Jane Wiedlin and Bill Morrison Present "Lady Robotika"

ROCK AND ROLL SPACE OPERA

The Go-Go's Jane Wiedlin and Bill Morrison get celestial with LADY ROBOTIKA

JANE WIEDLIN (The Go-Go's) and BILL MORRISON (Bongo Comics) blast off this July with the out-of-this-world space adventure LADY ROBOTIKA from Shadowline and Image Comics. Scribes Wiedlin and Morrison get an assist by TONE RODRIGUEZ (Shadowhawk), who works with Morrison on the art.

"I never meant for it to be like this," exclaims Wiedlin. "One minute I was just another hard-workin' guitar slinger, ripping out power chords while traveling the hinterlands with my band, The Go-Go's. The next, I was blasted into a crazy adventure in Space, with powers far beyond a damn fine F chord and some nice sexy stage banter. But hey, it's a big Universe out there, and someone's got to save it. Guess that someone is ME."

Morrison adds, "I heard someone say 'Lady Robotika is bigger than Jesus!' I certainly didn't say it. I would never say something like that. I'm going to Hell, aren't I?"

"LADY ROBOTIKA is pure rock and roll," says Shadowline Publisher Jim Valentino. "Loud and proud of it! This is the space adventure for rock stars."

In LADY ROBOTIKA, aliens from a distant planet abduct rock star Jane Wiedlin and force her to play a concert for their Earth-obsessed emperor. During the trek back to their planet, the aliens implant Jane's body with nanobots. But their plan to turn her into one of their cyborg slaves backfires when Jane learns to control the nanites within her and becomes the super-powered cyborg liberator, LADY ROBOTIKA!

LADY ROBOTIKA #1, a full-color 32-page comic written by Jane Wiedlin and Bill Morrison with art by Bill Morrison and Tone Rodriquez, will be available for $3.50 in stores July 14, 2010.

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 four major houses: Todd McFarlane Productions, Top Cow Productions, Shadowline 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.

Joe Casey and Chris Burnham Present "Officer Downe"

JOE CASEY AND CHRIS BURNHAM GET DOWNE

Forget the Comics Code: Joe Casey and Chris Burnham get violent in OFFICER DOWNE

Writer JOE CASEY (Godland) and artist CHRIS BURNHAM, the team responsible for the cult hit NIXON'S PALS bring a whole new kind of crime comic with OFFICER DOWNE, a one-shot available from Image Comics this July. OFFICER DOWNE features a police officer who won't let anything -- including death -- stop him from taking down the worst criminals in town.

"This book is the antidote for the event comic that takes waaaaaayyy too long to tell too little story -- the "talky" alterna-comic that lacks the proper amount of mayhem -- and any of the company-owned pabulum that they try to pass off as entertainment," exclaims Casey. "You have the right to remain silent... and experience a *true* hero for our times.”

OFFICER DOWNE walks the eternal beat and delivers the eternal beat-down! Much more than man...he is policeman! It's hyper-violence on the mean city streets, from JOE CASEY and CHRIS BURNHAM -- an all-new one-shot in which a lone Badass With A Badge takes on the scourges of the criminal underworld! Not even death itself can stop this powerhouse of justice! Officer Downe is one cop that'll keep coming back for more...even from beyond the grave!

OFFICER DOWNE, a full-color 48-page one-shot for $4.99, will be in stores July 14, 2010.


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 four major houses: Todd McFarlane Productions, Top Cow Productions, Shadowline 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.

Robert Kirkman Comics Reach 75th Issues

INVINCIBLE AND THE WALKING DEAD TURN 75


Image Comics and Robert Kirkman celebrate the 75th issue of INVINCIBLE and THE WALKING DEAD

It may be hard to believe that Invincible has been fighting villains for 75 issues and that Rick Grimes has survived the zombie apocalypse for the same duration, but INVINCIBLE and THE WALKING DEAD turn 75 (issues) in July. Writer ROBERT KIRKMAN is prepared to make them issues to remember!

In INVINCIBLE #75, with art by RYAN OTTLEY, CORY WALKER and FCO PLASCENCIA, Invincible and the Coalition of Planets bring the war to Planet Viltrum! All bets are off as the Coalition forces try to fight their way into the Viltrumite Empire's stronghold. Lives are lost, and the war reaches a turning point. This issue features a special, over-sized main story and an extra special Science Dog back-up story by Robert Kirkman and Cory Walker.

In THE WALKING DEAD #75, featuring art by CHARLIE ADLARD, CLIFF RATHBURN and RYAN OTTLEY, lines are crossed, rules are broken and the peace and tranquility of the community are shattered. After months of safety and security, are Rick Grimes and the crew prepared for what they now face? As an added bonus: a very special back-up story drawn by Ryan Ottley in FULL COLOR -- a first for THE WALKING DEAD!

“All I've ever wanted to do in comics is write a long uninterrupted run on a series,” relates Kirkman. “To get to do that on two books makes me feel absurdly fortunate. I feel compelled to repay our fans on both series by doing everything I can to keep these books awesome -- and I believe when readers see these two issues, they'll see that we're doing just that. After all this time, I'm more excited than ever!”

"Invincible and The Walking Dead have become touchstones," says Image Publisher Eric Stephenson. "In today's market, it's a rarity for any title to boast better sales at #75 than at #1, but both books continue to broaden their audiences. Robert and his artists have done an amazing job, and we couldn't be more pleased with their continued success."

INVINCIBLE #75, a full-color 48-page cåomic book for $5.99, will be available July 21, 2010. THE WALKING DEAD, a 40-page black and white comic book featuring the first-ever full-color Walking Dead story, will be available for $3.99 on July 14, 2010.

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 four major houses: Todd McFarlane Productions, Top Cow Productions, Shadowline 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.

Fantagraphics Books and Rosebud Archives Form Marketing Partnership

FANTAGRAPHICS BOOKS AND ROSEBUD ARCHIVES ANNOUNCE PARTNERSHIP, LAUNCHING WEB SALES OF RARE AND BEAUTIFUL CARTOON ART IN A VARIETY OF FORMATS

Fantagraphics Books and Rosebud Archives have announced an agreement to market a wide variety of products related to vintage comics and posters, historical cartoons, advertising images, and illustration. The product lines will include prints, posters, framed art, books, stationery, and a hybrid format called the Rosebud PadFolio. The products are available for sale immediately on Fantagraphics.com:

“We are proud to be allied with Fantagraphics, whose commitment to quality and the advancement of the graphics arts has been notable for decades,” announced Rosebud Archives founding partners Rick Marschall and Jonathan Barli. “Our own commitment to preservation, restoration, and high historical standards are a perfect match with Fantagraphics.”

The core of Rosebud Archives’ image bank is arguably America’s largest private resource of comics-based popular culture, the collection of Rick Marschall, to which is added the collections of Jonathan Barli and several other major sources in the US and in Europe. Barli, veteran proprietor of Digital Funnies, is a specialist in restoration and themed compilations of cartoon art. He is a graduate of the School of Visual Arts.

Rosebud Archives releases will also include collectors’ editions of artwork created for, and featured in, Fantagraphics publications, including The Comics Journal and Nemo magazine. “The availability of Rosebud’s customized art objects is a perfect complement to the Marschall Books imprint we previously announced,” said Fantagraphics President Gary Groth. “Rick Marschall’s imprint will be a series of substantial volumes by individual cartoonists, thematic anthologies, and cultural collections of cartoon-related imagery. Rosebud will produce customized and short-run cartoons in various popular formats, which we’re very happy to provide on our website.”

Rosebud Archives was established in 2009 and has already released several lines of products that reflect the company’s vision. These early releases feature the work of George Herriman, ZIM, and Charles Dana Gibson, cartoon series by Gluyas Williams,; prints of cartoons by Winsor McCay, Harrison Cady, and John T. McCutcheon; and special art by Cliff Sterrett, George McManus, and Milt Gross. Specialty items include a “Krazy Kat” triptych and a Limited Edition portfolio of Marlene Dietrich photographic portraits. Boxed editions of works by great black-and-white cartoonists are issued under Rosebud’s “Shwartz and Weiss” imprint. Stationary items include notecards, postcards, and envelopes. Framed, frame-ready, and gallery-wrapped prints are also offered. The Rosebud Padfolio is a bound portfolio with detachable prints, a uniquely devised format.

Rosebud Archives offers its products on its own website (www.rosebudarchives.com), and has made all products available on the Fantagraphics Books website (www.fantagraphics.com). “A perfect synergy of serving the sophisticated comics connoisseur, and reaching collectors far and wide with proven integrity,” is how Marschall characterized the agreement between the two companies. Fantagraphics’ website offers all its books —by such cartoonists as R. Crumb, George Herriman, Charles Schulz, Hal Foster, Basil Wolvertoon, Gahan Wilson, Steve Ditko, Robert Williams, Daniel Clowes, Jim Woodring, Jaime and Gilbert Hernandez, and many others— directly to consumers. “We have tried to publish the best cartooning in the world, and Rosebud’s beautifully conceived art objects fits right into our aesthetic,” said Groth.

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Dark Horse Announces New "Conan" Series by Roy Thomas

DARK HORSE CONTINUES CONAN’S EPIC CAREER WITH COMICS LEGEND ROY THOMAS


THE CELEBRATED WRITER RETURNS TO ROBERT E. HOWARD’S CLASSIC HERO WITH CONAN: ROAD OF KINGS; CONAN’S FUTURE TACKLED IN KING CONAN: SCARLET CITADEL

At last weekend’s C2E2 convention, Dark Horse Comics announced that it would continue telling the epic tale of Robert E. Howard’s Conan the Cimmerian with the return of legendary writer Roy Thomas. Thomas introduced the comic-reading public to Conan in 1970, when he began the highly successful Conan the Barbarian for Marvel Comics, a title he wrote for ten years. Conan and comics fans will also remember the former Marvel editor in chief’s classic tales from lauded runs as a writer and editor on The Savage Sword of Conan and as the writer of King Conan. Now, in 2010, Thomas returns to the character he helped ingrain into the consciousness of the comics community with Conan: Road of Kings.

“Conan the Cimmerian is one of the most important people in my life—even if he never really existed—and it was a genuine thrill to be asked by Dark Horse publisher Mike Richardson to scribe a year’s worth of his darkly epic adventures,” Thomas said.

Continuing where Conan the Cimmerian #25 leaves off, Thomas’s Conan: Road of Kings will tell a twelve-issue epic about the next stage in the adventurous hero’s illustrious life, beginning with a new #1 issue. Featuring art by Mike Hawthorne (Fear Agent), Road of Kings begins this December.

“Conan: Road of Kings picks up the barbarian on the Vilayet Sea, at nearly the easternmost edge of Robert E. Howard’s map of the Hyborian age, and has twelve breathless issues to deliver him—black-haired, sullen-eyed, sword in hand—to the westernmost shores of that age undreamed of,” Thomas continued. “To reach his destination, he must travel the fabled Road of Kings that winds its way through the civilized kingdoms—but along his path lurk inhuman monstrosities, malevolent sorcerers and not a few power-crazed men and women who are determined to see to it that he doesn’t make it.

“Dynamic artist Mike Hawthorne and I intend to make Conan’s westward odyssey a chapter in the Cimmerian’s life that readers won’t soon forget,” Thomas explained. “This will be a quite different take on Conan’s life than the one I pioneered at Marvel in the seventies and the nineties, with new adventures, new antagonists, even new and alternative sides to characters you thought you’d met before.”

The current Conan creative team of writer Tim Truman and artist Tomás Giorello are set to continue their adventures with the Cimmerian, as well. Jumping ahead in Conan’s timeline, King Conan: The Scarlet Citadel features the adventurer years in the future—after he’s become the king of Aquilonia—and adapts one of Robert E. Howard’s original Conan tales. This four-issue miniseries will hit comic shops in early 2011.

Dark Horse Comics is also slated to continue its run of successful Conan reprints with King Conan Volume 1 on sale August 25, The Savage Sword of Conan Volume 8 on sale September 22, and Conan: The Newspaper Strips Volume 1 on sale September 8, all featuring the writing talents of Thomas alongside other greats, like Doug Moench, John Buscema, Gil Kane, Ernie Chan, and more!

Conan, Kull and Solomon Kane are published under license from Conan Properties International LLC, a subsidiary of Paradox Entertainment Inc.

Who Wears the Crown of Love

I read Crown of Love, Vol. 2

I posted a review at the Comic Book Bin (which now has an iPhone app).

Shadowline and Image Comics to Publish "Fractured Fables" in July

PUTTING FABLES BACK TOGETHER AGAIN


Shadowline and Image Comics release FRACTURED FABLES, a fresh take on fairy tales

Some our most beloved fairy tales get a fresh perspective this July with the release of FRACTURED FABLES, an all-new anthology from Shadowline and Image Comics.

"FRACTURED FABLES is pure labor of love," says Shadowline Publisher Jim Valentino. "This book was meant to happen from the start. The creators who worked on it were so enthusiastic, and we've really got something special in FRACTURED FABLES. This book will introduce a whole new generation of fans to comic books!"

Some of the comic book industry's best and brightest use their talents to produce the kid-friendly anthology FRACTURED FABLES. Featuring a cover by MIKE and LAURA ALLRED and humorous takes on familiar fairy tales, creators include JILL THOMPSON, BRYAN TALBOT, PETER DAVID, BEN TEMPLESMITH, TERRY MOORE, SCOTT MORSE, DOUG TENNAPEL, TED McKEEVER, BILL MORRISON, LARRY MARDER, JIM VALENTINO, PHIL HESTER, SHANNON WHEELER and many more!

FRACTURED FABLES, a 160-page full color hardcover anthology featuring an all-star cast of creators, will be available for $29.99 and in stores July 14, 2010. A free sampling of the delightful tales in FRACTURED FABLES will be available on Free Comic Book Day. Look for it May 1, 2010, at your favorite comic book shop!

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 four major houses: Todd McFarlane Productions, Top Cow Productions, Shadowline 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.