Associate Editor Michael Petranek here, excited about next week’s New York Comic Con. If you’re attending, be sure to stop by booth #1831 to say “hi” and check out the newest Papercutz graphic novels! Also appearing will be Rick Parker and Stefan Petrucha for signings. Here’s when to catch ‘em:

Rick Parker: Saturday October 15th from 1-2:30PM and Sunday October 16th from 10:30AM to noon and 2:30 to 4:00PM.

Stefan Petrucha: Friday October 14th from2:30 to 4:00PM, Saturday October 15th from 2:30 to 4:00PM, and Sunday October 16th from 1:00 to 2:30PM.

Hope to see you there! It’s always a lot of fun.

-Michael

Associate Editor Michael Petranek here, gearing up for New York Comic Con at the Javits Convention Center October 13th-16 with appearances by Stefan Petrucha and Rick Parker! Our booth number is 1831. More on that in the coming weeks. For now, I’d like to turn to reviews that have been coming in from all over the country recently. It feels like people coast to coast are enjoying our graphic novels, and we couldn’t be happier.

Over in the North West part of the United States, the Portland Book Review got their hands on a copy of THE HARDY BOYS The New Case Files #1 “Crawling with Zombies,” calling it “a great series to get hooked on.” You can read the review here. Don’t forget about The Hardy Boys “Crawling with Zombies” video, either! Head over to our website’s video page to watch it. That was a lot of fun to make– I got to direct the video as well as record the original music I wrote for it. It was a blast!

Over in Tennessee, Andy Smith, or as he’s sometimes known “Captain Comics,” of The Comics Buyers Guide got his hands on graphic novels of THE HARDY BOYS The New Case Files, NANCY DREW The New Case Files, PAPERCUTZ SLICES, and TALES FROM THE CRYPT, reviewing all of them for his article in the guide’s upcoming November issue. Cap’n Andy reviews a lot of graphic novels, discussing our series at the end of the article because he says he’s “saved the best for last.” His review isn’t up yet, but as soon as it is I’ll post it. Thanks, Cap’n!

We hope wherever you are, you are enjoying our graphic novels. We want to hear from you! Let us know what you think. Until next time, have a great day, and thanks for stopping by.

-Michael

Associate Editor Michael Petranek here, very excited to see that PAPERCUTZ SLICES #3 “Percy Jerkson” is available now at booksellers everywhere! Here’s a look at the cover…

Rick Parker, Stefan Petrucha, and Margo Kinney-Petrucha keep the laughs coming in the third installment of our parody series. Not only that, but so far reviewers have been cracking up too! Check out what the reviewers at comicattack.net had to say! If you’re looking for a good laugh, look no further. Thanks for stopping by!

-Michael

It’s been a very busy couple of weeks here for Papercutz. The Geronimo Stilton authors went up and down the West Coast for Free Comic Book Day. Here’s a great picture of their journey:

They had a great time! Here’s a picture of Michele Foschini, Ennio Bufi, and Leonardo Favia signing at Atlantis Fantasy World:

The authors also visited Lee’s comics. And they’re not done yet! You can win one of the two cool prizes seen below:

All you need to do is to email a picture of yourself (or have your parents do it) to Lee Hester( lee@lcomics.com), reading a Geronimo Stilton Graphic Novel, or the Free Comic Book day comic. Make sure to include your age. Pretty cool, right?

This past week was Book Expo America, or as I like to call it “Mike’s Excuse in May to hang out with Ernie Colon, Rick Parker, and Stefan Petrucha.” Stefan and Rick signed copies of Papercutz Slices #2, while Ernie signed copies of his NBM graphic novel “Inner Sanctum.” Here’s some pics:

It was a lot of fun, but we’ve got catching up to do! Until next time, take it easy, and thanks for stopping by! -Michael

One of my favorite days of the year, Free Comic Book Day, is tomorrow! I am very excited for our comic book “Geronimo Stilton and the Smurfs.” Here’s a look at the cover:

Free Comic Book Day Cover

This comic contains a preview from GERONIMO STILTON #7, the Smurfs story “The Smurfs Submarine” and 18 Smurfs comic strips lettered by yours truly. It’s going to be a lot of fun! For a taste of what you’ll get, here’s a sneak peek at one of the Smurfs comic strips by Peyo that appears in the comicbook:

If you live in or about New York City or the San Francisco Bay Area, you can meet some of the Papercutz creators tomorrow! In Sunny San Francisco, Geronimo Stilton graphic novel artist Ennio Bufi as well as writers Michele Foschini and Leonardo Favia, will meet the readers, make sketches and sign the Papercutz Geronimo Stilton graphic novels at comics shops Lee’s Comics (Mountain View Location: 1020 N. Rengstorff Avenue, Suite F in Mountain View, CA) from 11:30 AM to 2:00 PM, and then from 4:00 to 7:00 PM at Atlantis Fantasyworld (1020 Cedar Street in Santa Cruz, CA). Judging from this picture that Michele emailed me this morning, it looks like he and the rest of the guys are having a blast meeting their US fans!

On the other side of the US, PAPERCUTZ SLICES and TALES FROM THE CRYPT artist Rick Parker will be signing graphic novels at Manhattan Comics from 2 to 3PM and at Brooklyn Comics and More from 6 to 7:30 PM. We’ll be sure to post pictures from the events on our site next week. Until then, Happy Free Comic Book Day and thanks for stopping by!

-Michael

It’s been far too long since I’ve stopped in to share Papercutz news with you, and boy is there a lot! GERONIMO STILTON #7 “Dinosaurs in Action” and THE SMURFS #4 ‘The Smurfette” were the first two books released by Papercutz in 2011. This is all getting us ready for May 7th, 2011. Why this date, you ask? Because that is Free Comic Book Day — the day when you will be able to pick up your free copies of GERONIMO STILTON & THE SMURFS free comic! Visit the Free Comic Book Day website for more info. For now, here’s a sneak peek of our free comicbook cover:

We’re very excited about this comic! I love working with Ortho on Geronimo Stilton and Adam Grano on The Smurfs, so it should be pretty cool to see these two titles come together. Recently, The Comics Journal put together an essay on The Smurfs and their creator, Peyo. You can read the article here. It’s great if you’ve ever wondered where these little blue guys came from and how they’ve changed throughout the years.

Speaking of The Smurfs, THE SMURFS #4 was recently named a “Good Comic For Kids” by School Library Journal along with NANCY DREW The New Case Files Vol. 2 “Vampire Slayer Part II”, DISNEY FAIRIES Vol. 4 “Tinker Bell to the Rescue”, and CLASSICS ILLUSTRATED Deluxe Vol. 5 “Treasure Island”. A great start to the year, indeed! We’ve been getting a lot of attention, which is wonderful. However, I can’t write about this great start to 2011 without mentioning our parody titles, which are no exception!

TALES FROM THE CRYPT and PAPERCUTZ SLICES have both been in the news today. It seems that people’s interest in HARRY POTTY and WICKEDER have only grown with time. Over the last few weeks TALES FROM THE CRYPT has been reviewed and/or mentioned in the Comic Book Recourses and The Graphic Novel Reporter. Meanwhile, PAPERCUTZ SLICES #1 “Harry Potty” has popped up on Curled Up Kids and in The Miami Herald! With all of this news regarding books by Stefan Petrucha and Rick Parker, why not take a look back at our HARRY POTTY video?

I hope your 2011 has started out safely and that you are enjoying the Year of the Rabbit. Until next time, take care and thanks for stopping by!

-Mike

This morning I was delighted to see that Papercutz was in the NY DAILY News! The subject: our Harry Potty video contest! I highly suggest you enter as it is a fun contest and you can win autographed books and the grand prize… A $100 shopping spree of Papercutz graphic novels! See the article here and the contest here! Have a great weekend everybody!

-Michael

Recently, the School Library Journal named PAPERCUTZ SLICES #1 one of its All-Ages picks for the week of 12/2/10! You can see the article here. Congratulations to Rick Parker and Stefan Petrucha!

-Michael

Papercutz Slices (C) 2010 Stefan Petrucha and Barking Dog Studios. All rights reserved.

If you frequent our blog, you know Stefan as the writer of PAPERCUTZ SLICES, NANCY DREW, and several stories in TALES FROM THE CRYPT, including “Diary of a Stinky Dead Kid.” What you might not know is that aside from his work for Papercutz, Stefan has scripted comics for “Web of Spider-Man” and “What If?” (Marvel Comics), “The X-Files” (Topps Comics), and multiple titles for Comico Comics, Moonstone Books, and Dark Horse Comics. He is a novelist whose latest work “Blood Prophecy” was released to rave reviews (I highly recommend it), and who has appeared on the A&E television show “Paranormal State.” If that wasn’t enough, Stefan is also a musician and a fun person to be around. Why not check out his website to see more of his work and learn more about this very cool writer!

Stefan’s newest Papercutz graphic novel, PAPERCUTZ SLICES #1 “Harry Potty” has been turning a lot of heads recently.  It was no surprise to me that the Comics Waiting Room described Stefan and collaborator Rick Parker as a “demented dynamic duo” in a recent review, and that the website Artistic License described the work as “humorous in all the right places.” So, without further ado, here is the Papercutz Q&A with Stefan Petrucha. Enjoy!

PAPERCUTZ: What first inspired you to write such a book? [Harry Potty and the Deathly Boring]

STEFAN PETRUCHA: With two daughters, my wife and I had the pleasure of reading all seven “Harry Potter” books aloud twice.  Along the way, we’d enjoy making fun of certain things, using funny voices and so on.  Following the success of “Diary of a Stinky Dead Kid” (in the 8th issue of Papercutz’ TALES FROM THE CRYPT series, now in its seventh printing) I pitched publisher Jim Salicrup and Terry Nantier the idea of doing a parody series.  Harry Potter seemed the best place to start.

PZ: And, with regard the title, did you check into all connected-copyright laws and such beforehand?!

SP: Over the years I’ve done a lot of research into copyright and intellectual property (IP) law, even ghost-writing a book on the subject.  Unfortunately, many people misunderstand where the line is legally.  Parody is a protected part of copyright law, specifically mentioned in the “fair use” clause.  The rule of thumb is that you can use enough of the original material so readers know what you’re talking about, but not so much that people think they’re actually buying the original.  So, our title and cover suggest the series, but also clearly states that this is an unauthorized parody.  Though we think we’re the best, we’re hardly the first Harry Potter parody to see print.  For instance, there’s an entire book series published in the UK called Barry Trotter – the author’s website boasts 700,000 copies sold.

I look at it this way – from Siskel and Ebert on up, many people make a living critiquing film and books.  Parody is the same thing, only in a narrative form.  It’s also important to distinguish between parody (which makes fun of the original) and satire (which uses the original to make fun of something else).  MAD, Saturday Night Live and so on have been doing it successfully for decades.

PZ: How much fun did you have coming up with the character names?

SP: A lot, but ultimately the names JK Rowling came up with in the original are pretty strange to begin with.  Even more fun was coming up with the names of the spells – like rememberallthisstufficus, cappuccino vente, and gluteus maximus!

PZ: What’s your favorite part of the now-finished book?

That would have to be the giant Haggard’s fondness for stepping on mouse-elves because they make a popping sound just like bubble wrap.

I have to say, though, that artist Rick Parker did a fantastic job sticking in background jokes and fun stuff that I’m still spotting when I look at the book.

PZ: Once someone has read it, what thoughts would you like them to take away?

SP: I’d like them not so much to have any thoughts as to be completely seized with laughter.

PZ: Lastly, what’s next for you?

SP: In a more serious vein, I currently have a historical vampire novel out from Grand Central Books entitled Blood Prophecy.  As for our next Slices effort, we’ll be dicing up the popular Twlight series with Breaking Down, appearing in March 2011.  I’m pleased and proud to say the script was co-written with my daughter, Maia Kinney-Petrucha.  Rick tells us he’s bent on making the art even funnier than the first book!

[END]

I hope you enjoyed this Q&A with Stefan Petrucha. I’ll be posting a Q&A with artist Rick Parker soon, which is sure to be very entertaining. Until next time, take it easy, and thanks for stopping by!

-Michael

Check out our NEW Harry Potty Video! Just uploaded today!

Can you guess who’s voice that is? Sounds like an old wizard…

-Michael