We Review Monty The Dinosaur #1

Variant Cover By Eryk Donovan

 

What would it be like if you were the last talking dinosaur on earth? Would you enjoy the solitude or would you try to fit in with humans desperately? Monty The Dinosaur tackles these questions and more in it’s first all ages issue.

Monty has been in a cave and lonely for a long time. Wanting to make friends, Monty has his doubts about humans not running away at the sight of him. He eventually decides he’s determined to make friends despite his appearance and sets out to do so the best a dinosaur can do to be accepted.

Writer Bob Frantz created a funny 4th wall breaking story that is a joy to read. Many comic book readers now have children of their own (myself included), So even if your child isn’t quite old enough to read or understand a story yet it’s worth picking up for the future. It is rare to find good all ages books these days, and It’s great to see a comic that doesn’t treat kids like they’re dumb.

The Art of Jean Franco is great. To me, It’s like a cross between newspaper comic strip and children’s book style art. Great panel flow and the colours are on point, happy to see it’s not blindingly bright like some all age stories. I showed my one-year-old a page and he smiled and wanted to take it from my computer screen so I can vouch for the arts appeal to children.

 

If you or your child is a hardcore dinosaur fan, this is a must purchase. Regardless of your age or degree of liking dinosaurs, this is a fun comic, and in a world where comics can be too serious at times this is a nice breather. I look forward to the rest of this series.

10/10

 

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Wether you’re a long time reader of Action Lab Entertainment Comics or new to them they have recently changed their rating system for their comics.

NEW RATING SYSTEM:
E: Appropriate for everyone
A: Appropriate for ages 9 and up
T: For readers ages 12 and up
T+: For older teen readers and adults
M: Mature readers 18+

As always you can purchase Monty The Dinosaur at your local comic shop (provided your store ordered the title. This is why pre-orders are necessary for comics!)

You can also purchase a digital copy from Comixology

For more information check out www.actionlabcomics.com

Follow on Twitter: @ActionLab

 

 

Stan Lee VS Jack (King) Kirby

Stan Lee is the most recognisable name in comic books. His name and Marvel go hand in hand in everyday conversations among comic fans and MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe) movie watchers. Stan is perceived as the happy old man who makes iconic cameos in movies based on “his” creation, but did Stan create the likes of the Fantastic Four, The Incredible  Hulk, Iron Man, The Avengers, The X-Men and, the most famous of all Spider-Man?

This is not the first time this question has been brought up, in fact in the past few years it has come up more frequently. While the average person or Stan Lee fanboy might think this is a ridiculous notion, there is quite a lot of evidence to support the challenge of Stan’s Legacy.

When you get into reading comic books regardless of age, you are told that back in the 1960’s Stan Lee and Jack Kirby Created what we know today as the Marvel Universe. With Stan getting the majority of the credit, and for the most part the only name mentioned regarding who created what. Stan’s story is that he would come up with an idea or plot then give it to Jack, and he would return the art to him with a few suggestions. Stan would then write in dialogue to fit the art.

The other side of the coin is that it was Jack Kirby who did the majority or the creating. It is said that Jack would not only do the art but write the majority of each issue, key concepts and plot lines. Stan would have no idea about the story or even the idea till very late in the publication process. What Stan did do was make Kirby’s writing a little more appealing to read.

According to this interview, Jack and his wife Roz Kirby did with The Comics Journal in 1990, four years before his death, Stan had virtually nothing to do with creating the Marvel Universe.

GROTH; When did you meet Stan Lee for the first time?

KIRBY: I met Stan Lee when I first went to work for Marvel. He was a little boy. When Joe and I were doing Captain America. He was about 13 years old. He’s about five years younger than me.

GROTH: Did you keep in touch with him at all?

KIRBY: No, I thought Stan Lee was a bother.

GROTH: [Laughter.]

KIRBY: I did!

GROTH: What do you mean by “bother”?

KIRBY: You know he was the kind of kid that liked to fool around — open and close doors on you. Yeah. In fact, once I told Joe to throw him out of the room.

GROTH; Because he was a pest?

KIRBY: Yes, he was a pest. Stan Lee was a pest. He liked to irk people and it was one thing I couldn’t take.

GROTH: Hasn’t changed a bit, huh?

KIRBY: He hasn’t changed a bit. I couldn’t do anything about Stan Lee because he was the publisher’s cousin. He ran back and forth around New York doing things that he was told to do. He would slam doors and come up to you and look over your shoulder and annoy you in a lot of ways. Joe would probably elaborate on it.

GROTH: When you went to Marvel in ’58 and ’59, Stan was obviously there.

KIRBY: Yes, and he was the same way.

 GROTH:And you two collaborated on all the monster stories?

KIRBY: Stan Lee and I never collaborated on anything! I’ve never seen Stan Lee write anything. I used to write the stories just like I always did.

GROTH:On all the monster stories it says “Stan Lee and Jack Kirby.” What did he do to warrant his name being on them?

KIRBY: Nothing! OK?

GROTH:Did he dialogue them?

KIRBY: No, I dialogued them. If Stan Lee ever got a thing dialogued, he would get it from someone working in the office. I would write out the whole story on the back of every page. I would write the dialogue on the back or a description of what was going on. Then Stan Lee would hand them to some guy and he would write in the dialogue. In this way Stan Lee made more pay than he did as an editor. This is the way Stan Lee became the writer. Besides collecting the editor’s pay, he collected writer’s pay. I’m not saying Stan Lee had a bad business head on. I think he took advantage of whoever was working for him.

GROTH:But he was essentially serving in a capacity as an editorial liaison between you and the publisher?

KIRBY: Yes, he wasn’t exactly an editor, or anything like that. Even as a young boy, he’d be hopping around — I think he had a flute, and he was playing on his flute.

GROTH:The Pied Piper.

KIRBY: Yeah. He’d come up and annoy me, and I told Joe to throw him out.

GROTH:Stan wrote, “Jack and I were having a ball turning out monster stories.’’ Were you having a ball. Jack?

KIRBY: Stan Lee was having the ball.

GROTH:You turned out monster stories for two or three years I think. Then the first comic that rejuvenated superheroes that you did was The Fantastic four. Can you explain how that came about?

KIRBY: I had to do something different. The monster stories have their limitations — you can just do so many of them. And then it becomes a monster book month after month, so there had to be a switch because the times weren’t exactly conducive to good sales. So I felt the idea was to come up with new stuff all the time — in other words there had to be a blitz. And I came up with this blitz. I came up withThe Fantastic Four, I came up with Thor (I knew the Thor legends very well), and the Hulk, the X-Men, and The Avengers. I revived what I could and came up with what I could. I tried to blitz the stands with new stuff. The new stuff seemed to gain momentum.

GROTH:Let me ask you something that I think is an important point: Stan wrote the way you guys worked — and I think he’s referring to the monster stories specifically here — he wrote, “I had only to give Jack an outline of the story and he would draw the entire strip breaking down the outline into exactly the right number of panels. Then it remained for me to take Jack’s artwork and add the captions and dialogue which would hopefully add a dimension of reality to sharply delineated characterization.” So he’s saying that he gave you a plot, and you would draw it, and he would add the captions and dialogue.

ROZ KIRBY: I remember Jack would call him up and say it’s going to be this kind of story or that kind of story and just send him the story. And he’d write in everything on the side.

KIRBY: Remember this: Stan Lee was an editor. He worked from nine to five doing business for Martin Goodman. In other words he didn’t do any writing in the office. He did Martin Goodman’s business. That was his function. There were people coming up to the office to talk all the time. They weren’t always artists, they were business people. Stan Lee was the first man they would see and Stan Lee would see if he could get them in to see Martin Goodman. That was Stan Lee’s function.

When asked about the creation of the Fantastic Four Jack continues with blunt honesty.

GROTH:Can you tell me give me your version of how The Fantastic Four came about? Did Stan go to you…?

KIRBY: No, Stan didn’t know what a mutation was. I was studying that kind of stuff all the time. I would spot it in the newspapers and science magazines. I still buy magazines that are fanciful. I don’t read as much science fiction as I did at that time. 1 was a student of science fiction and I began to make up my own story patterns, my own type of people. Stan Lee doesn’t think the way I do. Stan Lee doesn’t think of people when he thinks of [characters]. I think of [characters] as real people. If I drew a war story it would be two guys caught in the war. The Fantastic Four to me are people who were in a jam — suddenly you find yourself invisible, suddenly you find yourself flexible.

ROZ KIRBY: Gary wants to know how you created The Fantastic Four.

GROTH: Did you approach Marvel or —

KIRBY: It came about very simply. I came in [to the Marvel offices] and they were moving out the furniture, they were taking desks out — and I needed the work! I had a family and a house and all of a sudden Marvel is coming apart. Stan Lee is sitting on a chair crying. He didn’t know what to do, he’s sitting in a chair crying —he was just still out of his adolescence. I told him to stop crying. I says. “Go in to Martin and tell him to stop moving the furniture out, and I’ll see that the books make money.” And I came up with a raft of new books and all these books began to make money. Somehow they had faith in me. I knew 1 could do it, but I had to come up with fresh characters that nobody had seen before. I came up with The Fantastic Four. I came up with Thor. Whatever it took to sell a book I came up with. Stan Lee has never been editorial minded. It wasn’t possible for a man like Stan Lee to come up with new things — or old things for that matter. Stan Lee wasn’t a guy that read or that told stories. Stan Lee was a guy that knew where the papers were or who was coming to visit that day. Stan Lee is essentially an office worker, OK? I’m essentially something else: I’m a storyteller. My job is to sell my stories. When I saw this happening at Marvel I stopped the whole damned bunch. I stopped them from moving the furniture! Stan Lee was sitting on some kind of a stool, and he was crying.

GROTH: Stan says he conceptualized virtually everything in The Fantastic Four — that he came up with all the characters. And then he said that he wrote a detailed synopsis for Jack to follow.

ROZ KIRBY: I’ve never seen anything.

KIRBY: I’ve never seen it, and of course I would say that’s an outright lie.

GROTH:Stan pretty much takes credit in an introduction to one of his books for creating all the characters in The Fantastic Four. He also said he created the name.

KIRBY: No, he didn’t.

GROTH: The next character, if I remember correctly, was The Hulk. If I remember correctly you drew a six-issue run of that, then it was cancelled for a little while, then Steve Ditko started it in an anthology book called Tales to Astonish. Can you talk a little bit about how you were involved in creating The Hulk?

KIRBY: The Hulk I created when I saw a woman lift a car. Her baby was caught under the running board of this car. The little child was playing in the gutter and he was crawling from the gutter onto the sidewalk under the running board of this car — he was playing in the gutter. His mother was horrified. She looked from the rear window of the car, and this woman in desperation lifted the rear end of the car. It suddenly came to me that in desperation we can all do that — we can knock down walls, we can go berserk, which we do. You know what happens when we’re in a rage — you can tear a house down. I created a character who did all that and called him the Hulk. I inserted him in a lot of the stories I was doing. Whatever the Hulk was at the beginning I got from that incident. A character to me can’t be contrived. I don’t like to contrive characters. They have to have an element of truth. This woman proved to me that the ordinary person in desperate circumstances can transcend himself and do things that he wouldn’t ordinarily do. I’ve done it myself. I’ve bent steel.

GROTH:Well, this is probably going to shock you, but Stan takes full credit for creating the Hulk. He’s written, “Actually, ideas have always been the easiest part of my various chores.” And then he went on to say that in creating The Hulk, “It would be my job to take a clichéd concept and make it seem new and fresh and exciting and relevant. Once again, I decided that Jack Kirby would be the artist to breathe life into our latest creation. So the next time we met, I outlined the concept I’d been toying with for weeks.”

KIRBY: Yes, he was always toying with concepts. On the contrary, it was I who brought the ideas to Stan. I brought the ideas to DC as well, and that’s how business was done from the beginning.

GROTH:Stan also claimed he created the name. “the Hulk.”

KIRBY: No, he didn’t.

ROZ KIRBY: It’s just his word against Stan’s.

GROTH:There was a period between ’61 and ’63 when you were just drawing a tremendous number of books.

ROZ KIRBY: May I make one point? In all these years, when Jack was still creating things, Stan Lee hasn’t been creating things. When Jack left Stan, there wasn’t anything new created by Stan.

KIRBY: Yeah. Stan never created anything new after that. If he says he created things all that easily, what did he create after I left? That’s the point. Have they done anything new? He’ll probably tell you, “I didn’t have to.”

GROTH:Can I ask what your involvement in Spider-Man was?

KIRBY: I created Spider-Man. We decided to give it to Steve Ditko. I drew the first Spider-Man cover. I created the character. I created the costume. I created all those books, but I couldn’t do them all. We decided to give the book to Steve Ditko who was the right man for the job. He did a wonderful job on that.

So you have two people telling two completely different stories, surprise right? Sadly there is practically no one alive from that time that was involved with Marvel at the time except Steve Ditko who still continues to produce independent comics and has remained silent and out of the public eye for years.

Many Creators have supported the fact that Kirby did the majority if not sole creating of Marvels most famous heroes. Even controversial and designated grumpy old man of comics Alan Moore believes Jack to be workhorse behind the creations. Check out a short video of him answering a fan question about Stan Lee here

Needless to say, I’m inclined to believe the Kirby camp. I have always thought if Stan was this creative machine how come he has not created anything significant since Jack left Marvel? Jack and Roz even pointed that out in The Comics Journal interview. Let’s be honest any of Stan’s new comic properties suck or are certainly not anywhere close to the quality of his claimed previous “creations.”

Many people believe Marvel put Stan in cameos in the Marvel movies cause well he’s Stan Lee. No. He sued Marvel for not making any money from the original Spider-Man movie. Not only did he win the suit (He is also the only one to sue Marvel successfully) Stan won the right to be in every Marvel property and receives a reported million dollar a year salary from Marvel.

We are talking about a man who used to have “Stan Lee Presents” on every Marvel comic book. Not “Stan Lee and Jack Kirby Present”. He even said one time publicly that he created Captian America. He didn’t create Captian America that was Joe Simion and Jack Kirby. While Stan has talked highly of Kirby and his other “collaborators”, he will kind of backpedal on questions of contribution and creation for a legal reason as well as moral I suppose.

Stan Lee is one of the best self-promoters and even managed a couple of catchy (if not sometimes annoying) catch phrases Excelsior! And True Believer. Is he evil? No. Shaddy? I’d say yes. He is not the first person to profit off of someone else’s work, and he won’t be the last.  

The reason credit is such an important issue in the comic book industry is because of the amount of work creators put into creating fantastic entertainment. It’s a genuinely collaborative medium, and back in the early days of comics artists were fighting for recognition and fair pay. Even today pencilers, letterers, inkers and colourists are struggling for recognition, while writers are given most of the credit.

It’s important to point out (and this is of course widely debated among fans and pros alike) that you can create a comic without a writer. If the artist is a talented storyteller, you don’t need words to tell a story. A writer without an artist is essentially a short story or script writer. Without pictures with the words, there is no comic book, but so long as there are pictures you have a comic. Jack was proof of this.

At this point you might be thinking this is a pretty one-sided article favouring  Jack Kirby, well it is. If you want to hear Stan’s side, there is no shortage of him talking about how he created the Marvel Universe. Just google search and take you pick of written and video interviews. What I found hard to find when I googled Jack Kirby was his side of the story, and the fact not too many people know about it. People are going to make their own choice on who to believe (at least I hope so).

Many Stan Lee supports say that without Stan there would be no Jack Kirby. They could not be more wrong. Jack had already made a name for himself when he co-created Captain America in 1940 a good 20 years before the start of the Marvel Universe, so it’s not like Jack wasn’t known before being associated with Stan. If anything without Jack Kirby there would be no Stan Lee.

To be fair Stan has been the face of Marvel for a long time, even during bad times when Marvel was on the verge of bankruptcy, his tireless promotion kept marvel in the public eye, and it was also a great benefit for him to so. It seems Stan does nothing that will not help him personally.

Stan has said that the 2016 convention season will be his last, and at the age of 93 I don’t blame him. For anyone wanting to get there Stan Lee comic signed this will be your last chance, but before you rush to your long box or hit up your local comic shop to find some vintage comics of “his” make sure you got enough cash to get each one signed. Yes, the man who “created” much also profits much. Stan is charging  $100 Canadian per signature at Fanexpo Canada (our dollar sucks so I get why it has to be higher) so about $70-80 American. The line usually spans the majority of the convention floor, so we’re talking hours of wait time. The general notion with fans is that his signature will be worth a lot when he eventually passes away, and others just want it for sentimental value and there belief that he created whatever comic there getting signed. To contrast that most creators even legends in the industry charge nothing or a more reasonable fee like 10 or 15 dollars a signature (It’s only reasonable compared to Stan’s fee, I’m not a fan of signature fee’s, in general, i do however understand charging for retailer exclusive variant comics)

The reality is there is no shortage of his signature’s, and unless you get the comic, graded and got the signature verified by a CGC (Certified Guaranty Company) employee in person it’s worth next to nothing. Signatures do not always increase the value of the comic in fact it can hurt the value, what does make a comic valuable is the rarity, and or cultural significance of it. I think once people start to realise Stan had little to do with Jacks creations the less his signature will be worth in the collectors market.

So is Stan Lee the Creator or co- creator of the Marvel Universe? The evidence suggests that he is not either. Jack Kirby and his family never reaped the benefits of his hard work, thankfully after a lengthy battle in the courts recently the family got a settlement out of court and Jack Kirby is starting to get the recognition he deserves even if it is too late. It was Marvel and not the Kirby family who sued. Marvel was suing over the Kirbys termination of copyright assignment they had filed.

I bring this all up just a  before what would have Jack’s 99th birthday (August 28th). It is also nice to see Marvel Acknowledge Kirby by having a week long celebration of his work, although this was probably worked out over the settlement out of court with the Kirby family. Marvel would barely mention him before the lawsuit.

These days I rather hear more about Jack Kirby than Stan Lee, and while I know I didn’t cover all the different variables and topics, it is a very in-depth issue, and I can only hold people’s attention for so long. So perhaps I will do another article on the topic later on down the line.

Happy Birthday to Jack King Kirby The King of Comics.

Robert Kirkman To End Invincible With 12-Part Story Arc

CBR is reporting that The Walking Dead Creator Robert Kirkman has announced the end of his superhero comic Invincible at Image Comics.

Synopsis for Invincible provided by Image Comics:

Mark Grayson is teenage superhero Invincible. He was a normal high school senior with a normal part-time job and otherwise normal life, except his father Nolan is the superhero Omni-Man, the most powerful superhero on the planet. At the age of 17, Mark begins to display superpowers, which come from his father being a member of the Viltrumite race, who, according to Nolan, pioneer the galaxy on a mission of benevolence and enlightenment. As Invincible, Mark begins working as a superhero, with his father acting as his mentor, and meeting other heroes. Mark worked occasionally with a superhero team called the Teen Team (consisting of Robot, Rex Plode, Dupli-Kate and Atom Eve), from there discovering that his Physics teacher has been turning his students into human bombs. He stops his teacher with the help of the heroine, Atom Eve. He also foils a plan to make an army of robots, created by the Mauler Twins. Meanwhile, Omni-Man is kidnapped by aliens, taken to another dimension, but returns after what seems to be only a few days, but was actually eight months to him. 

Invincible first appeared inTech Jacket #1 in November 2002. His own solo series debuted in January 2003, the same year Kirkman released The Walking Dead comic. Invincible was co-created with artist Cory Walker who did the covers and interiors for the first 7 issues. Ryan Ottley took over pencilling duties at issue 8.

The 12-story arc conclusion will begin this November with issue #133 and will finish with issue #144. 

Kirkman sent a letter to media outlets explaining his reason for ending the 13-year comic series.

“My greatest hope in life is to one day, when I’m much older, be reading an INVINCIBLE comic book by younger creators I haven’t met, who are doing a book that I hate.”

I’ve been asked many times over the thirteen years of writing INVINCIBLE how long I think this book will go. Some form of that statement has always been my answer. I always thought it would be a great honor to see Invincible rise to the level of Superman or Spider-Man in the pantheon of comic book superheroes. Characters who far outlived their original stories and eventually transformed into story engines that sort of tell the same story (to a certain extent) in perpetuity for generation after generation.

It wasn’t until recently that I realized that goes against everything INVINCIBLE, as a series, has stood for since the very beginning. When Cory Walker and I created him, and with Ryan Ottley, since he joined the team with issue 8, the point of this series has always been to celebrate what we love about superhero comics, but always put our own spin on it. To play with the tropes of the genre, but twist them into something new, at all times, no matter what.

That is why villains sometimes win, and heroes give up… and eventually stop being heroes altogether… and change happens, and sticks, and characters die, and never come back… no matter how popular they are (we maybe should have kept Conquest alive).

So then, it stands to reason, that if most superhero comics continue forever with no end in sight and over their runs do not, in any way, tell a cohesive story that holds together to form a singular narrative… shouldn’t INVINCIBLE do the exact opposite?

It’s been many years now that Ryan Ottley and myself, with occasional help from co-creator Cory Walker (issue 130 in stores soon!) have been chronicling the adventures of Mark Grayson and the many characters that orbit his life. As I began plotting out the issues that lay ahead of us over this next year, I started to realize I was reaching a… conclusion. The big Viltrumite epic, which began with Nolan Grayson going to Earth and fathering Mark, and kicked off with their confrontation all those years ago in issue 11… was coming to an end. Everything was converging in this one story, and looking back, I realized I’d been working toward this the whole time. In talking it over with Ryan I learned, much to my surprise, that the idea of drawing something other than INVINCIBLE someday… and not being stuck in this monthly grind we’ve been in for well over a decade… appealed to him. So it was clear, I was writing to a conclusion and Ryan was also drawing to one.

So that led to the question of what comes next?

I briefly considered bringing on another team, starting that eventual march to that book I’d read in my old age and throw across the room saying, “This isn’t INVINCIBLE!” And while I did consider some really cool options that would have led to some really cool issues of INVINCIBLE… more and more as I thought about it, I realized ending the series was the right thing to do.

So that’s what we’re doing! Issue 144, the conclusion of the 12-part epic THE END OF ALL THINGS, will be the final issue of Invincible. I’m sure when it’s all said and done, I’ll be sad, and I know I will miss these characters, but for the time being, I’m excited. Ryan will be coming back to the book with issue 133 in November, and we’re going to hit the ground running. We’ve got a wild ride in store for the fans where we’re going to touch every corner of the Invincible Universe, and in the end, tie things up in a really cool and unexpected way.

So we’ve got a little over a year to go, and it’s going to be one hell of a year! So please join us for our swan song, thirteen years in the making! We couldn’t have done it without you, the fans, so lets all cross the finish line together!

Robert Kirkman

Backwoods, CA

2016

 

 

The Comic Mint: Comic Box Review

The Comic Mint is a website based out of Stamford, Connecticut USA that offers a commission-free marketplace for sellers and buyers of comics. They also have a pretty awesome deal going on right in honour of the relaunch of their site.

The Comic Mint offers 12 different themed boxes of  comics:

1.All number Ones: 10 different number one issues across all publishing lines (DC, MARVEL, IMAGE and other independents)

2: All things X: 10 different mutant related issues

3.Anything Goes: A true mixed grab bag of 10 books across all lines and themes. For the person who likes surprises.

4. Batman: 10 different issues that feature the Dark Knight.

5.   DC Superheroes: 10 different DC superhero issues. May include individual character titles or team books.

6. Independents: 10 different books from independent publishers (Image, Valiant, Dark Horse, etc.)

7. Marvel Superheroes: 10 different Marvel superhero issues. May include individual character titles or team books.

8. Punisher: 10 different books that feature the Punisher.

9. Spiderman: 10 different books that feature the web-slinger.

10. Superheroines: 10 different books that feature female superheroes.

11. Superman: 10 different books that feature the man of steel.

12. Wolverine: 10 different books that feature Wolverine.

Each box cost $19.95 USD and $5.00 Shipping per box. International orders are accepted. Each box you order comes with a  very limited free Harley Quinn Rebirth #1 Variant (3000 printed) by artist Francis Manapul. If you just want the variant issue, it’s $19.99.

I discovered The Comic Mint by following Francis Manapul (@FrancisManapul) on Twitter. He posted a link and once I saw the cover and the deal, I had to order a couple of boxes. I choose the Batman and Wolverine. The site assures you that you’re not going to get any garbage comics in the boxes. They understand and take pride in choosing quality titles that they have for each box. I can assure you as well that the comics I received ranged from decent to surprising!  Here are some of the highlights from boxes I received.

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The other comics were cool short story arcs I’ve not had a chance to read yet, but I am looking forward to reading them. Overall I was very pleased with my purchase; boxes arrived in a reasonable amount of time, and the condition of each comic is shockingly excellent. Also, all the number one’s are all first prints as far as I can tell. So great value for your dollar and you get a free copy of an excellent Harley Quinn variant. If you want the variant, I suggest you order ASAP.

 This is a one time order, not a monthly subscription

Check out The Comic Mint’s website Here

Twitter: @comic_mint

Recommendation: Alterna Comics 10th AnniverSERIES Anthology

In this day and age of comics, it’s tough being an independent publisher. There are so many currently producing content all working hard to keep doing what they love while still trying to maintain a business. While trying just to keep business steady, it’s even more challenging to grow and expand. For an independent company regardless of industry to make it ten years is quite the accomplishment.

2016 marks the tenth anniversary of Alterna Comics. In honour of the milestone achievement, Alterna is releasing 432 page black and white anthology that highlights some of the best stories and characters from the Alterna universe.

Anytime you’re considering investing in an indie comic/publisher there is always a fair amount of uncertainty. Is this purchase going to be worth my money and time? Am I going to be able to get these issues or trades easily?  Do they have a regular or consistent release schedule?

This anthology is an excellent way to answer some of those questions and get introduced to a new indie publisher. It gives you a taste of their variety of content and allows you to find out what’s currently available from them. Some stories are even seeing physical print for the first time. I would love to see more publishers release anthologies like Alterna’s (those who can). $20.00 USD for 432 pages is a great value even if you only like a couple of stories out of the whole anthology it’s well worth the investment.

Here is a preview of some of the 432 pages

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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I can’t stress the importance of supporting indie content, especially if you’re a fan of a particular book or series. In the age of pirating and tough economic times, I understand it’s easy to give in to the temptation. Comics though whether indie or mainstream is a tuff business, with small profit margins. Many creators do this as a passion and are trying to turn it into a living, while still working a usually crappy day job. These men and women go through a lot to create entertainment for us on a regular basis, so please support and encourage the people who create the entertainment you enjoy so they can continue to produce more of it.

You can pre-order the AnniverSERIES at you local comic shop. Code is AUG161118

If you don’t have a local comic shop you can also pre-order on Amazon

Check out Alterna’s website for more information here

AnniverSERIES is set for an October 2016 release.

We Review “The Human Eating Pumpkins” In Blood & Gourd #2

(If you have not read my review of issue #1 click here )

Blood & Gourd #2 starts off with a brief glimpse into the origin of the human eating pumpkins and then brings you back to where issue one left off. Men, women and children are running for their lives through the fairgrounds and corn fields, desperately trying to avoid having their heads eaten by pumpkins. Tension is high and fuses are short with the Olympia, Washington locals as they try to figure out what’s going on and more importantly how to get to safety.

Jenz Lund and D.H Shultis put together a fast paced action packed issue. The gore is brought up another level, in both a good and disturbing way. Some dark humour and pop culture references highlight the issue well. (I personally liked the man in black reference)

Juan Antonio Ramirez who drew the fantastic cover to issue 1 has taken over interior art duties from interior artist Dave Acosta ( He seems to be still involved with the comic with credit as a consultant on this issue). Changing an artist can dramatically affect the feel of your book and can be risky if fans liked the previous art. I see no reason to be concerned about Juan’s art. it’s not a drastic style change, and it’s most importantly still visually appealing.

 

Fran Gamboa’s colours are not surprisingly on point once again. Good tone and contrast in each panel.

I recognised an improvement to the lettering; it was just something that caught my attention. I know letterers don’t get a whole lot of credit, but without a high quality, letterer it makes reading any comic a chore and reading a comic should never be a chore. Great work JC Ruiz.

This was another enjoyable read. If you enjoyed issue one, you will want to pre-order issue 2.

8/10

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You can pre-order the print version of Issue 2 for $4.99 USD which is available September 2016 (issue one is available now) at  bloodandgourd.bigcartel.com

Digital versions (same dates apply as print) can be purchased at bloodandgourd.com

 Twitter: @bloodandgourd

Facebook: bloodandgourd

Instagram: @bloodandgourd

Now you might be wondering ok I can get the first two issues but when is issue 3 coming out? I thought of this same question; I got you guys covered! I was talking to Jenz Lund, and he told me issue 3 is written at least but no solid date on the release yet. They are trying to figure out the best way for them to get the 3 issue made. You can guarantee once we find out here at Skatronixxx, we will let you guys know!

While it can be frustrating for a reader haveing to wait extended periods for the next issue, just keep a few things in mind. They don’t have the financial backing of a big publisher, they have to pay for everything up front before they start selling their book, and coordinating a team is not always an easy task. Countless other things go into making a single comic that I don’t have time to go into, just know it’s a lot, and know creators feel the pressure to get them out as fast as possible without sacrificing the quality.

So hopefully that calms a little bit of frustration that you might come across.

Until the next review, happy reading.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We Review Top New Comic ‘Blood & Gourd #1’

While the heat of summer is still very apparent, in a short month or so fall will be upon us, and that means Halloween will be just around the corner. Fans of horror will be binge watching their favourite movies and reading their favourite books. Hopefully, this review will persuade you to add Blood & Gourd to your list.

“It’s Devil’s Night in Olympia, WA- and out at Henderson Farms, the festivities are reaching a crescendo. Young and old have gathered to pick their own pumpkin, drink hot apple cider, and partake in the usual pumpkin farm fare. However, something has awakened from deep within the fertile soil. After years of abuse and humiliation, the pumpkins… are ready to pick us. You can beg! You can plead! You can scream! But these Hell’s lanterns are lit only with the burning desire to watch you die.”

I wasn’t sure what to expect when I started to read Blood & Gourd. A horror story about pumpkins? It could have turned out any number ways, but thankfully I was pleasantly surprised. Horror is always subject to what a reader considers scary or shocking, while I didn’t find it scary personally the shock value is certainly there.

Jenz K. Lund & D.H. Shultis nail the pacing of the story and give you plenty of content for your money (48 pages which are more than two comics worth of story for $6.99 US)

Dave Acosta’s art is good but is particularly excellent when it comes to the gore; I love it. The way Dave draws the pumpkin vines is great and stood out to me for some reason.

Juan Antonio Ramirez’s cover is excellent and a little reminiscent of a villain you would see The Tick go against.

Fran Gamboa’s colours on the cover and interiors fit the tone of the book great and gives you a fairly authentic town fair feel. The gore scenes aren’t over highlighted with super bright blood, there just right.

Blood & Gourd is a story worth investing in. It leaves a lot of questions you want to know the answers to and is something different to try out if you have never gotten into horror comics before. If you’re tired of the mainstream comics, consider supporting this excellent indie title.

9/10

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You can purchase a digital copy of Blood & Gourd #1 Here

You can purchase the print copy and pre-order issue #2 (Available September 2016) Here

Follow them on Twitter: @bloodandgourd

I will have an advance review of Issue #2 up in the next few days, Monday at the latest. Keep checking back here at Skatronixx.com!

Interview With The Tick Animated Series Director Hank Tucker

Hank Tucker is a Storyboard artist, producer, director, and most recently independent comic book artist and writer. I asked Hank about his comic book The Actual Roger, his productive career in animation and of course his time on the short-lived The Tick animated series. Based on the comic book by  Ben Edlund . Spooooon! (read a book!)

How did you get connected with Alterna Comics and what was the inspiration for The Actual Roger?

Alterna was one of six publishers I submitted Roger to when I finished it. I got names from Wikipedia looked them up and followed submission guidelines. It was kind of fun. Out of the six, two got back to me at the end of the week with an offer. One of them was Alterna. I went with them because they actually included a contract and they had a New York Times bestseller to their credit (FUBAR! Zombies in History. Very cool…)

Roger was inspired by a dream I had when I was nine (Roger’s age). Just like in the book, I was lying on the floor, pushed up to get a snack or take a leak and kept going up! In the dream, I soared around the house about a foot and a half off the floor.

The overall “thematic” inspiration, I guess, was the sense of – my personal reaction to – how controlled, adjusted and “corrected” by the media and government (often hand in hand!) our lives have become. Even heroism! Heroic acts, it seems, have to be approved of and guided by people who’ve never done a heroic thing in their lives. Crazy. But also interesting…

Did you grow up reading comics as a child or did you discover them later in life?

I discovered comic’s when I was six at a children’s shoe store in Woodland Hills (or maybe Tarzana). They had a Superman comic laying on a table which I picked up and was totally bowled over by. My mom wouldn’t me keep it so I started drawing what I could remember of it when I got home. These were my first drawings. Hence my love of drawing hooked up directly to my then love of comics.

 It’s funny, though, I read Superman, Superboy, and the Legion of Superheroes…most at the time drawn by Curt Swan. But the minute Swan stopped drawing them I stopped reading them. I didn’t touch comic’s again until ’94 when I became storyboard supervisor on Fox’s Spider-Man show. While there I picked up the McFarland Venom intro issue and became totally hooked. Up to then, I’d mostly avoided Marvel having been a DC (i.e. Swan) fan exclusively! It wasn’t the drawing in that one so much as the situation and characters that grabbed me. I kept up with the series for a while then moved on…I think when Spidey became a clone I lost interest.

Throughout my career I’d been literally surrounded by great comic book people and their work: Jack Kirby, Russ Heath, Mike Ploog, Doug Wildey and many others. Knew them and frequently worked with them. And the world we all occupied was all about comics even though the medium we were engaged in was animation. It was a world of Heavy Metal, Moebius,  etc. Comic’s and comic artists were sort of hard-wired to animation then and now.

Wow! What was your experience like with Jack Kirby?

In ’79 Jack was working for Ruby and Spears in Sun Valley designing and helping pitch shows.  Thundarr the Barbarian – my first storyboard gig in animation – was one of them. He’d mosey over to my supervisor John Dorman’s office now and then for a good natured ribbing by John (we all got one regularly, Jack no exception). I was pretty much a bystander, but we’d chat now and then…usually me asking dumb questions like, “oh you don’t like Stan? Why?” So he’d light up a cigar (we smoked indoors in those days), and he’d fume/riff on some recently published statement of Stan’s. Not having grown up a Marvel guy it all went a little past me. One thing, though, he seemed happy. Very at ease. Steve Gerber of Howard, the Duck fame, was there, too, on the same show. His office was across from mine. Unlike Jack he seemed pained most of the time. Partly the life of a story editor. Partly I think he was still in some kind of litigation with Marvel. Or he had been and lost…

Did you have any formal training or education for being an artist or were you self-taught?

I never went to a formal art school. In my last years of Taft high, Cal Art’s was newly opened, but I was advised against going there by people like Chris Jenkins (story man for Jay Ward) since it was run by avant-garde animator Jules Engles. I wanted to learn traditional animation. But Engles had no intention of teaching that. He was all about scratching images onto film and hypnotic light patterns, ala National Film Board of Canada; shoot-me-now-type stuff for a 17-year-old Disney nut.  It wasn’t until the late 70’s -early 80’s that they started their character animation program and people like Lassiter and Burton showed up. I was the early bird that missed the worm. My education was handled by just getting into the business (with help from a mentor) and being surrounded by great artists.

It’s always great to hear stories about artists working for Fox or Disney without formal art school. Is that less common today or is your art still enough proof for big companies to consider you? 

I think at this point if you’ve done it, in their minds, you can keep doing it. As to people coming in “off the street” like me, it depends on what the work looks like and who’s looking at it. I’d been in animation for five years animating and assistant animating. Then I decided to get into boards. So on my own, I storyboarded scenes from books I’d read. When a friend I’d met on Bakshi’s Lord Of The Rings (Art Vitello) saw it, he recommended me to Dorman at Ruby/Spears. Dorman liked it so I was in. But the same goes with someone coming out of a school. They have to like what they see. Having a degree is nice but if the portfolio sucks…well, good luck.

 

You have been involved with many classic cartoons such as Darkwing Duck, Spider-Man, G.I Joe and Bonkers, but the most iconic one (at least in my opinion) has to be The Tick. How did you get that gig?  

 Well, let me say first off, any gig of mine that was worth anything dating from 1979 on can be pretty well traced to Art Vitello. Again, Art recommended me to Ruby/Spears in ’79, then pulled me in the following year (’80) to Marvel – where we worked with Stan. Then in ’85 he pulled me back over to Disney, but this time, it was Disney TV when they started that division. Art left two years in, eventually going to Warners where he produced and directed Tiny Toons, then to create and Executive Produce Tazmania. Gary Kreisel at  Disney tried to get him back but instead he recommended they try me as a producer. So they did.

I produced/directed 17 Goof Troop episodes and 4 Bonkers episodes (don’t even ask about that one!)  before quitting to go to the “new” Marvel beginning ’94  (back with Stan and now Avi Arad)  as a storyboard supervisor. While I was there, Art had quit Warners and went to take over the – how do they say it? “troubled” -production of The Tick animated series for Graz Entertainment and Fox.

The previous producer had been let go, and Art was brought in to supervise post on the first six episodes coming back from Korea, then to pre-produce and direct the next seven, including write a couple. When it came time to board his first solo episode he called in some of his favourite board guys – me one of them – to freelance on it. So I picked up the 1st half of his “The Tick Vs. The Tick” and did it at night while supervising on Spider-Man. It turned out they really liked mine in particular.  When the first season aired and became a hit, Art left to develop and pitch his own projects. He recommended me to take over the show, especially considering how much they’d liked my board. I’d produced already for Disney so they (Stephanie Graziano, head of Graz Ent.) interviewed me then set up a meeting with Ben Edlund the show’s creator/head writer. We met at the Ritz Carlton in Pasadena and had a pleasant chat  (no other kind of chat conceivable with Ben) mainly I think about directing and directors (I was a staunch Kubrick fan). Showed me some doodles on a pad he had just done before I’d arrived of what he called “a little wooden boy” -very insane drawing – and said it would be figuring into the first new episode.  He seemed particularly impressed that I’d worked on Thundarr the Barbarian. Later he told me that was what cinched me as producer/director of The Tick.

Was it a fun ride while it lasted?

Two of the best years of my life…and that’s 59 years we’re talking.

Any new projects in the works whether with comics or storyboarding?

Right now I’m desperately (no exaggeration!) trying to finish the 5th and last issue of the Roger miniseries, after which there’ll be a print run of all five as a compilation trade paperback. Simultaneously I’m boarding on a very fun feature for Mike Johnson (co-director of Corpse Bride)…and Simul–simultaneously I’ve been asked by a small Shanghai-based production company to write a feature for them. They apparently read Roger, fell in love with the style, and there was the email one morning! I pitched three ideas, and they chose one and just sent me the contract. Very strange. So on it goes…

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If you’re curious about Hank’s comic check out our review of  The Actual Roger #1 by Tosin Alalade    Here

You can purchase the first 4 issue digitally at Comixology

Hank’s IMDB Page

Follow Hank on Twitter @HTucker007

Twitter for The Actual Roger @theACTUALroger

Diamond Comic Distributors Good Or Bad For Future Of The Comic Book Industry?

In the 21st century there many companies and industries are still stuck on business models and practices from decades ago that do not make sense in today’s market. The music and film industry have learned the hard way that you can’t beat the internet, you have to work with it. After making ridiculous profits for decades, they now find themselves dying and struggling to keep with the times.

With that said, I asked the same question of an industry I love comic books.

Is Diamond Comic Distributors good or bad for the future of the comic book industry?

That’s a question I had never really thought much about until having a great 2 hour Skype chat with indie creator  James Schumacher ( creator of the indie horror comic Inheritance. Stay tuned to Skatronixxx for news about it later this month) last week. So I thought I’d do some research and see what I’d find.

First of all Diamond Comic Distributors is essentially the only way to get your comics into brick and mortar comic book speciality stores. You might be thinking that statement can’t be right, surely there has to be some competition. No. In fact, Diamond has exclusive distribution deals with comic publishers Marvel, DC, Image, IDW and Dark Horse.

That accounts for more than 75% of the market, and they are the top 5 publishers regarding sales. Now whether you think it’s right or not, that is clearly a monopoly. If you’re a comic book retailer, you are forced to have an account with Diamond because they have control of the most popular titles your customers want.

If you remember In 1998  the first time, the US government was investigating Bill Gates, the former Chairman and Co-Creator of Microsoft for Manopaniolization and engaging in abusive practices it was big news and a serious issue at the time. The only one who can step in and say hey you’re creating a monopoly were going to investigate you is the government.

I get that the comic book industry is not even a concern to the US government and that the tech industry has a bigger effect on the economy, but the comic book industry is a billion dollar industry and it affects the lives of people. Are there more pressing issues at the moment? Absolutely, but isn’t breaking the law or the likely hood that it has been broken worth being looked into? At the end of the day, it affects the arts, creatives, and small business owners, which economies desperately need right now.

The next question that arises is, was it unfair of diamond to secure over 75% of the market with exclusive distribution contracts? Yes and no. On the one hand, Diamond came into the game in the early 80’s as a start-up that was the competition to marvels recently bought distributor Heros World in the early 90’s. At the time comic shops had to have two accounts which became confusing due to the different policies and discounts of each company. Once Diamond landed the exclusive contracts with DC, Image and Dark Horse, Marvel realised there was no point haveing their distribution company and would eventually sign an exclusive deal with Diamond. In a capitalistic market, you can’t blame them (even though it’s a prick move) for going from startup to full-fledged powerhouse in the industry.

On the other hand your the king of the mountain, you have no reason to change when there is no threat. I’m going to use the pro wrestling industry as an example. When WWE Chairman Vince Mcmahon bought the WCW and ECW in the early 2000’s his mainstream competition was eliminated. Only a few years prior there was an explosive era in wrestling (referred to as the Attitude Era in WWE) WWE and WCW were in a rating war. Each week the promotions would try to top each other which made for some of the best entertainment and storylines in pro wrestling history. Once Vince bought out WCW, the excitement and creativity slowly began to die and after only a couple years it was a joke. They resorted to competing with themselves by having a draft for wrestlers to join one of there two tv shows Raw and Smackdown. They then went to PG for their content which also hurt, and they were never the same. With no legitimate competition and no other perspective to the industry to challenge him, Vince, effectively damaged his own business.

Competition is always good, for industries, right? Is it okay for comic book distribution? It’s complicated. With the profit margins so tight for everyone involved the addition of competition, in this case, might raise the already inflated prices of comic books. Printing a comic is not cheap, and is what eats the majority of your profits. I have heard of some mainstream creators on Twitter say that single issues aren’t viable anymore and that we should just produce trades. This idea makes sense to me; it would reduce costs and save space for purchasers, but the single issues especially the variant covers would be missed, though.

I’m not sure how accurate the numbers are regarding 2016, but these were from a few years ago and should give you an idea how the profit of the comic is divided between the retailer, diamond and the creator.

 So the average comic is about $3.99. About $1.59 goes to the creator; $1.99 goes to the retailer, and the remainder goes to Diamond. Keep in mind especially for indie creators that diamond does not pay you in advance. So you have to have the money either saved up or borrowed to pay for your print run. Once the creator gets paid (30 days later) the majority of the profit made off the comic goes to recovering your printing cost leaving little to pay yourself and any of your team that you may owe money. Retailers also have the risk of ordering too much of a particular book and are stuck sitting on product that isn’t moving, as diamond rarely accepts over order returns, which can hurt the retailer’s profits a lot. Diamond makes a profit with no risk to the company at all.

There have been mixed reports on the customer service quality of Diamond, as is the case with every companies customer service. There are always good, and bad experiences told in person, and online, deciphering which are accurate and which are exaggerated or flat out wrong is tough. I have read and heard from retailers books being delivered in a horrible condition to stores. Diamond states on their site that their comics will be delivered in “mint condition.” I’m sure now and then that’s unavoidable, but the health of comics is important the retailer and the customer. It’s hard to sell a comic with bent corners or edges; it also makes the rest of the rack look bad. Collectors are also particular about the condition of comics for grading and resale purposes.

If you’re fortunate enough to get your comic into one of the top 5 publishers, the Diamond process is a little easier with publishing staff taking care of things or guiding you through the process. If you are an indie creator, it’s a challenge to get a deal with Diamond. You have already either pitched to an indie publisher or have created your publishing company and now you’re looking to test the direct market and play alongside the big dogs. You now have to convince a team at Diamond that your book is going to be worth them putting you in there all extensive Previews catalogue. If they like, you then have to sell your comic to them at a 60% discount off the cover price, and you are usually responsible for shipping costs from their distribution centre.

The sales statistics provided on Diamonds website I’m not inclined to trust 100% again they are the only player in the game, and I wasn’t impressed with the old look of their site. I also noticed the lack of conversation about whether Diamond is good or not by both indie and mainstream creators. I assume talking about this issue could hurt your relationship with the only major distributor available. So I understand wanting to be silent or biting your tongue. It’s a tough game and creators and employees in the industry all have responsibilities and loved ones to look after. It’s still somewhat surprising; not much is being said, and It undoubtedly affects everyone.

So is Diamond right for the future of the comic book industry? I don’t personally think it is. I also don’t know what the solution is. Thanks to Kickstarter it’s shown the industry you don’t need Diamond to reach a broad audience. Some Kickstarter campaigns have outsold Marvel and DC titles by 10’s and even 100’s of thousands. So perhaps the future is crowd funding and the direct market will eventually implode over time?

I’m no expert on this issue; I just thought it’s worth talking about. With all the information available in the information age, we have so much that it’s nearly impossible to decipher what’s legitimate and what’s not. There always seems to be substantial information to prove any viewpoint. It used to be you just had to check the date of the study or statistics, not so much these days; there is no regulation what so ever on the internet regarding the accuracy of posted information.

I don’t see there being a simple solution to this problem. The fact that it’s not a big issue in the industry today is quite disturbing. I get the mentality that it’s been this way for years, and it’s worked for the past few decades. Like the music and film industry though is Diamond going to have a rude awakening when sales start to dwindle and comics released outside of the direct market start to be more viable and frankly the better option for quality? Something needs to change, but determining that requires the veterans of the industry to come together and discuss that.

Questions? Opinions? Post in the comments below.

 

Kill Or Be Killed #1 Review

If you had any doubt about the quality of this new book by the super team of Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips (as well as Elizabeth Breitweiser) let me assure you, you want to pick up this comic.

Kill or be killed is a story about Dylan a young man who is forced to kill bad people, and how he struggles to keep his secret as it gradually ruins his life and the lives of his friends and family.

This is not your typical vigilantly story. Many people were under the impression when the book was announced that this would follow the lines of Marvel’s Punisher, despite Ed Brubaker saying multiple times that it is nothing like the Punisher. Don’t worry I’m not going to spoil anything for you.

From the first page, you get a taste of the violence and gore as Dylan unleashes harsh justice on evil men. Dylan being the narrating voice of the story then quickly brings you back to how it all started for him. Dylan is a down on his luck young adult that doesn’t have much going for him and is a bit of a loser. Dylan is a person who lacks confidence when faced with trials that test his courage and abilities. He also goes through relationship issues and friction, depression and multiple suicide attempts. During one of his attempts, something happens to him that changes his life forever. You get to see quite a progression and range of emotions in just one issue.

I enjoy the fact that there’s no filler in Ed Brubaker’s writing. Every dialogue box and word bubble feel necessary. He even breaks the fourth wall a little bit which is done tastefully. Ed is defiantly making this book relevant to the times we are living in today. He references police shooting unarmed black kids; the farce that is the 2016 presidential race, mass shootings, terrorist attacks, the tension in the Middle East, and generally how totally screwed up and dark the world is today. It will be interesting to see if any of these social commentaries continue throughout the book and how they will play out.

Sean Phillips art is once again fantastic. He manages a style that’s like a painting come to life with comic book undertones and that trademark noir feeling.

Elizabeth Breitweiser’s colours complimented Sean art perfectly. I felt she used right range, of colour and tones and the shadowing was great.

 This may or may not be something important to you, or just something you never thought of, but the page quality of this comic is excellent. It’s thick, good quality paper. Why is this important you ask? It’s important to point out that the big 2 (i will give DC credit for its improvement in quality for it rebirth line) who are multi-billion dollar companies use garbage quality paper for print. Nothing is worse than reading a comic that can rip while reading when you accidently sneeze let alone just turning the page. You’re also paying more for less generally regarding content.

My point is the price you pay for the big two you should be getting the quality paper that Kill or be Killed is printed on, but you don’t. It’s just a pet peeve of mine I’m sure this is the last time you will see me write about this (i make no promises)

If you pre-ordered this comic then great job! If you have not picked it up, I suggest doing it quickly because Ed and Sean’s books have a healthy habit of selling out quick (at least of the first printing, there’s usually 2nd or 3rd printings but first is what you want). Go to your local comic shop now, or if your content with digital go to comixology, purchase and read right now.

I tried to find something negative about this comic (it’s rare for me not to find something ) but I just couldn’t this is how you do a #1 issue start off with some great action then set up the story to hook you in for issue 2,3,4,5, until then end.

Kill or be Killed #1 was my most anticipated comic of the summer, and it does not disappoint.

10/10