The Winter Men
Publication information
PublisherWildstorm
ScheduleIrregular
FormatLimited series
Genre
Publication dateSeptember 2005 – December 2008
No. of issues5+1
Creative team
Created byBrett Lewis
John Paul Leon
Written byBrett Lewis
Artist(s)John Paul Leon
Colorist(s)Dave Stewart
Collected editions
The Winter MenISBN 1-4012-2526-8

The Winter Men is an American comic book limited series published by Wildstorm Productions in 2005. The series was written by Brett Lewis, with art by John Paul Leon.[1][2]

The story is about a Russian policeman who is the product of a Soviet project to create superhumans.

Publication history

Lewis and Leon met as students at New York's School of Visual Arts, where Lewis, himself an artist at the time, studied under Walter Simonson and planned to draw an iteration of the comic himself.[3] In a 2006 interview, Leon stated,

Brett Lewis and I first began developing this project about five years ago. Actually it really began years before then, when Brett had the idea of doing a Russian-based Superman story. This was probably 1993 or so.[1]

The book was intended for publication under DC Comics' Vertigo imprint as an eight-issue limited series in collaboration with colorist Dave Stewart and letterer John Workman.[4][5] A two-page sample of the upcoming series appeared in the April 2003 promotional pamphlet Vertigo X Anniversary Preview; neither Stewart nor Workman were credited in that excerpt, and both the colors and letters would change when the pages later appeared in the series proper. By the time issue #1 appeared in August 2005, the series had become part of the short-lived Wildstorm Signature Series line of creator-owned works, although Vertigo senior editor Will Dennis shared an editing credit with Wildstorm's Alex Sinclair on issues #1 and #2, suggesting that the switchover came a good ways into production.[4]

After the six-month delay and a change of editor (to Scott Dunbier), issue #4 (April 2006)'s cover stated that the book was now a six-issue miniseries. Issue #5 (October 2006)'s solicitation announced that there will be eight issues again,[6] although the actual issue included the message that this was the last regular issue and the story would be completed in The Winter Special, announced for 2007 but actually released two years after #5, on December 31, 2008 as an oversized 40 page special.[7]

Collected editions

The trade paperback of the Winter Men was solicited for release on November 25, 2009.[8]

  • Winter Men (176 pages, Wildstorm, December 2009, ISBN 1-4012-2526-8, Titan Books, January 2010, ISBN 1-84856-516-X)

An Artist's Edition of the series with full-size reproductions of Leon's original artwork was published in 2022 via the crowd-funding platform Zoop.[9]

Reception

Comic Bulletin gave the first issue full marks and said "Brett Lewis comes off as an astute observer of the contemporary Russian cultural milieu, and, via an injection of superheroic fantasy into real Soviet history, he draws powerful portraits of his tragic protagonist, Kalenov, and the nation as a whole."[10] Stumblebum Studios was impressed by the research saying,[The Winter Men] "is one hell of a dense book, packed to the gills with details and insights into Russia post-Reform".[11] The Fourth Rail felt "Brett Lewis's script challenges the reader with its complexity and its immersion in modern Russian culture. And he's been paired with an artist whose style is perfect for bringing the cold, stark and dingy quality of the backdrop to life."[12] Ain't It Cool News concluded their review of the first three issues with a similar opinion "is a book with a singular voice and style the likes of which I haven’t seen in quite a while."[13]

Sales estimates started off with issue #1 at 11,340 (#163 in the top 300)[14] but dropped to 8,862 (position #168) with issue two.[15] Sales then slowly dropped from 8,324 (#186) for issue #3[16] to 7,129 (#187)[17] and ending on issue #5 with estimates of 6,480 sales (at a position of #180)[18]

See also

  • The Programme, another Wildstorm title that dealt with the fallout from Cold War superhumans

Notes

  1. 1 2 Contino, Jennifer (March 10, 2006). "LEON DRAWING THE WINTER MEN". Comicon.com. Archived from the original on June 20, 2007.
  2. ↑ John Paul Leon On Theblvd Sketchbook & Wintermen Archived 2007-10-25 at the Wayback Machine, Newsarama, June 15, 2006
  3. ↑ McCulloch, Joe (March 27, 2012). "The Secret Life of a Licensed Comic". The Comics Journal.
  4. 1 2 McCulloch, Joe (January 11, 2009). "I'm going to tell you some things I've thought about saying to several Americans, and various foreigners too: And I didn't think I'd get the chance". The Savage Critics. Archived from the original on January 23, 2009.
  5. ↑ "The Winter Men, Vertigo's Weapons of Mass Destruction". Comicon.com. December 24, 2002.
  6. ↑ Weiland, Jonah (May 15, 2006). "DC Comics Solicitations for Product Shipping August, 2006". Comic Book Resources.
  7. ↑ News Team, CBR (September 15, 2008). "DC Comics Solicitations for December, 2008". Comic Book Resources.
  8. ↑ at Wildstorm/DC
  9. ↑ "John Paul Leon's THE WINTER MEN Artist's Edition". zoop.gg. Retrieved 2023-10-24.
  10. ↑ The Winter Men #1 Review, Comic Bulletin
  11. ↑ The Winter Men #1 Review Archived 2007-11-10 at the Wayback Machine, Stumblebum Studios
  12. ↑ The Winter Men #1 Review Archived 2008-10-06 at the Wayback Machine, The Fourth Rail
  13. ↑ The Winter Men #3, Ain't It Cool News
  14. ↑ Top 300 Comics Actual—August 2005, ICv2
  15. ↑ Top 300 Comics Actual—September 2005, ICv2
  16. ↑ Top 300 Comics Actual—November 2005, ICv2
  17. ↑ Top 300 Comics Actual—April 2006, ICv2
  18. ↑ Top 300 Comics Actual—October 2006, ICv2

References

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