All writers have them, those stories or books that are written but for any number of reasons never see publication. Often, the reason is as simple as it didn’t sell. Other times, it can get a lot more complicated.

JSA: Ragnarok is one of the complicated ones, which explains why it was a long time in the publishing.

I signed the contract to write the first of what was supposed to be a trilogy of Justice Society of America novels in 2004 for iBooks, whose publisher Byron Preiss had a license with DC Comics to publish a line of novels. My first draft was delivered on July 27, 2005, and my revised draft in October; the book and its cover (a painting by Alex Ross as seen below) were designed and laid out by early 2006; the color printout I have of the original cover is dated February 16, 2006, even though according to the publishing information on the title page in the PDF I have of the designed book the “First iBook edition” date is given as January 2006.

But there was a good reason for the delays and confused timing.

On July 9, 2005, literally, while I was writing the final chapters of Ragnarok, I received word that 52-year-old Byron had been killed in a traffic accident on Long Island. I was told iBooks intended to keep going with its publishing program and that I should finish the book. In early February 2006, I was informed it would be going to go to press later that month. The paperback edition of the novelization of DC’s Crisis on Infinite Earths by Marv Wolfman (which I edited on the DC side of things) made it through to printed copies. My book, next on the schedule, wasn’t as lucky. On February 22, 2006, iBooks announced its Chapter 7 bankruptcy, putting a halt to their entire operation. Even Crisis on Infinite Earths suffered, the publisher’s financial collapse putting a halt to the distribution of the majority of those printed copies.

It left Ragnarok trapped, appropriately enough, in limbo. The bankruptcy created a tangled web of rights with DC, the courts, and the legal entity which would later acquire iBooks’ assets in the bankruptcy sale. I made an attempt to unravel things several years ago, but it took until now to finally take the necessary steps to get JSA: Ragnarok into print.

But much like the JSA itself, Ragnarok couldn’t be kept in limbo forever. Sooner or later, it was bound to escape. And where better to land than here, at Crazy 8 Press!

It begins with the Wizard and the Injustice Society declaring war on Mister Terrific, Power Girl, and the rest of the members of the Justice Society of America in the modern era, then takes a deep dive into the closing days of World War II with the Golden Age Flash, Green Lantern, and their colleagues, before returning to today… but not before taking a deadly detour through Limbo!

Now, at last, Ragnarok is coming!

I hope it’s been worth the wait.

–Paul Kupperberg

Read a FREE EXCERPT from JSA: Ragnarok here on PaulKupperberg.com

Now available in paperback or eBook on Amazon or direct from the author for $18.00 shipped payable to PayPal.me/PaulKupperberg.