The STINKY DEAD KID is BACK! If you haven’t seen it already, TALES FROM THE CRYPT #9 “Wickeder” is on sale now! Why not pick up a copy and curl up while watching Stefan Petrucha on Paranormal State this Sunday night? Sounds like a good night to me. The website morehorror.com has a nice article regarding CRYPT #9, which I highly recommend. In TALES FROM THE CRYPT #9, our friend Glugg returns in a new full-color story! Check it out!

Ahh, our friend Glugg looks very content to be appearing in color! TALES FROM THE CRYPT #9 “Wickeder” is in stores now! Just in time for Halloween

In other news, an aptly named blog “Better Late Than Never” posted a nice article regarding THE SMURFS #2 “The Smurfs and the Magic Flute”! It seems that people’s interest in the first two SMURFS graphic novels just won’t go away — and we’re thrilled! You can access the article here.

Stay Smurfy, enjoy all things dead and stinky, and have a great weekend!

-Michael

Associate Editor Michael Petranek here, very excited about this year’s New York Comic Con. We will be at booth #2304 and encourage you to stop by and see our new titles and say hello! Not only that, but Stefan Petrucha and Rick Parker will be signing books at the booth! Here’s our signing schedule:

Friday October 8th

10:00 to 11:00AM – Stefan Petrucha
11:00AM to 12:00PM -  Rick Parker
1:00 to 2:30PM – Stefan Petrucha
4:00 to 5:30PM – Stefan and Rick

Saturday October 9th

11:00AM to 12:30PM – Stefan Petrucha
1:30 to 3:00PM – Rick Parker
3:30to 5:00PM – Stefan Petrucha
5:00 to 6:30PM – Rick Parker

Sunday October 10th

10:30AM to 12:00PM -Rick Parker
1:30 to 3:00PM – Stefan Petrucha

We’ll have plenty of copies of TALES FROM THE CRYPT, PAPERCUTZ SLICES, NANCY DREW  and much more for Stefan and Rick to sign! NANCY DREW The New Case Files #1 just received a great review at comicsbulletin.com and the Comics Journal loves the Stinky Dead kid! It should be a lot of fun.

Another great reason to stop by our booth is to see all of the new graphic novels we have including THE SMURFS, THE HARDY BOYS The New Case Files, NANCY DREW The New Case Files, PAPERCUTZ SLICES, and TALES FROM THE CRYPT #9 “Wickeder” – featuring the return of Glugg, the Stinky Dead Kid! I’ve received so many reviews over the past few weeks I thought I should share them with you so you can see why we’re so excited about all of our new titles.

In the October issue of “Library Media Connection,” CLASSICS ILLUSTRATED #7 “The Jungle” is praised for its use of color and text! Though the review isn’t online, I can tell you that the LMC says “Kuper uses dark tones to relay to the reader the visual hardships while lighter tones help the reader see what good can still happen.” You can see preview pages of “The Jungle” here.

THE SMURFS have been taking over a lot of the reviews I’ve received. For those of you unfamiliar with THE SMURFS, School Library Journal has a nice write-up to get you started. You can access the article here. The first two graphic novels have received glowing reviews from Antic Musings, Newsarama, The Celebrity Cafe , Comic Book Resources, Comics Comics Magazine, Publisher’s Weekly, and Readaboutcomics.com.  WHEW! That’s a lot of reviews! If these reviews don’t make you want to at least take a look at our SMURFS graphic novels, you can join Grouchy Smurf over here:

In DISNEY FAIRIES news, “Tinker Bell and the Great Fairy Rescue” was recently released on DVD. I’m happy to announce that we’ll have copies of the official graphic novel adaptation at New York Comic-Con, and that School Library Journal just published a big article on the DVD, graphic novel, and more! Read the article here.

So if you’re going to be at New York Comic-Con, stop by our booth! It should be a lot of fun. Thanks for stopping by and have  a great weekend!

-Michael

Mike the editorial assistant here with some great news: TALES FROM THE CRYPT “Diary of a Stinky Dead Kid” is going back to press AGAIN! This will be the fourth printing! The graphic novel is in such high demand that hardcovers, which booksellers everywhere are sold out of, are going for $90 a pop on Ebay! I suggest you wait two weeks when more hardcovers will be available. 90 dollars is a lot for a graphic novel! We’re doing our best to keep up with the high demand this great graphic novel has generated.

Recently, Peggy Tibbets wrote a review of “Diary of a Stinky Dead Kid” that was so positive I had to post it, even though it may seem like I’ve shared positive review upon positive review of this book here on the blog. You can find Peggy’s review on her myspace page and her blog “Advice From a Caterpillar“. Peggy has  a lot to say about all the stories from “Diary of a Stinky Dead Kid”:

” ‘Diary of a Stinky Dead Kid’ is a zany parody of ‘Diary of a Wimpy Kid’. Follow the adventures of Glugg as he is accidentally killed by his brother [Rock] then returns as a zombie to haunt those who tormented him in life. The story layout is unique and the artwork is comical.
” ‘Dielite’ is a hilarious send up of Twilight’. Dedward is a pathetic vampire with a hopeless crush Lou Anne Lugosi who wishes he would just drop dead. The artwork here is detailed and extraordinary.
” ‘Carrier’ is the wacky story about Dan Warren, a truck driving, reluctant werewolf and his murderous friends. The style is classic comic book and the artwork is action-packed.

“Fans of ‘Mad Magazine’ will love this book. Once they read it, middle school age boys will be hooked on the Tales from the Crypt series. Caution: You could die laughing.”

Wow! Thanks Peggy. I’d like to take the chance to open up the floodgates to the fans of TALES FROM THE CRYPT. We’ve posted so much from reviewers about this book, but nothing from YOU, the fans! The fans are the most important part of Papercutz; we wouldn’t exist without you. Let us know here on the blog: have you read “Diary of a Stinky Dead Kid”? What did you like or not like about the graphic novel? What would you like to see parodied in TALES FROM THE CRYPT in the future? We’d love to hear from you! Until next time, thanks for picking up our graphic novels and reading this blog, and WATCH OUT FOR PAPERCUTZ!

-Michael

Well it looks like we’re going to have to go back to ANOTHER printing of TALES FROM THE CRYPT #8 “Diary of a Stinky Dead Kid”! It seems that people can’t get enough of Glugg, the crew from “DieLite,” and our “Carrier” werewolves! We couldn’t be happier.

You may find that a lot of online sites are out of stock until December. You can still get Crypt #8 and Crypt #’s 5-7 in the TALES FROM THE CRYPT Boxed Set available from Amazon.com and BarnesandNobles.com. Of course, we like anyone who sells are books just the same and you can find these boxed sets at wonderful comicbook stores all around. If they don’t have it, ask them to order it for you!

Recently, Editor-In-Chief Jim Salicrup along with “Stinky Dead Kid” artist Rick Parker took over a bookstore in Maplewood, NJ to promote our favorite living dead kid, Glugg! You can check out a neat article with some great pictures here. Way to go! Still not convinced that this Crypt is right for you? Well, check out this review at horrornews.net. Also, the folks at Broken Frontier urge you to forger swine flu, CRYPT fever is here! If you’re not convinced, I’m still gonna keep trying!

While the Stinky Dead Kid Glugg has been getting a lot of attention, our Twilight spoof “DieLite” has also turned a few heads as it was written by the father-daughter team of Stefan Petrucha and Maia Kinney-Petrucha! If you haven’t seen the links from Stefan’s blog post below, you can read a little bit about the collaboration here.  Also, don’t forget that Maia and Stefan will be interviewed on Mix 94.1 in Canton, OH Monday November 16th on their morning show! A link to the interview will be available as soon as we get it.

As for Maia, let me just say “WOW!” When I was 14 I was still trying to figure out how to get Oreo cookies out of my teeth and what to do about the monster under my bed. What can I say? I was  a late bloomer. Great job Maia! We’ll keep you updated on CRYPT news and everything Papercutz here at the blog. Keep checking in, as I have a feeling you’re going to start seeing some more entries from your favorite Papercutz contributors.

Thanks,

-Michael

Mike the Editorial Assistant here again, because THIS kid just won’t go away:

He may not be the best looking guy on the planet, but he sure is one of my favorite people out there! If you haven’t ordered your copy of TALES FROM THE CRYPT “Diary of a Stinky Dead Kid” yet, do so now! It turns out we’ve had to take this graphic novel back to press for a second printing of 3 times more copies than we originally had made because demand was so high! This kid is all over amazon.com and barnesandnoble.com and we couldn’t be happier. When you team up great minds like Ricko “Sicko” Parker, Stefan Petrucha, and Jim Salicrup great things are bound to happen!

We hope you enjoy this great edition of TALES FROM THE CRYPT. With Maia Kinney-Petrucha’s hilarious writing debut in DieLite, John L. Lansdale’s creepy sequel to “Night Traveler” from TALES… #7 to compliment Glugg (the Stinky Dead Kid), it’s a lot of fun to dive into this graphic novel. But alas, I’ve got to get going. From the smell of things at the office Glugg is here to pick up his paycheck. Time to stuff some cotton balls in my nose and greet him… >Sigh< I love the kid but I wish he’d wear some cologne!

-Mike

Beyond that hot-zombie excitement, in the midst of the book, you’ll also find a knee-slapping spoof of the little-known Twilight series, called DieLite, which is particularly exciting to me on several counts.  First, it represents the premiere publishing work by my incredibly talented daughter (if I do say so myself), Maia Kinney-Petrucha.

Just in high school, Maia’s not only an excellent writer, but also read the entire Twilight series.  Me, not so much, so who better to turn to when editor Jim Salicrup asked for a script?  Again noting my bias, I was very impressed and proud with how much work she put into it (I practically only proof-read) and how much fun the results are.

Secondly, with artwork by Miran Kim, DieLite represents not one, but two creative reunions.  This is the first time I’ve collaborated with Miran since her great work on both the X-Files comic and her interior work for The Bandy Man, back in the nineties.

It is also, interestingly enough, the second “collaboration” between Miran and Maia – though Maia didn’t have much creative control the first time around, being a fetus.

Miran works in a process that involves collage, creating, collecting and pasting clips and photos into her art.  Back when she was designing the cover for X-Files #10:  Feelings of Unreality, she asked myself and Sarah for a copy of Maia’s sonogram.  Lo and behold, it became a part of the cover.  You can see Maia just about at the center of the image below:

Of course, she’s changed a lot in the intervening years, having acquired the ability to walk, the power of speech, and so on, but there you have it; a blast from the past and a look to the future.  So rush out and buy the darn thing next week!

As for me, I’m still waiting on word for a few projects, but the glaciers seem to be moving.  I’m putting the finishing touches on a very unusual vampire novel that will be coming out from Grand Central Books next year.  How unusual, you ask?  Well, it’s set during Napoleon’s invasion of Egypt and doesn’t actually mention the word vampire, for starters.

Contracts have also recently been signed on another project that’s been stagnant for a while, so I’ve hopes that will be moving again.  And lastly, I’m in negotiations with a major publisher for an exciting new YA series.  So, like I said, still waiting, but I think I see the traffic clearing up ahead.

Pax.

PRESENTS

“Diary of a Stinky Dead Kid”

IN STORES NOW!

Today, July 29th 2009, TALES FROM THE CRYPT #13 “Diary of a Stinky Dead Kid” arrives in stores! Check out your favorite bookseller or comicbook store to get your hands on it. If for some strange reason they don’t have it, go to www.papercutz.com/order.html to see how you can order it! Scroll down the web link to find our telephone number and address. You can order by phone or mail.

Written by NANCY DREW scribe Stephan Petrucha and illustrated by TALES FROM THE CRYPT’s Ricko “The Sicko” Parker, “Diary of a Stinky Dead Kid” takes aim at everything from one particularly popular book character to zombies and Guitar Hero! The comic contains TWO stories featuring Glugg, our Stinky Dead Kid. This comic made a big splash at Comic Con for Papercutz, and we think you’ll enjoy it. People of all ages seemed drawn to Rick Parker’s art and Stefan Petrucha’s stories. Take a look at this preview from the comic:

There’s more ghoulish fun  where that came from! Take a look at the artwork and you’ll find pop culture references galore, as well as a little homage to one particular Papercutz staff member. You may have to look hard, but you’ll have a blast when you find them. Pick up your copy of  TALES FROM THE CRYPT “Diary of a Stinky Dead Kid” today!