History of the Marvel Universe

OK, this is kind of cool, yesterday I received an email notification that I could expect a Fed-Ex package from Marvel. Now I really had no idea what it could have been as I sporadically contribute to various Marvel projects on the Index/Handbook/Reference teams.

Although it had been a while since I had done anything, Marvel traditionally runs several months behind on delivering comps, which is cool, but is often confusing as to what could be in the package. Anyway, today I received the package and was totally surprised when I opened it.

Turns out it contained this History of the Marvel Universe saga, which I had not even realized that I had contributed to (not so surprising as we are often asked to locate and scan covers and/or panels of specific issues for random projects.

At first I though that it was a mistake (sometimes it is difficult for the Marvel staffers to keep us freelance researchers straight), however, when I looked in the credits, sure enough, there was my name. I guess that I had done something for this issue without even realizing it (I'm thinking ti was a scan of some sort).

Anyways, I just thought I'd share that with you all.

Oh yeah, it wasn’t until I made this update that I realized that I already had a copy of this comic, and never realized that I was a contributor.

More WotI news!

We just heard from our pal Joe Martino (Shadowflame, Ripperman), and he just told us some truly great news.

Apparently, the Wraith/Shadowflame/Johnny Saturn War of the Independents tie-in will appear in the April issue of Diamond Previews!

Yep, you read that correctly, if you have been following all of the mega-hype that has been bubbling up around Dave Ryan’s The War of the Independents, then you’ll want to get your hands on this lead in comic.

The comic not only stars three of the Indie characters who star in the ground-breaking series, but it also has the malevlont demon, Orcus as the well as a shamblind hoard of zombies. If you read Martino’s Shadowflame graphic novel (Arcana) you'll know that Shadowflame is a very cool character, and well worth your fanboy attention. Anyways, as you can well imagine, these three heroes have their hands full in Curse of the Cortes Stone #1.

Needless to say, we strongly urge you all to run right out and get your hands on a copy right now! The order number is APR12 0788 CURSE O/T CORTES STONE #1. Please ask your local comicbook shop to stock a few extra as well (hey, you don’t want to hoard all of this wicked-cool goodness to your self). Besides it is a great lead in to the WAR itself!

War of the Independents is up for several CBG Fan Awards!

Hey kids, I though that you all should know that Dave Ryan’s The War of the Independents is up for several CBG Fan Awards:

Favorite Writer: Dave Ryan
Favorite Penciller: Dave Ryan
Favorite Inker: Dave Ryan
Favorite Letterer: Wilson Ramos Jr
Favorite Story: “War of the Independents” War of the Independents #1-2 (Red Anvil)
Favorite Series or Mini-Series: War of the Independents (Red Anvil)

Everybody wants to be Spidey

Very cool!

Spidey’s other day job

Ladies, and Gents...Commander X as the Knight Avenger

So some time back I happened across the very talented cartoonist Jay Piscopo and his wonderful all-ages comics, Sea Ghost  and The Undersea Adventures of Capt'n Eli. Both of these comics (published under Jay’s Nemo Publishing) are truly wonderful, fun-filled comics that are throwbacks to the kind of comics I read in my (ill-spent) youth, and I highly recommend them both.

Well, Jay (or rather his lovely assistant Tami) sent me a very cool action figure of another of Jay’s characters. The character is Commander X in his Knight Avenger garb.

The Commander/Knight Avenger action figure is a full-articulated toy, in the same style as the classic Mego figures, complete with a cloth costume. We think that this is very cool and we totally love that Jay is producing action figures based upon his characters.

The Commander X Knight Avenger sells for $19.95, and you  can order it (as well as other items from Jay’s bundle of wicked-cool comics and toys) by heading over to his web site checking out his store and doing just that.

Tell Jay I sent you!

OH NO!

I suspect either the Green Goblin or Julie Taymor.

The Summer of Valiant is coming

Back in the ‘80s there was an explosion of new comicbook companies. one of these companies was Valiant (founded in ’89), it was originally founded by Jim Shooter, formerly Editor in Chief of Marvel Comics. Jim was eventually ousted from Valiant and went on to found Defiant (another cool comicbook company), but that’s another story. Today we want to talk about Valiant.

Valiant was a very cool place in the late ’80s/early ’90s. The stories were wicked-cool and cutting edge different. There was a palpable excitement in the air. I not only got to visit the offices on a number of occasions, but actually did some marketing & PR work for the company. It was a really heady time for me as I was not only writing for virtually every comicbook magazine that was being published at the time, but for quite a few of the major comicbook publishers as well.

Unfortunately, it all came to a rather abrupt end in the mid-’90s, still, for a time, it was quite cool indeed. I bring all this up as Valiant has been slowly building itself back up, and has just announced that, as of this summer, it will relaunch itself with a re-imagined universe containing many of the old familiar characters.

Personally, we can hardly wait.

Calvin & Hobbes

We totally ♥ this!

Who Said It? Mitt Romney or Mr. Burns?

Yeah, like that

My Marvel Comics Wiki

So, did I ever mention that I have a page on the Marvel Wiki?

Below are some of my Marvel credits as listed on The Unofficial Index to Marvel Creators page

Seriously, how cool is this?