Dark Horse Comics Announces $1.00 Comics

DARK HORSE COMICS RELEASES FALL PUBLISHING SCHEDULE PRICING DETAILS!

FIRST ISSUES OF ORCHID, HOUSE OF NIGHT, AND THE STRAIN ARE $1.00!

July 27, MILWAUKIE, OR — Dark Horse Comics announced Preview night at San Diego Comic Con that its fall publishing schedule will include three major heavy hitters in the writing-talent department.

Tom Morello’s Orchid, P. C. Cast’s House of Night, and Guillermo del Toro’s The Strain will be joining the Dark Horse roster. These titles are sure to keep your eyes on the comics.

The first issue of each of these new series will be priced at $1.00 in comic stores, giving every fan something to talk about and a great starting point to begin reading these amazing new stories!

If you’re a comics fan who’s made the jump to digital, every issue of each comic will be available on release date through Dark Horse Digital for $1.99.

With prices like that on titles like these, expect a high demand and expect to read the whole series. They are not to be missed!

Tom Morello’s Orchid is on sale October 12.

P. C. Cast’s House of Night is on sale November 9.

Guillermo del Toro’s The Strain is on sale December 14.

Naoki Urasawa Gets Eisner Award - About Damn Time

VIZ MEDIA’S NAOKI URASAWA’S 20th CENTURY BOYS WINS A 2011 EISNER AWARD

Manga Masterpiece Recognized With The Comic Book Industry’s Most Prestigious Award

San Francisco, CA, July 28, 2011 – VIZ Media, LLC (VIZ Media), the largest distributor and licensor of anime and manga in North America, is proud to announce that NAOKI URASAWA’S 20th CENTURY BOYS was recognized with an Eisner Award in the Best U.S. Edition of International Material - Asia category during award ceremonies held at the recent Comic-Con International event in San Diego, CA. NAOKI URASAWA’S 20th CENTURY BOYS is published in North America by VIZ Media’s Signature imprint. Volume 17 of the series will be released in August.

20th CENTURY BOYS is the story of a group of boys who try to save the world. Humanity, having faced extinction at the end of the 20th century, would not have entered the new millennium if it weren't for them. In 1969, during their youth, they created a symbol. In 1997, as the coming disaster slowly starts to unfold, that symbol returns.

For Kenji, a simple convenience store manager who once dreamed of becoming a rock 'n' roll musician, a host of memories from his past come rushing back when one of his childhood friends mysteriously commits suicide. Could this new death be related to the rise of a bizarre new cult that's been implicated in several other murders and disappearances? Determined to dig deeper, Kenji reunites with some of his old buddies in the hope of learning the truth behind it all.

“We’re elated to have NAOKI URASAWA’S 20th CENTURY BOYS recognized by the comic book industry such a prestigious award,” says Andy Nakatani, Editorial Director at VIZ Media and editor for the title. “Urasawa‘s tense and dramatic storylines have firmly established him among the very top echelon of manga creators. With this, and other acclaimed series such as NAOKI URASAWA’S MONSTER and PLUTO: URASAWA ´ TEZUKA, Naoki Urasawa continues to push the boundaries of the manga genre, and we look forward to this award bringing his work to the attention of many new fans across North America.”

The Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards are considered the "Oscars" of the comic book industry [Utter foolishness - Leroy] and are named for renowned cartoonist Will Eisner (creator of The Spirit and several award-winning graphic novels). The awards are handed out each year in a gala ceremony at Comic-Con International in San Diego, the largest and oldest comic book convention in the United States.

Naoki Urasawa's career as a manga artist spans more than twenty years and has firmly established him as one of the true manga masters of Japan. Born in Tokyo in 1960, Urasawa debuted with BETA! in 1983 and hasn't stopped his impressive output since. Well-versed in a variety of genres, Urasawa's oeuvre encompasses a multitude of different subjects, such as a romantic comedy (YAWARA! A FASHIONABLE JUDO GIRL), a suspenseful human drama about a former mercenary (PINEAPPLE ARMY; story by Kazuya Kudo), a captivating psychological suspense story (NAOKI URASAWA’S MONSTER), a sci-fi adventure manga (NAOKI URASAWA’S 20TH CENTURY BOYS), and a modern reinterpretation of the work of the God of Manga, Osamu Tezuka (PLUTO: URASAWA X TEZUKA; co-authored with Takashi Nagasaki, supervised by Macoto Tezka, and with the cooperation of Tezuka Productions). Many of his books have spawned popular animated and live-action TV programs and films, and 2008 saw the theatrical release of the first of three live-action Japanese films based on NAOKI URASAWA’S 20TH CENTURY BOYS.

No stranger to accolades and awards, Urasawa is a three-time recipient of the prestigious Shogakukan Manga Award, a two-time recipient of the Osamu Tezuka Cultural Prize, and has received the Kodansha Manga Award. Urasawa has also become involved in the world of academia, and in 2008 accepted a guest teaching post at Nagoya Zokei University, where he teaches courses in, of course, manga.

For more information on NAOKI URASAWA’S 20th CENTURY BOYS and other VIZ Media manga titles, please visit www.viz.com/manga.

Natsume's Friends

I read Natsume's Book of Friends, Vol. 8

I posted a review at the Comic Book Bin (which has FREE smart phone apps).

Leroy Douresseaux on FRAGMENTA 3: On the Record

FRAGMENTA 3: ON THE RECORD
CANDLE LIGHT PRESS

WRITER: John Ira Thomas
ARTISTS: Carter Allen, Jeremy Smith
56pp, Color, $7.00

I am a big fan of the comics, graphic novels, and various publications put out by Candle Light Press. Go read Zoo Force/Not Zoo Force.

In recent years, Candle Light Press and its leading man of letters, John Ira Thomas, have published small mooks (magazine/book) collecting odds and ends concerning CLP’s comics, graphic novels, aborted projects, etc. Those include Fragmenta: The Art of the Writer and Fragmenta 2: Cross Nurses & Agile Clothes.

Fragmenta 2, from Thomas and artist Will Beard, focused on stories that never made it all the way to finished form as a comic book or graphic novel. Thomas also shared his aborted attempts to create horror comics that capture the feel of cheap movies, especially horror/exploitation movies. It’s a must have.

Now, comes Fragmenta 3: On the Record. It’s a bit different. Fragmenta 3 is part script book, part history, and part transcripts based on recordings (record LPs). The material inside is based on real creators, real events, and fictional characters from actual comic books and graphic novels. The content of Fragmenta 3, however, is not necessarily based on actual published works.

Readers who are familiar with CLP’s comics and graphic novels will love Fragmenta 3. The opening two pages are a history of and manifesto about comic book creators dealing with Hollywood. It’s fun to read, and makes a lot of good points about staying true to the characters and what that means for creators, fans, and media rights holders. For me, reading the scripts was like experiencing old time radio programs, but since I am a fan of old time radio, perhaps, I’m just projecting my favorite things onto Fragmenta 3.

Like most anything Candle Light Press publishes, Fragmenta 3: On the Record is smart, funny, engaging, and simply a good read.

A-

Visit the CLP store: http://candlelightpress.com/shopper/
http://www.candlelightpress.com/

--------------------------------

Leroy Douresseaux on STAR WARS: JEDI – THE DARK SIDE #3

STAR WARS: JEDI – THE DARK SIDE #3
DARK HORSE BOOKS

["Star Wars Central" review page is here.]

SCRIPT: Scott Allie
ARTIST: Mahmud Asrar
COLORS: Paul Mounts
LETTERS: Michael Heisler
COVER: Stéphane Roux
32pp, Color, $2.99

Star Wars: Jedi – The Dark Side is a recently launched Star Wars comic book series from Dark Horse Comics. It is set during “The Rise of the Empire” era, which is essentially the time period of the Star Wars prequel trilogy. This particular story takes place two decades before Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace.

In Star Wars: Jedi – The Dark Side, the Jedi Council sends Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn, his headstrong Padawan Xanatos, the beautiful Jedi Master Tahl, and the Padawan Orykan Tamarik (whose master is deceased) to the planet Telos IV. Their assignment is to quell the unrest caused by the mysterious death and possible assassination of High Priestess Liora.

As Star Wars: Jedi – The Dark Side #3 opens, Qui-Gon attempts to bring peace between Xanatos and his father, Lord Crion, the ruler of Telos IV. Father and son have a difficult relationship, made even more difficult by Crion’s pride and Xanatos’ stubborn ways. Xanatos’ sister, Nason, also tries to bring her brother and father together, but she may be endangering herself. Meanwhile, the dissidents on Telos IV grow bolder, and the mysterious Jedi figure that may be behind the planet’s troubles is revealed to Qui-Gon,

Writer Scott Allie has turned Star Wars into a high-quality court drama and conspiracy thriller. This is more like a summer potboiler prose novel than a comic book. Artist Mahmud Asrar does his best work in depicting the Jedi in action. His art captures the jumping, flipping, cart-wheeling Jedi of The Phantom Menace in still pictures that don’t lose the energy of the moving image originals. I didn’t think that I’d like this, but I’m actually looking forward to more, especially because Allie presents a richly characterized version of Qui-Gon.

A-

Matt Taibbi on the Great Corporate Tax Holiday/Scam

The great Matt Taibbi. Go. Read.

Imagine the uproar if Barack Obama, in the middle of this historic revenue crunch and "We're so broke the world is going to end tomorrow!" debt-ceiling hystgeria, decided to declare a second “one-time tax holiday” for, say, unwed single mothers, or recipients of public assistance? Middle America would be running through the streets, firing shotguns out its truck window, waving chainsaws in mall lobbies, etc.

Complete List of 2011 Eisner Award Winners

2011 Eisner Award Winners List

Best Continuing Series
Chew, by John Layman and Rob Guillory (Image)

Best Short Story
"Post Mortem," by Greg Rucka and Michael Lark, in I Am an Avenger #2 (Marvel)

Best Single Issue (or One-Shot)
Hellboy: Double Feature of Evil, by Mike Mignola and Richard Corben (Dark Horse)

Best Limited Series
Daytripper, by Fábio Moon and Gabriel Bá (Vertigo/DC)

Best New Series
American Vampire, by Scott Snyder, Stephen King, and Rafael Albuquerque (Vertigo/DC)

Best Publication for Kids
Tiny Titans, by Art Baltazar and Franco (DC)

Best Publication for Teens
Smile, by Raina Telgemeier (Scholastic Graphix)

Best Humor Publication
I Thought You Would Be Funnier, by Shannon Wheeler (BOOM!)

Best Anthology
Mouse Guard: Legends of the Guard, edited by Paul Morrissey and David Petersen (Archaia)

Best Digital Comic
Abominable Charles Christopher, by Karl Kerschl, www.abominable.cc

Best Reality-Based Work
It Was the War of the Trenches, by Jacques Tardi (Fantagraphics)

Best Graphic Album—New
Return of the Dapper Men, by Jim McCann and Janet Lee (Archaia)
Wilson, by Daniel Clowes (Drawn & Quarterly)

Best Graphic Album—Reprint
Wednesday Comics, edited by Mark Chiarello (DC)

Best Adaptation from Another Work
The Marvelous Land of Oz, by L. Frank Baum, adapted by Eric Shanower and Skottie Young (Marvel)

Best Archival Collection/Project—Strips
Archie: The Complete Daily Newspaper Strips, 1946–1948, by Bob Montana, edited by Greg Goldstein (IDW)

Best Archival Collection/Project—Comic Books
Dave Stevens' The Rocketeer Artist's Edition, edited by Scott Dunbier (IDW)

Best U.S. Edition of International Material
It Was the War of the Trenches, by Jacques Tardi (Fantagraphics)

Best U.S. Edition of International Material—Asia
Naoki Urasawa's 20th Century Boys, by Naoki Urasawa (VIZ Media)

Best Writer
Joe Hill, Lock & Key (IDW)

Best Writer/Artist
Darwyn Cooke, Richard Stark's Parker: The Outfit (IDW)

Best Penciller/Inker or Penciller/Inker Team
Skottie Young, The Marvelous Land of Oz (Marvel)

Best Painter/Multimedia Artist (interior art)
Juanjo Guarnido, Blacksad (Dark Horse)

Best Cover Artist
Mike Mignola, Hellboy, Baltimore: The Plague Ships (Dark Horse)

Best Coloring
Dave Stewart, Hellboy, BPRD, Baltimore, Let Me In (Dark Horse); Detective Comics (DC); Neil Young's Greendale, Daytripper, Joe the Barbarian (Vertigo/DC)

Best Lettering
Todd Klein, Fables, The Unwritten, Joe the Barbarian, iZombie (Vertigo/DC); Tom Strong and the Robots of Doom (WildStorm/DC); SHIELD (Marvel); Driver for the Dead (Radical)

Best Comics-Related Periodical/Journalism
ComicBookResources, produced by Jonah Weiland (www.comicbookresources.com)

Best Comics-Related Book
75 Years of DC Comics: The Art of Modern Mythmaking, by Paul Levitz (TASCHEN)

Best Publication Design
Dave Stevens' The Rocketeer Artist's Edition, designed by Randall Dahlk (IDW)

HALL OF FAME
Judges' Choices: Ernie Bushmiller, Jack Jackson, Martin Nodell, Lynd Ward
Elected: Mort Drucker, Harvey Pekar, Roy Thomas, Marv Wolfman

Russ Manning Promising Newcomer Award:
Nate Simpson

Bob Clampett Humanitarian Award:
Patrick McDonnell

Bill Finger Excellence in Comic Book Writing Award:
Del Connell, Bob Haney

Will Eisner Spirit of Comics Retailer Award:
Comics & Vegetables, Tel Aviv, Israel - Yuval Sharon, Danny Amitai