TODAY'S 'MAIN FEATURE':
We attended this past Saturday's Long Beach Comic Con Expo, and I'll be sharing with you photos that Tina snapped and our reviews of publications found there...
One table at the LBCC Expo was manned by Christian Beranek, as pictured to the right above, who introduced us to several projects he has had a hand in producing, writing or publishing!
This blog post is about 'The Minions Of Ka' that he is shown holding in the photo at the top right of this post.
Christian was a co-founder of Silent Devil, which started in October of 1996. Christian was the Production Manager of this graphic novel that I'm blogging about here.
Another of my Facebook Friends, Chris Moreno, was the interior artist of this graphic novel! Chris is so busy at comic cons that I have seen him at, that I wasn't aware of the many projects that he has illustrated for, including this one!
Anyways, what is this GN about, and why did I pick this one to blog about first after the Con?
Here's the promo info:
"The Minions of Ka have commanded the undead for thousands of years. Their power has been used to create and destroy empires. In possession of this great power, The Catholic Church has their sights set on the throne of Charles II. An unnamed warrior for hire finds himself caught between the Church and the English Monarchy in one of the greatest conspiracies of all time."
Here are the credits:
Minions of Ka
Full Color 128 pages
Story by Dave Wilbur, Michael Furno and Michael Ahearn
Interior Art by Chris Moreno
Colors by Veronica Gandini and Chris Moreno
Additional art by Mario Boon
Cover by Ken Kelly
Letters by Thomas Mauer
Edited by Jack Ketchum, Dave Wilbur and Jeremy Brisiel
Distributed by Arcana Studio
SRP: $19.95
Okay, so once again I'm blogging about the undead / zombies, even though I have stated that stories of this genre are not ones that I ususally read for myself.
That's true, but when I saw that I recognized several of the names associated with this project, especially Chris Moreno's, I put this at the top of my reading list this weekend while we were staying overnight in the LA area!
Yes, it's been out for a little while, (First Printing was August of 2008), but like I stated above, I don't normally read this publciations in this genre.
So other than the fact that Chris Moreno was the interior artist, and Christian Beranek was the Production Manager of this project, what else drew my attention to this graphic novel (GN)?
The fact was that the front cover, (by Ken Kelly), made me pause when thumbing through the stack of publications that I received for possible review in this Blog. Then thumbing through the interior pages of this GN, which were in full color, made me realize that this could be a quality publication to read first.
Plus while reading it, I found the story to be steeped in historical background. Being a student of history, this background engaged me in the story.
What 'grabbed' me was that many of the world's greatest historical disasters were exposed to be attacks by the 'undead'! Yes, Egypt's civilization brought down during Cleopatra's reign, the Fall of Rome, the Crusades, and even the Great Fire of London in 1666 as shown as having tangible proof that zombies were involved during those periods of crisis!
Indeed, even though the main story in this GN takes place during the late 17th Century's well known squabbling between Church and State, the actual zombie plague itself originates in ancient Egypt with their obsession with immortality!
Okay, I won't go into more detail than that for the storyline here... Suffice to say that it grabbed my attention and held on to it to the end of the graphic novel!
I enjoyed seeing Chris' interior artwork, and can say that because usually I only see his sketches that he does at his table at comic cons! He is always so busy sketching at cons, that I didn't realize the extent of his published works! And yes, we do have a couple of photos of Chris Moreno sketching again at this LBCC Expo to share with you in the days to come!
For those that are into this genre, I would think it would be a good read for them. For those that aren't into this genre, I feel that it is a good storyline and the artwork isn't over the top as seen in several other publications of this genre.
You do have an opportunity to view nine pages of this GN at the following web site, PLUS have an opportunity right now to buy this book at a $5 off discount:
http://www.silentdevil.com/minions-of-ka.php
My thanks to Christian Beranek for bringing this publication to my attention at the Long Beach Comic Con Expo this past Saturday!
BTW, Christian is also the Producer at Disney's Kingdom Comics. He is currently producing a couple of graphic novels/films for Disney via their Kingdom Comics brand.
You can see what else Christian is doing by checking out his own web site at:
http://www.christianberanek.com/
You can also check out who's attending the upcoming 2nd Annual Long Beach Comic Con, (the Full 3 Day Con), that is happening in late October 2010, by clicking here for their Facebook Fan Page that YOU can interact with!
My thanks again to all of YOU reading this blog and our archived blog posts!
Join us again soon, as we publish another 'Main Feature'. And don't forget to check out the 'Featurette' shown below this 'Main Feature' article at the bottom right!
~ Michael D Hamersky @ ComicBookCollectorsBlog.com
Note: Comic books / graphic novels like the one mentioned above can be found at our own web site for sale at:
http://www.comicbookscircus.com/
"Hammering Out the Web For You Since May 12th, 1998!" 
Note: If you are breaking into or already work in the comic book industry or other pop culture productions, you are welcome to email 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
PO Box 130653
Carlsbad, CA 92013  We also have an on-line exhibitor table at the virtual Facebook Comic Con. You can view the table by clicking this link.
If you are a Facebook member, please join our Facebook Comic Con | Make It So Marketing exhibitor table for updates, specials, and other wall posts!
 If you are a Facebook member and would like to join my Facebook Network, feel free to send a 'friend request' to 'Michael D Hamersky'.
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TODAY'S FEATURETTE: As stated above, Tina and I attended the Long Beach Comic Con Expo this past Saturday. Tina snapped a lot of photos at this Expo, both in front of the Long Beach Convention Center that had a 'car display' of vehichles shown in feature films, as well as inside the exhibit hall of the Expo itself. We'll be sharing more of those with you in the days / weeks to come, as we met several long time favorites, as well as meeting new comics creators that we haven't blogged about before! Plus, you can't attend a comic con without seeing attendees in costume! Below is a photo of individuals that were caught in a Cross-Universe Storm at this LBCC - Expo! Yes, Spider-Man, Wonder Woman, myself, and Captain America were caught on camera posing for that momentous occasion! Thanks to Tina, who once again spotted Wonder Woman for me to have my photo taken with! And Spidey and Cap were added bonuses!
Tina and I were at this Expo from 10AM - 6:15 PM, and took advantage of the smaller setting to talk longer with each of the pros, leaving actual purchases of some back issues for the very end of the day.
Tina and I are looking forward to the upcoming 2nd Annual Long Beach Comic Con. That's the 3 day event at the end of October 2010. Here's a link to the Con's Facebook Fan Page, so you can be interactive with them between now and October: http://www.facebook.com/LongBeachComicCon?ref=ts There you can also find out who's going to be there as guests, and links to where YOU can purchase advance tickets! Tina and I are definitely booking October 29th thru the 31st! I suggest that if YOU are in SoCal area during that time, that You should drop in at Least ONE of those Days! (BTW...When I get Spidey's - Wonder Woman's - and Cap's real names, I'll post them here. Thanks to all three of them for posing with me at the Long Beach Comic Con Expo!) --------------------------- Talking about comics and comic cons: if YOU are a comics creator, (writer, penciler, inker, colorist, letterer, etc.), OR even a Comics / Magazine Publisher, feel free to contact me regarding YOUR works for a possible mention / review! I've made a special blog post about: "How To Best Submit YOUR Publication For Possible Review!" for those creators / publishers that would like to possibly have their publications mentioned or reviewed, which could either be published in the 'Main Feature' or 'Featurette' sections.
~Michael @ ComicBookCollectorsBlog.com |
caffeinated
celebratory
Because it's his Birthday!!!
Jim's first 'zine, *PPFSZT!, published in the early 1970's, featured material such as an interview with Jim Aparo (conducted through the mail), a sf strip Jesse Stuart, by classmate Mike Tuz, plus then current comic book news and reviews and fiction by Main, Tuz and other friends. 
As the 70's came to an end, Jim had published 9 issues of *PPFSZT!, 2 issues of SATYR, 3 issues of SPECTRUM, (formerly known as The Guilded Splinter), 1 issue of GNOME, as well as filling in as publisher of 2 issues of friend Rod Synder's newszine The Esgaroth Express. 
