As I have stated before here in my Blog...  Reviewing an anthology comic book is harder than reviewing an issue with just one long feature length story!

Usually those anthologies comics contain stories with different writer and artist teams, or a creator that does both functions for just one story, with other teams contributing additional stories.

It is the Editor's task or the Publisher's responsibility to compile issues that will have at least one or more stories that the reader will enjoy enough to want to pick up future issues.

So what happens if a creator decides to put together thier own anthology comic book?  Well it may turn out to be a one-shot if the the creator doesn't see immediate success, or the first issue may find an audience, no matter what size, and build from there.

Noah Van Sciver's Blammo is now up to issue #4 in print, with plans for #5 to start featuring a series of stories on his hero Abe Lincoln.  Blammo is a semi-quarterly self published comic book by Noah.

Noah recently sent me a copy for review, along with a great promotion letter handwritten to me.  Besides promoting his latest issue, he also explained the concept to me.  He calls his 4th issue a "sort of a mix of short stories and funny, wacky stuff".

So what is in this issue?  Well in a total of 24 black and white pages you get this Quantity:

3 One page stories

2 Six page stories

1 Four page story

1 Two page story

1 Three page story

So much for quantity of pages... How about Quality?

There's the Question of the Day!  As I stated earlier, when a creator has full control of an anthology issue, where he or she is filling the positions of writer, artist, editor and even publisher, than any 'issues' with the comic book lie with the creator him or herself.

What I've found from reading this issue is a lot of visual ideas that were put down in black & white.  Were the ideas all 'homeruns'?  No.  Were the ideas all 'strikeouts'? No.  I only found one that was unreadable to me out of eight included in this issue.

There was a comment made to Noah when he was starting out that maybe his comic was 'unmarketable'.  Being a comics reader that started out in the late 1950's with 'funnybooks' and growing up as a teenager in the 1960's,  I've read a lot of 'independent' and even 'underground' comics during that time. And yeah, a lot of those were also "funny, wacky stuff".

Noah's stories here are reminiscent of that free-stylin' era. Yes, including the nudity, coarse language, minor obscenities, etc. that are usually found in such publications.

So yeah, this comic would not be for everyone's taste, and definitely not suitable for all ages.

However, you gotta give credit where credit is due.  Noah is attempting to make it in the independent publishing world, where it is hard to make it 'Big'.  He is still in the Denver area of Colorado which is not known as being a 'comics community' yet.  Heck it just had its' first Big Comic Con this year!  His art style has not yet fully formed, and he for one is proud of that on-going development as he looks back on what he has done and what he is currently working on.

So, here's my take on this self-publishing comic book series. It is an on-going self developement work of art.  It is not meant for the mainstream readership, yet attempts to have some sort of 'continuity' in that it is being published on a semi-regular basis.  Not all the stories in each issue will delight you or even make you think.  It is the writer / artist in Noah that is putting down his ideas in black and white, and when having 24 pages of material that he thinks fit to publish... does.  Whether or not it is something you want to read after trying out an issue is your choice.  I'm merely bringing this series to your attention after receiving a copy for review and finding it 'marketable' to a certain sales 'niche'.

He is one heck of a promoter, that is for sure.  Check out his MySpace page, Facebook page, and his own web site at: http://www.noahvansciver.com/ for how you can obtain a copy of this Blammo comic, back issues, and any other works he is working on!  BTW, on his web site You can see some of the pages that I read from issue #4 of Blammo to form your own opinions...

As a collector of comic books...  for many years, I appreciate the mostly unsung work that inkers have been doing during their careers, whether just starting out or as pros for as many years or longer that I have been collecting.

So when Bob Almond sent me the Press Release for the upcoming Inkwell Awards, I wanted to at least mention the start of the process for this year's awards here in my Blog.  Especially since one of my Favorite Inkers of All Time has an Award named after him, The Joe Sinnott Award!

The following contains most of the Press Release news that was sent to me:

THE COMMITTEE

After the results of the first Inkwell Awards much has changed. Two of the founding members, inker Tim Townsend and publisher Bill Nichols, chose to step down. Replacing both men are inker Dave Simons (Ghost Rider, Army Of Darkness) and art representative Bob Shaw (Comic Art House). Both men have brought vision and energy to the Awards.

THE CATEGORIES

After the 2008 Awards it was decided, by committee, that the Awards would be streamlined and no longer career retrospective in theme (except for the Hall of Fame). As such there are new categories for 2009 and they are as follows:

Favorite Inker: favourite inker over another's pencil art from '08 material

Most Adaptable: showing exceptional ink style versatility over other pencil artists in '08

Props Award: inker over others' pencil art deserving of more attention from '08

The SPAMI: favourite Small Press And Mainstream-Independent: '08 cover-dated ink work over another pencil artist (Non-Marvel or DC work)

All In One Award: Favourite artist known for almost-exclusively inking his/her own pencil work and rarely the work of others in '08

The Joe Sinnott Award: Hall Of Fame designation for an inking career of outstanding accomplishment. Lifetime achievement (minimum 15 years) not limited to '08 material.

THE VOTING

The voting process has also been refined. Instead of an open ballot, ala 2008, this year has seen a collection of nominators consisting of notable industry experts, journalists and professionals alike who have elected to vote for artists in those categories. The nominators will elect the artists they believe fit the categories, the committee will validate those choices, and voting will then be open for the general public. The overall winners will be those artists with the most votes at the end of the process. A full list of the nominators can be found at the Inkwell Awards web-site (http://www.inkwellawards.com/friends.html). The nominators will be a rotating list, changing from year to year, to ensure diversity and fairness in both the nominating and voting process.

May 2009 will see the final tallying of the nominations as the ballots are received. The official ballot of nominations will be posted on June 1st and voting will run for the entire month, ending June 30th.

Tonight American Idol 2009... Starts its' Finale Week.   As Tina and I have been fans of that series we have mixed emotions as to it entering the final stage for this Season.

However I have another 'Idol' that is in Round 3 of a 4 Round battle!  That would be Small Press Idol 2009, where Round 3 is now underway!

Yesterday, May 18th was the start of this all important Round for 20 projects that made it to this Round.

Yet as of this morning, the 19th of May, projects are still posting, going through the judging, and are opening to public voting, as you read this blog post.

You would have thought that all 20 projects would already be posted as of yesterday.  Especially after all the hustling for votes at the end of Round 2 just to make up for lost time! 

However only 7 of the 20 projects that made it to Round 3 are 'In Judging' right now! 

That's right... Only 7 projects are posted and ready for your votes.  This to me, makes for a 'soft' Opening Day for Round 3... and the pressure will build to make up for lost time in the days to come, that's for sure!

According to the web site, the projects will continue to "post" until May 24th.  So there is a cutoff to submit the initial comic book pages of each project.  This after Round 1 where the idea and a sketch about the project was submitted.  Then Round 2 where character bios and more detailed sketches were submitted.

Round 3 is where You the potential voter can go in and download the initial pages to view actual comic pages and see how the idea and sketches transform into the comic book format. 

I already starting downloading the projects that were actually available to do that yesterday. It is kinda neat to see how those projects are being transformed into actual comic books, so I invite you to check out a few if not more as the days go on...

Here's the most important part of Round 3 for the contestants.  Voting will continue until the 7th of June. As You and I watch the days until June 7th, we will see who will get a #0 issue in Round 4, who will be given a Cover Feature slot in 'Mysterious Visions' publication, and who unfortunately, doesn't...

That's because only 3 of the 20 projects will be moving on to Round 4 to compete for the $700 Grand Prize and publishing deal. The Big Question is... Will it be the project YOU were here to support?

That is up to You and of course the project creators themselves with what they present in comic book for you to vote for.  I'm sure You, as well as I will be bombarded with requests to vote, and vote daily.

For full details of Small Press Idol 2009, Round 3 and its' 20 Contestants please see the main site:

http://www.dimestoreproductions.com/content287.html

We thought we should re-publish our shipping rates...  As we just received another email asking if we were increasing our rates. This due to the USPS changing their rates Monday, May 12th!

We decided NOT to change our rates for domestic shipping, and also have not changed our international shipping rates since January 18th 2009, when the USPS dramatically increased their rates to us. 

SHIPPING COST TO USA Addresses: