this mortal coil: indy publisher red eye press is holding an amateur pin-up contest featuring characters from their series, mortal coils. entries must be submitted by feb 28th to MCpinup@captionbox.net in low-resolution (72 dpi) and at full size (at least 10.25" x 6.5, portrait layout); b/w and grayscale only. the winner will be published in the mortal coils trade paperback collection (cover below) coming later this year.


posted by peter!  2:43 PM EST permalink

pretty pictures: newsarama has a seven page preview of david mack's upcoming fully-painted kabuki series called, alchemy. yeah, the plot doesn't exactly move like a john grisham novel, but it's still one of my favorite books to look at.


posted by peter!  2:31 PM EST permalink

comix as art: the zeitgeist gallery in cambridge, massachusetts, is holding an art comix exhibit from feb 24th thru mar 7th, with an opening reception on feb 28th featuring guests rick altergott, ariel bordeaux, dean haspiel, and josh neufeld. the show also features work by harvey pekar, chris ware, and jim woodring, among many others. click the poster below for more details. this has been a public service announcement.


posted by peter!  2:21 PM EST permalink

Friday, February 06, 2004

swamped: very busy today, so just a quick note about david b's epileptic, since a number of people have emailed us about it. as many of you are aware, the first volume was published last year in english by l'association (distributed in the states by fantagraphics), and the second and last volume was supposed to be published sometime this year. well, it looks like pantheon books has picked up the english language publishing rights and will be releasing a complete volume (containing the material from both volume one and what was to be volume two) in january, 2005. if you haven't read it yet, i'd still suggest checking out the first volume as it's a very dense (and excellent) read.


posted by peter!  4:19 PM EST permalink

Thursday, February 05, 2004

comics on the verge: from the baltimore citypaper online, "Rather than treating such artists as awkward party guests, however, the exhibition of original comics artwork now up at the Maryland Institute College of Art gives them a bear hug and sloppy kiss. Comics on the Verge, a traveling show that comes to MICA after debuting in 2002 at San Francisco's Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, is likely the most impressive and comprehensive collection of underground and alternative comics art ever exhibited in North America. Its nearly 100 pieces from 39 cartoonists showcase a dizzying range of comics." click here for the rest of this surprisingly interesting piece.


posted by peter!  1:07 AM EST permalink

not comics: cory doctorow's second sci-fi novel, eastern standard tribe, is rolling out to bookstores as i type. because he's such a swell guy, you can download it for free right here. his strategy seems to be working as a half dozen people have personally notified me about it today. it's a good read, as is his previous effort: down and out in the magic kingdom.


posted by peter!  12:40 AM EST permalink

i'm really, really in the wrong business: in icv2's recently released annual market report, they're estimating that "the manga market was the fastest growing area of pop culture last year, with 75-100% growth to an estimated market size of around $100 million at retail". plus: "Anime continued a long string of winning years in 2003, and while its 10-20% growth rate was a fraction of manga's, it's still a rapidly growing category by any other standards. We estimated the total market for anime at $550-$600 million at retail."

meanwhile, newsarama is (finally) picking up on the trend by launching a regular manga column that promises to induce fangasms among the hebephrenic virgin horde.
posted by peter!  12:27 AM EST permalink

i'm half the blog i used to be: matt's off to japan for a few weeks and should be awol from these here parts. i'm hoping he brings me back a kaba-kick (shamelessly stolen from diepunyhumans.com):


posted by peter!  12:10 AM EST permalink

Wednesday, February 04, 2004

i might have to connect the tv again: warren ellis has revealed that his comic book series, global frequency, has been greenlit as a pilot for the WB, produced by survivor creator mark burnett. assuming that it doesn't feature a naked richard hatch, they might be onto something here, but i'm obviously biased.


posted by peter!  2:20 AM EST permalink

too big to blog: but i thought this was kinda clever. a few weeks ago, some of you might remember that we posted a preview of damon hurd's the white elephant and adam sacks' salmon doubts. alternative comics has since produced an advert that features both creators interviewing each other. i've uploaded the pdf right here if anyone's interested.
posted by peter!  2:12 AM EST permalink

the nicest guys in comics: my pal john heebink is doing the art chores on soulsearchers #66, coming this may from claypool comics. for those of you wondering where the wit of peter david went, look no further:


posted by peter!  2:06 AM EST permalink

i'm in the wrong business: first off, congrats to hidemi fukuhara for becoming the new cfo and vice chairman of manga publisher, viz. mr. fukuhara hails from merrill lynch, where he was the managing director of sales at their japanese bureau and no doubt represents another smart move by a successful manga company. secondly, i picked this piece up from the press release announcement: "A recent article in the Wall Street Journal (Jan. 15) quoted the Marubeni Research Institute in Tokyo as estimating the value of broadcast rights of anime in the US at $495 million, with another $4.7 billion in toy revenue." the revolution continues...
posted by peter!  2:03 AM EST permalink

new york, new york: neil kleid will be premiering his xeric grant-winning debut graphic novella, ninety candles, this june at the mocca convention in new york city. here's the cover:


posted by peter!  1:52 AM EST permalink

the best way to make our blog is to send us a photo: see comic creator james kochalka ink a record deal with RYKO. congrats, man.


posted by peter!  1:44 AM EST permalink

Tuesday, February 03, 2004

go figure: in what is certainly a first for us, the funky girl from the artbomb original comic harvest gypsy by superfab laurenn mccubbin makes a guest appearance at comixpedia alongside patrick farley's apocalypse sheep this month:


posted by peter!  2:30 AM EST permalink

the first time she died while having sex: postfeminist writer, digital comics creator, and friend of artbomb, susannah breslin has a new piece of short fiction up at nerve.com. yeah, it's not comics, but so what.
posted by peter!  2:24 AM EST permalink

welcome back, yo: matt relaunched his website yesterday at mattfraction.com and has also done a previews review at ninth art for those of you who miss the orderingcomics.com days. (not having to read previews was the number one reason we stopped it, truth be told, but, alas, matt has more fortitude then the rest of us. that, and the ability to shoot death rays from his eyes:)


posted by peter!  2:12 AM EST permalink

if you wade through the marvel and crossgen crap: you will be rewarded with a four page preview of alan moore and melinda gebbie's long anticipated graphic novel, lost girls, in rich johnston's column at cbr this week:


posted by peter!  2:06 AM EST permalink

Monday, February 02, 2004

no, not another janet jackson story: the february issue of sequential tart is up-and-running, featuring interviews with leland purvis, james owen, jim rugg, brian maruca, "crab scrambly" (heh), as well as a look at the career of molly kiely, among a host of other interesting features.


posted by peter!  11:02 AM EST permalink

Sunday, February 01, 2004

one last post before i enjoy the american right to gorge myself while watching grown men beat the crap out of each other against the backdrop of the best of madison avenue: icv2 has picked up this story from variety about "thru the moebius strip", the first full length 3d cgi film to hail from china. based on an original story by the acclaimed european artist, moebius, the film should be ready for primetime by the end of the year.


posted by peter!  1:28 PM EST permalink

because i get more mike mignola-hellboy inquiries then anything else these days: here's an interview he just did with cbr: "I'm blissfully unaware of most of the industry. Right now I don't read much of anything on a regular basis and I think what's exciting in comics is what's coming out of small publishers. I don't see much in mainstream comics I find interesting, but when you have something like Craig Thompson's 'Blankets,' I think that's exciting. What I find exciting is guys doing something uniquely their own where you say 'not only have I never seen anything like this before' but you get some glimpse of the personality of the person doing the work."
posted by peter!  1:03 PM EST permalink

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