Launching Today! Trip City!

Today marks the launch of a new web initiative I am part of called Trip City. A Brooklyn-Filtered Literary Arts Salon, Trip City's membership draws from a broad spectrum of concerns and disciplines. Comics, photography, music, prose, art and illustration all have a home there thanks to the site's diverse membership. I have the good fortune of working alongside talented friends and colleagues like Dean Haspiel, Seth Kushner, Nick Abadzis, Kevin Colden, Nick Bertozzi, Jen Ferguson, Amy Finkel, Jennifer Hayden, Chris Miskiewicz, Jeff UK, and Ron Scalzo. Already at the site, you will find Seth Kushner's Culture Pop profile of author and creator of the hit television show, Jonathan Ames. Already at the site are new comics by Kevin Colden and Chris Miskiewicz, art from the two Nicks (Abadzis and Bertozzi) and the two Jennifers (Ferguson and Hayden) and a full length podcast with founding members of Trip City as well as an interview with Michael Moore!

So please head on over to Trip City and share your thoughts through our comments section, like it on Facebook and if so inclined, tweet about it. Your thoughts and support are a big part of why we do this. Thank you.

 

Mocca 2010 Offerings!

At this year's Mocca Art Festival, I'll be spending time at the Act-i-vate table, F27, and while I'm there I'll be signing copies of The Act-i-vate Primer as well as selling two limited edition posters. Each poster (13"x19") sells for $20 or $35 for both. Buy any book at the Act-i-vate table and a poster goes for $15! Each poster is signed and includes a sketch.

La Repubblica's D Magazine!

Italy's premier national newspaper, La Repubblica, did a 9 page piece on the NYC graphic novel scene for their Saturday glossy magazine insert, D. In it you will see that I have been glorified with a full page photo and if you can speak italian, you'll find that I even provide a blurb as well! Also included in this article are photos and information about such luminaries as Mike Allred, Becky Cloonan, Simon Fraser, Dan Goldman, Laura Lee Gulledge, Dean Haspiel, Josh Neufeld, George O'Connor, Kat Roberts, Jim Shooter, Joe Simon and Art Spiegelman! Molte grazie go to writer, Anna Lombardi, photographer, Seth Kushner and Chris Irving at Graphic NYC! Congratulations to all involved!

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This Saturday! Act-i-vate Does D.C.!

Members of the New York City-centric Web comics collective ACT-I-VATE will be in the area on Saturday signing copies of their first anthology book, The ACT-I-VATE Primer.  You’ll be able to meet Harvey Pekar collaborator Dean Haspiel (Billy Dogma, The Alcoholic), Simon Fraser (Lilly MacKenzie, Nikolai Dante), Joe Infurnari (ULTRA-lad!, the Process, Mush!), and Washington’s own Jim Dougan (Sam & Lilah, Crazy Papers, No Formula). ACT-I-VATE was founded by Haspiel in 2006 and has been growing tremendously since then, by inviting new cartoonists and offering oodles of free Web comics. You can catch the creators in person at two locations, where you can buy the book and ask such searching questions as “How do you make any money off the Web anyway?” and (for Fraser) “Is living in Brooklyn really better than Scotland?”

Details after the jump:

The creators will be at Big Planet Comics Vienna (426 Maple Ave. East, 703-242-9412) from 2 to 4 p.m., and then at Politics and Prose (5015 Connecticut Ave. NW, 202-364-1919) from 6 to 8 p.m.

Press Release from Mike Rhode of Washington City Paper.

The Act-i-vate Primer makes The Gray Lady's Christmas List!

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In his NY Times holiday guide to graphic novel gift giving, George Gene Gustines has included The Act-i-vate Primer! Here's what he had to say,

'Act-I-Vate Primer'

The “Act-I-Vate Primer” is not for everyone, but it opens a window to the world of free, online comics. Named after the Web collective that created the collection’s 16 stories (some of which contain strong language and sexual situations), the anthology is a mixed bag. Dean Haspiel’s “Bring Me the Heart of Billy Dogma,” a love story between the title character and Jane Legit, is one of the best. It continues the bombastic tone, sexual escapades and striking color palette of the continuing Web series. Other highlights include “The Boy Who Came to Stay,” “Veils” and “Memoirs of the ‘Kid Immortal.’” (IDW, $24.99)
Now hopefully more folks' holidays will be illuminated by the illustrated stories in The Act-i-vate Primer and by the glow of computer monitors browsing Act-i-vate.com! Click the link to purchase a copy at Amazon.com or visit your local comics retailer.

Comic Critique Reviews The Act-i-vate Primer!

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Adam McGovern has written yet another astute and discerning review over at ComicCritique.com! This time he doles out the praise in his usual eloquent reportage. Here's a quote:

Peering into the faux-yellowed, off-register murk of Infurnari’s ULTRA-lad! we find a forgotten pulp potboiler concealing a serious graphic novel – concerning an amoral Captain Marvel-esque eternal child-hero inside a series of unworthy adult personalities – that flies toward the scary tension of superlatives without ideals.

That's all he devotes to my story, but what a grand prose it is! Adam is truly a reviewer without peer and he is by far one of the most intelligent readers of comics I know. He closes his piece with this:

The range of interests, level of storytelling and sheer wealth of style are staggering. I haven’t been this anxious to curl up with a colorful collection of the medium’s possibilities since The Great Comic Book Heroes in nineteen-seventy-never-mind. The golden age of comics gets its restart here.

Comic Critique scores the Primer a 4.5 out of 5! To read the rest of this review, click here.

Comic Book Resources Reviews The Act-i-vate Primer!

PrimerMockup In his four star review of the Primer, Chad Nevett had this to say about "Memoirs of the 'Kid Immortal'":

…classic comic-looking work of Joe Infurnari on “Memoirs of the ‘Kid Immortal,’” a fantastic story where he does two regular-looking comic pages on each page, telling the story of a wrestler who shares his time with a superhero counterpart.

Click here to read the rest of the review. Thanks, Chad!