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04/07/16 @ 9:45 am EST
A Writer’s Commentary: Corinna Bechko on Miss Fury #1, on sale today from Dynamite. Interior art is by Jonathan Lau.  Page 1It was important to me that we meet Marla at work, because so much of the story is about her various identities, and what she does for a living is a very important to her. As a writer, I’m always fascinated by that aspect of people’s lives. How you approach your work, and the kind of work you wish you were doing, says a lot about you.I also wanted to make sure and get right into the story, which kicks off with a break-in. Why waste time when you can get to know someone through action instead?I need to take a moment right away to mention Jonathan Lau’s art here, thought. I’m thrilled we got to work together, and I think you get a sense of Marla right from the start here, before she says a word, thanks to the way he handles her movements and expressions. Page 2Enter Miss Fury! Like I said, right into the action. Marla’s life is divided. That’s the most important thing to know about her. And here we get introduced to the second part of her life. Page 3Here we see that the thieves are focusing on something non-traditional. They’re not after money or art, they’re stealing plans. This will be important later, and I really like how Jonathan emphasizes that in the last panel. Page 4A lot more action, as Miss Fury shows these creeps what she’s made of. I’m a big fan of using the environment to tell the story, so we learn a bit about Marla’s workplace through the items that are being smashed. There goes a drafting table, and a stool… Hopefully Marla’s firm has good insurance.  Page 5Meanwhile, the stolen documents are getting away! Hopefully, since we met Marla working late at her office, the reader will already feel like this is personal for her, and that losing these will hurt. Having known the pain of a computer crash eating a ton of hard work, it was easy for me to imagine how hard Marla would try to recapture the plans. Page 6No such luck, though. The thief gets away. I love how Jonathan shows us New York here. The details are wonderful. And I’m especially happy with how the last panel on this page turned out. Miss Fury looks so disheveled as she finally calls the police. Fighting criminals is hard. It wouldn’t leave you looking glamorous. Page 7Back to normal life, where no one knows that Marla Drake is Miss Fury. You can tell from this page that I love old films and have watched a lot of them. The fact that this story is set in the 40s allowed me to finally use my storehouse of period slang.Keep your eye on Clive though. There’s a reason he gets a two-panel entrance. Page 8Here, we finally learn what was stolen, but we still don’t know why. There’s a lot of dialogue on this page compared to any previous page, because this is the first place we get a breather from all the action. This is also setting up the central mystery and most of the key players, so I tried to slow the pace down a bit. Page 9And here we get a bit more background about what Marla’s work really is. We also learn about the stickiness of drafting dots, something that will be important later. And in case you are wondering, yes I did do my research, and I learned that drafting dots were used this early. One of the biggest problems with writing period stories for me is my tendency to fall down research holes and learn many too many useless facts and details beyond what is needed to tell the story.More important than even those dots, we find out that Mr. Corey seems to know more about Marla than she knows about herself… Page 10Which leads into a flashback, so that we can learn something about why Marla leads a double life.We also see a bit of how hard it was to be a woman with a job in the 40s. Many women had careers then, of course, but it was even harder then to work in a male-dominated field than it is now. Casual prejudice was rampant.  Page 11So is it any wonder that Marla has some pent up aggression? I hoped to show with this sequence that she is type of person you could imagine becoming Miss Fury – that her crusading persona didn’t spring out of nothing. Page 12I really like what Jonathan did with this page. It’s just two people sitting at a bar, but he elevated it into a fully realized scene. Page 13And we’re back from the flashback, as Marla has trouble integrating the two sides of her life. Even as she protests that she isn’t Miss Fury, she’s already following up clues that will lead her right back into the fray. Page 14Bonus fact: there really was a Blossom Restaurant on the Bowery. One of my favorite hobbies is reading about the history of NYC, so putting some of that into this book was fun for me. You don’t need to know which parts are historical references to understand the story, of course, but hopefully some of my affection for the city comes across. Extra bonus fact: one of my favorite current places to eat in NYC is also called Blossom. They make a great vegan Caesar salad, something you probably wouldn’t have found in the 40s era Blossom. Page 15It’s the return of the wayward drafting dot! After I did all that drafting dot research, I wasn’t about to not let them be a story point. Page 16And we’re back to action! Just so you know, “Woman of the Year” really was playing at Radio City at this time. That coincidence was just too good to pass up. Page 17But what’s this? Could such a patriotic spectacle really hide a nefarious plot? I figured Marla wouldn’t hesitate to find out. I think that if you decide to become a costumed hero, you are probably the kind of person who pursues a lead doggedly, no matter what. Easily dissuaded people probably don’t become caped crime fighters.  Page 18We’ve already had a fight and some action in this issue, so I wanted to take this encounter in a different direction so things wouldn’t get repetitive. And so the weapon used against Miss Fury here is exposure, the very thing she least wants to face. Page 19I always try to include scenes about friendship whenever I can, especially friendships between women. This is an important part of life, and one that can get easily overlooked when writing a book that’s about action. Happily, the original Miss Fury had a good friend as well as a cat. To understand Marla as a character I wanted to show her home life, and introduce the two characters that help her keep her equilibrium when she’s not working or fighting crime.Of course, any quiet, dialogue-heavy page had better be doing a couple of things at once, so here we have a couple of new ideas introduced that send Marla back out into the city. Good thing Peri is such a patient cat. Page 20Miss Fury’s back on the job, seeing yet another facet of NYC. We had a bit of downtime, so it’s time to ramp back up to some action… Page 21And some scares… Page 22Until we reveal the twist at the end! Ending on a cliffhanger is always good, but in this case it’s less of a “how will she live through this?” ending and more of a “how is that possible?” ending. Hopefully readers will want to return next month and find out the answer… For more on Miss Fury Vol 2 #1, click here. 06/02/20 @ 4:43 pm EST
The creeps and the crawlies of the Chaos! crew comes to Kickstarter today for a limited time sketch card celebration of their 25th anniversary! Live right now, and with Early Bird Special discounts for the first 24 hours, fans can get truly one-of-a-kind sketch cards featuring their favorite characters from the Chaos! universe. All manner of psychos, vamps, and demons are depicted by a diverse range of fan-favorite artists from the community. The likes of Evil Ernie, Purgatori, Chastity, Lady Demon, Mistress Hel, Jade, The Chosen, and countless other classic characters have been drawn in all kinds of styles and will be packed in special red and stamped Kickstarter-exclusive protective envelopes.
This limited-time offer will only last one week and then the cards and rewards will be shipped immediately after, to reward Chaos! and sketch cards fans for their tremendous support of the franchise and Dynamite through the years.
Sketch card artists who have contributed to this set include Roy Cover, April Reyna, Dan Curto, Daniel Gorman, Edward Santia, Huy Truong, Jeffrey C. Benitez, Joe DelBeato, Karl Jones, Ken Haeser, Kevin B. Cleveland, Lee Hunt, Mai Irving, Marcia Dye, Mitch Ballard, Norvien Basio, Rich Molinelli, Scott Harrell, Tone Rodriguez, Zachary Woolsey, Mikey Chiume Jr, and many more!
The campaign features many special reward options for collectors. Including glow-in-the-dark cards! As well as ways to focus on a favorite character such as Evil Ernie, Chastity or Purgatori - or all three. Rare puzzle card sets are available as well. For the comic fans and as an affordable add-on, Dynamite is also offering two critically acclaimed Chaos! graphic novels as well as surprise boxes of single issues mixed with other Dynamite ... 05/29/20 @ 9:36 pm EST
Stay tuned... Chaos! Evil Ernie. Smiley. Purgatori. Chastity. Lady Demon. Jade. Cremator. Bad Kitty. The Chosen. Their names strike fear in all. But for comics fans, we feel excitement for these boundary-pushing classic characters. The Chaos! universe is going on 25 years strong and we're celebrating with awesome offerings on Kickstarter for the fans. One-of-a-kind sketch cards will be available featuring all your favorite characters, from the top artists in the field. Each card will be shipped protected in a custom, high-quality red envelope with the Chaos 25th anniversary logo. For the first 24 hours of the campaign, fans can take advantage of the Early Bird Special to get a great discount on their sketch cards!A selection of the artists contributing includes Roy Cover, April Reyna, Dan Curto, Daniel Gorman, Edward Santia, Huy Truong, Jeffrey C. Benitez, Joe DelBeato, Karl Jones, Ken Haeser, Kevin B. Cleveland, Lee Hunt, Mai Irving, Marcia Dye, Mitch Ballard, Norvien Basio, Rich Molinelli, Scott Harrell, Tone Rodriguez, Zachary Woolsey, Mikey Chiume Jr, and many more! Get Notified As Soon As We Launch! 05/29/20 @ 9:33 pm EST
05/28/20 @ 5:02 pm EST
05/28/20 @ 4:34 pm EST
Tomorrow (Friday), master painter Lucio Parrillo will be joining creator and self-publisher Billy Tucci on the PopXP Youtube channel. Lucio will be discussing his career as a comic book cover artist, the decade of beautiful contributions to Dynamite titles, and most of all his current and first-ever crowdfunding campaign for his exclusive Vampirella variant. Click here at Noon EST Friday to watch the discussion. (9 AM PST, 5 PM BST).Billy himself is no stranger to Vampirella and crowdfunding, as his independent creation Shi crossed over with the Daughter of Drakulon back in 1997 and then again last year for a special dual anniversary celebration cover. He's successfully crowdfunded a big comeback for Shi with the upcoming Return of the Warrior. And through PopXP (formerly known as Crowdfunding Comics) with Nile Scala, he's made waves talking to comic book pros from all corners. Guests have included Marc Silvestri, Humberto Ramos, Jimmy Palmiotti, Amanda Conner, Brian Pulido, Erik Larsen, Chuck Dixon and countless more. Click here to check out Lucio Parrillo's exclusive Vampirella cover on Indiegogo
 05/28/20 @ 4:32 pm EST
Dynamite and Fanatical announce a goodies-stuffed digital comics bundle - available right now!
The clock is already counting down, so check out the deals! - Dynamite & Fanatical Bundle
This promotion launches as part of Fanatical's BundleFest, coinciding with several additional deals for all kinds of fans, across comics, video games and more. Featuring over 70 individual issues and a dozen graphic novels, the Dynamite bundle touts a whopping 95% savings on over $300 worth of great comics.
Across three tiers starting at just one dollar, fans can fit their haul to their budget. Particular highlights include the timeless cartooning of upcoming Green Hornet artist Anthony Marques in the Savage Tales of Vampirella one-shot. Or the 380-page tome of Vampirella's earliest stories. And the beautiful and badass portrayal of Red Sonja by artist Carlos Gomez with the whipsmart writing of Amy Chu. As well as Van Jensen and Dennis Calero's pitch-perfect adaptation of Ian Fleming's original James Bond novel to the graphic novel form.
Other creators who contributed to books in the bundle include Mike Carey, Steve Niles, Nancy A. Collins, Greg Pak, Vita Ayala, Joseph Michael Linsner, Jim Zub, Max Bemis, Roy Thomas, Leah Williams, Ethan Sacks, Michael Moreci, David Avallone and countless more! Check out the offerings available in each tier below, with each successive one also including previous items. $1 Tier
Army of Darkness Furious Road #1 – 6
Barbarella #1 – 6
Centipede #1 – 5
Savage Tales of Vampirella
Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time #1 – 6
The Bionic Man vs The Bionic Woman #1 – 5
For just a single buck, that's $60 worth of top tier comics!   Read More Here 05/26/20 @ 8:16 pm EST
Yep, it's streeeeetch goal time! The campaign has been such a success so far that we're bringing in some extra goodies for everyone who's already joined the party, and those yet to come on in. Over the holiday weekend, we passed $26,000 and 200 backers. And one very lucky collector locked themselves in for Lucio's one-of-a-kind original painting! A huge congrats to that fan! To show our gratitude for all this support, we are setting a stretch goal of $30,000 which will give every physical backer a promo trading card of Lucio's breathtaking masterpiece. This card will feature a minimalist design to emphasize the artwork itself, and as with the comics will be incredibly limited based on the number of backers of the campaign. Check out the campaign now and help unlock the stretch goal!
 05/22/20 @ 7:39 pm EST
Coming soon... Two fantastically talented creators. One badass and historically crucial character. A groundbreaking story. Gorgeous artwork. Available directly for the fans through crowdfunding. Billy Tucci and Maria Laura Sanapo have a classified project they're cooking up. If you poke around social media, you may figure it out... Or just click below for the partial reveal and to sign up for updates. We'll show you some more teases as the launch approaches, and will let you know ASAP when it's live. Click Here To Get The Latest Teases & Updates! 05/21/20 @ 5:47 pm EST
Super sales are ending and continuing, and ComiXology is full of energy with the industry getting back to full steam!
First of all, check out the first new release from Dynamite in a while, with RED SONJA #15 available now! Critically acclaimed writer Mark Russell continues to weave this witty grounded yet action packed tale of Sonja the Red, now dealing with being Queen of Hyrkania in "peacetime" in Year Two. The art by Bob Q balances impressive action and cartooning for a classic, timeless style. Reviews have been great, so check it out!
Our Sci-Fi sale ends tonight! 13 thrilling graphic novels are deep discounted, as well as all their respective single issues. Below are some of the standouts included, but click here to browse the full sale!
    It's still running for a couple more days, but don't gloss over the Dynamite Select Sale either! With a huge selection of 50 books, there's something for everyone! And for a recommendation from us, we advise straddling both sales and piecing together a binge reading collection of work from the master Howard Chaykin! You'll find all the below books across these two spectacular sales. All of these are whipsmart tales that pushed against the boundaries of comics and continue to inspire readers and creators today. Though we warn that they do employ mature subject matter.
   05/19/20 @ 7:37 pm EST
Yep, we heard you! Many fans were asking for a graded option on this crowdfunded variant cover, and we made it happen. Now every version of the cover is available graded, and as a bundle. In addition to all the awesome existing options and add-ons. We're guaranteeing a 9.8 grade too! Keep the great ideas coming and maybe we could have another fan-inspired update!
Get yours now on Indiegogo! 
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