Tag Archives: graphic novel

Rainbow Bridge

9781949028676_270ed

Published by AfterShock Comics

ISBN: 9781949028676
Price: $16.99
Genre: Coming of Age, YA Fiction
Ages: 12+

On Sale: August 17, 2021

RAINBOW BRIDGE is an original graphic novel from Steve Foxe and Steve Orlando – the first to be published under AfterShock’s new YA imprint: SEISMIC PRESS.

What if the Rainbow Bridge was the Bifrost?

ANDY’s parents rescued ROCKET when Andy was just a toddler, and they grew up together, with Rocket serving as Andy’s guardian through every one of childhood’s ups and downs. So when Rocket passes away right before Andy’s 14th birthday, he’s rudderless. High school is coming soon and he can’t imagine making that transition without Rocket at his side. The day before school starts, when Andy is at his lowest, he visits Rocket’s grave, and unexpectedly summons the RAINBOW BRIDGE, a gateway to a fantasy world where pets discover their afterlife.

One part heaven and one part limbo, this is a final resting place for pets – but also a realm where any unfinished business must be completed, before restless pet souls twist into bizarre, seemingly malevolent wraiths that haunt the periphery of this otherwise splendid paradise. It’s extremely rare for a human to visit this realm, but Rocket and Andy find each other again in this wondrous pet Valhalla to go on one last epic adventure to help Rocket reunite with his lost littermate, fulfilling Rocket’s last wishes. Here, the roles are reversed, as Andy has to be the strong one and support Rocket in his quest for closure. By adventure’s end, Andy finally gains the confidence to let go of his childhood and enter the next phase of his life, starting his first day of high school.

RAINBOW BRIDGE is aimed primarily at younger readers, on the border of middle grade and YA, but should resonate with anyone who has ever had to say goodbye to a beloved pet – or anyone who greeted growing up with nervousness and anxiety. Like JOE THE BARBARIAN before it, RAINBOW BRIDGE can address the lines between reality and fantasy (although everything in the book is portrayed as actually happening), wish fulfillment and personal growth, childhood and young adulthood. There are also themes of overcoming trauma, and of compassion for animals. The Realm Beyond the Rainbow Bridge is shaped by its inhabitants, and contains vast fantasy vistas inspired by the adventures pets and their owners, especially kids, imagine for themselves.

Key Selling Points

Contributor Bio(s)

  • Rainbow Bridge is the launch of SEISMIC PRESS a YA imprint from AfterShock ComicS
  • A story about grief, anxiety and coming of age

Marketing Plan

  • National advertising campaign
  • Extensive library marketing campaign
  • Review maililng
  • ARCs
  • National PR

STEVE FOXE is the author of more than 50 comics and children’s books for properties including Spider-Ham, Pokémon, Batman, Transformers, Adventure Time, Steven Universe, and Grumpy Cat. He is the co-creator of Razorblades: The Horror Magazine alongside James Tynion IV. He was the editor for Paste Magazine‘s comic section (when it existed), has contributed to PanelxPanelThe MNT, and The Comics Journal, and spent five years at Knopf Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Penguin Random House. He lives in Queens.

STEVE ORLANDO’s first book ever was poorly drawn in fifth-grade classroom pencils on Xerox paper, and featured a doughboy with superpowers, and names changed from trademark purposes. He was a precocious child. Today he writes and produces comics, including VirgilCrude and stories in the Eisner Award Nominated Outlaw Territory at Image Comics. He launched Midnighter and took part in Batman and Robin Eternal and CMYK: Yellow at DC Entertainment. Find him at your convenience deep down the rabbit hole of discussing wine, spirits, or mythology.

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Dark One Volume 1

Dark One

Published by Vault Comics

ISBN: 9781939424457
Price: $24.99
Genre: Fantasy
Ages: 16+

On Sale: May 18, 2021

From #1 New York Times Bestselling, Hugo Award-winning author, Brandon Sanderson (The Mistborn Trilogy, The Stormlight Archive series), along with Nathan Gooden, Jackson Lanzing, and Collin Kelly, comes Dark One, the first book in a series of original graphic novels, from Vault Comics. Some worlds are made to be broken. Paul Tanasin is a young man haunted by visions of a dark and fantastic world?visions he initially believes are hallucinations. But when he discovers they are prophecies from Mirandus, a world in which he’s destined to become a fearsome destroyer, he’ll have to embrace the fear, rise up as the Dark One, and shatter everything. Dark One examines the dual roles we often take on in life—the ability to be a savior as well as a destroyer.

Key Selling Points

Advanced Praise

  • From NYT Best-Selling, Hugo Award winning writer BRANDON SANDERSON (The Mistborn Trilogy, The Stormlight Archive series).
  • Sanderson is one of the best-selling fantasy novelists of all time.
  • His Mistborn trilogy novels have sold more copies than Game of Thrones.
  • Sanderson has almost a million followers across his social media platforms, and he will be promoting this book on all of his channels.
  • Modern day dark fantasy.
  • Multimedia property with it’s own TV Show, Podcast, and more.

“A 17-year-old faces his destiny in a divided and distant land. Paul seemingly has a tenuous grip on reality. He sees visions of an unreal, fantastic land, and Nikka, a blue-tinted hallucination of a girl who claims to be his sister, insists on keeping him company. Living apart from his mother, with whom he has a strained relationship, Paul tries to keep up a normal life with frequent visits to his therapist. When a sword-wielding warrior disrupts a session, Paul is flung into Mirandus, the world of his visions. With a clear flow between panels, the implication of time passing in a montage of wide, epic scenes of Mirandus; brilliant and emotive color schemes; and a cleanly minimal drawing style provide a strong visual aspect to the story. Inexperienced graphic novel readers will easily be able to follow the flow of dialogue and the clear depiction of speech and narrative bubbles provide further visual literacy cues. While the discussion of good versus evil is a bit heavy-handed despite attempts to subvert the binary, the overarching theme of destiny as depicted by the Narrative adds an intriguing twist. Paul’s relationships with Nikka and other characters are intriguing but the pacing makes them feel rushed. Paul is biracial (Chinese/White); the humans of Mirandus appear mostly White. (This book is available now as a digital edition, with print release currently scheduled for May 2021.) A dramatically dark fantasy that will leave readers eager for the sequel. (Graphic fantasy. 14-adult)”

— KIRKUS 

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The Strange Death of Alex Raymond

1

Published by Living the Line

ISBN: 9781736860502
Price: $39.99
Genre: Non-Fiction
Ages: 13+

On Sale: August 3, 2021

Legendary creator Dave Sim is renowned world-wide for his groundbreaking Cerebus the Aardvark. Now, in The Strange Death of Alex Raymond, Sim brings to life the history of comics’ greatest creators, using their own techniques. Equal parts Understanding Comics and From HellStrange Death is a head-on collision of ink drawing and spiritual intrigue, pulp comics and movies, history and fiction. The story traces the lives and techniques of Alex Raymond (Flash Gordon, Rip Kirby), Stan Drake (Juliet Jones), Hal Foster (Prince Valiant), and more, dissecting their techniques through recreations of their artwork, and highlighting the metatextual resonances that bind them together.

Foreword by Eddie Campbell.

Key Selling Points

Advanced Praise

Interview with Carson Grubaugh

The Graphic Novel Revisited

  • A remarkable book that has been anticipated for many decades.
  • The Strange Death of Alex Raymond is a milestone book, an idiosyncratic history of the medium that is visually compelling in a way few books are.
  • Understanding Comics meets From Hell.
  • Dave Sim is one of the medium’s greatest practitioners and has created something about some of the medium’s greatest practitioners.

Contributor Bio(s)

DAVE SIM is a Canadian cartoonist and publisher, best known for his comic book Cerebus, his artistic experimentation, his advocacy of self-publishing and creators’ rights, and his controversial political, philosophical and religious beliefs.

CARSON GRUBAUGH is an artist. Their work was featured in exhibitions at the PUNCH Gallery and the Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art. In MutualArt’s artist press archive, Carson Grubaugh is featured in Csula’s Ronald H.

“Comics’ answer to Finnegan’s Wake, an inspired work of obsessive genius that will take a long time to untangle.”
– Rob Salkowitz, Senior Contributor, FORBES

“The Strange Death of Alex Raymond is one of the most spectacular comics I have ever read or seen. I can’t recommend it enough, although you may hate it. Bizarre and beautiful and completely unique.”
– Jim Rugg, Cartoonist KayfabeStreet Angel, The P.L.A.I.N. Janes
 
“This is a master work. I’m honoured to have even laid eyes on it.”
– E.S. Glenn, author of Unsmooth, cartoonist for The New Yorker

“A must-read for anyone interested in the history and craft of comics.”
– Brandon Graham, King City, Warhead, Prophet

“Grubaugh provides a brilliant and fitting conclusion to what would have otherwise been one of the most notable unfinished works of recent times. I for one am excited at holding the completed Strange Death of Alex Raymond in my hands.”
– Gary Spencer Millidge, Strangehaven, Alan Moore: Portrait of an Extraordinary Gentleman

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Rainbow Bridge

9781949028676_270ed

Published by AfterShock Comics

ISBN: 9781949028676
Price: $16.99
Genre: Coming of Age, YA Fiction
Ages: 12+

On Sale: August 17, 2021

RAINBOW BRIDGE is an original graphic novel from Steve Foxe and Steve Orlando – the first to be published under AfterShock’s new YA imprint: SEISMIC PRESS.

What if the Rainbow Bridge was the Bifrost?

ANDY’s parents rescued ROCKET when Andy was just a toddler, and they grew up together, with Rocket serving as Andy’s guardian through every one of childhood’s ups and downs. So when Rocket passes away right before Andy’s 14th birthday, he’s rudderless. High school is coming soon and he can’t imagine making that transition without Rocket at his side. The day before school starts, when Andy is at his lowest, he visits Rocket’s grave, and unexpectedly summons the RAINBOW BRIDGE, a gateway to a fantasy world where pets discover their afterlife.

One part heaven and one part limbo, this is a final resting place for pets – but also a realm where any unfinished business must be completed, before restless pet souls twist into bizarre, seemingly malevolent wraiths that haunt the periphery of this otherwise splendid paradise. It’s extremely rare for a human to visit this realm, but Rocket and Andy find each other again in this wondrous pet Valhalla to go on one last epic adventure to help Rocket reunite with his lost littermate, fulfilling Rocket’s last wishes. Here, the roles are reversed, as Andy has to be the strong one and support Rocket in his quest for closure. By adventure’s end, Andy finally gains the confidence to let go of his childhood and enter the next phase of his life, starting his first day of high school.

RAINBOW BRIDGE is aimed primarily at younger readers, on the border of middle grade and YA, but should resonate with anyone who has ever had to say goodbye to a beloved pet – or anyone who greeted growing up with nervousness and anxiety. Like JOE THE BARBARIAN before it, RAINBOW BRIDGE can address the lines between reality and fantasy (although everything in the book is portrayed as actually happening), wish fulfillment and personal growth, childhood and young adulthood. There are also themes of overcoming trauma, and of compassion for animals. The Realm Beyond the Rainbow Bridge is shaped by its inhabitants, and contains vast fantasy vistas inspired by the adventures pets and their owners, especially kids, imagine for themselves.

Key Selling Points

Contributor Bio(s)

  • Rainbow Bridge is the launch of SEISMIC PRESS a YA imprint from AfterShock ComicS
  • A story about grief, anxiety and coming of age

Marketing Plan

  • National advertising campaign
  • Extensive library marketing campaign
  • Review maililng
  • ARCs
  • National PR

STEVE FOXE is the author of more than 50 comics and children’s books for properties including Spider-Ham, Pokémon, Batman, Transformers, Adventure Time, Steven Universe, and Grumpy Cat. He is the co-creator of Razorblades: The Horror Magazine alongside James Tynion IV. He was the editor for Paste Magazine‘s comic section (when it existed), has contributed to PanelxPanelThe MNT, and The Comics Journal, and spent five years at Knopf Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Penguin Random House. He lives in Queens.

STEVE ORLANDO’s first book ever was poorly drawn in fifth-grade classroom pencils on Xerox paper, and featured a doughboy with superpowers, and names changed from trademark purposes. He was a precocious child. Today he writes and produces comics, including VirgilCrude and stories in the Eisner Award Nominated Outlaw Territory at Image Comics. He launched Midnighter and took part in Batman and Robin Eternal and CMYK: Yellow at DC Entertainment. Find him at your convenience deep down the rabbit hole of discussing wine, spirits, or mythology.

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The Overstreet Guide To Grading Comics: Sixth Edition

9781603602693_b100a

Published by Gemstone Publishing

ISBN: HC – 9781603602693 / SC – 9781603602686
Price: $34.95 / $24.95
Genre: Reference
Ages: 13+

On Sale: May 11, 2021

Since 1970, the name “Overstreet” has symbolized a vast knowledge of American comic books. While The Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide helps you learn about comic values, this book teaches you the importance of condition (a factor that is often the key to real collectability) and how to grade accurately. The Overstreet Guide To Grading Comics includes the 10-point grading system, as well as exhaustive descriptions of Primary and Split Grades. It spotlights each grade with more than 200 full-color images in all, as well as articles on storage, preservation, and restoration, a look at the independent, third-party grading companies, and much more! Available for the first time ever in a hardcover edition!

Key Selling Points

  •  How to grade
  • Provides visual examples
  • More than 200 photos
  • Addresses preservation & restoration
  • Available for the first time in hardcover

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Averee

1

Published by A Wave Blue World

ISBN: 9781949518122
Price: $16.99
Genre: Science Fiction
Ages: 13+

On Sale: April 20, 2021

A world where social rank rules and your status sets your inevitable course in life – sound familiar? Just imagine if it was all controlled by an app! In Averee’s world, the usual trials of making your way into adulthood come with the added stress of Ranked, a ubiquitous and all-knowing tech innovation that awards you points for socially acceptable behavior and takes them away when you don’t conform. It seems fun enough at first, but it becomes much more than a game when Averee’s rank suddenly drops overnight. Now she’s getting hassled at school, blocked from her favorite restaurants, and her mom is out of a job.

Luckily for our hero, she has Zoe – a bottom-ranked BFF – whose open disdain for all things Ranked makes her the perfect accomplice on what’s about to be the heist of the century: they’re staging a raid on the app’s corporate HQ to set things right and its spokesperson, the virtual popstar Pretty Kitty, is in their sights. With Averee’s crush Luke in tow, these friends are in way over their heads and they’re about to learn that the “right” they’re fighting for may be on a global scale.

AVEREE is one average girl’s mission through a world of near-future tech to take back control of her life, in a fun philosophical adventure!

Key Selling Points

Review(s)

  • Relatable teen drama mixed with social commentary about the dangers of technology/social media.

  • Female protagonist, Averee, and female secondary character, Zoe.

  • Can be used to discuss pros and cons of technology and social media.

  • Addresses issues of bullying and social hierarchies.

  • Up-and-coming female creative team. Stephanie Phillips has written titles such as “The Butcher of Paris”, “Artemis and the Assassin”, “A Man Among Ye”, and Heavy Metal’s “Tarna”.
    Marika Cresta has drawn “X-Men” and “Star Wars” for Marvel Comics as well as the 5-time Ringo Award nominated series “Forgotten Home.”

  • Eiser winner and industry veteran, Dave Johnson, worked with Stephanie Phillips on the concept before handing it off to the creators.

SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL — Gr 7 Up-Phillips (Harley Quinn, Butcher of Paris) and Johnson (Batman: Black and White) have created a Black Mirror-esque world where the app Ranked uses computer algorithms to score every citizen on popularity and social standing. Those with high ranks enjoy life to the fullest, while those who don’t score as well find it difficult to obtain employment, entertainment, or even friends. High schooler Averee reaps the benefits of her family’s good fortune until their rank suddenly plummets. After Averee experiences how the other half lives, she, her friend Zoe, and her crush Luke resolve to find and talk to PrettyKitty, the green-haired, cat ear-wearing, adorable Ranked spokesperson. As they learn more about the app’s nefarious machinations, however, the teens realize that they must end it for good. The plot moves quickly, carried by engaging, dynamic characters; Averee and Zoe’s relationship becomes complicated as Averee accuses her friend, who’s long been skeptical of Ranked, of secretly bringing Averee’s family’s rank down. The dramatic, realistic art is fantastic, with vivid coloring and details that bring to life a seemingly beautiful world whose dark side is slowly revealed. Averee and Zoe are Asian, while Luke is white. VERDICT Though fans of speculative tales in the vein of Black Mirror will appreciate this one, so will anyone who loves friendship stories, such as Faith Erin Hicks’s One Year at Ellsmere. A good entry point for those unfamiliar with comics, too.

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Inkblot Volume 1

1

Published by Image Comics

ISBN: 9781534318243
Price: $9.99
Genre: Fantasy
Ages: 13+

On Sale: April 13, 2021

A powerful sorceress must attempt to correct her greatest mistake–the creation of a magical cat which can travel through time, space, and the seven realms of reality. The cat threatens to unravel the fabric of the universe, doesn’t care, and just won’t listen!

Collects INKBLOT #1-6.

Key Selling Points

  • This is Emma Kubert’s first creator-owned comic, yet she’s already a household name and comics royalty. A third generation comics artist, she’s the granddaughter of comic artist Joe Kubert (of The Kubert School), daughter of comic artist Andy Kubert, and niece of comic artist Adam Kubert.

    Family connections aside, Emma’s just an incredible storyteller in her own right and has freelanced for DC Entertainment, Dynamite Entertainment, and 20th Century Fox. She’s also penciled, inked and colored for DC Entertainments’ DC Superhero Girls and Teen Titans Go!, and drew layouts for the company’s young adult graphic novel Raven which was wildly popular.

  • Rusty Gladd graduated alongside Emma from the Kubert School and has done some DC freelancing, but is otherwise making his debut comic.

  • Handsell anyone who enjoys Kelly Thompson & Veronica Fish’s SABRINA THE TEENAGE WITCH or MIDDLEWEST, or fans of high fantasy comics like ROSE or RAT QUEENS.

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Invincible

1

Published by Image Comics

ISBN: 9781582407111
Price: $12.99
Genre: Superheroes 
Ages: 13+

Mark Grayson is just like most everyone else his age. The only major difference being that his dad is the most powerful superhero on the planet! And, Mark seems to be inheriting his father’s powers! See Mark thwart super-villains, alien invasions and all sorts of craziness, as he gets the hang of all this super-heroing stuff.

Key Selling Points

Creator Bio(s)

  • Exclusively collecting the sold out initial story arc, along with production art, unused story pages and sketches.
  • Full color adventure of a modern-day superhero for the 21st Century.
  • Appeals to Young Adult readers

ROBERT KIRKMAN has seen groundbreaking success in the adaptation of his comic book titles into major franchises in all forms of content. In 2010, his Eisner award winning series, The Walking Dead, was developed into an AMC television series. It has become a worldwide phenomenon as the highest-rated basic cable drama of all time. The property has also been extended into a blockbuster game franchise, licensing business and ongoing publishing success.

CORY WALKER is an American comic book artist who is best known for the early work on Invincible, a series and character he co-created with writer Robert Kirkman. Outside of Image Comics, Cory has worked with Kirkman on Marvel’s Destroyer MAX miniseries, the Irredeemable Ant-Man and various other projects.

More in the Series...

Invincible Volume 2

 

ISBN: 9781582403472
Price: $9.99
Genre: Superheroes 
Ages: 13+

Invincible Volume 3

 

ISBN: 9781582407937
Price: $12.99
Genre: Superheroes 
Ages: 13+

Invincible Compendium Volume 1

ISBN: 9781607064114
Price: $12.99
Genre: Superheroes 
Ages: 13+

Crossover Volume 1

1

Published by Image Comics

ISBN: 9781534318939
Price: $19.99
Genre: Superheroes 
Ages: 13+

On Sale: June 1, 2021

DONNY CATES and GEOFF SHAW reunite for an epic and historic series that’s AVENGERS: ENDGAME meets CLOVERFIELD with a good dose of the questing of THE DARK TOWER series thrown in for good measure.

Imagine everything you thought was fantasy…was real. And now join us, in a world where reality is dead…and anything is possible…

Collects CROSSOVER #1-6.

Key Selling Points

Creator Bio(s)

  • Cates & Shaw have a proven sales track with over 130K single issues of GOD COUNTRY sold, multiple reprints, and near 30K trade paperbacks sold. Cates has since gone on to elevate his name on the wildly successful Marvel VENOM and ABSOLUTE CARNAGE lines. Together they’ve laid the groundwork for CROSSOVER to be the biggest sales hit of 2020

  • The big box office level superhero mashups of The Avengers with the global event impact and mystery of Cloverfield

DONNY CATES is a writer of comic books. His past works include Buzzkill, The Ghost Fleet, The Paybacks, Interceptor, Star Trek, and Atomahawk. He’s currently writing God Country and, like, nine other things he can’t tell you about. He’s from the town that King Of The Hill was based on but lives in Austin, Texas with his wife, his cat, and his books. He is much more interesting than this bio makes him sound. Promise.

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The Fall

1

Published by Image Comics

ISBN: 9781534318380
Price: $14.99
Genre: Dystopian 
Ages: 16+

On Sale: March 23, 2021

Readers who found themselves gripped by the apocalyptic adventure of Robert Kirkman’s THE WALKING DEAD and who were moved by the emotion in Cormac McCarthy’s THE ROAD will not want to miss Jared Muralt’s THE FALL.

After just losing his wife, one father will have to face a world in freefall; shaken to its core by an economic, social, political and health crisis without precedent. Facing seemingly unreal and very unexpected dangers, he will do whatever it takes to protect his loved ones in a country on the brink of collapse. In this internationally acclaimed series, Jared Muralt not only tells the story of one family struggling to survive, but also questions the very reasons that brought mankind to this apocalypse.

Key Selling Points

Creator Bio(s)

  • Readers who found themselves gripped by the apocalyptic adventure of Robert Kirkman’s THE WALKING DEAD and who were moved by the emotion in Cormac McCarthy’s THE ROAD will not want to miss Jared Muralt’s forthcoming original graphic novel

  • After a preliminary course at the Bern School of Design, Muralt completed an apprenticeship as a decorator. Later he worked as a freelance graphic artist. In 2009 he founded the graphics collective BlackYard with three friends. He drew for the New York Times and Pottermore and first exhibited his Image Comics work, The Fall at Fantasy Basel. His other work includes Deep Sea Angler, The End Of Bon Yoyage, Hellship and Dance Of Death

  • Muralt’s is a Swiss, internationally bestselling creator whose work has been published widely in French and German in particular

JARED MURALT was born in 1982 in Bern, Switzerland. Though he attended art school for one year in Bern, Muralt is primarily self-taught, and he developed his precision and skill through the careful study of books as diverse as those pertaining to anatomy, art history and comics. Muralt is also co-founder of BlackYard studio, a Swiss illustration and graphic design agency that was honored with Bern’s Advancement Award for Design in 2009.

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