COMICS REVIEW

Been too busy to highlight books lately, but there were a few really good or interesting one's lately I wanted to mention here...

DAUGHTERS of the DRAGON #1
This one's been getting a lot of buzz, and it's well deserved. Not only is Khari Evans artwork sexy, it's really impressive, his attention to detail, linework, and character/style are all great! It's also a really fun read.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED


X-STATIX Presents: DEADGIRL #1
X-Statix/X-Force was my favorite book in recent years, so I'm elated to have more from the creative team. Allred just collabs on the art here though, and Nick Dragotta, the main artist, is massive... where did this guy come from? What else has he done? WOW!
The story is a ton of fun too, Dr Strange has never been my fave, but he's a treat in this one...
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED


NEW MANGAVERSE #1
I was a HUGE fan of the first Marvel Mangaverse. I loved the creators involved, and most of the books were a treat visually as well as cool new spins on the characters. I really like seeing a more contemporary version of the Marvel U (similar to Ulimates) then the drawn-out, out-dated, and generally over-done regular books. This version is decent so far, solid art, decent story.
RECOMMENDED


ALL-STAR SUPERMAN #2
Grant Morrison is my favorite writer. Frank Quitely's one of the best in the biz. Yet they still surpass my expectations, and that's after already setting the bar pretty damn high with issue one. This is great, great stuff!
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED



SPIDER-WOMAN: ORIGIN #2
This series with a Bendis driven story, and Luna-powered art continues to be solid. It's a slow burn, but a good one.
RECOMMENDED





I also wanted to spotlight a couple smaller books...
The first is LULLABY
I'd been meaning to check this out for a while, I really like Hector Sevilla's art (he's doing the variant cover to issue 3 btw), and the fantasy classics with a twist is always fun. I finnaly snagged an issue, issue two, and I really enjoyed it. It was a bit hard to follow, but I liked it enough to read it again, and I think I'm up to speed. Good stuff
RECOMMENDED



The second is GORY LORI
The solicit in Previews on this one intrigued me, it's zombies, but with a plucky female lead. Now, I'd passed on countless other zombie books, but with my recent heightend interest in zombie flicks, I've started to sample some of the books. Gory Lori is not for everyone. The art is a touch subpar at times, but moslty richly detailed and full of personality. The story is a bit light, but fun enough to tune in for more. I'll pick up the next book.
MILDLY RECOMMENDED

Comic Thoughts

Well, It's decided, after reading so much about a couple books, I must seek them out (or more likely, pick them up next time I see them) - The books in question?
Elk's Run
and
Dragon Head

Elk's Run is an indy comic with heaps of praise, that I'd never heard a lick about story-wise. After coming across a brief review, the story sounds interesting, and that with the accolades has me sold on a closer look... Now to just find it. Look, I'm not burning for it enough to go online and pay cash, so I'll grab it at a shop, or most likely at one of the bigger upcoming cons (WonderCon perhaps?)

Dragon Head is a manga from TPop that sounds right up my alley (or anyone who enjoys TV's LOST, or comic's WALKING DEAD, ie survival drama/horror). Thing is, I love manga, but you know, the bulk of the shoujo, shonen, sh-somethin-er-other stuff that's rolled out there is not for me (it's for those teenage/pre-teen girls and boys at the bookshops). What I've read of Dragon's premise though, and the rave reviews, has me all up in this one though...
Go HERE for one of the reviews on it.

Gettin' funky on the website tip

Just updated the SRG.com main page with a new ultra-clean/uber-enhanced layout. More content, less clutter... all killer, no filler... you know.

Let me know what you think!
Anything I didn't think of, or more functionality it's lacking?
Any broken doo-dads I didn't catch?
Anyone get all tingly like me when they look at it? (okay, I'm stretching now)

Super Real Notes - Schedules

Super Real Notes are a production diary for my book, and an in depth look at self publishing.

As I've mentioned, the last week and a half has been crunch time.
Deadlines.
First, I was behind deadline to get issue 2 to the printers, because, well, I was behind on the artwork/production.
Second, I had the deadline to get files/solicit copy to the distributor to keep issue three solicited on my schedule I'm hoping to settle into.

So let's go into detail on the two deadlines a bit. Exercise some demons for me, and share some tidbits for you kiddies in TSL blogland.

1) Issue 2 files to the printer

As I discussed at length in the last notes section, Super Real is currently being printed by Regent Publishing Services, who have offices in New York, but print out of China. Being that they're overseas, their leadtime is a bit longer than a domestic printer, about 7 weeks.

Now, with a 7 week leadtime, and a release month of February for issue two, my drop dead date to have files to them and still have a hope for shipping on time had already past by the time I was freed up from my seasonal job. I had held out hope that I could put everything together by Monday the 9th, to still stand a chance, with some luck in cutting down the leadtime, of shipping the books by February. As it turns out, it took me a week beyond that, and I just finished sending the files Monday evening. (The rub here being, I could've rushed and gotten it out sooner, but this is my baby, so I like to massage the hell out of it, and make it the best it can be dang it!)

Also, in talking with the printer this last week regarding leadtime, it appears we have Chinese New Years at some point during the schedule, and things will get slowed down if anything, unfortunately. Though, I haven't received confirmation on what dates we're talking about, or how long they're shut down for the holiday.

The bottom line? It looks like issue two may ship up to a few weeks late, but it's still a little early to tell. You never know, things could go fast/smoothly, but in my experience, things tend to go the other direction. We'll see.

I'm just glad to have issue two completed.
It was a bit of a struggle, both creatively, and time wise.
It's hard work balancing self publishing with odd jobs to keep money coming.
I'm not knocking it though, I'm living my dream, and my wife's a saint to put up with the investment in time on my part (and ultimately hers), to say nothing of the financial impact.
Again, let me stress, I love it. You just really, or at least I do, get so caught up in the endless demands, business and creative, from doing 100% of everything, that it takes a toll. It's not all roses, yet... (I'm still learning folks), but there's nothing I'd rather be doing.
That mainly speaks to the business part of the issue two struggle, as I said creatively, this book was tough too.

Mostly, it's the nature of story, and where we're at with issue two. We're still setting things up, and I want to get to the part, just like the readers, where we play with all these cool toys. That's issue three. And yay, it's here.
As much as the artist side would love to skip some of this stuff, the storyteller won't, or can't allow it. The story is really born from all of this detail at the beginning, all the fun dialogue and characters stuff.
So it feels good to get it done!

2) Deadline and schedule for issue three and the series

The second, and smaller of my recently completed deadlines was having issue three set up with the distributor. You see, to be listed in Diamond's Previews catalog, product solicitation copy (the blurb in the catalog that describes the issue etc. along with, and this is the key here, the cover art) must be set up on the second Thursday of the month, four months before your product ships.

Yes, 4 months in advance.
You see, as you likely know, the Previews catalog comes out two months before the products listed are due to ship, so in order to get things rolling and set up, publishers are working many months ahead. Which is all fine and good, til that's actually YOU that's required to have things done, a season in advance, continuously. The biggest hurdle rising from this cycle is aquiring variant cover art, that far in advance (and I know the variants are another topic to cover here, as I'd love to talk about them, and why they're important to me).

Now, for new publishers, and/or new titles, Diamond also likes to see advance complete mock-ups for the first two to three issues prior to solicitation approval. You know, to try and ensure there aren't any more late comics than already plague the industry. Which means as a creator, you must have your first couple issues in the can before publishing, in theory at least.

So, here I am, trying to put together the files (and last few pages) for issue two and get that off to the printer, before I move on to the cover/s for issue three, which are due on Thursday the 12th. Well, as it became clear I wouldn't be finished with issue two in time to do this, I had to stop working on it and put together the cover for issue three, I think I started that on Tuesday PM, 36 hours to turn it out.

Well, I made the deadline, but shhh, don't tell, I haven't started work on the actual book yet. Everything's written, or I should say plotted, but there's no script yet. However, I know exactly how the book starts, and can put the script together easily as I go. But yeah, technically it should be done now, even though it doesn't come out til may, or have to go to the printers til March.
Crazy hunh?

Well anyway, the reason I stressed and labored to meet that deadline, was so issue three could be scheduled 3 months after issue 2, the same as from issue 1 to 2. I'd initially hoped to shoot for a bimonthly schedule, in 3 issue arcs, with a quarter off between, but that's now changed to tri-monthly (with hopefully no breaks) as I actually get in there and do the work.

Now you may think three months sounds like a lot of time between issues, or a long time to get them done, but trust me, when you don't work on it full time, and you do everything; the pencils, the colors, the letters, the production art, the advertising, the networking, the promotion, and all the business, shit adds up. I think 3 months is good. I like 3 months. And I look forward to the challenge of 3 months, and hopefully with a little luck, I'll be able to continue striving for that schedule for some time to come, or even be afforded the luxury of a shorter schedule. Cause I love what I do, and I love this story. I can't wait to bring it to life. I really can't.

So, back to issue three... I've got a block of time, finances providing, about a month left, where I'll have virtually slim to no daytime distractions. I plan on banging out issue three, with a smile on my face and a spring in my step! Issue three is really the issue where we start revealing a lot of what the book has to offer, and hopefully knocking some collective socks off.

In the meantime, I have to stay vigilant with promotion, and advertising, to spread the word about the buzz on issue one, and the exciting changes to come with issue three...

So please,
STAY TUNED!
jason

Blogger bug

I started my blog, TSL, back in April 05. At the time, I had full functionality and no complaints about Blogger, but some months later my image upload functionality disappeared. No notes about it in Bloggers "known issues", no talk about it on help boards, and no response from Blogger in regards to my issue. So for months now, I've been without FTP ability directly from the blog sw, which is quite a deterrent to posting images (easily), I could still go in to my FTP site and upload things manually, but that's a time consuming drag for something like posting on a blog, where the key is ease of functionality.

Well, I finally got around to poking around Blogger today for any update on the issue, and sure enough it was a known bug. Turns out in some cases, for whatever reason, you must fill out the username and password field in Settings / Publishing tab in order for the image icon/tool to work. So sure enough, my fields were blank (as I had it set up to manually log into FTP), and once the fields were populated...
viola!!
Image icon has returned, as seen here

Turns out they've even added some more formatting functionality!!

TALES FROM NETFLIX

Tales From Netflix are DVD reviews, where I tell you where you should put a disc in your Netflix rental queue - placing it at the top, burying it at the bottom, or not even bothering in the first place.

It's been like 3 weeks, so here's a quick rundown of the latest batch...

THE ADVENTURES of SHARK BOY & LAVA GIRL
Not one of Rodriquez's better movies. It's pretty much just a riff on his kids characters, with his usual quirky/techy touches we've come to expect from Spy Kids etc.
Don't bother, unless you dig on his films.(Or ya know, you're a kid)

BEST MEN

1997, Luke Wilson, Andy Dick, Drew Barrymore, Dean Caine, and more.
Don't put this in your queue, it's boring as hell.

THE CAVE

The Cave sucks, let's move on.
Do I really have to tell you not to put this in your queue?

CRY WOLF

A horror/slasher flick that's a bit too much by the numbers, with a couple moments of inspiration. Otherwise forgettable. And John Bon Jovi?
Put CRY WOLF at the bot... ah don't bother.

DARK WATER
This is the one with Jennifer Connely with scary plumbing. Besides the fact that it is a movie about haunted pipes, it's surprisingly good.
Put DARK WATER at the MIDDLE of your QUEUE

EXORCISM OF EMILY ROSE
fairly solid, but it's an exorcism flick. (and watch out for 3AM!!!)
Put this one at the BOTTOM of your QUEUE

FOUR BROTHERS
It's the mean streets of Detroit, and adopted brothers seek revenge Singleton-style. Honestly, it's enjoyable, on a lower level, and the best I've seen from Singleton since his impressive Boyz in the Hood (which isn't saying much - Shaft anyone?).
Put BROTHERS in the MIDDLE of your QUEUE

INTO THE BLUE
Jessica Alba in a swimsuit, Paul Walker in board shorts, that's the premise right?

Oh wait there's a half-way decent story that gets needlessly drawn out. Could've been real fun if they'd exercised a bit more caution in the script/editing.
Put INTO THE BLUE in the MIDDLE/BOTTOM of your QUEUE

RED EYE
A thriller in the classic sense, fairly akin to the tone of TV's 24. Interesting, and fun, if not a bit dumb. But hey, Colby from Survivor Australia's in it!
Put RED EYE in the middle of your QUEUE

SKELETON KEY
Probably the only Kate Hudson movie I've watched, and at my wife's insistence. Not bad, but ultimately hokey. Don't believe in HOODOO, don't do it, or your toast!!!
Put this one at the BOTTOM/MIDDLE (there I go again, wishy washy, too many movies) QUEUE

SMOKEY and the BANDIT

Yes, Smokey and the Bandit. Been on a lost gems of the late 70's kick, my wife's never seen, and you can't leave out the Bandit! Hadn't seen this in FOREVER. It's fun, and the cast still lights up the screen.
Put THE BANDIT at the TOP of your QUEUE if you haven't seen it, or the MIDDLE if it's been too long to remember.

THE TRANSPORTER 2
The first one was a poor excuse for some half decent action/fisticuffs, the sequel is an even poorer excuse, for some even sillier action/fisticuffs.
Put it at the BOTTOM of your QUEUE for some eye candy.

VALENTINE
From 2001, but we'd never seen it, and we generally watch the good, bad, but usually just-okay slasher/horror flicks (as in all of them). I actually liked the schtick for the killer here, wearing a cherub mask and killing high school classmates, but it's pretty much all been done, and it's an admittedly mild twist.
Don't bother putting this in your queue unless you're hard up, or a fan of the ex Mrs. Charlie Sheen (but that's redundant isn't it?)

THE WEDDING CRASHERS
Come on, who doesn't love Vince Vaughan and Owen Wilson? The movie's little more than a plot device to set these two loose, but that's fine by me.
Put WEDDING CRASHERS at the TOP of your QUEUE
LOCK IT UP!!

HEY DJ! - Garbage lives on your PC

Early last September we went and saw Garbage perform when they hit town, my wife got us tickets earlier that summer. I wasn't too hyped to see them as they'd not really excited me much lately.
It was a really good show though (I'd never seen them previously), and their new album did grow on me...

Any way, the local alternative station 94/7FM has started a series of concert broadcasts, and the latest is some of the Garbage performance we were at. It will be available through Monday AM HERE
It's should be worth a listen, and apparently they're rumored to be breaking up.

IN CASE U MISSED IT: Steven Grant VS the Sony eReader

Okay, so I've read Steven Grant's column off and on for years, so when I heard the annual Consumer Electronics Show was rolling in Vegas, I knew we'd get some notes from the floor courtesy of his MASTER OF THE OBVIOUS column on CBR. Steven mentions it every year as he's a bit of a tech-head, and from Las Vegas.

Sure enough, Steven checks in this week with his summary of this year's CES. Not only that, but he tackles the newly mentioned Sony eReader that various comics sites/folks (including myself) have keyed in on. Which is great, cause he's got a hands-on view of the device and speculation for it's role. Check it out (from the column):

Frankly, it's great. About the height and width of a medium-sized trade paperback (roughly two thirds the size of a comic book), a third of an inch thick, about 9 oz. Good screen, non-reflective with no backlight, so it imitates a printed page almost perfectly. The screen in crisp, no blur, and type can be adjusted to four sizes. It's not a game unit, it's strictly for reading, under normal reading circumstances. It has very few controls, but it has two sets of them to accommodate different ways people have of handling books. Power consumption is minimal, and it uses power only when turning pages (i.e., rewriting the screen) with a single battery charge having an estimated 10,000 page life. One fairly long book will easily fit into about one megabyte of memory, so a one gigabyte stick of memory can hold roughly 1000 books: whole libraries.

I liked it, but I doubt it'll revolutionize either the book or comics business, though Sony's clearly banking on it. They've obviously built it to be the iPod of books, with similar thinking behind it, and that's its flaw. Everything's proprietary, a system designed to make the originating company money on all ends.

and be sure and check out the rest of his thoughts on the device, and his column HERE

Key thing I didn't realize/think of, is that it's black and white only disply. That coupled with the proprietary technology/software and it sounds like the perfect digital comic reader is still pending... but perhaps closer at hand!

Super Real notes - Printing (overseas)

The last, and actually first, installment of the new Super Real notes, touched on some aspects of printing as one of the many topics. Fellow blogger Cary brought up the question regarding why I chose to print overseas, and that's actually a great question to cover in this here section, so I'll go ahead and answer that here, at length (cause I'm a long-winded muther-f'er)...

Here's the story,
Late 2004 (I was gonna say last year, but that would be wrong, as it's now ought-six), I had the good fortune of being a guest at a New England comic show, and the promoter wanted to have a 1000 print-run Super Real show exclusive book. Well, he'd worked with a couple other independent publishers for similar promotions, Super Real Graphics friends Arcana and Viper, and they were able to get him a full color book for a certain sum of money. So the promoter asked if I could get him a similar deal. Well, the price he was looking to spend was wayyyy low for a color book, and was actually low for black and white, low run, from what I'd seen. I suspected the companies he'd worked with were doing higher print runs, and piggy-backing their variants for him off existing print jobs, to save moola. Turns out they were, but in talking to them, I got hooked up with an overseas printer, LampPost.

LampPost had offices in LA but printed out of Korea, the uh, good Korea...
They actually quoted low-run, 2 to 3k, full color books in the neighborhood of like .60 cents each. A great price. The only catch was their leadtimes were longer, since, well, they were printing on the other side of the Pacific, about 6 weeks at the time.

So anyway, couldn't get the books turned around in time, so he settled for black and white, and we did 1k via Quebecor. This is the Super Real - Larry's Comics Preview, that even made a price listing in Wizard last year (ought-five).

Thing was, we paid the same for 1k black and white as we could've for 2k color with LampPost.

So time goes by and I hang on to my quotes for color books via LampPost, and meantime I'm wrangling distribution with Diamond.
Now Diamond distribution is a whole 'nother never-ending story, so we'll leave that be for now.
Like I was saying, time goes by, and we're into early summer of 05, and on the eve of San Diego Comic Con, while on vacation in Disneyland, I get the approval from Diamond. However, to solicit for November, I need to get them my solicit info for issue one ASAP. By mid July.
Now I'd been in limbo for a release date, and didn't want to hold things back so I shot for that scenario. Based on the numbers I'd received a few months prior from LampPost, I thought I could make a go at full color, so that's how I solicited in Previews.

I'd always wanted to do full color, for many reasons (again could fill a column on that), so I went ahead. Fully knowing my margins, brutal as they are on a low print book (once more, another column here folks), would be slim to none, even at the LampPost prices. My hopes were that I could find some other printers that could compete with their quote, and I'd be fine.

Well, I quickly found out LampPost's prices had gone up, and there wasn't really any North American comic printers who could come close to their numbers, not even remotely. However, while at Comic Con I'd heard rumors of a Chinese printer who had possibly even better pricing, and then towards the end of the show, I'd received a packet from their rep that was left with my lovely wife while I was away. This was Regent Publishing Services.

After getting back from the con I contacted Regent, and found out their prices, for the numbers I was looking at, 3 to 5000, were comparable to LampPost. At the time however, buzz was that LampPost was having problems with leadtimes, something I was already concerned about with overseas printing.

The rep at Regent was a nice guy, and I hadn't heard anything bothersome about their leadtimes (which they quoted as 6 to 8 weeks), so I decided to go with them for issue one.

Overall, I'm satisfied with the decision (especially in light of the way things played out with LampPost), and how the books turned out. Regent offers quality at good prices, and they got the job done in a timely fashion. There were certainly plenty of headaches along the way, but again, that's another story...

So, bottom line, if you want to print low run, entry level Diamond numbers - 1 to 5k, and print in color, you pretty much have to print overseas (or perhaps negotiate gang run prices if you're a larger/intermediate level publisher) to have the printing costs be under your net per book from Diamond. You see, Diamond pays 40% at most for your books, as they turn around and offer them at roughly 50% discount to retailers. Even at overseas prices, color printing leaves very little margin for books in that range. So, between the changing landscape of printers, and the continuing shrinkage of the small press market from bigger publishers squeezing more and more sales via marketing stunts, small press books that try to offer color are in a precarious state.

As touched on earlier, in light of LampPost discontinuing comic printing (except for Alias Comics, which has the same co-owner), everyone is switching to Regent, the printer I used, making them rather popular, and subsequently rather busy at the moment.

As I'd already listed issue two as full color via Previews/Diamond, I've gone through Regent again for it as well. So in the next few days I'll be FTPing them my files and the book will print and ship from China, via boat. Yes, boat. Kinda crazy hunh? (Although I should note, their offices are in New York.)

So, if anyone's heard of a lower-run comic book printer with competitive color pricing, be sure and let me know, otherwise, I may be looking at black and white for future issues...
I'd really like to continue in color though, as it's key to my artistic process, so who knows. Not to mention, as I continue to build business with Regent, I may wind up staying with them. They've treated me well so far.

So that's the story of how Super Real is printed, and why the books must first sail the pacific prior to reaching comic shops, hopefully with some helpful information along the way.

STAY TUNED
jason

IN CASE U MISSED IT: Links

Here's some cool columns and news items from this past week:

Steven Grant's Master of the Obvious features a nice summary of the current state of the industry, where he does a nice job of presenting the myths of the industry, and how they're holding us back. Basically a mild call-to-arms that the industry needs. Those who speak of how well it's doing are short-sighted at best.

Robert Kirkman's Buy My Books focuses on "how to break into comics", and he does a good job of giving the straight talk to those considering a comic book career. He's brutally honest, and more often than not, spot on in his comments here.

Over on Newsarama, they have a small piece on billionaire mogul Richard Branson stepping into comic book publishing with his company Virgin. This is a bit of an odd news item, but certainly someone of his wealth and stature playing in the industry could potentially be positive. Check out the details HERE
Yes, VIRGIN COMICS, you read right...

Buzzscope has some new columns, and more pending, included is Tania Del Rio's Read This Way. Today's column muses about the backlash to manga terminology stateside, from all angles. An interesting topic as we move forward with more and more manga-style US content. It is all comics, but as with music, movies, and other entertainment/art, folks like to break things down into categories and sub-categories...

Buzzscope also gave us Industry Buzz #4, where they gather some industry folks to look at 2005 and the year ahead in terms of what's happening, big picture in comics. Interesting.

And last, we have TheBeat's Heidi MacDonald reporting on an item from the floor of the Consumer Electronics Show about the new Sony Reader, and it's manga/comics digital viewing abilities. Speculating about it being another weapon in the arsenal of mounting digital tools for comic viewing. Check it out HERE
As I've been saying, it's just a matter of time before the right hardware gives a viable option to the portable digital viewing of comics, once the tool is found, there's no looking back. It's simply too expensive for print to remain a viable option for mass distribution, in comparison to digital...

Super Real notes

I'm going to try something different...
I've had the blog since April, but I was really just warming up for once Super Real was actually released, and had a chance at grabbing some eyes.
Well the book came out late November, but a combination of the holidays, and work (as in besides this wonderful comic book project) has left me with very little time to update TSL, the Super Real blog.
Well, the holidays have gone, and my seasonal job (lets never speak of it again) has ended, so I'm going to try and spend a little more time here.

I thought I'd start by including a new "behind the scenes" feature, with notes about production of the book (a peek behind the curtain). We'll see how well it's received. I know a lot of people read TSL, so I'd just like to implore you to go ahead and leave some feedback, to let me know if you're interested in what I'm saying.

That said, here's a little taste of where Super Real's at right now, it's a very crucial, and exciting time for the book.

I'm currently wrangling ads and ad swaps for issue two, which should go to press in the next week. It's due out in February, but prints overseas, so we'll see if we can get it turned around in time to hit our release schedule.
Issue one made it out in time, via the same overseas printer, so we're off to a good start, but I'm a tad late getting issue two underway, so the clock is ticking rather loudly.

Speaking of issue two, the numbers, or rather PO from Diamond, just came in. I'd like to share the numbers with you, but I'm looking to firm up some details with the distributor first, so stay tuned on that.
I can tell you, that even though we shipped number one after solicitation of number two, and did a promotion for an extra 1000 copies to shops, the numbers on number two still took the standard 40% drop in sales. I'd hoped to avoid that one folks, but it's unfortunately a reality of the current biz. It's cut-throat/do-or-die in the independent trenches. Mind you, this is a new product from an unknown, and even though I love our variant cover for issue two, Edward Pun is an unknown too, not a "name" like the super-cool Josh Howard that did our number one cover. So at least all the efforts made issue two succeed at the level it did. There's some silver lining here.
Not to mention the online support with some interviews, and reviews of number one.
Which was a bit of a catch-22, as I mostly did advance reviews on number one, leaving the online review community mostly tapped out for the actual release. I'm looking to change that with issue two.

Aside from that, things don't let up a bit. This is crunch time. Issue three solicitation must be set up with Diamond by next Thursday, and any promotions through them to tie into the May release/March Previews must be set up and timed. I'm looking at doing free posters to all shops, versus the half page Previews ads I'd been running. Mix things up a bit and try a different tactic to get the book in front of retailers. Especially since issue three is our breakthrough issue!

Yeah, you heard it here first, issue three will set the comic world on fire! I mean, it's when we get our characters in nano-costume, enhanced, and start to reveal all the crazy ideas and secrets for the book. It's gonna be nuts! Not to mention, the artwork's been developing over the first two issues and should start to kick more ass as we go along (if that's possible - please note: this last statement was a bit of hyperbole, I am in fact always striving to improve the ass-blasting ability of my artwork).

Oh yeah, which brings me to the other thing I've got to get really focused on, conventions!
It's already only one month away from my first ever WONDERCON!!
That's right, convention season '06 kicks off on February 10th, with COMIC-CON INTERNATIONAL's San Francisco show, WONDERCON.
Super Real will be in the artist alley for that one, and hopefully featured in the program too.
The wife, and even dog, and I are making a weekend getaway out of it, driving down from Portland (about a 10 hour trek). Should be fun!

At this point I have several shows planned:
2/10-2/12 San Francisco WONDERCON
3/05 Portland Comic Book Show
3/17-3/19 WIZARD WORLD Los Angeles - tenative
4/01-4/02 Seattle EMERALD CITY COMIC CON
7/20-7/23 San Diego COMIC-CON INTERNATIONAL
A whole west coast tour!
I'm still deciding if I'll venture out further and add any other dates...


Exciting times!

STAY TUNED
jason

IN CASE U MISSED IT: Eww purty...

Too bad it's a book and not a comic...

I SAW IT ON TV: Battlestar returns!

I saw a post in a forum that Battlestar Galactica was returning this week...

and sure enough
LINK
it is!

Don't miss out on part two of season two starting Friday!!!

MEANWHILE AT THE MOVIES... KONG VS NARNIA

No contest...

KONG IS THE WINNER!

Narnia was boring, and uninspired, but technically sound. I loved the books as a child, but it really felt like a half hour, to an hour, worth of story, drawn out way too long (kind of like this sentence).

Kong, though self indulgent, and at times over the top, was massive movie-screen magic, a sight to behold, and masterfully done. From the writing to the acting, directing, and of course the effects!
A must see movie.

TSL Best of 05

COMICS
Ultimates
Honorable mention - Livewires

MANGA
MBQ
Honorable mention - Sharknife

ANIME
Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex

MOVIES
Sin City
Honorable mention - Life Aquatic

DVD
Dead and Breakfast
Honorable mention - Star Wars Clone Wars Volumes 1 and 2

MUSIC
Bloc Party - Silent Alarm
Honorable mention - Ladytron - Witching Hour

TV
Entourage
Honorable mention - Lost

DISAPPOINTMENT of the YEAR
Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith

I feel like such a tool for nominating two Marvel Comics for comic of the year, but honestly, those are the two books that jump to mind.
The entire list was composed on the fly, I did not sit and analyze the selections. I may go back and rethink some, but who knows...

IN CASE U MISSED IT: Digital noise

'Nother development in the digitalization of comics...

This time it's an iTunes video development.
Looks like the recently re-released classic Body Bags is getting the digital treatment...
the full article is HERE

It does appear to be slightly animated and voiced over content to jazz things up for the iPod format. Just another potential avenue for future digital pathways...

Spirit of the Season

With most everyone taking a break for the holiday weekend, I find it appropriate to leave a post for the break, in the spirit of giving. Yesterday, Newsarama ran a piece from James Heffron, Publisher/Creator of TERRITORY 51, on his recent efforts for disaster relief on the gulf coast in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Not only is this a great piece of perspective for all comic fans, from a fellow enthusiast and creator, but for me it was especially touching, as I've had the pleasure of meeting Jim, and feel honored to call him a friend.

I met Jim and his brother Mike, Publishers of LAWDOG comics, at the 2004 San Diego Comic-Con, we were neighbors in the small press section, and hit it off right away and all talked shop for the next few days. This past year, the Heffron's were even so nice, as to include Super Real in their 2005 convention preview anthology. The Heffron's were not only nice guys, but have some great comics and ideas they're working on, but as you tend to do at conventions with the friendships you form, you get to know people in relation to comic books and the business, being separated by geography, it's harder to get to know them on a personal level. So what I didn't know, was that Jim was not only a stand up guy, publisher, and creator, but also a top notch citizen too.

All I can say is that it's inspiring, and that I hope you can take a moment, if you haven't already, and read the article, it's posted here HERE

Merry Christmas,
and Happy Holidays

Jason

IN CASE U MISSED IT: A pair of Marvel's

One of my favorite books in recent years, and indeed of all time, was Marvel's X-FORCE/X-STATIX by MILLIGAN and ALLRED, so needless to say, I was sad to see it go.

Another publishing effort of Marvel's that I was very fond of in recent years was the MARVEL MANGAVERSE, Marvel characters re-imagined from a contemporary Eastern creative standpoint.

Turns out both properties are set to make a comeback of sorts, both as mini series, and there's currently preview pages from both in the latest batch of advance looks from the publisher.

You can view some of the pages on BROKENFRONTIER.com HERE

Milligan and Allred can do no wrong together, and it's just really refreshing to see the Marvel Universe in a modern contemporary way (by an actual manga artist even)!

IN CASE U MISSED IT: Comic Book Digest returns! Is the industry saved?

Amid the flurry of downbeat stories on independent publishing this past week or so, a welcome ray of light is the announcement that ALIAS ENTERPRISES is relaunching their COMIC BOOK DIGEST preview book. Originally, about a year back, CBD was an oversized black and white monthly that previewed independent titles in 8 page chunks, along with some editorial, for a super-low cover price. It failed to get the penetration it deserved, but it was a great idea.

Now Alias has announced the plan to bring it back, from the Newsarama press release:

"full-color previews of upcoming Alias releases from LULLABY to TWIN BLADES, and everything in between for only 25 cents each month!

Originally a black and white preview book spotlighting various independent Comic book company projects, the all-new FULL COLOR, 32-page monthly CBD will feature at least two comic book previews in each issue, with each preview being a minimum 11-pages or more of art."

The books return sees it as a preview book for Alias titles, which is understandable since they're a publishing company now, so it's not quite the independent press tool it was before. However, they do mention that they're taking advertising for it, and also go on to indicate with proper sponsorship, they could reach a much wider distribution.

You can see the full article HERE

I think this is exactly the kind of idea that independent publishers need, a promotional publication previewing their books with a strong penetration to the direct market (the very thing they can't obtain with ads at the back of the Previews catalog). I only wish this was open to all publishers, though it remains to be seen what kind of advertising or rates they offer, or if they can actually achieveve or maintain the distribution they're talking about. The theory, paid participation from independent publishers, for broader exposure of their products with a mass distribution to the direct market, is one I floated around some message boards a little ways back, so I think it has some chance, and I also think it's exactly what independent publishers need! It will be interesting to see where this leads, not only for Alias, but for independent press and the market in general.

TALES FROM NETFLIX

Tales From Netflix are DVD reviews, where I tell you where you should put a disc in your Netflix rental queue - placing it at the top, burying it at the bottom, or not even bothering in the first place.

THE BAXTER

Charming and quirky enough, with a solid ensemble cast. Find out what it's like to always be the guy getting dumped for someone cool.
Put BAXTER in the MIDDLE of your QUEUE

BLOODY MALLORY

This French sci-fi/horror film is straight out of the pages of comic books, or at least in spirit. It's also like Buffy The Vampire Slayer if it were conceived by Grant Morrison, but done by the people who make Power Rangers. It's unique.
I'd say you could put MALLORY at the BOTTOM of your QUEUE, if you can take a little cheese with your movies

THE DUKES OF HAZZARD
I'd hoped the Broken Lizard involvement with the Dukes would still surprisingly kick my ass in the funny bone, but alas, it is just an overall entertaining film, nothing special. Which by the sum of it's parts, it should've been.
Go ahead and put the DUKES in the MIDDLE of your QUEUE

THE 40-YEAR-OLD VIRGIN
Sometimes hilarious, but generally just funny, Steve Carell nails the role (no pun intended). (Side note: I worked at an electronics store as a stock guy, which is the setup for Carell's character, so I can tell you the characters, and situations from the film are spot on in that regard...)
Put VIRGIN at the TOP of your QUEUE

THE ISLAND
Wow, this sure didn't do anything to convince me that Michael Bay is anything other than all flash, and 100% bad movies! It pisses away the fertile subject matter, and hodge podges together a goofy-ass, stupid, meandering mess of a movie. Yeesh!
Put THE ISLAND at the BOTTOM of your QUEUE if you dare!

NOTHING

From the creator of THE CUBE (the amazingly original quasy-sci-fi-indy from a few years back), comes another original offering. This time the protaganists find themselves transported to an existance of, well, nothing...
Put NOTHING in the MIDDLE of your QUEUE

PUDDLE CRUISER

From Broken Lizard, the writing/producing/directing/acting group that brought us such comedic gems as Super Troopers and Club Dread, only it's their first unreleased film from almost a decade back. CRUISER is a somewhat charming look at college love life, and the male ego, through the not-yet-honed lense of the crazy Broken Lizard group. It would stand on it's own as an okay romantic comedy, dude style, but it's also a little fun to see these guys in their earlier years...
Put CRUISER in the MIDDLE of your QUEUE

STACY

It's a zombie flick, but only one that could come from Japan. This new spin on the genre has teenage girls turn into zombies the world over, and deals with the need for their disposal, and it's impact on society. Only Japan could give us such a reflective perspective on the moral impact of zombies. It's also very goofy, with send-ups to horror/zombie movies along the way.
Put STACY at the BOTTOM of your QUEUE

COMICS REVIEW: 12/7 & 12/14 books PT 2

Here's part two of my reading stack from the past couple weeks (not counting books out today)...

DANGER GIRL: Back in Black #2
This one is a bit jarring. We go from full on espionage in the vein of the original books (but with the dudes), to the main plot of the girls on motorcycles. It's still not at all to the level of charm the series is known for over all, and the characters come off flat, especially the villains.
The tease at the end is fun though...
NOT RECOMMENDED

DMZ #2
I'm still really digging DMZ. The concept is so strong, it's hard not to. This issue gets us deeper into the ground level of our NYC war zone, and is fairly strong through-out. Though I'd rather see some more action from this set up, then trips to makeshift children's hospitals. The scene with the snipers is really smart and interesting though...
RECOMMENDED

LOCAL #2
I really liked the first issue from this series. Issue two is good, but really light. Both in terms of story, and pay off. The first issue had all the same elements, namely crisp black and white inky art, and true to life characters and settings, but it also had a hook, something unexpected. Issue two lacks anything extraordinary...
MILDLY RECOMMENDED

MARVEL ZOMBIES #1
Scanned through some online reviews of this before I'd read it, and they were pretty mixed bag, so I was pleasantly surprised to read it, and see just how much Kirkman's allowed to cut loose with zombie-fied versions of the Marvel U.
A really strong start to the issue, and a fun book over all.
RECOMMENDED

The NECROMANCER #3
Gosh, it seems like all of the books this time are weaker entrants from a promising series. I really enjoyed issue 1 of this title, but the latest issue didn't grab me at all. I didn't know or care what exactly was going on, except that it was a continuation of issue two's limbo for the protagonist. And by the end of the issue she's set up back in school. Say wha?
MILDLY RECOMMENDED

ROCK'N'ROLL
Seems like this book was previewed AGES ago, and it's finally out. The promise of the sample art is found in spurts in the book, but I guess we've got art by committee. It all fits together well, but some artists are stronger than others, and the story/sequentials can be confusing to follow. The upside? There's virtually no text, so it's easy to re-read and figure out. Even then though, I'm not sure how this is supposed to work when we know nothing of the characters to care at all about what's happening. I still say...
RECOMMENDED

IN CASE U MISSED IT: Comics distribution notes

Haven't seen this mentioned around the comics sites, but Publishers Weekly has a piece up today HERE on the troubles of FM International, one of the smaller distributors who've recently taken a blow when one of their largest remaining vendors went exclusive with Diamond.

The article seems to be just more of the speculative musings on the state of the US industries distribution, and the potentially rocky future for the current Diamond competitors in light of the continuing exclusivity of larger independent publishers. It doesn't sound like FM have actually thrown in the towel quite yet.

It's too bad, just as Diamond is positioning to do less distribution of independent and small press, their moves are affecting the stability of the alternative distributors. I don't proclaim to understand enough to make an informed judgment here, but it does seem ironic to say the least. This will of course take time to see, both, to what extent Diamond distances itself from small press, and what, if any, viable alternatives to them develop. I'd hate to think what little alternative distribution does exist is in danger of dwindling further.

Super Real, as you may know, is self-published, and therefore subject to Diamond's new ordering minimums, and it does still remain to be seen how the second issue performs. I tried to do as much as I could to mitigate the standard 40-50% drop-off from first to second issue (overshipping issue one, soliciting issue two after number one was released), but if those moves are unsuccessful, the book could quickly be fighting for its distribution life, before it's even had a chance to grow.
We shall see.
I'm optimistic.
I've gotten this far, I can make it work, but I can't do it without all of you however. So please, keep pre-ordering Super Real, and telling your friends about the book!

Thanks to fellow small presser, Javier Hernandez (ElMuerto.com), for the tip on the story!

COMICS REVIEW: 12/7 & 12/14 books PT 1

Didn't make it to the shop last week, so I've got 2 weeks of books to go through.
Here's the top of the stack...

BAD PLANET 1

Thomas Jane, Steve Niles, and Tim Bradstreet headline this new image sci-fi entry. The pencils are by Lewis Larosa (I think, he's listed first along with Bradstreet as "illustrated"), a name I'm unfamiliar with, but the art is impressive. The opening sequence reminds me of one of the bits from the HEAVY METAL motion picture, a couple of spaced out aliens falling down on the job, and dropping some kind of giant alien pod on a collision course with Earth.
Now, I can tell you what happens in the first issue generally, and tell you it's generally really good, but unfortunately as nice as the artwork is, it's a bit dark and though it's ultra detailed, it struggles to clearly express what's actually happening, specifically. Dunno, guess you gotta see it. Maybe it's me.
I did really enjoyed this though, and look forward to more...
RECOMMENDED

BLACK HARVEST 2

Josh Howard's latest creator-owned mysterious girl series was off to a good start, and issue two doesn't disappoint, but things only move forward just a bit. That's okay, I've a feeling things will start to cut loose soon.
His trademark art doesn't disappoint either.
RECOMMENDED

THE ULTIMATES 9

Speaking of things cutting loose! Issue 9 of the Ultimates does just that, and then some! Everything Millar set up in the first 8 issues pays off big, as in big screen action and global scale mayhem! The traitor's revealed, figuratively and literaly, and so are a group of villains who look like our heroes polar opposites. I'm sure they're all Ultimate versions of Avengers or Marvel Universe villains, but I'm not going to try and figure that out, I'll wait for Millar to spell it out in the final chapters.
I'm sure this would read much better collected, as the action here is a bit breezy for a stand alone issue. Or better yet, if it were a monthly. That's the only mark here really...
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

IN CASE U MISSED IT: Marvel goes digital

So yeah, Marvel really quitely got back into digital comics/content again this week. Joey Q (publishing EIC) commented recently about a change in his perceptions of digital comics that's in line with the company's new effort.

The future is getting closer all the time...
You can check out Marvel's latest version of online books HERE

IN CASE U MISSED IT: Speakeasy and the state of the independents

Speaking of Buzzscope.com, they have a really great in depth look today, at the recently announced changes from independent publisher Speakeasy, that really touches on a lot of what's brewing behind the scenes in independent publishing.

It's full of candid quotes from the publisher and many of it's creators, as well as other comments as they relate to the whole current state of affairs.

Must read material for anyone following independent publishing today.
It can be found HERE

INDUSTRY RANT: Spider-Man must be stopped!

Are you a comics fan?
Do you frequent comic book news sites?
Well then you must be familiar with these...

They've gotten to be a regular thing around the sites.
Now I realize this may come off as petty or bitter, but GOD DAMN, enough already!!!

Every major news site runs these "variant" Spider-Man covers (along with every other manufactured sell-out/reprint from the big two) as front page news. The difference with these, is they're well, silly. That's the point, I know. But most of all, this particular promotion is just endless... These special Marvel "promotions" get treated like big news by the sites, while smaller publishers, LIKE ME, can't get their previews even listed on the side columns.

Look, I'm a big fan of the bigger news sites, I link to, and post comments on them all the time. And for the most part, they do feature a wide range of content. I've even gotten feature coverage, and many positive reviews from them.
I just think it's a little silly to treat this particular promotion the way they do. It just highlights their tendency to skew towards the big publishers. Which ya know, is simple business, but I'd hope on the internet, the vast infinite canvas that it is, they'd make more time or space for the little guys.

But that's why there's other sites, smaller sites, willing to talk with and feature smaller creators like myself. I'd just encourage you to seek those sites out if you care about more than the latest Spider-Man market manipulated sell-out reprint, or Infinite DC cluster fuck sneak peek.

I read and enjoy a ton of stuff from the big publishers, and I like to see coverage of them as much as the next guy, but as a publisher, I find it a little disappointing that my opportunity comes at the expense of excessive promotions like this.

Here are some sites I frequent, or have found recently, that offer something different from the bigger ones:
BrokenFrontier
BuzzScope
ComicAvalanche
ComicBookScoop
JazmaOnline
SilverBulletComicbooks
TheComicFanatic

IN CASE U MISSED IT: SIN is in!

Out on DVD yesterday, it's the UNCUT, special edition version of SIN CITY.
I absolutely loved the film, and have been waiting for this version of the DVD to watch it again, but it's on my Christmas list, so I'll have to wait a little bit longer...

SIN CITY is the blueprint for all Hollywood comic book adaptations, an absolutely brilliant translation to the screen!

MAKE MINE MANGA: Psy-Comm

My local shop's been kind of spotty on pulling manga sing-ups for me lately, but admittedly, I've been kind of spotty with my sign ups, so perhaps it's on me... Anywho, there've been some recent OEL manga released by TokyoPop I was planning on checking out, but missed, well I was able to pick up one last night, PSY-COMM.

The premise of PSY-COMM was interesting enough, a corporate-run future where wars are waged for entertainment and profit, that follows some psychically enabled soldiers through the minefield of this setup. Besides the action themes, what really drew me to the book was the promising artwork of Shane Granger, who employs an obvious influence from one of my faves Masamune Shirow, among others. Turns out the book, and the art are fairly solid. A fast, enjoyable read. The story, and artwork both falter from time to time, the story, seeming to come in and out of focus and a bit lacking in characterization, with the art being a bit rushed at times. Otherwise PSY-COMM is all good. The themes they play with (kind of like using the X-Men in a sci-fi anime setting) and potential abilities of the artist are more than enough to prime you for the next chapter.

Give PSY-COMM a shot if you like anime like Robotech, sci-fi, or comics that spin contemporary takes on superpowered teams.

IN CASE U MISSED IT: X-static about more!

X-Statix (formerly, briefly, X-Force), the zany creation of Peter Milligan and Mike Allred, was one of my favorite books of recent years. One I was very sad to see go.

As announced a while back, the creators are due to make a return of sorts to their Marvel comics X-Men spin-off property. Milligan writing, and Allred finishing artwork on a Dead Girl story. Dead Girl was always my least favorite of all the many team members, and I was unsure who's art Allred would be inking, but Newsarama had a preview the other day, and things look great!

You can check out the feature HERE
And look for X-Statix Presents: Dead Girl next month.

IN CASE U MISSED IT: Earthlight ahead

I really dug Stuart Moore's sci-fi writing on 2004's PARA from Penny Farthing Press, and Dark Horse's LONE series from their short lived Rocket line.

Well looks like Stuart's got a sci-fi OEL manga coming from TokyoPop next year called EARTHLIGHT.
Newsarama does a feature on it, and not only does the story and concept sound amazing, a near future space colonization riff with tons of nice little details/wrinkles, but the artwork from newcomer Chris Schons looks fabulous!

Check out the feature HERE

TALES FROM NETFLIX

Tales From Netflix are DVD reviews, where I tell you where you should put a disc in your Netflix rental queue - placing it at the top, burying it at the bottom, or not even bothering in the first place.

THE AMERICAN ASTRONAUT

Sci-fi tale of an astronaut for hire, made on a shoesrting budget. Imaginative, but wallows a bit too much in it's musical tendencies...
Oh, and I can't get over how much the main actor (the astronaut), looks like Hugh Jackman's Wolverine...
Put this one at the BOTTOM or your QUEUE

DEUCE BIGALOW: EUROPEAN GIGOLO

Holy shit this was one funny movie! Stupid, potty, gigolo humor, but wayyyy better than expected. The original was fun, but this one is great! Long live the secret society of man-whores!
Put DUECE at the TOP of your QUEUE

EVERY WHICH WAY BUT LOOSE

My wife had never seen these classic Eastwood action/comedy romps, so it was high time to watch this 1978 classic again.
It was a solid, and unexpectedly less "slick" than I remembered (that was the over-the-top sequel, see next). Great film!
Put this one at the TOP of your QUEUE
ANY WHICH WAY YOU CAN

Any which takes all of the elements of the original and has more fun with them. Perhaps too much fun, but a must see for the uninitiated. The original is better in almost every way though...
Put this sequel in the MIDDLE of your QUEUE

LEPRECHAUN: BACK 2 THA HOOD

Actually caught this one on cable, so it's a bit of a cheat, I would've never rented it... That said, the reason we ended up watching it, besides being horror nuts, was that it was actually pretty entertaining.
After looking this one up (and as the title implies), it turns out this 2003 film is actually the second Leprechaun movie "in the hood"... who knew?
Put this one in the BOTTOM of your QUEUE

MR AND MRS SMITH

You'd be hard pressed to have more fun with a movie. It, I'm sure, plays better to those who've actually been married. If the final act would've been better, this would have been incredible. It's still very good! Pitt and Jolie have great chemistry, and director Liman is one of my faves.
Put the Smith's at the TOP of your QUEUE!

THE POLAR EXPRESS

Liked this better than I thought. It does get annoying to see every other cg character based on and voiced by Tom Hanks, but the cg train ride is a spectacular experience at times, and the North Pole is a mild treat.
Put EXPRESS in the MIDDLE of your QUEUE

SHREDDER

This is a thro-away slasher flick, based on boarders at an abandoned lodge/slope, but it's a lot of fun. Basically, a skier is out to whack boarders for breakin the rules of the slope... yes it's whacky (get it?)!!
Put SHREDDER at the TOP of your QUEUE (If you like campy-fun slasher flicks like Scream or Club Dread)

SKY HIGH

Another one I was really surprised at how much I enjoyed! I'd heard nothing but bad things about this, and sure it's a comic book movie, not based on a comic book, but that doesn't stop if from having campy fun with the superhero genre, and there's a great cast.
Put SKY HIGH at the TOP of your QUEUE

THE WARRIORS
With Rockstar turning this 1978 cult classic into a video game, and my vague memories from it's original release promotions, with all the crazy gang get ups, it was high time to check this one out. Really glad I did, it was an original premise, that pits a gang of nine against a city, and takes you along for the ride!

Put THE WARRIORS at the TOP of your QUEUE