“Greatest American Hero” Franchise Reborn at Comic-Con 2008

Join the original cast of the “Greatest American Hero” television series on Thursday, July 24 at 12:30-1:30pm in Room 7AB at the 2008 Comic-Con Convention in San Diego. After twenty-five years, this beloved cult series is being re-introduced to the world as a comic book series. In addition, two special announcements will be made regarding the resurrection of the “Greatest American Hero” franchise.

A videotaped introduction from the show’s legendary creator STEPHEN J. CANNELL, who has remarked that “The Greatest American Hero” is his best-selling series of all time, kicks off the panel.

Panelists include the original stars:

**WILLIAM KATT
**CONNIE SELLECCA
**ROBERT CULP
**DENNIS “DANGER” MADALONE -Stuntman

The Panel will be hosted by Pulp Secret stars Justin Tyler, Pete LePage and Alex Zalben from the comic book show “The Stack.”

Also in attendance will be Christopher Folino, director of the motion picture “Gamers”; Derek McCaw, editor of Fanboy Planet; and Arcana Studios’ Sean O’Reilly (“The Clockwork Girl”) and artist Clint Hilinski (The Justice League) All four are collaborating with William Katt to create the new comic book series.

Continued here:

http://blog.newsarama.com/2008/07/19/believe-it-or-not/#respond

Helen Killer is the book that has made me take a look at more of the material coming out from Arcana and a new project that will be with another company being announced in San Diego will continue to keep my focus on this company.

My idea is that the Tuesday post is so overwhelming in its size and the number of books that many comics can get lost in the shuffle, so I want to occasionally do what I’m calling a spotlight review, which will either be a preview of a book soon to hit the stands or one that just hit the stands.

For Penance: Trial of the Century the premise is that a super-hero is involved in a hostage situation and the girl taken hostage dies as does the bad guy who is killed by the super-hero.

Continued here:

http://comicsand.blogspot.com/2008/07/penance-trial-of-century-spotlight.html

 

Luke314pi is one of the most well-known and prolific of all the customizers who work in the Minimate medium. To date he has created over 100 Minimate customs, the most recent of which are characters from Arcana Studio’s book entitled Tales of Penance!

Continued here:

http://minimateheadquarters.com/blog/2008/07/15/customizer-conjures-penance-for-arcana-studio/

 

Itty-bitty blondie Sylvia Mark doesn’t look like much. But piss her off, and she’s liable to go all Hulk on you. Except, not green—just really, really strong. Meangrrl Colleen finds that out when she tries to warn Sylvia off her fine boyfriend, and ends up in a Colleen-shaped locker dent with a broken arm for her trouble. While Sylvia at first chalks up her overnight might to puberty-gone-wild, her disturbing dreams of bio-vats and rivers of blood hint at a dangerously different reason. Meanwhile, in a secret government lab, Dr. Tabitha Carver looks over her collection of super-girls in jars, awaiting the return of the missing four so she can activate her army of baby goddesses. Four girls were kidnapped from the lab at the start of Carver’s precious cloning project. Now one of those girls is beginning to manifest her powers. And due to an instinctive impulse that is leading her closer and closer to her test-tube origins, Sylvia is rounding up the other three for a final violent confrontation with Carver that could end up rocking the entire world. My teenage friends, you have no idea how much serious ass-kicking is contained in this lil’ GN.

Continued here:

http://www.readingrants.org/2008/07/15/100-girls-by-adam-gallardo-and-todd-demong/

THE CLOCKWORK GIRL #1 (OF 4) is from the Arcana Kids division of Arcana Studios and writers Kevin Hanna & Sean O’Reilly and artists Grant Bond & Kevin Hanna.

With all the talk about getting kids back into comics – and I know there are members of the iFanbase who read some of their comics with their kids – it’s always nice to find more books for the younger set. The Clockwork Girl is set in a fantastical world of almost magical science. We find that there are two schools of science – those who deal with the natural realm and those whose genius is put to use building fantastic machines and robots. Both factions come together every year for The Haraway Fair, where the mad (but not evil… so far) scientists can show off their newest creations in hopes of winning the grand prize trophy for the greatest creation. There are scientists who have bio-engineered new animals, scientists who have made new kinds of rocks, scientists who have made growth potions for crops, and there is Wilhelm the Tinkerer who regards any scientist who works on anything but robots to be beneath him. His entry into the fair might yet be his greatest creation of all – he has created The Clockwork Girl, a living robot.

Continued here:

http://www.ifanboy.com/content/articles/Conor_s_Mini_Indie_Round-Up_

 

Many tales have tackled the theme of Man versus Machine, with man typically being the winner. In the 19th century, the character John Henry fought against the steam engine and triumphed. Modern versions of this story have man battling Terminators and Cylons and, naturally, man gets to win in both of these situations as well.

But how about a man and machine love story?

Continued here:

http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=10341

 

Friend of AICN Comics Grant Chastain has a trade coming out soon from Arcana Comics called CORRECTIVE MEASURES. I had a chance to read the first few issues of this miniseries and I loved it. It places a hard-nosed security guard into a correctional facility for super-criminals. Check out our extended 15 page preview featuring Chastain’s tough-as-nails writing and Fran Moyano’s fantastic art!

Continued here:

http://www.aintitcool.com/node/37443

 

Mark Poulton has been making waves (pun most certainly intended) recently with his Hawaiian supernatural PI book Koni Waves with Arcana Comics. But the big news is that he’s recently become Vice President of Operations for Arcana. Being a man with a lot to talk about, we caught up with him to check out what he had to say about the future of Arcana, their plans for San Diego Comic Con, and his seemingly endless list of upcoming projects!

Matt Grant: First off, Mark, thanks for taking the time to talk with us here, we really appreciate it!

Mark Poulton: No, problem. It’s my pleasure.

MG: So, there’s a lot to talk about, but let’s start off with the basics: How did you get into comics, and at what point did you realize that you wanted to create them?

MP: I started collecting comics when I was 12. GI Joe #34 was my first comic. I’ve been hooked ever since. Some of my favorite comic books are Amazing Spider-Man, Booster Gold, Cable/Deadpool, GI Joe, Justice League, Witchblade, Youngblood, and Rob Liefeld’s New Mutants/X-Force run.

Working in comics was something I thought about ever since I started collecting. I always thought I would be an artist though. It wasn’t until college when I started taking some writing classes that my focus shifted. I really started enjoying writing and I ended up optioning a screenplay a few years after college. The script bounced around in development for a couple of years and never got past that point. During that time, I was developing Koni Waves with my friends. It was moving along slowly I think mostly because I was more concerned with my screenwriting, but once I moved my focus back to comics things really took off. We pitched Koni to a few companies and received a lot of interest, but ultimately decided to go with Arcana because we thought they seemed like a company headed in the right direction. I’ve been making comics ever since.

Continued here:

http://www.projectfanboy.com/vb/showthread.php?p=3056&posted=1#post3056

“Corrective Measures deliver a real shiv to the ribs right from the first page. A prison story like no other, with captivatingly brutal dialogue, some great, detailed art and characters that make you happy to stay in the right side of the law. Grant Chastain’s storytelling skills really make me want to see what he does next.” — Chris Ryall, Publisher/Editor-in-Chief, IDW Publishing

“Tense and powerful… A fantastically enjoyable read!” — Zander Cannon, Publisher/Writer, DC Comics/Big Time Attic

The Clockwork Girl #4 (Arcana Studios/Arcana Kids)
By Kevin Hanna, Sean O’Reilly & Grant Bond

One of the truly great young readers’ miniseries in recent years comes to its conclusion here. The Machine Man, creation of Tesla’s father, has come to seek out Huxley, uncaring of the friendship that Tesla and Huxley have forged. When someone else takes the brunt of the Machine Man’s attack, though, Huxley’s rage may spell the end of everything. From the beginning I’ve been comparing this story to Romeo and Juliet, but it’s never been more pronounced than it is in this issue. Until now, the comparison was just thematic, but now the writers seem to use the climactic sequences of that play as a plot blueprint (although the story of Tesla and Huxley has a very different ending). It’s a powerful story in any medium or genre, and it works as well here as it ever did. Bond and Hanna’s artwork is really wonderful here as well — inventive, magical characters, beautiful colors, and rich backgrounds and worlds. And you know what else? Arcana did the whole thing for less than two bucks and issue. All the bigger publishers trying to put out comics for kids could learn a lesson here. As for the readers — if you haven’t read this magnificent series, the graphic novel is coming out soon.
Rating: 4.5/5 –Blake M. Petit