The Official Blog of The Venger: Dead Man Rising

Kindle Fire: Yes or No?

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Spatola) — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 13:06:00 +0000

Well with the holiday season just about here I see all the store ads online and in the papers pushing the big deals etc. And one of the biggest sellers this year is going to be the Amazon Kindle Fire. I've been longing for an Apple iPad since version 1 came out but could never justify paying that price, there was something always more important that came first. And with all the Black Friday sales they really want you buying electronics.

But I'm wondering with a super-affordable price tag of only $199 if the Kindle Fire is a good substitute? I know it obviously doesn't have all the features and the screen is smaller but can I make those concessions to have an affordable tablet of my own? Still not sure.

I'll probably keep thinking about it for sometime before I jump in and get one. Hopefully by that time some friends with have one I can check out and there will be more info online on how to use it and tweak the specialized Android OS that Amazon is using in it.

Comixology for November

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Spatola) — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 14:45:00 +0000

Lately I've been cutting down on my weekly comic book buying. With so many comics moving up to the $3.99 price point I've just become really vigilant about what I'm picking up. I've dropped quite a few books from the Big 2 and looking at my pull list for this month I don't seem to be getting any indy books. As a creator I really try to promote, push and purchase books from the other publishers. I guess November must be a fluke. I'll certainly try a little harder in December.

Comics Bulletin

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Spatola) — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 23:52:00 +0000

As most of you should know I've been writing a semi-regular column at Comics Bulletin for a while now. The column is called What Looks Good and I rotate with a two other great bloggers- Kyle Garret and Brandon Billups. This week I give you my choices for What looks Good in comics this week and also touch on DC's New 52 and their impact on sales at DC and for the industry as a whole. So please go check it out here.

The site just when through a great redesign. While you are there poke around and explore all the cool features, interviews, columns and reviews. It's a great site.

National Graphic Novel Writing Month

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Spatola) — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 02:11:00 +0000

Well to day is November 1st and when I was online checking out Heavyink.com I saw a tab on the site titled 'NaGraNoWriMo'. I gave it a click and read some of the threads there. Please go and check it out yourself too. By the way Heavyink.com is a great online store and its where I buy all my comics now. Anyway, basically this is about writing a graphic novel or illustrating pages or doing 3 individual issues. Basically its a take on National Novel Writing Month. It's about getting out there and putting on the pressure to yourself to produce and have fun.

So for me I'm going to use this as my starting point on getting back on top of The Venger: Dead Man Rising. The special is almost done and needs a few finishing touches. I'm going to get that done first. Then it will be some serious script revisions for issue #3 of the main series and working with the artist on getting that on track and complete.

I have been busy in my personal and professional life for a while now. And that busyness has really sandbagged this book. I need to fix that. And I will.

Thwipster

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Spatola) — Sat, 22 Oct 2011 15:32:00 +0000

Just wanted to do a quick post praising this great website to get comic book trades and collectibles. I use Thwipster all the time. They have a daily email that goes out showing what the items for sale that day or week are. And these are at insane discounts of up to 80%. Today I ordered a few Marvel Masterworks at 70% off of cover price. So please go by and check them out and sign up for the emails. You'll love it.

The Avengers trailer is LIVE

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Spatola) — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 20:43:00 +0000

Well the first full trailer for the Avengers movie debuted online today. It has almost everything you could imagine in there- hints on the real villain, a great glimpse of all the guys in action and of course the obligatory fight scene between Cap and Thor! Obviously like so many other comics fans I am dying for May 12 2012 to get here. Everyone- Captain America, Thor, Iron Man, Hawkeye, Nick Fury and Black Widow- looks great!

The Avengers

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Spatola) — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 13:01:00 +0000

Can't wait to see this movie next summer. The filming is almost over and some info has leaked. But I just love this pic- Captain America and Thor!

Avengers Assemble!

Captain America Movie Trailer

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Spatola) — Fri, 24 Jun 2011 00:03:00 +0000

Here's the newest movie trailer for Captain America: The First Avenger showing in previews this weekend.

Red Skull!

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Spatola) — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 19:57:00 +0000

After seeing a quick glimpse of him during the Captain America mini-trailer during the Super Bowl we finally get a full reveal. Marvel released a fantastic shot of Hugo Weeving as the Red Skull in the latest issue of Entertainment Weekly. A fantastic design that I am sure will look even better in the film.

And the Winner Is...

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Spatola) — Mon, 21 Feb 2011 16:50:00 +0000

Last year The Venger: Dead Man Rising was nominated for the Eagle Award for Favorite American Black and White Comic Book Series. Well because of my extended absence from the blog I never got a chance to update on the award.

The winners of the awards were announced on October 29 at the London MCM Expo, a fantastic comic book-movie-fantasy convention; sort of the British SDCC. Not surprisingly, The Walking Dead took the award in the category. And a well deserved win I might add.

I said before and truly believe that for me personally just having my book The Venger: Dead Man Rising included with all the other nominees was 'it' for me. Thanks to all our fans who helped put us on the ballot. Hopefully we can do it again!

What Looks Good

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Spatola) — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 16:29:00 +0000

Another quick post from me; but hey it's a start to regular blog updating! Anyway as I said in the previous post I have been 'away' from working on Venger for a bit. I have still been trying to keep up on what's happening in comics and with working on my semi-regular column at Comics Bulletin called What Looks Good. My latest column was published this week with me sharing my picks for the week's new releases and my thoughts on some industry trends. Please go and check it out, it's a great site with some fantastic stories.

Captain America: First Avenger movie trailer

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Spatola) — Thu, 10 Feb 2011 23:30:00 +0000

Yes I know I've been away from this blog for what seems like forever. I apologize. I actually have been away from working on Venger all that time too. I'll post again soon and go into it some more. Right now I wanted to post about the fantastic trailer for the Captain America movie Marvel Studios ran during the Super Bowl. Wow, I can't wait.

The Venger: Deadly Beginnings UPDATE 2

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Spatola) — Sat, 31 Jul 2010 00:50:00 +0000

As promised here are the final versions of those two pages from Deadly Beginnings I've been previewing. We've already seen the original penciled pages by Jun Joe Monares. And I recently posted the inked version of those pages by Scott Shriver. So today we get the final version with the great toning also done by Scott.

All the pages for this story are now done and complete. The files have been sent to the letterer and Stephen is in the process of finishing that work. I have really enjoyed working with Jun and Scott on these two stories for the Venger Special. I'm hoping that we will be able to continue the team onto more projects in the future.

Captain America movie preview clip at SDCC

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Spatola) — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 17:28:00 +0000

At the Marvel Studios panel yesterday they had the casts to both the Thor and Captain America movies present for questions and clips. They actually had some footage from the Cap movie even though they had only completed about 5 days of shooting. In between working on scripts for The Venger: Dead Man Rising and approving art pages I have been trying to find that clip online. I haven't been able to find any bootleg footage of that movie clip but I was able to find a still pic of Chris Evans in the movie uniform. It's not the greatest picture but still its not too bad.


Still capture from the Captain America footage at SDCC

I'll be updating the blog in a couple of days with some more art for the Venger Special- the final phase of the preview pages I've been posting. These will be the toned versions.

The Venger: Deadly Beginnings UPDATE

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Spatola) — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 16:20:00 +0000

SDCC is still in full effect. The amount of announcements and news items coming out from the con is crazy. You really can't keep up with everything and I don't see how the publishers in attendance think they will be able to build any traction on their news. As soon as they make an announcement the news cycle is already focused on the next publisher or panel. I think the best shot for the most publicity is to make the announcement at SDCC and then follow up with some more details the week after. Still lots of good clips from Tron: Legacy and Young Justice among others. I have to say I'm most curious so far about the Batman Inc. book from Grant Morrison.

I've continued working on the Venger Special. I just went over some preliminary book designs with Stephen as well as approved the lettering on the 'Crossfire' story. Jun has done the final revisions on the last page for 'Deadly Beginnings'. I've already sent that over to Scott for inks and toning and then when Scott is done that goes to Stephen too for lettering.

I previously posted some of Jun's pencils for 'Deadly Beginnings' and today I have Scott's inked versions.

Captain America Movie promo poster

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Spatola) — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 02:03:00 +0000

I've been busy working on more scripts related to The Venger: Dead Man Rising. I'm really pushing to get the Special done soon. I'm going to be posting some more inked pages from the Deadly Beginning story in a couple of days so please check back or subscribe to the blog to get the updates.

Today Marvel released pictures of the promo posters they will be handing out at the San Diego Comic Con. They have two, one for Thor and one for Captain America. I had posted the first look we got at the movie uniform they are using for Cap. I actually really like it. The posters they are giving out are based on movie concept art. I've posted the Cap one below. Looks great to me; hope the movie looks this good.


Captain America: First Avenger concept art

The Venger on MyEbook.com

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Spatola) — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 19:30:00 +0000

Well with all the talk of digital downloads of comics and the Apple iPad being the future of the industry I've been looking for ways to get Venger involved in it too. As a small self-publisher it is important for me to find as many ways as I can to get The Venger: Dead Man Rising out there and in front of people. It all falls on me. So far I have the Venger available through DriveThruComics.com and also for Amazon's Kindle as well.

Now I've added another site to get Venger downloads. You can go to Myebook.com and now download digital copies of both issues of The Venger: Dead Man Rising. This is a wonderful site that has thousands of ebooks available, including hundreds of comics and graphic novels. Please check it out and pass it on to any friends that might be interested in digital comics. And check out the rest of the blog for more information about the comic book too.

The Venger: Deadly Beginnings

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Spatola) — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 23:08:00 +0000

Hey everyone. It's been a busy few weeks of writing for me. I posted another What Looks Good column at ComicsBulletin.com so if you get a chance to check that out please do. I also finished the script for The Venger: Crossfire and sent that to the letterer. And finally I finished- I think- the edits of The Venger vs the Wolfman story. I still need to send those to Barri for his opinion.

Anyway now that the writing update is done I thought I would post some new artwork. These pages are from another story from the Venger Special- The Venger: Deadly Beginnings. The whole creative team from the Black Mercy story has returned to work on this very important story in 'Venger continuity', meaning more fantastic artwork from Jun and Scott. In this story we will get the first part of the origin of the original Venger. Here's a look at two of the penciled pages.

Batman: City of Scars

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Spatola) — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 15:39:00 +0000

There's a great Batman fanflick doing the rounds right now that I just had to blog about. Batman: City of Scars was created by Bat in The Sun Productions which is the team behind another excellent fanflick Patient J. Batman: City of Scars packs so much into its 37 minutes it is amazing. Deeply rooted in the comics version of the character it explores the psychology behind the Batman and the twisted relationship between him and a truly maniacal Joker.

Also be sure to check out the rest of the blog for more updates of The Venger: Dead Man Rising. I have other movie clips and I'll also be posting some new artwork later this week.

The Venger vs the Wolfman UPDATE 2

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Spatola) — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 18:03:00 +0000

Another quick update for you guys. I've been doing some rewrites on The Venger Vs the Wolfman story that will be appearing in the Venger Special. Barri has done a great job with the plot and anything I do is just some polishing and making sure it matches with established continuity. Also more illustrations for the story keep coming in as well. Here's the latest which is the finished version of one I have previously posted ...


Venger vs Wolfman illustration by Eleonora Korsatz

A Venger Classic

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Spatola) — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 03:27:00 +0000

I came across this picture while going through some older Venger folders. This cool pic was created by John West, the colorist for the first issues of The Venger: Dead Man Rising. He wanted to throw together a quick piece that would have Black Mercy and the new Venger in it. I do love what he came up with. As to the Venger series well work is still going on issue 3 and the Venger Special. I've been revising scripts while the art teams are doing their thing. I've also been trying to outline a few more stories featuring other members of the cast. Hopefully I'll finish them and have more info on creative teams soon.

Just a reminder for anyone who hasn't gone and voted in the Eagle Awards. Again as I posted earlier The Venger: Dead Man Rising has been nominated for the 2010 Eagle Award for Favorite American Black and White Comic Book. Please go to the link and vote if you haven't already.

Captain America movie costume

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Spatola) — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 19:18:00 +0000

The last couple of days there has been a lot of rumor talk regarding the costume Chris Evans will be wearing in Marvel's Captain America: First Avenger movie that will be filming later this summer I believe. For months the bloggers have gone back and forth on what should and would the uniform he wears look like with alot of it focused on what looks good on film might not be the same as the comic. I love the character of Captain America. But I'm more of a realist and not a purist. I realize that what we see in the comic books every month just won't work in a motion picture. Remember that low budget Matt Salinger movie?

Well it seems that finally some of the concept art Marvel Studios is using to develop the uniform has been leaked. Check out Aintitcool.com for a look at all FOUR images. I have to say I approve. They look close to a combination of the designs Bryan Hitch did for 'The Ultimates' and 'Captain America Reborn'. They look realistic and purposeful and close to something that might be from WWII. And folks need to remember we will probably get another uniform for the Avengers movie too and that might be a little closer to his classic look.


costume design from the Captain America movie

Venger nomination for 2010 Eagle Awards!!

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Spatola) — Wed, 26 May 2010 19:10:00 +0000

I'm so excited and honored to post that The Venger: Dead Man Rising has been nominated for the 2010 Eagle Award in the category of Favorite American Black and White Comic Book. This really is awesome news that an independent book like mine is being paired up with so many great creators and titles. I truly appreciate all the support the book has received from friends and readers that placed it in the nomination process and in contention for the award.

Please go visit the Eagle Awards website and place your vote for The Venger: Dead Man Rising. Every vote counts and with such great competition could help. Thanks everyone for your support.

The Venger vs the Wolfman UPDATE

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Spatola) — Tue, 18 May 2010 15:22:00 +0000

I haven't updated progress on this story in a while so I'll try to catch up. This is an 'illustrated prose' story that will be appearing in the Venger Special along with the Black Mercy and Deadly Beginning stories. I had posted a teaser for the story, which is written by my friend Barri Lang and myself. The story is modeled after the old pulp novels of the past and features the original Venger. The illustrations that will be placed throughout the story are being penciled and inked by Eleonora Kortsarz who is doing some beautiful work on them. Here are some of her original unfinished sketches for the project.

Super 8 movie trailer

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Spatola) — Sat, 08 May 2010 16:44:00 +0000

The preview trailer for J.J. Abrams' latest top secret movie project is running before Iron Man 2. This time Abrams is working with Steven Speilberg on the film, slated for a summer 2011 release. Much like with Cloverfield no details are known on it- no cast has even been announced yet. The latest rumor has that actually filming of the movie is to begin shortly. I love Abrams' work and the way he can drive hype for his movies. I'm really looking forward to this.