FANGORIA COMICS SHUTS DOWN, PROJECTS, STAFF RELOCATE – NEWSARAMA

I always hate to see this kind of thing, even if I wasn’t a fan of the company..

FANGORIA COMICS SHUTS DOWN, PROJECTS, STAFF RELOCATE – NEWSARAMA

FANGORIA COMICS SHUTS DOWN, PROJECTS, STAFF RELOCATE

---

Press Release

Scott Licina, newly former executive editor of Fangoria
Comics, was informed on August 22nd of the August 17th closing of the
comics line at Fangoria Entertainment by parent company Creative Group.
He, the staff and the creators would like to thank their readers and
are excited to announce that creator-owned projects like BUMP, BENEATH
THE VALLEY OF THE RAGE and SHIFTER will continue, with details coming
soon.

Regarding the closing, Licina noted, “To be honest, we’ve anticipated
this possibility for quite some time, long before we finally launched
on June 13, 2007 after almost a year of delays on Creative Group’s
part; that was after we announced the line in July of 2006 at the San
Diego Comic-Con International. It became more and more apparent with
the recent closings of several divisions and the lay-offs that
accompanied them, other announced projects like VAMPIRELLA that failed
to materialize and the fact that we received virtually no marketing or
promotional support in any way, not even in the company’s own FANGORIA
or STARLOG magazines, that there may be trouble ahead. But I couldn’t
have imagined, after already soliciting and selling subscriptions for
titles that ran well into the beginning of 2008, that it would be only
two months and four days after our first book hit the shelves that we
would be closed down. And on top of it, we were informed about the
closing via a three sentence e-mail, and invoices are still
outstanding.”

Robert Kurtzman, legendary special effects artist, director and
co-creator of BENEATH THE VALLEY OF THE RAGE had this comment: “The
worst part of it from my perspective is that the RAGE mini-series
wasn’t allowed to finish, even with only one issue left to print, and
that the issue (#4) was already completed and sitting there ready to go
to the printer to fulfill orders that were already placed. Simply
unbelievable. But I’m happy to announce we will be getting the fourth
issue out to fulfill demand and make sure our readers have the chance
to get the complete series.”

Mark Kidwell, creator of BUMP, added, “It’s a shame really, that things
were handled the way they were on the Fangoria Entertainment corporate
level. All of the staff and creators at Fangoria Comics are amazing and
there were (and are) some incredible stories being produced. Most of
these will still be published, albeit by a different and more focused
company with an eye toward the same long-term goals.”

Film producer Patrick Durham and film star Michael Madsen, co-creators
of SHIFTER, made this statement: “This comes as little surprise, after
we’ve seen what Scott has had to go through to get these great comics
out and to let people know about them. The SHIFTER comic and crew are
looking forward to the positive move we’re making, and can’t wait to
start on the new endeavor. After all, it’s the same production house,
where the comics are always on time and always look fantastic. We know
that the extremely high quality demands we have for SHIFTER will be
exceeded by Scott and the team as always, so naturally we’re thrilled
to be apart of this new, exciting leap forward. Comics to film, we’ve
got some exciting announcements ahead for SHIFTER!”

Licina closed with this remark- “The bottom line on Fangoria? This was
fallout from major franchise-wide downsizing by Creative Group. The
upside? The creators own their respective properties, series and books,
and will be continuing and finishing material that’s already started.
Everyone is looking at 2008 with a fresh perspective. And again, we
thank the readers, retailers and distributors for all their support,
and look forward to releasing more info soon.”

Powered by ScribeFire.

I couldn’t agree more…

Mark nailed it didn’t he?

news from me – ARCHIVES

Time Off

Any day now, George W. Bush will set the record for having taken more days of vacation than any other Oval Office Occupant in history.

Back in the Reagan era when that guy was setting the old record, I
wrote an article I can no longer find for a local magazine. It said
basically that Presidential Vacations were just plain a bad idea from
all standpoints. I mean, if you think you have a great guy in office,
you oughta be ticked off that he isn’t working harder. Fewer days off
might mean he could pass a couple more items on your agenda. He’s going
to end his term without doing a number of things you hoped he would
accomplish. Maybe less vacation would have made one or two more come
about.

On the other hand, if you think the current prez is inept, maybe
working harder would make him a bit more ept. Or if you think he’s
dishonest, putting in more hours might mean fewer instances where he
hides behind the claim that he didn’t know what his aides were doing,
hadn’t addressed some vital problem yet, etc. Bad presidents tend to
cower a lot behind the excuse that they’re busy tending to more
important matters…and then they go fishing.

This isn’t a slam at Bush so much as it is a bewilderment that
anyone in any career of choice needs that many days off. I always liked
Jay Leno’s old line about how if you keep needing vacations from your
job, you picked the wrong job.

Posted at 9:38 AM · LINK

Powered by ScribeFire.

The Secret of the Wednesday’s Haul » Blog Archive » Open for Business– The Comic Podcast Update log

ACCKK I wish I thought of this!!

Great idea Scott!

The Secret of the Wednesday’s Haul » Blog Archive » Open for Business– The Comic Podcast Update log

Open for Business– The Comic Podcast Update log

by Scott Cederlund @ 6:56 pm. Filed under comics, podcasts– Other

Borrowing a page from Chris Mosby’s Tales from the Longbox and the Comics Weblog Update, I’ve build a similar service for comic book podcasts. You can now click on over to www.wednesdayshaul.com/comicpodcasts and find all the latest and greatest podcasts about comics.

To see a list of who I’ve currently go listed, click here.
If you have a podcast that I haven’t listed, please email me at scott @
wednesdayshaul.com (no spaces) and let me know the RSS feed of your
podcast.

And just to make things even more fun, this page has its own feed at http://feeds.feedburner.com/comicpodcastweblog that you can use to keep up on podcasts in your favorite RSS reader.

Bookmark to:

Related Posts:Now open for business– the Wednesday’s Haul Amazon bookstore / Wednesday’s Haul 7/27/07– Annihilated / Comics Podcasts Updates / Wednesday’s Haul 9/19/07– The Death of Superman redux / Comic Book Movies We’d Like to See– Comics Podcast Crossover #14 /

Powered by ScribeFire.

A SINESTRO CORPS WAR REPORT – NEWSARAMA

Possible spoilers!  Read the rest article at the link below.

A SINESTRO CORPS WAR REPORT – NEWSARAMA

A SINESTRO CORPS WAR REPORT

---

by Vaneta Rogers

The battle lines are drawn, and it’s time for all-out war.

As DC’s Green Lantern titles are immersed in the story of
the Sinestro Corps War, readers have been writhing in anticipation of
the impending showdown between the yellow-ring forces of fear and the
Green Lanterns backed by willpower. Each side has staged skirmishes –
to brutally take prisoners of war, or to rescue them from the hands of
the enemy — but the time for posturing and pondering strategy is over.
It’s time for the real fighting to begin.

And the main battleground? Earth. In Green Lantern #23,
the Sinestro Corps appeared as bright yellow bursts of light in the sky
over Earth, joining five of the biggest, baddest villains in the DCU to
descend upon the people of Earth and dispense their home-grown brand of
deadly fear.

Things are looking kind of bad. Like … end-of-the-world bad.

But as the Earth and the multiverse and the whole DCU looks like it
might fall into the hands of the evil Anti-Monitor and his motley crew,
fans can feel secure in the knowledge that the military strategist
overseeing operations for the united army of Green Lantern readers is
Geoff Johns, who’s been orchestrating this war over the last year since
we got the first inkling of a Sinestro Corps.

At this breaking point in the war, we sat down for a military briefing
with General Johns to find out what has happened so far in the
conflict, what the current military situation means to the future of
the Green Lantern forces, and what might happen as the greatest battle
of the war ensues.

Powered by ScribeFire.

Comic Related gets new look and invites writers

Have you visited Comic Related (www.comicrelated.com) lately? We’re writing to invite you to take a moment and check out the strikingly new look of our site! Come in, feel free to take a look around and make yourself at home. You’re among friends.

— Our new look:

In addition to our visual face lift, we’ve completely reorganized the way we share content making it easier for you to find the comic coverage you want. We’ve ramped up the amount of information we’re pushing out allowing news, commentary and related info to flow 365 days a year, multiple times a day. Try us for a few days. You’ll want to come back.

— Do you like to write?

We invite bloggers, reviewers and writers to consider joining the Comic Related family. We’re a start-up (three years on the web), but we’re growing fast and we think this might appeal to someone who wants to see their work read by a larger audience. If you are willing to contribute commentary, convention coverage or reviews (you choose the topic, you choose the title, you choose the show), we’ll build a feature commentary around your work. We don’t mind highlighting your personal web site or blog with each feature and we will work to build an image for you and your work through our site. If you provide content, we’ll work hard to get you the exposure you deserve!

— Are you in need of a forum?

We’re looking for a few talented individuals currently creating comics (amateur or pro) who’ve always wanted a forum dedicated to their work but didn’t want the hassle of setting it up or paying for it. We’re launching a new section of our forums (along with a visual overhaul for that area) next week and we’ll be featuring these individuals.

So far, Ron Fortier, a professional writer and comic creator for over twenty-five years, and Jonnie Allen, creator of The Miscellaneous Adventures of Stykman, are on board. Would you like to be next?

We would love to feature your creation and your talent on our site. When someone joins the Comic Related family, you get more than just a simple forum. You get our full support for your title. We’ll cover your title extensively through the site, feature your artwork in a number of ways and cover updates as new issues or news is released. You’re helping Comic Related by honoring us with your presence and we’ll honor your work five fold in return.

— What we have to offer:

As one of the fastest growing comic sites on the web, we offer…

* industry news
* comic reviews
* a growing set regular of commentaries and features
* podcast tracking
* convention coverage
* comic film, television and animation coverage hubs
* cover galleries
* Creator’s Corner updates (for those building an indy title or two)
* one of the best comic links pages on the web
* much, much more

Cheers,
Chuck

Arcana Comics: Frozen Wasteland has Arrived

PRESS RELEASE

FROZEN WASTELAND HAS ARRIVED

Frozen Wasteland
Writer Kieran Murphy
Artist Jose Augusto Cano
Cover Artist Carlos Valenzuela

Publisher: Arcana Comics
Format: Trade Paperback Graphic Novel (full color interiors)
Length: 100 pages
Diamond Order Code: SEP073353
Publication date: November 28, 2007

The Frozen Wasteland graphic novel consists of four separate stories
in one book, each centred on four main characters trapped in this
Frozen Wasteland.

Major Jonathon Carson seeks out his lost son in the icy tundra of Las
Vegas, Ricky Di Santos finds himself bumping into an old flame in the
battlefield of a snow covered Los Angeles, Jed Giffin catches up with
his self-centred sister in a freezing Dallas, and Sinead O’Brien
takes to the frozen seas off Miami with a friend from her former life.

Each story examines the suffering caused in these very different
settings as ordinary people try to cope in an environment where each
day is a struggle for survival. Criminals, gangsters and hucksters
duke it out for supremacy in this fractured, frightening and frozen
future America!

Frozen Wasteland is written by Kieran Murphy with artwork by Jose
Augusto (The Pact) Cano and a gorgeous full color cover from Carlos
(Kade, Wolfskin) Valenzuela with a cover price of $9.95 available in
this month’s Previews (Diamond Code: SEP073353).

For more information, please visit Arcana Comics at:

www.arcanacomics.com

BOOM! Studios: An Open Letter to Concerned Pagans

(The following is from our latest blog posting
here: http://www.boom-studios.com/node/1372)

Since announcing SALEM, a five-issue series
written by Chris Morgan and Kevin Walsh shipping
this November, we here at BOOM! Studios have been
inundated with a tremendous positive response? for
the most part. Unfortunately, we have also
received a number of alarmed reactions from the
Pagan community. To address their concerns, Chris
and Kevin have written the following letter:

To All Concerned Parties,

We agree that a comic book that asserts Pagans
are evil and destructive might well be considered
insensitive, offensive and even slanderous.
However, SALEM: QUEEN OF THORNS is not that book.
We appreciate your criticisms, but feel they are
based on a mistaken understanding of the true
content of our story.

In SALEM, the religious authorities are an evil
force that persecutes innocents in the witch
trials. They aren’t celebrated in any way and
are, in fact, major villains.

Our protagonist, Elias Hooke, is a reformed
member of the Church who carries a heavy burden
of guilt for the evil he performed for them in
ignorance. And his quest to redeem himself is
one of his main motivations.

More importantly, one of our chief characters,
Hannah Foster, is a healer accused of witchcraft.
She is in no way the “demonized” villain of the
piece. Rather, she is one of the key heroes on a
noble journey to combat evil and save the world.

We welcome your opinions and realize that when
all is said and done, you may still disagree with
what we feel to be a positive depiction of Pagans
and a strong pro-tolerance theme in SALEM. But
we respectfully request that you base such
judgment on the content of the work itself,
rather than incorrect assumptions and incomplete
information.

Because you are correct about one thing –
prejudice in all forms is an ugly thing.

Sincerely,
Kevin Walsh and Chris Morgan
Creators, SALEM: QUEEN OF THORNS

Ambrosia, a concerned Pagan, was kind enough to
let us reprint her letter to us. Here it is in
full:

Date: Sep 3, 2007 9:40 PM
Subject: Religious intolerance
Body:
I am an avid comic reader and I am also a pagan.
I have been on this path for many years and my
family and I have fought off hate, bigotry and
verbal abuse due to the large quantity of
misinformation about the craft. To think I would
be safe from this sort of thing in my own genre
of pop culture. I guess I was wrong because
apparently you are publishing a comic named Salem
Queens of Thorns which demonizes witchs and adds
further justification for their torturing and
death. Did you know that in the dark ages 9
million people (mostly women and some children)
were accused, tortured and killed because of lies
and misinformation spread by the church? These
women were midwives, healers and herbalogists.
All of these people were tortured into saying
things that were not true. They were told what to
say by witch hunters. Ever heard of the witch’s
hammer? It was a book comprised of methods to
identify, interigate, torture, prosecute and
finally kill a witch for in the bible it says
“Though not suffer a witch to live” I mean you
all have a least a little sensitivity right?
Would you write a comic putting the jews of the
holocaust in a negative light? What about the
slaves of the south? They practiced voudoun
rituals to scare away slave traders from
abducting them. But no of course everyone has
enough compassion to not cause further distress
to those who have suffered. I and other Pagans
alike are trying to dispell ignorance and create
a more tolerant world to accept our beliefs and
right now you are creating an obstacle to that. I
would look out for more pagan activists and
lobbyists to get involved and speak out against
this assault to our faith. This project was
written in poor taste and is offensive to my
brothers and sisters of the craft. Please take
this into consideration when making such a
decision…
Regretfully yours,
Ambrosia

Hopefully, in printing this, we have put a
preemptive end to this controversy. Thank you for
reading.

BOOM! Studios Announces Tom Fassbender new VP of Publishing

For Immediate Release

BOOM! Studios Announces Tom Fassbender new VP of Publishing Comic and Book Publishing Veteran Brings Firm Hand to Explosive Growth

September 18th, 2007

Los Angeles -BOOM! Studios announced today that Tom Fassbender has taken the role of VP of Publishing for the company. Fassbender will
provide a steady hand and a veteran’s expertise to all aspects of the comic book publishing concern.

Coming on the heels of the appointment of Mark Waid as Editor-in-Chief and Chip Mosher as Marketing and Sales Director, the
addition of Fassbender completes a round of expansion in personnel catapulting BOOM! Studios into its next phase of growth. Fassbender
began work at BOOM! Studios this past August.

“Tom is a multi-hyphenate. He’s published comics. He’s written comics. He’s published books. He’s written books. He’s worked in
comic distribution. He’s managed a retail comic store. Hell, he’s even been an Eisner judge. You just can’t find experience this in one
place. And now he’s working at BOOM!” said Ross Richie.

“Tom’s a great guy, with gut-level business instincts that are as good as any I’ve seen. He’s got the nuts and bolts of this industry
down. I love working with him. We make a great team. He’s got his eye on the clock and is making sure the trains make it out of the station
on time,” said Mark Waid.

Fassbender started his career in comics as manager of the retail store Capital City Comics in Madison, Wisconsin. Later, he quickly
earned the status of Product Management Specialist for Capital City Distribution (no relation to the retail operation) in the early
nineties. In charge of solicited materials in Advanced Comics, Tom was the final arbiter over what Capital City Distribution offered to
stores, and he built a reputation for championing works by such talents as Paul Pope, David Lapham, Rick Veitch and many, many others.

During his time at Capital City Distribution, Fassbender was chosen as a judge for the 1995 Eisner Awards and Heroes Illustrated named
him on of the top 100 most influential people in comics.

Subsequently, Fassbender did a brief stint at the short-lived Motown Comics before starting UglyTown, a mystery-novel publisher he
co-founded with Jim Pascoe. UglyTown rapidly gained a reputation for dynamic packaging and cutting-edge fiction from authors like Victor
Gischler, Sean Doolittle, Eddie Muller, and Gary Phillips.

Fassbender has also worked on such hit comics like BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER, HELLBOY, and STAR WARS with co-writer Jim Pascoe. His
creative work experience on licensed properties will serve him ingood stead at BOOM! as the company expands into its licensed comics,
having most recently announced the acquisition of THE GODFATHER license at San Diego Comic-Con International this summer. THE
GODFATHER will be one of the many titles Fassbender will shepherd in his new position when it launches early in 2008.

BOOM! has gone through a growth spurt like no other publisher this past year. At the 2007 Book Expo in New York, BOOM! announced its new
mass-market book distribution deal via Perseus, a unique relationship for a comic book publisher that positions BOOM! alongside one of the
market leaders in book retailing. Perseus recently acquired Publisher’s Group West and continues to grow and expand its reach
into the mass market. By the end of this summer, BOOM! will be offering through Perseus a line of trade paperback graphic novels
collecting their popular series, including TALENT, HERO SQUARED, TAG, DEATH VALLEY, and X ISLE.

In the last twelve months, BOOM! has sold three of its comic book series to Hollywood: THE FOUNDATION was purchased in a preemptive
pre-publication bid by Paramount Pictures, while Universal Studios bought TALENT and TAG last year.

Last December’s launch of WARHAMMER 40,000: DAMNATION CRUSADE initiated a new, successful series of comic books and graphic novels
followed up with the summer’s launch of WARHAMMER: FORGE OF WAR.? BOOM! enjoys the unique position of being one of only four licensors
of Games Workshop material and will continue to grow and expand its line of WARHAMMER 40,000 and WARHAMMER series.

Capitalizing on that success, BOOM! announced a comic book andgraphic novels license with Epic Games’ mega-selling GEARS OF WAR
video game. This fall will see a huge launch for this exciting new property.

Masterpiece Comics Website Updates Delayed – Please See ComicSpace for Updated News and Previews

***For the time being please see Masterpiece Comics’ ComicSpace Profile (www.comicspace.com/masterpiececomic) for news and previews of our newest title Full Moon Craze.***

Unfortunately, updates to the Masterpiece Comics main website (www.masterpiececomics.com) are delayed at this moment. This is due to the fact that our webmaster lives in Indonesia, which is still having after effects from the Earthquake and Tsunami last week. Because of those our webmaster is having technically difficulties and intermittent internet connection.

We are hoping this will be cleared up soon.

On a more important note, we are happy that he and his family are safe after these natural disasters.

Until these issues are straighten out and he is back on line full time, we will be using ComicSpace as a back up to the main website. Please see our ComicSpace Profile (www.comicspace.com/masterpiececomic) for news and previews of our newest title Full Moon Craze.

The first issue of Full Moon Craze is currently in the September Previews on Page 326 and available for Order Now.

The Cover and Preview to Issue Two will be posted to ComicSpace tonight. The Cover and Preview to Issue Three will be posted Wednesday afternoon/evening.

Thanks.

Masterpiece Comics

[PRESS] Devil’s Due Publishing – Dec 07 Solicits!

Here is the link to solicitations for Devil’s Due Publishing’s December 07
products.
http://devilsdue.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=68&Itemid=51

Get collected with DDP! This month we have TPB and Omnibus Collections
galore! Featuring the Forgotten Realms vol 1 – 3 Omnibus, G.I. Joe vs
Transformers vol 1 – 4 Omnibus, Sheena TP vol 1 and the much anticipated
Dragonlance: The Legend of Huma TPB!

And remember, there’s always new books being added to PullboxOnline all the
time! www.pullboxonline.com

Next Page »