FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Boston Comics are for Lovers – Inbound #3, a Boston Comics Anthology

BOSTON, MA (April 6, 2009) – Ah, spring is in the air. To celebrate the season of romance, the hard-working comics artists of the Boston Comics Roundtable have released Inbound #3, a Boston Comics Anthology. The theme of this tri-yearly publication… love and relationships.

Yes, nobody knows perfectly-requited love and totally un-awkward dating like an indie comics artist. Pick up a copy of Inbound #3 and you’ll have more than just an evening’s entertainment; the book practically doubles as a 72-page how-to guide for all you Mister and Misses Lonelyhearts out there. All for the low price of $7.95.

It’s our biggest issue ever! Included in this volume:

* Franklin Einspruch
* “First Kiss” – Robert Sergel
* “Puppy Love Eternal” – Aya Rothwell
* “Fear” – Chris O’Neill
* “Just an Old Fashioned Zombie Love Song” – Eric Boeker
* “Wish Me Luck” – Donna Martinez and Joesph Peters
* “Colossa” – Braden Lamb
* “An Afternoon Session” – Hyun Supul
* “A Winter’s Prelude” – Roho
* “The Prince” – Carl Tsui
* “From Afar” – Dan Mazur
* “A Gothic Romance” – James Mobius

Inbound #3 is on sale at your favorite stores. In the Boston area, check out Million Year Picnic, Hub Comics, New England Comics, Comicazi, Harvard Book Store, Comicopia, and more. You can also visit the BCR Online Store (www.bostoncomicsroundtable.com/comics.html). We ship tenderly packaged comics anywhere in the world.

The Boston Comics Roundtable was created in 2006 to unite Boston-based comics creators in the spirit of camaraderie and professional development. Our ever-growing membership roll and prodigious publishing schedule reaffirm that Boston is the hot new town for comics!

To contact the Boston Comics Roundtable for images, interview, or to learn more about our organization, contact Dave Kender (dave/@/bostoncomicsroundtable.com) or visit www.bostoncomicsroundtable.com/contact.html.

PRESS IMAGES: www.bostoncomicsroundtable.com/Inbound_3_photos.html

About Us
The Boston Comics Roundtable is an independent organization of comics creators in the Greater Boston area. The group meets weekly for workshopping, teaching, and social gathering. Meetings are open to the public. Information regarding publications, artist galleries, and meetings can be found at http://www.bostoncomicsroundtable.com.

The ironically named “American Family Association” has decided to target PepsiCo in retaliation for PepsiCo’s generous support of Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG). So, now would be a good time to call or e-mail each of those companies to let them know you support their respect for diversity and equality. You can get more info about that, including phone numbers here.

I’ve already sent e-mails to each of the companies (PepsiCo, Frito-Lay, Quaker, and Tropicana) and received responses from each. It’s interesting to note the differences in the responses. Pepsi and Quaker sent me identical replies, form responses stressing that PepsiCo’s grants are based on expanding workplace diversity only, and don’t extend to social issues beyond that. Frito-Lays response was a truncated version of the same message.

Tropicana, however, sent a much warmer personal reply:

Alexander:

Thanks for your wonderful comments. We have ways of measuring success, but nothing compares to receiving emails like yours. We’ll share your comments with the director of the PepsiCo Foundation as well.

Thanks again for your kind words, Alexander. We’ll always strive to produce high quality juice for you to enjoy. Please know that we’ll always make charitable contributions to organizations we believe in.

Meredith

There’s still some normal PR speak in there (They’re making juice! FOR ME!!), but at the same time, this letter sounds genuinely happy that the program has supporters. It may still be a form letter, but if it is, at least it’s a form letter that was heartfelt at its original writing. And it made me happy, so I thought I’d share.

Here’s a little note from Ron LeBrasseur, who contacted BlueLinePro about the high shipping charges on those sketch cards:

I was a bit surprised that each winning card bid would add a $7.00 S&H; fee, so I emailed my contact and asked if it was possible to ship multiple cards in one envelope. The reply was encouraging:

“Hi Ron,

We do combine shipping. I think next year we may have to do some kind of flat rates due to the way e-bay list shipping cost. We can fit several ( 15-10 cards) in a small priority box for less than $5.00. Just e-mail us before paying and we’ll adjust your shipping. Please pass this along to anyone else you know that’s wanting to bid also. This was e-bays calculaotor not our.

Thanks,
Kim (Bluelinepro)

I’m not in this issue or the show, but I plan to be at the event following the Boston Comic Con.

Via Ron LeBrasseur, here’s a complete list of cards supplied to the aforementioned charity art auction by members of the Boston Comics Roundtable. On eBay, the cards are arranged in alphabetical order.

Roho:
BLUER
OUTLAW PIZZA
X-MEN STORM
DAREDEVIL
SILVERSURFER
SUPERMAN

Charles Snow:
BRANDI
EDNA
YOSHIMI

Aya Rothwell:
DRAGON
RING

Hyun Supul:
ROBOT / BIRD
ANIME GIRL
RESCUE RANGERS GADGET

Donna:
WONDER WOMAN
TITANS WOMEN

Cathy Leamy:
ANGEL GIRL
MAGIC BOOK

Dan Mazur:
FLIP
PENNY CENTURY
PRESIDENT OBAMA
GREEN LANTERN

James:
TITANS STARFIRE

Ron LeBrasseur:
HULK
FANTASTIC FOUR THING

Braden Lamb:
KITTY HAWK
ADAM STRANGE

Shelli Paroline:
STRONGEST MAN
FUTURAMA

Comics2Games is running a charity sketch card auction to benefit The American Cancer Society. 34 pages of sketch cards to choose from, by lots of artists, both known & unknown. David Petersen, Neal Adams, Danielle Corsetto & more!

Two of the articles I originally published at Webcomics.com have just been archived at Comixtalk.com. These have been unavailable since Webcomics.com changed hands, which is a shame since I’m actually pretty happy with how most of my writing there turned out.

The two articles that just posted both look at the work of interesting experimental webcomics creators; so have a look at B. Shur’s New Rocket and The Old Made New: The Static Comics of Daniel Merlin Goodbrey.

The rest of my Webcomics.com articles should be appearing over the next few days.

• I will be exhibiting at Boston Comic Con next weekend.
• Page 13 of Gingerbread Houses posted yesterday.
• Had a great conversation with Shelli yesterday about the complete draft for our forthcoming book. It looks like I still have a LOT of work to do (which is not a surprise), but now I have a much clearer idea of the direction I’m headed in. And I think I know what to do with Sonny, the troublesome character I’ve been struggling the most to write.
• I got a peek at the new website that is in development for The Boston Comics Roundtable. Apparently, I’ve missed way too many meetings, because it’s a far more ambitious project than I realized. I’m very excited, and I’m looking forward to contributing to the new site.
• The website revamp is moving along at a good clip, but I just took a look at my Links page, and man is that out of date. Half the things I have linked don’t even exist anymore. So, I guess that’s next on my to-do list.
• My second Emerson class, Writing the Graphic Novel II, just wrapped up. I still have to read and grade the final projects, but I should have a little more creative time available to me now that that’s done. Still, I’ll miss that class! I had some great students, and I always had fun working with them. I hope I get as good a group next year.

Now that I’ve got this site functioning again, I’ve decided to move to a new webhost. Please be patient with any irregularities you might encounter as the new DNS settings take effect.

I just sent a copy of an old article I did on Daniel Merlin Goodbrey to be archived on Comixtalk, and it reminded me to get caught up on “The Rule of Death,” Goodbrey’s collaboration with Douglas Noble. An old west story about a man who dies, then changes his mind, and comes back. It’s hard to describe beyond that, but it’s so damn good. Read it from the beginning.