Available Now - Titanium Rain, Volume 1 Hardcover

I received news today that the first hardcover collection of Escape from Tomorrow's book of 2009 - Titanium Rain - has, this week, finally shipped. Following numerous frustrating production delays - none moreso than for creators Josh Finney and Kat Rocha I'm sure - the book shipped to comic stores this Wednesday, and will be in bookstores the following week.

CHINESE GOVERNMENT ATTEMPTS TO CENSOR ‘TITANIUM RAIN’ VOL. 1

When real-world politics clash with four-color fiction.

Los Angeles, CA (April 21, 2010) – In an instance of real-world politics affecting the comic industry, ARCHAIA ENTERTAINMENT's latest graphic novel series, TITANIUM RAIN, had been severely delay when Chinese printing companies refused to print the book. TITANIUM RAIN, which portrays a civil war in near-future China, was repeatedly rejected by Chinese printers, citing "politically sensitive content" deemed offensive by the PRC.

“What I find very telling about the whole situation is at no point does our book criticize the current Chinese government or any of its policies," say author/co-artist Josh Finney. "The scenario I wrote is patterned after the Boxer Rebellion, and is meant to be a statement against ultra-nationalism and ethnic cleansing. In fact, it is ultra-nationalists in the Chinese military who attempt to overthrow the government in TITANIUM RAIN.”

Until now, Archaia Entertainment printed most of its books through China, an arrangement the publisher has had to reconsider. Clearly China's cheap manufacturing costs do come at a hidden price. Censorship.

Controversy over TITANIUM RAIN's publication may have stemmed from a sequence of pages in the book which show events leading up to a Chinese civil war. A sneak preview of those pages is available here.

Written and illustrated by the husband-and-wife team of Josh Finney (Batman, Star Trek: Enterprise) and Kat Rocha (Batman), Titanium Rain Vol. 1 (full color, 152 pages, 6.625” x 10.25” hardcover with dust jacket, $19.95, ISBN 1-932386-72-6) collects the first four chapters of the series. The story is set in the year 2031 and told from the point of view of US Air Force pilot Alec Killian, who is forced to shed some of his humanity in exchange for biotech and machine when a civil war in China spirals into a global conflict.


There's a fascinating article about author Josh Finney and some of his reasons for writing Titanium Rain over at comicrelated.com while everything you want to know about the Titanium Rain story can be found at the official website and blog. My many, many (!) previous posts about the book can be found here.

I really can't remember looking forward to a book's publication more than I have done with this hardcover collection. At times it's felt like 'soon' would never come, but Josh, Kat and publisher Archaia Entertainment have been superb about keeping fans informed all through the delays, so I for one haven't minded waiting.

Now, so long as this ash-cloud that's affecting comic-book deliveries to England - and beyond - stays away, I can finally get my copy - all good things come to he who waits.