Young Walter Simonson of College Park, MD

The Origin of Walt Simonson by Allan Harvey, Gorilla Daze blog May 27, 2012 is a nice catch showing a Magnus Robot Fighter fan illo from 1965.

Comic Riffs on Galifianakis' latest award

2012 REUBEN AWARDS: MAD's Richmond, Post's Galifianakis react to big wins
By Michael Cavna and Tom Racine
Washington Post Comic Riffs blog May 29 2012
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/comic-riffs/post/2012-reuben-awards-mads-richmond-posts-galifianakis-react-to-big-wins/2012/05/29/gJQAz5UuyU_blog.html#pagebreak

June 30: Danger Club comic signing

Danger Club Signing

May 25, 2012 by Colin Solan  of Convention Scene

Landry Quinn Walker and Eric Jones sign at Third Eye Comics on Saturday June 30, 2012 from 11am-1pm.

RSVP on Facebook!

Press Release:

In continuing some of the awesome in-store signings we've had with recent IMAGE hits like PETER PANZERFAUST, STRANGE TALENT OF LUTHER STRODE, HEART and more, we're stoked to announce that we're going to be doing a BIG launch signing for DANGER CLUB #3 this JUNE.

This book is something special, folks. The concept. The artwork. The storytelling. It's the total package, and we are totally excited about every second of it. If you took Brian K. Vaughan's RUNAWAYS, Nick Spencer's MORNING GLORIES, and then applied the dark filter of WATCHMEN to them… you'd get DANGER CLUB.

We're pretty pumped to let you know we'll have creators LANDRY QUINN WALKER and ERIC JONES in store at THIRD EYE COMICS in ANNAPOLIS to sign copies of their new series.

What's DANGER CLUB? In a world of heroes and villains, the greatest super-heroes fly off to space to take down an unstoppable force… but they don't come back. And, they've left behind their sidekicks to take care of the planet — or destroy it.

A visceral, brutal, and angry look at teen sidekicks, something we haven't seen intensity like since BRAT PACK, this new series is one of my most anticipated of the Summer.

My gut instinct just looking at preview pages is that of BRIAN K. VAUGHAN'S RUNAWAYS put through the filter of WATCHMEN.

The writing is sharp, with great dialogue, and very cool spins on familiar superhero archetypes of the superhero genre, and Eric Jones's artwork brings the book to life in a BIG and EXCITING way.

Imagine a world of super-powered teenagers who lack the guidance of their mentors? An entire generation raised in a culture of violence who lack the temperament that comes with age. And, while the superheroes normally come back from these big cosmic crisis and wars… they're not coming back this time, so Earth is pretty screwed.

Very cool stuff, Third Eye Faithful! Make sure you pick up issue #1 on April 4th, and jump on board, so you can join us on Saturday 6/30 for our big launch party of DANGER CLUB #3, and you can get Landry and Eric to sign copies of 1-3 for you!

Third Eye Comics
2027-A West Street, Annapolis, MD 21401

Team Cul de Sac art auction is open!

Heritage Auctions is taking bids on the Team Cul de Sac artwork.

Nick Galifianakis wins National Cartoonist Society award

Nick Galifianakis won the National Cartoonist Society's award for Advertising Illustration last night in Las Vegas.

Today: Jerry Gaylord at Big Planet College Park

May 26 - Jerry Gaylord Signing

Jerry Gaylord, artist on the new Boom comic Fanboys vs. Zombies (written by Sam Humphries), will be appearing at our College Park store from 1 pm to 3 pm to sign copies of the first 2 issues.

Jerry is a local Maryland comic artist, so be sure to come out and meet him!

1 pm-3 pm
Big Planet Comics of College Park
7315 Baltimore Ave.
College Park, MD 20740
301-699-0498

Big Planet Comics Orbit Newsletter - May 25, 2012

May 25, 2012

Jerry Gaylord is signing on Saturday! Jerry Gaylord, artist on the new Boom! series Fanboys vs. Zombies, will be appearing at our College Park store tomorrow, Saturday, May 26, from 1 to 3.  Fanboys vs. Zombies is a good character-based story about friends and former friends trying to put their differences aside and survive a zombie outbreak at San Diego comicon! Plus, the first issue is only $1 so it's a great way to try out this new series. May 26 - Jerry Gaylord Signing Jerry Gaylord, artist on the new Boom comic Fanboys vs. Zombies (written by Sam Humphries), will be appearing at our College Park store from 1 pm to 3 pm to sign copies of the first 2 issues. Jerry is a local Maryland comic artist, so be sure to come out and meet him! 1 pm-3 pm Big Planet Comics of College Park 7315 Baltimore Ave. College Park, MD 20740 301-699-0498 bigplanetcollegepark@yahoo.com Feel free to forward on our newsletter, and please send us any comments or mailing list requests to vienna@bigplanetcomics.com Thanks!   - the Big Planet Comics kids UPCOMING June 2 - Russ Kick Signing Russ Kick, editor of the anthology The Graphic Canon, will be appearing at our Bethesda store for a signing on Saturday, June 2. Publisher's Weekly called The Graphic Canon "the graphic publishing literary event of the year". It is a collection of classic literature interpreted as comics by such greats as R. Crumb, Will Eisner, Molly Crabapple, and lots more, over 130 in total! This first volume (of an eventual 3) is subtitled From The Epic of Gilgamesh to Shakespeare to Dangerous Liaisons, covering literature through the 1700s. The Odyssey, Beowulf, Lysistrata, The Book of the Dead, The Canterbury Tales, London Journal, and more. 1 pm-3 pm Big Planet Comics of Bethesda 4849 Cordell Avenue Bethesda, MD 20814 301-654-6856 joel@bigplanetcomics.com ___________________ Mind Mgmt #1 by Matt Kindt After everyone on a plane gets amnesia, a reporter tries to discover who the mysterious person is who was on the flight list but disappeared after it landed. Plus a history of the government working with psychics, secret codes hidden in the letters column, and danger, action, and more mystery! A unique and fascinating new comic! The Phoenix #1 by Daniel Hartwell, Neill Cameron, Ricardo Tangle, Jamie Smart, Sarwat Chadda, Patrice Aggs, Ben Haggerty, Garen Ewing, Simone Lia, Adam Murphy, James Turner, Lorenzo, The Etherington Brothers, Kate Brown The first issue of the all-ages weekly British comic was even better than we hoped! Adventure, fantasy, puzzles, clues, humor, and more! Plus really, really good art. We are already running low on copies, so let us know if you want one so we can hold you a copy when we get more in stock! Issue #2 will be in next Wednesday! Batman Incorporated #1 by Grant Morrison and Chris Burnham It's back! One of the most exciting Batman series in a while, as Talia al-Ghul puts out a hit on her son - Damian, the new Robin! Clever and funny Morrison dialogue, great dynamic art by Burnham  aaaaand an assassin called Goatboy. The Steve Ditko Archives 3: Mysterious Traveler HC by Steve Ditko   Before he reached fame with The Amazing Spider-Man and Dr. Strange, Steve Ditko drew hundreds of comic book. This volume reprints some of his best suspense, mystery, haunted houses, and unsuspecting victims stories from the pages of Tales of the Mysterious Traveler and This Magazine Is Haunted. Never before reprinted! Justice League Dark #9 by Jeff Lemire and Mikel Janin The team is reassembled under the leadership of John Constantine, and the new writer, Jeff Lemire! (Who you might know from Animal Man and Sweet Tooth!) Lemire instantly has great dialogue between the characters, the comic feels very lively, and the group is off to South America to fight blood cultists under the control of Felix Faust! A great jumping on point. The Comic Book History of Comics SC by Fred Van Lente and Ryan Dunlavey From the first American comic books to the manga explosion and more, this history of comics covers it all, including the creators' rights movement, Jack Kirby, R. Crumb, Harvey Kurtzman, Alan Moore, Stan Lee, Will Eisner, Fredric Wertham, Roy Lichtenstein, Art Spiegelman, Hergé, Osamu Tezuka and more! A fascinating AND informative history. Plus it's pretty funny. Holliday SC by Nate Bowden and Doug Dabbs   Doc Holliday and Wyatt Earp come to town, a corrupt city where the cops get kickbacks from the drug dealers and no one seems to do anything about it. A modern update of the classic Tombstone story with noir flavor and plenty of gun blazin' action! A Princess of Mars SC by Edgar Rice Burroughs, Ian Edginton, and I. N. J. Culbard   The first classic adventure tale of John Carter and his princess of Mars, Dejah Thoris, is adapted to comics by Ian Edginton (Scarlet Traces, Leviathan)and the amazing art of Culbard (New Deadwardians, At the Mountains of Madness, Sherlock Holmes). One of the greatest scifi adventure tales ever, full of swashbuckling swordfights, airship chases, dastardly villains and monsters and betrayal! So good. 27 (Twenty Seven) Vol 2 Second Set SC Adventures Into The Unknown Archives Vol 1 HC Andrew Loomis Succesful Drawing HC Caligula Vol 1 SC Joe Hill The Cape HC Crossed Badlands #6 Godzilla #1 Golden Age Western Comics HC The Guild: Fawkes Hero Comics 2012 Interiorae SC Mad Archives Vol 3 HC Marvel Masterworks Amazing Spider-Man Vol 7 SC The Mighty Thor By Matt Fraction Vol 1 SC No Place Like Home #4 Prophet #25 Resident Alien #1 Star Wars Darth Vader Ghost Prison #1 (Of 5) Thief Of Thieves #2 3rd Ptg Thief Of Thieves #3 3rd Ptg Thief Of Thieves #4 2nd Ptg Ultimate Comics Spider-Man Death of Spider-Man Fallout SC Uncanny X-Force Vol 3 The Dark Angel Saga Book 1 SC Xenoholics Vol 1 SC Big Planet Comics Podcast #45 "Coney Island" Kevin, Nick and Jared are in the new Big Planet Comics Podcast studios with more sad news about Nick's car, and reviews of all the new comics! Download now or subscribe on iTunes!   PODCAST REVIEWS: Best of Enemies: A History of US and Middle East Relations: Part One: 1783-1953 HC by Jean-Pierre Filiu and David B. The Cartoon Picayune #1 by Josh Kramer The Cartoon Picayune Fall 2011 by Josh Kramer, Bill Volk, Katherine Roy, James Sturm The Cartoon Picayune Spring 2012 by Josh Kramer, Andy Warner, Ethan Leners, Darryl Holliday, Erik Rodriguez Daddy Lightning by Tom Hart Deadenders SC by Ed Brubaker and Warren Pleece Hardcore #1 by Robert Kirkman and Marc Silvestri Holliday SC by Nate Bowden and Doug Dabbs Justice League Dark #9 by Jeff Lemire and Mikel Janin Mind Mgmt #1 by Matt Kindt The Phoenix #1 by Daniel Hartwell, Neill Cameron, Ricardo Tangle, Jamie Smart, Sarwat Chadda, Patrice Aggs, Ben Haggerty, Garen Ewing, Simone Lia, Adam Murphy, James Turner, Lorenzo, The Etherington Brothers, Kate Brown Send us questions to podcast@bigplanetcomics.com or call us at 1-703-539-CAST! (1-703-539-2278)   5/26 - Jerry Gaylord Signing Fanboys vs. Zombies 1pm - 3pm 7315 Baltimore Ave. College Park, MD 20740 301-699-0498 bigplanetcollegepark@yahoo.com 6/2 - Russ Kick Signing The Graphic Canon 4849 Cordell Avenue Bethesda, MD 20814 301-654-6856 joel@bigplanetcomics.com 6/9 - Nick Abadzis Signing Hugo Tate 4849 Cordell Avenue Bethesda, MD 20814 301-654-6856 joel@bigplanetcomics.com 6/16 - Free RPG Day freerpgday.com 7315 Baltimore Ave. College Park, MD 20740 301-699-0498 bigplanetcollegepark@yahoo.com 426 Maple Ave. East Vienna, VA 22180 703-242-9412 vienna@bigplanetcomics.com 7/4 - 20% off Sale All stores! 7/28 - Matt Dembicki Signing Xoc 11am-1pm 7315 Baltimore Ave. College Park, MD 20740 301-699-0498 bigplanetcollegepark@yahoo.com Signing Xoc 3pm-5pm 426 Maple Ave. East Vienna, VA 22180 703-242-9412 vienna@bigplanetcomics.com New Next Week 5/30 (Let us know if you want any of these!)   Aka GN Amazing Spider-Man #684 2nd Ptg Amazing Spider-Man Annual #39 American Vampire #27 Americas Got Powers #2 (of 6) Angel & Faith #10 Animal Man Annual #1 Archie & Friends Double Digest #16 Astonishing X-Men #49 2nd Ptg Avatar Last Airbender TP Vol 02 Promise Part 2 Avengers Vs X-Men #2 (of 12) 3rd Ptg B & V Friends Double Digest #225 Batman Annual #1 (Night of the Owls) Batman Beyond Unlimited #4 Batman Death By Design Deluxe Ed HC Batman Prey TP Battle of Blood & Ink Fable of Flying City GN Best of the Three Stooges Best Shot in the West Adventures of Nat Love GN Bionic Woman #2 Bloodstrike #28 Bomb Queen VII Queens World #4 (of 4) BPRD Hell on Earth Transformation Odonnell #1 Brian Boru Irelands Warrior King GN Call of Wonderland #1 (of 3) Channel Zero TP Complete Collection Cow Boy A Boy And His Horse HC Daredevil #11 2nd Ptg Daredevil By Brubaker And Lark Ult Coll TP Book 02 DC Nation #1 Diablo #4 (of 5) Elephantmen TP Vol 00 Empowered TP Vol 07 Exile Planet O/T Apes #3 (of 4) Fables Deluxe Edition HC Vol 05 FF #18 Futurama Comics #61 Game of Thrones #8 Garth Ennis Jennifer Blood #13 GFT Alice in Wonderland #6 (of 6) GFT Jungle Book #3 (of 5) GFT Myths & Legends #17 GFT Oversized Cosplay Special Ghostbusters Ongoing #9 Glamourpuss #25 Gore #6 (of 12) Graphic Canon TP Vol 01 Gilgamesh To Shakespeare Green Arrow TP Vol 01 The Midas Touch Grim Leaper #1 (of 4) Hack Slash Omnibus TP Vol 04 Hawken #4 (of 6) Hulk Smash Avengers #5 (of 5) Incredible Hulk #8 Irredeemable TP Vol 09 Kick-Ass 2 Prem HC Lil Depressed Boy #11 Magdalena #12 Marvel Firsts 1970s TP Vol 03 Mass Effect Homeworlds #2 Mediterranea #7 (of 14) Mediterranea TP Vol 01 Mind the Gap #1 2nd Ptg Monsieur Jean Singles Theory HC Moon Moth GN New Avengers #25 2nd Ptg New Deadwardians #3 (of 8 ) New Mutants #43 Exiled Next Men Aftermath #43 Peter Panzerfaust #4 Peyo Life And Work SC Powers #10 Previews #285 June 2012 Princess of Mars Illustrated Classics GN Puella Magi Madoka Magica GN Vol 01 Queen Sonja #29 Rachel Rising #8 Rasl #14 Ravagers #1 Rinse TP Rocketeer Adventures 2 #3 Roger Langridges Snarked #8 Secret Avengers #26 2nd Ptg Simpsons Summer Shindig #6 Snake Eyes & Storm Shadow #13 Sonic the Hedgehog #237 Star Trek Ongoing #9 Star Trek TNG Doctor Who Assimilation #1 Star Wars Blood Ties Boba Fett is Dead #2 (of 4) Star Wars Knight Errant Vol 2 Deluge SC Starman Omnibus Vol 1 SC Stephen King Joe Hill Road Rage #4 (of 4) Supercrooks #3 (of 4) Superman Family Adventures #1 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Ongoing #10 Transformers Robots in Disguise Ongoing #5 Ultimate Comics Ultimates #11 Until Death Do Us Part Vol 1 SC Walking Dead #98 Wolverine #307 Wolverine And X-Men #11 AVX Wonder Woman Vol 1 Blood HC X-Men #29 X-Men Legacy #267 AVX X-Men Phoenix: Endsong Warsong Ultimate Collection SC Young Justice #16 Zombies HC Zombies Vs Robots Annual 2012 Upcoming Events 6/1 Introducing Synergy! 8am, Generitech HQ 6/12 Generitech Leadership Summit 10am, AGCC 6/20 Advanced Tools Expo 3pm, AGCC

like us on Facebook | follow us on Twitter | subscribe on iTunes | forward to a friend  Copyright © 2012 Big Planet Comics, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email because you signed up for our mailing list either online or at one of our stores. Big Planet Comics  -  426 Maple Ave. East, Vienna, Virginia 22180  -  703.242.9412 Big Planet Comics  -  7315 Baltimore Ave., College Park, Maryland 20740  -  301.699.0498 Big Planet Comics  -  4908 Fairmont Ave., Bethesda, Maryland 20814  -  301.654.6856 Big Planet Comics  -  1520 U St. NW, Washington, DC 20009  -  202.342.1961

David Hagen at ArtOMatic interview

ArtOMatic 2012 Interview #6: David Hagen
Women, Art, Life blog May 25th, 2012 by Tammy Vitale
http://tammyvitale.com/artomatic-2012-interview-6-david-hagen/

Stephanie McMillan at the RFK awards tonight

This totally slipped my mind tonight, and I'm sorry to have missed it.  Apparently I appeared in a clip in a documentary about the awards too! (sigh) However, Steve Artley got a photograph of Stephanie McMillan the cartoon winner that he's allowed me to post:

I got this shot of Stephanie holding her trophy at the RFK awards ceremony at the U.S. Institute of Peace tonight.

Steven G. Artley

artleytoons

Artley Design Inc.

www.artleytoons.com

Cartoon Winner
"The Beginning of the American Fall and Code Green" by Stephanie McMillan
South Florida Sun-Sentinel

Stephanie McMillan self-syndicates the editorial cartoon "Code Green," which focuses exclusively on topics related to the environmental crisis. Her comics journalism piece about the Occupy protests, "The Beginning of the American Fall" was originally commissioned by the Cartoon Movement, and will be expanded into a book to be published this fall by Seven Stories Press. She has been active around social justice and environmental issues for most of her life.

New Arrivals this week at Game On!

Game On! Comics Weekly Digest Come  Visit Us! May 23, 2012 In this issue :: New Titles this Week :: Game Nights  Dear Mike,   Welcome to Game On! Comics      This weekend is VIVA VIENNA.  A huge festival here in Vienna, very close to the shop.  Game On! Comics will have a booth there selling comics.  Come on out and enjoy yourself at the festival.  Parking will be a nightmare so be sure to come to the shop to park.    Also, this weekend is our Memorial Day Sale!  Starting on Saturday and ending on Monday all graphic novels are 25% off.    We will be open on Monday from 11am to 5pm.      We have officially changed our subscribers over to our new Loyalty Membership!!  This means more bonuses FOR YOU!  You will get your new membership card when you come in. If you are not a member it is FREE to JOIN.  You can join in the store or by clicking on this link and filling out the information:  http://gameoncomics.com/Loyalty-Membership.html   Check out the new levels:   MODERN LEVEL   1-9 comic titles per month   * Free drink every visit! * Pull your comic titles for you every week!  BRONZE LEVEL 10-19 comic titles per month * Free drink every visit! * Pull your comic titles for you every week! * 10% off all comics! SILVER LEVEL 20-39 comic titles per month * Free drink every visit! * Pull your comic titles for you every week! * Free Previews Magazine every month! * 15% off all comics!   GOLDEN LEVEL 40+ comic titles per month * Free drink every visit! * Pull your comic titles for you every week! * Free Previews Magazine every month! * 20% off all comics!        Thank you to everyone that has kept current with picking up your comic books.  It really helps the shop out when you are picking up your comics regularly!!!         New Comic Book titles this week 5-23-12   Best Discounts in the area--Not just a slogan, we really do have the best price discounts when you become a Game On! Comics subscriber!   Comic of the Week Astonishing X-Men #50   On Tuesday, fans worldwide learned on ABC's The View that Northstar proposes to his boyfriend Kyle Jinadu in the newly released Astonishing X-Men #50 and will be married in June 20's Astonishing X-Men #51. That news has been picked up by the NY Daily News, Huffington Post, MTV Geek, Rolling Stone, USA Today, and many more major international, national, and local news outlets.             All Star Western #9 Amazing Spider-Man #686 Aquaman #9 Astonishing X-Men #50 Batman Incorporated #1 Batman The Dark Knight #9 Bill Gates Co Founder Of Microsoft 1-Shot Bionic Man (Kevin Smith) #9 Captain America #12 Captain America And Hawkeye #631 Chew #26 Clint 2.0 #1 Cobra Ongoing #13 Crossed Badlands #6 Dark Horse Presents #12 Deadpool #55 Dominique Laveau Voodoo Child #3 Elephantmen #39 Elric The Balance Lost #10 Fables #117 Fantastic Four #606 Fathom Kiani Vol 2 #2 Flash #9 Fury Of Firestorm The Nuclear Men #9 Godzilla Ongoing #1 Green Hornet #25 Green Lantern New Guardians #9 Guild: Fawkes #1 Hellraiser #14 Hero Comics 2012 Hulk #52 Hulk Smash Avengers #4 I Vampire #9 Irredeemable #37 Journey Into Mystery #638 Justice League Dark #9 Knights Of The Dinner Table #186 Lord Of The Jungle Annual #1 Magic The Gathering #4 Marvel Zombies Destroy #2 Mighty 7 (Stan Lee) #2 Mighty Thor #14 Mind Mgmt #1 Neverland Hook (Grimm FT) #5 No Place Like Home #4 Ragemoor #3 Rebel Blood #3 Reset #2 Resident Alien #1 Savage Hawkman #9 Secret Avengers #27 Smoke And Mirrors #3 Soulfire Vol 3 #8 Star Wars: Darth Vader Ghost Prison #1 Superman #9 Teen Titans #9 Transformers: More Than Meets Eye #5 True Blood Ongoing #1 Ultimate Comics X-Men #12 Unwritten #37 Vampirella #17 Voodoo #9 Warlord Of Mars Dejah Thoris #12 Wheel Of Time Eye O/World (R. Jordan) #25 Witchblade #156 Youngblood #71        NEW ALL AGES COMICS AND BOOKS    Dino Duck Prehysterical GN Dorothy And Wizard In Oz #7 Ultimate Spider-Man (Marvel Universe) #2        NEW COLLECTIONS AND GRAPHIC NOVELS    Avengers: The Contest TP Avengers: Many Faces Of Henry Pym TP Caligula TP Vol 01 Comic Book History Of Comics GN Daken Dark Wolverine HC No More Heroes Judge Dredd: Crusade TP Mighty Thor By Matt Fraction TP Vol 01 MMWTP Amazing Spider-Man Vol 07 Ultimate Comics Spider-Man DOSM Fallout TP Wolverine And Black Cat: Claws 2 TP                   Game Nights    Tuesday Nights 7pm-11pm----ON HOLD We may change our D&D night to Saturday.  If you have mentioned that you are interested in playing then look to get an additional email this week.    Come play D&D at the store.  We are currently ready to start a new campaign for 1st level characters.  If you have never played before this is your time to start.  Because each story has limited space you must email us and let us know that you would like to join.  We will be starting with just 6 people.           Wednesday Nights 7-9pm Magic the Gathering   TONIGHT     Tonight, we will have Booster Draft night! For only $12 you will get 3 booster packs and then you will pass cards around the table until you have made a brand new deck to play with.    Saturday, 4pm to 7pm we are having a special MTG tournament.  It's free to play this Standard Constructed tournament and if at least 25 people play EVERYONE gets a free booster pack.   We now have Avacyn Restored in stock but our stock is going VERY FAST.  We have boosters, fat packs, and starter decks. Friday Nights 7-9pm Heroclix                                           Heroclix at Game On! Comics on Friday, May 25th, at 7 p.m., Memorial Day Event! Build a 600 point force, Silver Age Rules, no Colossal figures, no feats or BFC's. Team must contain at least one Soldier, MIGHT be a good idea to have more than one. Those of you who were there for this event last time will not be too surprised that special rules will be announced at the beginning of the tournament. Also, here is the link for the Wizkids event system for those who don't have it already: http://www.wizkidseventsystem.com/pls/apex/f?p=349:LOGIN:833504985154990 We have the next few weeks already up on the site, if you have a Wizkids ID it would be good to register for each event as soon as you can. If you don't have an ID yet, it only take a minute or two to create one.    Congrats to last weeks winners:        1st: Tim    2nd: Greyson   Fellowship: Alex             Rolling Stone Magazine Review  Marvel Comics host first gay wedding   Back in 1992, Marvel Comics made headlines by revealing that Northstar, a Canadian superhero associated with Alpha Flight and the X-Men, was gay. Twenty years later, the character is back in the news as he is set to wed his longtime partner Kyle in Astonishing X-Men #51, in stores on June 20th. "When gay marriage became legal in New York State, it raised obvious questions since most of our heroes reside in New York State. Northstar is the first openly gay character in comics and he's been in a longterm relationship with his partner Kyle so the big question was - how would this change his relationship?," says Marvel Comics editor-in-chief Axel Alonso. "Our comics are always best when they respond to and reflect developments in the real world. We've been doing that for decades, and this is just the latest expression of that." As an X-Man, Northstar routinely fights against bigotry, as he is a mutant, and mutants are the most feared minority group in the Marvel Universe. Astonishing X-Men writer Marjorie Liu looked to Northstar's relationship with Kyle as a way to write an inspiring story about characters who feel like outsiders even among outsiders. "Here are two people, trying to live their lives - mutant and gay, black and gay - empowered in their own ways, but also fringe-dwellers," says Liu. "And they're making it happen. They're living life on their own terms. It doesn't matter that it's a superhero comic, the message is: You can do the same thing." Though Northstar has been in comics since debuting in Uncanny X-Men in the late Seventies, Kyle, a regular human and not a superhero, was created more recently, so Liu has been working on fleshing out his character. "I looked at relationships between police officers, soldiers, etcetera, and their spouses," she says. "You have, for example, one partner who is always going off into dangerous situations, whose 'team' at work is an important, integral, part of their lives, and then you've got the person left behind. Like Kyle, who has a perfectly wonderful life, a great job, but is a human man who has to watch his partner go fight aliens or giant robots, or insane supervillains at the drop of a hat, and there's nothing he can do to help. On a bad day, he might even be a target himself. So, thinking about Kyle in those terms, empathizing with him, I've had to mull the strains and stresses that being with Northstar would put on him, those parts of his life that he feels are lacking, what he wants long-term that he's afraid he can't have, and so on." These tensions will inform Liu's Astonishing X-Men stories going forward, but Alonso says the couple will also have to confront homophobia from Northstar's teammates. "Let me make it clear - this story begins with a marriage, but it ain't over with the marriage," he says. "We'd be doing the story a disservice not to reflect the controversy around it. While a lot of Marvel Universe characters will be attending Northstar's wedding, not everyone is going to accept the invitation and not everyone is going to accept the validity of Northstar's vows. At least one of Northstar's team members is going to turn down the invitation, and that's going to make for an interesting dynamic."   The issue, illustrated by Mike Perkins, will be in stores today.       Thank you so much for your support of our new comic and game shop.  We look forward to taking care of all of your comic and game needs.   Don't forget to go on yelp.com and write a review about us too!!     Please tell your comic/game friends about our shop, we would appreciate their business.       Please visit our Facebook page and "Like" us!!      Please tell your friends about us, we would love their business!     Follow us on Twitter too!     Dave, J.R., and Louis Game On! Comics www.GameOnComics.com 703-242-3838 info@gameoncomics.com   25%  Off  MEMORIAL DAY SALE May 26th through 28th All graphic novels are 25% off. Can not be used in conjuction with any other discount. Offer Expires: 05/29/12

The Daily Cartoonist likes Team Cul de Sac's new book

See http://dailycartoonist.com/index.php/2012/05/23/team-cul-de-sac-book-is-fantastic/ for Alan Gardner's opinion.

Damn! Cartoons - editorial cartoon con in DC this fall

From: Matt Wuerker 

More details about the program schedule and other special guests will be coming in the next month but in an effort to get people to pencil in the dates (Sept 14-15) it would be great to direct people to the site.......
http://damncartoons.org/

_________________________________________________________________________

Matt Wuerker
POLITICO Cartoonist
http://www.politico.com/wuerker

Team Cul de Sac editorial in Pennsylvania paper

Drawing on humor to combat disease
Observer-Reporter May 23 2012
http://www.observer-reporter.com/or/story11/05-23-2012-Drawing--Editorial