Jim Rugg

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THE SHAMAN IS HERE

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SUPERNATURAL GRAPHIC NOVEL SHAMAN SUMMONS COMEDY FROM BEYOND THE GRAVE

In what editor Andrew Carl calls, “perhaps the greatest comic ever about a single father necromancer,” New York writer Ben Kahn and Barcelona artist Bruno Hidalgo have teamed up to bring their debut creator-owned graphic novel to stores.

In a universe populated by superheroes and megalomaniacal villains, death is nothing more than a temporary nuisance. A hero makes a noble sacrifice only to come back seven months later thanks to an implausible story contrivance. But what if resurrection was the domain of one, unpredictable man? That is the question Shaman seeks to answer.

Shaman collects five chapters of witty and wild adventures in an urban-fantasy setting. Comicosity writes, “Shaman will stretch the limits of your imagination and provide a poignantly sharp and thoughtful presentation on superhero absurdity that fans of Constantine and The Venture Brothers will be easily drawn to.” Ben and Bruno set the Shaman and his adoptive family against an imaginative array of villains, from skeletons and space heroes, to zombies and baseball monsters. Shaman is a gleeful dismemberment of superhero tropes that follows the one man in control of superhero comics’ infamous revolving door of death.

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Now, Locust Moon Press is ready to unleash this creation upon the world. Shaman is available in stores everywhere. The 132-page graphic novel features art by Farel Dalrymple, Alice Meichi Li, Rob Woods, JG Jones, James Comey, and Jim Rugg.

Kahn imbues Shaman with energy and wit. He crafts tales of imaginative characters on mind-bending adventures. And it is in Hidalgo’s deft hands that the book comes alive. Thanks to Hidalgo’s unique style, Shaman bursts at the seams with charm and character.

Shaman is available now in stores (DIAMOND CODE JUL151468), through www.locustmoon.com, and via the spirit realm.

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Bruno Hidalgo is a Spanish illustrator and cartoonist. He’s the co-creator of Shaman and has had his work featured in Dark Horse’s Once Upon A Time Machine.

Ben Kahn is a New York based writer. He is the co-creator of Shaman and a writer on several mobile adventure games. The graphic novel represents Ben’s comic-making debut.

Ben Kahn is available for interviews and press appearances. Contact him at kahanartist@gmail.com or 203.644.2522.

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Trade cover by Farel Dalrymple

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Issue 1 cover by Bruno Hidalgo

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Issue 3 cover by JG Jones

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Issue 5 cover by Jim Rugg

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Mice ‘n’ Ape

This weekend, October 4th & 5th, Locust Moon is pulling off our first dual coast expostravaganza.

Josh hits Cambridge, MA for MICE (the Massachusetts Independent Comics Expo), while Andrew brings the party to San Francisco, CA for APE (the Alternative Press Expo).

All the while, of course, Chris will be stationed at Locust Moon HQ back in Philadelphia, PA.

Each of us on the road will have a small stack (small in number — huge in size) of Little Nemo: Dream Another Dream advance copies, so find us quickly if you can’t wait till the full release later this year.

Here’s where you can find us, and all our partners in slumber, on our expocades:

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At MICE you’ll also find Nemo contributors Maria & Peter Hoey, Box Brown, Mark Mariano, Maris Wicks, and Jerel Dye.

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And at APE you’ll find Nemo artists Jim Rugg, Paul Pope (Sunday only), Tom Scioli, Jen Tong, Grim Wilkins, Jenna Trost, and Mike Lee. Also look for Sunday Press, who produce the definitive, full-sized Nemo reprints we love so much.

Locust Moon Press (Josh O’Neill) at MICE: Table A22

Saturday, October 4: 10am – 6pm
Sunday, October 5: 11am – 4pm

University Hall at Lesley University
1815 Massachusetts Ave (Porter Square)
Cambridge, MA 02239

www.micexpo.org

Locust Moon Press (Andrew Carl) at APE: Table 403B

Saturday, October 4: 11am – 7pm
Sunday, October 5: 11am – 6pm

Fort Mason Center
Festival Pavilion
2 Marina Blvd.
San Francisco, CA 94123

www.comic-con.org/ape

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The Locust Moon Top 40: July 2014

40. THE WICKED + THE DIVINE

The new Image series from McKelvie & Gillen, a sort of bottomless bonus track to their dark-magic rock opera PHONOGRAM, is one of the most promising series to debut in 2014.

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39. This NSFW Spider-Man Statue

This baffling statue, atop a South Korean shopping mall, gives new meaning to the phrase “web fluid.”

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38. CHARLES SCHULZ’S PEANUTS: ARTIST’S EDITION

This beautifully designed collection of unaltered original Peanuts artwork brings us Charles Schulz’s earliest strips just as he made them — raw, unfiltered, and a little bit mean.

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37. OUTCAST

The world-weary horror of Robert Kirkman’s story is brought to life by the atmospheric, choking tension of Paul Azaceta’s moody, worrisome artwork. A promising debut for what looks to be a truly frightening series.

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36. This Animated Lobster Sculpture

Very lifelike. Keep it far away from butter sauce.

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35. THE LEFTOVERS

This off-beat, darkly funny, sprawlingly intimate HBO series, based on Tom Perotta’s novel of the same title, follows life in a small town in the years following the Rapture.

Continue reading →

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good this week

saga #21 : things are getting slipperier for the families on both sides here. on another note, i want FRIENDO.

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ragnarok #1 : YES. walt simonson back in the saddle, with john workman bringing the BRAKKATHOOMs.

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avengers 100th anniversary #1 : james stokoe. need i say more?

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transformers vs gi joe #1 : tom scioli pulls off a perfect evocation of all that made generations of kids spend countless hours on kitchen floors playing out action figure battles & plots.

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batman ’66 #13 : the most enjoyable bat book of its day sees dean haspiel ride in and deliver pitch perfect storytelling chops and just the right amount of wink-wink this book thrives on.

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tuki: save the humans #1 : where jeff smith goes, we follow.

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mike mignola’s hellboy artist’s edition : seeing the master’s hand unadorned packs a punch.

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-chris stevens

Seconds : Bryan Lee O’Malley (with great help from Nathan Fairbairn) does it again with his new, beautiful, magical realist fable.

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Street Angel HC : AdHouse Books has brought Jim Rugg’s modern classic, bar-raising series back in perfect form. Street Angel changed the way I looked at comics 10 years ago, and this new, handsomely produced edition (which includes a few bits and pieces old fans might not have seen) is the one it’s always deserved. Everyone who missed it the first time around owes it to themselves to read it now.*

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-Andrew Carl

*Diamond didn’t actually ship us our order of Street Angel HCs this week, but we’ll be getting them in soon. Regardless, this roundup wouldn’t have been right without her.

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Little Nemo: Dream Another Dream KICKSTARTING NOW!

You may have heard us talk about this project before.

Now we’re finally ready to ask for your help in bringing this incredible book, this massive love letter to all that was, is, and can be great about comics, into this world.

The contents are done, we have a deal in place with the very printer who took care of Sunday Press’s totally perfect Little Nemo reprints, and now it’s all a question of funding. For a 144-page, 16″ x 21″ hardcover, the cost of printing is nothing to sneeze at.

Please, take a look at what we’ve managed (somehow!) to assemble together here — the sheer volume of modern masters, all working at a size and level of love they rarely if ever get a chance to even approach — and consider helping us any way you can. Even if you haven’t a single dime to spare towards ordering a book for yourself, there is so much that you can still do if you want to see this book become a real thing.

You can tweet. You can tumbl. You can reddit (we have no idea how to reddit!). You can pin and you can share and like. You can tell you friends, your local comic shop owners, and your eccentric neighbors. Grab the nearest soapbox and just get the word out there, everywhere. This is a chance to get the whole world talking about McCay and Little Nemo. Let’s all raise our voices together.

And let’s get started.

Jeremy Bastian
Roger Langridge
Peter & Maria Hoey
Peter Bagge
Toby Cypress
David Petersen

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helpusonkickstarter

kickstarter.com/projects/1576907254/little-nemo-dream-another-dream
facebook.com/locustmoon.comics
twitter.com/LocustMoon
locustmooncomics.tumblr.com
#littlenemo

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good this week

saga volume #3 : hearts rejoice as the next collection of this compulsively readable series is on the shelf.

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adventure time #26 : kicking off a 4-part arc drawn by the magnificent jim rugg.

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sex criminals #5 : as purvis mack says, ‘matt fraction is coming along.’

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prophet #43 : a jam issue packed with killer visuals.

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zero #6 : kicking off a new storyline for this engaging, smart spy story.

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noah : a good-looking hardcover based on the upcoming darren aronofsky movie. having niko henrichon on art was a smart call.

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daredevil #1 : whether this relaunch was unnecessary or not it’s just good to have mark waid and chris samnee back in action and taking the man without fear to the west coast.

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thor #20 : esad ribic is a fantastic modern day thor artist. any issue he draws is cause for celebration.

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the white suits #2 : toby cypress continues to wow the heck out us with the best art any crime book has had in a long time.

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nemo the roses of berlin : alan moore and kevin o’neill roll out the latest chapter of THE LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN.

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sovereign #1 : paul maybury’s art gives this debut fantasy series a gravity that a lot of these kinds of books lack. off to a good start!

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–chris stevens

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The Locust Moon Top 40: August 2013

40.  Simon Stålenhag’s Sci-fi Suburbia

A Sweden turned inside out by science, yet still recognizably, nostalgically human.
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39. MARK SHULTZ’S XENOZOIC TALES ARTIST’S EDITION

Dinosaurs, dino-sized. Thanks yet again, IDW.
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38. LEGO Delorean

Where we’re going, we don’t need roads! Because LEGO cars are not street legal.
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37. Patton Oswalt trolling Twitter

“Eat the poor, disabled and hopeless. It’s the only way we can insure our future.”
I think he’s really onto something.

36. THE ANIMAL MAN OMNIBUS

Grant Morrison’s mind-bending genre-smasher is finally as heavy as it ought to be.
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35. Real-life Patlabor

Because one real-life giant robot was not enough for Japan. Thank god.
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34. Suggestions for Street Harassment

Hey HollabackPHILLY, let’s get on this:

holla(and so on)

Continue reading →

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heroes con 2013

we were in north carolina last week for heroes con. the con has been running for over 30 years and has a reputation for being maybe the best east coast convention, with a family atmosphere and emphasis on comics and comic creators–none of the pop culture nonsense that so many other cons have made the focus of their shows. it’s fair to say we were looking forward to this one.

josh and i left early thursday morning, hopping on a train, where we met up with our roomie for the weekend, ulises farinas. ulises is a fantastic artist and an easy guy to spend 13 hours on a train with. here’s the cover to his book coming out in july…

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there’s not much to say about a 13 hour train ride. we traded comics biz stories (shame on some people out there, ha) and ate lousy train food and discussed the eternal subject, women. we got into charlotte around 9 pm and headed for the hotel. andrew had flown in earlier and scouted out the bbq options, which, by the time we unwound and ulises had donned his RATTICUS costume, were limited. who’s RATTICUS, you ask?

we wound up eating at QUEEN CITY Q, a middle of the road BBQ restaurant that had good ribs, terrible brisket, and weak drinks.

friday was set-up time, and we were in INDIE ISLAND, along with the pittsburgh boys (jim rugg, jasen lex, ed piskor, and tom scioli), chris pitzer of ADHOUSE BOOKS, rafer roberts, and some other folks i’m spacing on right now. we were tabled next to chad bowers, who was from the area and a real nice guy to be stuck next to for 3 days. chad did a bunch of ‘terrible sketches for $1’ over the course of the 3 days, and they were all worth a chuckle. the show got off to a slow start, sales-wise (more on that to come), so i decided to hit the floor, say hi to some folks, and try to get creators signed on to our LITTLE NEMO: DREAM ANOTHER DREAM project.

i saw neal adams with only 1 or 2 people around him and figured what the hell, i’d give it a shot. after listening to some hilarious off-color stories about roy thomas and stan lee from neal, i pitched him nemo. i was excited and a little abuzz when, without too much work, he said yes. this kicked off a pretty spectacular weekend of recruiting creators for the project. when i got back to the table to hear sales were slow but josh had talked to–and gotten a yes from–peter bagge, the tone and type of weekend it was going to be was set. before the end of the day, tom scioli, ed piskor, nick pitarra, shawn crystal, and ben marra had all joined in. we also got to meet drew moss, who illustrated one of the stories in ONCE UPON A TIME MACHINE and is doing stuff at IDW now. drew is a swell guy, great finally meeting in person. Continue reading →

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The Locust Moon Top 40: May 2013

40. Copra Compendium
It’s finally here, courtesy of Bergen St. Comics. With a voice all his own Fiffe swipes liberally from Miller & Kirby, then high-tails it for the border.copra

39. Electric Light Orchestra
If there’s a better album to make comics to than ELO’s NEW WORLD RECORD, please tell me about it.



38. This Commencement Speech by Joss Whedon
Because YOU HAVE ALREADY BEGUN TO DIE.



37. Poutine
When this stuff finally breaks in the states, dozens of organic locally-sourced poutineries will start popping up all over Williamsburg & Silverlake.

36. Inky
We got a new cat. He’s a little monster, but also a kitten so we are legally and morally obligated to love him.

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Continue reading →

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The Locust Moon Top 40

40. Unwritten vol. 7

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Just when you expect Gross & Carey’s literary-metaphysical magnum opus to start buckling down and wrapping up, it gets headier and wilder.

39. Waking Sleeping Beauty

An absolute love song to the guys who resurrected Disney’s majesty after a muddled, disappointing ’80s. The Howard Ashman stuff is inspiring and tragic.

38. Foxing Quarterly

Art directed by Jim Rugg, this might be the best-looking zine we have ever seen.

37. James Ensor

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The powerful works of this turn-of-the-century Belgian expressionist can be seen at the MoMA. The combination of tiny, obsessive detail with big, broad gestures reminded us of our own David Proch.

36. TCAF

We’re headed north again as the Time Machine travels across the border. Now if we could just find our passports…

35. Print Show

Instead of featuring one particular artist, in May we’re filling the gallery with beautiful low-priced prints from our books and our friends. Our buddies sure do make some pretty pictures here…

34. IDW’s Spirit Artist’s Edition

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Now that’s the spirit! Continue reading →