Crowdfunding News; DC ART OF JORGE JIMENEZ

EDITOR'S NOTE: This project has already reached its' campaign goal, and has over 1,100 backers. We post this article for the benefit of our blog readers who may be interested in this . . . .

The DC Art of JORGE JIMÉNEZ - A Deluxe Hardcover & More! is now live! 

 Just launched:  a Kickstarter for the very first volume in a new ongoing series of art books featuring some of the very best artists who have illustrated DC Comics! First up is Jorge Jiménez, who has spent the past several years providing explosive art for Batman, as well as Superman, and Justice League!


IGN has all the details about this new Kickstarter, as well as a sneak peek at some of the art you will find in this book! To read the article, click here:  Jimenez art book

“It is a great honor for me to have an art book featuring my work, which compiles so many hours and days of my life from my first steps in digital series, to my jump to the front line of DC, with everything that entails; high quality inked pages, covers, and previously unpublished concept art.” 

—Jorge Jiménez

Head over to Kickstarter to see all of the different reward options that you can get by becoming a backer of this great project!  Click the link here:  Jimenez kickstarter campaign

Youth Lagoon - Speed Freak (Official Music Video)

Music of 2025, #19:  YOUTH LAGOON

MetalTrump - Paranoid (Black Sabbath)

TOXIC AVENGER Resurgence: Ongoing Series, New Movie

From the official Superfans Promotion Press Release:

Two-Time Pulitzer Prize Finalist Matt Bors and a Slew of Superstar Artists Launch 

An Ongoing TOXIC AVENGER Comic Book Series from AHOY Comics

Issue #1 Will Land in Stores Ahead of the TOXIC AVENGER Film

Starring Peter Dinklage as Toxie

(April 1, 2025) Acclaimed Syracuse-based comic book publisher AHOY Comics is launching THE TOXIC AVENGER COMICS, an all-new ongoing series masterminded by THE NIB founder and two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist Matt Bors, who will be writing the series. Each issue of THE TOXIC AVENGER COMICS’ first story arc will be illustrated by a different artist and showcase a different genre. The series launches in July with a horror-themed story written by Bors and illustrated by Fred Harper, with covers by Harper and Bors as well as a sketch variant cover and a trading card variant cover.

 

Subsequent issues will be told in the tradition of crime comics (issue 2), sci-fi comics (issue 3), romance comics (issue 4) and fantasy comics (issue 5), with each drawn by a different top secret and yet-to-be-announced artist. THE TOXIC AVENGER COMICS’ debut comes in advance of the action-packed Toxic Crusaders beat 'em up videogame from Retroware and the highly anticipated Cineverse theatrical release of The Toxic Avengerfilm starring Peter Dinklage as Toxie on Labor Day weekend.

In the debut issue’s self-contained horror story, kids are disappearing from Toxie’s hometown of Tromaville, NJ. Did they simply run away from the chemically polluted town? Or is the real explanation even more frightening? Each issue of the first story arc — issues one through five — will feature the first appearance of an entirely new character and have a two-page story illustrated by Fred Harper that sets up the second story, “Toxie Goes to Washington” that starts with issue six. 

AHOY Comics recently announced plans for a Toxic Mess Summer, which kicks off with the publication of THE TOXIC AVENGER (tpb) in bookstores on April 1, 2025. In May, a slew of incredible artists and writers will team up for for THE TOXIC AVENGER PINUP SPECIAL, followed by an ambitious mini-series, TOXIE TEAM-UP, that will launch in June and find Toxie rubbing elbows with characters from a number of other fan-favorite AHOY titles, including Jesus Christ (from the pages of Russell and Pace’s controversial SECOND COMING), the Jersey Devil (from the creature-packed anthology PROJECT: CRYPTID), Acid Chimp (from Russell, Bryce Ingman and Peter Krause’s absurdly hilarious MY BAD), Dragonflyman and Stinger (from Tom Peyer and Jamal Igle’s multiversal saga THE WRONG EARTH), and Swamp Cop and Schitt (from Bors’ and Ben Clarkson’s satirical smash hit JUSTICE WARRIORS). 

The Toxic Avenger first appeared in the 1984 cult classic film about a mutated weakling mopping up a corporate mess, directed by Lloyd Kaufman and Michael Herz and starring Mitchell Cohen. Having already spawned five films, a cartoon, action figures, a musical, and a Marvel comic book series, the Toxic Avenger is a pop culture icon—and he is also perfect for AHOY Comics, a Syracuse-based publisher dedicated to satirizing horror, space opera, social satire, sword & sorcery, and superhero stories. TOXIC AVENGER is the second AHOY comic book series from Bors, following the release of JUSTICE WARRIORS, his critically-acclaimed comic with artist Ben Clarkson which follows two police officers, Swamp Cop and Schitt, stationed in the world's first perfect city. 

THE TOXIC AVENGER COMICS #1 will land in comic shops on July 9, 2025. Meanwhile, THE TOXIC AVENGER graphic novel hits stores on April Fool’s Day, followed by THE TOXIC AVENGER PINUP SPECIAL on May 14, 2025 and issue #1 of the TOXIE TEAM-UP series on June 11, 2025. 

For more updates on AHOY Comics, visit them on X, Bluesky, Facebook and Instagram. 

Kill List Official Trailer #1 (2012) HD

KILL LIST on Shudder TV . . . . . The deeper you go into this film the

more disturbing it becomes. Some very brutal scenes. In the final act,

things take a turn that I did not anticipate and it becomes an entirely

different movie. Not for those who want pleasant endings. THREE AND

ONE-QUARTER STARS.  

The promotional synopsis . . . .

From director Ben Wheatley (DOWN TERRACE), KILL LIST is a mind-blowing genre concoction being called the "#1 Horror Film of the Year" (Bloody-Disgusting). A brilliant blend of family drama, hitman action-thriller and terrifying psychological horror film, KILL LIST tells the story of an ex-soldier turned contract killer who is plunged into the heart of human darkness. Eight months after a disastrous hit job in Kiev left him physically and mentally scarred, Jay (Neil Maskell) is pressured by his partner Gal (BIFA Winner Michael Smiley), into taking a new assignment. As they descend into the bizarre, disturbing world of the contract, Jay's world begins to unravel until fear and paranoia sending him reeling towards a horrifying point of no return.

Tariffs And Their Impact On The American Comics Industry

 EDITOR'S NOTE: There's a well-thought article on the impact of Trump's tariffs on the American Comics Industry, written by a comic shop owner, and published on The Beat website . . . . .

Read the article here . . . . . . .   Retailer Op-Ed

Book Review: OUR MISSING HEARTS by Celeste Ng

OUR MISSING HEARTS by Celeste Ng (Penguin Press, October 2022) Hardcover, 335 pages. ISBN #9780593652763 

Synopsis on the Goodreads website . . . . .

Twelve-year-old Bird Gardner lives a quiet existence with his loving but broken father, a former linguist who now shelves books in a university library. Bird knows to not ask too many questions, stand out too much, or stray too far. For a decade, their lives have been governed by laws written to preserve “American culture” in the wake of years of economic instability and violence. To keep the peace and restore prosperity, the authorities are now allowed to relocate children of dissidents, especially those of Asian origin, and libraries have been forced to remove books seen as unpatriotic—including the work of Bird’s mother, Margaret, a Chinese American poet who left the family when he was nine years old.

Bird has grown up disavowing his mother and her poems; he doesn’t know her work or what happened to her, and he knows he shouldn’t wonder. But when he receives a mysterious letter containing only a cryptic drawing, he is pulled into a quest to find her. His journey will take him back to the many folktales she poured into his head as a child, through the ranks of an underground network of librarians, into the lives of the children who have been taken, and finally to New York City, where a new act of defiance may be the beginning of much-needed change.

My Four-Star Review on the Goodreads website . . . . .

This is a much darker and deeper book compared to LITTLE FIRES EVERYWHERE, also by Ng. Based on the emotions and fears expressed by the characters, it also seems a more personal story to her as reinforced by her comments in the afterword. 

Published in 2022, I suspected it was influenced by the 2020 coronavirus pandemic/shutdown as the story develops around a similar crisis (but financial in nature, also blamed on China) that in OUR MISSING HEARTS leads to authoritarian/dystopian government as a result. 

In that afterword, Ng says: There are far too many instances of free expression being stifled - and discrimination rationalized - under the guise of "protection" and "security." Considering our current situation in U.S. government, this is a very timely story whose warning should be heeded by all of us. 

While LITTLE FIRES EVERYWHERE was a heart-warming slice-of-life that felt authentic and real, OUR MISSING HEARTS is more akin to 1984 and THE HANDMAID'S TALE. It's disturbing and deeply sad. The characters are memorable, as Ng is good at depicting their various emotions and reactions as things around them get out of hand and restrictive.

This did not entertain me in the same way that her previous novel did. However, the message will stay with me - and is much more important. Despite the unhappy conclusion to the novel, there is a small glimmer of hope. That's something to hold onto.