COMING TO BOOKSHELVES

FALL 2003 VOLUME ONE

160 pages/12 stories
LARRY & ANDY WACHOWSKI • GEOF DARROW • BILL SIENKIEWICZ
NEIL GAIMAN • 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

Illu
str
atio
n by
THIS FALL
Gre
g ory
Rut
h
 BITS & PIECES
OF INFORMATION
STORY BY LARRY & ANDY
WACHOWSKI
GEOF ART BY

DARROW
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
STORY & ART BY BILL
SIENKIEWICZ
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
suspected
GAIMAN
t h a t t h e 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
s h o d d y HIGH COST OF LIVING was published in February
 and DEATH:
THE TIME OF YOUR LIFE was released in March
 winning the
s h a m  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 STARDUST
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
t h i n g new Sandman anthology and the series
  for Marvel

deeperand
weirderand

A LIFE LESS EMPTY

STORY & ART BY TED
McKEEVER
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
STORY & ART BY JOHN
VAN FLEET
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
STORY & ART BY DAVE
GIBBONS
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
STORY & ART BY DAVID
LAPHAM
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?
STORY & ART BY PETER
BAGGE
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
STORY & ART BY TROY
NIXEY
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

STORY & ART BY PAUL

CHADWICK
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
Dark Horse Comics 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 STAR WARS 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
STORY BY RYDER
WINDHAM
ART BY KILIAN
PLUNKETT
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
Lucasfilm 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 & ART BY GREGORY
RUTH
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