With volume one of Jim Sorenson's and Bill Forster's latest book, G.I. Joe: Field Manual Volume 1, out now, fans of the series will be please to hear that the 2nd volume of the book, which covers the 2nd season as well as the Dic series, is now available for pre-order at Amazon.com.  Set to be released in February 2013, you can preview the book here.

During the IDW Botcon panel the next book from Jim Sorenson and Bill Forster was announced as Legacy: The Box Art of the Transformers.  As the name suggests, the book will the box art that was used with the toys, bringing together material from Japan, the US and, with luck, Europe.

Here's Jim to tell you more

"Legacy: The Box Art of The Transformers is going to be something special.  I've been working on it for a while now, and I'm really amazingly pleased with how well it is going.  We've been working with Hasbro, Part One (the parent company of eHobby), and numerous private collectors to pull together the definitive coffee table book of Transformers packaging art.

A lot of things, like the date and the page count, are still up in the air.  However, here's what has already been decided on:

1: The scope will be G1 and G2.  No Beast Wars or beyond.  We'll be covering every year in the US, as well as the entire Japanese set of releases.  It's possible that we might get Europe in too, if we can find the material.  That remains to be seen.
2: The extras will be substantial.  We're talking essays and interviews with the original artists, modern repaints of vintage artwork (think eHobby exclusives), unused box art, production sketches for box art and more.
3: In terms of scale, we've got more then 300 images in hand, and more than 150 additional pieces pledged.  I'd like to get those numbers up, so if you are a collector of the originals, drop me a line!"

You can read more of Jim's thoughts on his blog: http://boltax.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/transformers-legacy.html

Jim Sorenson has updated his blog, Disciples of Boltax, with a report on Roll Out Roll Call 2012 which took place in Southhampton here in the UK over the weekend of the 10th and the 11th.  We had the pleasure of meeting up with Jim and Bill before the show and taking them on a bit of a tour as we drove down to the show, but it's a great insight to read a report on any show from the perspective of one of the guests.  You can read it here.

The creative forces being the Ark and Allspark Almanac books, Jim Sorenson and Bill Forster, have now arrived in the UK for the Transformers / GI Joe convention Roll Out Roll Call, which takes place on Saturday the 10th and Sunday the 11th of March.

Joining Jim and Bill will be Larry Hama, Simon Furman, Robert Akins, Andrew Wildman, John Paul Bove, Simon Gough, James Eatock, James Kavanaugh Jr and Gary Godsoe.

As well as guests, there are various presenations including.

• Cosplay Contest, Product Showcase by Hasbro UK
• Product Showcase by Marauder Gun Runners
• Product Showcase by Mastermind Creation
• Presentation- Deconstructing Silent Interlude by Larry Hama
• Presentation- Transformers from Script to Panel by Simon Furman
• Presentation- The History of Action Force by Dave Tree
• Presentation - Leave No Man Behind - a look at unreleased Action Force toys by Dave Tree
• Custom Competition

Make sure you book your ticket as you only have three days left, or turn up on the with the hope of getting in.

Jim Sorenson has updated his blog, Diciples of Boltax, with the news that he will be working on a new GI Joe Animation model book along with Bill Forster.  Transformers fans will know that Jim and Bill released two Transformers Ark books covering the animation art from the original Transformers series and Japanese Transformers series.

Jim has posted the following.

Yo Joe!  The time has come for much rejoicing and cavorting.  I can now officially announce what many of you have guessed... my next book is going to be an Ark-style book of G.I. Joe animation models, out this summer.

(Nice Snake Eyes model courtesy of a frequent contributor to the model book, Tim Finn of A Real American Book.)

It's going to be pretty spectacular.  For some reason I've been able to find WAY more material than I have for Transformers.  As the illustration to the right jokingly illustrates, I'm going to be taking a few thousand model sheets and condensing the very best and most interesting of them down into one volume of a few hundred pages. I'm really stoked at my first work in this new and glorious arena.  I've come across some amazingly cool rare stuff, plus most of what you'd expect for a book about the Sunbow animation models. I'm still looking for more material, too, so if you're a collector of such things drop me a line.  I'm especially interested in material from the movie and the commercials beyond, as well as incidental characters.

So you see, my Roll Out Roll Call appearance is doubly fortuitous!  I can show off some early sneak-peaks of the book there.  Definitely swing by if you're in the UK.

Now you know the significance of Jim and Bill's appearance at Roll Out Roll Call 2012, and as we all know Knowing is Half the Battle

Jim Sorenson has updated the Diciples of Boltax with a news story covering Bill Forsters new tatoo, based on the cover of The Ark II. What makes the story more special is that Bill's session was fimed for the TC show LA Ink and the image was officially approved by Hasbro.

Jim says the following

For those of you who don't remember, Bill posted here about his experiences getting the cover of The Ark II tattooed on his chest... on cable TV.  This was actually pretty difficult to set up.  You see, in order for LA Ink to be allowed to show a picture of a Transformer on their show, they had to have legal permission from Hasbro to do so.  We approached our editors at IDW to see if they could help make it happen.  The editors put us in touch with the Hasbro legal team, who were absolutely stellar and made it happen.

Remember that both Jim Sorenson and Bill Forster will be appearing at Roll Out Roll Call 2012 next month.

All The Cool Stuff have updated their Roll Out Roll Call 2013 pages with the custom profiles of Jim Sorenson and Bill Forster.

In addition they have an order page for commissioned artwork by Robert Akins for sale

Robert is pleased to offer commissions ahead of the show (those not able to pick up their commission's at the show will be charged P&P).
The 9x12" single character can also feature additional characters at an additional cost of £15.00 per character.
When ordering a commission, please give the details of what character you would like and any supplemental information, like scenario etc
The images shown are examples of 9X12" Single Character Inked commissions.

Ticket prices still aren't up yet, but the latest news is 

All The Cool Stuff Just waiting on the last checks going through the site, and then they'll be up :o)

Two more LA-based guests announced for Roll Out / Roll Call 2012!

We're 16 weeks away from Europe's largest combined G.I-Joe / Action ­Force and Transformers show Roll Out / Roll Call 2012 and it is with great pleasure that Transformers At The Moon can exclusively reveal the names of two more guests for the show.

The pair are long time fans of both Transformers and G.I-Joe / Action Force and will be making only their second appearance at a European Convention.  They are well known within the fan communities of both franchises as well as generally being two of the nicest and most interesting people you could meet.  Have you guest who they are yet?

That's right, the guests are none other than Jim Sorenson andd Bill Forster, writers of the both the Allspark Almanac books, the Ark Books (all three of them) and most recently Allspark Almanac Addendum (published within issue 6 of the Timelines comic that re-printed The Stunti-con Job).  Jim and Bill will be on hand all weekend to meet, great, sign, and generally hang out with fans of both shows as well as taking to the stage over the weekend to give a presentation and take question on both Transformers and G.I-Joe.

Jim and Bill were extremely popular guests when we bought them over for Auto Assembly 2010 and we have been keen on bringing them back to the UK for another show.  At the same time they are both as keen, if not more so, to come back to the UK and meet up with everyone again and so brings us all great pleasure to have them back on these shores for a show that covers not just Transformers but also G.I-Joe, a series that both these men care about.

So if you were unsure whether to attend Roll Out Roll Call 2012 in Southampton next March, then I hope that this announcement will convince you to attend the event and support it.

RollOut Roll Call 2012
10th - 11th March 2012
Jurys Inn, Southampton

Twitter: @rolloutrollcall
Facebook: All The Cool Stuff­
Website:  AllTheCoolStuff

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Pics from previous events can be found on the facebook pages:

Roll Call: Roll Call Action Force/ GI Joe Collectors Event | Facebook
Roll Out:Roll Out, Transformers Day | Facebook
Roll Out Roll Call 2 Roll Out/ Roll Call 2 The Transformer/ Action Force/ GI Joe Show | Facebook
­
Each show has got bigger and better and we hope many of you will be able to join us for the next one in March 2012.

­I thought I would take a few minutes to remind you all about two comic related things that are happening at the moment. First up on Thursday 24th March 2011 Death's Head will return in the pages of Marvel Heroes issue 33 that will be available from all good stockists, and plenty of bad ones.  So make sure to pick it up and show Marvel that not only do you want to see Death's Head return in comic format, but also to support the work put in by the two Simon's, Simon Furman and Simon Williams for making his return possible.

Secondly do not forget to drop by HomelandSecuityTheater.com for more web comic hilarity from the one and only Bill "he really does look like Monkeywrench" Forster.  If you have been lucky enough to sit down and talk to Bill then you know that he has seen a lot in his life so far, and now he is sharing part of his life as the basis of his own web comic which is updated three times a week.­

Not only content with updating his blog with his own material Jim Sorenson has posted a blog letting everyone know that his "esteemed colleague" and quite frankly all-round "awesome dude" (ask anyone that met the pair of them at Auto Assembly 2010) Bill Forster has updated his Deviant Art gallery with yet more of his original artwork from The AllSpark Almanac II.    Here's the low-down from Jim on the updates that Bill posted

This time around, he's uploaded our Reverse-Pretender alter-egos, Octus and Megadeath, some heads from the Great War like Moonradar and Gigatron (a.k.a. RID Megatron, Animated style), some Maccadam's heads like the adorable Clipper, and more. 

I think my favorite might be Skids.  While, obviously, it was movie-style Skids that inspired the design, the idea that he'd be infested with brain parasites came from G1 Skids, where he spent well over 100 UK issues in limbo after Galvatron time-displaced him there.  I thought it funny to include this element, but with the much uglier RotF Skids. 

Swing by, let Bill know what you think of his work!

Jim Sorenson has posted an updated on his Blog Disciples of Boltax entitled "AllSpark Almanac II: Deviants".  The article links to several images that were drawn by Bill Forster for the book often appearing as small images of in the background on some pages.  Bill has uploaded larger versions of these images to his DeviantArt account so you can enjoy them along with his comments.

Both men will be in attendance as guests at Auto Assembly 2010 which takes places within the UK on August 13th through August 15th.

Jim Sorenson has updated his blog, The Disciples of Boltax, with comments regarding his and Bill Forster's appearance at Auto Assembly 2010.

I've got some news that I find incredibly exciting.  This year, both Bill Forster and I have been invited to Auto Assembly, Europe's largest Transformers convention.  As I haven't been to England since 2006, I'm extremely excited to get the chance to go back and mingle with the terrific fan community out there.  In addition to hanging around and making a nuisance of ourselves all weekend, we're tentatively planning to use our time on Sunday to give a brief presentation on some behind-the-scenes artwork from various generations that hasn't been published before, before shifting to a traditional Q&A session.  

Other great guests include Derrick Wyatt, Garry Chalk, Scott McNeil, Simon Furman, Nick Roche, Guido Guidi, and many more.  This looks like a must-attend convention if you're native to the British Isles.  If you were at all on the fence about coming to this con, I strongly urge you to preregister now, as the spots are filling up quickly and there's no worse feeling than having to turn someone away from an event like this. 

I have to extend my warmest thanks to the convention organizers and especially to Steve and David Mapes from Transformers At The Moon for making this happen.  I love smaller conventions, so it really is quite an honor to­ be invited. AA at AA... feels like a natural fit, doesn't it?­