AdHouseBooksBlog

STUFF!

One of the first things I read* after returning from Comic-Con was their 40th Anniversary Souvenir Book. (Not to be confused with the Chronicle one. This is the one that they hand out when you enter the show.) I LOVED it. Since it was their 40th, they went back and gave a recap of every year, along with memories from people who have been part of the show since the beginning. You got to see fantastic program covers, where the convention has exhibited, who the guests were… fascinating stuff! To all those involved, thanks and GREAT JOB! (*I also read some submissions along the way, but finished those after the SDCC book.)

The next four orders that get placed through the AdShop will receive a FREE scratchndent copy of REMAKE. Just sayin. (the normal disclaimer applies.)

David at the PreCur on HIRO:  “So basically, what we’re dealing with here is a loving, functional couple dealing with the occasional outburst of genre mash-up, based on whatever Chao pulls out of the pop-culture junk drawer.”

SDNN on JJ:  “As a welcome reprieve from his larger projects, Jean finds pleasure in drawing in his sketchbooks as a self-contained world free from the constraints that are par for the course of any commercial-art career.”

Hipster Dad on TRH:  ” It’s done with a delightfully balanced sense of scale and wit, with wonderful artwork and character designs.” via TCR.

Don @ EyeonComics on TTT: “But artist Scott Morse reveals that he often feels as lost as the rest of us. He’s struggling to live a good life, to be a good father. The world around him and the people in it can be frustrating, even infuriating, but when he pauses, he can see the wonder in the quieter, everyday moments as well.” via TCR.

Episode Three of the ISR’s MoCCA Reportage.

Drawn talks the PR3.

And speaking of Drawn, a big thanks to Matt for helping us make connections. We just might be helping a certain someone bring a certain thing to certain shops at some point in the future. (Break out your decoder rings people!)

For those interested…

It looks like PR3 should be hitting the states around September 9th. Add a week or two for distribution/processing, and I guess you should see a copy in a local shop or via Amazon at the end of September*. Just thought you’d like to know.

*Granted it could come in sooner, or get delayed, it’s all up to the big boats and boys now.

… or how I tackled SDCC.

As faithful readers already know, I hit the left coast for a rather quick SDCC/Comic-Con/NerdProm in&out. I got in Thursday afternoon and left Saturday night. In almost all regards, a success. What follows is my second day after ramblings. Enjoy, disregard, do whatever. It’s all good.

So, Thursday was family day. My bro and niece picked me up at the airport and we proceeded to the show. After looking for parking for around 2 hours, we finally made our way into the fastest registration I have ever had a pleasure to have been part of. It might have helped that we were into the afternoon of Thursday, but I like to pretend it’s the power behind the Ad.

My niece’s shopping goal was a babie. My brother’s was Star Wars. Mine was nothing. It was their day afterall. The only thing I bought that day was a pretzeldog for the niece. We hit the studio craziness first. Kinda neat. We accidentally almost bumped into Juliet from Lost at the WB booth. During our adventure, my niece took to picking up anything on the floor. A collectible trash gatherer. We eventually made it to the lower number aisles where we just might find a baby. A Carebear™ is close enough, right?

Once she got that, she was ready to go, so we talked her into taking in some cartoons at one of the panels upstairs. This was my first encounter of just how long lines can be at SDCC. Turning corners, going outside, stopping, standing, sitting… we got to around 10 people from the door when they shut it down. Oh well.

I still think they had a good time. We hit up some rather cool Mexican joint that evening and tapped it off by watching a bit of Casino. The nieces would get their Uncle present in the morning.

Morning came and my sister-in-law was kind enough to drive my bro and me to the show. He was back because it was STAR WARS day. Myself, I had things to do and people to see. My first stop was to see good ol’ pal C. Scott Morse. As usual, his booth was fantastic. Great books, art, people.. you know. This year Enrico and Ronnie (as well as Jeff) was hanging with him. We gabbed a bit, and then I was off to try and see J Chris before heading up to the ComicsPro talk. It takes soooo long to make it through those crazy full aisles!

This was J Chris’ first trip to SDCC, so I wanted to take some time to walk around with him. Later in the day we actually went up to try and get into the Mighty Boosh panel. Even though we arrived a half hour before it starrted, we were still denied. Oh well… we tried. Instead we walked around a bit and got in line for Lewis Trondheim. Like he said… probably only at SDCC could we do that.

The rest of the day was my getting the SDCC exclusive PARKER book from IDW, a few autographs on baseballs and nametags, and I’m certain other important things that I’m forgetting right now.

The evening had Scott, Enrico, Ronnie, myself and some of Scott’s high school friends head out for dinner before the Eisners. We really wanted to hit the Eisners as soon as possible, but with my forgetting to eat lunch, food was kind of a priority. We eventually decided to just eat in the hotel restaurant, which wasn’t too bad. After woofing it down, we head to the Eisners, and I swear the longest train I have even encountered started right before we got to the tracks. Ugh! So, we FINALLY get to the awards. It wasn’t too late into the program. I dug the new place. The show seemed to move along rather quickly. Probably the coolest wins were Russ Heath and Nate Powell. Just because.

I did get to meet Rafael Grampá for the first time at the Eisners. He’s a super nice guy. He’s the man, man. We’d actually see him again later in the night as Bob Schreck, Diana Schutz, Matt Wagner, Jason Horn, Scott, Ronnie and Mike sat around to shoot the poop at one of the patios. I was proud that I made it to 2am.

Saturday came and I started the day by walking the artist alley with JCC. I think every trip to SDCC should have an artist alley visit. Right before that I had bumped into Chris Hope (exRVAer) and we made plans to meet up for the James Jean panel. It was a good panel. Nice to see his influences and new projects.

Grampá had met me and came to the panel as well. Afterward we headed out for lunch and talked about all types of stuff. Probably the most important was his art book that we hope to produce in the future. Furry Water will take some time, so maybe in two years?

What else? I got a year-old invoice paid! I picked up some new comics from some of my fave peeps. Bought some presents for the wife. Handed out some of those Afrodisiac postcards and Process Recess Pogs. I’m sure there is other stuff, but I can’t think of it right now.

Other people it was good to see: Ken, Patrick, JPM, Brett, Chris, Ash, Randall, Debbie, Warren, Chi, Colin, James, J-Lu, Robert, Phil, Charlie, Matt, Tom, David, Keith, Frank, Freshy, Rob, Andy, Kevin, Gina… and loads others that I’m forgetting because I’m lame.

So.. all in all, a good trip.

For Immediate Release

# # #

AdHouse Books is pleased to announce their first step into the digital distribution of comics.

They have teamed with Iconology, Inc. and are part of the Iconology Inc.’s ComiXology Comics App that is currently available from Apple.

The premier titles that are being offered by AdHouse and Iconology are MORT GRIM, REMAKE, SKYSCRAPERS OF THE MIDWEST  and ZIG ZAG.

AdHouse publisher Chris Pitzer said, “We’re very excited to stick our toes into the digital distribution pool with Comixology. We love their brand, and can’t wait to see where this exciting new technology might take us.”

AdHouse Books hopes that the new market of digital distribution will raise the profile of their publications as well as drive more business to the better comic shops that carry AdProduct.

“Anytime you pick up a book from AdHouse,” said David Steinberger, CEO of Iconology, “you know you’re getting a unique book that’s lovingly, attentively crafted. You’ll may have a great laugh, a great cry, and always a stirring and mesmerizing read. We are beyond thrilled that the creators at AdHouse have joined us on our app.”

About AdHouse Books
AdHouse Books has been a boutique publishing juggernaut since the year of 2002. Over the years, they have won and been nominated for awards within the comic profession (Ignatz, Harvey, Eisner) and the design world (AIGA, Communication Arts, Domtar Paper). Their library of publications is an eclectic mix of sequential and illustrative arts.

About Iconology, Inc.
Since 2007 Iconology, Inc. has been working to expose more people to the world of comics, through comiXology.com and related applications. comiXology.com, brick-and-mortar comic book retailer tools, iPhone and Blackberry apps and digital comics are all connected through the comiXology platform.

# # #

… as stuff does. And it will usually do SDCC.

I don’t “think” I’ve talked about SDCC yet, so here you go:

I’ll be there. Roughly getting in around Thursday noonish, and leaving Saturday evening. Not sure why I’m telling you all that. Not like I’m exhibiting, presenting, or paneling. I am looking forward to walking around with J Chris, possibly getting some autographs, seeing my familly, seeing friends, attending the Eisners with CrazyM and friends, hopefully getting a year old invoice paid, having a meeting where a contract gets signed, finding some new stuff… you get the idea. If you see me, say hi, ask me about some promo stuff I might be carrying around and I’ll give you one.

+++

It’s always tough running a review when the reviewer doesn’t like a particular title. But when you put out so many titles in a summer, I guess they’re not going to like everything. Anyway, they liked one…
Marc @CWR: “REMAKE is by writer/artist Lamar Abrams, and is one of the strangest things I’ve read in quite a while…”

Warren @Singing the Blues: ” That’s some good storytelling right there, and luckily, even though it’s not obvious, the back cover flap lists the title as “Johnny Hiro volume 1″, meaning that hopefully we’ll be able to read more in the future. That possibility is what can keep hope alive in the interim, right?”, via J

Why Sarah Palin quite her job.

Nate Lever.. I mean Dustin Harbin gives us some thoughts on Remake:  “It’s almost like it’s meta-funny–for instance, what is actually happening in the story rarely seems particularly important, as much as HOW it’s happening.”

Stumptown Trade Review talks about MaxGuy…. Pretty interesting, right at the beginning of the cast, too. Kind of like a Felix/Oscar review since one likes and one doesn’t.

“I like sexy.” Paul Pope at Complex. via TCR

Chris @ the ISB: “I imagine that Chao’s probably sick to death of Johnny Hiro being compared to Scott Pilgrim, but the books are very comparable, and if you like one, chances are that you’ll like the other.” 

Forty years ago today…

History was made. Thanks to Paul Conrad for sharing those memories with me. 

That title reminds me of one of those great Pretenders songs. Sobbin’ or something. Anyways…

I decided to go all “retro” and post one of the first images I uploaded to flickr. Since it’s an image of Scott @ a show, I figure I should post a link to all the cool stuff he has planned for SDCC! (And that’s only part 1!)

Brian Heater @ the DCH (via J): “Chao’s book is a rollicking love letter to boundary-less pop-culture, which, by the end, has embraced everything from Night Court to Brand Nubian, with a clean visual approach that seems something of a cross between contemporary Manga and Herge, accented by some rather both layouts thanks to Chao’s keen eye for cityscapes and action scenes.”

Check Wells over at Catacomb talks with Rachel (FCHS) Freire: Q) What do you do to chill out or decompress? Favorite comfort food? After being couped up all day drawing I like to take a walk to 711 for some junk food, or pick up some Chinese take-out. Or if I’m feeling lazy I’ll stretch my legs on the couch and watch some good ol’ TV.

As the sponsor, I’m gonna link to the ISR second MoCCA recap, even though I haven’t finished listening to it yet. Is that dangerous? Hell yes. Supposedly they talk to Lamar in it.

Speaking of Lamar, I think this is funny. Probably more for the drug reference than the game reference.

The GEN takes a look at the Eisner Short Stories, including Freaks.