirit Halloween terror train, in their faux “Madison Scare Park” subway car (pictured here), which resides—for the moment—at Spirit’s flagship store in Manhattan. And then there’s that possible sighting of an autumn “home” for It’s Pennywise the Clown on Park Avenue…

So, head on over to the Pan site and check out the Horror Street entries to see what ghoulish artistic wonders New York City has to offer!

(Photo © Steven A. Roman)

This Friday—Halloween—fans of horror, science fiction, and fantasy will be gathering at VillainSCon, a two-day “convention for fans of villains and other baddies in media,” being held at The Power House in Rock Hill, South Carolina.

Among the attendees will be author Richard C. White, who will be promoting his latest SWC release, the sci-fi steampunk novel On Wings of Steel: The Darkside Chronicles, Book 1.

Rich is the bestselling author of the licensed novel Gauntlet: Dark Legacy: Paths of Evil, as well as a bunch of titles published by us: the swashbuckling adventure novel Harbinger of Darkness; the fantasy-adventure story collection For a Few Gold Pieces More; the writers’ and RPG gamemasters’ aid Terra Incognito: A Guide to Building the Worlds of Your Imagination; the supernatural-superhero graphic novel Troubleshooters, Incorporated: Night Stalkings; the noir-fantasy story collection Chasing Danger: The Case Files of Theron Chase; and the pirate-adventure digital comic The Chronicles of the Sea Dragon Special.

You’ll find Rich hawking his wares in the Dealers’ Room, so be sure to stop by his table and pick up any titles you might have missed, and to learn about his projects for 2026.

VillainSCon runs May October 31–November 1. For more information on the show, visit the VillainSCon website.

It’s time to celebrate the Spooky Season—with e-books and digital comics! E-book distributors DriveThru Comics and DriveThru Fiction—along with sister site DriveThru RPG—have kicked off their annual Halloween sale, during which you can purchase thousands of horror-themed digital books and comics and roleplaying games at special prices! It runs until October 31—and yes, you’ll need to set up an account (it’s free) to take advantage of this promotion.

Included among the many participating publishers is StarWarp Concepts (of course), which means you can get select titles at lower prices, including the Illustrated Classic Carmilla, the nonfiction comics history From the Stars…a Vampiress: An Unauthorized Guide to Vampirella’s Classic Horror Adventures, the dark-fantasy-noir story collection Chasing Danger: The Case Files of Theron Chase, the graphic novel Lorelei: Sects and the City, and the full-color comic special The Saga of Pandora Zwieback Annual #1.

Again, the sale runs through Halloween, so head over to the StarWarp Concepts publisher pages at DriveThru Comics and DriveThru Fiction and start shopping!

If you live in a big city, you know how dangerous trick-or-treating can sometimes be, with dodging speeding cars and trucks while you’re trying to make the rounds of your favorite candy-giving haunts—even in the daytime!

In 2022, New York City took steps to try and make trick-or-treating a much safer event, by instituting “Trick or Streets,” an expansion of its “Open Streets” initiative that closes certain streets to vehicular traffic so that NYC residents can walk and bike on them without fear of injury. (It’s a popular program that started in May 2021 as a result of the pandemic lockdown, so that people could finally get out of their homes and apartments to enjoy fresh air.)

Continuing the tradition, tomorrow kicks off Year 4’s Trick or Streets 2025: a two-week festival during which a number of streets will be closed off in Queens, Manhattan, the Bronx, and Brooklyn, allowing you and yours to hit the pavement and celebrate the Spooky Season with “live music, fun activities, interactive performances, and more.” (Keep an eye on local weather forecasts, though, so you can dress accordingly.)

For more information on the city’s Halloween plans and a list of family-friendly events being held, head over to the Trick or Streets website.

Have a fun, and safe, October!

It’s true, comic book fans: you really can’t keep a good miniseries down. And there’s no better proof of that than today’s release of The Formidables #1—the superhero series that I was involved with as editor in 2021, which is back on comic shop shelves, courtesy of indie publishing company Advent Comics.

Created and originally published by writer/artist Chris Malgrain (Stan Lee’s Alexa, Sideral: The Last Earthman) through his Oniric Comics company, the Formidables are a quintet of superheroes battling evil and bigotry in 1950s America, with their first challenge coming in the form of a Communist super-villain…who’s disguised as a white supremacist!

It’s a unique take on the genre, with Chris examining topics like race relations and sexual identity in a Cold War setting, with an appropriate amount of punching and explosions mixed in, of course—we are talking superhero comics, after all!

The Formidables’ epic 8-issue storyline involves Commie villains, an alien invasion force vs. an army of superheroes, shocking revelations, and an appearance by…God?! Overall, it’s Chris’s ode to Bronze Age comics, his writing tinged with a hint of classic Stan Lee, and his illustrations a reflection of his two biggest artistic influences: Jack “King” Kirby and John Byrne. Hell, I even got into the action beyond editing, as I stepped in as scripter for issue 5!

The Formidables #1 is on sale right now, so visit your local comic shop and pick up a copy. And then get ready for some Bronze Age–style superhero action!

As Stan the Man used to say, if there’s only one comic you’re going to buy this month, make it this one!