COMING TO BOOKSHELVES FALL 2003 VOLUME ONE 160 pages/12 stories

LARRY & ANDY WACHOWSKI • GEOF DARROW • BILL SIENKIEWICZ • TED McKEEVER • JOHN VAN FLEET • DAVE GIBBONS DAVID LAPHAM • PETER BAGGE • TROY NIXEY • PAUL CHADWICK RYDER WINDHAM • KILIAN PLUNKETT • GREGORY RUTH

based on concepts by Larry and Andy Wachowski THE MILLER’S TALE written and illustrated by PAUL CHADWICK

from concepts by LARRY & ANDY WACHOWSKI inside cover art cover art GEOF DARROW KAARE ANDREWS edits book design SPENCER LAMM REDPILL PRODUCTIONS

The Matrix comics began in online at TheMatrixcom We are into our third series Up until now but for a couple of free promotional books they have been exclusively online It’s about time for them to be in print and on shelves The emails asking us to do just this haven’t hurt either

It was a heady time back before the first film was released We were contacting comic writers and artists about a film no one had seen or even heard of Not everyone we approached was immediately receptive However those that connected with the script and storyboards saw the potential of what was coming on screen and committed to the project The forthcoming volume collects four stories from this first series as well as four from each subsequent series

All the stories bring a specific interpretation of THE MATRIX Paul Chadwick’s rd series entry THE MILLER’S TALE is no exception delving into the hard ships of living in the real world If you’re not following this man’s career you’re missing some wonderful storytelling and art On the other talents included in the forthcoming volume — all of whom I can say similar things about as we have been fortunate to gather such a high caliber ensemble — check the rear of this book for bios and story blurbs

As to the future new stories will continue to appear online and will remain free Yes completely free Consider it the ultimate preview because we’re not changing our ways From the initial discussions of the site free comics were always the plan The spirit of this touches all sections of the site There’s THE ANIMATRIX (where four of the nine episodes remain free downloads) academic essays by noted philosophers crew articles games hundreds of interviews thousands of images and of course over two dozen comics

With THE MATRIX REVOLUTIONS coming in November we also have a few surprises planned at TheMatrixcom Stay alert

Spencer Lamm July

TheMatrix.com

THE MATRIX COMICS: VOLUME ONE PREVIEW All material copyright © 2003 Warner Bros. All rights reserved. All characters featured in this issue, the distinctive likeness thereof, and all related indicia are trademarks of Warner Bros. The stories, characters, and incidents mentioned in this magazine are entirely fictional. Printed in Chicago (Universal Press). First Printing: July 2003 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

THE MATRIX COMICS VOLUME ONE

TWELVE STORIES ONE BOOK

Illustration by G THIS FALL

regory Ruth BITS & PIECES OF INFORMATION WACHSTORY BY LARRYOW & ANDYSKI DARROWART BY GEOF

Set during the prehistory of the Matrix a robot butler is charged with murder Reference to this story is made in SECOND RENAISSANCE: PART ONE from THE ANIMATRIX

The Wachowski brothers have been working together for more than years They wrote and directed BOUND and are now completing their fourth film THE MATRIX REVOLUTIONS Little else is known about them

Geof Darrow’s career as a comic book artist includes such noted titles as HARD BOILED and BIG GUY AND RUSTY THE BOY ROBOT both by Frank Miller and ANOTHER CHANCE TO GET IT RIGHT by Andrew Vachss Recently Geof completed the massive task of conceptual designs for THE MATRIX sequels and is currently working on a new book

SWEATING THE SMALL STUFF SIENKIEWICZSTORY & ART BY BILL

Two gunrunners get a little too close to the reality of the Matrix

Bill Sienkiewicz’s innovative use of collage and illustration methods to tell a story have won him many major awards including the Kirby Award for Best Artist for the comic ELEKTRA: ASSASSIN He wrote and illustrated the critically acclaimed comic STRAY TOASTERS and his most recently published work includes A RIVER IN EGYPT and a collection of his noncomputerenhanced work entitled PRECURSOR (A more comprehensive art book retrospective on Bill’s work is forthcoming) Bill has exhibited throughout the USA and the world and has also produced work for magazines CD covers and the US Olympics He was nominated for an Emmy® Award for production and character design on the television series “Where in the World is Carmen San Diego?” Isuppose thatIcould GOLIATH claimthatI WORDS BY NEIL hadalways GAIMAN suspected thatthe A man is given the gift of knowing the Matrix but at what cost? worldwasa Neil Gaiman is likely best known as the creator/writer of the monthly comic series SANDMAN for DC Comics SANDMAN won the cheapand World Fantasy Award for Best Short Story (the first comic ever to receive a literary award) Neil’s three part comic series DEATH: THE shoddy HIGH COST OF LIVING was published in February and DEATH: THE TIME OF YOUR LIFE was released in March winning the sham GLAAD award for Best Comic Outside of comics Neil has written the English language script for Hayao Miyazaki’s PRINCESS MONONOKE abadcover and is now a best selling novelist penning such titles as AMERICAN GODS (winner of the Hugo Award for Best Novel) and forsome CORALINE which has been optioned for film and is in preproduction Neil returns to the world of comics in with ENDLESS NIGHTS a thing new Sandman anthology and the series for Marvel deeperand weirderand

A LIFE LESS EMPTY McKEEVERSTORY & ART BY TED

When given the choice between the red and the blue pill what of that person who chooses the blue? Find out here

Ted McKeever’s published career began in when he wrote and illustrated the comic TRANSIT During and Ted penned and drew METROPOL and in he and writer Peter Milligan brought the comic EXTREMIST into being while in he wrote and illustrated the project FAITH Ted’s next undertaking the graphic novel WONDER WOMAN: THE BLUE AMAZON reteams him with writers Randy and JeanMarc Lofficier concluding the trilogy of reinterpretations of classic DC Comics characters begun with the books BATMAN: NOSFERATU and SUPERMAN: METROPOLIS BURNING HOPE VANSTORY & ART FLEET BY JOHN

A group of rebels on assignment to retrieve one little girl from the Matrix encounter Agents The little girl however is nowhere to be found Find out why

John Van Fleet’s first award came on June st when he was handed a Bachelor of Arts in Communication from the Pratt Institute School of Arts and Design He has been an active artist in the comic industry since when he did the contents page art for DARKSTORM ILLUSTRATED ADVENTURE series In the following years he has done interior art and covers for numerous comics including: TYPHOID () written by Ann Nocenti BATMAN: THE CHALICE () and BATMAN: THE ANKH () both written by Chuck Dixon You can also see John’s work in magazines on magazine covers on posters cards and on book covers such as CLAN NOVEL: GANGREL and collected in the art book THE ART OF JOHN VAN FLEET

BUTTERFLY GIBBONSSTORY & ART BY DAVE

Agents and serenity do not often mix though you’ll find both in this story of guns and butterflies

Comic industry veteran Dave Gibbons has been involved in the comic world for the last years While residing in his native UK his work has been published throughout the Americas Europe and Japan Dave was a cocreator of ROGUE TROOPER for AD as well as the MARTHA WASHINGTON series with Frank Miller Probably his most popular work is the award winning comic series WATCHMEN His oeuvre can also be seen in issues of BATMAN SUPERMAN and DR WHO among others In addition to collaborating with Stan Lee on a reinterpretation of the character Green Lantern Dave’s latest work includes the forth coming DC Comics / Vertigo graphic novel THE ORIGINALS THERE ARE NO FLOWERS IN THE REAL WORLD LSTORYAPHAM & ART BY DAVID

His ship attacked by Sentinels one rebel is left with no way to jack out His body dying on the ship and with little hope he visits his home town only to discover home is not what it once was

Writer and artist David Lapham began work at as a layout artist for the Ocean County Observer He began his career in the comic industry at illustrating and helping create many original titles at Valiant Comics including SHADOWMAN and HARBINGER The independent publishing company EL CAPITAN BOOKS was cofounded in by David and Maria Lapham under which they began publishing David’s comic series STRAY BULLETS David won an Eisner award in for Best Writer / Artist he has been nominated five times in that category David is also the creator of the comic novel MURDER ME DEAD

GET IT? STORYBA & ARTGGE BY PETER

Not everyone gets THE MATRIX A humorous take on just this

Peter Bagge’s debut comic strip was seen in The East Village Eye in and he continued to be published regularly in other periodicals such as High Times and Screw In Peter’s first self written and illustrated title came into being: NEAT STUFF That was followed in with HATE a semiautobiographical comic series set in Seattle written and illustrated by Peter A voracious artist Peter has completed comic strips and other works of art including DONNA’S DAY: MISSIVE DEVICE a page color mini comic and gag panels which appear in KUTIE Other works can be found in YEAH! DETAILS and the oneshot look at Marvel’s favorite webslinger STARTLING STORIES: THE MEGALOMANIACAL SPIDERMAN In addition to more HATE be sure to check out Peter’s monthly comic SWEATSHOP from DC Comics A SWORD OF A DIFFERENT COLOR STORYNIXEY & ART BY TROY

A lone survivor of a crashed ship gets help from a very strange and perhaps insane character — one who should not even be alive in the uninhabitable wastelands of the real world to begin with

Troy Nixey has illustrated a number of notable creators’ work They include Mike Mignola who wrote: BATMAN: THE DOOM THAT CAME TO GOTHAM and BATMAN: THE GASWORKS Neil Gaiman who wrote (with P Craig Russell adapting): IT’S ONLY THE END OF THE WORLD AGAIN and Matt Wagner who wrote: GRENDEL: BLACK WHITE & RED Troy cocreated the comic mini series JENNY FINN with Mike Mignola; he created the BACON comic as well as the critically acclaimed comic TROUT His favorite project to date was a story he wrote and drew in BART SIMPSON’S TREEHOUSE OF HORROR Future projects include a chapter in XMEN UNLIMITED : SACRIFICIAL WORLDS written by Kaare Andrews… and there will of course be more TROUT!

THE MILLER’S TALE CHADWICKSTORY & ART BY PAUL

In the real world amidst the chaos of Zion the once taken for granted act of breaking bread finds new dimensions But then best to read the story right here in your hands yes?

American Writer and Artist Paul Chadwick is most well known for his work on the critically acclaimed comic series CONCRETE published by since Other works by Paul include DEAD POOL issue numbers to THE WORLD BELOW a four issue series published from March to June and GIFTS OF THE NIGHT In addition to writing several stories for Dark Horse's line Chadwick will be returning to his signature character Concrete with a new sixpart miniseries THE HUMAN DILEMMA currently scheduled for release in the fall of ARTISTIC FREEDOM WINDHAMSTORY BY RYDER PLUNKETTART BY KILIAN

A brush with a child potential shows an artist that some nightmares are best left unsculpted

Ryder Windham worked as a graphic designer and comic book editor before he switched to freelance writing His experience editing STAR WARS titles for Dark Horse Comics led to many assignments for licensees including comic scripts

Since breaking into the comics industry with the art chores on ALIENS: LABYRINTH for Dark Horse Kilian Plunkett became known for his uncanny skill at rendering facial likenesses landing assignments on licensed comics based on SMALLVILLE and STAR WARS

HUNTERS & COLLECTORS STORY &R ARTUTH BY GREGORY

Two rebels go on a trek beyond Zion in search of relics Is a piece from man’s past worth dying for? Is this even the real reason for their journey?

Greg Ruth’s versatility is seen within the three Matrix stories he’s done and also on display in MARS and SUDDEN GRAVITY For the New York Transit Museum Greg also recently produced an installation series of eleven murals that were displayed in the heart of NYC Grand Central Terminal for the winter season His latest offering is the five part miniseries FREAKS OF THE HEARTLAND in conjunction with writer Steve Niles