"Welcome to Heaven, Dr. Franklin"

Classic Messner-Loebs work collected for the first time

Benjamin Franklin dies, and that’s just the start of his amazing adventure in Welcome to Heaven, Dr. Franklin. Where he expects to find G-d he instead finds an ancient Roman emperor, and the crazy conflict that ensues could only spring from the mind of Bill Messner-Loebs. This lost classic is collected for the first time in February in a twenty-fifth anniversary one-shot from About Comics.

The informed and demented view of history that Messner-Loebs used when writing Epicurus the Sage and Journey first came to light with Welcome to Heaven, Dr. Franklin, which was serialized in Cerebus issues 34 through 38. Messner-Loebs drew the first installment in 1981, making 2006 the 25th anniversary of this work.

"This is a story that those of us who were reading Cerebus back then remember fondly, and it was where a lot of us first discovered Bill’s work," explains About Comics publisher Nat Gertler, "but while the Cerebus stories from these issues have been reprinted repeatedly, Dr. Franklin never has. It’s long since time that this story stopped being hidden in the dusty longboxes of old Cerebus collectors and be brought back out for readers."

Some readers know Messner-Loebs primarily as a writer, particularly for his long run on The Flash. Others know him for work like the Dead Detective stories in Wasteland, where he was chosen to draw from someone else’s script. For Dr. Franklin, this double-threat talent both wrote and drew the material himself. This new edition sports a brand new cover.

"When I first considered publishing other people’s work under the About Comics label, Welcome to Heaven, Dr. Franklin was on a short list of books I wanted to produce. When I went back and counted the pages, I realized that it wasn’t enough pages for a book – Bill had created this full, rich work in about the length of a single issue. These days, when so many writers are taking six issues to tell a simple story, it’s refreshing to be reminded that a graphic novella can be done efficiently without seeming rushed."

Welcome to Heaven, Dr. Franklin is being treated with respect, with heavy covers and no ads. Despite this, About Comics is keeping the price down to $2.95.

Many retailers don’t order new books from smaller publishers and tend to order lightly on one-shots in general. Because of this, readers should make sure their retailers know that they want the book, either by stating their interest or by including it on their Previews order form.

Welcome to Heaven, Dr. Franklin (ISBN 0-9753958-7-4) is a black-and-white one-shot with color covers, priced at $2.95, shipping to the direct market in February, 2006. The story contains non-erotic nudity, a non-dogmatic view of heaven, and a character named “Sunshine Aquarius”. It is not recommended for people who are offended by such things.

About Comics publishes a wide variety of material for comics fans. They specialize in finding overlooked quality material. The line includes such diverse books as collections of Kurt Busiek superhero comics, Charles Schulz newspaper comics, comic book scripts, and 24 hour comics. The publisher is the driving force behind 24 Hour Comics Day and Comics Jam War. More information is available at www.AboutComics.com