Radical Comics' Hercules Series Concludes After New Year

From Radical Publishing:

HERCULES: THE KNIVES OF KUSH #5 (5 of 5)

Writer STEVE MOORE

Artist CRIS BOLSON and MANUEL & LEONARDO SILVA

Colorist DOUG SIROIS and CLIFF CRAMP

Letterer TODD KLEIN

28 pages, FC, $2.99

The stunning conclusion! After an explosive showdown of thunder and lightning on the battlefield, Hercules and his companions are set to end Egypt’s civil war. But even with a cunning plan to defeat Khadis, Lord of Lightning and the insurgent king Amenmessu, there still remains a traitor in the royal house of Seti II. When the dust has settled on the grounds of war, the future of Egypt is in the hands of Hercules.

Featuring two incredible covers from Clint Langley.

Diamond Code – Langley Wraparound cover: SEP090959

Diamond Code – Langley regular cover: SEP090960 [END]

not simple to Appear Under VIZ Signature Imprint

Press release from VIZ Media:

VIZ MEDIA TO KICK OFF 2010 WITH THE RELEASE OF NEW MANGA not simple

Emotional Slice-of-Life Story About A Man’s Search For Family, Love And His Place In The World Engages Fans Of Both Manga And U.S. Indie Comics And Previewed On SigIKKI.com

VIZ Media, LLC (VIZ Media), one of the entertainment industry’s most innovative and comprehensive publishing, animation and licensing companies, kicks off 2010 with the release on January 19th of Natsume Ono’s manga, not simple. The story, contained in a single volume, is rated ‘T+’ for Older Teens, will be published by the VIZ Signature imprint and carries an MSRP of $14.99 U.S. / $19.99 CAN.

To celebrate this launch, a preview of the prologue of not simple will be available on SigIKKI.com, VIZ Media’s premiere website for presenting a diverse collection of titles which include the most inventive, bold, and compelling titles in the world of contemporary manga.

not simple follows Ian, a young man with a fractured family history, as he travels from Australia to England and on to America in the hope of realizing his dreams and reuniting with his beloved sister. His story unfolds backwards through the framing narrative of Jim, a reporter driven to capture Ian's experiences in a novel titled not simple.

“This new release will captivate readers with its unconventional story and artwork,” says Gonzalo Ferreyra, Vice President Sales & Marketing, VIZ Media. “Natsume Ono’s art blends manga aesthetics with a graphic style reminiscent of many western indie and alternative comics, and fans of both genres will enjoy this title. We also welcome not simple as the newest addition to SigIKKI.com, the hottest outlet for online manga. Fans can check out the prologue chapter after December 17th at www.SigIKKI.com!”

Another of Ono’s manga series, HOUSE OF FIVE LEAVES, is an action drama about samurai during the height of the shogun's rule in Edo-era Japan and is also currently serialized on SigIKKI.com.

Natsume Ono is one of today's top creators of seinen manga – designed for adult readers of mature and more sophisticated stories. She made her professional debut in 2003 with the web comic LA QUINTA CAMERA and subsequent works not simple, Ristorante Paradiso, and GENTE (a continuation of Ristorante Paradiso) have met with both critical and popular acclaim. In 2009 Ristorante Paradiso was adapted into an animated TV series. Her manga drama HOUSE OF FIVE LEAVES (Saraiya Goyou) is currently published in Japan in IKKI magazine.

For more information on this title please visit www.SigIKKI. For information on all other VIZ Media titles please visit www.VIZ.com. [END]

IDW Offers Paranormal Activity Digital Comic

Press release from IDW/Paramount Pictures:

Paranormal Activity Continues in IDW’s First Exclusive Digital Comic

Comic offers continuation of fright-fest movie

iPhone and iPod touch exclusive available now

Paranormal Activity, the smash hit from Paramount Pictures, has frightened millions of people worldwide, and now the terror continues at the iTunes App Store with Paranormal Activity: The Search For Katie, A Case Study by Dr. Johann Averys DMN. iPhone and iPod touch users have exclusive access to this digital comic, which begins AFTER the film’s shocking cliff-hanger ending. IDW Publishing’s first digital-exclusive comic follows a brilliant demonologist named Dr. Johann Averys, as he tries to find Katie, the tragic main character of Paranormal Activity.

Written by comic great Scott Lobdell (X-MEN; Jennifer Love Hewitt’s Music Box), Paranormal Activity: The Search For Katie pairs Dr. Averys with feisty S.D.P.D. Detective Singh; together they attempt to discover the origins of the demon who haunted Micah and Katie. Mark Badger (The Gargoyle) provides captivating art that expertly depicts the horror of this tale.

“Paranormal Activity impressed me not only through the movie itself, but also the way its audience was built online,” said Chris Ryall, IDW’s Publisher/Editor-in-Chief. “So an online-only, and specifically iTunes-only, release of a new story in comic form seemed like a great way to extend the filmmakers’ efforts and world of the characters alike.”

Michael Corcoran, Paramount Pictures President, Consumer Products & Recreation Group, said, “This is a film that owes its enormous popularity to the fans who made it such a hit through word-of-mouth. We are excited to be able to work with IDW to explore new story lines and themes touched upon in the film.”

Paranormal Activity: The Search For Katie digital comic ($0.99) is now available at Apple’s iTunes App store. Paranormal Activity will be available on DVD, Blu-ray and Digital Download on December 29th. [END]

Amazon.com and Penguin Group Announce Novel Competition

From Business Wire:

Amazon.com and Penguin Group (USA) Announce Third Annual Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award Competition

Third annual competition introduces new young adult category and is open to previously self-published works

SEATTLE & NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) and Penguin Group (USA) (NYSE: PSO) today announced the third annual Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award, the international competition seeking the next popular novel. For the first time, the competition will award two grand prizes: one for general fiction and one for best young adult novel. The 2010 competition will also now be open to novels that have been previously self-published. Writers around the world are encouraged to begin preparing their manuscripts for entry into the competition, which is scheduled to launch on Jan. 25, 2010.

“We are looking forward to working with Penguin again to engage a whole new group of novelists for the third annual Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award,” said Jeff Belle, Amazon.com’s vice president, U.S. Books. “By offering two grand prizes and providing additional opportunities for self-published authors, we’ll be able to support an even larger group of talented authors and their work.”

“The success of the competition in discovering new writers has led to exciting growth and new directions in this third year, including the addition of a young adult prize. This development is in response to the writing community, and it enables Penguin and Amazon to discover new fiction for readers of all ages,” said Tim McCall, Penguin’s vice president of Online Sales and Marketing.

Between Jan. 25 and Feb. 7, 2010, writers with an English-language novel manuscript can submit their work at www.amazon.com/abna. Up to 10,000 total initial entries will be accepted, with up to 5,000 each in the general fiction and young adult categories. Amazon.com editors will select 1,000 entries from each category to advance to the next round. In the subsequent round, Amazon.com editors and at least one top reviewer on Amazon.com will read excerpts of the 2,000 entries and narrow the pool to 500 quarter-finalists (250 in each category). Reviewers from Publishers Weekly will then read, rate and review the full manuscripts, and 50 semi-finalists for each category will be selected. Penguin editors will evaluate the manuscripts of the 50 general fiction and 50 young adult semi-finalists, and choose three finalists for each award.

Two panels of esteemed publishing professionals will then read and post their critiques of the top three manuscripts on http://www.amazon.com/. The panel for the general fiction category includes Tana French, New York Times-bestselling author of “In the Woods”; Julie Barer, of Barer Literary, LLC; and Molly Stern, editorial director and executive editor of Viking Books. The panel for the young adult category includes New York Times-bestselling authors Sarah Dessen (“Along for the Ride”) and Nancy Werlin (“Impossible”); Amy Berkower, president of Writers House, LLC; and Ben Schrank, president and publisher of Razorbill. In the final stage, Amazon.com customers will have seven days to vote for a Grand Prize Winner in each category. The two Grand Prize Winners will be announced in Seattle on June 14, 2010. Each winner will receive a publishing contract with Penguin, which includes a $15,000 advance.

The 2009 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award competition drew several thousand entrants, representing all 50 U.S. states and 21 countries around the world. The winning novel, “Bill Warrington’s Last Chance” by James King, will be published in August 2010 by Viking, a division of Penguin Group (USA).
CreateSpace.com, part of the Amazon group of companies and a leader in self-publishing services, will again host the contest entry platform, which includes a community for authors that will keep them up to date on the contest and help them prepare their entries by soliciting feedback from the community and accessing online content through Preview. CreateSpace will also offer all entrants one free proof copy of their novel, and 10 percent off any one service for a limited time.

“We’re thrilled to once again be working with both Amazon.com and Penguin on the third annual Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award—and for the first time to be including authors of fiction for young adults. As the foremost book review publication for the publishing industry, Publishers Weekly sets the standard in offering early insight on the work of new authors. It’s a pleasure to bring our expertise and perspective to bear on the new talent that will be a part of the 2010 competition,” said Brian Kenney, editorial director, Publishers Weekly.
For complete terms and conditions for the 2010 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award and more information about the contest, please visit www.amazon.com/abna. For more information on the CreateSpace self-publishing service, or to visit the CreateSpace Community, please visit http://www.createspace.com/.

About Amazon.com
Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN), a Fortune 500 company based in Seattle, opened on the World Wide Web in July 1995 and today offers Earth's Biggest Selection. Amazon.com, Inc. seeks to be Earth's most customer-centric company, where customers can find and discover anything they might want to buy online, and endeavors to offer its customers the lowest possible prices. Amazon.com and other sellers offer millions of unique new, refurbished and used items in categories such as books, movies, music & games, digital downloads, electronics & computers, home & garden, toys, kids & baby, grocery, apparel, shoes & jewelry, health & beauty, sports & outdoors, and tools, auto & industrial.

Amazon Web Services provides Amazon’s developer customers with access to in-the-cloud infrastructure services based on Amazon's own back-end technology platform, which developers can use to enable virtually any type of business. Examples of the services offered by Amazon Web Services are Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2), Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3), Amazon SimpleDB, Amazon Simple Queue Service (Amazon SQS), Amazon Flexible Payments Service (Amazon FPS), Amazon Mechanical Turk and Amazon CloudFront.

Amazon and its affiliates operate websites, including http://www.amazon.com/, http://www.amazon.co.uk/, http://www.amazon.de/, http://www.amazon.co.jp/, http://www.amazon.fr/, http://www.amazon.ca/ and http://www.amazon.cn/.
As used herein, “Amazon.com,” “we,” “our” and similar terms include Amazon.com, Inc., and its subsidiaries, unless the context indicates otherwise.

Forward-Looking Statements
This announcement contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Actual results may differ significantly from management's expectations. These forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that include, among others, risks related to competition, management of growth, new products, services and technologies, potential fluctuations in operating results, international expansion, outcomes of legal proceedings and claims, fulfillment center optimization, seasonality, commercial agreements, acquisitions and strategic transactions, foreign exchange rates, system interruption, inventory, government regulation and taxation, payments and fraud. More information about factors that potentially could affect Amazon.com's financial results is included in Amazon.com's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and subsequent filings.

About Penguin Group (USA)
Penguin Group (USA) Inc. is the U.S. member of the internationally renowned Penguin Group. Penguin Group (USA) is one of the leading U.S. adult and children's trade book publishers, owning a wide range of imprints and trademarks, including Viking, G. P. Putnam’s Sons, The Penguin Press, Riverhead Books, Dutton, Penguin Books, Berkley Books, Gotham Books, Portfolio, New American Library, Plume, Tarcher, Philomel, Grosset & Dunlap, Puffin, and Frederick Warne, among others. The Penguin Group (http://www.penguin.com/) is part of Pearson plc, the international media company.

About CreateSpace
CreateSpace is a leader in manufacture on-demand services for independent content creators, publishers, film studios and music labels. CreateSpace provides inventory-free, physical distribution of Books, CDs and DVDs On-Demand, music downloads via Amazon MP3 and video downloads via Amazon Video On Demand. CreateSpace is a brand of On-Demand Publishing LLC, a subsidiary of Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN).

About Publishers Weekly
Publishers Weekly is the leading publication serving all segments involved in the creation, production, marketing and sale of the written word in book, audio, video and electronic formats. A 135-year-old magazine, PW is the leading publication for international and U.S. book publishing needs. [END]

Female Force Welcome Ellen Degeneres

Press release from Bluewater Productions:

ELLEN DEGENERES FEATURED IN "FEMALE FORCE" BIOGRAPHY COMIC BOOK SERIES

She entertains millions everyday with her quirky wit and timeless charm. Now daytime talk show host and veteran comic Ellen DeGeneres’ life story will be the featured subject of an upcoming issue of Bluewater Productions’ Female Force biography comic series.

Female Force: Ellen DeGeneres, scheduled for a March 2010 release, follows the comedienne from her youth in Louisiana, through the endless smoke-filled comedy club circuit, to her breakthrough sitcom and finally as an Emmy-winning daytime talk show host.

“People forget what a groundbreaking talent she is and that fame did not come overnight,” said Bluewater president Darren Davis. “But through all her highs and lows, she managed to stay true to herself and prove that she is a female force.”

The issue, written by Sandra C. Ruckdeschel and penciled by Pedro Ponzo also delves into Ellen’s personal life as an openly gay performer and an advocate for gay rights. “It is part of who she is and any telling of her story without acknowledging the importance she places on her identity would be disrespectful to her accomplishments,” said Ruckdeschel.

According to Davis, fans of Ellen will be able to revisit several of the entertainer’s most iconic moments including her 1986 appearance on the Tonight Show, the 1997 episode of her sitcom where her character announces she is gay, her entrance as host of the 2006 Oscars, and even her “trademark” dance moves. It evens covers the recent announcement of Ellen joining the judging panel for American Idol.

Female Force offers a broad examination of strong and influential women who are shaping modern history and culture. In past issues, the monthly series has featured Michelle Obama, Hillary Clinton, Oprah Winfrey, Stephenie Meyer, JK Rowling, Barbara Walters and others.

The comic book series, launched earlier this year, has drawn considerable media attention, including features on CNN, MSNBC, Fox News, “The View” and “Live with Regis and Kelly.” It has also been featured in such periodicals as People Magazine, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, USA Today and thousands of blogs and other media outlets.

The suggested retail price (SRP) for the upcoming trade paperback is $3.99.
Female Force individual issues are also available on Amazon.com, where they have been ranked among the site’s top 300 books. [END]

Phantom Dream Offers Big Reveal in Third Volume

I finished reading Phantom Dream Volume 4

I posted a review at the Comic Book Bin. This is an excellent series - a dark fantasy as timeless romance.

Here Comes Geek-Girl!

PRESS RELEASE:

“With great glasses comes great responsibility:” Ruby Kaye is GEEK-GIRL!

New up-and-coming writer Sam Johnson (Cabra Cini, Gold Town and the creator of comics’ über-cheesecake site, FANBABES) and artist Sally Thompson (Little Thoughts) introduce us to the world’s newest, klutziest super-heroine: Ruby Kaye a.k.a. Geek-Girl!

When 'Little Miss Popular' RUBY KAYE lands a pair of super-tech glasses--invented by brainiac college geek Trevor Goldstein--in a game of Strip Poker, she's granted flight, super-strength, and--due to a flaw in the glasses' programming--super-klutziness.

“We’re used to it being the geek that stumbles upon super-powers and becomes cool as a result. Geek-Girl is a flip on that,” says Johnson.

A co-ed studying Public Relations at Acorn Ridge college in Maine, Ruby Kaye is something of an ‘it’ girl. She hangs with the in-crowd, is top of the party-invite list, and has guys queuing up. “But…” Johnson continues, “When she gets ahold of these glasses that she thinks are going to be oh-so-cool, she finds that what they do to her is seen as anything but by her clique--headed by the über-bitchy Karin Carpenter--who thinks Ruby’s lost it, big time.

“This is where Ruby finds out just how flimsy her ‘cool kid’-based friendships are,” says Johnson; “and by the end of Geek-Girl #0, she ain’t gonna have many left.

“Oh, but that’ll be the least of her problems, with who--or what--then shows up.”

And Geek-Girl #0 is just the beginning for Ruby Kaye, says Johnson, “How she adapts to her new-found powers and clique-alienating klutziness just might be the making of her--as she learns that with great glasses comes great responsibility, and that geeky can be sexy!”

As well as featuring Geek-Girl’s 12-page introduction, Geek-Girl #0 also includes a 3-page preview of the in-the-works 4-issue Geek-Girl mini-series, illustrated by red hot artist Pablo Martinena. Johnson says, “I’ve been keeping Pablo’s pages to myself until now, and when you guys see them--and his smokin’ variant cover--jaws are gonna drop.”

“I’ve got huge plans for Geek-Girl, and it all begins here, in Geek-Girl #0,” concludes Johnson.

Geek-Girl #0 and Geek-Girl #0 Limited Variant Edition, published by FANBABES, are 16-pages b&w, with color cover, and priced $1.99 and $2.50 respectively. Out Now and available to purchase at www.geekgirlcomic.com and at IndyPlanet.com [URL="http://www.indyplanet.com/store/advanced_search_result.php?keywords=geek+girl&osCsid=4nhuf549700na6gi9u743o2a34"]here![/URL] [END]