Home > Letters to CR

Jeff Mason on Summer 2007 Alternative Comics Releases (PR)
posted June 11, 2007
 

NEWS RELEASE -- FOR RELEASE MONDAY, JUNE 11, 2007

Florida publisher Alternative Comics announces Summer 2007 graphic novel and comic book releases

New books to debut in New York at Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art (MoCCA) Art Festival June 23 and 24

Gainesville, Florida, June 11, 2007: Florida graphic novel and comic book publisher Alternative Comics has announced that for Summer 2007, it will release a number of new and eagerly awaited projects including cartoonist Joel Orff's sublime third graphic novel Thunderhead Underground Falls, the latest installment of the hilarious Hickee comic book anthology, the premiere issue of cartoonist Rich Tommaso's highly anticipated Miriam comic book series, and Pictures of You, the follow up to acclaimed writer Damon Hurd and laureate artist Tatiana Gill's graphic novella of teenage alienation, kinship, and romance A Strange Day.

Alternative Comics will debut both Thunderhead Underground Falls and Hickee v3, #3 at the sixth annual Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art (MoCCA) Art Festival held in lower Manhattan's historic Puck Building (293 Lafayette Street) on June 23rd & 24th. A number of cartoonists published by Alternative Comics will also be on hand for autograph and sketching sessions for their fans. Expected to draw thousands of artists, creators, collectors, retailers, publishers, agents and others to downtown Manhattan, the 2007 MoCCA Art Festival offers fans, professionals and the general public an ideal opportunity to view and purchase published and original works from a wide range of comic and cartoon artists.

Thunderhead Underground Falls



Joel Orff's new graphic novel Thunderhead Underground Falls tells the story of Jack, a young army reservist who has one weekend left before shipping out for combat in the Middle East. He and a friend find themselves behind the wheel of his parent's car, driving farther and farther west into a snowy landscape. The book is an impressionistic exploration of Jack's flight from his future, as well as an exploration of this place that he's pledged his life to fight for. Jack and his friends want to experience the simple freedom of taking a drive, of seeing familiar things before his outlook is changed forever by the violence that he knows he will soon face. As the hours go by, Jack begins to consider desertion, but he knows that if he stays to hold onto the life that he knows, it will still be changed forever.

"A master of black and white, and especially of white on black..." --Booklist

Deluxe graphic novel; 128 pgs; 8" x 10"; $14.95 US; ISBN-13: 978-1-891867-88-0; ISBN-10: 1-891867-88-1; Diamond Code: MAR07 3088; June 2007.

Hickee v3, #3



Initiated by Grickle creator Graham Annable, this anthology is chock full of cutting-edge, bizarre humor. With no censoring, no test audience, and no laugh tracks, these finely crafted cartoons will rattle your funny bone and shake your tree! The animation backgrounds of the contributing artists really shine through in the impeccable pacing of the strips. The stories flow seamlessly from panel to panel, demonstrating an amazing aptitude for expression and nuance. Born through afternoon doodle-thons in the coffee shops of San Francisco, Hickee has become a major contributor to the underground comics scene.

"If this anthology of humorous comics by a group of San Francisco-area young artists is any measure, the spirit of anti-mainstream cartooning is alive and well." --Publishers Weekly

By Graham Annable, Paul Harvey Brown, Scott Campbell, Razmig Mavlian, Nathan Stapley, and Joe White.
For Mature Readers; 32 pgs; 6-5/8" x 10-1/4"; $2.95; ISBN-13: 978-1-891867-95-8; ISBN-10: 1-891867-95-4; Diamond Code: APR07 3315; June 2007.

Miriam #1



Miriam Capaldi and Peter Martinelli have been friends since the third grade. In every issue of "Miriam" you will slowly see just how their friendship progresses (or regresses) over a period of nearly twenty years. Each issue contains three installments of continuing stories taken from childhood, adolescence, and adulthood. Issue one begins with our heroes in college, honing their skills and readying themselves for the "real world"...or not. The second deals with the two in their teenage years living in a very drab and ugly 1980's New Jersey. And, lastly the third installment finds us at the meeting place of Miriam and Peter, at Peter's home, back in 1977, when they were just seven years old. Read every issue of Miriam and you can be glad.

"...Miriam is cartoonist Rich Tommaso's quietest work yet, and I think it may be his best-looking as well. A close character study chopped into three separate stories separated by time, Miriam displays the virtue of paying attention, the way some cartoonists as they grow in skill trade in pushing characters through energetic paces like an animator for slowly waiting for the object of their attention to move, to give them something, as if the mind's eye were a camera."
-- Tom Spurgeon

"...Rich Tommaso's cartooning possesses an innate and confident snap that grabs the eye and won't let it go. Rich seems to get better with every comic as Miriam certainly attests."
-- James Sturm

For Mature Readers; 24 pgs; Deluxe Oversized (7-5/8" x 11-1/2"); $4.95; ISBN-13: 978-1-934460-01-6; ISBN-10: 1-934460-01-X; Diamond Code: JUN07 3198; August 2007.

Pictures of You



Pictures of You is the follow up to acclaimed writer Damon Hurd and laureate artist Tatiana Gill's graphic novella of teenage alienation, kinship, and romance A Strange Day. In this prequel, Both Miles and Anna experience the changes that shape them into the two misfits who skipped school looking for the latest Cure album, and found what was missing for them both. One year before their chance encounter, Miles and Anna lived parallel lives only a few miles apart. Miles is both jealous and overprotective when Sarah, his best friend since junior high, starts spending more time with her new boyfriend. Anna's family is ending in divorce, her only solace is with the boy next door Ethan, a college bound musician who is growing apart from his younger sidekick leaving Anna's romantic feelings for him unrequited.

Deluxe graphic novel; 96 pgs; 6-5/8" x 9"; $11.95 US; ISBN-13: 978-1-934460-00-9; ISBN-10: 1-934460-00-1; September 2007.