Winter Men - its a crime this series is so slept on.

[Destro777]

I know the massive delays and imprint shifts of the Winter Men book by Brett Lewis and John Paul Leon are now legendary - but this 6 issue story is easily one of the greatest comics ever. Its a damn shame this book isnt more well known - or known at all for that matter. More people need to check it out!

What the heck is Brett Lewis doing these days or even since Winter Men? My quick search came up empty. That is insane if he has had no follow up comics.

I finally, finally (!) read thru my full set of copies in 2012 after buying them all on day one in 2005 thru 2009 but kept them on the back burner and just flat out forgot about them till I was browsing my collection. The dialogue and pacing are just light years ahead of most of the industry and Leon's artwork is just incredible. Cant say enough about how jam packed each issue is - and with these dense, lengthy issues the pacing is incredibly frantic, this is why its so unique. Deep Cold War conspiracy riddled plot but still time for loads of intimite characterization set on a backdrop of Russian politics and mafias + mix in supernatural supersolider comic book-y stuff. Good lawd this was good.

Any other fans around here?

It seems they did collect the Winter Men but its out of print :(
http://www.amazon.com/Winter-Men-Bre...tt_at_ep_dpt_3

[Desaad]

Lewis was, unfortunately, astoundingly unreliable in terms of output. The series was initially meant to be, I believe, 8 issues, but had to be shortened to 5 issues just because Lewis seemed to lose interest, or vigor, or time. Worse, he kept the astounding Leon waiting for scripts, which I know Leon was somewhat bitter about, at least in a couple of interviews I saw at the time.

I fully agree that it was an incredible piece of work, but I'm not terribly surprised that Lewis didn't get more output over the years. He did the scripting and co plotting on a Fallout Boy comic book that had the now DC stalwart Sam Basri, and it was actually quite good, but you could already see him starting to play with some of the same themes and even lifting lines out of Winter Men verbatim - I'm specifically thinking of the tiger/cage allegory.

I believe he also did some Halo stuff, but I thought I remember he was primarily a screen writer or something.

[The Adventurer]

Winter Men was incredible. If any book should get an oversized Deluxe HC collection, its Winter Men.

Interesting details about Lewis and his writing. I knew the series was plagued with delays (I read it as it came out you see) I didn't realize it was down to the writer.

[Desaad]

I recall him being much more explicit/agitated at the time, but this was the best I could find to corroborate my memory...

NRAMA: Coming to the current day, the final issue of The Winter Men is set to come out later this year. The miniseries had some delay - and was even shorted from the original advertised eight issues. What would you chalk up these changes and delays to?

JPL: I wouldn't want to badmouth my writer, so I'll just leave it at two words - not me.

http://www.newsarama.com/comics/1208...Paul-Leon.html

[Destro777]

Perhaps Winter Men was/is Lewis' magnum opus even though it was basically one of (if not entirely) his first comic project. I could actually see the delays because this was some very complex stuff - its not like he was writing a monthly superhero book. Plus the fact the quality was so so high out of the gate - there was pressure there to match it the whole way through. No real excuse for years of delays but I can see it happening if you are that invested in something and care about it as much as he obviously did based on the quality.

He did some clever stuff making light of the shortening from 8 issues to 6 having the narrator basically say they are "skipping ahead", or "we may get it to those tales later" - stuff like that.

Just such a downer the series is so unknown. Maybe theres a chance itll come back - the last issue set up the sequel.

[Desaad]

I'm less concerned with its level of popularity and more saddened by the fact that there was nothing more of it, not even as much as was originally planned.

As you say, whatever else, it seemed like Lewis had some potential as a writer, and his Fallout Toy Works was good - not as good as Winter Men, but very good all the same - and it's just a total shame the guy hasn't gotten more out there.

It feels like we lost a Brian K Vaughn, or something.

[Destro777]

I'm less concerned with its level of popularity and more saddened by the fact that there was nothing more of it, not even as much as was originally planned.

Oh no doubt - but the popularity of the book and getting more Winter Men material go hand in hand.

[Desaad]

Perhaps, perhaps -- Given Lewis' lack of output, I question that line of reasoning, though, you know?

[FanboyStranger]

Wintermen was a fantastic comic. Its star-crossed nature is because Lewis is a screenwriter as well as a comic book writer. To be quite frank, Wintermen was probably the best iteration of the superhero genre I've seen in the last dozen or so years.

[Desaad]

Here's a podcast in which he goes into exactly what went down

http://smodcast.com/episodes/from-mojo-to-moscow/

[Destro777]

Well that podcast explains a lot about where Lewis has been. The dude was in a coma for several weeks. Even tho the podcast is about a year old, he sounds like he has a lot on his plate but he cant talk about the projects. Thanks for posting it.

[Pixie_Solanas]

Wintermen remains one of the greatest series I ever read. Absolutely stunning stuff.