Click on the links for info and ticket purchasing.
Tickets also available at the door on event dates.

** follow Jenny on twitter **

** follow Ed Salazar on twitter and tumbler **

** stalk Jenny on facebook (but not in person, please) **

** see Jenny dance **

** follow Jenny on twitter **

** stalk Jenny on facebook (but not in person, please) **

** see Jenny dance **

** follow Jenny on twitter **

** stalk Jenny on facebook (but not in person, please) **

** see Jenny dance **

TONIGHT! KEVIN EASTMAN, DRINK AND DRAW SOCIAL CLUB,
KATIE COLE AND YOU!

Live HEAVY METAL DRINK AND DRAW on December 21st featuring KEVIN EASTMAN, DAN PANOSIAN, JEFF JOHNSON, DIGGER T MESCH, SNAKEBITE, TONE RODRIQUEZ and many more !

$10 and a six pack gets you an entry ticket, a Kevin Eastman hard cover book, be enrolled in a raffle to receive over $900 in HEAVY METAL hardcovers and an amazing gift bag from our sponsors. Join us at Meltdown to create, network or observe masters at work.

LOST ANGELES:35 DAYS WITH KEVIN EASTMAN

For 35 days, KEVIN EASTMAN takes over MELTDOWN COMICS NEW GALLERY exhibition space where he will curate FIVE DIFFERENT SHOWS, putting forward some of his most exciting past, present and future creations and collaborations!

Located at 7522 West Sunset Boulevard, Los Angeles, the Meltdown Comics Gallery will be open daily for visitors, and will feature special events at least twice weekly, including an all-new ART EXHIBIT opening every NEW COMIC DAY, WEDNESDAY from 6PM to 10PM!

Over the five-week celebration, fans, NEW and OLD, will get the chance to come hang out with Kevin, check out the latest art show and discuss projects, concepts and future plans for everything he’s working on from the new IDW Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle comic series to the 2012 35th BIRTHDAY OF HEAVY METAL MAGAZINE!

By Jason Vaughn

As we lead up to our “35 Days with Kevin Eastman” event (Nov. 30^th-Jan. 4^th), it seems only right that we take some time to spotlight the next generation of independent creators out there who are following in the footsteps of such greats as Kevin, Peter Laird, Jeff Smith, Dave Sim, Eric Powell, Bryan Lee O’Malley and others. Two upcoming indie creators, Kyle Winters and Mike Andersen from Grass Valley, California are on the verge of a “big hit” and have “taken aim” (OK, I’ll stop with the puns) at the “big three” with their self-published title “Trigger Men.” Given the growing popularity of digital comics, it’s refreshing to see new creators with the courage to publish their own books in a market dominated by force-fed multiple Wolverine and Batman titles. Produced and published out of their shingle Triptych Books, Winters and Andersen (with the help of another future superstar, artist Heather Brinesh) have crafted a dark comedic bromance of a story. The plot revolves around the misadventures of two guys, friends since childhood who grew up to be contract killers in high school.  Now, adults who’ve gone their separate ways, they come together for what they believe will be one final job.  Think “Grosse Point Blank” meets “Justified.” I had the opportunity to talk to Mike and Kyle about “Trigger Men”, Triptych books, and what’s coming around the corner in the near future for both.

Guys, thanks for taking the time to answer a few questions. I’m digging the story of “Trigger Men” and not just because I’m a narcissist and there’s a lead named Jason in it.

M: We’ll take that.

Also, I was an assassin for hire at one point as well.

(Laughs)

I like the bromance between Matt and Jason you guys have come up with, it’s a lot of fun. Let’s start out with an easy one. What kind of comics were you guys in to growing up and what do you currently read?

M: “I’m really big in to indie comics in general, which is actually kind of a big motivation for us to create comics. We would go to conventions and only be able to find the first few issues of a run. It’s hard trying to find indie comics because a lot of them ended very early. The one I’m really enjoying now is “The Walking Dead.”

K: “I grew up with ‘Spiderman,’ that was a very integral part of my childhood. A lot of ‘Spiderman,’ some ‘Batman’ titles, comics that a traditional reader would pick up when they’re young. Then I basically got out of reading comics from about seventh grade through high school. Right after high school, we all started going to the San Diego Comic Con and that kind of got me back into comics. At that point, I found myself more interested in the independent stuff, the creator owned comics. Right now the things I’ve been into actually are more journalistic comics.”

M: “I’m also a huge fan of “The Tick.”

Spoon! (The Tick’s battle cry, I’d explain but it’d take too long. Hit Meltdown and grab a trade instead.)

(Laughs)

M: “We actually picked up like a five hundred page collection of ‘The Tick’ when we were down at the Long Beach Comic Con.”

Nice, I was a fan of the animated series. So, what was your inspiration for “Trigger Men?”

M: “I think it was an idea that the genesis stemmed from the fact that I like hit men, assassin based stories. But frequently the stories don’t go where I want them to go, and this particular story I like because it’s more personal. “

K: “More realistic I think.”

M: “Exactly, so I think it was more that I wanted to write not just in the genre, but the way I wanted to read the genre.”

When did you guys start collaborating together?

K: “We met in a high school creative writing class and we were the only ones in the class not writing ‘boy meets girl, girl meets boy, they break up, they get back together again and fall in love forever’ stories. Our stuff was a little dark, but that’s high school. From that we became friends, and within six months of knowing each other, we knew that we wanted to write something together. For five years we’ve been working on what we wanted to do and created our own company, Triptych Books. Finally in the last two years things have started to move forward, and a little over a year ago we debuted with ‘Trigger Men.’”

So tell me, which of you was bullied so bad in high school that you wanted to kill the jerk? (Read the book.)

(Laughs)

K: “I never had issues with bullying in high school. In our high school, everyone was big enough and pretty well accepted. In my school, the nerds were in charge.”

M: “I saw a bit of bullying, but I was never personally bullied. It was something that I felt  was definitely there, that type of favoritism, and I think that was something I wanted to use in the series because it’s very relatable to a lot of people. Plus it’s always fun to watch an @$$h*le get his comeupins. It’s a good plot point in the story, because you can have a character do something that is objectively bad and still find yourself rooting for them.”

Right, it’s a great engine for the first arc. What made you guys decide to publish your own title instead of going the much cheaper digital comic route?

K: “We really liked the idea of trying to attack the whole thing professionally. One thing we noticed with a lot of indie comics when we were going to conventions and kind of learning about what the comic world really was is that their presentation was one of the things holding them back. They weren’t thinking about this as trying to future prove it, they weren’t thinking about it as a business.  We wanted to do something for the long run. Our goal is to create a publishing company that not only creates a large body of work but good work, but the editorial meddling isn’t there. One thing about going to a bigger publisher, which we kind of toyed with after we started poking around a little bit, is that after they promise to make it, you get, ‘We love Matt and Jason, but what if there was a talking dog? And instead of them being hitmen maybe they could be cops. One of them is a cop and the other is a police dog.”

Welcome to Hollywood.

K: “Exactly, and we didn’t want that so we kind of felt like we could make a better product if we did it professionally, of high quality, and under our own guidance.”

I hear you guys were approached to potentially develop for television. How did that come about?

K: “The rep from the production company was going to her husband’s panel at Wonder Con and we were the first booth she saw as she was walking across the floor. She saw our book, picked it up, and a few months later called us and basically said ‘we really like this, we’re really interested.’ It was basically just a really happy accident. One thing though that’s kind of been interesting, before we were approached to pitch, Mike and I would go to a panel at these conventions called ‘Hollywood Horror Stories.’ The whole thing is these comic creators talking about their horrible experiences in Hollywood. So, when we got our first call, we were initially worried about becoming like the guys at those panels in a couple of years, but we’ve had nothing but positive interactions with them. ”

M: “We’re incredibly lucky. We send them material and apparently everyone in the office eats it up. We’re told every time they get ‘Trigger Men’ in, every copy is quickly snatched up. It’s a pretty gratifying feeling.”

Can you share some of that luck this way?

(Laughs)

K: “You know, that’s kind of one of our guiding principles, that ‘we all succeed when we all do better.’ The comics world needs more diversity, and it needs more people to succeed, not just the big three. Now don’t get me wrong I love ‘Spiderman,’ I love ‘Green Lantern,’ but I really think the industry needs more people like all the other creators out there who are trying to show their own work, trying to do something different. So we try to get books out whenever we can.”

What’s in store for the future of Triptych Books Publishing? Are there any other titles in the works?

K: “Mike is the main creative force on “Trigger Men” as the writer, and I do the production side of it, help with ideas, edit, I think they call it ‘touch-up’ in Hollywood. I’m also writing a couple of series that are currently under production. Mike has a few other things that are going on. We also have a friend of ours who is an absolutely fantastic writer; she’s working on a series for us. So we have a number of projects that are currently in different levels of production. We’re hoping that soon enough these series will start coming down the pipeline. We’re going to start expanding out. ‘Trigger Men’ is our first pillar in what we hope is going to be a foundation of awesome comics.”

What type of genres are you looking to publish? Or is it just anything goes as long as it’s good storytelling?

K: “We really want to go the wide spectrum, but we also do like to write in a certain area. We both really enjoy stories that have a fair amount of action in them, so a lot of our projects have leaned toward the action genre. We’ve got everything from scifi to supernatural to very, very dark humor coming out. We want to balance things accordingly, but eventually end up with a wide spectrum of books.”

M: “I’d say the only real strong trend to our stuff is that it leans towards older readers. A lot of it tends to be for a more mature audience.”

K: “Like sixteen and up.”

M: “Yeah, but other than that, the three main books I’m working on right now are ‘Trigger Men,’ a goofier comedy, and a much more serious and somber story. We’re really trying to hit as many notes as we can.”

K: “It helps us, I think, to market our company also by saying that we don’t want to be just an indie publisher. Our interest is in well told stories.”

The famed American novelist and screenwriter Raymond Chandler once said, “A good story cannot be devised; it has to be distilled.” Well, whatever the guys at Triptych Books have brewing up next, count me in. And if you would like to drink the kool-aid as well, click on the link to their website below and pick up a copy of “Trigger Men.”

www.triptychbooks.com

Go ahead and follow me on Twitter: @GoTodash

MORE DETAILS TO COME

Monday, 8PM

Tickets -> The Apple Sisters: Ghouls Night Out 10/24/2011

From their hit podcast on Earwolf to live on the stage in Spookywood, CA, it’s The Apple Sisters—Candy, Cora, and Seedy! The award winning, musical comedy trio set in 1943, The Apple Sisters present their Halloween spook-tacular GHOULS NIGHT OUT!
24 Oct 2011 08:00 PM

Tuesday, 6PM

KEY OF Z, co-written by Sanchez and Chondra Echert, introduces Nick Ewing, a man left to survive in a post-zombie-apocalyptic New York City while seeking revenge on those responsible for the death of his family – the warring gangs residing in The Big Apple’s most illustrious athletic houses.
Claudio Sanchez
Signing Key of Z
ONE NIGHT ONLY!
Oct. 25^th, 2011 – 6pm
Meltdown Comics
7522 Sunset Blvd. LA, CA 90046
FREE EVENT

Tuesday, 8PM

Tickets -> Star Dreck 10/25/2011

Kumail Nanjiani and Matt Mira are huge Trekkies, but even they have to admit that some of them just don’t hold up. Join them as they introduce you to some of the worst Star Trek episodes in existence.
$8 in advance, $10 at the door
25 Oct 2011 08:00 PM

Wednesday, 7PM

THE VAULT autograph event will take place in Los Angeles at Meltdown Comics on October 26th, 2011 from 7-9 P.M. at 7522 Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90046. For more information, please call (323) 851-7223
FREE EVENT

Wednesday, 8:30PM

Tickets -> The Meltdown with Jonah and Kumail’s Anniversary Show! 10/26/2011

The Meltdown with Jonah and Kumail’s Anniversary Show!
26 Oct 2011 08:30 PM

Thursday, 5PM

DnD Game Day

Walk-ins are welcome however it does help us know how many DMs we need if you do RSVP. You can RSVP up to the moment we start gaming by emailing me at DnD@meltcomics.com. Also join our meetup group for a speedier RSVP: meetup.com/DnDMelt

Thursday, 8PM

Tickets -> RISK! Storytelling Show 10/27/2011

RISK! is the show where people tell true stories they never thought they’d dare to share in public– stories they’d normally only tell to close friends. At the RISK! Live shows, the brightest stars of TV, film and literature drop their usual act and show a side of themselves you’ve never seen before. RISK! Live in LA is hosted by comedians Kumail Nanjiani and Pete Holmes.
27 Oct 2011 08:00 PM

Saturday, 5PM

Tickets -> The Nerdist Writers Panel 10/30/2011

Spend your Sunday afternoons learning from the best at the Nerdist Writing Panel!
30 Oct 2011 05:00 PM

Sunday, 11AM-6PM

DnD Game Day

 Sundays 11am-6pm 
Three different gaming times on Sunday: 11-6, 11-4 & 2-6

Walk-ins are welcome however it does help us know how many DMs we need if you do RSVP. You can RSVP up to the moment we start gaming by emailing me at DnD@meltcomics.com. Also join our meetup group for a speedier RSVP: meetup.com/DnDMelt

Sunday, 7PM

Matt Mira’s Day Off
A place for comics to work on new material with The Nerdist’s own Matt Mira.
FREE

]]> http://www.meltcomics.com/blog/2011/10/24/this-week-1024-1030-at-nerdmelt-theater-and-meltdowncomics/feed/ 0 http://www.meltcomics.com/blog/2011/09/10/possibility-that-your-brain-is-going-to-melt-meltdowncomics-teen-titans-exclusive-trailer/ http://www.meltcomics.com/blog/2011/09/10/possibility-that-your-brain-is-going-to-melt-meltdowncomics-teen-titans-exclusive-trailer/#comments Sat, 10 Sep 2011 20:54:39 +0000 G D-L http://www.meltcomics.com/blog/?p=17257 CAUTION!  There is a very real possibility that YOUR BRAIN IS GOING TO MELT upon seeing this EXCLUSIVE TRAILER! Of all the titles in the DCNu, TEEN TITANS is the series that is the most radical departure from the series we’ve seen!   Yeah, we all wish it was three weeks later and we have [...]]]>

CAUTION!  There is a very real possibility that YOUR BRAIN IS GOING TO MELT upon seeing this EXCLUSIVE TRAILER!

Of all the titles in the DCNu, TEEN TITANS is the series that is the most radical departure from the series we’ve seen!   Yeah, we all wish it was three weeks later and we have a copy of the first issue in our hands… but for now will have to make due with the premiere of this pulse-pounding trailer!

Buy all your DC Comics New 52 and any of the other great comics coming out these days from our OWN EXCLUSIVE DIGITAL COMICS DOWNLOAD SITE:

by Jason Vaughn

Long before the world was forced to choose between camp Edward and camp Jacob in Twilight, and well before Sookie became the never ending damsel in distress on True Blood, the genre world got its fix of horror/romance by the queen of all things supernatural, Anne Rice. Now longtime fans of Rice have a new reason to be excited with the release of IDW’s latest limited series, Servant of the Bones. Thanks to my sister, I grew up a big fan of Rice’s Vampire Lestat series. This eventually led to me reading her other books outside of the series such as Servant of the Bones, a dark tale of the demon Azriel who’s hunting down a murderer in New York City. (A murderer in NYC, go figure.)

IDW describes the comic version of the story as a “six-part tale of murder, demonic revenge, and the redemptive power of faith.” The series is written, of course, by Anne Rice, the multiple New York Times Bestselling author of Interview with the Vampire, The Vampire Lestat, and Queen of the Damned, with art by the New York Times Best-selling team of The Last Unicorn, Renae DeLiz and Ray Dillion. And if that isn’t enough, there’s a little extra nugget of goodiness for all the die-hard fans in the form of a new essay by Rice at the end of this first issue. For first time readers of Anne Rice’s work this issue is an excellent jumping on point, and for those of you familiar with the book the adaptation is as close to the original source material as one can possibly get. I could go on for days about how brilliant the art is or how DeLiz and Dillon go out of their way to perfectly set the tone of the story, but just go out and get a copy and see for yourself. Servant of the Bones hits the shelves this Wednesday the 17^th, so don’t forget to log on to Comixology and add a copy to your pull list or you just might miss out on the first issue of what is sure to be IDW’s latest hit, and that would suck. (Get it, “suck”? Come on, we’ve been talking about vampires! Ah, never mind.)

Go ahead and follow me on Twitter: @GoTodash