October is horror month at iPulpFiction.com and Jeff Rice’s original Kolchak novels from Moonstone Books are the featured releases beginning October 1, 2012.
Before the X-Files, Carl KOLCHAK was TV’s first paranormal investigator, albeit a reluctant one. Kolchak is a dogged reporter who will seek the truth, no matter the cost. His “every man” qualities, as well as his wit and charm, keep us rooting for him every time.
Even though the 2013 PulpFest convention, held July 25 – 28, 2013 in Columbus, Ohio, is still ten months away, the convention organizers have shared some of their plans for the event. First up, the convention plans to celebrate the hero pulp revolution, which began 80 years ago in 1933, with the debuts of such popular figures as Doc Savage, The Spider, Nick Carter, Pete Rice, The Lone Eagle, The Phantom Detective, and G-8 and His Battle Aces. 2013 is also the centennial of Sax Rohmer’s Dr. Fu Manchu, who made his American debut in a February 1913 issue of Collier’s Magazine.
The Earth Station One podcast straps real life crime fighter and New Pulp Author Paul Bishop into The Geek Seat and talk about the Fight Card series of pulp novels.
The ESO crew also travels back to Neutral Territory as we complete our look at the groundbreaking television series, Babylon 5 with special guests Josh Wilson and New Pulp Author Van Allen Plexico. It was the dawn of the third age of mankind and the beginning of a new era of television. Join the ESO crew for an in-depth discussion of the last of the Babylon stations. The year is 2012. The place: Earth Station One. Also, get the lowdown on the upcoming Nashville Comic and Horror Convention from convention promoter, Marc Ballard.
New York, N.Y. (September 25, 2012) –Captain Action Enterprises is proud to announce a New York Comic Con convention-only offer: fans and collectors receive free comics with every Captain Action toy purchase. These comics include comics showcasing characters featured in the toy sets, including Spider-Man, Captain America, Hawkeye, Thor, Loki, and Captain Action.
And the first 66 customers will receive special autographed comics. These comics are signed by top creators including Walt Simonson, Roger Stern, Beau Smith, Sean Chen, Mark Wheatley and more.
“New York Comic Con and ReedPop have been very good to us, and this is one small way of giving back,” said Ed Catto, Retropreneur and co-founder of Captain Action Enterprises.
Additionally, the Captain Action booth will be giving away stress ball “brains” to celebrate the return of Captain Action’s arch-foe, Dr. Evil. As an insidious alien, Dr. Evil’s striking countenance is topped off by his creepy exposed brain. Available while supplies last, these Brains will be given away to all fans and no purchase is necessary.
“This will be a busy year for us at NYCC”, said Joe Ahearn, co-founder of Captain Action Enterprises. “We’ll be debuting our second wave of Toys featuring Dr. Evil, Thor and Loki and our new merchandise from Titan. We’ll also have the legendary Walt Simonson and pulp author Jim Beard on hand to autograph copies. Oh, and we have a panel and a big announcement too!”
Captain Action is based on the action figure created in 1966 by Stan Weston for Ideal Toys and sold internationally. The hero came equipped with a wardrobe of costumes allowing him to become many different heroes such as Batman, The Lone Ranger, the Green Hornet and many more. In 1967, Captain Action proved so popular that the line was expanded to include a sidekick, Action Boy and a blue skinned alien foe with bug eyes, the nefarious Dr. Evil. The following year, DC Comics licensed the character from Ideal and published five issues of Captain Action featuring industry luminaries such as Jim Shooter, Wally Wood and Gil Kane.
The line has experienced as strong resurgence, complete with an all-new toy line that debuted earlier this year.
“For our gift-with-purchase, we’re offering the best recent comics as well as vintage treasures. Some gems include vintage Kirby Thors and a Romita Captain America, guest-starring Spider-Man. We even have a few Wally Wood issues in there. It’s our hope that we’ll reward collectors and provide a unique gift to younger fans, “ said Catto.
Captain Action is at booth #3136. The New York Comic Con is held at the Javits Center in New York City, from October 11 – 14, 2012.
Like many papers, Seattle’s weekly — I think I’m supposed to say “alternative weekly,” though there’s no established industry of stodgy weeklies for those alt-weeklies to be the alternative to — The Stranger has personal ads, in which its lovelorn or just horny readers try to find each other for mutually beneficial activities. Unlike other papers, though, The Stranger has Ellen Forney (cartoonist and teacher of cartooning, author of Monkey Food, which I just realized I read and reviewed a couple of years back) illustrating one of those ads — from the LustLab section, where strangers anatomize in explicit detail their sexual needs and wants to find just the perfect kinky partner — every week.
Lust collects a whole bunch of those ads, along with five interviews that Forney did with some ad-writers. And I will warn you: a number of the ads and folks in here are certainly kinkier than you are, no matter how kinky you are — kink isn’t a linear spectrum, and there are folks here off in various directions, seeking their very particular nirvana. Assuming you can handle the idea of other people having sex in ways you don’t think you would enjoy, Lust is cute and fun — each of Forney’s illustrations is like a little advertisement or calling card (like those cards that used to paper London) for that person’s desires, with a clean, illustrative style that varies a lot for the different pieces.
It’s going to be a whirlwind 24 hours for Ariel Winter.
Sunday night, the young actress was on stage at the Emmy Awards along with her cast of Modern Family to clam the prize for Outstanding Comedy Series, and tonight she’ll be walking the red carpet at the premiere of her new animated film, Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Part 1.
Winter gives voice to the first female Robin, Frank Miller’s stroke of genius for his landmark comic book story. She’ll join co-stars Peter Weller and David Selby on the red carpet at the Paley Center in Los Angeles tonight, September 24, for the West Coast premiere of Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Part 1. Also on hand will be a quartet of filmmakers: executive producer Bruce Timm, director Jay Oliva, writer Bob Goodman and dialogue director Andrea Romano. The event is completely sold out.
Now in her fourth season as Alex Dunphy on Modern Family, Winter has already carved out quite a career in her brief 14 years. On the big screen, Winter has been seen in films as varied as One Missed Called, Speed Racer, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang and A Thousand Words. Anchored by a recurring role as Lucy Moore on ER, Winter’s television career includes guest roles on Criminal Minds, Nip/Tuck, Monk, Jericho, Bones, Crossing Jordan and The Ghost Whisperer.
Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Part 1 represents Winter’s second foray into animated DCU entertainment. Winter provided the voice of the savvy 10-year-old Princess Perdita of Vlatava, whom Oliver Queen races to protect in the DC Universe Animated Original Short, Green Arrow. She reprised the role for an episode of Young Justice. She has been particularly active in animation, providing voices for films such as ParaNorman, Ice Age: the Meltdown, Over the Hedge and Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs, and TV series like Phineas and Ferb and The Penguins of Madagascar.
In many ways, Winter is a spunky teenager with equal amounts of smarts and sass. She is honest at every turn. So you know her answers were fun when we sat down to discuss Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Part 1 …
QUESTION: Imagining many of your fans are experiencing Batman: The Dark Knight Returns for the first time, describe your character Carrie Kelly’s place in the story.
ARIEL WINTER: Carrie is sort of a street kind of gangster girl who lives in this shady part of Gotham City. She’s always dreamed to meet her hero, Batman. One day she’s walking with her friend Michelle, and they get mugged by the Mutants – but Batman saves her. So she then sets out to be Batman’s partner in crime, er, crime-fighting. And eventually, she succeeds and becomes Robin.
QUESTION: How do you see Carrie’s sense of Batman?
WINTER: I think Carrie feels super ecstatic when Batman includes her in his little facade of Batman and Robin. She feels so honored – it’s a really big deal for her. I think she’s not really not just a crime fighter, though – she’s kind of like his daughter. She really cares for him, and he really cares for her. They’re like family.
QUESTION: Are there similarities between Ariel Winter and Carrie Kelly, and how did that help/hinder getting into character?
WINTER: Carrie and I share a lot of characteristics. We both like crime fighting. We both like Batman. We would both blow off school for crime fighting. (giggles) Actually, no, I would do my school during the day and then crime fight at night.
It wasn’t really hard getting into Carrie’s mindset because I’ve always wanted to play the sort of Tomb Raider, Kick-Ass role where the girl is really the brains behind the power. So I was excited when I got to do it. I just devoured the script. I was surprised. It was pretty violent. I read it and I saw some of the things and I was like, “Woah! That is so cool.” I’m a big fan of that action, thriller sort of thing, so it was exciting for me to read.
QUESTION: How important to you is being the first female Robin?
WINTER: It’s really cool to be the first female animated Robin. There’s been so many amazing boys, but I think I can just bring something new that the fans have never experienced. So I’m really honored to be part of such a fantastic project.
Female empowerment really is important to me. I’m a big nerd of the books from the 15th Century and 16th Century, when the men had all the power and the women had none of it. So to have Robin be a girl is cool because it gives girls a chance to know that they can do everything boys can do, and even better. No offense (laughs), but it’s true.
QUESTION: Are you into comic books?
WINTER: I’m an avid reader, so anything I can read is awesome. I go into comics stores and I can be in there for hours. It’s truly amazing when you open a comic book, because you’re immediately sucked in from the first line. The writing, the graphics, the artwork – it makes you feel like you’re inside the story.
QUESTION: You’re 14 and acting all the time. How do you balance acting with education?
WINTER: You have to be really smart to be an actor. It’s not just saying lines. You have to know the thoughts behind each line, to know what you’re saying. So I think it’s very important to get an education. And I won’t be going to college for acting or film school – I will probably go to college for medical research because it’s something that really interests me. I always tell kids that you’ve got to have something else to fall back on. Acting is my first love – I hope I can do it for the rest of my life. But I’m going to go to college and get a degree in something else. I really feel school is important.
Y’know what goes great with easy fundraising? Pie!
On September 1, Ralphs grocery stores wipes the slate clean on their “Community Contribution” program, and we need to build back from Square One!
The Ralphs Rewards card is your standard grocery store “club card” that gets you discounts and whatnot. But you can ALSO register it with a Ralphs-approved charity, and EVERY time you shop and use the card, Ralphs will kick in a small percentage to the charity of your choice. It costs you, the consumer, NOTHING. It’s just Ralphs kicking in a couple bucks to good causes.
And yes, The Hero Initiative is one of those Ralphs-approved charities, and yes, we need YOU to re-register your card for Hero, which is easy as pie (tho’ not quite as tasty):
1) Sign in to Ralphs.com with your email and password
1a) If you have not created an account, create one now! Takes about 60 seconds!
2) Click on “Ralphs Rewards” in the upper right corner
3) Click on “Community Contribution.” It’s in the left-side menu under “My Ralphs”
3a) Hit “enroll” at the bottom.
4) Now enroll! When signing up, our NPO # (non-profit organization #) is: 80680, and we’re under our corporate name, “A Commitment To Our Roots.” Don’t let it throw ya!
4a) Click “Save Changes” at bottom
5) Now go get a pie.
Seriously, folks, if you do this once, we get a few nickels every time you shop, and multiplied by a San Diego Comic-Con full of people, it’s the best, easiest way we’ve found to raise funds. Totally painless. And hot dammit, you need bologna and Q-Tips anyway!
This applies to Ralphs, Foods Co. and Food 4 Less stores in Southern California, Nevada, Illinois, and Indiana. So if you’re in those necks of those woods, hop to it. I thank you kindly.
AND if you’re in Los Angeles, check out Golden Apple Comics on Wednesday, Sep. 26 from 6-9 PM! We’ll be signing people up for Ralphs on the spot, and if you sign up your card, you’ll get a FREE limited edition Happy! print autographed by BOTH Grant Morrison and Darick Robertson as Darick is in attendance for the release of Image Comics’ Happy #1!
In 1972, Wonder Woman famously graced the cover of the inaugural issue of Ms. magazine. The iconic image, with the proclamation “Wonder Woman for President” going across the top, instantly became popular both with fans of the character and the new publication. Now, in celebration of its 40th anniversary, Ms. has once again chosen to have Wonder Woman be featured on its cover, with an image created by Mike and Laura Allred. Check out the full image, along with the previous three Ms. covers to feature the Amazonian princess, after the cut. (more…)
If you purchased “Marvel’s The Avengers” on Blu-ray this week, look for the Action Code included with your disc, and head to AvengersOfferAssemble.com for instructions on how to claim this poster by Matthew Ferguson. Also, if one poster isn’t enough, you’ll have the opportunity to purchase three more posters for $19.99, plus shipping and processing.
Personally, of the three they’re offering, I like this one the most: