[Press] DYNAMITE ENTERTAINMENT ACQUIRES VAMPIRELLA!

This should be interesting….

DYNAMITE®-The Boys, Project Superpowers, Red Sonja, Army of Darkness, The Lone Ranger, Zorro & More!

DYNAMITE ENTERTAINMENT ACQUIRES VAMPIRELLA!

March 17, 2010 – Before Twilight. Before True Blood. Before Buffy. Before Blade. There was…Vampirella! Leading comic book publisher, Dynamite Entertainment, is proud to announce it has acquired the Vampirella property from Harris Publications. Vampirella will become part of Dynamite’s thriving comic book line-up, which includes Project Superpowers, The Boys, Green Hornet, The Lone Ranger, Zorro, Army of Darkness, Red Sonja and more.

Vampirella debuted in 1969 in a black & white magazine titled simply VAMPIRELLA. With a stunning cover by legendary artist, Frank Frazetta, Vampirella #1 quickly made publishing history with its depiction of a vampire heroine, and its success prompted comics giants DC and Marvel to launch horror titles of their own. Vampirella appeared in this magazine format throughout the 1970’s. Many of these classic stories were illustrated by the legendary artist Jose Gonzalez and have remained quite popular with comics fans to the present day. After a brief publishing hiatus, Vampirella returned in 1992 and quickly regained her reigning status as the queen of all female comics characters! In continuous publication since her early 90s comeback, Vampirella has been written by top talents including Alan Moore, Mark Millar, Grant Morrision, James Robinson, Jeph Loeb, Warren Ellis, and illustrated by fan favorite artists such as Joe Quesada, J. Scott Campbell, Michael Turner, Jae Lee, Adam Hughes, Mark Texeira, Joe Jusko, Arthur Suydam, and many more! A Vampirella feature film premiered on Showtime Networks in 1996, and the character continues to appear on numerous items of licensed merchandise.

Commenting on the acquisition, Nick Barrucci, President of Dynamite Entertainment said, “Vampirella is one of the most well known and longest running comic characters in the history of the business. Outside of Marvel and DC characters, very few comics characters that debuted in the 60’s still resonate with fans today. Our acquisition of this iconic brand is another step in Dynamite’s exciting growth and builds on the ongoing success of our line.”

“I am incredibly pleased to be passing the stewardship of Vampirella on to Dynamite,” says Stanley Harris, President of Harris Publications. “Dynamite has proven to be one of the premiere publishers in the comic book industry, and Vampirella couldn’t be in better and more caring hands!”

Look for more announcements soon on Dynamite’s Vampirella plans!

To find a comic shop near you, call 1-888-comicbook

For art and more information, please visit: www.dynamiteentertainment.com or email marketing@dynamiteentertainment.com

ABOUT DYNAMITE ENTERTAINMENT:

DYNAMITE ENTERTAINMENT, the publishing division of DYNAMIC FORCES, INC., was founded in 2004 and is home to several best-selling comic book titles and properties, including Red Sonja, Project Superpowers, The Boys, Army of Darkness, Battlestar Galactica, The Lone Ranger, Zorro and more!

In addition to its critically-acclaimed titles and best selling comics, Dynamite works with some of the most high profile creators in comics and entertainment, including Alex Ross, John Cassaday, Garth Ennis, Michael Turner, Jim Lee, Michael Avon Oeming, Brian Reed, Mel Rubi, Marc Guggenheim, Stephen Sadowski, Mike Carey, Jim Krueger, Greg Pak, Brett Matthews, Matt Wagner and a host of up and coming new talent and fan favorite creators!

DYNAMITE is consistently ranked in the upper tiers of comic book publishers and several of their more recent launches – including Alex Ross and Jim Krueger’s PROJECT SUPERPOWERS – have debuted in the Top Ten lists calculated by Diamond Comics Distributors. In 2005 Diamond awarded the company a GEM award for Best New Publisher and another GEM in 2006 for Comics Publisher of the Year (under 5%). The company has also been nominated for several industry awards, including the prestigious Eisner Award.

Aside from its monthly periodical publishing program of new comic book series, DYNAMITE also produces highly regarded and well received collections of newly remastered, classic comics material like Tim Truman’s SCOUT, Carlos Trillo and Eduardo Risso’s BORDERLINE and TALES OF TERROR, Jim Starlin’s DREADSTAR, as well as archival compilations of reprinted RED SONJA tales.

20th Century Danny Boy: Dick Giordano In Hospital

Very sad news…

20th Century Danny Boy: Dick Giordano In Hospital

Thursday, March 18, 2010
Dick Giordano In Hospital

Some very sad news has just crossed my desk and as well as posting it over at the Inkwell Awards site, I thought it might be worthwhile giving it a run here. Long-time DC Comics editor/artist Dick Giordano is in the hospital and is very ill, Well wishers can send cards and letters to him:
c/o Florida Hospital Oceanside,
264 S. Atlantic Ave.
Ormond Beach, FL 32176.

I urge everyone to send him a get well card and, like always, tell the man what you think of him, and how much he means to you, as an artist, and has done throughout the years. I’ve been wracking my brains to find something to write and have, instead, decided to run a recent article that I wrote for Dick’s Hall Of Fame page at the Inkwell Awards web-site. Have a read and send Dick some well-wishes asap.

MediumAtLarge.net: C2E2 Panel and Screening Schedule Online!

DAMMIT!  I wish I could go to this!

MediumAtLarge.net: C2E2 Panel and Screening Schedule Online!

Wednesday, March 17, 2010
C2E2 Panel and Screening Schedule Online!

170. What’s that? That’s the number of panels, screenings, and special events taking place at C2E2. We’ve got close to a dozen theaters, conference spaces, stages, and workshop rooms running all three days with some amazing content. Want to hear the latest from Marvel and DC? Check? Want to meet some of Chicago’s comic book hometown heroes? Check. Want to learn, change, and grow with talks from Reading With Pictures, Diamond, the Comics Studies Conference, and ICv2? Check. Want to see some weird, wonderful, and eclectic performances? Check. Want premiere screenings? Check. C2E2’s got them all, and you can delve into all three days of programming right now at C2E2.com.

Note, though, that most of the schedule is now online, but much of our Hollywood and TV programming will be coming out later, and there are a few other events, too, that will be added to this list in the coming weeks.

Marvel goes international only with comiXology – comiXology

Best comic app for the iPhone!

Marvel goes international only with comiXology – comiXology

Marvel goes international only with comiXology
Tuesday March 16, 2010 09:20:55 am

Today we’re proud to announce that Marvel Comics are now available internationally through Comics by comiXology, the #1 iPhone OS application for digital comics.

Comics by comiXology is the only iPhone OS app selling Marvel outside the United States.

Since October 30th, 2009, top Marvel comics have been available on the iPhone through Comics by comiXology, among other iPhone OS comic store apps, in the US only. With this latest partnership, Marvel and comiXology will team up to make Marvel’s digital catalog available worldwide. The relationship marks Marvel’s first international agreement for digital comics on the iPhone OS.

Marvel Comics’ publications are available immediately on the iPhone and iPod Touch in all countries where the Comics by comiXology app is available.

Comics by comiXology has been in the top 20 Book Apps on the iTunes app Store since launch in July, 2009, making it the top selling comics store and reader application available on the iPhone OS.

NOW… | Longbox Digital Comics

NOW… | Longbox

The Launch Event at Emerald City Comicon this weekend was fantastic. What was intended to be a ‘low-key’ meet and greet, where we could talk to creators, publishers, and press, rapidly became a non-stop pace that carried through until we stepped into the cab on Sunday for the return flight home. A wonderful convention, and a powerful reminder of why we do this.

As you may have heard via The Beat, there’s this public beta thing. Public Beta in the true sense of the word… anyone can download and register, anyone can access the content in the storefront, or use the library and reader to read the comics in the StoreFront, or import your .cbr and .cbz files.

Over the next couple of days, the edited user manual, as well as a Beta User forum will be made available. The Beta forum will serve as the primary venue for feedback, suggestions, or questions. Until that time, PLEASE read the “Read Me” text that is above the download links. In our experience, if you read and follow those instructions, you will likely have a very easy install and user experience. If not, you may end up with an issue that is already clearly documented on how to get around it… So, take the time and read the instructions please!

This is Public Beta Phase I. Over the next 30-60 days, there will be two more before we are at final release. Each release will be noted here, and through our Twitter and Facebook feeds.

Thanks for your interest, and now… http://drop.io/LongBox_PublicBeta_VI

A Look At The Longbox Beta Launch Bleeding Cool Comic Book News and Rumors

Check out the rest of the article at the link below.

A Look At The Longbox Beta Launch Bleeding Cool Comic Book News and Rumors

A Look At The Longbox Beta Launch
Submitted by Rich Johnston on March 16, 2010 – 8:26 am (0) comments

If you want to look at what may very well be the future of comics, it’s time to download the public Beta version of the comic reading/storage/purchase software application, Longbox. Download it with the links at the bottom of this page and you’re away!

Firstly, if this is a big success, it could be game over for many comic book reportage sites such as this one, as CBR has covered Longbox in its comics news reportage. Hey Rantz, how about a button so people can flip to Newsarama or Comics Alliance of IGN or, hem hem, Bleeding Cool? Or has money already changed hands?

[Press] Comics Fighting Cancer!

As some of you might know, I lost my brother Brian to cancer in 2002, so this is a cause close to my heart.  I have been asked to do a review of this when it comes out, and I will be honored to do so.

Comics Fighting Cancer is a new way to donate to fight cancer! All Profits will go towards The National Foundation for Cancer Research. What makes this project unique is the fact that our comic is completely donor funded. Every page of this comic was paid for by people wanting to create a change and find a cure for cancer. We hope you will join us in the fight against cancer.

How can you help?

You can help by buying our Comics Fighting Cancer products and spreading the word about this project. The number one thing is that we need people to get involved in this project. With more people talking about this project, we increase our chances of success.

Where can I purchase Comics Fighting Cancer products?

These products will be available in multiple retail outlets across the United States. These locations will be announced on our website. You may also purchase these products on our website and various outlets online. We will have both physical and digital copies available for sell of RIP #1.
Brief Summary Of RIP No.01

Two years ago he lost everything that he had ever loved. The vampires took her from him and he wants her back. It is their unusual appetite and uncontrollable cravings that set them apart from the ones that they hunt, but to the humans, they look somewhat normal. He knows better. With the help of high tech friend Chet and the curiously flawless and sexy Anaya, RIP will not stop until he gets his wife back, along with all of the missing. However, after RIP finds out that local doctors and scientists have become a few of the many that were taken, he begins to fear for the purity of the entire human race. With the motivation and power to kill any vampire that stands in his way, and the knowledge of exactly how to do it, RIP becomes an unstoppable force that not even the many faces of immortality can match.

More Information is available on our website

www.BlackSnakeStudios.com

DC Universe: The Source » Blog Archive » No limits: J. Michael Straczynski on SUPERMAN, WONDER WOMAN

DC Universe: The Source » Blog Archive » No limits: J. Michael Straczynski on SUPERMAN, WONDER WOMAN

No limits: J. Michael Straczynski on SUPERMAN, WONDER WOMAN

Monday, March 8th, 2010

By Alex Segura

One of my very earliest memories as a child is of watching one of the Superman cartoons created by Max Fleischer. In particular, a scene where Superman puts his cape around Lois Lane to protect her from an incoming tide of molten metal. I imprinted on that image like a baby duck, and a lot of what I laughingly call my personality was formed in that moment (which is why a cel-recreation of that image is one of the first things you see upon entering my home, before you get to the row of wall after wall covered with artwork by Alex Ross, Curt Swan and others, as well as just about every bit of Superman memorabilia ever produced).

sm_cv700-copy

As a kid growing up in the mean streets of New Jersey, Superman was an icon for me. It was a tough life: we moved about 21 times in my first 17 years, we didn’t have much money, and every day was a struggle. When I told grown-ups that I was going to be a writer someday, nobody listened, nobody thought I had a chance, because as far as teachers were concerned, kids like me who came from nowhere and nothing were dead-enders, destined to end up working at the gas station at best or in jail at worst. Writers were supposesd to be Ivory Tower guys with leather patches on the elbows of their smoking jackets, who went to the right schools and came from the right families. I lived in the world of No, a place populated by bullies and street fights and tenements, with no possibility of escape.

But Superman…see, Superman could do anything. If there was someplace he didn’t want to be, he could just fly away. And he couldn’t be hurt, which to a kid who got beat up pretty regularly in fights and elsewhere was a pretty attractive idea. Superman taught me the morals and ethics I draw up on to this day: to play fair, not to lie, and to be willing to put yourself between harm and those you care about.

If Superman could do anything, then maybe I had a chance. Maybe I could become a writer. Maybe I could even learn to fly. That symbol, the S, became a badge for me, and growing up I always made sure I had it somewhere on me, like a shaman’s charm. That may sound silly, and from a grown-up perspective it probably is silly, but as Henry Kissinger once said, it has the added benefit of being true. And it helped me get through the hard times, which is why I continue that practice to this day…right now it’s on a key-chain in my pocket.

For me, and I suspect for a lot of people, that symbol stands for the belief in our own potentiality, in what we think we can do, and try, and aspire to. I was watching the news recently, and they were showing Palistinian protests, followed by a story on the night life scene in LA, and later on, a live report from London about somethingorother…and in the background of each of those stories there was somebody wearing a Superman t-shirt or cap. It’s universal.

And there’s a reason for that, a secret no one knows, but I’ll tell you, because of how long I’ve known you, and our longstanding friendship.

And the secret is this:

The Superman symbol is Kryptonian for No Limits.

And whether or not you speak Kryptonian (or Kryptonese), you know that…you know that deep inside, where even the cynicism of the world cannot reach.

I’ve told this story before in other places, so at risk of being redundant…back a few years ago, I was at the Chicago Comic Con when a guy in his 20s grabbed a bunch of expensive stuff off a table in the dealer’s room and made a run for it. The ownere ran after him down the aisle, yelling “stop him!” As he came in my direction, everybody parted like the Red Sea.

I brought him down like a gazelle, and we held him untnil the police showed up.

Afterward, one of the con organizers said to me, “Why’d you do that? He’s a big guy, you could’ve gotten hurt.”

And I pointed to where I’d been standing when it happened: right in front of a ten-foot-tall cutout of Superman. “How could I stand in front of that, in front of him,” I said, “and do nothing?”

ww-cv600-copy

As Superman has been for me, so Wonder Woman has been for a lot of women readers, so the chance to dive into that character is something I’m eagerly anticipating. This is a strong, mythic, powerful character who for some time now has been kind of drowning under the weight of her own mythos, so I’m looking forward to paring away some of the layers of debris and undergrowth that have piled up around her in order to get to the core of the character. Coming from the world of TV and film, the first rule you learn is to service the main character more than anything else, so I’ll be writing with an eye firmly fixed on that rule.

As part of that process, we’re going to be looking more closely at how Wonder Woman appears, and functions, and her role in the DCU…and what we have planned will, we hope, come across as dynamic and powerful as she deserves to be.

Similarly, we plan to bring Superman back to his roots, to really explore who he is…how he sees us, and how we see him, in a much more personal way than we’ve seen in a while. This is part of a larger effort that will have national ramifications, but I can’t say much more about it than that for now. Keep an eye on this website for more information when the time is right…but for now, let’s just say that Superman may be a lot closer in proximity to you, the reader, than you ever guessed.

To kick off both efforts by appearing in the anniversary issues of these two characters is a great opportunity, and a good jumping-on point for readers.

If there’s any other message in this to readers, it’s in these two characters as icons of hope, that it doesn’t make any difference where you come from, or where you went to school, or who you are, there’s hope. That a kid from Jersey with Superman as the icon that kept him alive for years would one day end up writing the character is as absoutely unlikely as it is utterly inevitable. And if that’s true for me, it’s true for you, if you follow your dreams and your passions in full flight.

Don’t give up.

No Limits.

It’s never too late to learn to fly.

J. Michael Straczynski

DC Universe: The Source » Blog Archive » J. Michael Straczynski to write SUPERMAN and WONDER WOMAN, starting in July

I have mixed emotions on this one, I love JMS’s work; but his history of disappearing in the middle of a project (The Twelve) leaves me concerned.

DC Universe: The Source » Blog Archive » J. Michael Straczynski to write SUPERMAN and WONDER WOMAN, starting in July

J. Michael Straczynski to write SUPERMAN and WONDER WOMAN, starting in July

Monday, March 8th, 2010

By Alex Segura

It’s go time, folks.

Starting in July with SUPERMAN #701 and WONDER WOMAN #601, superstar writer J. Michael Straczynski — a man who’s created layered and compelling characters and worlds on the big screen, on television and across the comic book spectrum — dives head-first into the DC Universe by taking the ongoing writing reins for two-thirds of the fabled DCU trinity.

We’ll have more details about who’ll be teaming with JMS on both titles — not to mention the exciting new directions he’ll be pointing our heroes toward — in the coming months. But today is about JMS and how he sees these great characters and what they stand for.

Later today we’ll be posting an essay from the writer, nailing in a few paragraphs what makes the Man of Steel and Wonder Woman such important parts of our cultural mythology. In my day-to-day here at DC, I see a lot of amazing things cross my desk. Images, new titles, plot directions, you name it. But this essay is something special. It had me rooting for these characters in a whole new way. It’s that good.

But before we get there, let’s touch base with JMS about this news. Take it away, sir:

“For as long as I’ve been doing conventions (starting in the early Cretaceous period, when it was just me and a handful of pterosaurs on a panel debating whether or not mammals with opposable thumbs were really necessary to the writing of quality comics, a point still hotly debated today), there has always been the same question from folks in the audience: “Is there any one character who is your dream character to write for?” The answer has always been the same: Superman. When I first came over to DC, that dream was realized in part by Dan DiDio’s gracious invitation to write the first of potentially many Superman original graphic novels. Now the dream has come fully true with the opportunity to write for the mainstream title, in a story that returns Superman to his roots in a way that will have the whole country talking about him in ways that we haven’t seen in a long time.

Similarly, the chance to write Wonder Woman — the nearest analogue to Superman in the DCU — is massively exciting. She’s a vital, powerful character, and we hope to bring a more contemporary sensibility to her character will retaining everything that makes her unique.

That DC is willing to jump-start these two runs in the pages of their respective anniversary issues is a great opportunity and a vote of confidence in what we have planned for these characters. I’m looking forward to this with more excitement than words can convey.

It’s gonna be a blast.”

DC Universe: The Source » Blog Archive » SOURCE SPECIAL: GEOFF JOHNS TALKS THE FLASH, PART 2

Read the rest of the interview at the link below

DC Universe: The Source » Blog Archive » SOURCE SPECIAL: GEOFF JOHNS TALKS THE FLASH, PART 2

Friday, March 5th, 2010

By Alex Segura

Yesterday, we talked to THE FLASH writer Geoff Johns about Barry Allen, his Rogues and what it means to be a hero. But there’s more to cover, folks, so why stop there?

We’re happy to present the conclusion of our two-part chat with Geoff, where we talk about his amazing artistic collaborator Francis Manapul, what’s coming with the new series and the one page that’ll keep you guessing.

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