Have a look, then please spread the word!

In case you know someone who loves LEGO Ninjago, too, check out the first volume of our LEGO Ninjago graphic novel series (the second volume is coming in February!)

Available for purchase wherever you like to buy graphic novels:

• at your local indie bookstore
• at your local comicshop
• at Barnes & Noble
• at Amazon

Well, you certainly can’t go wrong with a comics master like Lewis Trondheim.

Available for purchase wherever you like to buy graphic novels:

• at your local indie bookstore
• at your local comicshop
• at Barnes & Noble
• at Amazon

I am, and have always been, a major LEGO fan. Who couldn’t smile at the combination of ninja action adventure with LEGO mini-figure cuteness — and in comics format?

Right now I’m working on a revamp of the Papercutz website with designer extraordinaire Sandra Schmitt. Here’s a little sneak preview:

We’ll be unveiling the brand new site in late February….

Archie's Mad House

If that weren’t enough, he also was the head writer for thirty years for CRACKED magazine. CRACKED was the most successful of all the magazines that imitated MAD, and many of the thousands of pages written by George were illustrated by the incredible John Severin. If you never heard of MAD magazine, it’s the inspiration for PAPERCUTZ SLICES. MAD features all sorts of pop culture parodies, while PAPERCUTZ SLICES focuses on one main target in each volume.

More recently George collaborated with Stan Goldberg on the comic CINDY AND HER OBASAN. In 2007, George won the Bill Finger Award for Excellence in Comic Book Writing. And now he’s creating the new adventures of Moe, Larry, and Curly in their new Papercutz graphic novel series.

Tomorrow, we’ll talk about the guy bringing George’s scripts to comicbook life– the one and only Stan Goldberg!

Best of the Three Stooges Comicbooks #1

But that’s not all, we’re also publishing a deluxe hardcover series entitled THE BEST OF THE THREE STOOGES COMICBOOKS featuring great classic comics featuring Moe, Larry, Shemp, and Curly Joe! With comics written and illustrated by Norman Maurer, who went on to write, direct, and produce movies starring the Three Stooges, and by acclaimed comicbook artist and animator Pate Alvarado, there’s a lot of fun packed into these pages! Not to mention a special introduction by Joan Maurer, who also happen to be Moe’s daughter.

The Three Stooges #1

More on the Stooges tomorrow!

Classics Illustrated #12

We’re honored that the comics adaptation was included on the show, as it just goes to show how comics as a medium is being taken more and more seriously. And it’s just an extra bonus that it’s being shown now during the 70th Anniversary of CLASSICS ILLUSTRATED.

And we gotta admit, we love seeing the Papercutz name flash across our TV screens!

So, I decided to bring a couple of sample Papercutz graphic novels with me to play show and tell. But which ones? Well, titles such as NINJAGO, THE SMURFS, GARFIELD, and GERONIMO STILTON are already so popular, they really don’t need any more help from me. So, I decided to bring the holiday-themed “Monster Christmas” by Lewis Trondheim and ERNEST & REBECCA #1 “My Best Friend is a Germ” by Guillaume Bianco and Antonello Dalena.

The reaction was even better than I could’ve imagined! While almost everyone at this somewhat sophisticated comic art-gathering was aware of the work of award-winning cartoonist Lewis Trondheim, no one I met knew about ERNEST & REBECCA! Fortunately, once I told them about this remarkable six and a half year old girl named Rebecca, who has a weak immune system and is sick a lot, and is trying to keep her parents from breaking up with help from her friend, Ernest, who is a super microbe, and after they looked at the awesome artwork by Dalena, they were sold! They asked where they could buy a copy of their own.

It really is a great feeling to share something you love with your friends! If there’s a Papercutz graphic novel you love, why not let your friends know about it? They’ll thank you for it!

The man is a true cartooning legend. His work on MAD (both the comicbook and the magazine) and TALES FROM THE CRYPT, as well as the Harvey Kurtzman-edited EC war comics alone are an amazing accomplishment, showing how he was able to master three separate genres of comics. Yet he went on to become one of the top magazine cover and movie poster artists, also mastering the art of celebrity caricature. He also did a gazillion other things– everything from designing animated cartoon characters to tons of advertising work.

Anyway, I finally got the pleasure of meeting the man himself. It was at a signing event at the Strand bookstore for Jack Davis: Drawing American Pop Culture – A Career Retrospective published by our friends at Fantagraphics. The evening started off with publisher/editor Gary Groth chatting with Mr. Davis, discussing the cartoonists’ long career. There was some Q&A afterwards, and then Jack proceeded to sign books. Of course, I had him sign mine! The event was held in the Strand’s Rare Book Room, and it gave the evening an extra touch of class. Mr. Davis is the sweetest man you’d ever want to meet– modest to a fault and kind to one and all. I’m very happy I saw him here, because even though he appeared the next night, on his 87th birthday, at the Scott Eder Gallery in DUMBO, and the next day on a panel, moderated by Drew Friedman and Garty Groth, at the Brooklyn Comics and Graphics Festival, those events were so jam-packed and crowded, they simply couldn’t be as relaxed and intimate as that night at the Strand.

When I spoke to Jack at the Scott Eder Gallery, after meeting his delightful daughter, I told him how much I enjoyed his talk the night before. He replied saying his family criticized his performance, and said he wasn’t a good public speaker. I disagreed and told him he was perfect! Everyone came to see Jack Davis, not to hear a fancy speech. He seemed to appreciate that, while he generously sketched a self portrait in my copy of TALES FROM THE CRYPT #7 “Something Wicca This Way Comes”– the only Papercutz CRYPT to feature an original EC story in it– “Lower Berth” by Al Feldstein and Jack Davis.

I also ran into a lot of friends at these events, and a few of them seemed shy about actually talking to Jack Davis. They asked, “What do you say to Jack Davis?” My suggestion: “Thank you.”