Saturday, January 31, 2015

If You've Got It, Haunt It! 'Lumberjanes' #9 Goes to Second Print

Lumberjanes #9 Second Print Cover by Brooke Allen
BOOM! Box, an imprint of award-winning publisher BOOM! Studios, is pleased to announce that Lumberjanes #9 from Noelle Stevenson, Shannon Watters, and a host of creative talent, has sold out at the distributor level. The publisher has rushed to a second printing.
 
Comic book fans should bear in mind that first printings of Lumberjanes #9 may still be found at the local comic shop nearest you. Not sure where to find your nearest comic retailer? Use comicshoplocator.com or findacomicshop.com to find one!
 
Lumberjanes is the runaway hit series about five, rad, butt-kicking pals determined to have an awesome summer together at Miss Quinzella Thiskwin Penniquiqul Thistle Crumpet’s Camp for Hardcore Lady-Types, where things are not what they seem. Hailed by many critics as one of the best comic series of 2014, Lumberjanes was recently honored with a nomination for Outstanding Comic by the LGBT media advocacy organization GLAAD.
 
In issue #9, in order to earn the “If You’ve Got It, Haunt It” badge, the Lumberjanes head out to the deep, dark woods. But the woods aren’t so scary anymore, now that the Lumberjanes have kicked, punched, and befriended all the fearsome magical monsters out there, so they set out to find the one thing that can still scare them all: campfire stories! Issue #9 is written by Noelle Stevenson & Shannon Watters, and Faith Erin Hicks, featuring art by Hicks, Brittney Williams, Aimee Fleck, Becca Tobin, Carolyn Nowak, Felicia Choo, and T. Zysk.
 
Praise for Lumberjanes #9:
 
“...if you enjoy great characters, a fun plot structure that gives each of the characters room to tell us a little more about themselves, with absolutely fabulous art throughout the entire issue, then this is definitely for you.” - Newsarama
 
“The writing in this issue is top-notch as per usual, with some especially good puns (a bonus for me – ‘If You’ve Got it, Haunt It’ is the perfect name for a ghost story badge). The girls tell their stories not only in their own voice, but the story tries to fit their personality or reveals something about them.” - Adventures in Poor Taste
 
“This was a delightful issue, with moments of friendship and humor entwined with the spooky tales.” - Comic Bastards
 
“...this issue is a great showcase of Lumberjanes’ charms, and I can’t wait to see what future issues have in store for us.” - Word of the Nerd



Lumberjanes #9 second print ships from BOOM! Box with a new cover by main series artist Brooke Allen and carries a retail price of $3.99. It is anticipated to be in stores on February 11th.

Thursday, January 29, 2015

First Look at Leonardo DiCaprio in The Revenant





Deep in the uncharted American wilderness, trapper Hugh Glass (Leonardo DiCaprio) is severely injured and left for dead by a traitorous member of his team, John Fitzgerald (Tom Hardy).  With sheer will as his only weapon, Glass must navigate a hostile environment, a brutal winter, and warring Native American tribes in relentless quest to survive and exact vengeance on Fitzgerald. Based on a true story, THE  REVENANT is directed and co-written by renowned filmmaker Alejandro González Iñárritu ("Birdman," "Babel").

Wednesday, January 28, 2015

BOOM! Studios Highlights Its Top 10 Moments to Celebrate 10 Years of Publishing Comics



In 2015, BOOM! Studios celebrates 10 years of publishing great comics, and to commemorate this milestone, the publisher has assembled what it considers to be its top 10 moments of the past decade—all highlights that contributed significantly to the company’s founding, rise, and continued growth.
 
“While our 10 Year celebration will be firmly focused on the future, we couldn’t get where we are today without some pretty key moments,” said BOOM! Studios President of Publishing and Marketing Filip Sablik. “We are ecstatic to be celebrating 10 years as a publisher and couldn’t resist taking this one moment to celebrate what we’ve accomplished with all of our partners in our first decade!”
 
In chronological order, here are BOOM! Studios' top 10 moments in its history:
 
1. December 2004: Comics writer Keith Giffen, in Los Angeles for a comic book convention, has a beer on a Saturday night with Ross Richie and pushes Richie to start his own comic book publishing company.


2. June 2005: The first BOOM! Studios book, Zombie Tales #1, ships (6/29/2005), showcasing work from Mark Waid (Daredevil), Keith Giffen (Future’s End), and Dave Johnson (100 Bullets). BOOM!'s focus on original content over the next decade spawns bestsellers like Irredeemable, The Woods, and Lumberjanes as it launches the careers of next-generation talent like Rafael Albuquerque (The Savage Brothers, American Vampire), Emma Rios (Hexed, Pretty Deadly), Aaron Kuder (Key of Z, Green Lantern: New Guardians), Jordie Bellaire (Malignant Man, Captain Marvel), and Russell Dauterman (Supurbia, Thor), among many others.


3. December 2006: BOOM! Studios publishes its first licensed comic book, Warhammer: Damnation Crusade #1. BOOM! goes on to work with some of the biggest brands in the world, including 20th Century Fox, Disney, Cartoon Network, MGM, Peanuts Worldwide, Paws, and The Jim Henson Company.


4. July 2007: Mark Waid is named Editor-in-Chief and goes on to become the company’s Chief Creative Officer, contributing numerous original titles to the company’s lineup before returning to freelance writing in December 2010.


5. March 2009: The first KaBOOM! (previously BOOM! Kids) comics, Incredibles: Family Matters #1 and The Muppet Show Comic Book #1, ship (3/25/2009). BOOM! Studios is the first Disney licensee to be granted the ability to generate new canon material for any Pixar property.


6. January 2010: Voted on by comic shop retailers, BOOM! Studios wins its first “Best Publisher Under 4%” Diamond Gem Award for 2009. It is awarded this honor four more times since, earning the award five out of the last six years. The publisher wins its first Harvey Award for Roger Langridge’s work on The Muppet Show Comic Book (8/28/10) that same year and its first Eisner Award for Shannon Wheeler’s I Thought You Would Be Funnier a year later (7/22/11).


7. June 2013: BOOM! Studios announces its acquisition of Archaia (6/24/13) (publisher of titles like Mouse Guard, Jim Henson’s Tale of Sand, and The Killer), adding the company as a wholly-owned imprint alongside its other imprints, KaBOOM! and BOOM! Box, and expands the range of diverse content Archaia publishes.


8. August 2013: “2 Guns” opens in theaters (8/2/13) starring Denzel Washington and Mark Wahlberg. The film is based on the BOOM! Studios five-issue series created by Steven Grant and illustrated by Mateus Santoluoco.


9. October 2013: BOOM! enters into a first-look deal with 20th Century Fox for feature films (10/2/2013) and then signs a first-look deal with Fox for television the following year (8/20/2014).


10. February 2014: Former DC Comics President & Publisher Paul Levitz joins BOOM! as a consultant and a member of the Board of Directors. Levitz categorized his role as the voice of experience that says, “Well, we tried to attack that problem this way [at DC Comics]; it didn't work that way. Maybe times have changed, but let's think about what the issues were and try to find a way around what the dilemmas were."



Tuesday, January 27, 2015

Fantastic Four Teaser Released

A teaser for the upcoming Fantastic Four movie from 20th Century Fox has finally hit the internets!


via YouTube:

 


The FANTASTIC FOUR, a contemporary re-imagining of Marvel’s original and longest-running superhero team, centers on four young outsiders who teleport to an alternate and dangerous universe, which alters their physical form in shocking ways. Their lives irrevocably upended, the team must learn to harness their new abilities and work together to save Earth from a former friend turned enemy.


In Theaters - August 7, 2015, in 3D


Johnny and Sue

The Thing

Reed Richards





Monday, January 26, 2015

Lionsgate Releases New Divergent: Insurgent Character Portraits

Theo James

Kate Winslet

Octavia Spencer

Shailene Woodley

Naomi Watts

THE DIVERGENT SERIES: INSURGENT raises the stakes for Tris as she searches for allies and answers in the ruins of a futuristic Chicago. Tris (Woodley) and Four (James) are now fugitives on the run, hunted by Jeanine (Winslet), the leader of the power-hungry Erudite elite.  Racing against time, they must find out what Tris’s family sacrificed their lives to protect, and why the Erudite leaders will do anything to stop them.  Haunted by her past choices but desperate to protect the ones she loves, Tris, with Four at her side, faces one impossible challenge after another as they unlock the truth about the past and ultimately the future of their world.




Sunday, January 25, 2015

KaBOOM! Celebrates the 65th Anniversary of 'Peanuts' with an Oversized Issue #25

Peanuts #25 Main Cover by Vicki Scott

Peanuts #25 Retailer Incentive by Charles M. Schulz

Paige Braddock (Eisner Award-nominated Jane’s World, Creative Director at Charles M. Schulz Creative Associates) and Vicki Scott (The Beagle Has Landed; It’s Tokyo, Charlie Brown!)—two creators who have long worked on KaBOOM!’s Peanuts issues and graphic novels—are taking Charlie Brown, Snoopy, and the rest of the Peanuts back to summer camp so readers can escape the winter weather in a 32-page, long-form story.
 
“Peanuts has been loved across multiple generations, and we’ve had the honor of sharing that love for more than two years now,” said BOOM! Studios Editor-in-Chief Matt Gagnon. “We wanted to celebrate that milestone, and especially the 65th anniversary, with something we’ve never done with Peanuts before, and we’re very excited to show you the results!”

Peanuts #25 arrives in comic shops from KaBOOM! on February 18th with a main cover by Vicki Scott for the price of $3.99. Also available in limited quantities is a retailer incentive cover by Peanuts creator Charles M. Schulz. (Please check with your local comic shop on its availability.) Not sure where to find your nearest comic retailer? Use comicshoplocator.com or findacomicshop.com to find one! It’s also available for order directly from boom-studios.com.

Friday, January 23, 2015

January's Loot Crate- "Rewind"


Loot Crate goes retro with January’s theme, “Rewind: A Look Back at Geek and Gaming Past.” Being a child that grew up in the 80’s, I can say that the team at Loot Crate captured the era perfectly with this month’s box of goodies. Star Wars, Nintendo, and Voltron were a huge part of my childhood and Loot Crate delivered some awesome items for the 80’s favorites. The coolest piece in the crate had to be Squid Kids Ink's 10-Doh! figure. There were six different figures available (Back to the Future, Doctor Who, Firefly, and more). Lately, Loot Crate has been designing their boxes to be used as dioramas with their figures. This month they did something even cooler with it and when turned inside out, the box turns into a Nintendo game system.

For those that don't know, Loot Crate is a monthly service which delivers a box of "Geek and Gamer Gear" straight to your door. For roughly $21.00 a month (shipping included) you'll get a box of goodies valued at $40+ in every box. You can visit Loot Crate for more info.

Inside this month’s crate:

- Exclusive Retro Arcade Skinny Tie (Black Tie Geek)
- Exclusive 10-Doh! Figure (Squid Kids Ink)
- Exclusive Star Wars #1 (Marvel)
- Exclusive Voltron Blueprint T-Shirt (Flophouse)
- Comic Notebook (Unemployed Philosopher’s Guild)
- Exclusive 8-Bit Glasses (Loot Crate Lab)

- January Loot Crate Button (Loot Crate) 



Voltron Blueprint T-Shirt (Flophouse)
Retro Arcade Skinny Tie (Black Tie Geek)






Thursday, January 22, 2015

Madeleine Flores' 'Help Us! Great Warrior' Comes to BOOM! Box


Kick Butt, Save Hunks, and Look Good Doing It!

This February, BOOM! Box, an imprint of award-winning publisher BOOM! Studios, invites you to kick butt and drool over hunky guys with the cutest crusher of evil-doers in Madeleine Flores’ new limited series Help Us! Great Warrior. Possessing great strength and even greater self-confidence, Great Warrior protects her village from evil-doers and looks great in her armor while doing it. Based on Flores’ popular webcomic, Help Us! Great Warrior is the newest series from the BOOM! Box imprint and continues the tradition of jubilant comics made “for the love of it” like Lumberjanes and Teen Dog.
 
“Madeleine’s Great Warrior is someone we can all admire,” said BOOM! Studios Editor-in-Chief Matt Gagnon. “She takes out the bad guys, eats too many potato chips, and is full of unwavering self-confidence. We fell in love with Madeleine’s hilarious webcomic and just couldn’t wait to bring these new adventures to print!”

If you love the brand of kick-butt girl power that Lumberjanes brings to the page each month, then this sword-wielding girl and her hilarious adventures will be exactly what you need to round out your pull list. Also, there are witches who turn everyone to hunks. What’s not to love?
 

Help Us! Great Warrior #1 arrives in comic shops from BOOM! Box on February 11th with a main cover by Madeleine Flores for the price of $3.99. Also available in limited quantities are a 10 Years Anniversary incentive cover by Shelli Paroline & Braden Lamb (Adventure Time, The Midas Flesh), and a retailer incentive cover by MAiS2. Please check with your local comic shop on their availability.

Tuesday, January 20, 2015

The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly- Bootleg Figures on eBay

eBay is flooded with inexpensive bootlegs from other countries. Some of them look pretty darn close to the official item and some are, well, less than spectacular. This could be a good alternative for those that can’t spend ridiculous amounts of their hard earned cash for a limited-edition figure, but still want one to display on their shelves. Now, I’m not promoting the bootlegging of anything, but here are some of the more interesting ones I’ve come across recently.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Action Figure Classic Collection


This might be me, but some of the smiles on these guys have Harvey Pekar-esque vibe to them. For that reason alone, I’m tempted to pick these up. And at the low low price of $11.98 shipped, I may just have to!

Guardians of the Galaxy 8 Figure Building Toy Set


Lego sets can be ridiculously expensive for your average Joe. Some people cannot justify shelling out hundreds of dollars to get a set just so they can get specific mini-figures. Even on the aftermarket, some of them sell for close to what a set would normally cost. Recently there have been a ton of great-looking mini-figure reproductions being sold on the cheap. This Guardians set sells for $8.98 shipped on eBay.

Guardians of the Galaxy Figure Set


Now this set is just plain B-A-D. The face on Drax is hilarious!  And what is up with that Star-Lord and Gamora? I do have to admit that the Rocket Raccoon and Groot do look pretty decent. Overall, these guys look horrible and yet I’m kind of tempted to pick them up for $13.98

Marvel & DC The Avengers Movie 6" Figure Set


These figures are oddly listed as “Marvel & DC” figures. I find it hilarious that out of all of them, the Hulk is the smallest looking figure in the set. The other thing that immediately catches your eye is Hawkeye’s bow and arrow. I know he has different bows in his arsenal, but how effective could this one possibly be? These things are bad and yet the listing says that 58 of these sets have been sold for $16.99.

Have you spotted any good or bad bootlegs recently? If so, share your links in the comments below!


Thursday, January 15, 2015

eigoMANGA Renews And Expands TV Deal With ShortsHD



San Francisco based comic book publisher, eigoMANGA announces that ShortsHD, the world's first high definition channel devoted to short films, has renewed licensing rights to broadcast eigoMANGA's library of original animation films and shorts.

ShortsHD currently airs eigoMANGA's animations such as 'Demian', 'Break Ups', and 'Christmas In Taxi' as part of its animation block, 'SHORTS Animate!.

Also under the renewed deal, ShortsHD will broadcast eigoMANGA animations to its sister channel ShortsTV, which covers Europe, Middle East and Africa.     

ShortsHD and ShortsTV will premiere new animation content from eigoMANGA such as 'ShortAGE!' in 2015.







About eigoMANGA

eigoMANGA is a production and publishing company that specializes in creating original comic books, animation, and digital media.

More information about eigoMANGA can be found at www.eigoMANGA.com

About ShortsHD

ShortsHD, the world's first high definition channel devoted to short films. ShortsHD has a television distribution reach of over 40 million households which spans to 54 countries worldwide. ShortsHD is available on Direct TV (Channel 573), and AT&T U-Verse (Channel 1789).


More information about ShortsHD can be found at www.shorts.tv