31 Days of Dracula | The Cownt (2009)

You knew I was gonna have to include my own Dracula-inspired character, right?

For those who don't know, my wife's brother and I created our vampire-cow character during a slow session of tabletop role-playing many years ago. Artist Gavin Spence and I eventually worked the Cownt into a parody of Steve Niles' Cal McDonald and 30 Days of Night stories for the horror anthology Tales from the Inner Sanctum. Then in 2009, Gav and I teamed up with Jessica Hickman and Paul Taylor to make Cownt Tales, a one-shot anthology of three stories all written by me and each drawn by a different artist. It's full of udder gags, cow puns, and some fantastic, hilarious art. It makes me extremely happy to know that it exists in the world.

I have a few copies left if you'd like one. Just shoot me an email and we'll work out the details.

SpringCon is coming!

SpringCon 2012 is hitting the Twin Cities in a couple of weeks and I'll be there as usual. Will definitely have some Kill All Monsters ashcans and Cownt stickers, but I'll see if I can't find something new to bring as well. I'll probably have David with me for some of the time, so if you want to talk dinosaurs or Godzilla (or Pokemon), he's your man.

The full guest list is up at the Midwest Comic Book Association website and it includes some awesome names as usual. In addition to the many friends I love seeing at that show, the MCBA does an especially great job at bringing in and honoring classic comic book creators. This year they've got Allen Bellman (The Human Torch, Sub-Mariner Comics), Jose Delbo (Jimmy Olsen, Wonder Woman), Bob McLeod (Action Comics, Conan the Barbarian), and Don Rosa (The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck).

They've also got other creators making their appearance for the first time this year: artist Jamal Igle (Supergirl, Zatanna), animator Joel Seibel (A Pup Named Scooby Doo, The Angry Beavers), and writer Bill Willingham (Fables, Fairest). I have no idea how I'm going to meet Willingham without geeking out, but I'm definitely going to ask him to sign my copy of Fables, Volume 2 (the one that quotes a review I wrote on the back cover).

If you're in the area, I hope you'll stop by my table and say "hi."

Cownt-Bat

One of Gavin Spence's early drawings of the Cownt in his bat form. And further proof that Gav is a mad genius.

The Quartet of Crime by Avery Butterworth

From front to back: Junkyard Kat, The Head Guy, Mary, Crazy Mouse, and the Cownt.

Since I shared that Quartet of Crime story last week, I thought maybe you'd like to see this QoC drawing by Avery Butterworth, who's done illustration work for White Wolf Games and The Surreal Adventures of Edgar Allan Poo.

The Cownt and the Quartet of Crime

I've mentioned this in a couple of interviews, but the Cownt wasn't created to be a standalone character. My brother-in-law and I were bored during a slow roleplaying game and came up with a bunch of weird people for an inept group of supervillains. The Cownt was only one member of the five-member Quartet of Crime, but he was easily the most popular.

After Gav and I did that first Cownt story for Tales from the Inner Sanctum, we played with the idea of doing a Quartet of Crime one-shot. We even got six pages of it finished before deciding that we were more interested in the Cownt than anyone else. I do love Crazee Mouse though..

The Quartet's scheme in the story, by the way, is very loosely based on actual events.

The Cownt in "Get Outta Town"

An announcement about Tumblr doesn't feel like enough content today, so what follows is the complete first appearance of the Cownt from Tales from the Inner Sanctum, Volume 1. The book was a collection of horror stories inspired by the work of Steve Niles and was the first published work of both myself and artist Gavin Spence.

You can see that we were brand new to this whole Making Comics thing. I know I cringe at some of the text. I still like Gav's early stuff, but - as you'll see if you click that link above - he's improved a lot too since we did this. Still, it was a lot of fun and I'm proud of us for making it. Also of Jason Hanley for the lettering. He's awesome.

Elsewhere...Spelck!

Who’s this handsome fella? We’re not telling yet, but you can see him in action in this week’s installment of Kill All Monsters!.

Over at Robot 6 this week I reviewed (Critiqued? No, I can't make myself call it that.) Brecht Evens' Night Animals, a book that's as awesome to look at as it is disturbing to think about.

I also did a good job of keeping up with my new blogs. Both Amazon Village and Dear Dairy featured the same kinds of art posts, comics linking, and news you're used to seeing here, but I also started an Amazon of the Week feature (Which Companion of the Doctor kicked it off? Only one way to find out.) and shared some Cownt fan art by an artist from White Wolf Games. And of course, don't forget the Kill All Monsters! blog, focusing on giant robots and giant monsters.

Elsewhere...New Blogs!

Here's what else I've been up to online lately.



We started Chapter 2 of Kill All Monsters! this week. I'm curious to know what people are thinking of it so far, but I also realize that it's early days yet and a lot of you are waiting until we have more up so you can read in larger chunks. No worries, I do that too. But if you are keeping up and have thoughts (encouraging or constructive), I'd love to hear them.

I reviewed Return of the Dapper Men for Robot 6. It's a lovely steampunk fairy tale and goes in my Top Five Stories Ever About Childhood and Growing Up (alongside stuff like Alice in Wonderland and Peter Pan). It's as thought-provoking as it is charming.

And finally, I apparently went crazy on Friday and started two new blogs. Both are spin-offs of this one, featuring stuff that I used to cover a lot of here, but have had to cut back on for various reasons. Dear Dairy: The Cownt's Blog will cover vampires and other classic monsters while also digging a bit deeper into the Cownt's world. Amazon Village is all about tough, heroic women.

The reason for spin-off blogs is that I still want to talk about monsters and adventurous women, but can do without having that content increasing the size of my daily pile. So this blog will get top priority (focusing mostly on sea and jungle adventures) and I'll work on the other two as I find time. Hopefully that will be regularly. Add them to your RSS reader. Follow them. Love them.

Cownt/Space Quint Bookmarks

Hopefully it's okay for me to share this. Jessica Hickman's working on a Cownt/Space Quint bookmark for FallCon and this is the preliminary art for it. It'll have Cownt on one side holding the Space Quint doll he sleeps with in Cownt Tales. On the other side will be SQ and his partner Polly (who is a bit of a Cownt fan herself). Thees vill be awesome.

Graphic Novel Conference

Just got back from the first ever Graphic Novel and Comic Writing and Illustrating Conference sponsored by The Loft Literary Center and the Hennepin County Library.

It began with an entertaining keynote by Gene Luen Yang (American Born Chinese, Prime Baby, Animal Crackers). He mostly talked about his own experience breaking into comics and his experimentation with self-publishing and mini-comics before pitching to a small publisher and finally landing the kind of big-publisher deal that involves an agent and an advance. I'd already heard some of that story in a short comic he did for the Animal Crackers collection, but it was much funnier the way he told it today. And very inspirational too in his accounts of how he kept looking for new ways to make and publish comics throughout his life.

He also reinforced what I've learned from Cownt Tales: that you can't make money self-publishing your own single-issue stuff. It's cheaper today with POD, but when Yang was doing it, he was spending $3000 to publish a single issue and only made about $400 back on the first one. By the third issue, he was barely clearing $200. Again, it's inspirational that he had that kind of passion to save that much money to put towards his dream, but from a business standpoint, it never paid off. He didn't even make money once a small publisher picked him up. All of that was for love and experience.

What else I learned, after the break.

Elsewhere on the Internets: Cownt Tales Review

Here's what else I've been up to online lately:

What Looks Good for August



Last week's Gorillas Riding Dinosaurs was a look at cool adventure comics coming out in August. There's a lot of great stuff, but what I'm most looking forward to is Fantagraphics' English translation of The Extraordinary Adventures of Adele Blanc-Sec. Though one of the commenters has read it and lowers my expectations somewhat, I'm still very curious to read the source material behind the upcoming film. (Also in the comments, Kurt Busiek talks about his experience with the toys that inspired Moonstone's clunky-robot series Zeroids).

After the break: some quick reviews, the Teen Titans vs Ebenezer Scrooge Scrounge, and is Cownt Tales a Comic Worth Reading?

Pass the Comics: "Your Space Rovers feature looks a lot like our Flash Gordon feature"

The Vikings



John Buscema adapts the 1958 Kirk Douglas film. [Hairy Green Eyeball 2]

Pirate Prince



Three different Pirate Prince stories, the first of which is by Plastic Man's creator Jack Cole. [Cole's Comics]

Pirates



Four pirate comics by the awesome Kate Beaton.

After the break: jungle aliens, dinosaur fighting, the death of Betman, Jack and Jill 2: Fetch Harder, not-quite-Flash-and-Dale fight a robot, and Space Quint.

And we're back...

I'm home from C2E2. It was an excellent time and you can read all about it at Robot 6 (Friday, Saturday, and Sunday). I still need to write a report on the Pulp Fiction and Moonstone panels, but I'm saving that for my next Gorillas Riding Dinosaurs column.

Hard to believe that with this convention put to bed, there's less than a month until the next one...



I met a lot of people at C2E2 who are planning to hit SpringCon, so in addition to its usual fun self it'll be like a little reunion. Jess and I are planning to have some new Cownt stickers to give away and hopefully some T-shirts and other merchandise to sell while we're working on the next issue. Looking forward to seeing a lot of you guys there too.

Who Reads the Cownt?

Apologies to First Second Books for stealing the title of this post from them.

In other Cownt news, I forgot to mention that Newsarama's Chris Arrant was nice enough to interview me about the Hooved Horror. We conducted the interview last Fall before you could buy the comic online, so it's a little out of date, but there's some stuff in there about the Cownt's creation that I don't think I've talked about anywhere else.

Cownt Tales Review at Bookgasm

Rod Lott from Bookgasm wrote a very cool review of Cownt Tales #1. Bookgasm's a great site anyway (its recommendations are responsible for about 90% of my novel purchases) and in addition to running the blog, Rod's also one of the most entertaining critics around anywhere.

...this black-and-white book is rife with cattle puns. If that was all May could do, the project would equate to a mushy cow pattie, but he has a sharp wit about him, so COWNT TALES flies with a smile-ready spirit. Although it’s styled like a EC-hosted horror affair, humor is the name of the game, and May’s stable of artists — Gavin Spence, Paul Taylor and Jessica Hickman — pull it off with pizazz. Usually, indie comics projects of this kind lack in the art department; no such trouble here.

The best praise you can give a homegrown book like COWNT TALES is that you’d like to see more. And I sure as hell would.

Thanks, Rod!

"Stable" of artists... That's awesome.

Cownt Tales Review: Every Day is Like Wednesday

I keep forgetting to link to it, but Caleb Mozzocco was nice enough to talk about Cownt Tales at his blog. He also includes some scans of pages that are new to the web, so if all you've seen so far is what I've posted here, hop on over and check it out.

Reading between the lines I think he liked it, though he's humorously non-committal, calling it "the best comic anthology about a gender-confused vampire cow I’ve ever read." I'm starting to realize that the Cownt is going to be more of a cult thing than a popular one, but I'm okay with that. Thanks for the review, Caleb!

The Daily Cross Hatch at Mini Indy-Con

Cownt Tales gets a quick mention in Athena Currier's write up of Mini Indy-Con for The Daily Cross Hatch. Makes me wish I'd been thinking enough to do something like it for Robot 6.

Who Reads the Cownt?

Kat Varns reads the Cownt!



Kat is so awesome that she posted a picture of herself on Facebook with Cownt Tales #1 and with her permission I'm reposting it here. She writes, "Best comic EVER. Get one. Right now." You should listen to her.

She also says that she's the Cownt's biggest fan and is "actually probably going to be dressing as him for CONvergence" and maybe for SpringCon too! I can't wait to see that picture. Thanks again, Kat!

In related news, I need to get a copy of Cownt Tales to this woman right away.



I think she'd enjoy it. (Thanks to Brother Cal for this picture.)

One last bit of Cownt news, my boss JK at Robot 6 was nice enough to run a profile of Cownt Tales last week in preparation for Indy Comic Book Week. Thanks again, JK!

New! New! New! New! New!

I'm not really big on the word "resolutions" because it sounds so serious and momentous. I do believe in making plans though and setting goals, as long as the goals are things I can directly control. Someone pointed out to me a long time ago the difference between goals and desires and it's changed the way I plan for the future.

Goals are things I have complete control over. "I will finish the script for Tula and the Pirate Witch" is dependent entirely on me. Desires are things that can only be fulfilled with the cooperation of someone else. "Tula and the Pirate Witch will have a publisher by the end of the year," involves Jess (the artist), the letterer, and a publisher to make it happen. That doesn't mean that it can't happen and that I shouldn't hope for it to. It just means that having Tula published this year can't be my personal goal.

So, Goals for 2010:

I want to keep my Internet footprint at least as large as it is now. Hopefully it will grow, but I can't control that, so I'm going to at least continue turning in Robot 6 articles on time and pitching in on other features there when possible. And I'll continue blogging here and at the other places I contribute to. The idea is to maintain the current quantity of material I produce for the Internet while looking for ways to improve the quality of it.

While doing that, I also have some fiction-writing goals. I want to finish the script for the first issue of Tula and the Pirate Witch and stay at least an issue ahead of Jess so that she's not waiting on me. I've also got a project planned with artist Darla Ecklund and the same plan applies to that.

I also need to finish the script for Cownt Tales #2. A goal that Jess and I have together is to get enough pages done that we can pitch the second issue to publishers (Gav and Paul are also on board, but I don't expect that I'll need their pages for the pitch if I include in it a copy of the first issue. I could be wrong about that though). I'm making no promises about having it printed by a certain time. I'd like to find a home for it and there's no telling how long that will take.

I need to work with Jason Copland to come up with a game plan for Kill All Monsters (the post-apocalyptic, giant robots vs giant monsters comic we're doing), even if the plan is to let it sit another year. We've been throwing around some ideas about where to take it, so we just need to solidify those into a real plan.

And Jesse James vs Machine Gun Kelly is still a live project. Hope to have an update on that soon, but I can't make specific plans about it just yet.

I need to rethink my novel. Tula is going to scratch the particular itch my current draft was designed for, so I'll likely shelve that for now and start on something different. I neglected prose in 2009 - which was fine - but I'd like to get back into it now.

That's more than enough, I think. Time to make it happen.

New Graphic Novel Day: December 30

Diamond Distribution is taking this week off, which means no new comics tomorrow (except for Blackest Night #6 and Siege #0, which were shipped last week and embargoed until now). That severely cuts down on the number of new graphic novels that comics stores will have available.

Some stores have figured out a way around that though. As I mentioned some weeks ago, Jess Hickman and I will be appearing at Source Comics and Games as part of their Mini Indy-Con tomorrow night from 5:00 - 9:00 pm. A bunch of other local creators will be there too and the Source's new comics rack will be full of independent books.



One of the ones I'm most looking forward to getting is Mike Bullock and Michael Metcalf's Timothy and the Transgalactic Towel. I mentioned it on Robot 6 as a book I was looking forward to (a kid has a Hawaiian beach towel that takes him to outer space and gets him involved in an intergalactic war), but I've never gotten around to picking it up. I'm planning to use this off-week to correct that, especially since Mike Bullock will be one of the people attending the Indy-Con event.

Here are some more details, including the complete guest list and a ton of the indy comics that'll be available that day (for some reason, Cownt Tales didn't make it onto the list, but it'll definitely be there). If you live in the Twin Cities, I hope you'll come by, say hello, and pick up something new and cool.

SOURCE MINI INDY CON

WEDNESDAY DECEMBER 30TH - 5PM TO 9PM

FREE ADMISSION!

We're going to have a really interesting mix of highly talented Comic Book Creators in the store (see list below) for the first annual Source Mini Indy Con. A great opportunity to interface and meet and greet! It's going to be a short four hours & it's gonna burn white hot! A few specifics and mild suggestions...

• This is an INFORMAL, FUN & FREE event!
• Most of them will be doing sketches. Bring a Pad
• If you have a portfolio, bring it!
• FREE Soda Pop!
• FREE Snacks!
• Prize Drawings!
• If you're an Artist or an aspiring Artist Come on By! You're welcome to hang out!
• Unannounced mayhem will be delivered!

THE CREATORS AT MINI INDY CON

• Michael May - Cownt Tales; Lancelot; Robot 6
• Carl Borg - The Cardinal
• Mike Bullock - Timothy & the Transgalactic Towel
• Athena Currier - Action Athena
• Scott Dillion - Johnny Recon
• Tim Erickson - Death's Whisper
• Mike Frigon - The Good, the Bad & The Unknown
• Mitch Gerads - Johnny Recon
• Becky Grutzik - Peep & Peep Lite
• Jess Hickman - Cownt Tales; Space Quint; LucasFilm artist
• Danno Klonowski - Manly Tales of Cowardice & Staple Genius
• Bob Lipski - Uptown Girl
• Brent Schoonover - Horrorwood/Astronaut Dad/Toy Story
• Barbara Schulz - Imperfect
• Matt Wendt - Great Big Pissed Off Bear
• Anthony Hary - Carbon Hallway

Something for Everyone & Everyone Welcome!

COMICS ON THE NEW RACK WEEK OF DECEMBER 30TH 2009

Listed alphabetically as they appear on the new comics rack!

• Abe the Aborted Fetus - Thomas, Tan, Santosh, Matheny, Carlos
• Adventures in Paying Rent Vol 1 - Chris Lyons
• Adventures of Alex Ze Pirate - Andrew Dobson
• Adventures of Nikki Harris - Carter Allen
  
• Alice in Wonderland - Martin Powell
• Allusions & Imperfect - Barbara Schulz
• Amanojaku - Sean Lynch
• Anchor - Phil Hester & Brian Churilla
• And Then One Day - Autobiographical Conversations - Ryan Claytor
• And Then One Day - Vol 2 - Ryan Claytor
• And Then One Day - Sketchbook - Ryan Claytor
• Angora Napkin - Troy Little
• Animal Explosions - Sean Lynch
• Armageddonquest Book One - Ronald Russell Roach
• Arthur the Legend Continues - Martin T. Pierro
• Astronaut Dad - Brent Schoonover
• Asylum of Horrors #1 & 2 - Asylum Press
• Attitude - Featuring Andy Singer
• Ballad of the Intrepideers Vol 1 - Krantz & Von Schlosser
• Beyond the Wall - Gordon Purcell
• Blackest Night #6 - DC Comics
• Booty - Abigail Washburn
• Brain Food - Special #1 - Mike Toft
• Burnt Out Comix - Cousin Joey - Brenden Herrick
• BuzzPop - Matt Chicorel
• Cartoons - Andy Singer, Randy Ghent & Jane Holtz Kay
• Catharsis DEFGI - E. Nelson
• Chestacake Sketchbook - Various
• Deadly Are the Naked - Jim Smith
• Case Files TPB - Batton Lash & Jackie Estrada
• Cool Kids - Sigrid Ellis
• Cool Kids TPB - Sigrid Ellis
• Cornered - Slightly Askew - David Steinlicht
• Dames, Dollars and Daniels -Cottle & Peruzzo
• Dead Man Holiday # 1 - Colin Panetta
• Death's Whisper Decimare - Tim Erickson
• Distance Between - Ray Kaselau
• Dog Days of Sumo - Chandra Reyer
• Doofus 2 Death #1 & #2 - Wiley, Sward & Pica
• Drake Bacula Monstar - Brandon Terrell & Elizabeth Hurley
• Dusk One Shot Special - Doub & Houser
• Dusk Trade Paperback - Doub
• Dynamite Pilot - Spanky Cermak
• Echoes of Dawn - ZM Thomas & Cliff Ricahrds
• El Largo Tren Oscuro - Samuel Hiti
• Ex Occultus Badge of Langavat - Russell, Lanz & McDonley
• Faction - Hendricks, Gordon & Nelson
• Fate's Cruel Trick - E. Nelson
• Fearless Dawn #1 - Asylum Press
• Field's Collectible Comix - Brenden Herrick
• Fomera Vol 1 & 2 TPB - Andrew Dobson
• Ghost of Christmas Future Comics - Jeremy Olson
• Ghoulash - Samuel Hiti
• Ghoulash2 - Samuel Hiti
• Giant Size Tragic Relief - Colleen Frakes
  
• Gimoles:Secret of the Seasons - Mike Bullock
• God of Rock - Paul Milligan
• Gordy's Groovy Brain Hut #3 - Gordon Smuder.com
• Great Big Pissed Off Bear #2 - Matt Wendt & Becky Grutzik
• Green Monk - Brandon Dayton
• Greyduck TPB - Mr. Dang.
• Groundhog's Day - Barbara Schulz
• Harry #1 - Mike Kitchen
• Horrorwood - Schoonover & Terrell
• How Dear to Me is Sleep - EJ Barnes
  
• The House that Hack Built - Jennifer Menken
• If You Can Read This You're Dead - Johnson & Burris
• Indestructible Universe Quarterly 1/09 & 6/09 - Morgan Pielli
• The Iron Sea: Shipwrecked! - William F Schar
  
• Jazz: Cool Birth - Gary Scott Beatty
• Jim Keefe: Sketches & Drawings - Jim Keefe
• Johnny Recon #1 - Dillon & Gerards
• Journey to Genos Chapter One - Ray Kaselau
• King of Pain #2 - West & Rodriguez
  
• Kirby's Treehouse #2, #3, #4 & #5 - Sam Leveille
• Life With Friends #1 - Wilson & Kay
  
• L'il Buddha Loves You - Ryan Dow
• Ling Master #1 & #2 - Barnes & Ackerman
• Lions, Tigers and Bears Vol 1 - Mike Bullock
• Lord Harold - Lance Ward
• Lordamus - Johnson & Burris
• Love & Capes Vol 1 TPB - Thom Zahler
• Love & Capes #11, #11.5 & #12 - Thom Zahler
• Machinist - Ryan Claytor
  
• Manly Tales of Cowardice Six - Danno Klonowski
  
• Manly Tales of Cowardice - Danno Klonowski & All Star List
• Mimi's Doughnut Zine #12, #14, #16, #17, #18 -Marek Bennett
  
• Mix-Tape - William F Schar
  
• Monster Mash - Jesse Haller
  
• Moot - Becky Grutzik & Matt Wendt
  
• Mr. Negativity TPB - Batton Lash & Jackie Estrada
  
• Muscle Frights TPB - Bud Burgy/Various
• Muscles & Fights III TPB - Bud Burgy/Various
• My Holy Three - Jesse Haller
• Paradise Road #1 - Glushkin & Ratliff
  
• People, Planes & Things - Sean Lynch
• Pop Culture's Kids #1, #2 & #3 - Mark Stacy
• Poser - Radical Warren
• The Possum #1 & #2 - Blair Kitchen
  
• Psyop Wars - Erik Nelson
  
• R13 #1 & #2 - Hall & Bradford
  
• Ramses Diary Comic Journal - Ramses Anderson
  
• Red Zone The Lost Children - Cassel & Jungeman
• Retail Sunshine - Phil Machi
• Rival Angels TPB - Alan Evans
• Sa-Bom Jim #7, #8 & #9 #10 - Jon D. Sloan
• Sandez Rey VS Reality - Sandez Rey
• Scwonkey Dog - Jonathan Switzer
• Seductions - Gary Scott Beatty
• Seeds Anthology Various
  
• Seige #0 - Marvel Comics
• Senryu - Matthew Warlick
• Shelter Anthology - Various
  
• Skip Tracers - Jason Danzeisen
  
• Socks & Violence - Chandra Reyer
  
• Sonofawitch TPB - Batton Lash & Jackie Estrada
  
• Space Sheriff #10 - Spanky Cermak
  
• Spatterbrains - Lupi
• Sprocket - Various
• Spy Guy #1 - Mike Kitchen
• Square Dance - Colin Tedford
• Starship Down #2 - Lance Ward
• Steampunk Mice on the Moon - Jennifer Menken
• Stormy Nights - Barbara Schulz
• Super Maxi Pad Girl - Olson & Niehaus
  
• Super Babes Exquisite Corpse Book - Jennifer Menken
• Supernatural Law #45 - Batton Lash & Jackie Estrada
  
• Tales of Supernatural Law - Batton Lash & Jackie Estrada
  
• Tales of Tralodren TPB - Chad Corrie
  
• Tastes Like Good Powerlines - Various
  
• The Bomb - Various
  
• The Cardinal - K.J. Kolka
  
• The Good Catholic - Matthew Young
  
• The Intrepideers and the Brothers of Blood - Tim Sievert
  
• The Mighty Invincible Bear - Chandra Reyer
  
• The Oswald Chronicles Fallen Gods - JD Calderon
  
• The Sodyssey - Batton Lash & Jackie Estrada
  
• Tommy Chicago #3 - Bastian & Klonowski
  
• Turbulence - Chris Garrett
  
• Undead Evil - Various
  
• Unstoppable Force - Rob Payne
  
• Uptown Girl Meets the Mummy - Bob Lipski
  
• Valkkadia - Godwin & Hoveke
  
• Vampire Brat - Batton Lash & Jackie Estrada
  
• Vampires: Dracula + Undead Legions - Martin Powell
  
• Vent #1 - Michael Nelson
  
• Visible Rooster Jack - Adam Hansen
  
• Walkabout #1 - Erik Nelson
  
• Weird Illustrated #1 - Steven Stwalley
  
• What Planet is This? #1 - Mike Hankins
  
• Wolves of Odin - Grant Gould
  
• World Wide News - Strode & Mohr
  
• Zed Reckoning #1, #2 & #3 - Matt Munn
• Zine Supreme - Sean Lynch
• Zoo Force - Various

OTHER COOL STUFF

• Adventures in Paying Rent - Chris Lyons
  
• Arsenic Lullaby TPB's - Doug Paszkiewicz
  
• Banana Republic - Kirk Anderson
• Everyday Gods - Daniel Mohr
• Transylvania Television Season One DVD
  

EDIT: I originally pasted links to all those creators and comics from the newsletter where the lists came from, but unfortunately the links did strange things in Firefox and made this post about 800 times as long as it should be, so I had to take them out.