We have so many exciting things going on at the Papercutz offices, but when I saw some reviews of our Smurfs comicbook and an interview with yours truly from Comic Con, I knew I just had to share it with you! You see, not only is The Smurfs comicbook a great way to get acquainted with these little blue guys, but its also the first story in which the wicked Gargamel and his cat Azrael appeared! It all starts when Gargamel finds he needs a Smurf to complete a potion. He ends up smurfnapping one, and holding him captive! It’s up to Papa Smurf and the rest of the Smurfs to save their friend.

Will our smurf friend make it out in time? Or will Gargamel cook him up? You’ll have to read to find out! And check out what others have had to say about our Smurfs comicbook by visiting Readaholic and Quill Book Reviews. Also, you can see an interview with me from Comic Con 2010 at The San Diego Reader. Until next time, stay Smurfy, and thanks for stopping by!

-Michael

Associate Editor Mike Petranek here to say hello and share some exciting goings-on at Papercutz that have me jumping for joy! Not only will you be able to pick up the first two SMURFS graphic novels next Tuesday, but in three weeks the first volume of NANCY DREW THE NEW CASE FILES #1 will arrive too! With the DISNEY FAIRIES buzzing around the office (giving poor GERONIMO STILTON no chance for a cheese-break) and those little blue Smurfs always up to something, we’ve been extra busy in August and having a blast! It’s been fun sliding from one project to the next and everyone seems to be enjoying it — well, almost everyone…

So with that said, let me take the chance to share with you some news and reviews of our upcoming releases!

From Fusion Magazine to Animation World Magazine there has been a lot of buzz about our SMURFS graphic novels. I hope that you have as much fun and laughs as I did helping to edit them when you dive into these great collections of comics. I have to thank Adam Grano at Fantagraphics for doing such a great job putting these together, as well as Janice Chiang for breathing new life into the lettering and our Editor in Chief Jim Salicrup for bringing these great little fellas back!

I booted up my computer this morning to find that The Huffington Post named CLASSICS ILLUSTRATED #9 “The Jungle” one of the best graphic novel adaptations of classic books – EVER! That was a great way to start my morning! Jump over here to get more info on “The Jungle.”

That’s all I’ve got time for right now. Check out Rick and Stefan’s blogs below for more info on TALES FROM THE CRYPT and PAPERCUTZ SLICES. Warning: do not drink milk while reading Rick Parker’s blog entries as laughter can cause it to shoot out your nose. Until next time, thanks for stopping by!

-Michael

Well, he did it again. After informing me by telephone that Papercutz needed yet ANOTHER cover for a new book they’re publishing next year, the Old Editor, Jim Salicrup, called and described the premise for the next cover in the series we laughingly refer to as “Papercutz Slices”. You might not think that’s so strange, but what if you hadn’t even started on the INTERIOR PAGES which accompany the LAST cover you did for a book that’s now scheduled to be released even BEFORE the one I just did the cover for. Confused? You should be. As anyone who knows me will attest, I am one of the most disorganized people on the planet. Whenever I sit down to work (and sometimes I have to work standing UP, because I can’t find my chair) I almost always have to look around for a pencil and a piece of paper. You’d think after all these years I’d keep some pencils nearby. Actually, there are plenty of pencils nearby, unfortunately most of them are totally useless and have names like CRAYOLA /MAGENTA on them. I think maybe they must be leftovers from when my children were young. What they’re doing in a WITCH CITY SALEM MASS Coffee cup is beyond me. And where did that cup come from? Anyway, not just any pencil will do. It has to be an HB pencil with a decent point on it. I’m superstitious and like to use the same kind of pencil all the time. This makes life more difficult, but keeps me from feeling anxiety. I don’t like to feel too anxious. A little anxiety is okay, though, and keeps me on my toes.
Oh, um….so….I really wanted to tell the editor that I’d prefer to do the cover AFTER I drew the interior pages because that way, I’d be familiar with the character and could, theoretically, anyway, do a better job. Makes sense, right? But that’s not the way they do things in publishing. And it’s not really professional for the artist to tell the editor how to proceed. The covers have to be done FIRST so that they can appear in a catalog many months in advance so that the buyers at the stores can look at them and decide which books and how many copies they want to order. So I kept my mouth shut, which as anyone who knows me would tell you is hard for me to do. But, to be asked to draw a cover for an issue that comes out so far in advance BEFORE the interior pages have been drawn for the PREVIOUS issue is too confusing for a guy like me. I’m so confused right now that I don’t even know if that makes any sense. Also, to further complicate matters, the content box  here is only one inch tall and I can’t go back and see what I’ve written to see if there are any mistakes in it or whether it makes any sense. So if there are mistakes, I apologize. Perhaps someone will leave a comment about them. I know that you were probably expecting me to say something about the cover I drew today which I’m not allowed to tell you about. I will just say one thing about it. It has a COW on it. It’s the first time I have ever had to draw a cow on the cover of a book, so I hope it looks like a cow. And not a big dog or water buffalo. There is something inherently funny about cows. So I hope when you see the cover I drew with a cow on it it will make you laugh. If it does, please buy the book. If it doesn’t, please buy the book anyway. That’s all I can tell you now.

CAN FRANK HARDY SAVE HIM IN TIME?

THE HARDY BOYS THE NEW CASE FILES #1 “Crawling With Zombies” is coming soon (October 12th, to be exact), and buzz has been brewing! If you haven’t heard, comics legend Gerry Conway has taken over writing duties, and the new HARDY BOYS books will be 6 x 9, a much larger size with bigger comics! Gerry created “The Punisher” and also wrote The Amazing Spider-Man #121 “The Night Gwen Stacy Died,” one of the most revered comics of the last 40 years. We’re excited, but I don’t want to give too much away. I’ll leave you with another teaser page…

Looks pretty cool, huh? Well, you’ll have to wait until October to see the whole thing for yourself! Thanks for dropping by!

-Michael

Next up, I’m co-scripting the second in the graphic novel parody series Papercutz Slices with daughter, Maia, and getting started on a promo video for Blood Prophecy.  Said video will feature a kick-ass music track by Jazan Wild, whose Wake Up to Reality continues to be this site’s number one download

So, anyway, that’s why I haven’t been updating much lately.

Speaking of Slices, a preview of Harry Potty and the Deathly Boring is up – with hysterically funny artwork from Rick Parker.  Having read all seven Potter books twice (once to each daughter), my incredible respect for J. K. Rowling notwithstanding, it was liberating to poke fun at them in all their over-saturated glory.  Fans of Potter satires should also check out the wonderful A Very Potter Musical and A Very Potter Sequel at YouTube.

Early reviews for my return to mainstream horror, Blood Prophecy, out this fall, have been coming in as well, with great reactions, as follows.

Richard Dansky at Greenman Review:  “Blood Prophecy is a genuinely engaging read, with more to offer than the usual brooding fanginess.”

Barry Hunter at The Baryon Review:  “Petrucha has written a historical paranormal, if you will, that has the action and the interesting characters to help you move the pages as fast as you can turn them.”

At FlamingNet the book earned a 9 out of ten and a Top Choice award: “Petrucha manages to make the reader feel like he is part of the story and really witnessing history along with Jeremiah. The novel is clearly well researched and is fast-paced to read.”

Heather at Errant Dreams: “What amazed me most is that I had a very difficult time seeing how Petrucha would satisfactorily wind up the plot—yet he did a gorgeous job of it.”

And, despite a general dislike for all things vampire, Thomas Duff at Duffbert’s Random Musings was surprised he enjoyed the book:  “…it doesn’t fall into the "glittery vampire" genre that seems to be all the rage these days.  Fall is a brutal killer who only barely keeps his needs and abilities hidden from others.“

And there you have it.  I’ll have more on my appearances in the upcoming fifth season of A&E’s Paranormal State, and my sundry writing efforts, as things progress.  Pax.

Editorial Associate Mike Petranek stopping by, very excited about DISNEY FAIRIES #2 “Tinker Bell and the Wings of Rani”. Here’s a picture of the cover:

A couple of great reviews were recently sent our way, and it looks like people are even more excited about DISNEY FAIRIES #2 than DISNEY FAIRIES #1! At Miscellaneous Ramblings, Tami Winbush declared “I absolutely love the covers of these graphic novels. They have sparkles and characters that I always wanted to be when growing up. How can you not want to read this?” At The Cutest Blog on the Block, Disney Fairies #2 was named one of “My Favorite Things” by the web page. We were very pleased indeed!

For more information about DISNEY FAIRIES #2 “Tinker Bell and the Wings of Rani” please visit our Disney Fairies page. We hope you enjoy our Disney Fairies graphic novels. Have a great day and thanks for stopping by!

-Michael

Disney Fairies Copyright (C) 2010 Disney Enterprises. All Rights reserved.

Editorial Associate Mike Petranek here, dropping by today because Papercutz graphic novels are getting coverage on the radio! In the coming weeks DISNEY FAIRIES and THE SMURFS will both be mentioned on several radio stations around the country! Here’s two examples.

If you live in Houston,  Fox 5 KVVU will be mentioning THE SMURFS! You can see an article here about the Smurfs that says we’re based out of Texas! Well, I’m FROM Texas, so that’s probably how that mix-up occurred. Also, if you live in Ridgecrest, CA tune in to KZIQ/KWDJ to hear about THE SMURFS!

For DISNEY FAIRIES fans, if you live in New Jersey the radio station Star 99.1 will be giving out copies of DISNEY FAIRIES graphic novels #1 and #2! Be sure to tune in!

There will be more contests and giveaways coming up, so be sure to stop by the Papercutz blog to find out more and tune in to your local Radio Disney station to hear more about Fairies. Until next time, have a great day and thanks for stopping by!

-Michael

I felt this was definitely worth sharing. Rick Parker did a little Photoshop work on a picture of me, Terry Nantier and Jim Salicrup at Comic Con. Enjoy!

-Michael

Editorial Associate Mike Petranek here because I am extremely excited about THE SMURFS graphic novels, in stores four weeks from tomorrow on August 31st! It’s been a long wait but we are very excited for Papercutz fans to see these graphic novels. The work by Peyo and Yvan Delporte is truly wonderful. Here’s a sneak-peak you won’t see anywhere else of one of the stories in graphic novel #1  “The Purple Smurfs,” called “The Flying Smurf”:

I can certainly identify with the Flying Smurf. Who wouldn’t want to fly? It sure would make getting to work a whole lot easier!

The advance copies of THE PURPLE SMURFS and THE SMURFS AND THE MAGIC FLUTE have begun generating some buzz. THE PURPLE SMURFS was recently named one of the five best graphic novels for kids and adults by tonic.com… And that’s out of all the graphic novels released – ever! We were thrilled to see this.

If you’d like some more history on THE SMURFS, I recommend visiting the Occasional Superheroine blog and of course, our good friend Matt Murray’s smurfology blog. You can also find information on THE PURPLE SMURFS in the August 15th issue of Kirkus reviews! I’ll be sure to post it here once it’s online. That’s it for now. I hope you are having a great Monday, and thanks for stopping by!

-Michael