The Magnetically-Charged Miss M. Webcomic!

Miss M., then known as Nelvana, first appeared in Northern Adventures Quarterly #1 in the summer of 2012.  Hers was one of three stories in the book, along with tales of The Guard and Zodiac.

Frozen Light Comics recently began displaying webcomics, one page at a time, every few days, on its website.  Miss M.'s introductory tale is now getting that treatment with the first page posted yesterday (copied below) and the next coming on Thursday.

The full book can be purchased digitally (pdf) on drivethru and in print through Indyplanet.

Miss M.'s creator, Andre St-Amour, has also been applying his considerable talents towards illustrating short stories about the Heroes of the North characters (existing and forthcoming).  Here's a page from the Saskana short.

See more of André's work on his deviantart page and check back with FLC Webcomics to see more of Miss M.!

Pitiful Human-Lizard #1 Cover Reveal!

This book looks like it's going to be so much fun...

Pitiful Human-Lizard writer, artist and everything else Jason Loo displayed a preview of the cover to his upcoming book on Facebook yesterday, stating that if it could generate 40 "likes" he would reveal it in its entirety.  It took no time to reach the desired goal, and so we were rewarded as promised.

Loo mentioned on Twitter recently that a Kickstarter campaign will be launched later this week in order to fund the book.  I had decided to back away from those for a while, for a variety of reasons, but I look forward to contributing to this one and promoting it in whatever small way I can.

A small look at DC's new Canadian character in JLU.

DC Comics released their May 2014 solicitations earlier in the week, including the cover to Justice League United (previously Justice League Canada) #1.  I was excited to have a look at the Canadian character writer Jeff Lemire had promised, but she was blacked out on the cover I saw displayed.

Yet oddly enough, she is not blacked out on the DC Comics website (and there she is at bottom right). Unfortunately, I have yet to be able to find a larger picture than the one at right, but it gives a pretty good idea of her appearance.  I don't why she remains a mystery; hopefully it's because they plan on making a big deal out of her introduction.

Got to say, Adam Strange looks pretty cool in this image.  And I know it's somewhat irrelevant, but...I can't help but notice that Supergirl is not on this cover as she was on the cover of #0.  Perhaps our noob takes her place?  We'll find out in April/May.

Red Panda comics return March 19th!

From Facebook:

...all-new digital issues of Red Panda comics start March 19th! Why not set up a subscription? Click the link below, hit "subscribe to series" and then "checkout". You pay nothing today, and get each issue in the new "Night of the Red Panda" arc the nanosecond it is released for just 99 cents!

It's been a very active couple of weeks for the The Terrific Twosome of Toronto! The trade paperback for their original mini-series is hitting shelves, they were featured in a Toronto Star article and the 103rd episode of their radio show is set to be released in a few days.

Presumably the plans for the new comics have not changed and we'll be treated a two-part story.  Whether it will ever be collected in print is a whole other matter though.  The folks behold the Decoder Ring Theatre Facebook group state, unsurprisingly, that sales of the first compilation will dictate to IDW Publishing whether additional such books are worthwhile for them.  So even though I spent a staggering three whole dollars on the digital books as they came out, I intend to get the print version as well.

If you're fairly new to the characters, there are currently three novels about them, with a fourth on the way, I believe.  You can check out the selection here.

Freed from IndyPlanet!

Well, hell.  I guess it was worth giving them a seventh chance (give or take).

About two years ago, I wrote a few posts with a common theme; my difficulty in ordering from IndyPlanet, and my inability to get any sort of sort of response from them towards solving that problem.  Unless an alternate method was ironed out with the publishers, I was unable to support them and from their perspective, the purpose of a print-on-demand service is pretty well defeated if they have to mail the book to me themselves.

But after seeing that IndyPlanet had upgraded their website recently, I thought I would give them another try.  And it looks (fingers optimistically crossed) as though my purchase worked.  Shipping charges were more reasonable than I expected, no less. I won't believe it until my books are on hand, but there's promise there.

I only made a small order to start with; something of a test run.  I was finally able to order Group of Seven #1, one of the books that had remained elusive over the past two years or so.  To avoid repeating myself, I won't go into greater detail about the book, just click on the tag under "characters / titles" at right to be taken to previous posts about that team.

From Red Leaf I selected All-Canadian Comics #1 and Red Leaf Presents #1.  I have both books in pdf format but wanted the print versions to display, or to bring to my TSOG Fortress of Solitude (where I neither have, or want, an internet connection).  And of course to continue to show a little support towards the company that has been quite kind and generous to me.

Combining the subjects of Red Leaf specifically and tying up loose ends generally, I'd like to point out that issue #7 of their flagship title, The Leaf, is available digitally (and sports a rather sweet cover, I might add, by Lasalle Québec's Cesare Tatarelli).

The book is particularly noteworthy for the debut Kung Fu Canuck, a character first mentioned here in July of last year. Also, the story takes place in Vancouver, a change from the Leaf's usual base of operations of Toronto.  Here's a look at some of the interior art by Carl Emblazado and Lancelot Catan.

"Man of red".  I dig that.  :-)

So thank you again to those who went out of their way to make their books available to me over the past couple of years while IndyPlanet sorted their stuff out (it wouldn't surprise me if the fix was simply coincidental with their site upgrade as their customer service was non-existent).  In addition to Red Leaf, that group includes the folks at Argo Comics (for copies of Argo 5 and their anthology book) and Two Gargoyles (for the first three issues of Thunder, which I thought were a blast)  It may seem like the very thing that you would expect a publisher to do; get books out in readers' hands, but I can tell you from personal experience that not everyone can be bothered.  Go figure.

I should also mention Sebastian Piccione of Sunday Knight Comics.  We were working out a method by which I might be able to get his Allied Forces book but in the end determined that I would wait until more issues are available before proceeding to save on shipping.  That may no longer be necessary if IndyPlanet comes through for me.

Heroes of the North treads new grounds in more ways than one for its New Season

The following is a press release from the fine folks behind the Heroes of the North.

Montreal, Quebec -Heroes of the North, the award-winning transmedia webseries about Canadian superheroes, launches its second Season on February 8th, 2014, with a first episode entitled Jackpot: Royal Flush.

Starring Dominique Arganese as Jackpot, the story written by Michel Brouillette follows the tribulations of Jackie Pothier, a martial arts instructor in a bad relationship with a compulsive gambler, William (Brad Hamelin). Having lost everything thanks to his shenanigans, she comes home one night to find ever more troubles as William's debtors want their money back. A night of violence ensues and it will forever transform Jackie, who will take on the identity of Jackpot, a vigilante-for-hire with an ambiguous moral code.

"Jackpot is the first of several new characters we are introducing for the second Season", stated Christian Viel, producer and director of the series. "Our goal is to introduce new characters for each province and territory and significantly expand the universe in the upcoming seasons."

To celebrate the new season, a complete revamp of the website has been effected. Another major change is that the second Season episodes will be available as Video-on-Demand: $0.99 gives you unlimited access to the episode for 24 hours. People can get monthly access by subscribing to a monthly pass for only $2.99.

Additionally, membership tiers have been introduced: a BRONZE membership will give you unlimited access to all the comic books and Episodes of the second Season for $4.95 a month. SILVER and GOLD membership gives you access to even more content: short films, behind the scenes, government files on each characters, exclusive comic books and monthly serials, etc. 

The second Season is comprised of 10 main episodes, with a duration of roughly 20 minutes and 5 "mini-sodes", in the 6-10 minutes range, which will introduce and feature some of the new characters introduced for the second Season. For more information, please visit our website. 

Founded in 2008, Movie Seals Digital Inc. is the proud producer of Heroes of the North, an award-winning transmedia web series about Canadian superheroes. With four more web properties currently in development and pre-production on Season 2 of Heroes of the North currently underway, Movie Seals Digital is looking forward to a bright web future! For more information about Movie Seals Digital, please visit www.movieseals.com.

As an additional teaser, the HOTN revealed the cover of their next trade paperback, entitled New Beginnings and featuring the new season two characters, with our first leading lady prominently featured. The art is by Christopher Yao.