Alexa Vega to Moderate Kickstart Panel at Comic Con

 Official Press Release: pulled from www.comicbookresources.com

Kickstart Comics announces Alexa Vega to moderate their upcoming panel at this year’s San Diego Comic Con. Vega, who rose to fame as a child for the SPY KIDS franchise is due out this summer for its next installment, SPY KIDS 4 (in 4D). Vega also recently won an MTV Movie Award for her film PRADA TO NADA.

Kickstart Comics will be hosting their panel Thursday, July 21st from 5:30 – 6:30 PM in Room 4 at the convention center.

The panel is described as an in depth look at new and upcoming releases from Kickstart Comics, discussion of our TV and feature plans with sister company Kickstart Productions, as well as Q & A with Kickstart Comic creators including Jimmy Palmiotti (Jonah Hex and upcoming Kickstart title Book Smart), Mark Sable (Grounded, Unthinkable and Kickstart's Rift Raiders), Adam Freeman & Marc Bernardin (Monster Attack Network, Genius & Kickstart title Hero Complex), Josh Williamson (Dear Dracula and Kickstart's Endangered and Mirror, Mirror), Phil Eisner (Event Horizon and Kickstart's Bad Guys), Matt Maiellaro (creator of Aqua Teen Hunger Force and upcoming Kickstart title Knowbodys) Tony Lee (Baker Street Irregulars and upcoming Kickstart title Danger Academy) and Jack Monaco (Pushing Daisies and Kickstart's Book of Lilah).

Kickstart has garnered a lot of attention lately in particular for its female driven comics. Consequently, the panel will focus in part on some of it’s female titles including the upcoming Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray title Book Smart as well as the trailer for a live action short that ties into upcoming title Bounty Killer.

Free Swag is also promised for all who attend.

"Kickstart is, in my opinion, at the top of the chain when it comes to strong female leads in comics right now." - Girls Read Comics Too!

“Given the audience that our female titles have found, Alexa was a natural choice to moderate our panel. She is a beautiful, intelligent, kick ass lady. She’s exactly who we want reading and talking about our books.” – Samantha Shear, Managing Editor Kickstart Comics

Kickstart, which launched last fall, has already released 12 titles and plans to release an additional 12 books over the next 12 months. The books are an eclectic range of great storytelling from top comic book creators and established Hollywood writers such as Mark Sable (Hazed, Unthinkable), Adam Freeman & Marc Bernardin (Monster Attack Network, Genius), Joshua Williamson (Dear Dracula), Jeff Amano (Fade From Grace, Cobbler’s Monster) and B. Clay Moore (Hawaiian Dick) and such artistic talents as Jim Fern (Fables), Lee Moder (Wonder Woman, X Factor) and rising star Julian Totino Tedesco (Unthinkable). 

"I’m getting used to looking at the first page of Kickstart’s comics and not being able to put it down until I’ve read the last sentence." – SciFiPulse

Kickstart Comics is sister company to Kickstart Productions, Inc. Some of Kickstart’s credits include the film Wanted and television series Painkiller Jane as well as a number of comic book titles in development at studios including, Robotech, Preacher and The Boys. Learn more about Kickstart Comics and their upcoming books at http://kickstartcomics.com



Review: Book of Lilah – Kickstart

Posted on July 10, 2011 by Dee

Pulled from: girlsreadcomics.com

There are so many things to like about the books Kickstart is bringing out. All in one graphic novels written for a wide (generally all ages) audience, they’ve been some of the books I’ve found myself looking forward to the most this year.  Book of Lilah is no exception to this.

For thousands of years, a secret association known as the Keepers has quietly protected the world’s knowledge. This group skillfully tracks and cultivates world progress, and at times destroys knowledge that they believe could harm mankind.

Someone is after the Keepers, and it’s up to one unsuspecting 20-year-old girl named Lilah to save the day.

Secret organisations, libraries, a young girl at the heart of the mystery?  The Book of Lilah appealed to my 35 year old self, and is a book I would have loved at any age after about 10.  Which is great, as it’s ideal for any crowd.

The story of Lilah is the story of a 20 year old woman who finds herself   suddenly in over her head. She discovers a world that she never imagined that exists beneath the libraries of the world.  Things aren’t simple and it never seems that Lilah is getting the full story.  She manages to unravel it within the book, and while the story seems awkwardly paced in a few spots, it pulls together well, and is something that I look forward to reading again.

If you want to check out Book of Lilah by Jack Monaco and Javi Fernandez, it’s on comiXology or check your LCS or a WalMart near you.  Also take a look at the other Kickstart books out now and coming up.  You can bet that Palmiotti and Gray’s Book Smart is high on my to be read list!



PALMIOTTI & GRAY TRAILBAZE & Get BOOKSMART for OGN Summer

 By Vaneta Rogers
posted: 28 June 2011 03:48 pm

 It's becoming rare for busy superhero comic writers to have time for an original graphic novel. But Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti are proving there's always time if you make it by releasing two OGNs this summer.

"We've been working on these books for a long time," said Gray, who has been collaborating with Palmiotti as his co-writer for 10 years now. "And they're completely different genres from each other. Jimmy and I really just like to mix it up and try different things."

The pair just recently released The Tattered Man, an OGN from Image Comics, and will be part of the DC Comics relaunch with their All-Star Western title featuring Jonah Hex.

Both of their new, upcoming OGNs mesh two genres into one. Trailblazer, which comes out July 6th from Image Comics, is a sci-fi Western. Then in August, Booksmart from Kickstart Comics, is an action-romance.

"We're stepping into a different set of genres and rules of storytelling," Gray said. "With Trailblazer, we took a set of ideas that just combined to make something unique. And with Booksmart, we wanted to do something in a completely different genre than we've done before."

Trailblazer is based on the premise of a witness protection program that uses time travel. When a former assassin decides to provide evidence to convict his enemies, the government ends up protecting his life by sending him to the Old West.

 "We had the idea of a witness protection being sent back in time, and we just kept brainstorming and brainstorming with ideas and taking the story in different directions," Gray said. "Finally we came up with the concept of making this a sci-fi Western, and the title Trailblazer came from that, and it all seemed to work."

Palmiotti and Gray happened upon another unique approach to time travel because their main character is considered a villain in the present, but is seen as heroic in the past.

"What we wanted to do with Jacob was examine how people in different times perceive people in different ways," Gray said. "It's like how people think they were born in the wrong time. And we explore how someone who would be considered a criminal in the present would be a hero in the past, with the same skill set, because society looked at them differently. We thought that was an interesting way to look at a character dynamic.

 When Jacob's occupation as an assassin threatens the life of someone he cares about -- a nun at the orphanage where he was raised -- he only has one choice. He turns against his employers, which causes him to be put into the witness relocation program.

"He tells the government, 'You have no idea! If these people want to find me, they can find me!' But of course, he doesn't know that they have time travel, and ends up in a completely different era," Gray said. "And he falls easily into this alien world of the past. For most people, it would be a difficult transition. But for him, he's suddenly seen in a completely different light than he is in the present. He finds happiness in that, in the ability to be away from the world he was born into."

Of course, not every problem disappears from his life. "A man like this always has problems," Gray said. "We wanted to set up a premise where you can't really escape your fate no matter what technology you have or what possesses you to do something. Even if you can go back in time, problems are going to pop up, and sometimes they're the exact same problems."

Trailblazer features art by Jim Daly III, with Paul Mounts on colors. "Jim gives it a real authentic feel. It's a little bit stylized, but still realistic," Gray said. "But it's got a fun feel to it as well. And of course, Paul just delivers so much in the coloring. They do a great job together. "

With Booksmart, Palmiotti and Gray try their hand at romance, although with these two at the helm, readers can expect plenty of twists.

"It's probably the most romantic thing we've done since 21 Down. Of course, we have a skewed sense of romance, so you're going to get a lot of action, adventure and gunplay," Gray said. "And smart-ass characters."

Booksmart focuses on a woman who wakes up in Tibet and has no idea who she is. "But with all the people who are chasing her, she's pretty sure she's some kind of spy," Gray said.

At the core of the story is what Gray calls a "boy-meets-girl story."

"But because this girl has no idea who she is, she can't really fall in love with him because she's got a nagging feeling in the back of her head that she already has a boyfriend or husband," the writer said. "It generates this great sexual tension and emotional relationship tension between the two of them while all kinds of people are trying to kill them at the same time."

 Because the OGN is set in Tibet, the settings -- drawn by artist Juan Santacruz -- are rich with exotic visuals as the characters are chased throughout Tibet.

"The way he drew and colored it, the book is really gorgeous," Gray said. "It's kind of a wash, but with really rich colors. It's got a completely unique look and feel to it.

"When we did Resistance with Juan, he was trying to come up with little science fiction stuff in the art," Gray said. "But because this is based in reality, it's got a little twinge of hyper-reality in the artwork itself. It really lends itself to the fact that the main character has no idea who she is and is constantly running from one group to the other, from Katmandu into the Himalayas."

  And according to Gray, readers can expect even more from the pair in the coming months. "Jimmy and I are always coming up with new concepts," Gray said. "We've been tossing around ideas ever since we first started writing together, and that's been 10 years. It works really well, because we're so familiar with each other that we don't have any problem proposing new ideas to each other, or even shooting each other’s ideas down, as long as we can back it up with the reasons why. We've been able to work together like that for a long time."

Exclusive Preview Time - Book Smart #1

By: Dustin Cabeal | 06.14.11 (10:45 AM) | Pulled from: www.playeraffinity.com 

What's better than having an exclusive interview with Jimmy Palmiotti? Nothing, but having two exclusive preivews of his upcoming releases is a close second. The first is Book Smart and I'll let the man himself tell you all about it.

Booksmart is an 88 page graphic novel Justin and I wrote and Juan Santacruz illustrated. It’s basically a fish out of water story about an American girl who loses her memory while on a trip in Nepal and the adventure she has trying to figure out who she is and why she is even there in the first place.  I was editing a bunch of books for Kickstart during their initial launch and Justin and I decided to pitch this idea to them and they loved it. It’s one of many of their graphic novels that have done…all of them aimed at an all age’s group of readers. It’s solicited this month and we are very happy with the way it came out. There is nothing like picking up a book and having a beginning, middle and an end. Read the rest of the interview here!

And now the first 6 pages of Book Smart from Kickstart Comics



A Beautiful Gory Display- Kickstart's WITCH

By EJ Feddes On June 9, 2011 · Pulled from: www.spunkybean.com

 The Summer of Kickstart continues this week with the release of Witch.  That’s right, our good friends at Kickstart Comics have another original graphic novel, available at your local comic store, at Walmart, and on Amazon.  They were kind enough to send us a review copy, and it should not come as a surprise that these people put out a fine comic.

In the interests of full disclosure, I should say that I almost never like stories about magic.  Sorcerers, wizards, and magicians generally just irritate me.  (Except in real life, when even the simplest of tricks blows my mind.)  Essentially, I just don’t care about anybody in comics with magic powers, with the exception of Zatanna.   So even though I’ve really liked the rest of Kickstart’s output, I wasn’t excited about Witch.   But man, this book is actually awesome.

Teenage Kylie Woods thinks she’s crazy – everybody else does, too.  There’s a voice in her head, a voice that wants to hurt people.  In a moment of panic, she releases the voice only to learn that she’s a witch and what she heard was the voice of her familiar, Ridley.  In this case, her familiar is an eight-foot tall demonic cat-being.  Kyle comes from a long line of witches, and her life is in danger.  When she meets Aaron, a male witch, she learns about her true nature and the perils that come with being a witch. 

First off, Tony Shasteen’s art is absolutely gorgeous.  The designs of the various familiars are absolutely fantastic – Ridley has a very cool design that feels immediately iconic.  Aaron’s familiar, Lucy, is similarly well-designed.  They just pop off the page.  It’s not just the monsters – there’s a great flow to the pages, and the emotion in his faces is impressive.  It’s quite lovely.

I’m not familiar with co-writers Terry Matalas and Travis Fickett, except for the fact that “Terry Matalas” was a character on a later season of 24.  It certainly doesn’t read like a first script, though.  The dialogue is witty, with more than a few genuine laughs.  And there are some great surprise reveals.  There are at least three big “No way!” moments, including the last-page hook that would seem to leave room for a sequel. 

While I’m not a magic guy, I love a good action scene, and Witch delivers.  I especially love the way Ridley and Lucy lurk in the background, sometimes making hilarious threats or failing to understand human behavior.  And then when there’s danger, they become these terrifying avatars of violence.  They go from being come relief to just absolutely wrecking dudes without warning, and I love it. 

There are good emotional turns in Witch – it’s not all monsters tearing witch hunters apart.  The cast is well-realized and engaging.  It’s a great piece of work, especially when a character who seems to be a joke turns out to be important.  I really liked it, even with my aversion to magic. 

The people at Kickstart do a fine job – this is their twelfth book, and they’ve all been really good.  As ever, we thank Samantha Shear and the whole Kickstart crew, and we’re eagerly awaiting their next releases.