Casting: Secret Stash, Executive Producer Kevin Smith

Maybe you have already heard the word that Kevin Smith is Executive Producing a new TV Show based out of his Comic Book Store – Secret Stash. Well they’re trying to reach out to as many of the Fanboy demograph about our casting for the show.

Want to a part of the latest show from the guys who brought you LA INK, Storm Chasers and will air on the same channel as The Walking Dead? (Shame on you if you didn’t know that’s AMC)

Submit: www.secretstashcasting.com

They’re looking to find real fans and real collectors of cool, unique, rare, or otherwise awesome comic books & memorabilia for the new reality TV Show from Original Media.

Submit your entry ASAP – hopefully before October 8th – filming begins October 17th, 2011

**Filming in & around Redbank, NJ**

REED GUNTHER ROUND UP!

REED GUNTHER ROUND UP!
The Adventures of Everyone’s Favorite Bear-Riding Cowboy Collected in Trade Paperback

Berkeley, CA – 4 October 2011 – The wild west adventures of Reed Gunther, Sterling, Starla, and all of Shane and Chris Houghton’s colorful characters will be gathered together into their first trade paperback from Image Comics this November with the arrival of Shane and Chris Houghton’s REED GUNTHER, VOL. 1 TP. This colorful collection of excitement, friendship, and adventure is guaranteed to be fun for folks of all ages!

“This is a big collection of excitement, adventure, and goofy bear-riding cowboy fun.” said writer Shane Houghton. “Not only is it jam-packed with some wild and crazy monsters, but is also balanced with heart-felt stories of friendship, loss, and responsibility.”

“This is one fine-lookin’ collection,” added artist Chris Houghton. “If you haven’t read REED GUNTHER yet and are looking to find a fun and fresh new series, this book is a great place to start. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to get back to my unbelievably cool job: drawing a dim-witted cowboy who rides a grizzly bear.”

Scores of comics industry professionals have been won over by REED GUNTHER’s many charms, leading to the inclusion of some incredible extra material, such as pin-ups by the likes of Stan Sakai (Usagi Yojimbo), Robb Mommaerts (Shrek), and Guy Davis (Nevermen, B.P.R.D., Judge Dredd). The collection also features a foreward written by Davis, in which he explained the appeal of REED GUNTHER: “Aside from having monsters in it (and I do love monster tales), the book, at the heart of it, is just plain fun!”

Some of REED GUNTHER’s other rave reviews and recommendations from websites have included these words of praise:

“About the only thing more ‘made for comics’ than cowboys on bare-bearback is gorillas riding dinosaurs.” Doug Zawisza, CBR

“As all ages comics go, they don’t get much better than this. REED GUNTHER is always entertaining and relentlessly fun… There is nothing not to love about a cowboy that rides a bear, Nuff Said!” Niall Doonan, Comic Buzz

“With the bulk of popular comics being stories about costumed heroes punching each other, it’s nice to have a well-written story about a silly cowboy and his trusty bear named Sterling.” Joshua Yehl, Broken Frontier

“…one of the most fun and imaginative new books out from Image Comics these days.” Josh Flanagan, iFanboy

In REED GUNTHER, VOL. 1 TP, our hero Reed Gunther and his trusty grizzly bear steed will bumble their way through the wild west, fighting giant snakes, hoards of mole creatures, a resurrected John Henry zombie, freak show freaks, special government agents, and all sorts of wild monsters created by an ancient mysterious idol!

REED GUNTHER, VOL. 1 TP (SEP110428, ISBN: 978-1-60706-462-6), 184-page full-color all-ages western comedy adventure for $14.99, will come galloping full speed into a store near you on November 9. For more information on Reed Gunther, Sterling, and all their unruly friends and foes, visit www.reedgunther.com.

ABOUT IMAGE COMICS
Image Comics is a comic book and graphic novel publisher founded in 1992 by a collective of best-selling artists. Image has since gone on to become one of the largest comics publishers in the United States. Image currently has five partners: Robert Kirkman, Erik Larsen, Todd McFarlane, Marc Silvestri and Jim Valentino. It consists of five major houses: Todd McFarlane Productions, Top Cow Productions, Shadowline, Skybound and Image Central. Image publishes comics and graphic novels in nearly every genre, sub-genre, and style imaginable. It offers science fiction, romance, horror, crime fiction, historical fiction, humor and more by the finest artists and writers working in the medium today. For more information, visit www.imagecomics.com.

Humberto Ramos Covers AVENGING SPIDER-MAN #1!

Marvel is pleased to present your first look at fan favorite Spider-Man Artist, Humberto Ramos’, lush variant cover to Avenging Spider-Man #1! The blockbuster creative team of Zeb Wells and Joe Madureira bring fans one of the biggest launches of 2011! Not only does this new ongoing series mark the return of Joe Maduriera to comics, but also an entirely new chapter for the wall-crawler as he teams up with the biggest names of the Marvel Universe. This November, no fan can miss the Avenging Spider-Man #1 Ramos Variant!

AVENGING SPIDER-MAN #1 RAMOS VARIANT (SEP110538)
Written by ZEB WELLS
Art by JOE MADUREIRA
Variant Cover by HUMBERTO RAMOS
FOC – 10/17/11, ON SALE – 11/9/11

HAVE YOU HEARD WHISPERS?

Joshua Luna Announces New Solo Series at Image Comics

Berkeley, CA – 4 October 2011 – 2012 will begin a new era for Joshua Luna of the Luna Brothers (ULTRA, GIRLS, THE SWORD). Come January, he will be making his solo debut with a new 6-issue series at Image Comics entitled WHISPERS, a comic book which will follow in the same tradition of the previous series Luna and his brother have created in the past: original stories with supernatural elements, grounded with compelling human drama.

The dark, supernatural thriller will not only showcase the creator’s talents as both writer and artist for the first time, but will also raise questions of free will and explore the obsessions, addictions and urges we all have… and may not fully have control of!

“A lot of people who are familiar with my writing may not know this, but I started drawing long before I attempted to write,” said Luna. “I’ve been dying to tackle the art on a comic book series for a long time, but I’ve been waiting for the right time and the right story.”

WHISPERS is the suspenseful story of a mentally troubled man who is suddenly empowered with the ability to leave behind his physical body and exist in a ghost-like form, manipulating people in strange and disturbing ways. With this incredible power, will he control his demons… or discover even more?

WHISPERS #1, a 32-page full-color sci-fi comic $2.99, will be on sale in stores January 26, and is available for order in the upcoming January issue of Previews.

Soldier Zero #12 Review

Rating: 3/5
Publisher Name: Boom! Studios
Publisher Website: http://www.boom-studios.com/

Writer: Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning
Pencils: Javier Pina
Colors: Archie Van Buren
Number of Pages: 26
Price: $3.99
Color: Color
Safety Content Label: A – Appropriate for age 9 and up.

Publisher’s Blurb:
LAST ISSUE! Stan Lee, Dan Abnett, and Andy Lanning bring the year’s most colossal crossover to a close with the series finale that will forever change the universe! Soldier Zero, the Traveler, Starborn, the Inheritors…what is their fate? Find out as Stan “The Man” Lee concludes the finest superhero run of the year!

Reviewer’s Comments:
Think Iron Man, only more space faring and alien and you essentially have Stan Lee’s Soldier Zero.

Abnett & Lanning have been doing a good job with this title, bringing about the character growth of the paraplegic war veteran Capt. Stewart Trautmann as he assumes the role of Soldier Zero.

This issue picks up with Soldier Zero facing off against the seemingly unstoppable Inheritors and he’s not taking any of their gruff. These neigh cosmic beings all but ignored Soldier Zero until last issue where he decided to take to the skies and make them appreciate the power he now wields.

This apparent last issue took me by surprise as it ended wide open for future stories. I have no doubt we’ve not seen the last of Soldier Zero, but only the end of this particular arc. If you haven’t picked up this title and like watching characters grow into their power set, this is definitely a book you shouldn’t pass up on the selves of your local comic book shop.

Pina’s visuals are clean and crisp and Van Buren brings them to life with vibrant colors that will capture your attention and show you how comic book art is supposed to look.

As seems to be the trend lately, the price tag on this is a hard to swallow $3.99 but if you’re going to drop four bucks on a comic, reward the creators behind this book for telling a brand new story that isn’t just another reboot or re-imagining.

Marksmen #3 (of 6) Review

Rating: 2/5
Publisher Name: Image
Publisher Website: http://www.imagecomics.com/

Writer: DAVID BAXTER
Pencils: JAVIER ARANDA, GARRY LEACH & JESSICA KHOLINNE
Number of Pages: 32
Price: 2.99
Color: Color
Safety Content Label: T+ TEENS AND UP – Appropriate for most readers 13 and up, parents are advised that they might want to read before or with younger children.

Publisher’s Blurb:
New San Diego is betrayed and its heart is torn in two. Drake and the Marksman scramble to face the assault on more than one front, but the Trojan Horse has already bolted.

Reviewer’s Comments:
Move along folks, there’s nothing to see here. Really, there’s nothing worth seeing if you’ve ever read a comic or seen a movie before.

Every summer, the theaters are flooded with huge big budget action flicks. Then shortly after, you open up Netflix and start seeing all the “Mockbusters”—Transmorphers to go with your Tranformers, Chop Kick Panda for your Kung Fu Panda. Marksmen falls into the same category as the Mockbusters. There’s nothing new here. All of the ideas are taken from better stories, watered down, and topped with a heaping dose of soap opera drama.

Mad Max. The Book of Eli. The Fallout games. Even Rango. This is cobbled together from elements of so many other things, that I could spend hours naming them.

Every character is a basic archetype with no personality and no reason to care about them. We have the loner, the teammate who doesn’t like him, the gruff General, the tough woman (multiple ones of those), the religious fanatic ruler, even the wild dog that the hero finds which ends up protecting him (taken straight from Fallout).

Issue #3 is the best of this series so far, but that’s just like Transformers 3 was the best Transformers film. Better than bad still isn’t good.

There was some attempt at character development here, but it ends quickly and gets back to the action. It says a lot that after three issues, I still have to go back and read through the book to remember the names of the main characters when I want to refer to them in my review.

It was bad enough that the first issue had the “I’m his real father” soap opera sub-plot, but the resolution here is ridiculous. After punching Percival over that fact earlier in the issue, now Leo wants to hug him and spout the worst line of dialogue so far, “We’re both his father”?

The art looks good enough not to be ugly, but it’s very safe and tame, without much creativity in panel layout.

I think I might be slamming this so hard because it could have been decent. There is one element of the story that could have been interesting and make this stand out as something more if it was developed at all. But it hasn’t been, unless there are plans for it in the next few issues, but by then it’s too late.

All of the people in NSD wear these video communication glasses and pretty much view everything happening as a reality show. They watch the battles, they watch the Drake and Herc fighting. There’s no privacy and everything is a show for everyone to see. This could be an interesting commentary on our current society, but it’s barely focused on at all. If this was played up it could have elevated this to a slightly different level.

I might have accepted and enjoyed a story like this back in the 90s, but the comic industry has grown up and matured too much over the past decade for me to recommend this book now.

EXCLUSIVE LOOK AT MARVEL’S THE AVENGERS

MARVEL STUDIOS TO PRESENT EXCLUSIVE LOOK AT
MARVEL’S THE AVENGERS AT NEW YORK COMIC CON

Producer Kevin Feige and Select Cast Members to Appear Saturday, October 15th in the IGN Theater – Presented by Sprint!
 
Norwalk, CT, October 4, 2011: New York Comic Con (NYCC) is proud to announce Marvel Studios, for the first time ever, will participate in this October’s NYCC. Marvel Studios will present a special event in NYCC’s IGN Theater – Presented by Sprint on Saturday, October 15th from 6:30-7:30 PM, a high-profile panel focused on the upcoming feature film Marvel’s The Avengers. Marvel Studios will debut never-before-seen footage from The Avengers, and panelists will include Kevin Feige (Producer), Chris Evans (Captain America), Tom Hiddleston (Loki), Clark Gregg (Agent Coulson), and Cobie Smulders (Agent Hill). The Avengers is scheduled for release on May 4th, 2012.
The sixth annual New York Comic Con will take place October 13-16, 2011 at the Javits Center in Midtown Manhattan. NYCC, which attracted 96,000 attendees in 2010, celebrates comics, movies, television, toys, games, and the popular arts from around the planet. Tickets are now on sale via the website www.NewYorkComicCon.com, with limited 4-Day tickets remaining.
“I am incredibly honored Marvel Studios has decided to participate in New York Comic Con in such a significant way,” notes Lance Fensterman, Group Vice President for ReedPOP and Show Manager for NYCC. “The center of our show is creating exclusive opportunities for fans to meet their favorite stars and creators. The Avengers presentation is exactly this kind of once-in-a-lifetime event. We’re very excited to be able to host cast and crew from The Avengers and know our fans will be on the edges of their seats. As always, we want to present the very best that the pop culture world has to offer in art and entertainment, and The Avengers panel is at the head of that list!”
As previously announced, Marvel will also be bringing high profile comics guests to New York Comic Con including Joe Quesada, Chief Creative Officer of Marvel Entertainment, Axel Alonso, Marvel’s Editor-in-Chief, and notable Marvel creators Jason Aaron, Matt Fraction, Kieron Gillen, and Stuart Immonen.
“Marvel’s The Avengers” is the Super Hero team up of a lifetime, featuring iconic Marvel Super Heroes Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, Thor, Captain America, Hawkeye and Black Widow. When an unexpected enemy emerges that threatens global safety and security, Nick Fury, Director of the international peacekeeping agency known as S.H.I.E.L.D., finds himself in need of a team to pull the world back from the brink of disaster. Spanning the globe, a daring recruitment effort begins.
 
Starring Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner and Samuel L. Jackson, and directed by Joss Whedon “Marvel’s The Avengers” is based on the ever-popular Marvel comic book series “The Avengers,” first published in 1963 and a comics institution ever since. Prepare yourself for an exciting event movie, packed with action and spectacular special effectswhen “Marvel’s The Avengers” assemble in summer 2012.
“Marvel’s The Avengers,” is presented by Marvel Studios in association with Paramount Pictures.  The film is being produced by Marvel Studios’ President, Kevin Feige, and executive produced by Alan Fine, Stan Lee, Jon Favreau, Patricia Whitcher and Louis D’Esposito. Marvel Studios’ Jeremy Latcham and Victoria Alonso will co-produce. The film will be released May 4, 2012.
For further information about all ReedPOP shows and activity, please visit Lance Fensterman’s blog, www.MediumAtLarge.net. Convention organizers note that many more guests will be announced over the next few weeks leading into the show and fans should keep their eyes on NYCC’s website and blog for additional comics, entertainment and anime announcements.
ABOUT MARVEL ENTERTAINMENT:  Marvel Entertainment, LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company, is one of the world’s most prominent character-based entertainment companies, built on a proven library of over 8,000 characters featured in a variety of media over seventy years.  Marvel utilizes its character franchises in entertainment, licensing and publishing.  For more information visit www.marvel.com.  Super Hero(es) is a co-owned registered trademark.
ABOUT REEDPOP: ReedPOP is a boutique group within Reed Exhibitions which is exclusively devoted to organizing events, launching and acquiring new shows, and partnering with premium brands in the pop culture arena. ReedPOP is dedicated to producing celebrations of popular culture throughout the world that transcend ordinary events by providing unique access and dynamic personal experiences for consumers and fans. The ReedPOP portfolio includes: New York Comic Con (NYCC), Chicago Comic and Entertainment Expo (C2E2), Penny Arcade Expo (PAX) East & West, Star Wars Celebration V, New York Anime Festival (NYAF), and UFC Fan Expo. The staff at ReedPOP is a fan based group of professionals producing shows for other fans, thus making them uniquely qualified to service those with whom they share a common passion. ReedPOP is focused on bringing its expertise and knowledge to world communities in North America, South America, Asia and Europe.

ARCHIE COMICS FIRST LOOK: JUGHEAD DOUBLE DIGEST #174

JUGHEAD DOUBLE DIGEST #174

“THE DARK SAGA,” LET’S GO GEO”

When Gladys tells Jughead he looks like teen vampire heartthrob, Basil Loverton, he wants to know more about the new movie craze. Taking it as a compliment, he plays into it on his date with her the next night. Unfortunately, Gladys isn’t the only one who thinks Jughead looks like her idol and a mob of fans swarm poor Juggie like wild animals. He manages to get away but must end his tortured romance before it even begins – just like a teen vampire. In “LET’S GO GEO,” Dilton shows Archie and Jughead a new internet scavenger hunt. Leave it to Jughead to find a way to include food and follow along as “Geo Snacking” is born.

SCRIPT: George Gladir

ARTIST: Pat Kennedy

COVER: Fernando Ruiz

Shipping Date:9/21/11

OnSaleat Comic Shops:10/5/11

Digest, 160 pgs, 30 lb newsprint, Full-Color

$3.99 US

ARCHIE COMICS FIRST LOOK: B&V FRIENDS DOUBLE DIGEST #218

B&V FRIENDS DOUBLE DIGEST # 218

“MY BROTHER’S KEEPER”

In “MY BROTHER’S KEEPER” Betty tries to show Veronica the error of her superficial ways by helping those in need. Too bad Betty just proves Veronica right and gets left in the rain. Maybe Veronica will learn one day, but that won’t be any time soon for the spoiled Ms. Lodge.

SCRIPT: Frank Doyle

ARTIST: Fernando Ruiz

COVER: Dan DeCarlo

Shipping Date: 9/21/11

OnSaleat Comic Shops:10/5/11

Digest, 160 pgs, 30 lb newsprint, Full-Color

$3.99 US