POPGUN 4 Web Banners!

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!

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Image Comics’ Feb Solicits Up At CBR!

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!

POPGUN 4 cover by Ben Templesmith — revealed!

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!

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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!

Baltimore Comic Con 2009 pt 2 – In The Presence of Giants

After the long journey to Baltimore, actually being at the Baltimore Comic Con was a cakewalk. Groggy but excited, Adam and I made it to the convention center and set up the POPGUN 1/2 table. It was in the Image Comic Booth, which was glorious. Whenever the Image Founders and Bigwigs had a signing on the other side of the booth, the line would stretch all the way around, in front of our table, and occasionally we’d be able to sneak a few sales.

“You looking for Erik Larsen’s signature? Well, you know, he’s contributed to every volume of POPGUN, sooo…”

“Rob Liefeld once told me POPGUN was awesome, sooo…”

“If we sell out of these, we can hang out and walk the floor for the rest of the con. It’s what Jim Valentino would want… c’mon!”

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(Photo by Branwyn Bigglestone)

It was fun, though. Sales weren’t as brisk or huge as my last con experience in San Diego, but Baltimore had some wonderful charms of its own. One was the fact that this con is about COMICS. No Hollywood or video games. Now, I love Hollywood and video games and had fun with all the pseudo celebs at SDCC last July, but to have Chris Claremont, a huge force behind the stories that inspired the X-MEN movies, writer of a very large stack of comics I bought from my pre-teen to teen years — stopped by to chat with me and Adam, well, it was pretty exciting. Geek out time and whatnot.

The whole con and floor experience was a hoot. It was capped of wonderfully by the Harvey Awards Saturday night. POPGUN volume 2 was nominated for Best Anthology of 2009, so I actually kind of had a reason to be there. (Despite Image PR/Marketing guru and POPGUN co-creator Joe Keatinge constantly asking me, “What are you doing here?” during the entire con.) It was great in that I didn’t have to pay for dinner, and I was at a table with some amazing creators. I did actually start to wonder what I was doing there. The awards ceremony was fun, PVP’s Scott Kurtz making a very funny MC.

POPGUN lost out for the Best Anthology 2009 Harvey to the Tori Amos inspired COMIC BOOK TATTOO — but, c’mon. Have you seen that book? It’s amazing, and it deserved to win. (POPGUN 3 for next year!!!)

My favorite moment was when writer Bryan Glass won for Best New Talent for his book MICE TEMPLAR (with artist Michael Avon Oeming). His acceptance speech was very heartfelt, and to see that kind of genuine emotion was really a highlight.

Not long after, Joe Keatinge drew an unrelated and horribly dirty comic in my little notebook.

Though I’d already voted, we were all provided with a program that had a checklist of all the nominees. Due to my horrible memory, I re-voted, just to see how I’d do. I went 10 for 21. Not that… good.

The next day continued the trend of fun and lots of surprising goodwill from creators I’ve been reading for years. I was also recognized by someone from near my hometown of Waverly, OH, which was weird. Small, small world.

After the con wrapped and we broke everything down (and I managed to stab myself with a box cutter — thank goodness the Baltimore Comic Con floor team were prepared with a first aid kit), it was off to the bar for one last drink with the Image gang. What a great bunch of people. And beer out of a martini glass is the only way to drink beer, fyi.

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(iPhotograph by Capt. Joe Keatinge)

All in all, a very good trip. I got to hang out and work with my friend and frequent co-writer Adam P. Knave (who is on the opposite coast of me), see my pal Joe Keatinge, and work side-by-side with Image Comics Accounts Manager Branwyn Bigglestone, Publisher ericstephenson, and the rest of the Image Comics gang.

Good times.

Preparing for a Baltimore Adventure

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!