FCBD – that’s Free Comic Book Day is this Saturday, May 2. Basically you can grab selected freebies from participating comic shops around the globe. For more info, go here. There’s a lot happening, especially in America (they have all the fun) including signings at various comic shops with Captain Kirk (or at least that Shatner guy that played him), and a treasure trove of comics creators. It’s a great way to introduce friends or family members to the wonders of sequential art. A gaggle of press releases below.
Event: William Shatner signing at Golden Apple Comics
“FREE COMIC BOOK DAY”
What: Retail
Host: Bluewater Productions
Start Time: Saturday, May 2 at 1:00pm
End Time: Saturday, May 2 at 3:00pm
Where: Golden Apple Comics
Hero Initiative is proud to announce a unique fundraising partnership with Southern California comic stores on Saturday, May 2nd for Free Comic Book Day, and Los Angeles’ “Big Sunday” on May 3. Three comic stores in Southern California will donate proceeds directly to Hero Initiative from signings and drawings by featured creators. In addition, the local comic stores will host community events and distribute free comic books as part of the national celebration. Local celebrations on Saturday, May 2nd include:
Collector’s Paradise, 7131 Winnetka Ave, Winnetka California
A signing will be held between 12pm and 3:00pm attended by:
- Mark Waid (Amazing Spider-Man)
- Marc Guggenheim (Amazing Spider-Man)
- Jim Mahfood (40-oz. Comics)
- Mike Kunkel (Billy Baston and the Power of Shazam!)
- Joe Benitez (Justice League of America)
- David Wohl (Witchblade)
- JT Krul (Fathom)
In addition, eBay auctions of original art donated to Hero will start May 2nd here.
And a professional photographer will take picture of you and your favorite artist or Comic Book Hero at Collector’s Paradise with all proceeds donated to Hero Initiative.
Finally, you can bring your Ralphs Rewards grocery store card to Collector’s Paradise to sign it up for Hero on Ralphs Community Contribution program OR sign up for a new card and get a FREE copy of Hero’s What If This Was the Fantastic Four?
Meltdown Comics, 7522 West Sunset, Los Angeles CA
Artist Tim Sale (Batman: The Long Halloween) will be in attendance on Hero’s behalf from noon-2 PM and will do sketches on the inside cover of books for $20, and Hero sketchcards for $10.
Four Color Fantasies, 7172 Archibald Ave, Rancho Cucamonga, CA
Original art auctions will benefit Hero Initiative, and there will be character appearances by Batman and Robin, Superman, and the Star Wars 501st legion. Drawing contests, face paining and free food and fun for the whole family will also be included. Some of the many featured artists to appear include:
- Todd Nauck (Amazing Spider-Man)
- Danny Miki (Amazing Spider-Man)
- Norm Rapmund (Infinite Crisis)
- Allen Martinez (Iron Man)
And on Sunday, May 3, Los Angeles’ all-inclusive charity event known as Big Sunday will also benefit Hero Initiative with “Change for Change” at many of its most-attended sites. Volunteers for Change for Change will be asking people to donate their loose change to Hero. Check out www.bigsunday.org for locations and events
Top Cow Productions, Inc. proudly announced its plans today for this weekend’s Free Comic Book Day, Saturday, May 2nd which takes place in comic shops across North America. Free Comic Book Day is an annual event where participating direct market stores give out free comics to anyone that walks into their store.
Top Cow is participating again in the event with their Free Comic Book Day offering, Cyberforce/Hunter-Killer First Look. The issue serves as an introduction to the publisher’s summer event of the same name, which brings together the two popular teams Cyberforce and Hunter-Killer. The series and Free Comic Book Day offering is written by Mark Waid (Amazing Spider-Man, Irredeemable) and drawn by Kenneth Rocafort (Astonishing Tales, Madame Mirage). Both teams were co-created by Top Cow founder Marc Silvestri and Hunter-Killer was co-created by writer Mark Waid. The teams have been absent from a regular series for several years and this marks their return to the forefront of the Top Cow Universe.
Writer Mark Waid will be appearing at Collector’s Paradise in Winnetka, CA and artist Kenneth Rocafort will be appearing at the Puerto Rico Comic Con in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Other Top Cow creators making appearances in Los Angeles include Michael Broussard, Rob Levin, Nelson Blake II, and Rick Loverd. Additionally, Top Cow mainstays Ron Marz and Phil Hester will be appearing in various parts of the United States to celebrate the annual event.
Complete details follow below:
Collector’s Paradise
7131 Winnetka Ave.
Winnetka, CA 91306
(818) 999-9455
Signing 12pm-3pm
Mark Waid (Cyberforce/Hunter-Killer)
Joe Benitez (The Darkness, Magdalena)
David Wohl (Witchblade, The Darkness)
Puerto Rico Comic Con & Pop Culture Expo
100 Convention Boulevard
San Juan, PR 00907
http://www.thepopcultureexpo.com/
Signing
Kenneth Rocafort (Cyberforce/Hunter-Killer, Madame Mirage)
For more Top Cow related signings, see below.
Think of this title as Reverse Chucky. Instead of a doll terrorizing children, and adults alike, we have a teddy bear helping them.
The tech-mag Wired appears to be ramping up its comic book cool factor lately. You can check out 
This is a big comic in every way. It’s hard to imagine any other publisher than 
Now, granted this story isn’t going to be welcomed into the bosom of every fanboy. It’s old-timey dialogue and instantly detestable protagonists will throw some people off, but it is a simple narrative and engaging to boot. Two criminal brothers, Finn and Egil are thieves, killing and selling the goods of their victims. They’re tough guys, but with a love for their family. Between their last raid and their next, they face retribution of a swift and terrible kind, which lays the ground for the next issue well. Interspersed is a nice sequence involving a rich king and his lovely, carefree daughter. She desires adventure, and I’m sure when her path crosses with the brothers, that’s surely what she’ll find.
Okay, here’s a look at 3 recent indie first issues.
IDW’s American McGee’s Grim is a new series bringing the apparently popular game character to the printed page. Grimm is a surly pirate-like dwarf who runs amok through fairy tales, jumping on things wit his butt to put the darkness back into the tales. Yes, that’s right. I’ve heard of American McGee (yep, that’s his real name), and his games such as Alice, and Scrapland, but never played them. Grimm is currently being released weekly through GameTap.com. Written by Dwight L.Macpherson, each issue of this mini-series is focused on Grimm’s intrusion into a different genre of comics. Naturally, first up are do-gooder superheroes. I didn’t laugh once. There’s just not enough room to play with. It’s a vaguely interesting concept, as Grimm empowers the assorted baddies to defeat the ever-victorious Freedom Friends, but it’s all been done before. Lobo, the recent Bizarro arc in Action Comics, or even Justice League International have all run with this idea, but they were given more than 22 pages. Once Grimm has introduced himself in the first 6 pages, the remaining 22 are just a one-sided battle during a parade through the streets of Megalopolis. There are over a dozen costumed characters – all the obligatory homages to popular characters, but none are obviously given the time to develop character. Superheroes being surprised that they’re getting beaten just isn’t funny, by itself. Grant Bond’s art does work though, with its loose Mike Allred style and Golden Age colouring, and having Grimm rendered in a style separate from the rest of the universe is a nice touch. I’m sure MacPherson is an accomplished writer, as he’s been doing this for a while but he’s not given a lot to work with here.
The team behind Beach Studios, and 
I went to one of my comic shops yesterday and was aghast to discover that 5 books I ordered in February were now cancelled. Thanks 
Image’s 
This is one of those books I ordered from Previews simply because it looked like something different. And it certainly is. 
Top Cow’s solicitations for their July releases are now out. This is the complete list.
I have a soft spot for indie comics. At least a third of everything I order from Previews is from relatively small self-publishers. Two things struck me about this book; the gloomy yet intriguing cover and the fact that it’s from a Xeric Award winner. Published by Passenger Pigeon Publishing, Chronicles is a simple, black and white 96 page one-shot. Writer/artist Felix Tannenbaum clearly has some skills. However, what is also clear is that he’s a far better writer than an artist. Judging by the work on
Just in case you haven’t heard, DC’s new venture is entitled Wednesday Comics (as new comics come out every Wednesday in the U.S). The concept was launched from the brain of artist and Art Director Mark Chiarello. Every weekly issue is only 16 pages, but will be filled with superb art from some great storytellers, and it will be big art too. Bigger then the average comic size, it will be like a large tabloid, newspaper supplement. It’s a bold direction but it should pay off. There are some great artists in the industry that will take gleeful advantage of this. Below is a preview of John Arcudi and Lee Bermejo’s Superman story and a Batman tale from the 100 Bullets team of Brian Azzarello and Eduardo Risso. Also included in the upcoming 12 part series will be a Metamorpho tale by Neil Gaiman and Mike Allred, Supergirl by Kimmy Palmiotti and Amanda Conner and Joe Kubert on Sgt. Rock. Creators such as Kurt Busiek, Dave Bullock, Walt Simonson, Ryan Sook, Dave Gibbons and Paul Pope are also involved. Look for the first oversized issue in July. Awesome news.
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