AdHouseBooksBlog

If you’re reading this, then you just might be a comic creator. If you are, then you just might have attended HeroesCon in Charlotte. If you have, then you probably love the show just as much as I do. If all of that is the case, then by golly, read on…

(A great photo of JCC’s offspring, buttonboy! taken at this year’s HeroesCon.)

So, a few weeks ago, I got an email from Benzilla, which I think I’ll just cut and paste. But in my words, I totally agree with him, and I sent my vote in today.

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Ballots are now up and available for the Will Eisner Spirit of Comics
Retail Award. Like the site says, the award is presented each year at
the Eisner Awards ceremony at the San Diego Comic-Con to, ” an
individual retailer who has done an outstanding job of supporting the
comics art medium both in the community and within the industry at
large.” If there’s a comics retailer I’ve had any personal dealings
with that better meets this description than Charlotte, NC’s Heroes
Aren’t Hard to Find, I sure don’t know who it’d be.

From the store’s enthusiastic support of local cartoonists–both
mainstream comics industry artists and us “indie” folk–at Heroes Con, to
the store’s various community activities and their attractive grime- and
chainmail-free store on Charlotte’s 7th Street, Heroes more than meets
the awards stipulation of a retailer that:

* Supports a wide variety of innovative material
* Is knowledgeable
* Engages in community activity
* Exhibits a high quality store image
* and Adheres to ethical business practices

The awards site lists previous recipients back to 1993 and not one
winner has been on the East cost. I propose that this year all of us
who have attended Heroes con as guests or exhibitors, shopped at the
store, and even spent valuable hours of our precious, precious time
putting up with that Dustin guy’s nonsensical ramblings, endeavor to get
Heroes in the running for the 2008 awards and bring the gold home to
North Cackalacky.

Post stuff to your blogs! Pester complete strangers to vote for them!
(Anyone can place nominating votes.) Send a “gift pack” of tender juicy
steaks to the judging panel! Do whatever you have to, but most
important: fill out the ballot and send it in. For folks not in
Charlotte, I’ll be pestering Dustin for some specific community
activities to enter on the ballot and post those to my blog when I get
them. Voting is open until April, but why not put down those Hot
Pockets, get off your (or your parents’) couch and go ahead and send
yours in now?

Ballot located here:
http://www.comic-con.org/cci/forms/spirit08_ballot.pdf

Well, with tomorrow being Thanksgiving, I thought I’d go ahead and do a postage about thankfullness.

And yep, those are the three things I give the most thanks for…. and, wait for it… awwwwww.

What else?

Off the top of my head…

- Not getting hit by the white SUV who just HAD to get to Chickafila at 8am this morning. WTF?

- Most all the creators that I’ve had a chance to work with. (heh… I said “most!”)

- A pretty cool family that is are all pretty healthy.

- Retailers that carry AdHouse product.

- TV. I luvs it.

- Oh.. and YOU! Whomever might be reading this, and might actually care what I think and what we do.

Well, I guess that will be enough for now. If you are travelin’ this holiday season, I wish you safe passage. If not, enjoy and I’ll see you in a few…

Mr. Tom Spurgeon posted an interview with Mr. Joshua Cotter yesterday over on the esteemed site known as The Comics Reporter. Please read, if you are so inclined.

The photo above references our work towards bringing the series into one beautifully bound collection.

The interview really is a good one. Bringing forth anecdotes and thoughts of Mr. Cotter’s growing up, creating comics, and his current state of mind. As an egocentric publisher that I am, I note his one thought about how his series has lost money at AdHouse. While that may be true in some regards, the other side of the coin could be viewed, and we could say AdHouse hasn’t earned him money as well. I understand that we do have certain market hurdles to cross. For instance, it’s a $5 floppie. Granted, you get 56 pages (only a few fake ads!) for $5.

Anyways, he and I are working to make the collection the best it can be, and hopefully they will come. I will also be breaking out the lil’ marketing robots to get the word on the street.

Til’ then… excelsior indeed.

Update: Josh talks to Chris Arrant over at Newsarama, too.

Well, after just giving a friend some crap about how he hasn’t posted on his blog, I thought I better get something up before he can say “et tu”?

If you’re out and about like the peoples above, and you live in and/or around the Chapel Hill, NC area, you should save Dec. 1st as a date.

Our buds Hope Larson and Bryan Lee O’Malley are going to be signing at Chapel Hill Comics. Details here.

We just dropped some more SALAMANDER DREAMS in the post to Chapel Neal, so you can purchase your own copy to have Hope autograph it. The only thing we did with Mal was PROJECT: SUPERIOR, and they have long been sold out, so I gots nothin.

Anyways, so, there you go. They’re all good people.

Well, not really… but I like making up my own names.

(pardon the flash.)

This coming Sunday (11/11/07) is the Virginia Comicon, held here in Richmond, VA.

I’ll let the press release take over from here. I promise this will be one of the more unusual shows for AdHouse. As a local thang, I’m bringing stuff I normally wouldn’t bring to roadshows. Come and see what I mean!

PR:

This is our biggest show ever, with dozens of comic artists and professionals! We also have three show exclusives! Go to www.vacomicon.com for more info!

Hourly door prizes for variant comics, original artwork, signed prints, graphic novels, T-shirts and more! Each hour we will give away over $100 worth of prizes!

Everyone gets a free Battlestar Galactica Season 3 convention exclusive variant! Plus, get writer James Kuhoric, who is the guest of honor to sign it! See below for the rest of the artist coming!

Stop by to see a whole room full of great Bargains on Key Issues, Silver Age, Golden Age, High Grade Comics, CGC & CGG Graded Comics, Half Price Comics, Dollar Comics, Bargain Boxes, Great Deals & Fun for Everyone. Bring your Old Comics to trade or sell!

We are loving our new location, and have a newly updated website to assist visitors and travelers at www.vacomicon.com.
Admission is just $4 each, and only $3 if you sign up for our mailing list (or print this email, and bring it to the show). Children under 6 are FREE!

Please…spread the word about the show! Just go to our MYSPACE page and add us a a friend. The page is located at www.Myspace.com/VACOMICON

Also, if you don’t want to miss out on the show exclusives, be sure to go to www.vacomicon.com and click on “Tickets” to securely order your tickets in advance. Only $4 each, and you will guarantee that you get the limited exclusives…plus, go to the front of the line to get in to the show!

Here are traveling directions. If you wish to stay at the Crowne Plaza (the host hotel), ask for the “Virginia Comicon In-House” rate, which should secure you a hotel room for just $89. The Crowne Plaza (888-259-8696) is the host hotel and is located 0.7 mile off Interstate 64 at the W Broad Street/US-250 E exit (#183B). The address is: 6532 W Broad Street in Richmond, VA. Plenty of free parking! From I-95 take the I-64 West Exit #79 towards Charlottesville. Follow for 3.2 miles, and then take exit #183B. Go 0.7 miles to hotel.

This is the BIGGEST COMIC SHOW in the Virginias! Go to our website to learn more about the event and the artists!
Please forward this email to as many comic collectors as you know!

Additionally, we are keeping the admission for this show at only $4, or $3 if you print this email! Also, to keep the cost down for future shows, if you get these emails AND the mailed postcards, and would prefer to receive ONLY these emails, please let us know. This will keep our costs and admission fees down, and will help out the environment by saving paper and postage.

Here are the artists. Go to the website to learn more! There are NO MORE TABLES available for dealers to this show…Thanks! To unsubscribe from this mailing go to the bottom of the page. Once again, the show is on November 11, 2007. Tell your friends!

The Show will be giving away a free copy of a Battlestar Galactica Season 3 Convention Exclusive comic book to the first 250 attendees!
This book is written by James Kuhoric, who is our guest of honor at the show! This show is Kuhoric’s ONLY scheduled convention appearance ANYWHERE for 2007! Thanks James!

James Callahan (Rotting in Dirtville, and Strange Detective Tales)

Steve Conley, (Astounding Space Thrills and the brand new Star Trek: Season 4 from IDW)

Riley Brown who is the penciller of Cable and Deadpool will be at the show.

Pop Mhan (Batgirl, Marvel Adventures Spider-Man, SpyBoy, Spyboy and Young Justice, and a brand new book from manga publisher Tokyo Pop called “Blank”!)

Tsunami Studios! This studio from North Carolina features several fine comic artists working in a variety of roles in the industry, inculding pencils, inks, colors and more! Members attending the show include:
Randy Green, Rick Ketcham, Steve Bird, John Wycough, Kelly Yates, and Brian Shearer.

Randy Green (Buffy, Teen Titans, New X-Men, Witchblade, The Dolls, Tomb Raider, Decimation: The House of M, Emma Frost and More!)

Kevin Sharpe (Recent work: Supergirl and the Legion of Super-Heroes #29 and OUTSIDERS: FIVE OF A KIND – WEEK 2: KATANA/SHAZAM, Army of Darkness)

Rick Ketcham! (Runaways, X-men, New Excalibur, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Emma Frost, Eve: Protomecha)
Rick did art chores on the free Richmond Braves convention exclusive available only at this convention. Get in line early for a free autograph!

Louis Small Jr.! (Shi, Lady Death, Vampirella, Codename: Knockout for DC Vertigo, and more!)

Adhouse front-man Chris Pitzer will be on hand to discuss all of the latest products from this small press gem of a company.

Robert Ullman (Richmond Magazine, syndicated strips including “Strange Love” which appears in Washington DC’s CityPaper, and freelance work for Spin magazine.

Brett’s Comic Publishing! (Spikey and Einstien is drawn by Cartooning instructor Kirk O’Brien and Sanctuary: Hope is not yet lost! Digitally painted by Kevin Roberts)

Kelly Yates (creator-owned project Amber Atoms, Green Arrow, JLA, Noble Causes, Tellos, and Fear Agent)

21st Century Sandshark Studios

John Wycough (Star Wars Tales, Noble Causes, Lone, Bloodrayne, Shadowhawk, Intimidators)

Brian Shearer (GravyBoy Big Box,Bloodrayne, Marvel Trading Cards)

Bill Meiggs(Mr. Meiggs’ work will be seen nationally when Marvel launches their trading cards with original art inserts later this year).

Pat Carlucci (full-color pinup…highlighting the crime-fighting abilities of many of your favorite super-heroines)

Eric Wolfe Hanson (Disney Adventures Magazine, Marvel comics, and various Image comics)

Steve Bird (collaborated with Pop Mhan on a recent Outsiders project, and the final issue of the latest Firestorm series. Recently, inking the current issue of Checkmate over Chris Samnee)

Fake McCoy Comics! (Cory Harris, a writer for Fake McCoy will be showing off their latest Title “SideKicked”! Also, check out their first title: Operation Pajama Pants)

In memory of the first space dog…

Who launched into space 50 years ago today. We thank you brave girl.

Johanna tells us it’s National Comic Strip Month.

(Pictured here with Marc “Jocko” Nathan and KC aka Purple Hat (not Wool Hat!) at Richcon)

As I’ve expressed here and there, for some reason, I’m not really a “strip” guy. It’s weird. I grew up reading them in the papers. During lunch break at my high school, I would take time to go to the library and check out the Washington Post’s section. It seemed so much better. But… there are exceptions. Peanuts. Far Side. Polly & Her Pals.

And thanks to Dean and IDW, a fantastic collection of TERRY & THE PIRATES. I’ve never read TERRY before, but I’m going to try and read this new collection from front to back. I flipped through a copy this morning, and all I can say is wow. Everyone involved with this book should be proud. Even if I can’t love the strip, I can love the book. Minimalist and professional design.

Talking about the design reminds me to give props to that Popeye collection that Fantagraphics is putting out.

Anyways, thought it was an interesting synchronistic event that had me flipping through TERRY this morn, and then finding out Comic Strip Month started yesterday.