This week, new Releases will be on THURSDAY due to the Thanksgiving Holiday.  Here’s some of the big releases:

–Batman #682: Starting the R.I.P. Aftermath.  Maybe in *this* issue that Black Glove will be revealed…

–Jonah Hex #28: One of the best books you’re not reading.  Always done-in-one, twilight zone-esque morality plays, never disappointing.  Give it a shot; you won’t be disappointed.

–Secret Invasion #8: The Big Finale.  Also on Thursday, Marvel will publish a special edition of Marvel Previews, (finally) giving us a glimpse of the next evolution of the Marvel Universe, Dark Reign…

–Haunted Tank #1: I got to read an advance copy of this, and was very impressed–Vertigo looks to be in very good hands during a changing of the guard.  As stalwarts like Y The Last Man and 100 Bullets end, we get exciting new series like Air, Scalped, Unknown Solider, and now this reimaging of the Haunted Tank.  The Ghost of Confederate Soldier Jeb Stuart is sent to guard an African-American Sgt. and his unit in Iraq (set before Baghdad fell)–and as you can imagine, complications arise…

Punisher MAX XMAS 2008 Special: Jason “Scalped” Aaron writes it, I’ll read it.

–The Sword #13: The Luna Bros. are my favorite new creators of the decade–fantastic action grounded with great characterization.  Pick up the vol 1. Sword TPB or the Ultra TPB and tell me I’m wrong…

Criminal vol 2 #7: The Finale of the “Bad Night” Storyline, and still as good as comics gets.

Daredevil by Frank Miller & Klaus Janson vol 2 TPB: This volume covers the meat of Frank Miller’s legendary Daredevil run, including maybe the greatest Superhero comic of all time, Daredevil #181.  Fantastic Work that should be in every collection.

The Spirit Vol1 TPB: My favorite DC Comic of the last few years (Yes, I like it more than All-Star Superman)–if someone’s curious about the Spirit because of the movie hype, buy them this affordable package.

See ya Wed–oops, make that THURSDAY!

Posted under Commentary, News

Both the Monday and Wednesday Meltdown U classes are moving forward, full speed ahead.  The Monday sessions are going to break for the holidays on December 8th.  Before that we’ll look at Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean’s brilliant graphic novel Signal to Noise that was reissued, thankfully, this year by Dark Horse.  To my mind it’s the best thing Gaiman has done though McKean collaborated a lot on the story which complicates who the actual “author” is.  The students are working on their minicomics and scripts and will use the break to finish up.  That class will meet once more on January 12th, 2009 where everyone will bring in their projects, feel the love from their colleagues, and bask in a sense of satisfaction at having completed something.  The new Monday class, which is the next one available to join, starts on January 19th.

The Wednesday class has finished learning story structure and are nailing down their stories.  This week we’ll get into visual storytelling and look at Comics and Sequential Art by Will Eisner to help us along.  That class will break on December 10th, and resume on January 14th.

ALSO — for students who finish either the Monday or Wednesday class, we’ll be starting an ongoing workshop on Fridays from 6:30 to 8:30pm for people who want to continue to work on their comics or comics writing.  To join this Friday group you’ll need to have completed the one of the 13-week classes since we’ll be referring back to the material from the class regularly in the workshop.

BTW — if you want something good and different to read try Whiteout by Greg Rucka and Steve Leiber, which I just finished.  It’s not new but it’s a really good read.  It’s a great crime story with a scrappy but realistic female US marshal as it’s lead with lots of other engaging characters.  It all takes place at various ice stations in Antarctica. 

That’s all for now.  Ciao, folks.

Posted under Educate, Meltdown_U, Reviews

I am always on the lookout for the perfect convention calendar site. This particular website is quite comprehensive as it includes cons outside of the United States. There is a message board where fans can organize meet ups, and the Add-A-Con section is dead easy to use.  They have links for professionals, a really coool gallery that is kept up to date,  and a shopping section.

http://www.comicbookconventions.com/conventions.htm

Posted under Uncategorized

Comic Related has a great interview with independent publisher Andy Winter which was done at Comicon 2008 in Dublin City, Ireland. I am all about the independents- I think they need to get more blog space, so I decided to feature Andy on the Meltdown blog.

Andy started Moonface Press in 2002. Since then, the majority of titles put out by the publishers have gone on to world wide acclaim, the most well known ones being Hero Killers and Devilchild.

Anywho, it is a great interview, so click on the link and enjoy!

http://www.comicrelated.com/display.php?item=200

Rebecca

Posted under Interviews

Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City this morning.  Keith Haring’s drawing, “Figure With Heart” was transformed into one of the famous balloons for this year’s parade. Haring was born in Reading, PA and died in 1990. He would have celebrated his 50th birthday this year.

Posted under Art

*Discounts cannot be combined with other ongoing promotions or discounts.

Posted under Get This!, News, Sale

Yep, he's drinkin'

Are you delighted by that Tony Millionaire fellow? Are you not sure who Tony Millionaire is but you like laughing? Head over to the Adult Swim website where you can watch the premier episode of the new Drinky Crow Show!

http://www.adultswim.com/video/?episodeID=8a2505951daaa7c7011dbc373d440131

If you want to be real slick, hit up the store for some of Tony Millionaire’s books.

Please be aware! This stuff isn’t for the kids!

Posted under Did you know?