 By Matman
At yesterday's Free Comic Book Day celebration at Most Excellent Comics and Collectibles in Enfield, CT., Alan and Chris Hebert unveiled their first 'Lazerman' trade collection, 'This Man, This Lazer.'
Featuring 5 different covers by Chris Hebert, Chris Giarrusso, Billy Tucci and Mario Gully, the collection also features a forward by yours truly. But something upsetting, yet kinda funny happened on their way to getting their order of trades fulfilled.
As they were notified by their printer the order was filled they were soon were told by Chinese Fed Ex customs officials that their all ages book wouldn't be shipped because they were found and we quote the books wouldn't ship because they were found to be "SEXUALLY INAPPROPRIATE" and REFUSED to ship.
WOW! Could it be because of the picture above?
As the Hebert brothers posted on their website "Lazerman is an ALL AGES book. In an extremely "cartoon-y" style. There are like 2 girls in the whole book. And Fed Ex REFUSED to ship it."
But there is more...
"There's not even ANY sexual innuendo in the book. It may be the LEAST sexually charged comic ever published. I challenge ANY of our fans/readers who already own the book to point to any panel or page that could conceivably be considered explicit."
As I flipped thru this 'banned' collection I was blown away by the 'Director's Cut' extra material. Not only do you get all the covers and some behind the scenes, but you get some Lazerman covers and sketches by a 14 year old Chris. Cool to see on its own, but magical when compared to the covers and pages they would become. Not just 'stuff' thrown in to fatten up the book, the extras are very special.
So head over to www.hbcomics.com, friend them on Facebook and find out more about the book the 'Chinese don't want you to read!'
'Lazerman - This Man, This Lazer' is available only at the smartest comic shops like Most Excellent Comics And Collectibles in Enfield, CT.
 Hitting the shelves today is the latest and quite possibly greatest adventure that G - Man has ever been on!
'G - Man Coming Home' tells the story of G - Man and Great Man's return to earth and their friends. But in their absence (which has been a lot longer than they thought) things have changed!
Jon the Brother's 'G', Tan Man, Cool Wraps, The Color Guardians, the Thunderfriends and a little visit from everyone's favorite podcasters Matman and Brian in 'G - Man Coming Home'!
This book features 120 super awesome pages for under TEN BUCKS!
For more information go to www.chrisgcomics.com
 I am very excited to announce that my new short story Private Showing is now available in the Amazon Kindle Store! You can grab it here for $0.99, and if you’re an Amazon Prime member, then it’s absolutely free! Here’s the teaser:
Something about the old colonial on Sachem Street led Nita young to contact the real estate agent as soon as it went on the market. But is she touring the house of her dreams, or reliving her worst nightmares?
Private Showing is an origin story of sorts, as it stars Nita Young, a character who also appears in my novel Courting the King in Yellow. Private Showing is the story of Nita’s early encounters with the supernatural, which helped define who she is by the time readers encounter her in Courting the King in Yellow.
One of the reasons I wrote this story was because Nita is a character who has become the common thread that ties my stories together. She was more of a secondary character in Courting the King in Yellow, and she also has a supporting role in my next book, which I’m in the process of editing and rewriting now. I wanted to give Nita a chance to have the spotlight all to herself, and so Private Showing was born.
What’s interesting is that after writing Nita as a main character, I can’t get her out of my head. As I plot through the next couple of books in my shared universe, Nita’s role continues to grow.
So, I hope you enjoy Private Showing, and if you’d like it, please give Courting the King in Yellow a chance as well.
Thanks for reading!--Brian
 by MatmanThis was a tough couple weeks for us who live in Massachusetts, especially those who live in the Boston, Cambridge and Watertown areas. Everyone watches the Boston Marathon and we in the Commonwealth celebrate Patriots Day as we would July 4th. So when the cowardly act that cost three people their lives and hundreds with life altering injuries it's enough to make you scream.
Sadly, the Boston Comic Con was cancelled due to the fact the entire Boston area was on lock down while local police and FBI searched for the two cowards before they could do anymore damage. Sure I was disappointed because this is an amazing show I look forward to every year, but circumstances out of our control dictated the way last weekend played out.
What happened out of the cancellation was amazing! Local stores like Comicazi in Somerville, Friendly Neighborhood Comics in Bellingham, Comicopia in Boston, Studios at Porter Mills in Beverlyn and Larry's in Lowell all held events like creator signings to help ease the loss of a show. Every little bit does help!
Cudos go to all the stores who housed these last minute events, the creators who stuck around and the fans who made it out to one, some or all the locations to support these gatherings. This is how we heal as a city, state and country!
This is why the comic book community has the coolest people in it! It was nice to see the positives of the situation outweighed the negatives by a 90% margin. For me and most rational people, death and tragedy outweighs a comic con. The guys held out as long as they could to cancel and I appreciated the 'hope' they gave me as bullets were flying and bombs were going off all round the area.
So here is some good news!!! The promoters at Boston Comic Con will be making an announcement very soon with the possibility of a make up date! If you're not friends on Facebook with BCC, friend them NOW! This and their site at www.bostoncomiccon.com are the places to go for all the up to date news. And of course the Secret Identity Facebook page and our site will have all the info that needs to get out there.
Brian and I look forward to the next Boston Comic Con, this year or next!
 Sad news came late yesterday when the organizers of Boston Comic Con had to announce the show was being postponed. Even though the second suspect in the marathon bombing was caught late last evening, the call by the show organizers needed to be made before that. Since much of the city was shut down, people couldn't get into the show to set up, and a lot of the guests' travel plans had to be changed.
So, the show will be rescheduled sometime in the near future, and hopefully most of the scheduled guests will be able to return. Secret Identity will be there fir sure.
On a happy note, many of the creators who were already in town for the show have decided to hold mini gatherings at some of the area comic shops. Comicazi and Larry's Comics are both holding events all day today for those interested. The folks at Boston Comic Con have been retweeting details of those meetups if you're looking for more details.
It's pretty awesome that the local comic community is coming together to make something positive out of an unfortunate situation.
We'll have more details about the rescheduling of Boston Comic Con as soon as we get them from the organizers.
 Press ReleaseThe Inkwell Awards, a non-profit organization devoted to educating and promoting the art of inking, invites the public to vote for the industry’s best of the past year. The official public ballot will be available on the Inkwell Awards’ homepage from April 15 through April 30. Voting is open to everyone, whether fans or professional peers. The winners will be announced at the live awards ceremony at Heroes Con in Charlotte, NC June 7-9.
The only noteworthy change this year will be that while the ballot will still list the nominees for the Joe Sinnott Hall of Fame lifetime achievement award, the public will not be able to vote in that category. Bob Almond, founder and director of The Inkwell Awards (AKA “The Inkwells”), said, “Due to reader/fan turnover every few years, we’ve found the public can often be unfamiliar with many of the master artists from a decade or more ago. Thus, the award inadvertently becomes a ‘popularity contest’ with the voter ultimately choosing only familiar names from recent/favorite work, not from a culmination of the artist’s career accomplishments. We decided to have the internal and separate Hall of Fame Nomination Committee (made up of the core committee, former committee members, ambassadors, contributors and existing Hall of Fame award recipients) that chose the original nominees to then vote for the two deserving winners.
“We’re so excited for this event, where everyone’s hard work will pay off and the best of the best ink artists and their work will be recognized,” Almond continued. “Inkers have their own fans and followers, and often go unsung or glossed over in traditional awards events. Ours caters specifically to ink artists and allows several to be recognized and appreciated in various categories.”
Ballots and instructions can be viewed at The Inkwells’ web site beginning on tax day, April 15. A direct link will additionally be posted on their Facebook group page, where people may also ask any questions.
Click This Link To Vote Now!
by MatmanI thought this may be of interest some of you! A few weeks ago I was interviewed for a Springfield, MA based web magazine called 'BYO Family'. This site celebrates all the fun, culture and apparently weird people of our beloved Springfield, MA.
A few Saturday's back, I got to spend a few hours with writer Gina Beavers and photographer (and friend) Jennifer Garutti who wrote what i said and took pictures of me when i didn't know. Both ladies were excellent at what they did and put together a story that I thought was pretty interesting. What you'll see (if you follow the link) is the culmination of two hours of spending time with me.
http://www.byofamily.com/life/fam-preneur/matt-herrings-world-whats-so-funny/
Enjoy!!!
 Hey Folks,
Our little Matty is really sick this week and has lost his voice. Just look at him--I took this pic an hour ago.
While his wife is surely ecstatic over this recent development, it makes it difficult to record a podcast with one host unable to speak.
Luckily, we have our next episode recorded already, and that episode will air this coming Monday, as opposed to tomorrow (Friday). We may also post a special episode from the past next week to help tide you over until we get back to our normal schedule.
Unless Matt recent ailment is something more sinister (a demon, perhaps), we should be recording as usual next week and resume our twice a week schedule after that.
 by Matman
As a lifetime lover of cereal, cartoons and 'Imus In The Morning', I was excited as all get out with today's announcement coming from ComiConn Central!
Legendary voice actor / comedian Larry Kenney, the 'Man of a 1,000 Voices' will be making an appearance at ComiCONN at the Marriott Hotel in Trumbull, CT on August 24th.
How is this for a resume...
From 1973 to 2007, Kenney was part of the regular cast on the 'Imus In The Morning' program featuring radio icon Don Imus. In his legendary run he recorded impersonations of dozens of characters including General George Patton, Andy Rooney (my favorite) and Ross Perot.
In the world of cereal commercials Kenney was the voice of one of the craziest animals, the Cocoa Puffs insane pitch bird Sonny and the second best cereal mascot ever...Count Chocula!
His work also includes the Thundercats Lion-O, one of the most beloved cartoon characters ever.
This is one man I need to interview!
And in case you were wondering... 'Capt'n Crunch' is the best cereal mascot ever!
 Our good pals Darrell and Chris welcomed a very special guest to their podcast Comic Book Road Show Recently--Mr. Dan Slott. The boys spent almost two full hours talking about everything under the sun with one of the most awesome comic writers in the industry today.
You can listen to the entire episode or download it right here.
NOTE: The podcast does contain some adult language, but don't let that stop you--it's a great epsiode.
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