Renderwrx Productions

The Cattle Raid of Cooley is a series of comics set in Iron Age Ireland and based on ancient legends.

Written and Illustrated by Paddy Brown

A5 comic, complete with full colour cover, pronunciation guide and four pages of notes.

Order your copy here

Technically, no, but damn if it's not awesome! Check it out.  And it's free!

Coffee (chapters 1-2)

Coffee is a graphic novel by new author Marc Fiszman.

The first book in a series, Coffee follows the adventures of ----, a marketing guru with an intergalactic past who might just be the Messiah. Guided by the time-travelling IT Guy, the angelic Blobbitrons and a host of other wacky characters, we watch as ---- struggles to fulfil his remarkable multidimensional potential.

"Once, I hoped that you would die soon out of respect. You claimed you were suffering from Alzheimer's, and I hate to see others suffer. Now that I see how petty and selfish you really are, I hope you die soon so as to relieve the world of your selfishness and lies."

From I, Anonymous by Steven Weissman, his ongoing blog project.

About I, Anonymous: You can submit an unsigned confession or accusation to Steven Weissman and he will illustrate it in a manner of his choosing. One submission will be published every week.

About Steven Weissman: Steven Weissman (a.k.a. “Ribs”) is probably best-known for his Yikes! series, published by Fantagraphics.  His crew of movie-monsters-as-children go on mundane adventures made extraordinary by the characters’ monster-ness.  Part Li’l Rascals, part Peanuts, part “dang, I wish I’d thought of that!”, Weissman’s comic kids balance adult situations, childlike resolutions, and idiosyncratic spelling to rock my comic world. If you hadn’t guessed, I’m a total fan.

Dean Haspiel talks about his new book Cuba: My Revolution and many other things in this very full and informative interview courtesy of the Robot 6 blog.

"I finished my art for the original graphic novel Cuba: My Revolution last December, and I reunited with Jonathan Ames to do some things for the second season of Bored To Death, which starts Sept. 26. It was a lot of work. Jonathan and I cobbled together some of the artwork for Season 2 and designed a Super-Ray minicomic to promote the show at the current comic cons. At San Diego, they hired people to dress up as Zack’s Super-Ray character to pass out the minicomic. I was also passing them out at my table at last weekend’s con in Baltimore, and I’ll also have them at SPX and the New York Comic-Con."

Thanks to Lee Stone (blog master of the awesome Republic of Replicants blog) for the tip on this comic.

VIOLENT! #18

56 pages

Cover by Kev Levell

Published by Factor Fiction Press

Go here for your free digital copy!

Coverless Quick Review:  This is a very good looking indy anthology. From the cover to the final story all the artwork is superb. Even when some of the stories start to fail, the art keeps it going. While the books title might make you think this will be a comic revelling in pure violence, it's not. All the contributing stories are action oriented for the most part., but not necessarily violent. This is well worth a Coverless Recommendation and you can't beat that price!

Kim Thompson, co-publisher at Fantagraphics Books talks about his newest assignment with Dark Horse Comics here. Translating the works of famed Italian artist Milo Manara. A planned nine volumes set to begin shipping next year, with the Hugo Pratt-written “Indian Summer” and “El Gaucho” leading the way.

Here's a sample from the discussion at the link above:

Does the sexuality or other subject matter in some of Manara’s work add a layer of complexity to finding the most appropriate English equivalent? I’d think that English can be overly flowery or overly coarse when it comes to sex (not that Manara himself doesn’t go into these territories at times).

"That's a good question, although since I haven't hit the sex stuff yet I don't know. I translated a lot of erotic comics for the EROS line over the years and never found it to be a problem. I don't think the flowery/coarse thing will be an issue. At most Italian **sounds** prettier and sexier, but that doesn't matter on the page. And what's great about English is that it's still got some real taboo words (there's no word in Italian that has the nuclear impact of the F- or C-words), which can be really useful."

Only one book apiece from the big two? While Scott Pilgrim takes the top few slots, manga still dominates these charts.

“Brain Camp,” just released by First Second books is written by Laurence Klavan and Susan Kim and illustrated by Faith Erin Hicks.

The artist of Brain Camp talks extensively about her new book here.

"Drawing someone else's script is certainly different from your own. On one level, it's less stressful because you don't have to worry about why characters do things or plot holes or anything. You just provide the pretty artwork. But on another level, it's really stressful because what if the book comes out and everyone likes the writing but hates the artwork? I was terrified of that. I guess I wanted the experience of being a "pure" artist, and not leaning so hard on my own storytelling cleverness. I'd got kind of... I don't know, lax with my artwork in the last few years, letting it slide because I felt like my writing could support the story. “Brain Camp” kicked my art ass all over the place and forced me to really really focus on what makes a good looking comic. I came out the other side a much better artist, and I can really see the improvement in my work. Plus, I got to draw gross things I'd never normally draw."

She also talks about her next book also coming from First Second called "Friends With Boys" here

This is entertaining. It's a hilarious informative interview with Johnny Ryan conducted by Anne Ishii for The Comics Journal about one of his current favorite comics (DMC or Detroit Metal City).

Here's a couple samples...

Anne Ishii: "I interviewed the creator of DMC, Kiminori Wakasugi, some scant months ago. Wakasugi’s responses ranged from mono- to bi- syllabic and taught nothing a glue-sniffer wouldn’t have figured out with pot of honey tucked away. For example, that DMC was visually inspired by KISS, that Wakasugi listens to all kinds of music, and that the recurrence of the word “rape” was problematic in Japan as it would have been in the U.S. if it sold in comparable quantities (e.g. more)."

Johnny Ryan: "I feel like I’m one of the regular members of the DMC audience, in that no matter what pathetic thing Krauser does it must have some super-malevolent purpose. So, that said, the reason he’s a virgin is because he’s far too evil to engage in sex with a human woman."

About DMC: Soichi Negishi is a shy and gentle young guitar player / singer who dreams of a career as a pop musician. Dreams don't pay the bills, so he's ended up as the lead singer and lead guitarist of a death metal band called “Detroit Metal City.” In stage costume he is Johannes Krauser II, rumored to be a terrorist demon from hell, to have killed and raped his parents. Another song suggests that his fans should murder everyone, in a comic parody of the genre (if all his fans killed each other, he'd have no show). Negishi despises DMC and all that it stands for, but so help him, he's a terrific performer and can't walk away from that. As DMC's star rises Negishi tries to satisfy both worlds, but can't.

Written and Drawn by Kiminori Wakasugi and published in the USA by Viz Media.

Bruce Timm's cover to BELA LUGOSI'S TALES FROM THE GRAVE horror anthology comic book is revealed!

From the Press Release:

There is probably not a Batman/DC Comics fan today that doesn't know of Bruce Timm's superb artistry and his Emmy/Eisner-winning effect onpopular culture via his design work on BATMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES orhis beguiling images of the female form. All of which Timm put toexcellent service to create the back cover for BELA LUGOSI'S TALES FROM THE GRAVE.

You can view glimpses of pages and art by Bruce Timm, John Cassaday,Kerry Gammill, Terry Beatty, Chris Moreno, Basil Gogos and more at this YouTube PREVIEW of BELA LUGOSI'S TALES FROM THE GRAVE:

The comic book fans certainly know of John Cassaday. MONSTERVERSE not only has a variant cover from John but also a specialstory he created in a whimsical style that you've never seen from himbefore (view the YouTube Preview for a hint). John calls it his homageto the wonderful "Rankin-Bass" animation. It signals somethingcompletely new and fresh from Cassaday and delivered with a sly smile.

MONSTERVERSE and its staff are working to tap into something veryspecial concerning comics and horror. Its knowing approach has touchedand excited some of the top professionals in the world to join in withMONSTERVERE to forge a link to classic horror and comic bookstorytelling while updating it for today's grittier horrors. BELALUGOSI'S TALES FROM THE GRAVE is a unique kind of comic book createdfrom deep passions for its subject as both a gateway book to lead newreaders to comics and as something smartly constructed to charm thehearts of longtime fans. BELA LUGOSI'S TALES FROM THE GRAVE wears itsrespect and love for the genre wrapped warmly around it. Say, like along opera cape during the cold black hour of midnight when its lastchime calls to the lost and the damned, waiting patiently to findyou...in the darkness. Or a comic book.

MONSTERVERSE ENTERTAINMENT is a transmedia company headed by itspublisher and editor, the comic book and film design artist, KerryGammill. Keith Wilson, formerly of DC Comics, is a co-editor andwriter/artist. Producer/screenwriter Sam F. Park is the west coasteditor and a writer/artist.

Over at one of the best comics news blogs, Robot 6, Hope Larson talked about her career and current projects. A very informative and entertaining interview. Check it out!

"One of the hardest things about doing graphic novels is having to sit on them for so long, absolutely. I wasn’t even allowed to say I was working on A Wrinkle in Time for months, and that was a miserable time! There I was, plugging away, working on this project every day, and to anyone else it seemed like I wasn’t doing anything. It’s probably the reason I’m so active on twitter. 'Yes, hello, here I am, drawing comics! Writing comics! Please don’t forget about me!'"

Taken from the SPX news blog:

From 1995 to 2001, the Fort Thunder artists’ space and performance venue in Providence, Rhode Island was a fertile creative center. Work produced by artists living at the Fort – both at the time and individually in the years since the space was shut down – has been enormously influential in the worlds of fine art, music, and comics. In addition to a wealth of posters, prints, artists’ books and individual comics, two publications served as the venue’s de facto comics anthologies: the mini-comics series Monster and the comics newspaper Paper Rodeo. Nine years after the Fort’s closing, a new issue of Monster will debut at this year’s SPX.

The oversized (10” x 14”) book, featuring offset-printed interiors and a silkscreened cover, will include new and previously unpublished work by Fort Thunder alumni including Mat Brinkman, Brian Chippendale, Jim Drain, Paul Lyons and Brian Ralph, as well as work by friends and colleagues including Keith Jones, Michael DeForge, and Chuck Forsman.

To mark the occasion, SPX Programming Coordinator and Parsons faculty member Bill Kartalopoulos will moderate a special panel event titled “Return of the Monster: The Fort Thunder Legacy” on Saturday, September 11 at 5:30 as part of the festival’s larger schedule of programming events. The panel will feature artists and former Fort Thunder residents Brian Ralph and Paul Lyons. The discussion will also include Tom Devlin, who has published work by Fort Thunder artists both through his own former publishing company Highwater Books and now as creative director of Drawn and Quarterly, and PictureBox publisher Dan Nadel, who has extensively interviewed Fort Thunder artists and currently publishes work by Fort co-founders Brinkman and Chippendale.

Nice lengthy interview covering all the projects he's got going on currently plus some to come in the future.

Go here to read.

Brian Wood (author of DMZ, DEMO, Northlanders, Channel Zero and more)

Krazybov is a polished, entertaining comic anthology title with a very 21st Century approach to publication. Freely distributed in shops and at events around central London and sent around the world to subscribers, once all the printed copies have been given away it's made available to read online or download for free.

It's an anthology of eleven strips by contributors from all over the world so it's got a very international flavor (you can see where each creator is from on the contents page). 40 black and white pages of good artwork wrapped in a colour cover.

Krazybov will always remain free and for those that can't make it down to the distribution points you can buy a copy online or subscribe, only paying for postage and packing

To keep the comic free it's heavily reliant on the adverts that appear in the book.

If you want to read a free digital copy go here

If you want an actual physical copy go here

Coverless Review: Independent Comics Anthologies are always hit or miss with me. I tend to look at them as tryout books for the up and coming comics creators as most indy anthologies aren't too picky on who actually contributes as long as there are contributors. In Krazybov #3 there are a few standout strips, but also a lot of rather poor material. Besides the first story "The Children Of Rungholt" by Seb Kempke and Dirk Juergens the rest of the comics seem very abbreviated. Which either means they don't know how to do endings or they are a segment of a longer story. If they are just one part of a longer story, you still need to know your story is going to be in an anthology and you have to make the story fit it's alloted page amount. For me that's something that really bothers me. Many indy anthology contributors have yet to master how to tell an entertaining short story in 8 pages or less. And many of the stories in this anthology fail miserably at that.

This article by J Chris Campbell is must reading for all comics creators looking to take part in anthologies. Read it people, you will learn something.

All of this is not to say Krazybov is a bad book, it's not. There's some mighty fine art in this book and I was particularly attracted to the stories "Pic Nic" by Alberto Pessoa and "Will they notice?" Written and illustrated by Brandon Palas.

Krazybov is more than worth it's price tag though.

Here's a preview of issue four

Rift Raiders, written by Mark Sable and illustrated by Julian Tedesco and published by Kickstart Comics debuts in October. But it's already getting rave reviews from multiple sources.

"What does it take to travel through space and time? A lot of work and preparation for starters, but don’t tell that to a trio of orphaned teens who find out their parents have been abducted by a time traveling madman. To find their parents wherever – and whenever they are, these three partner with a strange man who’ll provide them information if they steal rare antiquities for him."

Newsarama.com has an interview with writer Mark Sable and some fresh preview art here

And Here's another preview

Mark Sable himself describes the series as...

"...GOONIES meets TIME BANDITS, Rift Raiders is the story of three orphaned teens who learn they're not orphans at all. Their parents have been hidden throughout time. A strange man offers to help them save his parents if they travel through to time retrieve mystical artifacts for him. But what is his REAL agenda?

In terms of tone, it's pretty close to GROUNDED. Meaning a smart, funny action adventure story accessible to a younger age group but equally as rewarding for older readers."

Plus publisher Kickstart has been churning up some news particularly about how they plan to market and distribute their books.

Again here's writer Mark Sable commenting on publisher Kickstart (quote taken from here)...

"That said, I'm pretty excited about Kickstart. For years I've been wondering why comic companies haven't been in big box stores like Walmart in a major way. I think there's a lot of good that can come of it.

Like many of you have mentioned, the primary benefit is getting comics in the hands of readers who haven't tried them before. Don't get me wrong, I love comic book stores, and given a choice I'll spend my money there.

I'm lucky enough to patronize stores like Meltdown or Collector's Paradise in LA, or Jim Hanley's in New York that make a real effort to reach out to others besides the weekly Wednesday crowd.

But whenever I have a book come out, and I tell my friends and relatives...they generally have a hell of a time finding it, especially if it's not Marvel or DC and they don't live in NY or LA. Hell...I can't even get copies of my own books sometimes when they are sold out of my local shop.

Something that should also be said about what Kickstart is doing is that...at least with Rift Raiders the book is and has been ready to go to press and Walmart. I thought it would be out by Comic-Con. But we deliberately waited so that retailers would have the book on the same day Walmart did. Again, as retailers have been good to me, that made me happy even though I'm sad I won't have the book to show at SDCC.

That said...I think it's also good to have another distributor to outside of Diamond. I think Diamond is and always will be a part of the marketplace (well, at least until we're all reading 3-D motion comics on ipad you can wear.) But I don't think monopolies are good for comics (or effective duopolies, as in the case of the Big Two).

Another smart thing is that, at least from my experience, Kickstart has been about making the books accessible. Not just physically, but as a reading experience. Most of my friends and family are not comic book professionals, and while I think comics are the greatest language in the world...most of them don't speak it, and have a hard time understanding it."

Here's Kickstarts official webpage (which is pretty vague on the new comics coming out)

STARKWEATHER: IMMORTAL Collected Edition Hardcover available now at all comic shops or for order online here

Written by David A. Rodriguez

Illustrated by Patrick McEvoy

Retail Price: $24.95

Page Count: 160 pages

Format: hardcover with dust jacket, 6.625” x 10.25”, full color

Today they are called witches, and they are hunted at every turn. The Twelve Great Houses have collapsed under betrayal and infighting. They have abandoned their charges, forsaking the very source of their gifts. They teeter on the brink of extinction and their best chance at survival—a five-year-old boy with enough power to topple mountains—disappeared 15 years ago. The boy has become a man who doesn’t remember what he was. The very spell that was woven to hide him from the world also has hidden his true self, leaving him a professional slacker—a directionless disappointment who wants nothing to spend his life in wonderful obscurity. It is Alexander Starkweather’s destiny to restore the Divine Blood to power and lead them into a new age. But before he can become a witch, he must learn what it means to be a man. Completes and collects the STARKWEATHER: IMMORTAL comic book series.

An 8 page preview is here

Jarret Williams talked about his latest book Super Pro K.O.! with newsarama.com writer David Pepose about the book and how it came to be.

"I always would watch wrestling and would think about all of these ideas for characters. Yoko NoNo is like a combination of Yokozuna, E. Honda, and Rikishi. My interests in old Hollywood and that whole scene sparked some wrestlers like Glitz -n -Glam. But then, some wrestlers like Nega Spider are truly random. The Other is a nod to all the wrestlers that hail from parts Unknown. That always sounded so mysterious to me. I remember reading the backs of Marvel trading cards and when I saw that a characters origin was "Unknown," it freaked me out a little bit."

Click on the cover for a preview

Super Pro K.O.! debuted a few months ago and should be at your local comic shop now, but if not it can be ordered directly from publisher Oni Press.

The Atomic Robo Cartoon Teaser Trailer is now online

The Cartoon is supposedly coming very soon. Looks interesting I think.

Atomic Robo is a comic series published by Red 5 comics. The Vol 4: Atomic Robo and Other Strangeness Trade Paperback drops next week at your local comic shop.

And Volume 5 starts in November with Atomic Robo: Deadly Art Of Science #1.

It can be pre-ordered here

And a preview of Volume 5 #1 is here

Boneyard by Richard Moore has ended after a 9 year 28 issue run (which was collected into seven trade paperbacks). Moore has decided to pursue other ventures instead of continuing his well recieved indy series.

About Boneyard: The series tracked Michael Paris after his inheriting a graveyard from his grandfather.  In his new graveyard, Paris discovered a cadre of classic monster-types, including the warm and intelligent (and very dangerous) lady vampire Abbey. With Paris and Abbey’s will-they-or-won’t-they romance at the center, Boneyard ran for nine years, as the graveyard’s inhabitants faced demons of various sorts and the devil himself.  Moore mixed in plenty of humor, making Boneyard something rare in today’s comic world – a funny adventure comic that didn’t skimp on character.

He talked to newsarama.com about the ending of Boneyard and about his next comic projects.

"...I also wanted to get to other titles and characters I didn't have time for while I was doing Boneyard. I have a lot of projects vying for their time in the sun. Unfortunately, I'm not very fast, so sometimes hard decisions have to be made."

Available September 1st

BERONA’S WAR VOL. 1: FIELD GUIDE

Original Graphic Novel Hardcover

12 page preview here

From the minds of artists/storytellers Jesse Labbé and Anthony Coffey comes this epic tale of two adorable, fur-covered races doomed by their own escalating violence! The Ele-Alta and the Cropones wage war over the island of Berona’s most desirable piece of real estate: the land called Amity. Cute and cuddly on the outside, but ferocious to the core, these fuzzy fighters will continue their bloodshed no matter the cost! The BERONA’S WAR VOL. 1: FIELD GUIDE provides a great introduction to the world of BERONA’S WAR, featuring maps, devious strategies, weapons, character and troop descriptions and the history of wartime events. This is the perfect primer for the upcoming BERONA’S WAR VOL. 2: FIGHT FOR AMITY!

Retail Price: $19.95

Page Count: 160 pages

Format: hardcover with dust jacket, 5.75” x 8.75”, full color

Coverless Quick Review: Archaia Comics sent me a preview copy of this book and really it doesn't even need a nice long review because it can be described in only two words...

Pure Awesomeness!