Tagged: fantasy

ComicMix Quick Picks – March 24, 2009

ComicMix Quick Picks – March 24, 2009

Man, we are so behind… busy busy busy here. Some items from the past few days to tide you over:

  • The "comics on handhelds" panel at SXSW, covered by ComicMix contributor Chris Ullrich for one of the thirteen other blogs he writes for.

  • And speaking of ComicMix contributors past and present, Rick Marshall made it up to the Webcomics Weekend and covered it heavily.

  • Quote of the day, from John Rogers:
    There are two novels that can change a bookish fourteen-year old’s life: The Lord of the Rings and Atlas Shrugged. One is a childish fantasy that often engenders a lifelong obsession with its unbelievable heroes, leading to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood, unable to deal with the real world. The other, of course, involves orcs.

  • Take the above with a grain of salt– Rogers drinks. Heavily. And who can blame him?

  • Of course, if you want your own quote, you can try Quotes On Comics. This will probably save Dirk Deppey five minutes a day or so when he does ¡Journalista!

  • Papercutz is going to publish Geronimo Stilton graphic novels beginning in August.  The first graphic novel titles under the deal are The Discovery of America and The Secret of the Sphinx.  Scholastic Inc publishes the Geronimo Stilton book series in the US.

Anything else? Consider this an open thread.

ComicMix Quick Picks – February 8, 2009

The collection of non-NYCC posts that have come in over the last few days while we’ve been on the floor at Javits.

Anything else we missed? Consider this an open friend.

Amy Goldschlager is an editor for FindingDulcinea.com.

Upper Deck Lands ‘Huntik: Secrets and Seekers’

Upper Deck Lands ‘Huntik: Secrets and Seekers’

  • News
  • December 10, 2008

Huntik:  Secrets and Seekers is a brand new fantasy series coming to America in January from producer Big Bocca Productions, which produced the series with Rainbow S.p.A. and m4e AG.

Upper Deck has announced they will be the worldwide Master Toy Licensee launching with a line of 6” and 9” figures in the fall of 2009.  Playmates Toys had previously been announced as the U.S. toy licensee, according to ICv2. A TCG is also in the plans for 2009. 

The series is aimed at boys 6-12 years old with an initial run of 26 half hour animated episodes, debuting on CW4Kids Network on Saturday January 3, 2009.

The series synopsis from the property’s  website:

Long before our times, humanity fought against an evil of unimaginable power. The darkness was broken only by the Seekers, humans able to invoke legendary creatures -the Titans -into their own plane of existence. With the Titans executing their every order, the first Seekers fought against the dark forces of the underworld and against themselves. Centuries went by, and one by one, the Titans were hidden: some were buried following grueling battles, others merely forgotten as time passed. The magical and powerful creatures lie hidden and dormant in the most remote part of the universe, waiting to be awakened by a new and bold group of Seekers.

After centuries, the Seekers divided themselves into chapters in order to find traces and clues of past and extinct populations in order to reveal the mystery of the Titans.

The Huntik reaching for these answers will travel from the tip of the South American continent to Europe, from North America to African terrains. Only the most worthy of Seekers are able to evoke the Titans and benefit from their unbelievable powers. But there are those who plot in the shadows. A secret organization led by the Professor wants to posses the Titan’s powers for his own evil plans.

 

Latest Manga Releases

Latest Manga Releases

VIZ Media has announced the upcoming release of a special Bleach Posterzine, which features 11 massive full-color posters inspired by the smash hit Manga and animated series created by Tite Kubo. The title will be released December 2, retailing for $9.99 with two original creations made especially for this unique release. Each poster in the collection folds out to 16” x 22” and depicts the heroic Soul Reaper Ichigo and his friends as well as villains rendered in beautiful detail. This special publication will also include 2 free Bleach sticker sheets and an iTunes gift card valid for a free download of episode 59 of the popular Bleach animated series and access to an interview with the creator of Bleach Tite Kubo.

Bleach follows the story of Ichigo Kurosaki, a fifteen-year old student with the ability to see ghosts. His fate takes an extraordinary turn when he meets Rukia Kuchiki, a Soul Reaper who shows up at Ichigo’s house on the trail of a Hollow, a malevolent lost soul.  Drawn to Ichigo’s high level of spiritual energy, the Hollow attacks Ichigo and his family, and Rukia steps in to help but is injured and unable to fight.  As a last resort, Rukia decides to transfer part of her Soul Reaper powers to Ichigo. Ichigo, now a full-fledged Soul Reaper, and Rukia join together to face the challenges that lie ahead.

Christopher Boily, VIZ Media Sr. Director, Magazine Sales, Brand & Product Marketing, said in a release, “Building upon the incredible momentum and excitement which surrounded the first ever North American appearance of creator Tite Kubo at San Diego Comic-Con, we’re ecstatic to release this special collectable Bleach Posterzine, which features two amazing images created exclusively for this publication by Studio Pierrot, which animates and produces the massively popular animated series. We look forward to fans visiting their local newsstand to pick up this special release!”

Aurora Publishing has announced two new josei/shojo fantasy Manga to debut during the first quarter of 2009.  Tengu-jin ($10.95, 160-pages) by Sumomo Yumeka, will be a one-volume Manga released in February containing two fantasy stories, one set in a future Japan that has split apart into two warring factions, and the other in a feudal kingdom.

Then in March will be the first book in the two-volume series of Chika Shioma’s Queen of Ragtonia ($10.95, 160-pages). Princess Faruna is the last hope of her kingdom when it is attacked by evil sorcerers in this action-packed fantasy series.
 
Both Tengu-jin and Queen of Ragtonia were published in Japan by Shodensha (Paradise Kiss, Happy Mania, Suppli).

 

World Horror and World Fantasy Award Winners Announced

World Horror and World Fantasy Award Winners Announced

  • News
  • November 3, 2008

The  International Horror Guild Awards, which recognize outstanding achievements in the field of horror and dark fantasy, were announced on Halloween (naturally). The Awards, first presented in 1994, will cease to be after this year.

Novel: The Terror by Dan Simmons

Long Fiction: Softspoken by Lucius Shepard

Mid-Length Fiction: "Closet Dreams" by Lisa Tuttle

Short Fiction: "Honey in the Wound" by Nancy Etchemendy

Fiction Collection: Dagger Key and Other Stories by Lucius Shepard

Anthology: Inferno, Ellen Datlow, ed.

Periodical: Postscripts

Illustrated Narrative: The Nightmare Factory, Thomas Ligotti (creator/writer), Joe Harris and Stuart Moore (writers), Ben Templesmith, Michael Gaydos, Colleen Doran and Ted McKeever (illustrators)

Nonfiction: Mario Bava: All the Colors of Dark by Tim Lucas

Art: Elizabeth McGrath for "The Incurable Disorder"

IHG Living Legend: Peter Straub

Fantasy Award Winners Named

Sunday night at the World Fantasy Convention in Calgary, the winners for this year’s World Fantasy Awards were announced.

Novel: Ysabel by Guy Gavriel Kay

Novella: Illyria by Elizabeth Hand

Short Story: "Singing of Mount Abora" by Theodora Goss

Anthology: Inferno, Ellen Datlow, ed.

Collection: Tiny Deaths by Robert Shearman

Artist: Edward Miller

Special Award, Professional: Peter Crowther (for PS Publishing)

Special Award, Non-Professional: Midori Snyder and Terri Windling (for Endicott Studios’ Web site)

Life Achievement: Leo and Diane Dillon, Patricia McKillip

Review: ‘MuZz, Vol. 1’ by FSc

Review: ‘MuZz, Vol. 1’ by FSc

MuZz, Vol. 1
By FSc (Foo Swee Chin)
SLG Publishing, May 2008, $14.95

There’s a train that runs to MuZz – or, at least, it’s supposed to – carrying ideas and thoughts whose creators have lost interest in them. They’re all pretty odd and motley, as you might expect: a black whale, a phantom cat, and things I couldn’t even begin to describe.

But, on this particular train, there’s also a figure that looks like a teenage girl missing an eye. She’s Modorelin Farllee, she’s an actual human, and she’s not even dead. (Well, I don’t think she’s dead, but I don’t want to be too definite about any plot points concerning [[[MuZz]]].)

Farllee remembers nothing of her past, and wakes up on the train in such a frantic, grouchy mood that she shakes her elf guide to death and has to rely on the standard pamphlet and the advice of her fellow passengers to figure out what’s going on.

And so she quickly learns what I’ve just told you – she doesn’t believe that she’s actually a figment of someone else’s imagination, but she can’t prove that, and drops the subject. None of them are precisely sure what will happen to them in MuZz, but, for nearly all of them, it has to be better than their previous lives.

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Review: ‘Sex and Sensibility’ edited by Liza Donelly

Review: ‘Sex and Sensibility’ edited by Liza Donelly

What do women want? Sigmund Freud thought he knew, but we all know about him. After a few decades of feminism, it’s become clearer that the best way to find out what women want is… to ask them.

Sex and Sensibility
Edited By Liza Donelly
Hachette/Twelve, April 2008, $22.99

Donelly is a noted single-panel cartoonist and the author of Funny Ladies, a history of female cartoonists for The New Yorker. (She also teaches at my alma mater, Vassar College, which instantly inclines me to consider her a world-class expert on whatever she wants to be – we Vassarites have to stick together.)

Donelly collected nine of her colleagues – mostly single-panel magazine cartoonists, with a couple of editorial cartoonists for spice – and asked them to contribute cartoons on women, men, sex, relationships – that whole area. Two hundred cartoons later, [[[Sex and Sensibility]]] emerged. It’s divided into several thematic sections — Sex, Sensibility, Women, Lunacy, and Modern Love — and each cartoonist provided an essay about herself and her work, which are sprinkled throughout.

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Review: ‘Fantasy Classics’ edited by Tom Pomplun

Review: ‘Fantasy Classics’ edited by Tom Pomplun

Fantasy Classics: Graphic Classics Vol. 15
Edited by Tom Pomplun
Eureka Productions, 2008, $11.95

The “[[[Graphic Classics]]]” series most of the time sticks to a single author per volume, but not always – they’ve had [[[Horror Classics]]], [[[Adventure Classics]]], and [[[Gothic Classics]]] already, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see more along those lines. (There’s no one chomping at the bit for a full volume of Sax Rohmer or Anne Radcliffe, for example, and it’s also a way to do more Poe or Lovecraft without doing a full-fledged “volume two.”) 

[[[Fantasy Classics]]] has two long adaptations – of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and of H.P. Lovecraft’s “[[[The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath]]]” – that each take up about a third of the book, and some shorter pieces that fill up the rest. They’re all fantasy, as advertised, but they’re very different kids of fantasy from each other – many, in fact, consider [[[Frankenstein]]] to be science fiction, indeed the ur-SF novel – and none of them are much like what’s mostly found in the “Fantasy” section of a bookstore. There are no Tolkienesque elves or post-[[[Buffy]]] vampire lover/killers here.

The book leads off with a single-page adaptation of Lord Dunsany’s “After the Fire” by Rachel Masilamani; it’s fine for what it is, but basically a vignette.

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Review: ‘Jenny Finn’ and ‘The Stardust Kid’

Boom! Studios has made a name for itself as a comic book version of the Spike TV network, but this week the publisher released two new collections that step away from that formula.

The first, Jenny Finn: Doom Messiah ($14.99) is a collection of the three original Jenny Finn issues and the all new fourth and concluding chapter. The book is written by Mike Mignola and is his truest channeling of Lovecraft yet. In fact, the story closely echoes one of Lovecraft’s stories (I forget the name) about a fishing town being invaded by mysterious sea creatures.

That’s not to say the story isn’t original – it’s more elaborate and bizarre, with typical Mignola flourishes, like the constant appearance of fish that mutter, "Doom."

The narrative is simple enough – an average Joe finds himself mired in otherworldly terror and tries to fight (and think) his way out of it – but the plot never falls into stereotype and every few pages brings a new surprise.

Troy Nixey served as artist on the first three issues and perfectly captures the ethereal horror of Mignola’s script (and, thankfully, doesn’t ape Mignola’s artistic style). Farel Dalrymple illustrated the fourth chapter, and while I love his work, this probably isn’t the best project for him.

That bit of criticism aside, Jenny Finn is a great piece of haunted fun. And I forgot the best part: plenty of tentacles.

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Black Ice: The Return!

Black Ice: The Return!

  • News
  • March 28, 2008

Black Ice, the action-adventure fantasy by Mike Baron and Nick Runge, returns today with a brand-new chapter.

Neil Kofsky drove his motorbike through an inter-dimensional portal and right onto a battleship that flies through the air.  After dueling with a Prince with an attitude, Neil finds himself (and everyone else on board) attacked by an enemy he doesn’t know and doesn’t understand.  And now ….

Credits: Bob Pinaha (Letterer), Matt Webb (Colorist), Mike Baron (Writer), Mike Gold (Editor), Nick Runge (Artist)

More: Black Ice

 

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