Comics Alliance: An AOL Comic Book Community

At this writing, more than 400 Web sites -- many of the business-related -- have polluted the Internet with stories about Marvel.com's latest venture into the digital world. It started with USA Today's page one piece in Tuesday's Life section, then creeped into the pages of the Washington Post (my boss told me to mention this one), Motley Fool and the Associated Press, not to mention the arbiters of funnybook opinions, meaning The Beat and the fine folks at Blog@Newsarama.

If you're a comics fan, you're probably living in one of two camps:

1. The kind of folks who hit downloading sites to read their comics, and, perhaps, buy a trade paperback or two at their local comic book store if the reading is worth it. To them, the content is what matters to them the most.

2. Folks who spend too much time on the computer -- more than a couple of hours a day at work (and on an ol' Windoze box if you've been very bad in a previous life at that) -- and still relish the idea of picking up old fashioned books made (until the coming of Soylent Green in 20 years or so) of paper and actually talking to people who make decent livings making, distributing and selling them. To them, it's the total experience.

However, what if a smart comics company -- like DC or Marvel -- wanted to get their comics in front as many eyeballs as they could? Not the already converted, like the many of you who read this space, or, gulp, the people who sell them but the folks out there whose lone experiences with comics are the movies, the DVDs and the games they watch and play?

That's the audience Marvel is courting. That's the audience they should be courting...

What about everybody else who has yet to appreciate the smell of newsprint? Will they pay to read digital comics they don't own, like renting music a la Rhapsody? Don't know about that one.

But here's the thing... News Corp. has said it wants to unlock the doors to its next media possession, the Wall Street Journal, betting that selling ads will make up the difference in revenues generated by here-to-fore paying online subscribers (like me) in short order.

Now, that model sounds interesting... In the meantime, check out all the free stuff, for now...

Think a comic book aimed at "impressionable" teenagers can stem the dual homegrown threat of racism and terrorism in Europe? If you're somewhat skeptical at the mere thought of it, so are the editors of Foreign Policy's blog Passport who report the interior ministry of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia developed a comic called Andi to fight, not only terrorism, but racial extremism.

Blaming his lack of an internship to xenophobia, a Muslim teen named Murat is tempted by "The Dark Side" of terrorism by a radical sheikh and his young apprentice in the latest issue (#2). The plan goes awry, however, when Murat's free-thinking sister, Ayshe, is threatened by said apprentice. Of course, Murat is helped along the way by his average white teen pal Andi.

In the first issue, Andi and his friends battle the influence of racial stereotypes with the help of true heroes like Martin Luther King Jr. whose August 28, 1963 speech, I Have a Dream, obviously still inspires people of all nations nearly a half-century later...

Will German teens, no doubt as tough to reach as their counterparts in America, take the bait? Download these free comics via PDF here.

Remember last week's post about the Japanese courts awarding 11 Manga artists damages to the tune of $175,000 for the unauthorized uploading of their work without permission? Steve Rude wants you to download his latest comic -- Nexus 99 -- for free. And, he's not the only one either...

Rude's perfectionist nature has delayed Nexus 100, chapter 2 of Space Opera, until the new year, according to The Oklahoman. In the meantime, you can sample Nexus, as well as a slew of other comics -- including Alan Moore's Supreme and classic Star Trek stories from the Gold Key era -- for free via WOWIO.

The only catches: WOWIO's archives -- from comics to classic literature, nonfiction and textbooks -- are accessible only to Americans via PDFs (Adobe Acrobat Reader) and only three ebooks can be downloaded per day. As I've said before, viewing comics -- even on a 20-inch LCD -- for the long haul isn't fun... but it is free and allows you to sample a book before investing in back issues or a trade paperback.

And, if you've already bought Nexus 99, get ahead of the game by reading the first eight pages of Nexus 100 via Rude's ComicSpace page.

Regular readers may recall Greg McElhatton's preview post a few weeks back alerting us to Harvey Pekar's then upcoming appearance on No Reservations, Anthony Boudain's excellent show on the Travel channel. For those unfamiliar with the Emmy-nominated series, each episode centers on a specific city or country, with Bourdain sharing insights on the local people, culture, sights and, most importantly, cuisine. It's powerfully addictive TV of the best kind and, if you'll pardon the expression, there are no empty calories.

Past episodes have been filmed in such exotic locales as Indonesia, Malaysia, Namibia and Iceland, but the episode focused on Cleveland featured something that none of those locales can boast: a special guest in the form of comics genius, Harvey Pekar. It's worth noting that when Bourdain has guests on his show, they're rarely on camera for more than a single segment (about 10 minutes), so that's what I was prepared for with Pekar's appearance. I'm happy to report, however, that I was very pleasantly surprised to find that Pekar (along with his inimitable cohort, Toby) were present for fully half of the hour-long episode, and their appearance made for some classic television.

The producers of the show were even clever enough to have commissioned Pekar and his frequent collaborator Gary Dumm to create an exclusive comic detailing the experience. Portions of the resulting comic were artfully interspersed throughout the episode (a la the American Splendor movie) but, for those who missed the airing of the episode, I've got some good news. Not only did Pekar write a comic about the filming, but Bourdain wrote one as well (also illustrated by Dumm), and both are available for free on the Travel Channel Web site. Bon apetit!

SPX 2007 will host the 11th annual presentation of the Ignatz Awards, a celebration of outstanding achievement in comics and cartooning. The Ignatz is named after Krazy Kat's creator George Herriman's brick-wielding mouse, recognizes exceptional work that challenges popular notions of what comics can achieve, both as an art form and as a means of personal expression.

The Ignatz Awards are a festival prize, the first of such in the United States comic book industry. The nominees for the ballot were determined by a panel of five comic artists, which will be voted on by the attendees during SPX. The Ignatz Awards ceremony will be held at the North Bethesda Marriott Convention Center in Bethesda, Maryland on Saturday, October 13th, 2007 at 9:00 PM.

For more information on the Small Press Expo and the Ignatz Awards, please visit http://www.spxpo.com.

Outstanding Artist
Vanessa Davis, Papercutter #4 (Tugboat Press), Kramers Ergot #6 (Buenaventura Press)
John Hankiewicz, Asthma (Sparkplug Comic Books)
Jaime Hernandez, Love & Rockets (Fantagraphics Books)
Rutu Modan, Exit Wounds (Drawn & Quarterly)
Ted Stearn, Fuzz & Pluck in Splitsville #4 (Fantagraphics Books)

Outstanding Anthology or Collection
Curses by Kevin Huizenga (Drawn & Quarterly)
Drawn & Quarterly Showcase Vol. 4 by Gabrielle Bell, Martin Cendrera, and Dan Zettwoch (Drawn & Quarterly)
King-Cat Classix by John Porcellino (Drawn & Quarterly)
Misery Loves Comedy by Ivan Brunetti (Fantagraphics Books)
Moomin Book One by Tove Jansson (Drawn & Quarterly)

Outstanding Graphic Novel
Aya by Marguerite Abouet and Clement Oubrerie (Drawn & Quarterly)
Bookhunter by Jason Shiga (Sparkplug Comic Books)
Don't Go Where I Can't Follow by Anders Nilsen (Drawn & Quarterly)
Exit Wounds by Rutu Modan (Drawn & Quarterly)
House by Josh Simmons (Fantagraphics Books)

Outstanding Story
Delphine #1-2 by Richard Sala (Fantagraphics Books/Coconico Press)
Don't Go Where I Can't Follow by Anders Nilsen (Drawn & Quarterly)
The End #1 by Anders Nilsen (Fantagraphics Books/Coconico Press)
"Martha Gregory" by John Hankiewicz, Asthma (Sparkplug Comic Books)
"Untitled" by Gabrielle Bell, Drawn & Quarterly Showcase Vol. 4 (Drawn & Quarterly)

Promising New Talent
Gabrielle Bell, Lucky, Drawn & Quarterly Showcase Vol. 4 (Drawn & Quarterly)
Scott Campbell, Flight Vol. 4 (Ballantine Books), Hickee vol. 3 #3 (Alternative Comics)
Lilli Carre, You Ain't No Dancer Vol. 2 (New Reliable Press)
Brandon Graham, King City (TokyoPop)
Tom Neely, The Blot (I Will Destroy You)

Outstanding Series
Atlas by Dylan Horrocks (Drawn & Quarterly)
Delphine by Richard Sala (Fantagraphics Books/Coconico Press)
Dungeon by Lewis Trondheim, Joann Sfar, and various (NBM)
Love & Rockets by Los Bros Hernandez (Fantagraphics Books)
Mourning Star by Kazimir Strzepek (Bodega Distribution)

Outstanding Comic
Doctor Id by Adam McGovern and Paolo Leandri (Indie Ink Studios)
Fuzz & Pluck in Splitsville #4 by Ted Stearn (Fantagraphics Books)
Love & Rockets vol. 2 #18 by Los Bros Hernandez (Fantagraphics Books)
Monster Parade #1 by Ben Catmull (Fantagraphics Books)
Optic Nerve #11 by Adrian Tomine (Drawn & Quarterly)

Outstanding Mini-Comic
Burning Building Comix by Jeff Zwirek
The Monkey and the Crab by Shawn Cheng and Sara Edward-Corbett
Noose by Mark Burrier
P.S. Comics #3 by Minty Lewis
Seven More Days of Not Getting Eaten by Matt Wiegle

Outstanding Online Comic
Achewood by Chris Onstad (www.achewood.com)
Grace by Kris Dresen (www.girlthrow.com/grace)
Persimmon Cup by Nick Bertozzi (www.act-i-vate.com)
Thingpart by Joe Sayers (www.jsayers.com/thingpart/thingpart.html)
Wondermark by David Malki (www.wondermark.com)

2007 Ignatz Jury
Sara Edward-Corbett
Paul Hornschemeier
Steve MacIsaac
Jesse Reklaw
Zack Soto

If you've followed me from my previous digital home Illustrated Fiction, you may recall my post nearly a year ago about the Sci-Fi right wing comic, Liberality For All, featuring cyborg versions of right wing talking heads G. Gordon Liddy and Sean Hannity as cyborg superheroes. It took almost a year to do it, but with the help of some comics luminaries, the American Civil Liberties Union has released a "graphic novel" of its own. And you can read the stories for free on the Web too!

Defenders of Freedom, being distributed in print for free in various cities around the country, features stories by Matthew Manning and Mark Badger ("A Question of Obligation") and Jimmy Palmiotti and Rick Burchett ("Blue Collar") attacking racial profiling and the growing disregard for civil liberties in America, along with a single-page intro from ACLU Executive Director Anthony Romero, both written and inked by Patty Scanlon. Too bad, there's no sign at the ACLU Web site of the covers by Peter Kuper and Art Spiegelman.

Sure sounds more like a pamphlet comic book to me. That said, the stories posted on the Web, while somewhat predictable, are very easy on the eyes with standout work from Burchett and Badger (he doesn't work near enough in comics to suit me).

I first met Dean Haspiel on a memorable flight from Baltimore to San Jose for APE some ten years ago. Also along for that Southwest redeye flight (which, if memory serves, only held the four of us) were Greg Bennett (friend and fellow Alliance blogger) and Chris Oarr (friend and, as Dino affectionately dubbed him on that trip, "the Alex P. Keaton of comics"), and I learned quickly that hanging out with Dino can be hazardous to one's health ... because you may well bust a gut from all the laughter that ensues.

Given the Baltimore connection, I suppose it's only fitting that the first time I've seen a spotlight panel on Dino was this afternoon at the Baltimore Comic-Con. Also fitting, given the timing of the con, was the fact that Dino today launched part two of his latest Billy Dogma story, "Fear, My Dear," on ACT-I-VATE, the free Webcomic collective he created. For those unfamiliar with Billy Dogma, whose acquaintance I first made on that same fateful trip to San Jose years ago, Dino described the character today as "an avatar for me ... he's Dean Haspiel to the second power ... a big, romantic bruiser." Dino went on to describe Billy Dogma as being a project wherein he "plays with genre ... including Jack Kirby who, to me, is a genre."

Dino has worked with Harvey Pekar, most notably on the Vertigo OGN, The Quitter, and is currently hard at work illustrating Jonathan Ames' comics debut with the Vertigo OGN, The Alcoholic, due out in the fall of 2008. The Billy Dogma stories are what Dino does to flex his creative muscles, differentiated from the work for which he's being paid, as he's offering them for free via ACT-I-VATE. It's worth noting, however, that Image will publish part one of the current Billy Dogma trilogy, "The Immortal," as a three-issue split mini-series with Michael Fiffe's Panorama under the title Brawl, beginning October 10. Why give the "beta" version away for free? In addition to the creative room to breathe that the Webcomic medium provides, Dino explained that since "we're artists, we're egotistical," the immediacy of Web distribution combined with the immediacy of the reader response that it allows, "feeds the narcissism."

If you haven't yet made Dino's acquaintance (on the page or in the flesh), go ahead and feed the narcissism by checking out part one of the current Billy Dogma tale, and see for yourself why Warren Ellis has referred to Dino as the "heir to Kirby."

With the exception of a tropical storm taking a northwesterly course along the western coast of Mexico, the tropics have been very quiet on this second anniversary of the Hurricane Katrina disaster. Just don't confuse the quiet with much progress being made on the recovery efforts since that devastating Cat 5 storm hit the Central Gulf Coast in 2005, however.

Have a few minutes to spare on the computer this weekend, even after reconciling your electronic banking and tweaking your fall fantasy football team roster? I urge you to spend it catching up with Josh Neufeld's wonderful FREE Webcomic, A.D.: New Orleans After the Deluge, sponsored by SMITH magazine, now in its sixth chapter.

Up to yesterday, I was aware of Neufeld's somber story and all the favorable press, yet vstill ery wary about reading it. Why? Perhaps, chalk it up to general Katrina "fatigue," particularly after watching Spike Lee's HBO requiem for New Orleans, When the Levees Broke, or if you've managed to survive multiple hurricanes as my family has relatively unscathed.

Our friends at Silent Devil have provided Comics Alliance with an 11 page preview of the new Halloween Man - Superdeformed.

Imagine a world filled where every piece of pulp fiction is true. Where superheroes fly through the sunlit sky and terrifying creatures go bump in the night. Where flying cars, robots and time travel are commonplace, and ancient evils plot to rise again. This is Solar City, Texas - home to a heroic monster and the brilliant woman by his side.

Halloween Man is a 21st Century Beauty and the Beast story that brings together the most amazing aspects of horror, superheroes, and science fiction. Come along for the ride, and meet our outlandish cast: There's Dr. Lucy Chaplin, a sex kitten of a mad scientist, Man-Goat, a superhero with the power of a Man-Sized Goat, and Morlack, an aged wizard turned beatnik.

All of whom pale in comparison to Solomon Hitch, the Halloween Man himself. A misunderstood monster with the power of the horror movie sequel, this hero has a heart of gold, and a taste for living flesh. Still, with his friends at his side he might just beat back the bad guys - and everyone else in his way.

Halloween Man - Superdeformed includes brand new stories and some of the best loved tales from the popular webcomic. Written by Drew Edwards, featuring art by Nicola (Birds of Prey) Scott, Benjamin (Dead @17: Protectorate) Hall and David (Blue Beetle) Baldeón. Covers by 666 Photography (featuring Jami Deadly as Lucy Chaplin) and Nicola Scott.

The Diamond order code is AUG07 3961, and it retails for the horrorifically low price of $9.99.
So, why should you buy this book? A better question would be why wouldn't you buy it? Let's ask Joe Fanboy what his concerns are.

"I don't know this comic!"
Not only is there a handy guide to the characters at the start of the book, but the first story is a revised and expanded retelling of Solomon's origin.

"I've never heard of any of the people working on it!"
Well, with a simple trip to your local comic book store you can find other works by the artists involved... or, just look at the pages shown here.

"I'm not sure about buying a trade of a comic book that I've never heard of – isn't it a bit expensive?"
Nope. It's $9.99 for over 100 pages. That's a bargain by most people's standards.

"Well, I suppose you've thought of everything. But wait - what if I don't like it?"
Do you not like good comics? This is a good comic. If you like good comics, you'll like this.

"I guess you've convinced me. So, what do I need to do now?"
Go to your local comic book store. Ask them to order you a copy of Halloween Man – Superdeformed. The order code from the current issue of Previews is AUG07 3961. Tell them to get their order in quickly.

"Go to my local comic book store? I'm the MANAGER!"
In which case, you can order a copy yourself. And a couple for the shelves. Maybe a couple for those slightly weird customers of yours that you think might be interested in the book.

Praise for Halloween Man:
Some of them are monsters and some of them are dead, but Drew Edwards never loses sight of his characters' essential humanity. HALLOWEEN MAN is old school Gothic romance with a post-Kirby twist. A cauldron of cool - Drew Melbourne (Archenemies)

Quite possibly one of the coolest concepts in comics. Good bad fun for bad readers with good taste, Halloween Man is highly recommended! – Gail Simone ( Birds of Prey, Wonder Woman, Simpsons Comics, Justice League Unlimited)

This stuff is so weird it's almost as weird as certain Japanese webcomics I've come across. Edwards has distinct goals in mind. He wants the stories to FLY, and he wants the look - he employs several different artists - to all hearken back to old EC comics, which they do marvellously - Jason Henderson (Sword of Dracula, Psy-Comm)

'Halloween Man' remains one of the best of the web comic evolution. It's savvy, self aware, and bends genres at a whim, resulting in the coolest "Silver Age Superhero meets 80's Horror Sci-Fi Hooha Comic co -starring a Man Goat" that you will ever find - Tim Seeley (Hack/Slash, Loaded Bible)

Click the images below for a full sized preview.

Halloween Man - Superdeformed Preview

Press Release

MySpace, the nation's most trafficked website, and Dark Horse Comics, pioneers of creator owned and licensed comics material, today announced a partnership to revive one of the most celebrated comic anthologies with the launch of a new online comic book, "MySpace Dark Horse Presents..." (http://www.myspace.com/darkhorsepresents). The online series will include original content by top creators and premiere artists, all available exclusively on MySpace and free of charge to users. The announcement was made on-site at Comic-Con International in San Diego.

"MySpace Dark Horse Presents..." takes its cues from the original Dark Horse Presents, a hard copy comic book published from 1986 to 2000, where high celebrated comics including Frank Miller's Sin City and Paul Chadwick's Concrete, made their mark in issues of the anthology and were later spun off into their own standalone comic franchises.

The inaugural August issue of "MySpace Dark Horse Presents..." goes live on MySpace today and will include the following comics:

Sugar Shock, the debut new comic from artist Fábio Moon and Joss Whedon, creator of the popular television shows Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, and Firefly, and author of the highly successful Dark Horse Comics miniseries, Fray, among others

The Umbrella Academy by artist Gabriel Bá and Gerard Way, lead singer of the band My Chemical Romance

Samurai by Ron Marz and Luke Ross

Comic-Con Murder Mystery by Rick Geary

"Dark Horse Comics, with a dedicated fan base and history of innovative comic properties, is the ideal partner for MySpace," said Shawn Gold, SVP of Marketing for MySpace. "We are thrilled to help resurrect Dark Horse Presents in its new digital format and continue the long and storied legacy of this comic institution classic."

The comics contained in future issues of "MySpace Dark Horse Presents..." will include a mix from both established, successful, comic creators as well as talented amateurs. Site editors from both MySpace and Dark Horse Comics will search MySpace profiles for new talent to feature in every upcoming issue. New issues will be available exclusively on MySpace the first week of every month, with the second issue premiering the first week of September.

"Just over 20 years ago, we published our first comic, Dark Horse Presents #1. Our goal was to bring new and talented creators to the forefront of comics culture, and also to give industry luminaries a chance to retain the rights to their work" said Mike Richardson, president and founder of Dark Horse Comics. "Years later, with that same goal in mind, we are reviving this title online, with the help of MySpace.com, whom we feel may be the most culturally relevant website on the net. With their broad cultural significance, and incredibly wide reach, we felt they would be the perfect partner to lead our charge into original online content. Our hope is to both reach new readers, and to give longtime Dark Horse devotees a new and exciting comics experience."

For fans at Comic-Con this week, MySpace will be giving away 400 "MySpace Dark Horse Presents..." limited edition, screen-printed posters available at the Dark Horse Comics booth. The posters feature original art from Sugar Shock by Fábio Moon, and were designed by Micah Smith at Blacktop Creative.

In March 2007 MySpace launched MySpace Comic Books (http://www.myspace.com/comicbooks), a community dedicated to the best in comics, manga, and graphic novels. In addition to the latest comic book news and interviews, MySpace Comic Books spotlights the most exciting projects, creators and events in the industry. With over 125,000 friends, and growing, MySpace has seen significant interest from its members in the comic book arena. "MySpace Dark Horse Presents..." will complement the burgeoning MySpace Comic Books profile.

DC's recent announcement about its fledgling imprint, Zudacomics, galvanized geek opinions about the world of Web comics. Last Friday's joint announcement from MySpace and Virgin Comics to launch a Web imprint of their own -- Coalition Comix -- sounds a bit more intriguing and ambitious to this casual observer.

In this business model, fans will collaborate with comics professionals (called "Story Masters") to guide the development of new characters and stories from scratch. The first master to work with comics geeks is a familiar (and talented) one to many of you: Mike Carey, a collaborator with Nicolas and Weston Cage on Virgin's new Voodoo Child and the current scribe of Marvel's X-Men and Ultimate Fantastic Four.

No doubt, Carey's skills as a former teacher will serve him well in the role of Story Master, as he builds an online dialogue with fans to guide the development of stories in real time, an often misleading concept in some sectors of the comics business. Just ask fans of All Star Batman and Robin, the Boy Wonder...

And, like Zudacomics, who owns what in this sector of the digital universe called Coalition Comix and how folks are paid for it, has yet to be discussed. For some gut-level reason, though, I feel a bit more hopeful about Virgin's efforts.

Perhaps, it's largely based on my 19-year-old nephew's assertion to me that everyone under age 25 has a MySpace page. OK, he probably said it just to remind me how old I am, but there's a little bit of logic at work here too.

Besides, I'm all for more eyeballs reading comics... even if they start on MySpace.

Studying for the ACT and SAT has become as simple as hanging out, reading some manga and listening to your iPod, thanks to some very open-minded and creative folks at test-prep giant Kaplan and Defined Mind.

Kaplan collaborated with TOKYOPOP on the recently unveiled Van Von Hunter manga series by Cleveland-based artists Ron Kaulfersch and Mike Schwark, who launched it five years ago as a Webcomic.

The three Van Von Hunter novels were rewritten to incorporate more than 300 common words teens may face on college-entrance exams, like subvert or nefarious, according to this interesting piece from the Christian Science Monitor.

Should reading manga not register on your radar as the cool thing to do, however, you can study on the sly by downloading hip-hop, R&B and rock songs created by various groups for Defined Minds' Vocabulary Accelerator program.

DC Comics took the first step toward the navigating -- if not managing -- the wild and wooly world of Webcomics on its own terms yesterday, launching Zudacomics.com, according to Publishers Weekly. Before you begin scanning in those mini-comics for consideration, however, not so fast...

Even though I suspect DC wanted to generate some positive buzz about Zudacomics.com heading into Comicon International two weeks from now, plenty of folks (see The Beat and Blog@Newsarama.com), including me, remain skeptical, and for good reason: There's no contract info to be found on the site.

Yes, creators whose work is selected for display will be paid for their work and can receive royalties too, said DC President/Publisher Paul Levitz to PW. One of the major comics publishers throwing out an idea like this one without a contract...

Will Zudacomics.com be a venue for creators with the right projects that beg to be seen by a wider audience or will it a be another "slush pile"? Read the short New York Times piece about Zudacomics and see what I'm talking about.

And, where did "Zuda" come from anyway?

I've found that one of the most remarkable things about Web 2.0 is how it has opened up a whole new avenue for re-exploring the classics--by letting us make our own mark on them. As far as comics go, this could mean anything from rewriting the dialogue in Lichtenstein's "The Great Divorce" to making certain subtleties in Watchmen--*cough* Dr.Manhattanlooksalittlegaywalkingaroundnakedallthetime *cough*--a bit more apparent.

Well, sharpen your pencils and get ready to make your mark, because yesterday while I was perusing Warren Ellis' blog The Engine, I happened to see a series of duplicate photographs of an obviously distraught Batman seated at a table in front of a blank sheet of paper and a soon-to-be loaded gun. These weren't just Ellis' usual calls for favorite frames--I came to realize these images were none other than our poor Caped Crusader's many, many cries for help. See after the jump, no pun intended...

Nick Bertozzi is a supremely talented writer and artist in addition to being a rad guy, a teacher and a father. You'd be doing yourself a real favor by checking out any of his past work, but this month we see the release of two new graphic novels from Nick.

Houdini: The Handcuff King, by Nick with Jason Lutes, examines a day in the life of escape artist Harry Houdini, while THE SALON is Bertozzi's utterly amazing tale of Picasso, Braque, Stein, Satie and Apollinaire in early 20th century Paris (Mature Readers).

Go right now and check out more samples from both books at Nick's website and then come back here to read our recent conversation with the man himself.

CA: So I'm sure you're getting a lot of this, but you're looking pretty prolific what with two graphic novels getting released in the same month. Do you feel like you're going to have to keep up this pace? Like you'll be up to 7 books a month by 2009?

NB: The books were supposed to come out a year apart and there was no overlap in the drawing at all. But if it came down to it, I know I could draw a graphic novel per month. Just kidding!