ComicMix

Garyn G. Roberts Awarded 2013 Munsey Award at Pulpfest

News
July 27, 2013

All Pulp congratulates Garyn G. Roberts on winning the 2013 Munsey Award, presented at the 2013 PulpFest convention.

Press Release:

Garyn G. Roberts has been named the winner of the 2013 Munsey Award. Nominated by the general pulp community, Garyn was selected through a vote by all the living Lamont, Munsey, and Rusty Award winners. The award is a fine art print by Dan Zimmer of a painting by David Saunders and is presented annually to a person who has worked for the betterment of the pulp community.

Garyn has worked in the field of higher education for many years, teaching English and popular culture studies. He is also an unabashed fan of the pulps. Garyn has written extensively about the pulps, both professionally and as a fan. He has edited or co-edited some of the best collections from the pulps including A Cent a Story: The Best from Ten Detective Aces, More Tales of the Defective Detective in the Pulps, The Compleat Adventures of the Moon Man, The Magical Mysteries of Don Diavolo, and The Compleat Great Merlini Saga. His insightful essays in these books and elsewhere have led to a greater understanding of the pulps both inside and outside of the pulp community. His collection, The Prentice Hall Anthology of Science Fiction and Fantasy, a college level textbook, is notable for the attention paid to the pulp magazines. Additionally, Garyn has helped other researchers with various pulp-related projects and is a regular attendee of pulp conventions where he often serves as a presenter and panelist. Last year’s Munsey Award winner, Matt Moring, publisher of Altus Press, recently said about Garyn: “He’s been nothing but helpful and outgoing with anything I’ve ever asked of him.” That pretty much describes how Professor Roberts reacts to all the requests made of him by the pulp community.

Other nominees for this year’s award included Charles Ardai, J. Randolph Cox, Stephen T. Miller, Laurie Powers, J. Barry Traylor, George Vanderburgh, Dan Zimmer, William G. Contento, Chris Kalb, Phil Stephensen-Payne, Celina Summers, and Howard Wright. John DeWalt also received votes.

Nominations are now being accepted for the 2014 Munsey and/or Rusty Awards. If you have someone in mind that you feel worthy of either award, please send the person’s name and a brief paragraph describing why you feel that person should be honored to Mike Chomko, 2217 W. Fairview Street, Allentown, PA 18104-6542 or to mike@pulpfest.com. Previous winners of the Lamont, Munsey, or Rusty Award are not eligible for the award. The deadline for nominations is May 31, 2014. Please visit the Awards page of the PulpFest website for additional details. Thanks for your help.

Doctor Who 50th anniversary special to be simulcast globally

News
July 27, 2013

Initially reported by UK tabloid The Sun and quickly verified by the BBC, the 50th anniversary special episode of Doctor Who will be broadcast simultaneously across the world, touted as the largest simulcast of a drama ever.

The special has been sold to approximately 200 countries, so the amount of timing and cooperation required will be quite high. Sources say the move was done to eliminate any chance of spoilers for people in countries who traditionally receive the episodes after the initial broadcast in the UK.

This would put the broadcast spread across four hours of the early afternoon (depending on time zone) in the United States, and in the early hours of the 24th of November on the far side of the world like Australia and New Zealand.

The special will be broadcast in both 2D and 3D. Complete details have not been released on which version will be broadcast in which markets. The special features the return of David Tennant and Billie Piper as The Doctor and Rose Tyler, as well as classic villains The Daleks and Zygons. At San Diego Comic-Con, showrunner Steven Moffat claims he’s been “lying through his teeth” about what and who is in the episode, resulting in the resurgence of rumors of other unreported cameos, including Paul McGann as the Eighth Doctor, making only one on-screen appearance, in the Fox-produced TV movie.

When the 20th anniversary episode The Five Doctors was produced in 1983, it did not receive a similarly-coordinated release. Indeed, American fans got to see the special BEFORE the UK. The network of public television stations who were broadcasting the series got permission to show the special on November 23 exactly, which was a Wednesday. The BBC didn’t show it in the UK till that Saturday, the traditional day of broadcast for the series in England. By a wonderful coincidence, November 23rd falls on Saturday this year, allowing the anniversary to take place on the day it originally aired with no schedule-juggling.

This plan is not only a huge PR coup for the BBC, it’s also a wonderful example of life imitating art. In Last of the Time Lords, Martha Jones walked the Earth for nearly a year, spreading the tale of The Doctor, in preparation for everyone on the planet to think about him and chant his name at a precise day and moment, the resulting wave of psychic energy intended to give the Time Lord the power to undo the actions of The Master and save the day. With the BBC setting up to do the very same thing, one can only wonder what the real-world wave of power might do.

Personally, I’m hoping it’ll provide the power to jump-start the working TARDIS that the BBC Radiophonics Workshop has secretly been working on for years.

Looks Like Paul McGann Has Filmed A New Doctor Who Something… But What?(bleedingcool.com)
Dr Who special aired worldwide at exactly same time(thesun.co.uk)

Saturday Morning Cartoons: A Loki Morning

Uncategorized
July 27, 2013

Leigh Lahav wonders what all the fuss was at San Diego about Tom Hiddleston showing up…

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8FwQD73OaEI[/youtube]

And if you’re wondering what all the fuss was about yourself, here’s what happened:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=toPstPIcGnI[/youtube]

He has an army…

Marc Alan Fishman: Crunch Time

Columns
July 27, 2013

Here I sat, with my blank screen yelling profanity at me for not knowing what to bitch about this week. And like every piss-poor English student in high school, I’m opting to begin this week’s column with a “when I didn’t know what to write…” introduction. Well… When I didn’t know what to discuss this week – be it a lamenting on the newly announced Superman-Batman movie, going over both my desire and fear to attend SDCC, or finding another excuse to discuss why I’m seriously considering purchasing the Summer Slam Pay Per View E I opted instead to use a timely fallback. What’s on my art table right now?

Well, after learning that having a toddler running around in one’s life makes working on a comic less than easy, Unshaven Comics is finally rounding the bend on producing our next comic. The Samurnauts: Curse of the Dreadnuts #2 will end up encompassing about 200 man hours when it finally reaches a printer. As it stand as of this writing, we are amidst final coloring (on my half), final inking (on Matt’s half), and prepping to create the cover. In simpler terms? We’re screwed like non-white kids wearing hoodies in Florida. See, MOTU? I can be racially charged too!

By the time you gentle readers afix your eyes to my ramblings we will have essentially one week left with which to letter the book, finish the cover, and put it all together in time for our home show, Wizard World Chicago. And somewhere in there, we’ll have to be sure that we spelled things right, that the story makes sense, and most important… the book is leaps and bounds better than issue 1 without lessening the impact of said first issue. This is where and why Unshaven Comics exists, kiddos. We built our studio on passion. We take pride that the books that land on our table earn us fans, respect, and and a continual sense of determination to continue to create. And boy did we wish we’d only just started working, because ComicMix Pro Services sure coulda come in handy. Hey Mike, where’s my check for name dropping?

This passion is every reason why I’ve little to no doubt that over the next week or so, I personally will be working every evening well into the following morning. This passion is why I’ll gleefully pull all-nighters – live screen-casting via Google hangouts for the morbidly curious – in order to meet our printer’s deadline. This passion is what makes seeing a fan plunk down a fiver for my lil’ rag the best feeling in the world (short of everything having to do with my wife and son). This passion may never make me, Matt, Kyle, or our Samurnauts rich and famous… but it will remain our legacy without fail.

If Unshaven Comics ever had a mantra to live by it would be “doing what we do, one fan at a time.” We know that those who are lured by our whimpering and desperate eyes from behind our artist alley table, are likely to give us that chance to earn their fandom. With a book built not for profit margins, and licensing security, but for the enjoyment of sequential fiction, we know that we leave everything on the page. This is our crunch time, and I appreciate those that respect we who toil for our wares. Wish me luck, everyone.

And come August? Get ready for a book that features zombie-cyborg pirates with jetpacks, transforming motor-cycle super armor, steampunk warriors, metal tentacle pirate ships fighting giant robots, and an immortal kung-fu monkey in a spacesuit.

Back to the grind!

SUNDAY: John Ostrander

MONDAY: Mindy Newell

Pro Se Presents: The Podcast Episode Three-Pro Se’s Roots in Audio!

News
July 27, 2013

This week on PRO SE PRESENTS: THE PODCAST, the beginning of Pro Se as both a company and then as the first in the New Pulp Field to produce Audiobooks is front and center! First, Tommy explains how Pro Se ventured briefly into a different field before becoming a leading Publisher of Genre Fiction and shares the first and only episode of a Pro Se Productions full cast audio drama, THE VARIED ADVENTURES OF PECULIAR ODDFELLOW! Then a story from one of Pro Se’s original line of magazines, MASKED GUN MYSTERY #1, is featured. The debut story of Aloha McCoy by Ken Janssens as performed by H. Keith Lyons rounds out this week’s episode and peek into Pro Se’s Past on PRO SE PRESENTS: THE PODCAST!

PRO SE PRESENTS: THE PODCAST EPISODE 3-PRO SE’S ROOTS IN AUDIO!

The Point Radio: Joss Whedon Has A Tough Task and Joe Rogan Has A Question

Podcasts
July 26, 2013

This week, you get to reap the benefits of our Comic Con trip as we share comments from Brian Fuller on how intense the next season of HANNIBAL could be, C. Thomas Howell admits he doesn’t know who The Reverse Flash is – but he loves voicing him, and Josh Holloway assures us that his new series, INTELLIGENCE ,is totally believable. Plus Joss Whedon admits that it wasn’t as easy as you might think getting AGENTS OF SHIELD on the air, and SyFy allows Joe Rogan to QUESTION EVERYTHING.

This summer, we are updating once a week – every Friday – but you don’t have to miss any pop culture news. THE POINT covers it 24/7! Take us ANYWHERE! The Point Radio App is now in the iTunes App store – and it’s FREE! Just search under “pop culture The Point”. The Point Radio – 24 hours a day of pop culture fun for FREE. GO HERE and LISTEN FREE on any computer or on any other mobile device with the Tune In Radio app – and follow us on Twitter @ThePointRadio.

Martha Thomases and Omaha The Cat Dancer

Columns / Reviews
July 26, 2013

Has it really been more than 35 years since the debut of Omaha, the Cat Dancer? That’s why it says in the introduction to Volume 8, the last of the collected series, just published by Amerotica, an imprint of NBM.

Way, way back in those pre-Internet days we found our comics by happenstance. I was lucky enough to live in New York City, and had six or seven different comic book stores within a couple of miles of my apartment. If one store didn’t have a particular title, it was likely another store would. More to the point, it was possible for someone like me, an engaged but not maniacal fan, to find a book that was totally new to me. I hadn’t read any pre-publication hype. I might not have heard of the creative team. But I could stumble upon something, and it could bring me joy.

Such was the case with Omaha, the Cat Dancer. I can no longer remember when I read it first, but I know I was on-board from the beginning. The artwork was so graceful, the characters so credible, that I barely noticed that they were anthropomorphic animals.

Omaha was infamous in its day for its frank sexuality. The characters had sex, often, and not only as a variety of gender combinations, but species combinations as well. Dogs and cats, living together! When a Chicago comic book store, Friendly Frank’s, was busted for selling an issue in 1988, the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund was formed.

And yet. And yet. It’s hard to imagine a combination of explicit sex and character development that would be less gratuitous. The characters in Omaha have sex because they are complicated, adult characters who do things that complicated adults do. It’s part of their lives, just like sleeping, eating, going to work, taking a walk, or breathing.

There is also a fair amount of political activism in the lives of the characters. As citizens of Mipple City, they get involved in elections and zoning issues. It’s a refreshing flashback to a time when community involvement was something adults took for granted, like sex, meals, walks, etc.

Oh, I had my quibbles. I’ve never entirely bought into the perspective that strippers are agents of revolutionary change. I kept trying to figure out if the species of animal chosen for each character had any kind of racial or ethnic or class distinction. I found it awfully convenient that a lot of characters ended up being related to each other.

But, really, I meant it when I said those were quibbles. Omaha is a wonderful character, and Omaha is a wonderful series.

The new volume is the last, containing the issues that weren’t completed at the time of writer Kate Worley’s death (too soon) from cancer. Her husband, James Vance, completed her work along with Reed Waller, the artist on the series from the get-go. The transition, to me, is seamless.

There won’t be any more. That’s a shame. But we have these eight volumes, and you should get them. Now.

SATURDAY: Marc Alan Fishman

SUNDAY: John Ostrander

PRO SE PRESENTS FIRST QUARTERLY ISSUE DEBUTS WITH MYSTERY, SCIENCE FICTION, FANTASY, AND MORE!

Uncategorized
July 25, 2013

Pro Se Productions proudly announces the release of the first quarterly issue of its award winning magazine, PRO SE PRESENTS #19!

This extra sized issue Is Jam Packed with The Most Pulp Goodness One Magazine Can Handle. Thrill to Issue 19’s Feature story as the skull faced horrific avenger, BROTHER BONES, returns in another tale from Ron Fortier. Kevin Rodgers delivers science fiction horror in SLAUGHTERSHIP while A. M. Paulson’s popular Dog Detective returns for a new tale of the Flatfoot with a tail. Robert Kingett shares a provoking, well crafted essay on one of literature’s most popular characters and Jilly Paddock imparts her sci fi wisdom by sharing THE THIRD WORST THING THAT CAN HAPPEN ON MARS. Aaron Smith’s popular Hockey Star turned Cop, Picard returns and joins Ralph L. Angelo, Jr.s’ Torahg the Warrior in his magazine debut. Ron Capshaw’s hero Alan Bolt opens this issue and is followed by the debut of Doll Face, a disturbing, intriguing character from the mind of Charis Taylor. PRO SE PRESENTS #19 is a breakneck, nonstop cyclone of Horror, Sci-Fi, Hero, Mystery, and just plain Pulp! Featuring a great Brother Bones cover by Rob Davis as well as stunning design by Sean Ali and Ebook formatting by Russ Anderson, PRO SE PRESENTS #19 makes Quarterly look GREAT! From Pro Se Productions.

Pick up PRO SE PRESENTS #19 in print for $9.00 on Amazon at http://tinyurl.com/mwvoaur. Shop Pro Se’s store at http://tinyurl.com/ksyo9q4. Get the issue from Barnes & Noble at http://tinyurl.com/kx2ud96. Also available in Ebook Format for $2.99 via Kindle at http://tinyurl.com/l4q6coj, for the Nook at http://tinyurl.com/kodsrdj, and for multiple formats at http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/338963.

For review copies or interviews, contact Morgan Minor at MorganMinorProSe@yahoo.com.Pro Se Productions proudly announces the release of the first quarterly issue of its award winning magazine, PRO SE PRESENTS #19!

Lance Star: Sky Ranger Flies Again in Über-Tales!

News
July 25, 2013

Cover Art: James Burns

Demon Press has released the cover for the upcoming release, Über-tales – 5 tales of derring-do to shock and amaze you by James Burns.

About Über-tales:
This 40-page full-color book contains a variety of stories; from superhero allegory to WWII adventure to end-time religious heresy. There’s something for everyone in this adventure-filled tome. Stories and art by James Burns, with 2 stories written by Pulp award-winning writer Bobby Nash.

Included in this collection is “The Crown of Ghengis Kai” a Lance Star: Sky Ranger adventure, written by Bobby Nash with art and colors by James Burns.

Coming soon.

3 New Clips from Planes

Press Releases
July 25, 2013

Disney’s Planes is coming out next month. You can tell from the number of clips being released including the three below.

“Bulldog Shamed”

“Dusty Meets El Chupacabra”

“Strut Jetstream”

Genre: Animation/Adventure

Rating: PG

Release Date: August 9, 2013

Voice Cast: Dane Cook, Stacy Keach, Brad Garrett, Teri Hatcher, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Priyanka Chopra, John Cleese, Cedric the Entertainer, Carlos Alazraqui, Roger Craig Smith, Anthony Edwards, Val Kilmer, Sinbad, Gabriel Iglesias, Brent Musburger, Colin Cowherd, Danny Mann, Oliver Kalkofe, John Ratzenberger

Director: Klay Hall

Producer: Traci Balthazor-Flynn

“Disney’s Planes” is an action-packed 3D animated comedy adventure featuring Dusty (voice of Dane Cook), a plane with dreams of competing as a high-flying air racer. But Dusty’s not exactly built for racing—and he happens to be afraid of heights. So he turns to a seasoned naval aviator who helps Dusty qualify to take on the defending champ of the race circuit. Dusty’s courage is put to the ultimate test as he aims to reach heights he never dreamed possible, giving a spellbound world the inspiration to soar. “Disney’s Planes” takes off in theaters on Aug. 9, 2013.

“Disney’s Planes” is an action-packed 3D animated comedy adventure about Dusty (voice of Dane Cook), a plane whose high-flying dream gives a spellbound world the inspiration to soar.

OFFICIAL BOILERPLATE:

“Disney’s Planes” is an action-packed 3D animated comedy adventure featuring Dusty (voice of Dane Cook), a plane with dreams of competing as a high-flying air racer. But Dusty’s not exactly built for racing—and he happens to be afraid of heights. So he turns to a seasoned naval aviator who helps Dusty qualify to take on the defending champ of the race circuit. Dusty’s courage is put to the ultimate test as he aims to reach heights he never dreamed possible, giving a spellbound world the inspiration to soar. “Disney’s Planes” takes off in theaters on Aug. 9, 2013. For more information, check out Disney.com/Planes, like us on Facebook: facebook.com/DisneyPlanes and follow us on Twitter: twitter.com/DisneyPictures.

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