Michael D Hamersky On Comics Comments On: The Graphic Novel Shown On ABC's CASTLE TV Show Season Finale!     - - Topmost Photo Above: Right at the start of the Season Finale episode, Richard Castle proudly shows off the original art to his upcoming graphic novel! - Top Photo Directly Above: The 'Castle' panel at the Comic-Con International: San Diego! - Left Top Photo:  The Graphic Novel's front cover - a presentation by Marvel Comics & ABC!

TODAY'S FEATURE - Blog #3417:

Yes, although Tina and I are both 'Castle' TV Show fans, I have to admit that we tape the show that airs on Monday nights, even though this past Monday's episode was the 2010-11 Season Finale!

I already mentioned on my Facebook Fan Page at 12:32PM on Monday, that Marvel had already posted a scan of the graphic novel that would be mentioned on the Monday evening screening. Which is seen at the top left of this blog post!

When we both watched the recorded episode last night, (after Glee!), I went back afterwards and re-played the beginning of the episode, when Richard Castle proudly showed off the original artwork to the upcoming graphic novel, as seen at the top right of this blog.

During that scene, Richard stated the following comments, and I'm somewhat paraphrasing in parts and combining it together... Castle questioned the two detectives, (Detective Javier Esposito and Detective Kevin Ryan), "You've heard of Wolverine, Batman, Betty and Veronica? They were fine for their day. There's a new sheriff on the spinner rack.  This is the original artwork to my new graphic novel. It's epic cool that's what it is!". 

Which quite honestly I thought was 'Pretty Cool!' for sure!

So you ask, why is this blog worthy?

Well... The photo under the scene from Monday's Season Finale, is from the Comic-Con International: San Diego.  Yeah, the 'San Diego Comic Con'!

Last year's Castle panel's line to get in was cut off 2 hours before the panel was opening!  They had already maxed out the room for attendees!  And no, it wasn't in Hall H... but still... This was an overwhelming response to a TV show that granted, has thrown in a few lines of dialogue about comic books over the now three seasons aired, but that was amazing in itself!

I urge you to check out the upcoming graphic novel.  And no, it's not about the 'Castle' TV Show itself or on the 'Nikki Heat' series of books, rather it's on Richard Castle's first series of stories on Derrick Storm.  Here's a brief promo blurb on the graphic novel:

Marvel Entertainment and ABC Studios are proud to announce CASTLE: RICHARD CASTLE'S DEADLY STORM, an all-new hardcover graphic novel inspired by the popular “Castle” television series. This 112 page hardcover hits comic shops and bookstores everywhere on September 28, 2011.  Fans can get a first look at the upcoming graphic novel when Richard Castle (Nathan Fillion) reveals the cover on “Knockout,” the season finale of “Castle,” MONDAY, MAY 16 (10:01-11:00 p.m., ET) on the ABC Television Network.

When viewers first met Richard Castle, he had reached celebrity author status with the success of his Derrick Storm mystery novels. In an unprecedented collaborative effort between Marvel, ABC Studios and the producers of “Castle,” the adventures of Derrick Storm will be chronicled in an all new graphic novel...

If you don't have a LCBS near you to purchase this from, then here's a link to where you can pre-order it online: Castle: Deadly Storm where it is already #553 on the Bestsellers List!

And I should mention the fine actors that have brought this TV Series to life, and made it one of Tina's and my Top 10 TV Shows that we have watched this Season:

“Castle” stars Nathan Fillion as Richard Castle, Stana Katic as NYPD Detective Kate Beckett, Susan Sullivan as Martha Rodgers, Molly Quinn as Alexis Castle, Ruben Santiago-Hudson as NYPD Captain Roy Montgomery, Tamala Jones as Medical Examiner Lanie Parish, Jon Huertas as NYPD Detective Javier Esposito, and Seamus Dever as NYPD Detective Kevin Ryan.

Looking forward to Season 4 of this TV series, as well as the graphic novel now! 

~Michael

BTW, You can 'follow' this Blog by clicking the 'Follow' Button at this NetworkedBlogs app!  We currently have over 2,431 'Followers'!  Thanks to ALL of YOU that have already clicked that button! 

And for those of YOU that haven't yet... I would appreciate it if YOU would!!!

~ Michael D Hamersky

If I have it... You can find it 'Under The Big Top Of Comics' at:  

http://www.ComicBooksCircus.com/ 

Web Page Note:  This blog post is written for the IE Browser standards.  Chrome, Safari, Netscape, Firefox and the other browsers serve the page up differently, sorry about that!

The screen display resolution is best seen at the setting of 1024 x 768 on your laptop or desktop computer.

NOTE: All images and characters within this blog post are copyright and trademark their respective owners.

Comics Creators: If you are breaking into, or already work in the comic book industry or other pop culture productions, you are welcome to email or mail us press releases, news items, and updates that you feel would be of interest to our blog readers. Including YOUR own works!

To mail printed items to us for possible review, send to:

Make It So Marketing Inc., PO Box 130653, Carlsbad, CA 92013

 Also, if you are a Facebook member, I would have liked you to send me a 'Friend Request'. However, I have reached the maximum limit of 5,000 Facebook Friends and Fan pages already, so I've added a New 'Facebook Fan Page' so that even more of YOU can 'Like' what I am doing, and be interactive with me and others there.  Here is the link to that 'Facebook Fan Page': Michael D Hamersky On Comics! Please click the 'Like' button on that page! 

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Michael D Hamersky On Comics Presents: Tina LoSasso's Review Of... How To Master The Art of Selling     - Above: The Front Cover To 'How To Master the Art of Selling' by Tom Hopkins, and Illustrated by Bob Byrne. A 'SmarterComics Book Based on the National Bestseller! - Top Left Photo: Tom Hopkins!

TODAY'S FEATURE - Blog #3416:

Today's blog is a guest blog by Tina LoSasso, who is very familiar with Tom Hopkins' National Besteller in book format: 

Worlds Collide!

Sometimes I feel as if I've read every piece of sales advice ever written. You see, for 10 years I was Managing Editor at a sales resource site that publishes a weekly newsletter and books of advice by various sales experts. My job was reading their material and selecting what we wanted to publish. That's how I met the folks at Tom Hopkins. When I learned that Tom was going to release a comic book based on his sales teaching, I thought -- to quote one of my favorite 'Seinfelds' -- "Worlds collide!"

The original "How to Master the Art of Selling" has sold over 1.6 million copies so I was eager to see what the comic book version would be like. This unusual marriage of business advice and comic book style comes from SmarterComics who have given several prominent business books the comic book treatment. Others in the catalog include 'The Long Tail' by Chris Anderson and Sun Tzu's 'The Art of War' (how perfect is that, comic book fans?).

So, why give a business book the comic book treatment? According to SmarterComics, the idea is to take the best business books ever written and "make them visually appealing to busy professionals and the Twitter generation."

I see an added benefit: most books -- especially non-fiction books, are never finished.  Typically, a book buyer finds something that they think will help them. They read a chapter or two, and put the book down, never to finish it. These Smarter Comics versions solve the problem. How? They're short - only 50 - 60 pages and illustrated so the lessons fly by.

In fairness, "How to Master the Art of Selling" doesn't really read like a typical comic book. You're not following a set of characters through an adventure. The artwork isn't forwarding a narrative, it's depicting (and sometimes lampooning) what's being explained. So the illustrations feel more like cartoons than comics. In fact, it feels more like a Classics Illustrated than a typical comic book or graphic novel.

This minor criticism aside, the book does exactly what it sets out to do. In 50 easy pages, a master of sales, Tom Hopkins clear and succinctly explains what you need to do to be successful in sales. This fun comic book version of Tom Hopkins' classic is perfect for a young person who has no sales experience, or is struggling in a new sales position. It's like Cliff Notes for today's twitter generation.

Readers will learn why sales can be an exciting and lucrative profession, and how to stay motivated during the inevitable low points of any career. This illustrated adaptation distills over 400 pages of knowledge into 50 and still manages to give clear cut advice on how to find customers, what to say to prospects and how to close.

Super cool stuff!

We give everything we review here, a comic book grade. 'How to Master the Art of Selling' gets a VERY FINE PLUS (VF+)  8.5 out of a possible 10.0 comic book grading scale.

~Tina

You can purchase this book, (cover priced at $12.95 USD), at the following locations:

SmarterComics web page for the book

Amazon:  How to Master the Art of Selling from SmarterComics

Our thanks to Judy at Tom Hopkins International for having the folks at SmarterComics send us the book for review.

Additionally you can 'Like' the Facebook Fan Page for 'SmarterComics' as seen here, where there are several more sequentially illustrated books.

I look forward to reviewing at least one of them, before Tina reads / reviews them all, LOL!

~Michael

BTW, You can 'follow' this Blog by clicking the 'Follow' Button at this NetworkedBlogs app!  We currently have over 2,426 'Followers'!  Thanks to ALL of YOU that have already clicked that button! 

And for those of YOU that haven't yet... I would appreciate it if YOU would!!!

~ Michael D Hamersky

If I have it... You can find it 'Under The Big Top Of Comics' at:  

http://www.ComicBooksCircus.com/ 

Web Page Note:  This blog post is written for the IE Browser standards.  Chrome, Safari, Netscape, Firefox and the other browsers serve the page up differently, sorry about that!

The screen display resolution is best seen at the setting of 1024 x 768 on your laptop or desktop computer.

NOTE: All images and characters within this blog post are copyright and trademark their respective owners.

Comics Creators: If you are breaking into, or already work in the comic book industry or other pop culture productions, you are welcome to email or mail us press releases, news items, and updates that you feel would be of interest to our blog readers. Including YOUR own works!

To mail printed items to us for possible review, send to:

Make It So Marketing Inc., PO Box 130653, Carlsbad, CA 92013

 Also, if you are a Facebook member, I would have liked you to send me a 'Friend Request'. However, I have reached the maximum limit of 5,000 Facebook Friends and Fan pages already, so I've added a New 'Facebook Fan Page' so that even more of YOU can 'Like' what I am doing, and be interactive with me and others there.  Here is the link to that 'Facebook Fan Page': Michael D Hamersky On Comics! Please click the 'Like' button on that page! 

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Michael D Hamersky On Comics Reports On:   Semantink's Comic Savvy May 15th, 2011 Meet-up!   (San Diego, California)      - - Top Photo: The May 2011 Semantink's Comic Savvy was held once again in the outside porch area of Milano Coffee Company in the Mission Valley Area of San Diego, California. - Lower Photo:  (L-R) Nathalie Grepe, Andrew Rakestraw - Winner of the Priest T-Shirt Surprise Drawing, Benjamin Glibert, Luis Alvarez, Matt Dunford. -  Note:  The additional pics from last night will be posted in the special photo album: May 2011 Semantink's Comic Savvy Meet-Up at my Facebook Fan Page, Michael D Hamersky On Comics.

TODAY'S FEATURE - Blog #3441:

Last night was the May 2011 meetup of Semantink's Comic Savvy at the Milano Coffee Company in the Mission Valley area of San Diego, California.

And no, this isn't a brand new series of meetups going on in the San Diego Metro Area... Here's the link to the February 20th, 2011 Meet-Up,  and the April 2011 meetup that I attended.  (I did miss the March 2011 meetup due to family members going to the hospital during that time.)

The 'official hours' of the meet-up are from 5PM to 7PM, on the 3rd Sunday of every month, but several persons, including myself  were having so much fun attending that we were there till later... But I did make it home to attend the three hour Season Finale of Survivor on CBS! 

I've included a couple of pics at the top right of this post, with names of those in attendance shown in the photos, (Sorry, not all are pictured... And please excuse any name misspellings!).  Because of the limitations of this blog format, I've built a 'special photo album' titled 'May 2011 Semantink's Comic Savvy Meet-Up' at my Facebook Fan Page for you to see all that were in attendance, if YOU weren't there!  And  please.. Feel free to 'tag' yourself if you attended!

Ben Glibert, Director of Publishing at Semantink Publishing, was once again the 'moderator' of the meetup.

First came the introductions going round the table, and with what the person was currently reading, whether comic book, graphic novel, or TPB.  The group once again had some new attendees, (all are welcome!), and some of the items being read were ones that I had not yet heard of. (i.e. Chris with Nemesis HC, James with Axe Cop, Sioux (sp.) Cowboy Ninja Viking, while others were publications that I had heard of, like: Matt with Scalped, Andrew - Y The Last Man, Jose - Black Knight, and Tiffany with Cyclops.)

Last meeting there had been an announcement that the sponsors of this meetup, Semantink Publishing, would be going to Free Comic Book Day up in the Los Angeles Metro Area,  Rancho Cucamonga to be specific, at 4 Color Fantasies. They reported on having a great time there, as they estimated that the crowd was twice as large as the year before. Plus Ben stated that Semantink had published a FCBD comic just for distribution at that location.  I've asked Ben for one of the few copies that was left, and should be receiving one at the next Comic Savvy in June. 

So that was what 5 out of the 19 attendees attended on FCBD.  They had gone to Rancho Cucamonga, 116 miles (1 hr 59 min) away!  What did the others in attendance do?  Well, I've already blogged that I went to 10 Local Comic Book Shops (LCBS) in the San Diego Metro Area, (blog #3410 & #3411). The next closest in LCBSs visited was Matt Dunford, who attend 4 LCBS. Others either went to just 1, or didn't attend any at all.  A couple weren't aware of last Saturday being FCBD.  So the FCBD event in San Diego is not very well publicized, nor attended... As these 19 attendees are mostly avid comic book fans! 

Further discussion on this topic took place, as it was loudly discussed that with the (San Diego) Comic-Con International taking place in the area once a year... You'd think there would be a better FCBD presence.  (Which is exactly what I said in summation in Blog #3411!) .

Next question... Last month, (in Blog #3392),  I asked the question of the group, 'What upcoming comic book movie are YOU most interested in seeing?'.  The 3rd most popular to want to see was the THOR film, with 12% having that as 1st choice, out of THOR, GREEN LANTERN, CAPTAIN AMERICA, and X-MEN.  (PRIEST was not included in this topic at that time.)

However, the attendees at last month's meetup, also thought that 'mainstream America' would want to see THOR the most, with 44% of the votes.

So what did this group think of the THOR film, now that it was out?  Here's the tally from last night.  And surprisingly, (at least to me), was the continued Alpha Rating, instead of a Comic Book Grading Scale! (Please Note - There were 16 attendees at the time of this roll call):

A / NM -  = 4

A- / NM-  = 2

B+ / VF+   = 3

B / VF      = 1

Not Seen   = 6

That was also interesting, because as I stated above, THOR was only the 3rd most anticipated comic book movie coming out to those that attended last month.  And of those 10 out of 16 that had seen it, a most favorable rating was given by 9 out of 10, as I consider a B+ / VF+ a very favorable rating also. A long discussion ensued by those that had seen it, being careful not to ruin it for the 6 that hadn't seen it.

Also, as customary, I brought a 'freebie' for those kind enough to answer my blog question(s).  Last month it was a movie poster for the Priest in 3D Film that was being released on May 13th in the USA and Canada.

My questions actually were started by Ben who had the same questions I did, and followed up by myself.  As I was interested in what everyone did, (or didn't do!) for FCBD this year. Plus I wanted to know what everyone thought of the THOR film, in a 'grade' format, because of the space limitation in this blog format.

My third (and last) question alone without Ben,  was if anyone at this meetup, now 19 in attendance was going to a comic book film that I hadn't brought up last time in my question of the month... 'Priest'?

I hadn't been totally aware that this 'Priest' film was based on a series of Korean comic books, sixteen in number!

But I had run across a marketing intern, Jennell, who was kind enough to provide a 'Priest' t-shirt for both my Facebook Fan Page 'drawing' to be held after Opening Weekend for the film, and one t-shirt for this Comic Savvy meetup as a 'thank you' for answering my survey questions!

I asked of the now 19 attendees... Who had seen the 'Priest' film that had just opened on Friday the 13th.  The silence was deafening... Who had interest in seeing this 'comic book film'?   Only 5 of the 19 put up their hands.  Many weren't aware that the film was based on a comic book series from Korea.  (I hadn't been totally aware of that fact either last month.)  Then I passed out the 3-D paper glasses placard for usage with the online game for 'Priest'.  Some attendees weren't 'keen' on taking one as they were passed around, while others immediately started putting the paper glasses together.  So there was a 'mixed' reaction to the giveaway 3-D glasses I brought...

That is... until I asked everyone to take a look at the back of the paper glasses placard for a yellow sticker.  That paper glasses placard with the sticker was signifying the 'winner' of the 'Priest' t-shirt.  Which turned out to be Andrew Rakestraw, who was one of the five who had expressed interest in seeing the film.  So congrats to Andrew, who is pictured at top right of this blog post, holding the 'Priest' t-shirt that he took home! 

There were more topics brought up at this meetup, but once again, as the meetup is held outside in a porch area, and nine-teen ending up attending last night, there were some sub-discussions that I didn't quite hear.

So... My thanks once again to Semantink Publishing sponsoring this monthly meet-up!  Here's the Facebook link to the event that just occurred, and here's the link to Semantink's Facebook Fan Page, which I encourage YOU to 'Like'!  Plus check out their several comic book series that are online.  When they publish hard copies of those in TPBs, I'll be sure to review blog them here, and possibly the FCBD comic that they distributed ONLY at 4 Color Fantasies for the 2011 FCBD!

Semantink's Comic Savvy is normally the 3rd Sunday of every month, which has been held at the Milano Coffee Company in Mission Valley.  There has been a recent change in ownership there, and with the increasing number of persons in attendance in recent months, the meet-up may have outgrown this location.  If there is a change, I'll mention it  in my next wall post at my own Facebook Fan Page, 'Michael D Hamersky On Comics'.

Till then...Have Some Fun!  Oh, and don't forget to check out the rest of the pics that weren't shown here at the blog, in the special photo album just for THIS meet-up!     

~Michael D Hamersky

BTW, You can 'follow' this Blog by clicking the 'Follow' Button at this NetworkedBlogs app!  We currently have over 2,426 'Followers'!  Thanks to ALL of YOU that have already clicked that button!  And for those of YOU that haven't yet... I would appreciate it if YOU would!!!

~ Michael D Hamersky 

If I have it... You can find it 'Under The Big Top Of Comics' at:   ComicBooksCircus.com 

Web Page Note:  This blog post is written for the IE Browser standards.  Chrome, Safari, Netscape, Firefox and the other browsers serve the page up differently, sorry about that!

The screen display resolution is best seen at the setting of 1024 x 768 on your laptop or desktop computer.

NOTE: All images and characters within this blog post are copyright and trademark their respective owners.

Comics Creators: If you are breaking into, or already work in the comic book industry or other pop culture productions, you are welcome to email or mail us press releases, news items, and updates that you feel would be of interest to our blog readers. Including YOUR own works!!  (Note:  I don't list my email address here, due to 'spambots' gathering it and 'spamming' me. 

To mail printed items to us for possible review, send to:

Make It So Marketing Inc., PO Box 130653, Carlsbad, CA 92013, USA

 Also, if you are a Facebook member, I would have liked you to have sent me a 'Friend Request'.

However, I have reached the maximum limit of 5,000 Facebook Friends and Fan pages in my network already, so I've added a New 'Facebook Fan Page' for myself so that even more of YOU can 'Like' what I am doing, and be interactive with me and others there. 

Here is the link to that 'Facebook Fan Page': Michael D Hamersky On Comics! Please click the 'Like' button on that page! 

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Michael D Hamersky On Comics Reviews: Yi Soon Shin Warrior And Defender #3!     - Above: The Front Cover To Yi Shoon Shin - Warrior And Defender #3!

TODAY'S FEATURE - Blog #3414:

I have received the latest issue of the Yi Soon Shin - Warrior And Defender limited series of comics from the creator of the comic.

Due to the fact that the first copy was misplaced in the mail intransit to me, I am moving this issue up in the review stack to blog about.

First, here's my review of issue #1 (March of 2010), and also issue #2 (July of 2010), to catch you up to date with what has happened thus far in the series.

Back?  Okay... Here's what the creator says is the scope of the series, plus what issue #3 is about:

This is a limited series based on the true story of Admiral Yi Soon Shin, a Korean naval commander who saved his people from Japanese invasion forces during the Imjin War (1592-1598).  Much like the Nazis during World War II, the Japanese were known for having little remorse for the innocent civilians of Korea.  They raped women, enslaved children and killed elders.  All that stood against them was one man who could not be defeated in battle.

In Issue #3, the Battle of Sacheon ensues as Admiral Yi Soon Shin unleashes his most powerful weapon against the samurai invaders of Japan; the mighty Kobukson! Witness the most brutal counterstrike in all history re-imagined in this next epic chapter of YI SOON SHIN: WARRIOR AND DEFENDER!

In the links I provided earlier in this blog, I mentioned what I thought of each issue individually, and what my 'comic book grade' for each issue was.

So after a few months in between issues... What did I think of the 3rd issue?

Well, quite honestly... I was a little shocked to see the opening two pages of this third issue!  The sexual situation was not what I was thinking I would be opening this issue's front cover up to. Yes, there has been instances of sex before in the prior issues, as well as depicted graphic violence, but I don't believe I've seen enough to make this a Mature Rating before now.  There is no rating on either of the covers, front or back.

The third page brought the reader up to date as to what had happened before.  The bottom part of the page was the credits for this issue. Then the story continued on with a little bit more blood and gore than I remembered the first two issues had, but then again, that's was the creator mentioned in his promo blurb above, "...the most brutal counterstrike in all history re-imagined". 

The action continued on almost non-stop, and it continued until the last page, page 24, where an interesting development laid in wait...

To be continued in Issue #4, a double-sized issue!

As a side note... Yi Soon Shin's birthday was celebrated at the end of last month, April 28th to be exact, 466 years ago!

Again, other than the opening sequence of this issue... I found this issue to be on track (par) with the rest of the issues presented so far, and I look forward to the closing issue, a double-sized one!

My review rating for this comic book issue #3 is a VERY FINE / NEAR MINT  (VF/NM) 9.0 out of a 10.0 possible comic book grading scale, with a M(ature) R(eaders) warning.

Here are the links that you should check out for this series:

Yi Soon Shin Comic Book Facebook Fan Page

Yi Soon Shin web site

Yi Soon Shin comic books are available for purchase at Amazon via these links:

Yi Soon Shin: Warrior and Defender #2

Yi Soon Shin Creators Bios

Also... For those of you that prefer to buy from your LCBS, Issue #1 can now be purchased through Diamond Distributors.  The order number is STK442972.

My thanks again to Onrie for keeping me up to date on the progress of this series.  The 4th Issue is planned to be published near the end of 2011... And when this series is compiled into a TPB / GN in early 2012, there is a special foreword by a comics legend... More on that later!

BTW, You can 'follow' this Blog by clicking the 'Follow' Button at this NetworkedBlogs app!  We currently have over 2,424 'Followers'!  Thanks to ALL of YOU that have already clicked that button! 

And for those of YOU that haven't yet... I would appreciate it if YOU would!!!

~ Michael D Hamersky

If I have it... You can find it 'Under The Big Top Of Comics' at:  

http://www.ComicBooksCircus.com/ 

Web Page Note:  This blog post is written for the IE Browser standards.  Chrome, Safari, Netscape, Firefox and the other browsers serve the page up differently, sorry about that!

The screen display resolution is best seen at the setting of 1024 x 768 on your laptop or desktop computer.

NOTE: All images and characters within this blog post are copyright and trademark their respective owners.

Comics Creators: If you are breaking into, or already work in the comic book industry or other pop culture productions, you are welcome to email or mail us press releases, news items, and updates that you feel would be of interest to our blog readers. Including YOUR own works!

To mail printed items to us for possible review, send to:

Make It So Marketing Inc., PO Box 130653, Carlsbad, CA 92013

 Also, if you are a Facebook member, I would have liked you to send me a 'Friend Request'. However, I have reached the maximum limit of 5,000 Facebook Friends and Fan pages already, so I've added a New 'Facebook Fan Page' so that even more of YOU can 'Like' what I am doing, and be interactive with me and others there.  Here is the link to that 'Facebook Fan Page': Michael D Hamersky On Comics! Please click the 'Like' button on that page! 

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Michael D Hamersky On Comics - Reviews: GAG! #1 (Both of them!)   - Above Photo:  It was great running into Barry Dutter at the 2011 Wizard World Anaheim Comic Con!  My older boys were fans of his work on Ren & Stimpy several years, when he wrote those for Marvel Comics.  I hadn't met Barry before in person, and when I expressed interest in the GAG! magazines that he had published back in 2004 & 2007, we got to talking about them, and this blog is a review blog on those mags!

TODAY'S FEATURE - Blog #3413:

Walking through Hall 'A' of the 2011 Wizard World Anaheim Comic Con, I found it easier to navigate than the previous year, when it was first set up at this Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, California.

The sections for Artists Alley & Celebrity Row were more 'defined' in boundaries, and I found it easier going to cover 'all' of it during our weekend there.

Of course I found comics to read and possibly review blog, as well as meeting celebrities from TV and Film, which I've been posting about over at my own Facebook Fan Pag, 'Michael D Hamersky On Comics', as well as in this blog.

One person I wasn't aware I'd be seeing was Barry Dutter, pictured at the top right of this blog, holding two copies of his 'GAG!' magazine, both numbered #1?!!  Yes... That's because he published them a few years apart, in September of 2004 and Summer of 2007.

I also wasn't aware that Barry had been the Edtior at 'Cracked', nor that he had written a few articles for 'Mad'.  So this venture into publishing his own magazine of this genre was a perfect progression to follow in his career.

Before I go any further, here's a link to a list of works that Barry Dutter has to his credits over at the Grand Data Base, (GCD), which number over 490 at this time.  Barry was an editor at Marvel Comics in the early 90's, however I do remember his works best in Ren & Stimpy back in 1994 & 1995 when my older boys would buy those at comic cons.

What caught my eyes on the magazine was of course Halle Berry as a Catwoman painted illustration on the cover of the first #1 from 2004.  I've put my wife through some long minutes of having to hear the Catwoman film as I am channel surfing and come across it by accident, and then re-watching it for a while longer, LOL!

I found that both of the magazine issues are aimed for a slightly older readership, as the 'girls' in the first issue and even more so in the second #1 issue are for an older male readership than say, a 'Mad' magazine, unless they've changed since the last SDCC when I picked up an issue there at the DC booth.

However, both the writing and the art in the issues are superb!  I can't believe I've never seen these at any comic cons or back issue boxes of the LCBS I have been at before.  Indeed, I had never heard of this magazine until seeing them on Barry's table in Artists Alley!

Contributors to the 2004 #1 included Barry Dutter, Chuck Senties, Dave Berns, Rich Hedden, Dave Hoover, Ray Morelli, Chris Sanders, Mike Kazaleh, Ed Piskor, Gary Fields, Steve Kurth, and Scooter Tidwell among others.

Plus there were special features, such as 'A Tale of Two Kittens' - Halle Berry vs. Julie Newmar, 'Spider-Man, Too', and 'Schwarzenegger's BIG Changes For California', among others.  Even though a little 'dated' now on some topics, this issue was and is still funny!

Contributors to the 2007 #1 included Barry Dutter, Stephen Fishwick, Jimmy J Agoff, Rich Hedden, Scott Gosar, Dave Berns, John Bailey, Dan Handleman, Randy Martinez, Brady Blane, Mike Kazaleh, and Monty Fine among others.

Plus there were special features, such as 'Jolie Good Show' (Angelina Jolie), 'The 100 Worst Things from the Past Century', 'Star Flaws - Episode III -Revenge of the Nerd', and a comparison piece on 'The Batman Movies'.

Both of these magazines showed me that this publication had what it took to take on the 'big boys' of this genre of magazine.  Unfortunately, I just became of aware of it, so was not able to blog about it until this time.

So, I'm going to make this short and sweet today.  If you have enjoyed Cracked, Sick, Crazy, or Mad magazine in the past, you gotta give these two #1 issues a try!

Where?  I'm checking on that with the publisher now...., as I understood that he had brought them to his table in Artists Alley just for that convention.

My rating for both of these mags is a NEAR MINT (NM) 9.4 out of a possible 10.0 comic book grading scale.

While I'm waiting to hear back for sure on availability, I've noticed that Barry has started a new Facebook 'Fan Page' titled 'Buy My Comics'.  So there is a possibility that he may list them there if asked....

Addendum:  I just heard from Barry, (8:54 AM Friday), and he will be listing these magazines first at his eBay page, as seen under his eBay Seller ID, 'funky25202'.

My thanks again to Barry for taking the time at the Wizard World Anaheim Comic Con to bring these magazines issues of his to my attention.  And it was Great to meet you in person, Barry! 

BTW, You can 'follow' this Blog by clicking the 'Follow' Button at this NetworkedBlogs app!  We currently have over 2,422 'Followers'!  Thanks to ALL of YOU that have already clicked that button! 

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~ Michael D Hamersky

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