November 2015 – SMASH PAGES

Valiant partners with publishers in Spain, Italy and France

Comic fans in France and Italy will soon have access to Archer & Armstrong, Harbinger and the rest of Valiant’s comic line in their native tongue.

Today Valiant announced partnerships with Italy’s Star Comics and France’s Bliss Comics for print and digital translations. In addition, they’ve also announced a long-term extension to their partnership with Spain’s Aleta Ediciones. Along with the comics, they’re also planning creator appearances at various conventions in Europe.

More details are available in the press release below.

Press Release

Valiant Entertainment is proud to announce new foreign-language publishing partnerships with three of Europe’s preeminent publishers of comic books and graphic novels – Spain’s Aleta Ediciones, Italy’s Star Comics and France’s Bliss Comics – for print and digital translations of Valiant’s award-winning superhero library.

Valiant and Aleta, whose inaugural line of Spanish-language Valiant titles debuted earlier in 2015, will soon begin a long-term extension to their partnership with an expanded array of series encompassing many of Valiant’s most acclaimed titles.

Meanwhile, Valiant’s newly announced publishing partners in Italy and France will begin publication in both print and digital in early 2016 with new editions of best-selling series including X-O Manowar, Bloodshot, Harbinger, Archer & Armstrong, Divinity, Quantum and Woody and many more.

Additionally, each publisher will be introducing Valiant’s line of titles to fans in Spain, Italy and France with appearances and promotions at some of the largest conventions across Europe.

“Valiant has a large, vibrant, and ever-growing fan base throughout Europe. Each of these publishers has been specifically selected for the quality of their foreign-language editions and their extensive knowledge of their respective marketplaces,” said Russell A. Brown, Valiant’s President of Licensing, Promotions & Ad Sales. “In concert with our new publishing partners at Aleta, Star, and Bliss, we look forward to bringing Valiant’s beloved library of characters to fans in print and online in Spain, Italy, France and beyond.”

Aleta Ediciones has already begun to publish 10 of Valiant’s most notable titles, including Archer & Armstrong, Bloodshot, Eternal Warrior and Harbinger. Aleta is an award-winning publisher of comic books, graphic novels and trade paperbacks since 1996, based in Valencia, Spain. Renowned for its diverse catalog of licensed and independent titles, Aleta publishes some of the most successful and popular titles in the industry, including Invincible, Tex, Dylan Dog, Aliens, Predator, Terminator, Robocop and Xenozoic by creators like Alan Moore, Tiziano Sclavi, Frank Miller, Robert Kirkman, Mark Schultz, G. R. R. Martin, Michael Avon Oeming, Alfonso Font and Paul Grist.

Star Comics is one of the leading Italian publishers active in the comic field. Since its foundation, Star Comics’ mission has been to encourage the diffusion of comic books as a form of entertainment and as a cultural phenomenon by making comic books available to all readers in Italy. Star Comics was founded in Perugia by publisher Giovanni Bovini in 1987. Its first publications were translations of several Marvel Comics series including Spider-Man, X-Men and Fantastic Four. Since that time, Star Comics has gone onto produce foreign-language editions of titles by DC Comics, Image Comics, and Wildstorm, in addition to the first Italian language line of Japanese manga. In just over 25 years, Star Comics has published more than 500 titles including monthly series, limited series and standalone books.

Bliss Comics is a relative newcomer to French publishing. Bliss is dedicated to bringing Valiant’s fan-favorite series to France starting in 2016. With an incredible number of talented creators working on Valiant’s strong, diverse characters and epic stories, Bliss looks forward to introducing Valiant’s award-winning universe to new French readers as well as longtime comics fans.

Bliss Comics, Star Comics, and Aleta Ediciones are just the latest additions to Valiant’s growing roster of international publishing partners. They join OVNI Press Editorial in Argentina, HQM Editora in Brazil, Tencent in China, ShoPro in Japan, Kamite in Mexico, Viverra in Russia, and Büyülü Dükkan in Turkey in bringing Valiant’s award-winning library of superhero titles to an international audience.

Download Chris Schweizer’s paper Nativity set

The ‘Crogan Adventures’ creator is offering more than 30 figures with a backdrop you can download from his web store.

Crogan Adventures creator Chris Schweizer has created a paper Nativity set that he’s offering ~~for free~~ via his online store. [EDIT: Actually it’s a “pay what you want” model, as Gumroad does give you the option to send Schweizer some money when you download it).

The expansive set includes more than 30 3-D figures with a pretty awesome backdrop, which you can download and print out on card stock (the heavier the better, Schweizer advises). He’s also selling the original art from the set as well. Growing up my mom collected various Nativity sets, but I don’t remember her having any that went quite this far into Biblical canon — her sets never included the Little Drummer Boy, Salome or ‘lil John the Baptist, for instance, even if they did occasionally receive visits from my Star Wars figures and Hot Wheels.

Not lying: Skybound taking preorders for Lying Cat statue

The breakout character from Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples’ Saga will soon be available in all three dimensions.

Lying Cat will soon leap from the page straight to your shelf, as Robert Kirkman’s Skybound has announced they will produce a Lying Cat statue in early 2016.

Featuring the breakout character from Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples’ Saga, the statue will be hand-painted and 8″ tall statue. Skybound began taking pre-orders for the $75 statue on Friday; it will only be available online. You can pre-order it here.

No word yet if it will act as a miniature lie detector.

Ok, probably not. Check out a prototype of what it will look like below.

comiXology offers deals on DC Comics, Dark Horse and more for Cyber Monday

Digital comic provider offers buy one, get one free deal on most DC comics and trades.

For Cyber Monday, digital comics provider comiXology is not only continuing its Black Friday discounts, but has added several more deals to the mix.

Of note is a “first time ever” sale on DC Comics — a buy one, get one free sale on all DC Comics and Vertigo titles released digitally before Sept. 1. Just use the code DCBOGO at check out.

Here’s the rundown of all the sales happening today:

Cyber Monday:

DC Comics Buy One, Get One Free Sale – Use promo code DCBOGO at checkout
Offer good on all DC Comics and Vertigo titles released digitally before 9/1/15
Dark Horse Sale – 30 trades for $2.99 each
VIZ Sale – 10 volumes for $2.00 off each
Marvel X-Men & The Black Vortex Sale

Continuing Black Friday Sales:

Image Comics 50% off Sale- Use promo code IMAGE at checkout
Marvel Black Friday Collection Sale
Marvel Spider-Verse Sale
Kodansha 99¢ Black Friday Sale including Attack on Titan Vol 1

Cyber Monday:

DC Comics Buy One, Get One Free Sale – Use promo code DCBOGO at checkout

Dark Horse Sale – 30 trades for $3.00 each
Alien vs. Predator: Fire and Stone
Aliens: Fire and Stone
ApocalyptiGirl: An Aria for the End Times
Avatar: The Last Airbender – Smoke and Shadow Part One
Archie vs Predator
Big Guy and Rusty
Conan Red Sonja
Courageous Princess Vol 1
Drug and Drop Vol 1
EI8HT Vol 1: Outcast
Ghost Fleet Vol 1 Deadhead
Green River Killer
Halo: Escalation Volume
Heart in a Box
Hellboy and the B.P.R.D: 1952
How to Pass as Human
Lady Killer
Predator: Fire and Stone
Prometheus: Fire and Stone
Plants vs. Zombies: Bully For You
Rat God
Rexodus
Serenity: Leaves on the Wind
The Goon Vol14: Occasion of Revenge
The New Deal
The Witcher: Vol 2 – Fox Children
Tomb Raider Vol 1 : Season of the Witch
Veda: Assembly Required
Buffy: Season Ten Vol 1 : New Rules
BloodC Vol 1

VIZ Sale – 10 volumes for $4.99each
My Hero Academia Vol 1
Assassination Classroom Vol 1
Ultraman Vol 1
Twin Star Exorcists Vol 1
Tokyo Ghoul Vol 1
Time Killers Vol 1
Demon Prince Momochi House Vol 1
Kiss of the Rose Princess Vol 1
My Love Story! Vol 1
Spell of Desire Vol 1

Marvel X-Men & The Black Vortex Sale
The Black Vortex Alpha #1
Guardians of the Galaxy #24-25
Legendary Star-Lord #1-11
All-New X-Men #38-39
Guardians Team-Up #1-3
Nova #28
Cyclops #12
Captain Marvel #14
The Black Vortex Omega #1

Continuing Black Friday Sales:

Image Comics 50% off Sale – Use promo code IMAGE at checkout

Marvel Black Friday Collection Sale
Avengers/X-Men: Utopia
Avengers Vs. X-Men
Death of Wolverine
Fear Itself
House of M
Marvel 1602
Original Sin
Secret Invasion
Secret Wars
X-Men: Battle of the Atom

Marvel Spider-Verse Sale

Superior Spider-Man #32-33
Spider-Man 2099 #5
Amazing Spider-Man #1-18
Spider-Verse #1-2
Spider-Verse Team-Up #1-3
Spider-Woman #1-4
Scarlet Spiders #1-3
Spider-Man 2099 #6-8
Amazing Spider-Man #1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, 1.5, 16.1, 17.1, 18.1, 19.1, 20.1

Kodansha 99¢ Black Friday Sale
Attack On Titan Vol 1
Say I love You Vol 1
Seven Deadly Sins Vol 11

When Comics Meets Sports

Earlier this week when I ran across a Khary Randolph MLB commission piece I asked if he had more art like this. He did. Luckily for us. For good measure we also included a Y.A. Tittle New York Giants piece by Mike DeCarlo.

In between eating remarkable amounts of Turkey yesterday, I watched with glee as both the Eagles and the Cowboys got their asses kicked on TV. The enclosed sketch is of my first Giants player idol, 1960’s quarterback Y.A.Tittle. He will be my Talisman for this Sunday’s matchup with the Redskins, as my beloved Giants bring me a little joy I hope.

‘Crime has no borders’ in new Vaughan/Martin teaser

‘The Private Eye’ creative team teases a new project from their Panel Syndicate label.

Looks like the band is getting back together, as the creators of the excellent “pay as you go” digital comic The Private Eye — Brian K. Vaughan, Marcos Martin and Muntsa Vicente — appear to be reuniting for another project from Panel Syndicate.

Both Panel Syndicate and Vaughan teased the new project on Twitter:

Ok, this THE PRIVATE EYE thing was fun but isn't it time for something new @HeyBKV , Marcos and Muntsa? pic.twitter.com/YGEO2wkY3R

— PanelSyndicate (@PanelSyndicate) November 25, 2015

Vaughan also clarified that this is NOT the exclusive The Walking Dead comic that was announced last summer at Image Expo — which is something else we still have to look forward to.

The Private Eye was an interesting experiment — two top-of-their-game creators going out and creating something wonderful, then offering each issue digitally for whatever price their audience was willing to pay. It seems to have worked, as Vaughan said last September:

Even though readers can still pay whatever they want for our DRM-free files (including nothing!), artist Marcos Martin, colorist Muntsa Vicente and I are proud to reveal that The Private Eye is already well into the six figures for both issues downloaded AND dollars earned … and that’s without advertising, corporate backers, Comixology-like distributors, or even a Kickstarter campaign.

If you prefer print, a hardcover of The Private Eye is due out from Image Comics next month. And you can check the teaser out for the new project — in English and Spanish — below.

Smash Pages Review: The Monster Book of Manga: Steampunk

HarperCollins has been putting out these nicely produced manga-characters books for years, now, and they keep coming up with new subjects and genres.

The Monster Book of Manga: Steampunk
Edited by Jorge Balaguer

HarperCollins has been putting out these nicely produced manga-characters books for years, now, and they keep coming up with new subjects and genres.

Like all the Monster Books of Manga, this book focuses on one thing: Character design. If you’re interested in the basics of anatomy, draftsmanship, and storytelling, this is not the book for you. That said, it may be helpful for the artist who has mastered the basics and is ready to develop some new characters. It’s not so much a how-to book as a collection of examples, though. Balaguer has designed 39 different characters, from a robot to a firefighter to a Victorian lady, and he has given each of them a name and a paragraph of background information. There’s a lot of story in these little paragraphs, and he clearly has a lively imagination, but there’s no information on how to grow your own.

Balaguer takes us through seven steps for each character, from stick figure to finished drawing. Unfortunately, his step-by-step instructions suffer from a common problem: The distance between step 1, a stick figure, and step 2, a fleshed-out drawing of a realistic looking person, is vast. To the beginner, it’s like magic. Everything after that is basically finish—inking, shading, coloring, and adding rivets. Getting from a few sketched lines and circles to something that looks like an actual figure is the hard part—and this book is no help. (The solution is to spend a lot of time drawing from live models, but a book won’t help you there.)

Furthermore, for a book that’s supposed to be about steampunk, there’s precious little talk of how the characters are designed from the inside out, nor is there any attempt to make them seem logical. There’s more to steampunk than drawing rivets on every surface, but you won’t learn that here. Not only that, the rivets don’t even make sense—in some of the figures they not only don’t fasten anything, they would actually get in the way.

While these factors limit its usefulness, this book may provide a helpful toolbox for artists who are interested in the elements of different characters, or the details of how to ink, shade, and color different types of steampunk characters—and it’s certainly enjoyable to browse through it and see the different characters Balaguer has created.

Sales of Value: TwoMorrows Publishing

Happy Holidays! Now through December 1, get 40% off books and magazines at www.twomorrows.com!

It’s our Annual TwoMorrows Holiday Sale, and we’re getting it started well before Black Friday, to make sure everyone gets their orders in time for the holidays. Save at least 40% on:

Alter Ego
Back Issue
Draw
Comic Book Creator
Jack Kirby Collector
Modern Masters
How-to Draw Comics publications
Artist Biographies
American Comic Book Chronicles volumes
Companion Books
even BrickJournal and LEGO publications!

For easy ordering, you can download an interactive PDF file of our full catalog by clicking this link:

http://www.twomorrows.com/media/2015CatalogOnline.pdf

Sales of Value: Todd Klein

Todd Klein’s Annual Holiday Sale Remains Fairly Straightforward

Holiday Sale: November 27 to December 4.

Any Three Prints for $35 (United States) or $42 (Elsewhere)

To take advantage of this sale, EMAIL your request to me at the website link and I will reply with Paypal payment information. Only Paypal orders accepted. All orders in multiples of three, lower shipping costs for orders of six, nine or more. NJ residents must pay NJ Sales Tax. EMAIL LINK

If you’d rather order and pay by mail, using a check or money order, click HERE for an order form to do that. NOTE: if you plan to mail order, email me and let me know, I’ll hold items for you.

Shipping amount varies based on the total cost of items you order. Here is a chart for U.S. shipments:

Up to $20 = shipping $3, up to $100 = $5, over $100 = $8.

New recent large increases in international shipping rates by the US Postal Service have forced me to raise my shipping rate for all packages to other countries to a flat $12 per package.

New Jersey residents must pay 7% sales tax on items and shipping.

Prints and vellum overlays will be placed in a protective plastic sleeve, rolled and sent in a sturdy mailing tube. CDs will be sandwiched between two layers of corrugated cardboard, wrapped in bubble wrap and mailed in a Tyvek envelope. Bookmarks ordered without other items will be sent in a letter-size envelope with cardboard stiffener.

The first 500 copy printing of this 11 by 17 inch signed print in collaboration with artist Shawn McManus is now available. GO FREELANCE! is a board game that outlines the lives of two budding comics artists. It’s written, designed and lettered by me with over fifty wonderful spot illustrations by Shawn in a 1950s-advertising art style that’s sure to bring a smile. Here you’ll meet Artie and Scribbler as they make their way from childhood to retirement through the challenges, pitfalls, rewards and catastrophes of a creative livelihood…their original creations, terrific T-Man and the mysterious Master of None…plus other characters like the Old Pro, and a special guest appearance by a certain Top Writer! (hint: initials NG) The print is on ivory-colored Wausau cardstock paper, printed in black, and highlighted with green watercolor, each hand-painted by me. Shawn and I have individually signed each print.

Smash Pages Q&A: Jim Gibbons and Ryan Yount on Stela

You need to understand one thing about a guy as talented as Jim Gibbons. There are some people that are born to be leaders — born to be damn good editors. I firmly believe Jim came out of the womb that way. There are few comics editors that I put on par with Tom Brevoort. Jim is on that par. He has never steered me wrong when it came time to praise a note. To learn he is one of the leaders of the new Stela venture does not surprise me and it makes me want to think that this thing will succeed out of the gates. To say I was eager to talk to him about this goes without saying and I can’t wait to see what is store for Stela in 2016. Please enjoy the interview as much as

I did.

Edmonton Expo: When a Harassment Policy Works

Over at Sequential Tart Suzette Chan reflects upon when an anti-harassment system works as it should and did at the Edmonton Expo (held in late September with 50,000 in attendance). Full disclosure, Stephanie Chan is a founding member of Smash Pages.

We experienced one incident of harassment. Edmonton Expo handled it in a way that shows that it is serious and prepared to deal with harassment at the con.

… Steph was standing behind the table, and fledgling new Tart Kelaine Devine was seated behind the table.

A fellow walked up to Kelaine and told her to smile so that she would look better in a photo. She declined. He then turned to Steph and said, “She’s pretty. Is she an actress, too?” I told him, “I don’t think that’s appropriate.”

Steph tried to get his name and photo, and a bit of a chase ensued. It ended up with the guy yelling at Steph and following her until she got to the customer service desk. I caught up with them there. Four Edmonton Expo personnel were at the desk. One took Steph aside to get her story. Another spoke to the fellow, or tried to. Eventually a response team was called in to speak with him.

The volunteer who took Steph’s story escorted us back to our table. Later, the response team visited our table to check on us and to give us an update. Apparently, the fellow was bellicose and unrepentant, which led to his expulsion.

Looking back, I appreciated the process: A) We reported it. B) The report was taken seriously. C) Edmonton Expo took steps to ensure that the fellow would not harass anyone else at the event. D) The team followed up with us.

We wanted to share this story as an example of a policy about harassment that is in place and that worked. We felt heard, and, though I’m sure he was not happy to be expelled, the person identified as a harasser also was heard. The main takeaway is that there was immediate response, action, and follow-up.

The Moment: Huck 1

In this week’s edition of The Moment, I detail how in some ways Huck reminds me of Mark Millar’s 1998 Superman Adventures run.

Superman Adventures remains the high point so far 0f Millar’s work, serving return to that form dating as far back as 1998. Huck is an incredibly likeable character in the way he is characterized in these first two issues there’s an unseen optimism to him I don’t know if it will last but all I know is it’s really a refreshing change from a lot of comics currently on the market. The moment that hooked me was from issue 2 when he could have quit but he chose to presevere and help people as he always does.

Rafael Albuquerque on art is merely icing on the cake.

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this: