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Matman Says Goodbye To A Comic Book Legend!

3/31/2012

 
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Today is a sad day for comic book fans in New York! Today in the Big Apple, show promoter Michael Carbo will be putting on his last comic book / pop culture show.

For those who don’t live on the East Coast, you may not think this is that big a deal! But from someone who has gone to at least 50 of these shows, this is a very sad day. You always knew you were at a Mike Carbo show; great guests, incredible deals and a fun atmosphere. Mike always made each show an event. As a comic fan, you always knew you’d get some great face time with creators, PLUS there was an incredible mix of artist and writers; big name or up and comers. I remember when Phil Jimenez, Jamal Igle and Chris Giarrusso were the up and comers.

Think about this one… where else was I going to get a headlock from Rowdy Roddy Piper, talk Sgt. Rock with Billy Tucci and Russ Heath and pick up a bunch of comics I really didn’t need for a quarter each? Times like this were only happening at a Mike Carbo show.

When Brian and I started Secret Identity, it was the ‘Big Apple Cons’, ‘Nationals’ and ‘Comic Book Market Place’ shows that gave us the bulk of our interviews. In fact, Mike was the first promoter to recognize what Brian and I did as legitimate and always made us feel like a part of the show experience. When we first started doing this, Mike would help arrange interviews and make things real easy for us. I can honestly say that I have never been to a bad Mike Carbo show.

When I first saw Mike I have to admit I was a little freaked! He is a bundle of energy who appears to be quite insane. But when you talk to him, you understand that he is very passionate about what he does. He also wants to make sure every fan has a great time. Plus… he is a very snazzy dresser.

So here we are, the day of the last Mike Carbo promoted show and I feel kinda emotional. I have some incredible memories from the old church basement at St. Paul’s and some great friendships that were forged at the Penn Plaza Pavilion.

So thank you Mike, for the work you put into each show that I (we) enjoyed. We don’t know how insane things got behind the scenes and that was credit to you that all everyone saw was fun! Good luck with all your future plans!

Matman     



The Tale Of A Cereal Legend Continues...

3/30/2012

 
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Grab a bowl of your favorite cereal and get ready for a few new panels of ‘Strawberry Lightning’!

Written by Matman and amazingly drawn by Glenn Pearce, we see things now starting to chance for the little guy with a strawberry for a head!


“It sucks that Glenn lives on the other side of the planet,” said Matman, ‘because I’d love to sit down face to face and just laugh together as we put this together! But thankfully we have the worldwide interweb and Facebook!”


To see the latest adventure, click here! www.matmancomics.org (and click on cereal)



With Hunter Volume One Trade Now On Sale Through Major Online Vendors

3/29/2012

 
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From our good friend Mr. Vin Ferrante:

Monarch Comics has entered into a publishing agreement with Dusk Comics to compile every 4 issues of Monarch’s ongoing comic book series, Witch Hunter, and release them in trade paperback format through a number of outlets. The initial vendors through which Volume 1, titled Hunt the Hunters, is available are Barnes & Noble and Amazon. 

The Barnes & Noble listing is now live and as luck (or is it magic?) would have it, B&N is currently having a sale. While the Witch Hunter Vol. 1 trade paperback (128 pages, full color) normally sells for $15, the sale price is $12.63. The Amazon.com link will go live shortly, and, while the launch of this trade paperback series is online, the volumes will be on sale in various physical stores and chains going forward. 

Keep watching Secret Identity, www.monarchcomicslair.com and the Monarch Comics page on Facebook for Witch Hunter news and updates. Look for the Witch Hunter Vol. 2 trade paperback (Drawing The Scarlet Circle), including Witch Hunter issues 4-8, later in 2012.

Congrats to Vin on this great news! He's one of the hardest working creators in the business and we wish him all the best.

Mo Stache Turns 72 Today!

3/28/2012

 
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by Brian LeTendre

In September of 2010, my good friend John Cordis and I launched a little webcomic called Mo Stache.  It's sort of an odd couple buddy story featuring a regular joe named Dave and the sentient alien mustache named Mo that attaches itself to his face.

It was our first project together, and though we had a rough outline of where we were going with it, there were a lot of unanswered questions at first.

Eighteen months later, we are nearing the end of our third chapter, and I'm currently writing the end of Mo and Dave's big adventure. The story will finish up at around 120 pages, and we may collect it in print after that.  But here's the thing--you can read the entire story so far for free, over at www.mostachecomic.com. 


Here's a trailer to whet your appetite for stachey goodness:


So, if you've never checked out Mo before, or maybe haven't visited in a while, please go over and give it a read. We're heading into the final chapter in the next couple of months, and it's going to be a wild ride. You can read all 72 pages of Mo over at www.mostachecomic.com.

Thanks in advance for checking us out! Hooray for free comics!

Matman's Quick Picks For Week Ending 3/31

3/27/2012

 
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Batman and Robin # 7 (DC) – By far, my favorite of the Batman books. Writer Peter Tomasi has taken us deep into the dysfunctional relationship between Batman and Damien and artist Patrick Gleason and Mick Gray make it all look so nice.
4 out of 5 Never turn your backs

The Darkness # 101 (Top Cow) – The new creative team of David Hine, Jeremy Haun and John Rauch make it easy to jump in for the first time or make a return if you’ve been awayfor a while or are looking for something fresh to read!
4.5 out of 5 Dark secrets

Detective Comics # 7 (DC) – I really wanna love this title, but I just can’t. Tony Daniel is an amazing artist, but as a writer he’s just not giving me enough to grab onto. Although this issue is a step up from the previous six.
2 out of 5 Obligatory buys

Incredible Hulk # 6 (Marvel) – Wow, did this one fall off the tracks real fast! Jason Aaron’s story is keeping me interested, but this revolving cast of artists is making it very hard to focus. This may have been my last issue!
1 out of 5 Matman CANCEL!

Justice League # 7 (DC) – How would guest artist Gene Ha fit in? Awesome! This issue brings the League to now as we see the government wanting more of a role in what the JL does. AND, we also get to meet the new Shazam, courtesy of Johns and Gary Frank!
5 out of 5 Best-selling book for a reason!   

Saucer Country # 1 (DC / Vertigo) – If you’ve ever wondered what it would be like for politics and alien abductions to mix, this book is for you. Paul Cornell (writer) and Ryan Kelly (artist) have not just created a fun read for the now, but have given it some legs for a nice run.
5 out of 5 Alien invasions


Sideshow Collectibles Celebrates March Madness With Heroes Vs. Villains

3/26/2012

 
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Even if you're not into college basketball, you can still get in on March Madness! Sideshow Collectibles is hosting their own tournament and pitting heroes and villains of all genres against one another to see who's the last one standing.

Who would win in a fight between Indiana Jones and Wolverine? How about Yoda and The Hulk? Or Boba Fett and the Red Skull? You get to decide!

The competition is currently into round two, and you can head over to the offcial site and cast your votes now. You can also sign up to win figures from Sideshow--this round features Star Wars Infantry Battle Droids.

So go make your choices known, or you'll have to live with the fact that someone else decided Batman was more powerful than Obi-Wan Kenobi.

Get Ready For The Big Snow Job With Runners!

3/25/2012

 
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One of the best comic book universes doesn’t belong to DC, Marvel or even Archie… it belongs to Sean Wang’s incredible series, ‘Runners’!  

‘The Big Snow Job’ is the long awaited second adventure of Roco Nostaco and his crew of smugglers! In this one, the crew of the Khoruysa Brimia desperately try to get back to the top of the smuggling food chain. But the job that could make them rich quick brings them to the cold planet of Ciceron and may not contain the payoff they were expecting!

Series creator Sean Wang does double duty as both writer and artist and is almost perfect with both. As I turned each page I was blown away by how beautiful Sean’s art is and how each panel was so full of life! His style is big, clean and very easy on the eyes. Although not a kids book (but is all ages), the look and feel is accessible to anyone who reads it. As far as the storytelling, Sean handles this like a movie; nice pacing, great characterization and clever and very witty dialogue. It is very easy to sit down and lose track of everything when reading this.


Since I first read the original, I have championed 'Runners' as the best independent comic ever produced. It's beautifully drawn and written with so much passion and charm. 'The Big Snow Job' reminds me of 'The Empire Strikes Back'. Hard to top the original, but somehow does! This is a perfect comic book! 

Matman Rating: 5 out of 5 perfect comics!

‘The Big Snow Job’ and the original series ‘Bad Goods’ are available to view on Sean’s site www.runnersuniverse.com. Or to find out more, go to www.seanwang.com

For those who like to read their comics in book form (like me), than here is some incredible news. ‘Runners: The Big Snow Job’ will be collected into graphic novel form later this year!!! If you’ve read it online and want to see it in print, than keep checking www.runnersuniverse.com for all the details.
 
To get a visual treat, click the link and get ready for fun. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kXC405pZxr0

The Move To Digital--Part 4

3/24/2012

 
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by Brian LeTendre

Over the past few months, I've been discussing my transition from print comics to digital. By the end of 2012, I expect to be buying almost all of my monthly comics digitally, and only purchasing a few longtime favorites (and back issues to fill holes in my collection) in print. You can read my first three posts about this transition here, here and here. 

So I reached a milestone in my transition to digital comics--I made my first big digital purchase the other day. ComiXology had a sale on Antony Johnston’s fantastic Wasteland series. All 35 issues of the series so far were $0.99 each. I’m missing about twelve issues total from my print collection, so I planned on grabbing those when I opened up the app on my iPad.

And then I saw it--a digital omnibus collection of the entire 35-issue run to date of Wasteland for $19.99. 994 pages of post-apocalyptic awesomeness for a mere twenty bucks. Just for the sake of comparison, purchasing all 35 issues at the regular cover price of $3.99 would have totaled about $140.

So, I made my biggest single digital comic purchase to date and grabbed the whole series. Even though I have a bunch of the issues in print, it will be nice to have the whole collection at my fingertips. And, I’ll be getting the rest of the series digitally from here on out.

This was the first time I’ve seen an exclusive digital collection at such a big discount, but I’d like to see a lot more of it. I would be grabbing up series left and right. Hopefully this collection proves successful so that other series will follow suit.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I have A THOUSAND PAGES of Wasteland to go read. Good day. 

Twenty Years Of Spawn!

3/23/2012

 
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Press Release

In 1992, Spawn, a new kind of superhero, stepped onto the comics stage under the banner of the newly formed Image Comics. Twenty years later, Todd McFarlane’s creation has become an iconic character in the superhero world, spawning into spin-offs, toys, an animated series, and a blockbuster movie…But the SPAWN comic book series has always been the center of that empire.

In celebration of SPAWN’s 20th anniversary, McFarlane will return this June as cover artist on his flagship title for the remainder of 2012. McFarlane will also take lead writing for this commemorative issue, SPAWN #220.


To celebrate the 20th anniversary of Image Comics, the first of these nine covers by McFarlane, SPAWN #220, depicts “Savage Spawn,” referencing the first issue of
SAVAGE DRAGON by Erik Larsen. (Cover B - APR120410)

SPAWN #220 will also have a variant cover paying tribute to Rob Liefeld's
YOUNGBLOOD #1 (Cover C - APR120411), as well as an original cover from McFarlane himself (Cover A - APR120409). A black-and-white variant of each of the covers will be available as an incentive for retailers.

In addition, current SPAWN artist Szymon Kudranski has created a cover based on the original SPAWN #1 cover by McFarlane for the
SPAWN: 20th Anniversary Collector's Special (APR120418). This special edition of SPAWN #220 publishes Kudranski's interior art in black-and-white along with additional content featuring a look back at a sampling of TODD McFARLANE's inked pages from SPAWN #1. It is limited to 2500 copies.

McFarlane has embarked on this seven-month tribute not just to celebrate SPAWN's and Image Comics’ 20th anniversary, but also to honor the rich history of all comic books.


“Early in my career one of the things I looked forward to after I finished the interiors on a book, was to sit back and try and come up with a single image that would catch the fan’s attention,” said McFarlane. “I had a pretty decent run with some of the
Hulk, Spider-Man, and Spawn covers, and I’m going to come back and see if I can draw a few covers that will intrigue everybody.”  

SPAWN #220 will be available for order in the April issue of Previews and in stores on June 6th.


Felicia Day Launches New YouTube Channel

3/22/2012

 
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At WonderCon last weekend, Felicia Day (The Guild, BTVS) announced the upcoming launch of Geek & Sundry, a YouTube channel dedicated to "indie geek culture." Starting April 2nd, six original series will debut on the channel, which will also feature episodes of The Guild. 

Here'e an overview of the content that will be featured on the site:

The Flog (Premiering April 2nd, new episodes every Monday)Join Geek Goddess Felicia Day in a whimsical vlog show, as she explores quirky new hobbies and shares experiences that connect her with her favorite people – her fans – in person as well as across the web.

Dark Horse Motion Comics (Premiering April 2nd, new episodes every Wednesday)
America’s largest indie comic-book publisher Dark Horse Comics brings some of their much-loved franchises such as Hellboy, The Goon and The Umbrella Academy onto the screen in a unique presentation for their web series.  Combining never-before-seen motion graphic techniques and compelling storytelling, fans of these iconic characters will devour each episode.

TableTop (Premiering April 2nd, new episodes every other Friday)
Think “Celebrity Poker” meets “Dinner for Five” and you’re ready to experience the quick-witted camaraderie that pairs notable celebs with must-play tabletop games.  Hosted by actor, co-creator and fan favorite Wil Wheaton, this lively show brings together notable geek celebrities from Film, TV and YouTube to showcase the best in tabletop gaming from Settlers of Catan to card games like Fluxx and even RPGs like Dragon Age.

The Guild Season 5 (Airing April 10th, episodes every Tuesday)
The widely popular award-winning web series that’s topped 150 million views comes to YouTube!    Chronicling the adventures of online gamers Cyd Sherman (Codex), Vincent Caso (Bladezz), Jeff Lewis (Vork), Amy Okuda (Tink), Sandeep Parikh (Zaboo) and Robin Thorsen (Clara), the fifth season follows the gang to a fan convention with new discoveries and celebrity encounters.  Plus every Thursday check out never-before-seen behind the scenes content.

Sword & Laser (Premiering April 13th, new episodes every other Friday)
Popular book club podcast, Sword & Laser, comes to life with an irreverent show hosted by Veronica Belmont and Tom Merritt.  The show features interviews with top authors, reviews of the hottest science fiction and fantasy books, discussion of the essential news of the week, and lots of participation from the vibrant Sword & Laser community.

Written By A Kid (Premiering July 18th, new episodes every Wednesday)Original sci-fi, fantasy and horror stories by real kids are transformed into stunning shorts by some of today’s coolest directors. These original live-action and animated pieces truly capture the madness and magic of the 4-to-9-year old mindset.

Learning Town (Coming Fall 2012)In this smart, offbeat musical, nerd music duo Paul & Storm blend vocal harmonies with comedic scenarios as they are tasked with reviving the flagging educational show of their childhoods. In the face of adversity from villainous hipsters, cantankerous ghosts and flammable puppets, Learning Town is one show that has to been seen to be believed.

You can check out a trailer below, and find out more at www.geekandsundry.com.


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