On January 4th, starting at 7:00p.m., Meltdown Comics will present an autograph signing with Shane Houghton and Matt Whitlock for the release of Charles M. Schulz Peanuts #1, published by Boom! Studios.

Happiness is a monthly comic book series, Charlie Brown! PEANUTS debuted at BOOM! Studios’ all-ages imprint KABOOM! this past spring with the first PEANUTS graphic novel HAPPINESS IS A WARM BLANKET, CHARLIE BROWN. Now, thanks to a partnership with Peanuts Worldwide, Snoopy and the gang are back in a monthly comic book series with issue #1 coming January 4th!With the special #0 issue in stores right now — offered for only a buck — issue #1 kicks off this ongoing series with new original stories seen for the first time alongside fan favorite classic PEANUTS SUNDAY strips.

The Peanuts autograph event will take place inLos Angeles at
Meltdown Comics
January 4th, 2011 from 7-9 P.M
7522 Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90046.

STAN LEE’S THE TRAVELER #1

6 PAGE PREVIEW!

WRITTEN BY IREDEEMABLE’S MARK WAID

ART BY AMAZING SPIDER-MAN’S CHAD HARDIN

About POW! Entertainment

(Purveyors of Wonder) Entertainment, Inc. (Pinksheets: POWN) An advanced media and entertainment company, POW! was founded by Stan Lee together with award winning producer Gill Champion and intellectual property attorney Arthur Lieberman, Esq. to create, produce and license original intellectual properties. POW! specializes in franchises for the entertainment industry, including animation and live-action feature films, plus television, DVDs, video games, merchandising and related ancillary markets, all of which contribute to global expansion.

About BOOM! Studios

BOOM! Studios (www.boom-studios.com) 2009 “Best Publisher” of the year, generates a wide-ranging catalog of multiple Eisner and Harvey Award-nominated comic books and graphic novels featuring some of the industry’s top talent, including Philip K. Dick’s DO ANDROIDS DREAM OF ELECTRIC SHEEP?, 20th Century Fox’s 28 DAYS LATER and DIE HARD, The Henson Company’s FARSCAPE, and the original Mark Waid series IRREDEEMABLE. This fall sees BOOM! teaming up with the legendary Stan Lee,creator of Marvel Comics’ characters Spider-Man, The Hulk, and The X-Men for a line of original superhero series, the legend’s first new superhero creations in nearly 20 years. BOOM!’s youth imprint, BOOM Kids!, is an undisputed industry leader publishing Disney/Pixar’s THE INCREDIBLES, CARS, and TOY STORY, as well as Disney’s THE MUPPETS, DONALD DUCK, UNCLE SCROOGE and WALT DISNEY’S COMICS AND STORIES. This year, BOOM! Studios celebrates its fifth anniversary.

And if you’re not getting your daily dose of Stan the Man, then I suggest you follow the “Generalissimo” on twitter at @TheRealStanLee as he brandishes his baton to bravely lead his bold brigadiers into battle against the likes of the evil Craig Ferguson.

“Excelsior!”

(There’s that exclamation thing again… I’m just sayin’…)

by: Jason Vaughn

You can also stalk me on twitter as well: @GoTodash.

Space… the final frontier… well, actually, for sci-fi comics, it’s more like the first, best, and only frontier. When I was a kid, outer space TV shows like “Buck Rogers” and “Star Trek” rocketed me light speed toward a geosynchronous orbit around syndicated fun and excitement. (Ok, “Star Trek” was due mostly to my dad’s “Ming the Merciless”-like despotic control over the remote control.  I grew up to be a “Star Wars” kid, go figure.)  Even though I’m referring to the reruns of the seventies and eighties, space cowboys and adventurers have been astonishing and scaring the crap out of the little kid in all of us since almost a decade before Superman ever lifted his first car on the cover of Action Comics.  So let’s take a look at two current books and one upcoming title with stories from a galaxy far, far away.

Star Wars: Rescues #3 – Dark Horse (On sale now!)

Like I said above, I’ve been a “Star Wars” fan ever since I can remember.  (However, the prequels did make me question the sanity of that devotion each time I left the theater.)  The horrendous Jar Jar movies aside, in recent years I’ve found myself running to the arms of a different pusher by the name of Dark Horse in order to acquire my “Star Wars” fix.  I thoroughly enjoyed “Knights of the Old Republic” and duly look forward to John Jackson Miller’s new title “Star Wars: Knight Errant.”  Let’s not forget “Dark Times” which has its moments as a character driven piece that follows ex-Jedi-in-hiding Dass Jennir as he copes with life in a galaxy ruled by the newly founded Empire.  Unlike these other titles, “Star Wars: Rescues” features the original crew of Luke Skywalker and company, although several years in the future.  In this part of the “Star Wars” timeline, Luke has rebuilt the Jedi with a small band of knights; Han and Leia have twins (Jaina and Jacen) who are also under Luke’s tutelage as future Jedi; and a new, yet strange threat with unusual technology is invading the fragile Republic from parts unknown, the Yuuzhan Vong.  Not having read the “New Jedi Order” books (I stopped right after the second Timothy Zahn trilogy), I’m thrilled Dark Horse decided to do this series.  My only issue is this - get on with it already!  “Rescues” suffers from the same fatal flaw “Legacy” did – it was ungodly slow for a sci-fi action comic. Granted, “Legacy” took some set up due to its placement in the time line, but “Rescues,” and “Invasion” before it, has no such excuse yet suffers from the same plod-along pacing.  We know the “sandbox” by now.  Enough with the set up and let’s actually get to a major beat point already.  There are plenty of books in this series, so I’m not sure I see the need in dragging out the story to the point where Ambien-like sleep kicks in while I’m reading it.  As a fan, I’m on board for a few more issues because I do think the use of the Vong as the antagonist is a surprising change from the stand-by, overly used “Sith,” and also in hopes they’ll pick up the pacing a bit.

MGM Drive-In: “It! The Terror From Beyond Space” #1- IDW (On sale now!)

This book is the first of three special series updating classic sci-fi flicks.  This new title by IDW harkens back to the days of midnight B movie marathons when you had to keep the volume low out of fear you’d wake up your parents.  You know the type, a flick that Tom Servo, Crow and Joel would’ve made fun of on MST3K.  The story begins with the hastily assembled crew of the Challenge 142 en route to Mars on a rescue mission where they discover that the one lone survivor of the Challenge 141 may have killed the rest of his crew for the remaining rations.  Or at least that’s the way it appears until the survivor reveals they’re not alone on the red planet.  I love the retro-pulp feel of this title.  For example, how the book refers to their technology as “atomic engines” and the nod and wink to old school 50’s Hollywood with members of the crew smoking in an oxygen enriched environment.  I guess no one told the Captain Kirk-lite that offering a cigarette to an alien just after sex might blow up his cabin.  This book is cheeky, smarmy, and just cheesy enough to be considered a guilty pleasure.

Farscape: Scorpius #4 – Boom (Drops this Wednesday!)

There’s a growing trend these days for popular TV and movie properties to find renewed life in the world of graphic novels and comic books long after they’ve left the screen. Obvious examples are “Buffy,” “The Green Hornet,” “Die Hard,” “Charmed,” “Blade Runner” (“Andriods…”), and “Farscape.”  “Farscape” was one of those shows that flew under my radar when it first debuted.  However, my introduction to this show is a day I’ll not likely ever forget.  In an effort not to make this column all morbid, I’ll just quickly say that if you ask someone from a previous generation where they were when JFK was shot, most would be able to tell you exactly the place, and could probably recall the following few days afterwards as well.  I had a similar experience on the day I first learned what a “translator microbe,” a “Luxan,” and a “Hynerian” were on September 12, 2001.  I vividly remember that day as I was walking to a friend’s house, thinking how odd it was not to see any con-trails in the sky from the neighboring airport.  Living in Atlanta at the time, which is close to one of, if not the, busiest airports in the world, it was an extremely unusual sight not to see a single plane in the sky.  After I arrived, my friend would soon put on a recorded episode of “Farscape” while looking at me in awe uttering “what, are you kidding me?  You haven’t seen it!?  This show is like ‘The Muppets’ on acid.”  From that day forward, I was on board with John Crighton, the ultimate fish out of water, and his desperate attempt to get home to Earth while trying to relate to these creatures he’s been forced to live with while on the run from the authorities.  If you were ever a fan of the show, I can tell you that you won’t be disappointed with this series.  Issue #4 in the “Farscape: Scorpius” prelude to “The War for the Uncharted Territories” is a great read.  The tone and feel of this arc is so reminiscent of the show, I feel like its Friday night and I’m watching TV when SyFy was still Sci-Fi (and didn’t have to steal their story ideas from hard-working filmmakers, but I digress… *cough* Drones! *cough*.) And it should have that sense of nostalgia since one of the writers is none other than series creator Rockne O’Bannon.  Along with fellow writer Alan Mack and art by Mike Ruiz, O’Bannon has managed to catch the heart of the series with a story following the twisted machinations of John Crichton’s arch nemesis Scorpius.  Up to his old tricks, Scorpius deceives, intimidates and manipulates his way into command of an invading armada from the “grey space” who have their sights set on destroying the Peacekeepers and setting up camp in “Scorpy’s” backyard.  For a prelude, this story has a smooth set-up and great jumping on point for any longtime fans who haven’t yet read the comics, or for the newbie who’s just dying to learn what “farbot” means.

Follow on twitter: Jason -@GoTodash

Along the way the Hammer reveals his secret origin and we tackle NEW AVENGERS #1, THE BOYS, THE WALKING DEAD, SECOND COMING, SPIDER-MAN: SHED & THE GRIM HUNT, STUCK RUBBER BABY, as well as JOKER’S ASYLUM: MAD HATTER.

Music: Cher – Life After Love & All That Remains – I’m Not Alone

1 Price, 1 Winner

If you complete the hunt you’ll get this fabulous price.
* Clive Barker’s Seduth signed by Clive Barker & Chris Monfette.
* Frenemy of the State signed by Rashida Jones, Christina Weir, Nunzio DeFilippis and Jeff Wamester.
* Lobo Highway to Hell #1, #2 Signed by Scott Ian.
* Tyrese Gibson’s Mayhem #1 signed & SDCC exclusive #1 signed by Tyrese Gibson and Mayhem Crew.
* BOOM! Studios Toy Story Comic #1. LMTD Meltdown Comics Cover. ONLY 500 made.

If you’re interested in taking a class at Meltdown University we offer two types: one is a series where you have the choice of writing and drawing an eight to ten-page minicomic or writing a twelve to fourteen-page comics script; the other is a basic drawing class where artists can come and learn the fundamentals to apply to any type of drawing or art.  Though it will touch on doing comics, that series is  more of a straight art class.  The next comics-making series starts on Monday, February 22 and the next Drawing Basics class will begin sometime in April and will meet on Saturdays. For information or to sign up, go here.

Irredeemable written by Mark Waid

December 10th, 2009 – Los Angeles, CA – It’s about that time again when holiday spirit takes over Meltdown Comics in the form of the BOOM! Studios Holiday Party!

Everyone and anyone is invited to our holiday event next Friday, December 18th, as we spread some merry cheer at Meltdown Comics.

Who: The BOOM! Crew. Mix and mingle with Mark Waid, Ross Richie, Michael Alan Nelson, Matt Gagnon and more!

When: Friday, December 18th, 8:00pm – till they kick us out!

Where: Meltdown Comics & Collectibles
7522 Sunset Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA, 90046

Why: FREE BEER while supplies last!

About BOOM! Studios
BOOM! Studios (www.boom-studios.com) is a unique publishing house specializing in high-profile projects across a wide variety of different genres from some of the industry’s biggest talents, including Philip K. Dick’s DO ANDROIDS DREAM OF ELECTRIC SHEEP?, The Henson Company’s FARSCAPE, and the original Mark Waid series IRREDEEMABLE. BOOM! recently launched its youth imprint, BOOM Kids!, with Pixar’s THE INCREDIBLES, CARS, and TOY STORY, as well as Disney’s THE MUPPETS, DONALD DUCK, UNCLE SCROOGE and WALT DISNEY’S COMICS AND STORIES. This year, BOOM! Studios celebrates its fourth anniversary.

Zombie Tales 2061 Premiere Release Party, 08.12.09, 8PM Tonight.

Sponsored by: Tibetan Tea, Asahi Beer and Pearl VODKA!

Oscar-Nominated Screenwriter KIM KRIZAN will be on hand to sign copies of her new comic ZOMBIE TALES 2061! Don’t forget, Kim will be happy to sign your copies of her films BEFORE SUNRISE & BEFORE SUNSET, too!

Come meet KIM KRIZAN, best known for writing the generation defining romance films BEFORE SUNRISE and BEFORE SUNSET. Krizan jumped into the horror genre with both feet, delivering a unique new vision of the zombie apocalypse for ZOMBIE TALES: THE SERIES #1. Critics and fans spotlighted Krizan’s freshman horror venture and clamored for a sequel. Krizan immediately expanded her Zombie universe into a triptych, which is finally collected in one easy reading volume with ZOMBIE TALES 2061.

ZOMBIE TALES 2061 features interior art by hot newcomer Jon Reed, with cover art by Patrick McEvoy.

To celebrate the release, KIM KRIZAN will be signing at MELTDOWN August 12th from 8PM to ????.

Libations to be provided by Asahi, Pearl Vodka and Tibetan Tea.

Where:
Meltdown Comics & Collectibles
7522 W Sunset Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90046
(323) 851-7283

When:
August 12th, 8PM to ????

Map: Google Maps

About BOOM! Studios
BOOM! Studios (www.boom-studios.com) is a unique publishing house specializing in high-profile projects across a wide variety of different genres from some of the industry’s biggest talents, including Philip K. Dick’s DO ANDROIDS DREAM OF ELECTRIC SHEEP?, The Henson Company’s FARSCAPE, and the original Mark Waid series IRREDEEMABLE. BOOM! recently launched its youth imprint, BOOM! Kids, with Pixar’s THE INCREDIBLES, CARS, and TOY STORY, as well as Disney’s THE MUPPETS. This year, BOOM! Studios celebrates its fourth anniversary.