Well, today’s the day. After almost a year of working on POPGUN 4 as an editor and contributing writer — we started even before we were done with POPGUN 3 — the book is at finer comic shops and bookstores everywhere.

I’d like to thank all the amazing contributors (on all 4 volumes) and the editorial and production team of the book past and present (Adam! Anthony! Thomas! Jeff! Steven! Tim! Dylan! Mark! Joe!) , as well as the swell folks at Image Comics. Wow. POPGUN 4 is DONE… DONE DONE DONE. 512 pages of awesome wrapped in a beautiful cover for only 30 bucks.

Almost 2000 pages of POPGUN since 2007. Whew!

Okay, time to party tonight… Hope you all enjoy the book!

– D.J.

Hi, awesome people!

Just a quick reminder that POPGUN 4 from the fine folks at Image Comics hits shelves this Wednesday! Please stop by your Local Comic Shop and pick up a copy…

Also, if you’re in NY, Hanley’s is having a signing on Wed. from 6 to 8.

And, if you’re in LA, Meltdown Comics is having a release party on Wed. from 7 to 10.

Aaaaand if you’re in Oklahoma City, New World comics is having a release party on Friday, Feb 26.

Such good times! We’re really proud if this big beast that is POPGUN 4. Can’t wait for it to be unleashed! Hope you all like it…

Your pal,
D.J.

For POPGUN 4 (out 02/10/2010), we’ve asked our contributors to create a web banner for their story. Below are the ones we have so far. Check out that variety! Feel free to download ‘em and use ‘em in your signature whenever you post on a messageboard or on your website or any other cool way to spread the word on the interwebs… Thanks!

Looks like a huge month! And lookee here:

POPGUN, VOL. 4 OGN
featuring JOCK, JEFFERY BROWN, ERIK LARSEN, TOM SCIOLI, JM KEN NIIMURA, FRANK STOCKTON, JESSICA FINK, SALGOOD SAM, MATTEO SCALERA, CHRIS MORENO, MARK ANDREW SMITH, DEREK MCCULLOCH, JEREMY TINDER, ELIZABETH GENCO and more!
edited by D.J. KIRKBRIDE, ANTHONY WU & ADAM P. KNAVE
cover BEN TEMPLESMITH
FEBRUARY 10
512 PAGES / FC
$29.99

POPGUN is back with another eclectic collection of established fan favorite creators and rising stars coming together for a new edition of the Harvey Award-winning graphic mix tape! From high-octane action to heart-tugging drama to laugh-out-loud comedy, this collection has comics you’ll love: over 500 full color pages of them!

Big goings on over the weekend! On Saturday, Rich Johnston at Bleeding Cool broke the news that Ben Templesmith is the cover artist for POPGUN 4, and it is indeed a glorious cover!

Then, on Sunday, Mr. Templesmith posted a very cool blog showing his process in the creation of this gorgeous eye candy! It’s an interesting read filled with some great images showing the development of this image. Wonderful stuff.

And the POPGUN 4 site (courtesy of web guru Tim Daniels) is live! On it is a complete list of our wonderful contributors (including Jeffrey Brown, Jock, Erik Larsen, Thomas Scioli, and nearly 80 more talented folks) plus FIVE FULL COMICS FROM POPGUN 4 — FOR FREE!

POPGUN 4, a full color 512 page behemoth of a comic anthology, will hit shelves courtesy of Image Comics on 02/10/2010. Ask for it at your local comic shop or bookstore to order it! The Diamond order code will appear along with a snazzy solicit in the December issue of PREVIEWS!

I’ll be posting more on this as we get closer to the release date. All of  Team Popgun is very excited! If you’re a fan of previous volumes, this one is the biggest and best yet, so please help us spread the word!

Hooray for comics!

Goin’ to Baltimore tomorrow. Why? Because I love Homicide: Life on the Streets (especially the Ned Beatty era). And I love the complexity of The Wire.

Really? No, not really. I’ve never really seen those shows. I should watch them. Especially The Wire from what I hear and read.

Then what, then? The films of John Waters speak to me? No. Not at all. (Though Pecker has lots of funny moments.)

No, no, the reason I’m flying to that harbor town is the 2009 Baltimore Comic Con!

Yay!

I’ll be rocking the POPGUN table with Sir Adam P. Knave at the sure to be amazing Image Comics booth! It’s sure to be a hoot.

Also looking forward to checking out the Harvey Awards. POPGUN vol. 2 is nominated for Best Anthology, which is swell! Vol. 1 won last year… can we do two in a row? I dunno. But it’s an honor to be nominated!

Not looking forward to the travel there from here in Hell A. It’ll be a complicated affair that I’ll no doubt be writing about in a later blog posting. Look for it, my two readers. (Hi, Mom! Hi, other person!)

Ah, comics. Good times.

See ya’ in Baltimore!

As one of the editors of Image Comic’s POPGUN anthology, I gotta make decisions. Decisions that are sometimes super easy — Awesome artist I probably shouldn’t mention yet for the cover? Hell yeah! What a genius I am for suggesting that bit of obvious goodness! Just fell outta my brain! — and some that are damn difficult…

Every volume of POPGUN, we invite some of the best and brightest creators in the business. It’s amazing to have the chance to read so many darn good stories and often discover new (to me, anyway) talent.

The tough part comes when, even at nearly 500 pages available for the book, we have too much goodness! An embarrassment of riches, sure, but… ah, what goes in? And what… darn it… just can’t fit???

I keep hoping for some secret formula, but I guess it just ain’t gonna happen. Time for bullets to be bitten, debating with my co-editors (Anthony Wu and Adam P. Knave), and hoping for the best.

One thing we’re all already sure of though: POPGUN 4 is going to be awesome. It’s not scheduled to be released until January (tentatively), so it’s going to be a long wait, but it’ll be worth it. So much goodness. The books keep getting heavier and heavier. Not metaphorically. Literally. One could develop a weight training program around them.

After stretching, start off with the 448 pages of POPGUN 1. Do that until it gets easier, and then you need to challenge the muscles more. That’s when it’s time to bump it up to the 472 pages of POPGUN 2 and 3. You should be getting comfortable with those by January, which will be right around the time to increase your weight to POPGUN 4, which will be… well, we’re not 100% sure on the exact page count yet. Gotta decide. Get the “okay” on the exact page increase — but it will be BIGGER.

Okay, enough bloggy distractions. I need to get back to this crazy (and exciting) POPGUN 4 story list…