the MZS Amateur Press Association is looking for individuals to join our
community.
What is the MZS you ask? It is a creative community for fans of ALL
comic books, fantasy, popular entertainment, media, science fiction and
related fields. The diversity of the members provides spirited
discussion on a wide variety of topics.
Have I piqued your interest? Have a look at our web-page to learn more
about the group and look at samples from some of the individual members.
After having a look at the web-page, if you are interested in learning
more about us and possibly joining our community, let me know and I can
arrange to send you a free sample issue of our monthly collected zine.
Thanks for taking a few moments to look around the web-site, and I hope
to hear back from you soon.
Shane Hutchison
MZS Apa Central Mailer
Gary Gygax at FlatCon
FlatCon - "Not Flat, Just Level" is honored to announce the attendance of
Gary Gygax -an Original Father of Role Playing and creator of Dungeons &
Dragons. Gary will be running demonstrations of his game Lejendary
Adventure and hosting a seminar or two. He will be available at the Inner
City Games/Heckaforge booth for signatures and gaming conversation.
FlatCon is a gaming extravaganza hosted at Memorial Student Center of
Illinois Wesleyan University in Bloomington, Illinois on September 22-23,
2001. Role-playing, miniature, board, and card games and tournaments from a
wide variety of genres will be represented and demonstrated. Vendors will
range from Anime to gaming to fantasy gifts to comics and back. Costs: $8
pre-reg before September 15th, $10 at the door, $4 ages 5-10. Visit the
website for pre-registration -
C David Ross
FlatCon Coordinator
Not Flat, Just Level
September 22-23, 2001
Memorial Student Center IWU
Bloomington, Illinois
Alternative Comics at The Small Press Expo
Gainesville, Florida, August 15, 2001:
Florida comic book publisher Alternative Comics will attend The Small Press
Expo (SPX/EXPO) the weekend of September 14-16, 2001 at the Holiday Inn
Select in downtown Bethesda, Maryland, just one mile outside Washington DC,
and will debut a number of eagerly anticipated new releases including comic
books and graphic novels from Sam Henderson, Jon Lewis, Josh Neufeld, Rob
Walker, Kurt Wolfgang, Jacob Weinstein, and Ben Catmull.
The week prior to the show, Alternative Comics cartoonists Josh Neufeld,
Nick Bertozzi, and Dean Haspiel will join cartoonists Jessica Abel and Matt
Madden for a signing in New York to promote the show and their new books on
Wednesday September 5th at midtown Manhattan's largest comics shop, Jim
Hanley's Universe located at 4 West 33rd Street.
In its eighth year The Small Press Expo now serves as the preeminent
showcase for the exhibition of independent comic books and the discovery of
new creative talent. The Small Press Expo will bring together over 300
artists and publishers to meet their readers, booksellers, distributors, and
each other. Alternative Comics publisher Jeff Mason will be at the
Alternative Comics booths where the following Alternative Comics cartoonists
will be on hand Friday through Sunday:
Sam Henderson - Nominated this year for an Ignatz Award for Outstanding
Series for his Magic Whistle comic book series, Sam Henderson will be
debuting his latest issue. The Expo marks the fifth annual presentation
of The Ignatz Awards for outstanding achievement in comics and
cartooning. The Ignatz, named after George Herriman's brick-wielding
mouse, recognizes outstanding work that challenges popular notions of
what comics can achieve, both as an artform and as a means of personal
expression. The Ignatz is a festival prize, the first such of the
United States comic book industry. Winners will be determined by ballot
during The Expo and presented at the gala Ignatz Awards ceremony
Saturday night (September 15th). One of the funniest people in comics
is Sam Henderson. Henderson's drawing is crude, but it has the same
kind of energy you see in the work of today's best gag cartoonists,
whose drawing also tends to be a little basic. Extremely low-brow humor
that almost parodies low-brow humor - it's enjoyable on either level.
Over the years Sam has done work for many dozens of anthologies, has
done a self-syndicated comic strip and published comic Magic Whistle,
now through Alternative Comics. Sam is currently also a writer of
Nickelodeon's SpongeBob SquarePants cartoon show.
Jon Lewis - At SPX Jon Lewis will debut True Swamp: Stoneground and
Hillbound, Jon Lewis' all-new follow-up to 2000's True Swamp:
Underwoods and Overtime, which was named as one of the Top Ten Comics
of 2000 on TIME Magazine Online's list of the Year's Best Comics. True
Swamp: Stoneground and Hillbound boasts sharp dialogue, beguiling
wilderness settings, characters and societies at once strikingly
strange and deeply familiar, and atmosphere you can sink into over your
head. Of True Swamp: Underwoods and Overtime, TIME.com said: "Simply
drawn but deeply imaginative, True Swamp swallows up all those other
anthropomorphic animal comics and leaves them behind in a stinking
pile... this comic exudes a kind of joy and freedom in its seemingly
loose, easy-going construction. And what a relief to see animals that
are as likely to eat each other as they are to philosophize about the
meaning of life." Jon currently lives in the florid state of Florida.
Josh Neufeld - Debuting his new Titans of Finance comic book at SPX.
Josh Neufeld has been drawing comics since he was four years old. With
his friend of almost 20 years, Dean Haspiel, Josh co-created Keyhole,
where Josh does stories about his travel experiences in Southeast Asia
and Central Europe. Keyhole has run for six issues with two different
publishers. Josh has contributed artwork to Harvey Pekar's American
Splendor (Dark Horse), the SPX anthologies, The Big Book of Urban
Legends (DC/Paradox Press), and Duplex Planet Illustrated
(Fantagraphics), among others. He resides in Brooklyn and makes a
living mixing freelance illustration with web design.
Rob Walker - Debuting his new Titans of Finance comic book at SPX. Rob
Walker is a freelance journalist and the Moneybox columnist for
Slate.com. His writing on such subjects as money culture, advertising,
music, and sequential artists has appeared in many magazines and
newspapers. Walker has worked as an editor for the New York Times
Magazine, Money, and The American Lawyer, among other publications. He
has a short piece in the recently published anthology The Slate
Diaries, and he has a website, www.robwalker.net. He is a graduate of
the University of Texas at Austin, where he had his frrst experience
making comics by co-created, with Erin Mayes, an experimental strip
that ran in The Daily Texan in 1990. A native of Texas, Walker now
lives in New Orleans.
James Kochalka - With his new Peanutbutter & Jeremy: The Flibbledibble
File comic and his new Don't Trust Whitey CD. James Kochalka's
distinction as a "rock star" has been tempered more and more lately by
his acclaim as a cartoonist. Critics and fans have responded like crazy
to his instantly recognizable comic books and graphic novels. Kochalka
has won and has been nominated for many prestigious awards such as the
Ignatz award, the Eisner award, the Firecracker Alternative Books
award, and the Harvey award. He recently released his Sketchbook
Diaries book from Top Shelf Productions.
Dean Haspiel - With his new Opposable Thumbs #1 comic book. Dean
Haspiel is the author of semi-auto-bio comix and super-psychedelic
romances. In the mid-80s, Dino worked as an assistant to Howard Chaykin
on American Flagg!, Bill Sienkiewicz on New Mutants and Elektra:
Assassin, and Walter Simonson on Thor. In 1987, Dino inaugurated his
comics career when he co-created and illustrated The Verdict with
writer Martin Powell and went on to draw two DC Comics Bonus Books in
Detective Comics and Justice League International. His comics appear in
Billy Dogma, Keyhole, Non, Top Shelf, Minimum Wage, DC Comics' Bizarro
Comics and the EXPO anthology. Dean illustrated Sony Pictures Classics'
SLC Punk comic and is a regular contributor to Harvey Pekar's American
Splendor. Dino's most recent Billy Dogma work, Boy in My Pocket, from
Top Shelf Productions.
Nick Bertozzi - With his new The Masochists graphic novel. Nick lives
in Brooklyn, New York with his wife and their new baby Sabina Edwina
LeBonBon Bertozzi. His comics credits include: DC Comics' Bizarro
Comics, Comix 2000 (L'Association), Boswash for which he also received
both the Xeric Grant Award and the Ignatz Award, several stories for
the Big Book series (Paradox Press), and many other cartoon anthologies
across the globe.
Jen Sorensen - With her new Slowpoke: Cafe Pompous collection. Jen
Sorensen is the creator of Slowpoke, a weekly comic strip that appears
in several alternative newspapers throughout the US, for which she was
nominated twice for the Friends of Lulu Kimberly Yale Award for Best
New Talent. Slowpoke, which serves up political and social commentary
with an absurdist twist, grew out of a popular daily strip she drew
while a student at the University of Virginia. Jen was recently awarded
a Xeric Grant to publish Slowpoke: Cafe Pompous. Jen Sorensen's work
has also appeared in several other publications, including The Big Book
of the '70s (DC/Paradox Press), Action Girl Comics, Dignifying Science,
Empty Love Stories, the EXPO anthologies, and will be featured
alongside such luminaries as Matt Groening and Tom Tomorrow in Ted
Rall's upcoming book on alternative political cartoonists. Jen Sorensen
lives in Charlottesville Virginia, where she also does web design.
Graham Annable - with his recently released Grickle graphic novel and
debuting a brand new issue of his Hickee anthology. Graham Annable was
classically trained as an animator at Sheridan College in Toronto,
graduating in 1992, and has worked as an animator ever since, including
work on British children's TV, story boards for Chuck Jones
Enterprises, Disney's A Goofy Movie, and since 1994 an extended string
of computer game projects for LucasArts such as Full Throttle, The Dig,
Afterlife, Outlaws, and The Curse of Monkey Island. Annable is the Lead
Animator for the LucasArts video game Star Wars: Obi-Wan. His projects
have won numerous animation and graphics awards including the ASIFA
Annie Award, animation's highest honor, in 1998 for "Outstanding
Achievement in an Animated Interactive Program". Graham currently
resides in the Bay Area, California.
David Lasky - with some brand new hand printed stuff and to make some
special surprise announcements. In 1991, David Lasky published the
first of his many Boom Boom comics. Over the years Boom Boom was
self-published, Xeric Grant Award funded, and published by Aeon Press.
In the two years since his last Boom Boom production (Boom Boom at
Ground Zero), Lasky has continued to produce mini-comics with titles
such as OM and Minutiae, and has expanded his illustration portfolio
with idiosyncratic work for publications like Seattle's The Stranger
and Tower Records's Pulse!. More recently Lasky, along with
co-conspirator Greg Stump, thoroughly thumbed his nose at the
indie-culture scene (while seeking to profit from its spendthrift
excesses) in the first issue of their archly monikered Urban Hipster,
from Alternative Comics.
Kurt Wolfgang - Debuting his Where Hats Go Xeric Award Graphic Novel at
SPX. Having drawn dopey pictures since he was just a dopey little kid,
Kurt Wolfgang made the move from cocktail napkins to mini comics in the
mid nineties and went on create the Ignatz nominated Noe-Fie series, as
well as the Lowjinx anthology series, recipient of the 2000 Ignatz
Award for Outstanding Mini Comic. He was recently awarded a publishing
grant from the Xeric Foundation to present his debut graphic novel,
Where Hats Go. In a city where the wind never ceases, a young boy loses
his grandfather's hat, his most prized possession, to a mischievously
swirling gust. Thus begins our hero's journey, a journey that will lead
him, his faithful dog and a cleverly inventive ally weaving through a
lushly illustrated urban maze to the farthest corners of the city. From
the windy streets, to the punishing halls of elementary school, to the
dark lair of a fortune telling gypsy, the young boy presses on to find
the allusive destination of his cherished cap, finding much more along
the way.
Robert Ullman - Robert has been diligently pumping out issues of his
mini-comic From the Curve for six years under a blanket of relative
anonymity. His comic strip, My Noise, has appeared in several
newspapers since debuting in the Daily Kent Stater in February of 1995,
and his spot illustrations appear weekly in Richmond, Virginia's
PUNCHLiNE and the Washington DC City Paper. An Addy Award-nominated
graphic designer by trade, Robert has also illustrated several
educational children's books for McGraw-Hill. Signifying Nothing, a
collection of his best cartoons from 1994 to 1998, is available now,
and the first issue of the all-new big time From the Curve is slated to
debut in 2002.
Jacob Weinstein - Winner of the Xeric Foundation Grant Award for his
Dirty Boxes book to be debuted at SPX. Dirty Boxes is a graphic novel
consisting of three stories. 'Refuse' is a post-industrial chutes &
ladders game as if designed by Alexander Rodchenko. 'Cleft Mallet'
places Huckleberry Finn before a cracked rear-view mirror. And finally,
'Egg-Minus', stirs Russian legend, vaudevillian comic strip mayhem, and
grimy Berlin realism into a meaty gallinaceous cocktail, as three
tangentially related narratives, are woven around the motifs of love,
betrayal, decapitation, and poultry. Tottering between a belly-laugh
and pretentious slush, Dirty Boxes is a stylistic slumgullion with a
deliciously hollow center.
Ben Catmull - Debuting his Xeric Grant Paper Theater book at SPX. Ben
Catmull was born on Long Island, New York and grew up in Albany,
California. Now he lives in Oakland and creates comics and he has a
very time consuming day job that he'd rather not talk about. Paper
Theater is a collection of Ben Catmull's self published short stories.
Included are a dream like story of childhood memories titled 'Emily'; A
Victorian era space Adventure in 'An Illustrated depiction of the 273rd
day of Interstellar Bathysphere 12'; 'Jeff goes to the Store' in which
everything goes wrong on a mans quest for a bottle of whiskey, and
more. See Death try in vain to keep zombies dead. Watch a drunken
astronaut accidentally fly his rocket down to hell.
Frederick Noland - with his new Xeric Grant Shpilkes book. Frederick
Noland was born in Ventura California in 1972. He began cartooning long
before he was able to read eventually appearing in the local
mini-anthology Wood-Eye (1995 to 1998) where he contributed to ten of
the series' twelve-issue run, leaving with it's penultimate issue. He
has also published three comics on his own: Expanded Zero, Full Frontal
McSurly and the seminal Shpilkes mach-I. In September 2000 he was
awarded the prestigious Xeric Grant and is continuing the Shpilkes
project.
Sharon Daugherty - A former English major gone terribly wrong.
Overcultured and underpaid, she works as a medical librarian in Hershey
Pennsylvania. Secretly the bookish type, she's fond of all things
underground and edgy, yet manages to save a soft spot for the X-Men.
She writes articles and reviews about alternative comics for indy
Magazine.
WRITER SPEAKS ON JADE!!!!
Scottsdale, AZ - August 13, 2001 - She's been a pain in Chastity and
Purgatori's lives, has shown off in her own mini, Turn Loose the Dragon,
and now, Jade returns in the four-issue Redemption that begins in
November!
Written by Jade and Buffy the Vampire Slayer alums Tom Sniegoski and
Christopher Golden, hot new artist Wilson Tortosa who illustrated Turn
Loose the Dragon pencils Redemption. While Wilson teased us with his
manga style in Dragon, we're letting him go all out in Redemption, so
expect it to have a very dark manga/anime look, feel and color.
Tom Sniegoski states, "Jade is one of those books that gets into your
blood. I find myself thinking of all the cool things that have never
been done before in comics and try to apply them to the new Jade mini
series, Redemption. I want this series to be like watching an all out,
balls to the wall action film, but I want it to be more than that. Watch
out Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon - - Watch out Matrix - - Watch our
Akira, - - Jade is looking to out do you all."
If you missed it, Turn Loose the Dragon introduced a new world based in
Shanghai, filled with bright neon lights and high-tech wizardry. Wilson
will continue to refine that vision as Redemption moves the action to San
Francisco. As for the story, look for Chris and Tom to continue
humanizing Jade, as well as keeping the mix of stylized oriental action
and insane martial arts going. This time out, Jade heads to America to
venture into the heart of her enemy's lair, once in the States however,
Jade learns that things are not as simple as she would have hoped - the
Triad families there have allied themselves with a mysterious group known
only as the Progeny, and they are about to send their ultimate
anti-vampire weapon, the Iron Racer to hunt her down.
Turn Loose the Dragon wowed new and old fans alike, while it was flying
out of shops, so be sure to order your copy of Jade Redemption early!
Along with the regular edition, be on the lookout for a premium version
penciled by Daerick Gross which features Jade highlighted by her
namesake, green mist.
Jade Redemption #1 (of 4) retails for $2.99 and will be in stores
11/7/01. For more information on Chaos!, please visit www.chaoscomics.com.
Titans of Finance Comic Book
If you have access to the new September edition of Kiplinger's Personal
Finance magazine now on stands, please turn to page 30 for a nice little
piece about Titans of Finance, a comic book written by R. Walker and
illustrated by Josh Neufeld, coming out the first week of September from
Alternative Comics. Titans of Finance was also just featured in this week's
The Forward, the national Jewish newsweekly. Titans of Finance has also
recently received mainstream coverage in Money Magazine, TIME, and The New
York Times.
What goes up must come down. Its a natural law that the New Economy just
learned all over again. Recent times have been fantastically dramatic in the
cloistered world of American business: Narratives full of larger-than-life
characters, outsized egos, astonishing hubris, and lots and lots of money.
Its action-packed. It makes good comics. Titans of Finance, a new and
groundbreaking merger of reality - straight from the business pages - and
comix. Meet Ron Perelman, the man who made millions while presiding over the
Mighty Marvel Comics train wreck. Thrill to many more of Wall Streets most
well-known Icaruses. Never mind Spawn and Spider-man. These are our
superheroes now. These tales "hit the mark," says comic book legend Harvey
Pekar, and are "a brilliant use of the medium," according to TheStreet.coms
James J. Cramer. Best of all, its all true! Titans of Finance is entirely
based on press accounts. The results are mind-blowing. Over the past five
years, in fact, Titans has crushed the benchmark S&P 500. Youve never seen
anything like it . . . this is one acquisition you wont regret.
(by Josh Neufeld and R. Walker) ISBN: 1-891867-05-9; DCD itemcode JUL011795;
24 b/w pages with full color covers; $3.50.
Titans of Finance is available from all of Alternative Comics' distributors
including: Diamond Comic Distributors (Titans of Finance is Diamond
itemcode JUL011795), Last Gasp, FM International, Cold Cut Distribution, Red
Route Distribution, Bries, Top Shelf, and LPC Group. Titans of Finance is
also available directly from Alternative Comics.
The Titans of Finance website is:
Jeff Mason
Alternative Comics
New Web Comics Features
ROCHESTER, NY - July 16, 2001 - BorderWalker, the online comics magazine,
has expanded with three new comic series and a monthly column about
creating Web Comics. What more could any comic lover ask for?
"Studio Digital," by Craig Schaffer (creator of BorderWalker's "Backdraft"),
delivers techniques and new ideas for producing digital comics for the web
and helpful hints for comic artists. Craig's latest column introduces and
explains how to produce a one page comic experiment that can be
converted into a scrolling digital comic. Creators and readers alike will
enjoy ideas that shake the foundation of traditional comic storytelling.
Veteran "Dragon Magazine" cartoonist Peter Delgado Jr. brings two exciting
new comics to the Border. "Willy" is the monthly story of a 400-pound
penguin with a heart of gold, who struggles to protect his flock from the
harsh reality of life in the Arctic.. But what lies ahead for Willy is even
more brutal.
Peter also treats us to the weekly cartoon series "RPG Blues." Two new
cartoons every week lampoon
fantasy, role-playing games, and the people who love 'em. "Because
Role-Playing Games really need
to be made fun of," says Peter.
"Jingi," from animator and illustrator Ray K., mixes up ancient Asian
monster folklore with excitin
g manga-inspired action. When a horde of monsters and spirits are let loose
to wreak havoc, wander
ing warrior Jin and his bizarre companions are the world's only hope! Join
the adventure monthly.
BorderWalker is proud to be adding these four new features to a growing
stable of reader favorites,
which include "Legacy Dawning," "Electric Spirit," "Backdraft," and "Windy
Gap," as well as a host
of regular columns, and a great list of affiliated comics such as Tony
Esteves' "Cigarro and Cerve
ja," James Point DuJour's "Milestown USA," and Chuck Whelon's "Pewfell
Porfingles."
For more information, contact Editor Chris Watkins at Menagerie
Publications, (716) 475-9766, e-mail: chris@BorderWalker.com,
or Media Director Craig Schaffer at (215) 538-1038, e-mail:
craig@BorderWalker.com.
Visit BorderWalker at .
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was named treasure for the use of an Emperor in 1085 so
it only can use by the Emperor and people can't
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Our factory is the specialty manufacture of Junzhou Porcelain. It is the
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Original PLANET OF THE APES
Fox Home Entertainment invites you to experience the origins of the
timeless saga between man and ape with the re-release of the
original PLANET OF THE APES starring Charlton Heston and Roddy
McDowall, available now on DVD and VHS. Relive this science fiction classic about an
astronaut who crash lands on a distant planet ruled by apes who
use a primitive race of humans for experimentation and sport. Or own the
entire collection of PLANET OF THE APES films.
Visit the site:
Send press releases to:
Collector Times Online
P. O. Box 882
Bellaire, TX 77402-0882
