Erik W Hendrix...  Has been sending out several notices that the judges for the 'Small Press Idol', (SPI), are no longer the Only Ones that Can Vote on entries that were submitted to the contest.  Well at least starting April 1st that is!

  Erik wrote me:  "I will end up sending a couple more of these before voting starts on April 1st, but just a reminder. If you have not already done so, please go to dimestoreproductions.com and sign up. The link is near the top left corner and it's a really quick and easy process. A link to the process I wrote on "how to sign up" is below.

Note: If you signed up but didn't get a confirmation email, send an email to ian@dimestoreproductions.com from the account you used to sign up and ask him to activate you.

Note 2: Starting on April 1st, you get ONE VOTE PER DAY, so please go onto the site daily and vote for your favorite (hopefully it's Faction).

Process for voting: http://www.geocities.com/thelastbard/faction/SPI-JoinForums.doc

Link directly to sign up for DimeStore: http://www.dimestoreproductions.com/signup.php ."  

My thanks to Erik for re-submitting this reminder to so many!  FYI, Erik also has an entry titled 'Faction', which is one of the 27 entries that are moving on to Round 2 of SPI... so give his work a look at also if you are so inclined!

 Ian Shires , (pictured to the left), listed on the main web site all 27 of the projects that made it into Round 2.   By making it that far all 27 are set to have their projects printed in 'Mysterious Visions' at the very least. 

Ian also says "But more over, they are still in contention for the $700 cash prize, 4-issue publishing commitment grand prize. So take a moment this week to check them all out, make your own notes about them, and get ready for Round 2 where we turn up the heat big time, and YOUR VOTES COUNT!"

Yesterday I blogged about the latest release in the set of... Conan The Barbarian statues based on the John Buscema & Ernie Chan cover for issue #88 of Marvel Comics 'Conan The Barbarian'.  I was blogging about the 'Belit - Queen of the Black Coast' statue that will be available in April.

After the blog post was published, I received several emails, questions, messages and comments about both blog versions of the post, which I was thankful for!

One question in particular asked me if there were any other Sword and Sorcery Comics that I would recommend for reading, since it looked like I knew something on S&S comics...

And I thought back to an earlier blog post where I delved into the short history of 'Wulf The Barbarian' that was created by Larry Hama.

When the Atlas - Seaboard comics were first printed, there weren't any trade paper back compilations being printed, and 'Graphic Novels' were just being thought of.  So to read these four issues of 'Wulf the Barbarian' you would have to purchase the individual copies of the issues.

Here is what I blogged about before on Wulf's history:

Larry Hama, (pictured above right), is known for his many projects in the Comics World, including G.I. Joe Comics!

Every so often I stop blogging about comics or graphic novels or comic book movies... And just gape at some statues that are being released now for collectors...

Like the one above!  Belit, Queen of the Black Coast, is just one of a set of three statues that are being released one at a time in this mini-series.

The reason this set strikes me is that it is based on a Conan the Barbarian comic book cover from Marvel Comics... AND the cover of this issue #88 was drawn by John Buscema with Ernie Chan!

Those two artists had a long run together when Marvel still had the rights to publish Conan.   Matter of fact, I can still visualize 'Big John' Buscema stating at his last San Diego Comic Con (SDCC) appearance, that Conan was what he enjoyed most illustrating at Marvel.  Like a big grizzly bear John repeatedly stated at the special SDCC program that he didn't like drawing superheroes, although his style at Marvel was overwhemingly loved by superhero fans, myself included.

It was Conan that he enjoyed most, and he verbally stated that he wished he had started sooner drawing him.  However when Marvel starting adapting stories from Conan's history, the company did not want a higher paid page rate artist drawing the then mostly unknown character as a comic book series.  At that time the 'Sword and Sorcery' genre had not really started in comics, although the paperbacks with Conan was a proven good seller in that market.

It wasn't until later that John was able to drawn the series as well as the black and white magazines published by Marvel at that time.

Back to the statue... Although the look is from the cover of issue #88, this piece is sculpted by Seth Vandable.  Conan has already been released, and Belit will be followed by Zula later.

The best thing about the Belit statue above is that all three statues in the set are designed with matching bases for display!  The Belit statue stands 13.5' tall and features her gripping both sword and dagger!  

Here's the point of this blog post:  Belit is already painted and ready to display when you buy her... BUT this Belit statue will be limited to a 500 edition run.  So Don't Miss Out if you have any interest in Belit, Conan, Zula or all three!  There are a lot of Robert E Howard (REH) cross over fans out there that make something like this a probable sell-out!  Even at the MSRP Of $239.00! 

No, we here at Make It So Marketing won't be selling any of the three statues!   I just wanted to point out this set, as this type of quality wasn't around when I was collecting models or statues earlier in my lifetime!

So either check your favorite online source for a pre-order, or check the web site at:  http://www.hardhero.com/belit-statue.html

(Please Note: A complimentary statue or other item for this mention / review was NOT provided.)  

The Magazine 'Heavy Metal'... In its' September 2008 issue, presented Part One of the 'Fluorescent Black' story. 

Nathan Fox was the artist of this special feature, and he tells me that he is hard at work on Part Two of the story, which he hopes will be published this Summer of 2009 during the height of the Comic Con Season.

Nathan's artwork in the 'Pigeons From Hell' mini-series was recently released in TPB format by Dark Horse. This was mentioned in an earlier blog post when Nathan was appearing at the 2009 New York Comic Con (NYCC).   

The story of 'Fluorescent Black' Part One is not one of the standard fares that I quite often read.   The genre this story is in actually does not always appeal to me.  Indeed one earlier reviewer who loved this story called it 'biopunk' in his blog review of Part One.  Which is actually not bad for the name of this genre of story. 

However, in this case, the story enthralled me and kept me reading till the end of Part One.   The writer, M.F. (Matt) Wilson, took the subject matter and ran with it and made the story believable, although it is set in a grim n' gritty future.  The storyline was realistic and the dialogue, although using  some foul language, fit the background and the scope of what was being described to the reader. 

The storyline starts from the 2003 SARS outbreak in Singapore and other parts of Asia.  The work that is done by pharmaceutical and biotech laboratories to combat this outbreak leads to new discoveries that changes the world.  The outline to this story is that it is set in a genetic dystopian future.  Mankind has been divided into two different living areas. Those persons that don't meet the 'norm' are then exiled out of Singapore.  They basically are 'forced' to survive by selling body parts in exchange for gene therapy and medicine. Not a real happy future for those outside of the 'norm'.  Fluorescent Black is hoped to be published in graphic novel format when completed.

The artwork by Nathan Fox, although using some nudity, some gross looking persons and some carnage scenes, did fit the storyline.  Nathan's art, which I like, is compatible with the dark future presented in the timeline.  If a reader was to take what is being currently shown on TV, ala C.S.I., Fringe, etc., then this could be considered an extrapolation into the future of what may happen and is vividly shown here.  

As this story was published in the magazine 'Heavy Metal', that alone should tell you that the story is not one for young kids or tweens.   However, the specific storyline as told in illustrated format is one that I found interesting, with the disclaimer that it does contain some nudity / some language / some carnage scenes that would not be for all readers.  I will be checking out the Part Two when it is published to see what the writer does in continuing the future he has started in this Part One.

There was a news story a while back that another company had bought the film rights to this storyline in 2007.   The film may be released in 2010.   

For those of you that want to know more about this 'Fluorescent Black' story, then their web site is at:  http://www.freethegene.com

(Please Note: A complimentary copy for this mention / review was provided.)