Press release from Mile High Comics:
Mile High Comics, Inc. President, Chuck Rozanski, announced today that he will be offering one million dollars in rare Golden Age comics from his private collection for sale at this year's San Diego Comic-Con International, to be held in San Diego, California, July 21st - 25th, 2010. His statement is as follows:
"In 1977 I was blessed to discover the Mile High/Edgar Church collection of 18,000 extremely high grade "Golden Age" comics, all of which were published between 1935-1953. This collection has become legendary in the comics world (as well as within the entire spectrum of all collectibles) as being one of the most valuable antique finds of all time, with a current estimated market value exceeding one hundred million dollars. While most of the comics from that one collection were sold by me decades ago when their market prices were but a tiny fraction of today's values, I steadfastly held on to 40+ key issues for the past 34 years in my own private comics collection, including the highest-graded copy remaining in the world of the 1940 RED RAVEN #1, one of the rarest Timely/Marvel first issues ever published, and the entire twenty-two issue run of the THE SPIRIT, released by comics legend Will Eisner between 1944 and 1948.
After having experienced two life-threatening episodes of West Nile Fever-induced encephalitis of the hypothalamus (a severe swelling of the brain) during the past seven years, however, I have been made acutely aware that estate planning now needs to be a priority for me. That realization led me to the painful decision earlier this year that I should finally agree to pass on these incredibly rare and wonderful comics that have brought me so much joy for the majority of my adult life, to another passionate comics collector. To launch the sales process, I will be bringing all of my remaining comics from the Mile High/Edgar Church collection to this year's incredible San Diego Comic-Con International, the largest and most prestigious comics convention in the world, with over 125,000 avid comics fans attending. The combined price that I will be asking for my last remaining Mile High/Edgar Church comics will be in excess of one million dollars. That amount is significantly ab! ove their current Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide estimates, but in a world where lesser condition copies of ACTION #1 (the first Superman appearance) and DETECTIVE #27 (the first Batman comic) have recently sold at auction for over one million dollars each, it does not seem unreasonable for me to be asking a similar price for the last remaining unsold key issues from the most renowned comics collection of all time. If my beloved comics do not sell in San Diego, then they will most probably be sold at auction, later this fall.
Whether these fantastic comics from my private collection end up selling in San Diego, or not, the very fact that I will be bringing these incredibly rare comics for public viewing at the convention will provide tens of thousands of individual comics collectors with what will probably turn out to be their only opportunity to personally see some of the rarest comics still extant in the world. After having had these great comics locked in a bank vault for well over three decades, I am now very much looking forward to sharing them with all of my many thousands of friends in the comics world. No matter what else happens, I believe that my actions will help to make this year's San Diego Comic-Con remain noteworthy in the minds of dedicated comics fans for many years to come."
Mile High Comics, Inc. is a Denver, Colorado based retailer of collector comic books, graphic novels, and trade paperbacks. With four Denver-area retail comics stores, four huge warehouses filled with over eight million back issue comics, and a website that provides service to well over 100,000 comics fans worldwide, Mile High Comics is one of the largest comics retailers in the world. For further information please contact Chuck Rozanski, or Lynne MacAfee, weekdays at 303-455-2659, or write to Lynne@milehighcomics.com
http://www.milehighcomics.com/
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
IMPACT City Now at App Store
After the exclusive presentation at Japan Expo 2010 of the first true digital manga IMPACT City, you can now follow the adventures of Kaelan on your iPhone and iPod Touch.
Download IMPACT City, manga as you’ve never read before, now on the App Store: http://itunes.apple.com/app/impact-city/id379018522?mt=8
Find out more about IMPACT City on the official website : www.impact-city.com.
Champion City Comics Announces New Webcomics
Press release from Champion City Comics:
Champion City Comics (http://www.championcitycomics.com/) has one new web-comic and two updated web-comics for your viewing pleasure.
WHAT'S NEW?
JOHNNY KNUCKLES by Joseph Haemmerle - Johnny Knuckles is a space trucker who is a freewheeling kind of guy leading the convoy on an intergalactic highway. Life ain't easy for Johnny Knuckles but he'll get your cargo there on time, unless he meets up with a pretty little alien darling.
WHAT'S BEEN UPDATED?
THE END OF PARADISE by TonyDoug Wright and A. Kaviraj - Nick Hamilton, a former small-time criminal, is on a serious revenge mission to kill Frankie Paradise, a notorious mob boss responsible for the death of an innocent man and his family. Joining Nick on his mission is Marshall Jackson, a weapons dealer, and The Kid, a teenage prophet and gun for hire. Nick, Marshall, and The Kid must take out Paradise's henchmen in order to get to their main target, Frankie Paradise.
THE CHAMPION CITY FIRE by TonyDoug Wright and Joseph Haemmerle - New Ravenwood, Ohio, also known as The Champion City, is full of crooked cops, pushy dames, untouchable crime lords, and gun-wielding vigilantes that can travel time. Two clean cops, Johnny Magnum and Andrea Hammer, are on a mission to put an end to the crime and corruption in The Champion City by enlisting the help of a retired cop and a patient from an insane asylum.
ANYTHING ELSE?
WESTWOOD by TonyDoug Wright and Victor Pozzi - On April 1, 1993, Charlie Westwood, stole two mystical black orbs from the headquarters of a secret society and vanished. Three men responsible for recovering the orbs, Bill, Mickey, and Bobby, spent over a decade following leads concerning Westwood’s disappearance until an archivist discovered a shocking photograph of Westwood and the orbs dated sixteen years before his disappearance.
Stop by http://www.championcitycomics.com/ and check out our web-comics! Eight hundred Champion City Comics readers can't be wrong! [END]
Champion City Comics (http://www.championcitycomics.com/) has one new web-comic and two updated web-comics for your viewing pleasure.
WHAT'S NEW?
JOHNNY KNUCKLES by Joseph Haemmerle - Johnny Knuckles is a space trucker who is a freewheeling kind of guy leading the convoy on an intergalactic highway. Life ain't easy for Johnny Knuckles but he'll get your cargo there on time, unless he meets up with a pretty little alien darling.
WHAT'S BEEN UPDATED?
THE END OF PARADISE by TonyDoug Wright and A. Kaviraj - Nick Hamilton, a former small-time criminal, is on a serious revenge mission to kill Frankie Paradise, a notorious mob boss responsible for the death of an innocent man and his family. Joining Nick on his mission is Marshall Jackson, a weapons dealer, and The Kid, a teenage prophet and gun for hire. Nick, Marshall, and The Kid must take out Paradise's henchmen in order to get to their main target, Frankie Paradise.
THE CHAMPION CITY FIRE by TonyDoug Wright and Joseph Haemmerle - New Ravenwood, Ohio, also known as The Champion City, is full of crooked cops, pushy dames, untouchable crime lords, and gun-wielding vigilantes that can travel time. Two clean cops, Johnny Magnum and Andrea Hammer, are on a mission to put an end to the crime and corruption in The Champion City by enlisting the help of a retired cop and a patient from an insane asylum.
ANYTHING ELSE?
WESTWOOD by TonyDoug Wright and Victor Pozzi - On April 1, 1993, Charlie Westwood, stole two mystical black orbs from the headquarters of a secret society and vanished. Three men responsible for recovering the orbs, Bill, Mickey, and Bobby, spent over a decade following leads concerning Westwood’s disappearance until an archivist discovered a shocking photograph of Westwood and the orbs dated sixteen years before his disappearance.
Stop by http://www.championcitycomics.com/ and check out our web-comics! Eight hundred Champion City Comics readers can't be wrong! [END]
Devil's Due No Longer with Diamond Distributors
Press release (from a publisher in trouble):
DEVIL'S DUE PULLS DISTRIBUTION FROM DIAMOND
Re-aligns Book Store Distribution, Opens Direct Line to Retailers, Focuses on Digital Business
Devil's Due Publishing has pulled its distribution of comics and graphic novels from Diamond Comic and Diamond Book Distributors, effective today. The Publisher will soon be announcing its new book store distribution partners, and will offer product direct to comic book retail outlets, as well as distribution through Haven Comic Distributors.
"For almost over a year Devil's Due has been in an unwinnable situation wherein Diamond garnishes our revenues to pay back returns and fees it claims are owed from 2008 and 2009, making it impossible for us to keep up with payments to talent, printers, and other expenses while maintaining a stable business," said Josh Blaylock, president of Devil's Due, who was forced to wind down the company's publishing rather than ramp up as it originally planned to do when hit with a rough economy in 2008. "We've exhausted every resource to get on track, with a primary focus on catching up with talent payments first and formost, but when Diamond controls the money flow, that becomes impossible."
The decision did not come lightly, adds Blaylock, "Of course this is the last thing a company wants to do in the Diamond dominated comic book industry, but it is necessary if we are going to be able to ever again be able to turn the money faucet back on. I am hopeful that we will be able to work something out with Diamond in the future. Until we verify a number of questions regarding sales from late 2008 through the present, DDP will be utilizing other avenues of distribution to move back stock, as well as limited releases of select new material.
To order direct, DDP encourages customers to contact the numbers and emails below.
Haven Distributors
1-877-HAVEN-50(1-877-428-3650)
http://www.havendistro.com/
Devil's Due Direct Sales: j.blay@devilsdue.net
Book Store Distribution : Coming Soon
It also welcomes fans to purchase digital downloads on Graphic.ly, iVerse through the iTunes App store, and comiXology, the latter of which currently has over 100 comics available at https://comics.comixology.com/#/devils_due including the never-released-in-print Hack/Slash - Mercy Sparx: A Slice of Hell crossover special: https://comics.comixology.com/#/series/4592, as the sales from these companies are going in large part towards paying off moneys owed to licensors and talent.
About Devil's Due
Proliferators of comic culture, Devil's Due carries a diverse line-up of original, creator-owned and licensed properties. Whether in Los Angeles or its homebase of Chicago, DDP is known for partnerships with and projects in development for film and television with 20th Century Fox, ABC Family, Relativity Media, New Line Cinema, Starz Media, Rogue Pictures, DiBonaventura Productions and more.
Devil's Due started in 2000 when founder Josh Blaylock left the apparel licensing industry to form a boutique creative solutions company with a publishing arm. That was until the comic book operation exploded. Devil's Due continues to be a pioneer in the industry with expansion into digital comics for the iPhone and mobile devices, collaborations with major motion picture producers and music artists.
DEVIL'S DUE PULLS DISTRIBUTION FROM DIAMOND
Re-aligns Book Store Distribution, Opens Direct Line to Retailers, Focuses on Digital Business
Devil's Due Publishing has pulled its distribution of comics and graphic novels from Diamond Comic and Diamond Book Distributors, effective today. The Publisher will soon be announcing its new book store distribution partners, and will offer product direct to comic book retail outlets, as well as distribution through Haven Comic Distributors.
"For almost over a year Devil's Due has been in an unwinnable situation wherein Diamond garnishes our revenues to pay back returns and fees it claims are owed from 2008 and 2009, making it impossible for us to keep up with payments to talent, printers, and other expenses while maintaining a stable business," said Josh Blaylock, president of Devil's Due, who was forced to wind down the company's publishing rather than ramp up as it originally planned to do when hit with a rough economy in 2008. "We've exhausted every resource to get on track, with a primary focus on catching up with talent payments first and formost, but when Diamond controls the money flow, that becomes impossible."
The decision did not come lightly, adds Blaylock, "Of course this is the last thing a company wants to do in the Diamond dominated comic book industry, but it is necessary if we are going to be able to ever again be able to turn the money faucet back on. I am hopeful that we will be able to work something out with Diamond in the future. Until we verify a number of questions regarding sales from late 2008 through the present, DDP will be utilizing other avenues of distribution to move back stock, as well as limited releases of select new material.
To order direct, DDP encourages customers to contact the numbers and emails below.
Haven Distributors
1-877-HAVEN-50(1-877-428-3650)
http://www.havendistro.com/
Devil's Due Direct Sales: j.blay@devilsdue.net
Book Store Distribution : Coming Soon
It also welcomes fans to purchase digital downloads on Graphic.ly, iVerse through the iTunes App store, and comiXology, the latter of which currently has over 100 comics available at https://comics.comixology.com/#/devils_due including the never-released-in-print Hack/Slash - Mercy Sparx: A Slice of Hell crossover special: https://comics.comixology.com/#/series/4592, as the sales from these companies are going in large part towards paying off moneys owed to licensors and talent.
About Devil's Due
Proliferators of comic culture, Devil's Due carries a diverse line-up of original, creator-owned and licensed properties. Whether in Los Angeles or its homebase of Chicago, DDP is known for partnerships with and projects in development for film and television with 20th Century Fox, ABC Family, Relativity Media, New Line Cinema, Starz Media, Rogue Pictures, DiBonaventura Productions and more.
Devil's Due started in 2000 when founder Josh Blaylock left the apparel licensing industry to form a boutique creative solutions company with a publishing arm. That was until the comic book operation exploded. Devil's Due continues to be a pioneer in the industry with expansion into digital comics for the iPhone and mobile devices, collaborations with major motion picture producers and music artists.
Monday, July 5, 2010
Underground Comics Art Show in NYC
NYC Underground Comix Art Show "Time Capsules" Opening Party July 15th
Hour Wizdom Galleries
90 Ludlow Street (between Broome and Delancey), 4th Floor
New York City, NY 10002
Contact: hourwizdomproductions@gmail.com
212-731-9793
Opening Night Party: Thursday, July 15th, 8 PM-Midnight.
Exhibit Hours: July 16-August 1st, Wednesdays-Sundays 12-6 PM
The Hour Wizdom Gallery, Bonzai Ltd., and Jay Rogers are proud to present "Time Capsules: Original Underground Art of the 60's, 70's and Beyond...", an exhibition and sale of rare Underground Comix Original Art. The show will span an amazing range of work from many celebrated cartoonists from the Sixties to the Eighties, including: R. Crumb, Vaughn and Mark Bode, Rick Griffin, Jay Lynch, Victor Moscoso, Skip Williamson, Kim and Simon Deitch, Robert Williams, S. Clay Wilson, Trina Robbins, Justin Green, Dori Seda, Bill Griffith, Howard Cruse, Roberta Gregory, Guy Colwell, and Dan O'Neill, Shary Flenniken, Bobby London, and Gary Hallgren from The Air Pirates Studios. The gallery and exhibition open with a party on Thursday, July 15th, from 8PM until Midnight. Refreshments will be served.
Jay Rogers has been a collector and promoter of Underground Comix and art since the early Seventies. He was one of the first people to see the value and potential of Underground Art as a serious medium outside of the comics industry, and was instrumental in placing Robert Crumb's work squarely into the New York Gallery scene. His expansive collection has been used as a reference for numerous art shows and films, he has worked as a consultant for Sotheby's and Christie's Auctions, and has provided art and books to Heritage Auctions.
Sunday, July 4, 2010
Ziggy Marley Presents "Marijuanaman"
Ziggy Marley to join Image Comics for an exclusive signing at Comic-Con International 2010
Grammy Award-winning musician Ziggy Marley is adding another title to his already impressive resume: comic book author.
The first issue of Ziggy's book, MARIJUANAMAN, will hit store shelves across the country on April 20, 2011. In support of his book, Ziggy will be making an exclusive one-day-only appearance at Comic-Con International. On Saturday, July 24, Ziggy will be signing MARIJUANAMAN posters with publisher Image Comics from 11:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at booth #2729. Joining him will be artist Jim Mahfood (MIXED TAPES) and co-writer Joe Casey (GODLAND, OFFICER DOWNE).
Five-time Grammy winner and Reggae icon Ziggy Marley's early immersion in music came at age ten when he sat in on recording sessions with his father Bob Marley. For the next decade, as front man to Ziggy Marley and The Melody Makers, Ziggy released eight best-selling albums, garnering three Grammys, with such chart-topping hits as "Tomorrow People" and "Tumbling Down." Ziggy's first solo album, DRAGONFLY, was released in 2003, to much critical acclaim. His second solo release, LOVE IS MY RELIGION, won a Grammy in 2006 for Best Reggae Album. His third solo release, FAMILY TIME, scored him a Grammy in a new category: Best Musical Album For Children.
Now, Ziggy is blazing into the comic world with his latest project, MARIJUANAMAN. Ziggy's new superhero, Marijuanaman, is from a planet that is in desperate need of THC. Marijuanaman seeks to save Earth's marijuana fields from destruction by the drug company PharmeXon, and thus saving his home planet from destruction.
"I have been reading comics since I was a little boy in Jamaica,” Ziggy declares. “I am very excited to be a part of Image Comics, Comic-Con, and the comic book community."
Don’t miss Ziggy Marley's appearance at Comic-Con International 2010, where he will be signing limited edition Marijuanaman posters at Image Comics, booth #2729, on Saturday, July 24, 2010, from 11:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. The first issue of MARIJUANAMAN will be in stores April 20, 2011. Find out more at http://www.marijuanamancomic.com/.
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.
Saturday, July 3, 2010
I Reads You Review: REBORN, VOL. 13
Publishing Information: VIZ Media, B&W, paperback, 200 pages, $9.99 U.S., $12.99 CAN, £6.99 UK
Ordering Numbers: ISBN: 978-1-4215-2438-2 (ISBN-13)
Reborn! is an action, martial arts, and crime comedy shonen manga (comics for teen boys) from creator Akira Amano that is published by VIZ Media under its “Shonen Jump Advanced” imprint. The series focuses mainly on two characters, although it has a rather large cast of supporting players and assorted weirdos.
The focus of the story is a nerd named Tsunayoshi “Tsuna” Sawada, who is just another failure at school, socializing, and sports. In fact, people know him as “Hapless Tsuna” or “Loser Tsuna.” The second character is Tsuna’s savior, of sorts, and the title character. This is Reborn; he is a toddler and an assassin. Reborn shows up at Tsuna’s home and informs the teen that he is destined to be the 10th boss of the Vongola mafia crime family.
Whenever he needs to help Tsuna be brave or show some gumption, Reborn shoots him with a magic bullet, the “deathparation shot” that turns Tsuna into a fearsome fighter. [This is similar to what spinach does to Popeye.] As Reborn grooms Tsuna to be a mafia boss, several young people, each with a talent that is as special as he or she is eccentric, gather around Tsuna to form his “family.”
As Reborn!, Vol. 13 (entitled The Mist Guardian) opens, Tsuna’s “family” members continue to battle Varia’s extraordinarily talented and skilled combatants. To the winner of each battle goes the loser’s share of the Vongola half-ring. This contest may decide which man will be the next Vongola boss, Tsuna (the chosen one) or Varia chief, Xanxus. Now, Tsuna’s pal Yamamoto Takeshi battles the supernaturally skilled Superbi Squalo, and it looks as if Yamamoto will lose – unless his father’s sword technique can save his life. And the Mist Guardian is revealed.
Early in the series, Reborn! came across as a bizarre, episodic mafia comedy – with the usual manga eccentricity. With the “Varia war,” storyline creator Akira Amano has given the story Bleach-like martial arts, adding explosive clashes of super powers and magic to the story. I miss the series’ original slapstick sitcom tone, but this new Shonen Jump action-style narrative is cool. The art, as ever, remains fantastic – solid compositions, amazing figure drawing, and some of the best comic book inking in the world. I think fight comics fans will agree.
B+
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