Archive for January, 2010
16 items.
“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”
-Margaret Mead
Monday, January 11th is National Human Trafficking Awareness Day. To participate, we formed the Comic Creator’s Alliance–a group of over eighty comic book creators (both web and print) who volunteered our artistic talents to raise money and awareness for this cause. You may not know it, but there are currently 27 million enslaved people worldwide- more than double the number of enslaved Africans during the trans-Atlantic slave trade. UNICEF estimates that 1.2 million children every year are sold into slavery, most of it sexual. The US Department of Justice estimates 16,000 victims of human trafficking are brought into the United States every year. Unlike slavery in the 19th century, what is happening today is happening in secret. So it won’t end until awareness is raised, and people like you and me take a stand.
So here’s what we did: each creator contributed an original drawing of one of our own female characters, and combined them into a single wallpaper image. The wallpaper features characters from The Phoenix Requiem, Girls with Slingshots, Earthsong, Looking for Group, Shadowgirls, Marsh Rocket, The Uniques and three IDW Publishing titles: Fallen Angel, The Dreamland Chronicles and The Dreamer, and lots, lots more! Donate today to download this unique, once-in-a-lifetime wallpaper. The Donations Drive will last for two weeks, from January 11th – 24th. All proceeds will be split evenly between Love146 and Gracehaven House- two organizations working on rehabilitation of victims and prevention of this crime.
To learn more about the Comic Creator’s Alliance visit www.comicalliance.weebly.com. To learn more about the problem, visit http://love146.org/slavery. (Note: contains adult themes and actual accounts of sex slavery.)
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Just a reminder, I’m being interviewed by TGT Webcomics on January 12 at 8pm central time. If you tune in live, you can ask questions either by calling in or by posting them in the talkshoe chat. The show requires that I give away a spoiler, so perhaps something juicy will be revealed! Be sure to check it out.
It seems like Jessica’s opinion has been changed by the magical hat. Her and Amanda may be teaming up to try to get Trevor to reciprocate the warm and fuzzy emotions. Let’s see if they are successful!
Hey gang, I hope you all had a great new years!
My book signing for Indy Comic Book Week was my most successful of all of my appearances so far. In the 4 hours that I was signing I sold more books than I did at the book’s premiere! Plus, I met some awesome fans – new and old. It was a great time, and I will certainly be doing more signings in the near future.
In case you didn’t know, I’m being interviewed by TGT Webcomics on January 12 at 8pm central time. If you tune in live, you can ask questions either by calling in or by posting them in the talkshoe chat. The show requires that I give away a spoiler, so perhaps something juicy will be revealed! Be sure to check it out.
I’m putting together my convention schedule for the year, and will be announcing that soon enough. I may be hitting a convention every month, especially in the mid-west region.
Alright, I’m off to get through this week of work (the week after holidays is also very stressful, but I’m hoping that it’ll only be crazy for a week…two at the most). See you all Friday!
Movie Review: 9 (2009)
Director: Shane Acker
Plot: Waking up in a destroyed room with a dead old man in it, 9 wanders out into a post-apocalyptic world populated by 8 other rag-dolls characters and a handful of red-eyed monsters called The Beast. Taking a small green device from the room with him, 9 encounters 2 who is being chased by The Beast and is eventually kidnapped.
Now, 9 must gather the remaining rag-doll creatures and try to rescue 2, while understanding what the mystery of the green device is and how it all ties into what happened to the world.
From having first gleaned the trailer for this movie, I knew I wanted to see it. I watched the 9 minutes award-winning short film that it was based on and instantly went into media shut-out mode. I didn’t want anything about this movie spoiled for me. And it was not disappointing.
Well, the visuals weren’t disappointing. The story was flat and the movie was basically just an action movie with computer animated rag-dolls, but man was it ever a fun ride! I kept wanting more from it in terms of story, sure, but the visuals more than made up for the lack of plot in the flick.
Shane Acker did not disappoint on the direction, considering this is his first feature length movie. Tim Burton and Timur Bekmambetov have their signatures all over this movie, but instead of coming off clunky like a lot of creative collaborations (cough cough Indiana Jones 4 cough cough), this movie flows and synergizes with ease. The action is great, and while there’s hardly any characterization, the drama in the direction and the danger from the sequences is enough to make you sit on edge and hope for these characters. And with a PG-13 rating, you know that not everyone is going to walk away from this story….
…or if you didn’t, then I just spoiled that for you.
In summary, it’s a visually excellent movie and exciting action flick, but lacking in story and characterization. So it should appeal to most movie-goers. 
I tease.
Back to the old man narrator…but who could he be talking to (we’ll find out in this story)? Has he been talking to this person all along throughout the prequel stories? How did he get his hands on Marielle’s personal diary? And why is this information so important…?
Finally, by popular demand, Marielle’s fateful events in her own words.
Happy 2010, everyone!
Be sure to tune in on January 12 (8pm central time) for my live interview on TGT Webcomics. We’ll be talking about The Temple of a Thousand Tears and you can ask questions via call-in or the talkshoe chat room. Ever wanted your questions answered by the creator of a comic series? Now’s your chance!
Happy new year!
Don’t forget I’m being interviewed by TGT Webcomics live on January 12 at 8pm central time. Sign into the chat, call in, ask questions and listen to answers about comics, my projects, and any crazy things that you want to ask.
Looking forward to it!