Friday, January 08, 2010

THE LAST DAYS OF AMERICAN CRIME #1 SELLS OUT



January 7th, Los Angeles - Radical Publishing is proud to announce that the first printing of fan-favorite writer Rick Remender’s criminal masterpiece The Last Days of American Crime #1 has sold out at the distributor level, with very few copies remaining at a select number of comic and book stores across the country. The Last Days of American Crime is Radical’s newest release featuring Radical’s “Bigger Books! Bigger Value!” initiative of 64-page books at a $4.99 price point. Hurry while you can and join the heist of the century!



Illustrated by the immensely talented Greg Tocchini (Marvel 1602: New World), The Last Days of American Crime takes readers into the world of Graham Bricke, a petty crook never quite able to reach the upper echelon of career criminals. When the American government installs a new currency system using digital charge cards, Graham puts together a grand scheme to steal one of the charging stations to finally hit the big time and live like a king for the rest of his life. As he assembles his team and finalizes his plans, the media leaks news of the government’s intention to broadcast a signal making it impossible for anyone to knowingly commit unlawful acts…in less than two weeks. Now, Graham and his team have a ticking clock to turn the heist of a lifetime into the final crime in the history of America.



“…writers must perform a magic act in order to make the reader believe he is reading something new. Well, someone get Rick Remender a top hat and a wand because he accomplishes it in the down and dirty Last Days of American Crime. By infusing a classic noir heist with the tension of modern American politics, Remender gives us a great opening to a comic series – perhaps even on the level of Criminal or 100 Bullets.” Andy Bentley, IGN Comics



“We’re incredibly proud of the response to Rick’s work, both critically and on the retailer and fan level,” said Radical President and Publisher Barry Levine. “The Last Days of American Crime is exactly the kind of project we strive for at Radical – high-concept, engaging and incredibly well-written. As we move into the New Year, we are always appreciative and thankful for the continued support of our distributors, the retailers and our fans.”



Rick Remender adds, "Everyone involved in the project is extremely excited and it shows in the final product. Greg's work in particular, it's just nearly unparalleled, he's been killing himself to make this series special and it's wonderful to see it paying off."



About Radical Publishing

Radical Publishing is founded by Barry Levine (producer for Hercules, Caliber, Freedom Formula, Shrapnel, Abattoir, Oblivion, The Last Days of American Crime and executive producer for the in-development Rex Mundi movie for Warner Bros., written by Jim Uhls and starring Johnny Depp) and entrepreneur Jesse Berger (executive producer for Hercules, Caliber, Freedom Formula, Shrapnel, Abattoir, Oblivion and The Last Days of American Crime).

For their quality and excellence in 2008, retailers voted Radical Publishing the Gem Award for “Best New Publisher of the Year” from Diamond Comic Distributors. Radical brings the best writing, storytelling and fully painted cover and interior art to the global comic book market, from prominent international talents such as Yoshitaka Amano, John Bolton, Luis Royo, Jim Steranko, Paul Gulacy, Stephan Martinière Steve Pugh, Warren Ellis, Arthur Suydam, Steve Niles, Jimmy Palmiotti, Justin Gray, Arvid Nelson, Flint Dille, Marko Djurdjevic, Alex Maleev, Ian Edginton, David Hine, Rick Remender, Joseph Kosinski, Andree Wallin, Nick Percival, Steve Moore, Sam Sarkar, Stjepan Sejic, Francesco "Matt" Mattina, JP Targete, Greg Tocchini, Dave Wilkins, Tomm Coker, Clayton Crain, Bill Sienkiewicz, Leonardo Manco Nick Sagan, Clint Langley, Nick Simmons, Rainier Beredo, Vincent Proce, Stephen Crowe, Richard Lee, Patrick Reilly, Weta Workshop, Haberlin Studios, Meduzarts Digital Environment Studio, Zombie Studios and many more.

Radical Publishing currently has production deals with Spyglass Entertainment and Peter Berg’s Film 44 for Hercules; Johnny Depp's Infinitum Nihil for Caliber; and New Regency and Bryan Singer’s Bad Hat Harry Productions for Freedom Formula.
Another New "Venture" for Bif Bang Pow!



Manufacturer and Cartoon Network Enterprises Announce a New Line of Action Figures,

Bobble Heads, and Vehicles Based on the Adult Swim Series, The Venture Bros.



Bif Bang Pow! and Cartoon Network Enterprises, the licensing and merchandising arm of Adult Swim, blast off for action with today’s partnership announcement that will bring to market a brand-new line of toys based on the popular animated series The Venture Bros. One of the most highly sought after product lines from Adult Swim’s library, The Venture Bros. collection from Big Bang Pow! will feature an array of articulated action figures, bobble heads, and vehicles, each embodying that distinctive action-comedy mix that has become synonymous with the series.

First to be released from the line is a series of 7-inch scale resin bobble heads targeted for spring 2010. Action figures are scheduled to hit the market in the summer of 2010. These fully-articulated figures will include the series most popular and recognizable characters including Dr. Venture, The Monarch, Brock Samson, Hank & Dean Venture and more. Several exclusives are also in the works. More detailed information about the products will be made available in the coming weeks.

"We've been courting The Venture Brothers for quite some time now, and we're beyond excited to finally bring fans what they want: a range of fully articulated action figures and bobble heads," said Jason Lenzi, CEO of Bif Bang Pow! "With the ever-expanding cast of characters in the Venture universe, the possibilities are endless. And, as always with Bif Bang Pow!, expect the unexpected!"

“A toy line based on The Venture Bros. has been a long time coming but we now have the ideal partner on board to bring these characters to life," said Christina Miller, senior vice president, CNE. "With their distinct style and love for the series, the team at Bif Bang Pow! has created an impressive line that will excite our fans and meet their discerning tastes."

The Venture Bros. creator Jackson Publick, who has been working closely with Bif Bang Pow! on the planning and creation of the toy line, adds, "Finally. It's about time someone made some action figures based on the show. This is going to be great!"





About Bif Bang Pow!

Bif Bang Pow! (bifbangpow.com) produces first-rate collectibles for such popular properties as Dexter, Lost, Californication, The Venture Bros., The Twilight Zone, The Big Lebowski, and Flash Gordon. Founder Jason Lenzi is a seasoned television producer and the ultimate fan of cultish pop culture. So when he created his company in 2005, he took the fan's perspective. His idea was to bring items to the marketplace that he himself would want to own. Cultivated from TV, movies, books, comics, music, and more, Bif Bang Pow!’s mission is to provide high-quality action figures, toys, and collectibles to the massive cult audience (and kids of all ages) that wishes these toys were already in their collection. Bif Bang Pow! is a unit of JLA Direct, LLC.



About Cartoon Network Enterprises

Cartoon Network Enterprises (CNE) is responsible for building consumer products and merchandising programs for a wide range of brands by securing and supporting long-term licensing partnerships across all categories. As the global branding and merchandising arm of Cartoon Network and Adult Swim, the division manages the consumer product programs for the networks’ award-winning original programming, brands and characters including Ben 10, The Secret Saturdays, Chowder, The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack, Adult Swim and more. CNE also serves as a third party licensing agent through strategic partnerships with Nelvana Enterprises and Spin Master for the award-winning Bakugan brand, CAKE Entertainment and Fresh TV for the hit Total Drama franchise and the PGA of America for the youth marketplace.

Adult Swim (AdultSwim.com), launched in 2001, is Turner Broadcasting System, Inc.’s network offering original and acquired animated and live action series for young adults. Airing nightly from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. (ET, PT), Adult Swim shares channel space with Cartoon Network, home to the best in original, classic and acquired programming for children and families, and is seen in 97 million U.S. homes.

Turner Broadcasting System, Inc., a Time Warner company, creates and programs branded news, entertainment, animation and young adult media environments on television and other platforms for consumers around the world.

Thursday, January 07, 2010

Phetus Reps Concrete Immortalz @ Tuff City

Long Island, NY -- January 7, 2010 - Representing the team at Elite Gudz and
their flagship title, Concrete Immortalz, graffiti artist and designer
Phetus headed over to Tuff City Tattoos in Bronx, New York to paint a mural
on the steel canvas train.

Phetus was joined by street artist Such for the all-day session, painting an
image of the Wall Lord on a full-size subway car installation. Phetus was
also joined by Cap, Cope2, T-Kid, Ban2, Indie and Cheez who came through to
destroy the piece once it was completed. Elite Gudz will be releasing videos
of each artist destroying the Concrete Immortalz mural in the near future.

View the video right here - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Z12Vxdvl8k

Get in the know- visit EliteGudz.com
To view the entire first issue of Concrete Immortalz online, visit
ConcreteImmortalz.com
For behind-the-scenes content, visit the Elite Gudz Facebook Fan Page @
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Elite-Gudz/194289207940

Promo Images
http://www.concreteimmortalz.com/images/EG_TUFF_CITY_01.jpg
http://www.concreteimmortalz.com/images/EG_TUFF_CITY_02.jpg
http://www.concreteimmortalz.com/images/EG_TUFF_CITY_03.jpg
http://www.concreteimmortalz.com/images/EG_TUFF_CITY_04.jpg
MAGIC, MYSTERY,
ACTION & ADVENTURE
ARE ONGOING THIS JANUARY WITH
WIZARDS OF MICKEY &
DISNEY’S HERO SQUAD!



Mickey, Donald, Goofy and more of your Disney favorites
return in two epic ongoing adventures series!



January 7th, 2010 – Los Angeles, CA – Enchantment and excitement are around every corner as two new Disney comics debut this January, WIZARDS OF MICKEY and DISNEY’S HERO SQUAD: ULTRAHEROES.

WIZARDS OF MICKEY #1 continues the epic tale of magical adventure that will finish its first arc in MICKEY MOUSE & FRIENDS issues #296 - #299. Popular enough to garner its own stand alone series, the WIZARDS OF MICKEY serial continues the adventures of Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck and Goofy as they compete in the Grand Wizard’s tournament, determined to win all the pieces of the Sorcerer Supreme’s crown and free Mickey’s master from the clutches of the evil Phantom Blot!

With WIZARDS OF MICKEY spinning off into its own series, MICKEY MOUSE & FRIENDS takes a break with issue #299, while we prepare the next wave of amazing Mickey adventures.

DISNEY’S HERO SQUAD: ULTRAHEROES bursts from the pages of WALT DISNEY’S COMICS AND STORIES, where the first arc of the story is featured in WALT DISNEY’S COMICS AND STORIES #699 - #702. DISNEY’S HERO SQUAD: ULTRAHEROES follows Super Goof, The Duck Avenger, Eega Beeva, The Red Bat and more coming together as Disney’s mightiest band of heroes, ready to stomp out the bad guys wherever they may lurk!

With DISNEY’S HERO SQUAD spinning off into its own series, WALT DISNEY’S COMICS AND STORIES #703 will see the debut of a new serial entitled, “Mickey Mouse and The World to Come” by internationally renowned Disney writer and artist Casty.

“The fan response to WIZARDS OF MICKEY and DISNEY’S HERO SQUAD has been completely insane,” says BOOM! Disney Editor Aaron Sparrow. “These characters have reached a whole new audience, and fans, old and new, have clamored to have these stories in their own dedicated series. Well, you demanded it and we delivered. WIZARDS OF MICKEY & DISNEY’S HERO SQUAD will be their own series starting this January!”

WIZARDS OF MICKEY is an ongoing series written by Stefano Ambrosio, with delightful interior art by Lorenzo Pastrovicchio. Issue one ships with two covers in a 50/50 split, and a 1/10 incentive cover. The series features fantastic cover art by Magic Eye Studios and has a Diamond Code of NOV090699.

DISNEY’S HERO SQUAD: ULTRAHEROES is an ongoing series written by Riccardo Secchi, with amazing interior art by Stefano Turconi. Issue one ships with two covers in a 50/50 split, and a 1/10 incentive cover. The series features fantastic cover art by Magic Eye Studios and DWITT, and has a Diamond Code of NOV090686.

All BOOM! titles are serialized as individual 24-page comic books in Direct Market comic book collector shops and newsstands; then each four issue complete story will be collected into graphic novel trade paperbacks available in the mass market via Borders, Barnes & Noble and the direct market as well. Kable Distribution Services, Inc. distributes a BOOM! line of monthly publications to the newsstand market.

About BOOM! Studios
BOOM! Studios (www.boom-studios.com) is a unique publishing house specializing in high-profile projects across a wide variety of different genres from some of the industry’s biggest talents, including Philip K. Dick’s DO ANDROIDS DREAM OF ELECTRIC SHEEP?, The Henson Company’s FARSCAPE, and the original Mark Waid series IRREDEEMABLE. BOOM! recently launched its youth imprint, BOOM Kids!, with Pixar’s THE INCREDIBLES, CARS, and TOY STORY, as well as Disney’s THE MUPPETS, DONALD DUCK, UNCLE SCROOGE and WALT DISNEY’S COMICS AND STORIES. This year, BOOM! Studios celebrates its fourth anniversary.

Wednesday, January 06, 2010

Female Comic Book Characters Unite As One

Web Comic Creators Participate in National Human Trafficking Awareness Day



(January 5, 2010, Columbus OH) Comic Creators Alliance members have united to spread awareness and raise funds to end the horror of human trafficking. Eighty seven creators have donated an image of one of their female characters that will be combined together to create a single picture. This picture will be available for computer download with donation to their fundraising drive that begins on National Human Trafficking Awareness Day which is January 11, 2010. Donations will be accepted from January 11th through January 24th. Fans should visit http://comicalliance.weebly.com/ on that day to donate and get this once in a lifetime image. Artists include Scott Sava (The Dreamland Chronicles), Sara Ellerton (The Phoenix Requiem), fundraising organizer Lora Innes (The Dreamer) and an array of indy comic talent!

Innes organized the endeavor after being particularly moved at a seminar on the issue. Innes states “There are currently 27 million enslaved people worldwide- more than double the number of enslaved Africans during the trans-Atlantic slave trade. UNICEF estimates that 1.2 million children every year are sold into slavery, most of it sexual. The US Department of Justice estimates 16,000 victims of human trafficking are brought into the United States every year. With this many people being affected I just couldn’t sit there and not do something.”

100% of donations are being split between Love 146 (www.love146.org) and Grace Haven House (www.gracehavenhouse.org). The image will be available at screen resolution for digital wallpaper use only. To see a list of artists participating go to http://comicalliance.weebly.com/the-people.html. To learn more about what you can do to end human trafficking visit http://comicalliance.weebly.com/links.html.
Hey there sweets:

I've been working like a fiend down here in my new São Paulo studio, so this is just an affectionate quickie to tell you that my new comic series RED LIGHT PROPERTIES launches online today on Tor.com. It's a tropical-horror series about a small real-estate firm on Miami Beach that cleans and sells "previously-haunted homes" to people who've lost their houses to foreclosure.

I've changed up webcomics a bit in the way the pages are presented, and I've upgraded my process to using Maya to create/light virtual environments for my characters to inhabit, so there's a lot of sexy-new here for you to enjoy.

All my projects since 2001 have been steps toward getting *this* series done right, and I'm thrilled to announce that my baby is finally born, weighing 16 color pages with another 8 coming to you every Tuesday for the next six months, free of charge. There will be no "continued in the print version" at the end, either; we're giving the entire novel away on Tor.com.

I really do hope you come along for the ride... It's my favorite work thing I've done thus far:

http://tinyurl.com/yaz538d

Tell your friends and leave a comment so I know you're out there, yeah...?

-------love-----> d!
Dan Goldman
http://dangoldman.com
CRIME NOIR WITH BITE
Jonathan Ross and Tommy Lee Edwards Mark Their Turf at Image in April!

Berkeley, CA -- 6 January, 2010 -- British television and radio personality Jonathan Ross makes his comics writing debut at Image Comics this April with TURF, an all-new four-issue miniseries co-created and illustrated by Marvel 1985's Tommy Lee Edwards. Set in 1920s New York, TURF offers a twist on the hard boiled crime thriller, adding vampires and aliens to the traditional mix of booze, broads and bullets.

"As anyone who has seen Friday Night with Jonathan Ross and my documentaries like Searching for Steve Ditko knows, working on my own comic has long been a dream of mine," Ross explained. "Collaborating with a talent of Tommy's caliber has made the whole experience that much sweeter, and we're looking forward to introducing the comics reading public to our mad war between gangsters and vampires – and the extraterrestrial who will either save or destroy them all."

TURF begins in Prohibition-era New York as a vengeful gang war erupts between booze-smuggling mobsters and the blood thirsty Dragonmir Family. As an ancient prophecy unfolds amidst the maelstrom of violence, the entire city is up for grabs and it's anyone's guess who will come out on top. The only glimmer of hope is an unlikely alliance between tough guy Eddie Falco and a stranger from another world.

"I've been looking forward to this April since Jonathan and Tommy first pitched TURF to me over breakfast in San Diego last summer!" said Image Comics Publisher Eric Stephenson. "Jonathan really has come up with a fantastic story and we couldn't be prouder to be publishing it through Image. Watching Tommy bring his vision to life has been one of the best parts of my job over the past few months and I can't wait for everyone to finally see the finished product!"

Added Edwards, "Having illustrated some of pop culture's biggest icons like Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Harry Potter and James Bond, it's incredibly liberating to be able to create a whole new world with Jonathan. TURF doesn't look or read like anything I've worked on in the past, and I believe fans on the lookout for something new and different are going to be very happy this April."

TURF #1, a 32-page full color comic book with a cover price of $2.99, will be available for order in the February issue of Previews and will go on sale Arpil 7.

Image Comics is a comics and graphic novels publisher formed in 1992 by a collective of best-selling artists. Since that time, Image has gone on to become one of the largest comics publishers in the United States. There are currently five partners in Image Comics (Robert Kirkman, Erik Larsen, Todd McFarlane, Marc Silvestri, and Jim Valentino), and Image is currently divided into four major houses (Todd McFarlane Productions, Top Cow Productions, Shadowline, and Image Central). Image comics and graphic novels cover nearly every genre, sub-genre, and style imaginable, offering science fiction, romance, horror, crime fiction, historical fiction, humor, and more by the finest artists and writers working in the medium today. For more information, visit www.imagecomics.com.
Gyakushu! Volume 1Hi!

I'm Dan Hipp, and I'll be posting my TOKYOPOP graphic novel revenge series on the blog www.thethiefisdead.blogspot.com next Monday, January 11 for FREE.

The GYAKUSHU! series debuted in 2007, with Volume One, and followed the next year with Volume Two. Volume Three, the final Volume, was caught up in the re-structuring of TOKYOPOP in mid 2008, and was delayed. TOKYOPOP has given me permission to post the first two volumes online, along with the first seventy-five pages of Volume Three (the final Volume). That's 475 of the full 600 pages of the series for free. The rest are to be posted at a time determined by myself and Tokyopop.

If you have any questions, or thoughts, I would be happy to listen. Thank you so much for your time!

More information and images can be found at www.mrhipp.com

Thanks again,

Dan Hipp