It’s new comic book day, what’s everyone getting? It was pretty quiet around the tubes yesterday as we wind down the year.
Around the Blogs:
Bleeding Cool – DC Books Return To Barnes & Noble’s Shelves – Well that was quick.
The Mary Sue – Mutant Rights: That Time the (Real) Federal Government Ruled On Whether The X-Men Were Human – I vaguely remember this.
My New York Comic Con coverage has begun to trickle out, along with a lot of reviews I wrote up over the weekend. While you wait to see what today has in store, here’s news you might have missed.
Around the Blogs:
ICv2 – Amazon Poses a Threat to Publishers – And this after they ruined it for people wanting to purchase physical copies of graphic novels. I wonder if Barnes & Noble will carry these books?
The Mary Sue – Grant Morrison Says His 2012 Wonder Woman Series “Needs Sex” – Que controversy before people have read it in 3…2…1…
Gizmodo – Barnes & Noble Might Be Ruining Comic Books for Everyone – An interesting take, but kind of ignores the hundreds of comic book stores you can purchase copies at or the fact you can get them cheaper online shipped to you.
ICv2 – ‘Dark Knight’ Rises to ‘Occupy Wall St.’? – Bruce Wayne is SO joining the protest.
Kotaku – Batman: Arkham City Creators Will Compensate Those With Missing Catwoman Codes – Well that’s nice, giving people something they paid for….
Wired – Batman: Arkham City Director Defends Controversial Catwoman Code – Why shouldn’t new purchases get a bonus?
Kotaku – There’s a Mystery DC Superhero Game Coming in 2012 – Don’t get too excited, not like comic book based games have the best record as far as quality.
Con Coverage:
MTV Geek – Chad Michael Murray On His New Comic Book, ‘Everlast’ At NYCC
Bleeding Cool – Fifty Things I Discovered At New York Comic Con
IGN – NYCC: The Age of Apocalypse Returns
MTV Geek – Incredibly LARGE Cosplay Outfits From New York Comic Con!
Kotaku – New York Comic-Con Day Five Delivers Adventure Time, Silent Hill and Cosplay With A Side of Bacon?
The weekend is here and it’s a long weekend! Yay! To kill some time, here’s news you might have missed.
Around the Blogs:
Death & Taxes – Do Rick Perry and Superman Have the Same Swagger? – Does that make Romney Bizzaro Superman?
ComiChron – DC reboot boosts September 2011 unit sales – Anyone shocked about this?
The Mary Sue – Netflix Strikes Exclusive Deal For AMC’s The Walking Dead – Ok, maybe I won’t give up my Netflix.
The New York Times – Barnes & Noble in Graphic Novel Dispute – Having talked to publishers stores like Barnes and Noble sell magnitudes more in graphic novels compared to comic book stores.
Con Coverage:
The Beat – Dont forget: this weekend is GeekGirl Con in Seattle
Around the Tubes Reviews:
CBR – Animal Man #2
ICv2 – Gon Vol. 1
USA Today – Holy Terror
MTV Geek – Snarked #1
MTV Geek – Solatorobo: Red The Hunter
CBR – The Walking Dead #89
I don’t think local comic book shops need to worry about Barnes & Noble carrying comics. The selection was poor and in poor condition with comics over a month old. Plus the comics were on the top two rows of the bottom shelf, so the average person isn’t going to see them. Not all that impressive which is weird since their graphic novel selection is usually pretty solid.
I’ll be checking out the two other stores near by to see if this is par.
Official Press Release
Brimstone and the Borderhounds to be Featured in Barnes & Noble
Hound Comics, Inc. announces increase in distribution at the world’s largest book retailer and inked deal with distribution powerhouse, Diamond Comics Distribution.
New York, New York, May 16, 2011 — Hound Comics, Inc. CEO William ‘Brimstone’ Kucmierowski announced that Barnes & Noble Bookstores increased the distribution of the flagship brand Brimstone and the Borderhounds. Headlining their regular distribution, Brimstone and the Borderhounds will be featured in over seven hundred Barnes & Noble retail locations across the nation.
As of this coming July, the enlargement of the distribution will be coupled with special promotional placement at all Barnes & Noble stores. Brimstone announced that with this massive increase of distribution comes a major boost in the title’s visibility. “I’m overwhelmed by the magnitude of the recent events taking place with Barnes & Noble,” says Brimstone. He continues with, “We here at Hound Comics plan on grabbing the bull by the horns and utilizing this spectacular opportunity to continue the rapid growth of our company.” “We are looking to up the ante with a promise that you will certainly notice the difference in the overall quality of our product, right down to each line drawn” says Hound Comics VP, Sajad Shah.
With the premiere of issue 4, the Brimstone and the Borderhounds: Another Cold Day story arc comes to an end. When asked what the next step was going to be for the growing comic company, CEO Brimstone announced that “There are certainly a few surprises in the fourth installment of the Borderhounds series which set us up and allows us to begin the ongoing series. No worries to the fans though, the story hasn’t been fully told as of yet! We will be launching our special Halloween edition entitled, ‘Brimstone and The Borderhounds presents Necrocide’ for our September/October special edition which showcases the eclectic art of Hound Director of Graphic Design, Thiago F. Castro. Our plans are to then resume in October/November with the first stand alone essentially re-kicking off the series. We will continue the Brimstone saga with the fifth installment being the beginning of our one-shot storylines.” “There are new titles in the works from the Borderhounds team that are really going to please the readers.” says Marcello Carnevali, co-CEO and lead writer. “We look forward to continuing to build our independent company for years to come.”
Hound Comics, Inc. also announced that they have finally inked a deal with comic distribution powerhouses, Diamond Distribution and ‘Brimstone and The Borderhounds’ will be available to comic shop retailers as soon as the July Previews catalog.
Catch theBORDERHOUNDS team LIVE at Wizard World Entertainment’s Big Apple Comic Con May 21st – 22nd at the Penn Plaza Pavilion, NYC; June 17th – 19th at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia; and August 11th – 14th in Chicago at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont.
For more information on Brimstone and The Borderhounds, please visit the Official Website at http://www.theborderhounds.com/ or for Hound Comics, Inc, visit http://www.houndcomics.com. Media Inquiries please contact pr@houndcomics.com or call 516-350-0123.
It’s a pretty quiet weekend so far, but here’s some of the news and a few reviews for you.
Around the Blogs:
Bleeding Cool – Greg Capullo To Draw Batman For DC Comics – His style seems like it’d be a good match for the character.
The Mary Sue – Comic Books Are Coming to Barnes & Noble – They tend to have an ok graphic novel section, so we’ll see how the monthly issues are treated.
Spinoff Online – Is Marvel Studios Expanding Too Fast? – I’ve been thinking about and wondering the same thing. Three movies in one year seems like a lot and 2012 has at least two.
Con Coverage:
The Beat – Stumptown 2011: More promised pictures
Around the Tubes Reviews:
Seattle PI – Buffy Season Eight Volume Five: Predators And Prey
Now Read This – Showcase Presents Eclipso
Official Press Release
ZENESCOPE PLANS TO RELEASE BARNES & NOBLE EXCLUSIVE COVER
Zenescope Entertainment has announced plans to release a Barnes & Noble promotion exclusively with the national retail chain. Starting February 15th and ending March 15th, 2011, any customer who purchases Zenescope’s THE WAKING Trade Paperback ($12.99 MSRP) through any Barnes & Noble retail location can receive a free limited edition copy of Zenescope’s Grimm Fairy Tales #58 comic book with an exclusive cover.
Zenescope has recently promoted other books with such giveaways through Spencer’s Gifts. The Spencer’s promotion was so successful that the limited edition comics completely sold out and some buyers soon found their exclusive copies were selling for up to $100 and more on eBay. “The Spencer’s promotion was a way to push our books at a national retail chain while giving fans a chance to essentially grab a copy of a rare, limited edition prize they couldn’t find anywhere else.” said CEO Joe Brusha, “We know the Barnes & Noble Exclusive will have the same result. Fans can simply purchase a popular book of ours in THE WAKING and be rewarded with a very limited edition comic that will only increase in value.” Customers are encouraged to visit Zenescope’s website, download and fill out the Barnes & Noble Exclusive Form, then snail mail, e-mail or fax the form along with their receipt to Zenescope in order to take advantage of this free exclusive offer. Go to www.zenescope.com for more details.
Zenescope Entertainment was founded by Joe Brusha and Ralph Tedesco in 2005 and has quickly grown into one of the top comic book and graphic novel publishing companies in the world. Zenescope’s Grimm Fairy Tales and subsequent spinoff series such as Escape From Wonderland, Neverland and The Piper, which put a dark twist on classic fables, are some of the best-selling and longest running original independent comic books on shelves today. Zenescope’s licensed titles include the on-going, critically acclaimed Charmed series, based off of the long-running popular television series, as well as Se7en and Final Destination, based off of New Line Cinema’s successful film franchises.
Official Press Release
Barnes & Noble is ‘Hound Bound’ with Brimstone and the Borderhounds
Brand new celebrity driven comic book hits national book store circuit 1/11/2011
New York, New York January 2011 — Hound Comics is proud to formally announce that its flagship brand, “Brimstone and The Borderhounds” will officially be on the shelves of Barnes & Noble and Book World retail stores nationwide on Tuesday, January 11th! On this date, the brand new comic book will be available in bookstores as well as online worldwide via Amazon.com.
Hot off the official launch signing held at Borders Books & Music (October 2010 – Westbury, NY) this past fall, the “Hounds” are excited their fans will have full access to their latest endeavor.
“Brimstone and the Borderhounds” is a comic book based on the persona of professional wrestler, Brimstone; although the book itself has nothing to do with wrestling. The universe surrounding the Borderhounds is a combined creation of lead writer Marcello Carnevali and Brimstone, with the artistic talents of Sajad Shah, Thiago Castro and Allen Chickering. The book as a whole has garnered a wide range of media attention and extraordinary reviews.
What is so special about this you may ask? The Hounds have made history by becoming one of the few, if not only; independent comic creators to have its title distributed by the self-proclaimed, “Largest Book Retailer in the World.” Not since Image Comics took a stand in the direction of creator-owned licenses has an indie company declared war on the industry by shouting, “Hey! We are here and we aren’t going anywhere!”
Hound Comics is making a major impact and taking the comic industry by storm. “We are truly looking to raise the bar in terms of quality from the storyline right down to the printing. This is certainly not your average comic book, we guarantee more bang for your buck!” says Brimstone, lead character of The Borderhounds.
Considering all the ‘celebrity’ driven media and product these days, it seems rare to have a celeb at the helm that is actually 110% hands on. That being said, William ‘Brimstone’ Kucmierowski is determined to chart a path to success for his crew that rivals their counterparts who’ve cornered the market for several years. “We are not looking to take the place of the big boys, however we’d like to eventually be considered an equal or an accepted alternative to the ‘norm’.”
Brimstone and the entire Hound Comics creative team will be hitting the road in 2011 embarking on a promotional tour with the convention kings of comics and pop-culture, Wizard World Entertainment. “Brim has had a very long and prosperous relationship with Wizard so it would seem only natural to align ourselves with them on such a vital tour. Wizard conventions are one of the industries best resources to personally meet and acquire direct feedback from our fans,” says Carnevali. The first appearance for the new year will take place in Miami on February 26-27 at the Miami Airport Convention Center where Hound Comics and Floating Pear Productions will offer an exclusive world premiere sneak peek at the title sequence for “Brimstone and The Borderhounds: The Animated Series” with theme music courtesy of Ron ‘Bumblefoot’ Thal of Guns N’ Roses.
One thing is for sure; progress. A video game being published by SGN Games for future download on both the PS3 PlayStation Network and Xbox 360’s Xbox Live Marketplace, the ‘Brimstone’ action figure in production with Shocker Toys and animated series being produced by Floating Pear Productions. These Hounds are obviously looking to play ball with the top dogs!
Official Press Release
RADICAL PUBLISHING’S SHRAPNEL CREATOR LAUNCHES TRADE PAPERBACK AT BARNES AND NOBLE
November 10, 2010, Los Angeles – Radical Publishing is proud to announce that critically acclaimed Idlewild trilogy author and Sci-Fi Channel series writer Nick Sagan and rising star Clinnette Minnis will be discussing and signing copies of Radical’s sci-fi military epic Shrapnel: Aristeia Rising and Shrapnel: Hubris on TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 16, 7:00 P.M. at the Barnes & Noble store located at 91 Old Country Road, Carle Place, NY 11514. Both Nick Sagan and Clinnette Minnis will be on hand to answer questions, chat with fans and sign copies of their work.
Co-created by Nick Sagan and Mark Long and the first of a three-part series, Shrapnel: Aristeia Rising introduces readers to a planet in peril and a people divided. As the Solar Alliance increases its sphere of influence across the Solar System, the citizens of one planet, Venus, led by former Marine and war hero, Vijaya “Sam” Narayan, has the guts and bravery to stand against their reign. Shrapnel:Hubris follows Sam and her resistance force as they expand their battle against the Solar Alliance to Mars and beyond, giving the downtrodden a chance for freedom while embarking on their epic struggle.
Both Shrapnel: Aristeia Rising and Shrapnel: Hubris are available in trade paperback editions and can be purchased on the day of the event. Writer/Creator Nick Sagan and Shrapnel: Hubris co-writer Clinnette Minnis will host a discussion about their inspiration for creating Shrapnel followed by a signing session.
About Radical Publishing
Radical Publishing is a leading creator of science fiction, action-adventure and fantasy based comic books and graphic novels . The company has produced award winning properties, including; Hercules, Legends, Aladdin, Caliber, Hotwire, FVZA, and The Last Days of American Crime. Founded in 2007 by Barry Levine and Jesse Berger, whose vision was to develop high-concept stories intertwined with leading edge artwork created by the industry’s marquee talent. For more information, visit www.radicalpublishing.com, www.facebook.com/radicalpublishing, www.twitter.com/radicalcomics, www.myspace.com/radicalpublishing.
