Friday, February 26, 2010

Ain't It Cool News Comics Reviews Vatican Assassin #1

Pretty Cool Review! Halfway down the page - under "Indie Jones":

Ain't It Cool News: The best in movie, TV, DVD, and comic book news.




VATICAN ASSASSIN #1
Glow in the Dark Radio Comics

A few years back, Mike Luoma sent me a comic called HOLY SHIT OR PAT ROBERTSON IS THE ANTI-CHRIST. In my review, I tried very hard to be constructive, but ended up giving it a pretty negative review. Basically, I panned the book as barely a comic since it basically was a bunch of splash pages with text adorning either side of the page. The subject, as the title would indicate, was religion. And the whole thing left a bad taste in my mouth. After reading VATICAN ASSASSIN, Luoma’s follow-up, it appears that the writer took some time to gain understanding of comics. VA reads in a much clearer way, with a definite plot and a theme that may be appealing to some. In the future, the moon has become a hotbed of political and religious turmoil. The Muslim-dominated Mars colonies constantly pose a threat to the moon’s Catholic Church, forcing them to enlist a man known as BC, the Vatican Assassin. That’s the plot, and as you see, it’s of the religified variety. Religion is often a hard sell in comics, and I have to give it to Luoma for writing what he feels passionately about. The book is still as indie as you can get with capable and oft times nicely angled panels, suffering from the usual stiffness of characters that one often associates with indie books. VATICAN ASSASSIN is a much more digestible read than Luoma’s first book, and I have to commend the author for evolving and showing a lot of growth from his first project to this one.

Parting of the Ways

I'm no longer writing for Cosmic Book News... there was a difference of opinion. All good folk over there, but you won't be finding my writing on their site any more.

For those of you kind enough to ask about my "Shut Up and Put Out Yer Comic Book" article, it's now available here:

http://mikeluoma.com/SUAPOYCB.html

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

A Great Auction for A Great Cause!

Watching the wet snow pile up outside in Burlington...

There is book news to share with you, but the main reason for posting is to let you know about a very cool charity auction going on this weekend. I've donated signed books and original art to “The Boom Effect” – a charity effort on behalf of a young girl who recently lost her mom. You may have heard the promo on my “Glow-in-the-Dark Radio” podcast. More details at http://www.theboomeffect.org/.

From the blog:

The Boom Effect is an “auction to raise funds for Sonic Boom, and was started by a group of podcasters and writers as a way for these communities to show support for the Morris family. Tee Morris is a beloved founding father of the podcasting community; co-creator of Podiobooks.com, writer of four social media books, and the first novelist to serialize his novel. On the 5th of January 2010 Tee found himself facing raising his daughter (with the alias of Sonic Boom) alone, after the sudden, shocking death of his wife Natalie.

The podcasting, writing, and social media community gathered around and within days had raised over $10,000 to cover funeral expenses and other pressing bills Tee was facing. This response was incredible, and showed just how much Tee has touched the lives of others. However now, as a community we are turning our attention to Sonic Boom’s future. She is only five now, and relying on Tee to provide everything for her. We have the aim of providing a trust buffer for her, so that she can go to college if she wants. Nothing is going to replace her mother, but the funds raised will give more opportunities . So writers, podcasters and creative types of all stripes are offering up items for auction.

This event will be a webathon run by Podcasting’s very own Rich Sigfrit, with a plethora of special guests and fun. It will take place live online at 10am EST February 27th, 2010.

You'll be able to watch the webathon here: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/theboomeffect.

My Items will be auctioned with the “Literature Lots” between Noon and 1pm EST on Saturday. You can place a proxy bid ahead of time, just follow the instructions on the item pages linked below. Proxy bids can be placed up until 10am EST on February 26th. Just so you know – in the interest of keeping things simple, you'll need to pay for successful bids with PayPal.

You can bid on two different auction items from me:

Item One: SB081- Signed copy of doodle-rama and the art work too!

This is a signed first edition of my new paperback design collection, doodle-rama … along with the ORIGINAL ART for one of the designs in the book – “Another Eye” – You’ll own the original signed and dated pen and ink drawing, suitable for framing.

In case you didn't know, I post a “doodle” design every weekday on my doodle-rama website. Released in December of 2009, doodle-rama collects 50 of my favorite designs. I'm going to sign the book to the top bidder and include with the book an actual piece of art found within its pages – “Another Eye”.

Item Two: SB080- Signed copies of of Alibi Jones and Vatican Assassin – The Graphic Novel

I'll sign an issue of my new comic book based on my popular novel and Podiobooks.com Science Fiction Adventure “Vatican Assassin” and a trade paperback first edition of my latest novel Alibi Jones. If you're not familiar with the books – BC is an assassin for the Pope of the New catholic Church in the year 2109 – His latest assignment? Eliminate the Governor of the Moon colony Lunar Prime! AND 23 years later, BC’s son Alibi Jones is off on his own adventures, tracking down a missing friend kidnapped by a sinister alien race…

There are many crafty and creative items in the auction – head over to http://www.theboomeffect.org/ to check out more of the donated lots. There's also more about my books at http://mikeluoma.com and http://glowinthedarkradio.com, naturally.

Speaking of “Vatican Assassin”and Alibi Jones – You can now read the entire first issue of the Vatican Assassin Graphic Novel adaptation, with art by Cristian Navarro, online for free: http://www.drunkduck.com/Vatican_Assassin/ AND you can listen to the entire audiobook of Alibi Jones free at Podiobooks.com: http://www.podiobooks.com/title/alibi-jones Both are complete as of this month!

Also out this month: the new project from myself and artist Juan Carlos Quattordio (we did Panthea Obscura together) – “Everybody Lies”. This “cautionary tale for grown-ups” is a dramatic short story in the form of a comic book – a story of two couples whose everyday lies grow large as their lives unravel. It's not a comic for kids – it's dark, and there's sex and nudity and profanity. It's also free to read online – the pages have been coming out every weekday here:

http://www.drunkduck.com/Everybody_Lies/

Of course, I wouldn't be much of a self-promoter if I didn't ALSO point out that both “Vatican Assassin” #1 and “Everybody Lies” are now available for just $2.99 at Indy Planet :)

Vatican Assassin #1

Everybody Lies

And Alibi Jones is on sale everywhere! You can get it direct from the printer here:

http://www.lulu.com/content/paperback-book/alibi-jones/7256433

Still reading chapters of Alibi Jones on my weekly Glow-in-the-Dark Radio podcast – you can listen here: http://glowinthedarkradio.podomatic.com/. There's a new podcast every Friday.

Well, don't want to blather on too much – my real focus IS on The Boom Effect. If you can't watch and bid this Saturday, please consider making a proxy bid. It's a great cause.

Read All of Vatican Assassin #1 Free at DrunkDuck.com

The pages have been going up 2x a week - and today the last 2 pages went up! Read all 23 pages of the first issue of the graphic novel adaptation!

It's science fiction adventure, based on my Vatican Assassin trilogy. The comic book tells the story of BC, who kills for the Pope of the New catholic Church in the year 2109. His current assignment? Eliminate the Governor of Lunar Prime!

Vatican Assassin hosted by DrunkDuck.com

Monday, February 15, 2010

Read Over Half of Everybody Lies Free

Juan Carlos Quattordio and I are posting free pages from our new book "Everybody Lies" every weekday through February. As of today, twelve pages are up and free for you to read - that's just over half of the story!

Click here to read the comic: Everybody Lies

Monday, February 08, 2010

Everybody Lies - Week 2!

Week 2 of Everybody Lies is underway!

Click on the link to read the first 7 pages for free!

(A reminder - recommended for readers 17 and over)

Sunday, February 07, 2010

Monday, February 01, 2010

Everybody Lies!

I'm releasing a different sort of comic book today: Everybody Lies. I've called it "A Slice-of-Life Cautionary Tale For Grown-ups" and tagged it "Sex, Lies and Betrayal" to give you some idea of what it's about.

No capes, no heroes. Just people, living and messing up their lives. Spike & Angela and Dave & Margie are a couple of normal couples, with the usual insecurities, foibles and vices. But when their everyday lies begin escalating, their lives spiral out of control...

"Everybody Lies" is free to read online: A page (or two) goes up every weekday this month at:

http://www.drunkduck.com/Everybody_Lies/


or... Pick up the issue for $2.99 at Indy Planet:


http://www.indyplanet.com/store/product_in...roducts_id=3264

Available for direct market distribution through Comics Monkey:

http://www.comicsmonkey.com/index.php?id=3264

I'm creator, writer, and letterer and my good friend Juan Carlos Quattordio (artist on my Panthea Obscura: Deifornication) is on the illustration duties here. There is some brief nudity, there are a couple of sexual situations, and the book is full of language some may find offensive - recommended for mature readers 17+. Any reviewers interested in looking at the book should contact me directly at mike.luoma@gmail.com.

Thanks!

Mike