If the appearance Thursday night by country music star Trace Adkins on CBS’s The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson was any indication, the press for 12 Gauge’s Luke McBain could have a substantial impact on sales.  The pair devoted nearly half the segment to discussion of the comic, which Ferguson held up both as he introduced Adkins and as they discussed the book.  

Ferguson led by asking Adkins about his involvement with the comic, wondering about his motive given that “you’re a serious musician!”  Adkins responded with “This has gotten a lot bigger than I thought.” 

The Billy Jack-style story features the Adkins character on the cover with an artfully positioned ax handle, a juxtaposition that Ferguson and Adkins spent considerable time discussing. 

Adkins told Ferguson that he’d told the publisher he didn’t want a comic “with the cape and tights and stuff.  So anyway they said we just want to talk to you about this story and this scenario and how you’d react in certain situations.”

“And I forgot about it, and now it came out,” Adkins said. 

12 Gauge begins releasing its comics on its own rather than through Image with this title (see “Trace Adkins Comic”).