Pittsburgh City Paper, Toonseum, Podcasts...

PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER
Afrodisiac graces the cover of our local alt newspaper this week! If you're from Pittsburgh, keep your eyes peeled for a copy. If you aren't local, shame on you, er...I mean, here's a link to the article.

TOONSEUM
Pepsi is funding "Good Ideas" and the Toonseum wants to create a superhero day in Pittsburgh. Go here, learn more about it, and help make it happen! 

The Toonseum is also hosting a new exhibit, Cartoons Covered: The Art of the Pittsburgh City Paper, beginning Friday (March 19th).

PODCASTS
I listen to a lot of podcasts these days while I work. Lately a few have shone their spotlights on Afrodisiac. At Emerald City, I realized just how influential this burgeoning new media is as a large number of readers informed me that various podcasts are how they learned about the book. With that in mind, here are links to a few of the podcasts that have taken time to cover Afrodisiac. If you like comics and like listening to people discuss them, check out some of these shows:
11 O'clock Comics
iFanboy
the Pull List
Comic Book Pitt
Inkstuds
Comic Geek Speak

PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Afrodisiac pops up a couple of times in this article about the state of comics retailing. We did a signing in February at Neal's store, Chapel Hill Comics.

OBJET D'AFRO
Finally, Objet d'Afro, the Afrodisiac art contest champions onward! There's still time to get an entry into this contest. So get movin', people, before it's too late! Or just click over to the gallery and enjoy the scenery. Here's a cool pinup by Pete Toms. Enjoy!

Emerald City Con

Just a reminder that I'll be at Emerald City Con this weekend. First convention with the Afrodisiac books and first visit to Seattle! I look forward to both. If you go to the show, please look me up, and say hello. I'll have books, artwork, prints, t-shirts, stickers, and iron-ons!

Dan Nadel (Picturebox publisher and comics historian) weighs in with some thoughts about Afrodisiac at the awesome Comics Comics.

Comic Book Pitt #44 features some discussion about Afrodisiac!

Over at Comixology, Tucker Stone considers the format of Afrodisiac.

Thought this might interest some Afrodisiac fans. It's a Lucius Hammer post about some of the resurgent blaxploitation trends in pop culture. What I found interesting was the diversity of the creators referenced - Afrodisiac (white), Black Dynamite (African American), Afro Samurai (Japanese).

Objet d'Afro continues. Here's an entry from the talented Ed Piskor. There's still plenty of time to draw your own version of the main man, so get those crayons moving!

Phantom of the Attic in Oakland SATURDAY + Reviews

PHANTOM OF THE ATTIC IN OAKLAND
Brian Maruca and I will be signing books and giving away stuff at Phantom of the Attic in Oakland this Saturday from 12 - 3. The top giveaway is a one-of-a-kind, 2 foot x 3 foot (yeah, huge, what else would you expect) Afrodisiac blacklight poster. There can be nothing cooler in your dorm room than this badboy. Come out and I'll scribble something in your copy of Afrodisiac.

JAMES STURM
James, founder of the Center for Cartoon Studies, what do you make of this Afrodisiac book? "I marveled at every panel: clever writer, amazing art and a thrilling attention to detail."

COPACETIC COMICS
Bill Boichel, the owner of another awesome Pittsburgh comic book store, Copacetic Comics, weighs in with his review of Afrodisiac. Be sure to browse around his store online, he carries a lot of great stuff (not just comics) and he often offers this stuff at discount prices. And unlike Amazon, Bill has Afrodisiac's in stock and ready to send to your needy, little hands. "Yet, all is rendered with a clear sense of humor, and where level, intellectually engaged heads prevail, there are sure to be some interesting and potentially valuable correlations made (cultural anthropologists, please take note). In other words, Afrodisiac is one of the densest texts one is likely to come across; and while many will doubtless find it a source of uncritical enjoyment, those who do so will be doing themselves a disservice and missing the work's essential character."

BEGUILING
Hey, Canadian super-comic-book retailer -- Thank you! You're too kind.

AMBER THE STYLIST

THE ONION
B-. "Like Street Angel, Afrodisiac is a straight-faced joke: Each issue starts with a blurb explaining the hep hero’s origin story, though it’s a different broadly iconic origin every time, and each takes on a different look and style, from manga to ’80s cartoon to Archie Comics to romance comics to noir."

OBJET D'AFRO

Adhouse tour report and an Afroreview

Adhouse head honcho, Chris Pitzer, gives a bit of a tour recap on the House of Ad blog.

Over at Popshifter, Danny R. Phillips offers everyone a little advice: "put all the stupid ass PC crap aside, and read Afrodisiac. It is well written, expertly drawn, and fun as hell. And let’s be honest, everybody could use a laugh right now."

Afrodisiac reviews + southern tour reminder

First, a reminder for readers in Richmond, Chapel Hill, and Charlotte - come out and see us this weekend! I'm super excited to visit Velocity Comics (Friday evening 6 - ?), Chapel Hill Comics (Saturday evening 6 - 9), and Heroes Aren't Hard to Find (Sunday 2 - 5), and I hope you can make it to one of these stores. We had a small book release party this past weekend at Pittsburgh's Toonseum, and I think everyone there enjoyed themselves. Here's a report from that event. Early weather reports are...interesting. So keep your eyes peeled as we may move the events up a bit Friday and/or Saturday to try to accommodate a raging Mother Nature.

Enough of that. Onto some more Afrodisiac reviews!!!

Chris Sims from Chris's Invincible Super-Blog gives us a nice review. You'll have to scroll down the page past Batman and Robin, Captain America, and the Punisher to get to this tidbit: "If you’ve read Jim Rugg mand Brian Maruca’s Street Angel, then you’re already at least a little familiar with Afrodisiac, and you probably understand why this is so awesome. With Afrodisiac, Rugg and Maruca are doing a tribute to Blaxploitation movies (and their accompanying Bronze Age comics) that takes the offbeat formula of Street Angel and does it a hundred times more over the top. And it is beautiful." From reading the comments section, it seems like Chris tends to review a lot of Marvel and DC fare. I love a lot of different kinds of comics, so I like the idea of a Marvel or DC fan checking out our book!

Speaking of which, skip over to The Manga Curmudgeon to see how we stack up with reviewers who tend to focus their attention on manga! "Rugg and Maruca are smart enough to keep their creation in sketch contents, assembling an amusing “best of” volume of adventures that satirize both blaxploitation and, to a lesser extent, the ups and downs of a super-hero franchise."

Veteran online comics reviewer, Johnny Bacardi, weighs in at Confessions of a Comics Shop Junkie No. 2 (we're right below the Blackest Night: Starman #81 review): "...well, it’s not exactly a homage, or a tribute, or even a satire of 1970’s vintage Blaxploitation movies and comics…it kinda defies categorization, actually. And if this semi-surreal account of a smooth-lovin’, jive-talkin’, smackdown-bringin bad mother shut-your-mouth who faces weird menaces and always comes out on top (and is absolutely irresistible to the foxy mamas, too) comes across as a blend of Shaft, Superfly, Luke Cage, Herbie Popnecker, and the Flaming Carrot, well, let’s just say that there’s very little that’s new under the sun and enjoy this..."

Matt Seneca offers up one of the most in-depth reviews of our work that I've ever read on his blog, Death to the Universe (scroll past the Batman and Robin review to get to Afrodisiac). "Afrodisiac, too, is a comic about comics, striving not to create a self-contained little world for the reader to be sucked into, but rather to send you scrambling for your Master Of Kung-Fu back issues. This book's aim is to take all the little bits that were cool, sexy, weird about the Bronze Age's exploitation-style comics, and make a comic that contains nothing but them -- a comic where the main character and plotline is that very weirdness. A celebration. It's a raging success."

33 and some other junk

My eight year old niece frequently draws me pictures. Sometimes they feature my cats, occasionally they feature chickens (which I now claim are Afroduck), and lately they've been about dinosaurs. I like how she signed this one in a word balloon. I also like that she draws the dinosaurs in profile and includes a volcano/mountain in the background. It's exactly the sort of thing I used to do!

Couple of links:

I participated in Comic Book Resources latest What Are You Reading column? A bit long-winded on my part, but I didn't have time to edit it as thoroughly as I should have. If you're curious what I've been reading lately, this will give you some insight.

Elsewhere on Comic Book Resources, Brian Cronin reviews Afrodisiac, "Rugg and Maruca do a marvelous job of coming up with interesting stories set in each different time period, which is especially noteworthy considering the fact that "a superhero pimp" does not necessarily adapt itself well to all genres."

Afrodisiac updates

I've gotten a few reports of Afrodisiac selling out at stores across the country!

Meltdown Comics
Heroes Aren't Hard to Find (apparently some heroes are)
Alternate Reality Comics who give the book a nice review including this tidbit about his ordering process: "The reason I ordered so conservatively on Afrodisiac was because I initially thought that this would just be a one note graphic novel (and it kind of is, but Jim Rugg plays this one note really well) and I didn't think its audience needed to have this in the hardcover format this book is in. Well color me dumb, because Afrodisiac fires on all cylinders, is in full color, and has great production values throughout so the $14.95 price for this hardcover is a great deal and I don't think people will flinch at the price when they flip through this book."

Fear not, true believers, your store can re-order copies through Diamond and have them for you in a week or two. So if you haven't gotten your copy yet, tell your local comic book guy.

To everyone who has picked up the book so far, thank you!

Afrodisiac in Stores TOMORROW (and a couple of reviews)

Afrodisiac hits stores tomorrow! If you check it out, let me know what you think of it!

In the meanwhile, here are a couple of new reviews of One Model Nation and Afrodisiac.

Sean T. Collins eloquently describes One Model Nation as "...a weird, weird beast."

And David Howlett gives Afrodisiac some love at Living Between Wednesdays. "Thankfully, cartoonist Jim Rugg and co-writer Brian Maruca have decided to embrace the tropes of the genre in their new AdHouse Books graphic novel Afrodisiac, and the result is a delicious throwback with a striking visual style and plenty of laughs."

All Too Flat Reviews Afrodisiac

"It could have simply coasted on the asskicking concept of a superhero pimp called the Afrodisiac, but every choice Rugg, Maruca, and Pitzer make here makes it harder to put your finger on what's going on."
- Sean T. Collins

Newsarama Reviews the Afrodisiac

"Blaxploitation parody may be Afrodisiac’s context, but each story—hell, each page—is a game of constant recontextualization, with Afrodisiac loving, living and fighting his way through most of comic book history."
- J. Caleb Mozzocco, Newsarama.com

DELUXE LIMITED EDITION AFRODISIAC DUST JACKET

This is the artwork for the Afrodisiac dust jacket that Adhouse Books is selling as part of their Afrodisiac Limited Edition. It also comes with a signed and numbered print that you can see in the previous post!

REVIEW
Over at the Comics Waiting Room, Marc Mason gives the Afrodisiac and fellow Adhousemate, Josh Cotter's Driven by Lemons, a look: "It’s a rare, but lovely feeling to have a book in front of you that you’re expecting great things from and not only have it live up to the anticipatory feelings you had, but actually surpass them. AFRODISIAC is one of those books."

REVIEWS + LIMITED EDITION PRINT

Finished the Afrodisiac print that will be part of the Afrodisiac Deluxe Limited Edition from Adhouse Books (I think Adhouse refers to it as "Afrodisiac Limited Edition", but come on...it's Afrodisiac, doesn't "Deluxe" seem appropriate?). Now I am working on the dust jacket that is part of that edition.

David Brothers of 4thletter! wrote a thorough and highly complimentary Afrodisiac review: "It’s kind of a love letter to blaxploitation, but filtered through the style, feel, and design of ’70s Marvel comics. It’s also really, really good. If it had come out in 2009, Parker: The Hunter, Asterios Polyp, and Pluto would’ve suddenly been part of a Top 4, instead of a Top 3."

Afrodisiac also appears in the January edition of Maxim (is it me, or is Michelle Rodriguez eyeball f***ing Mack Midnight in this spread?):

Brian Cronin reviews Street Angel as part of CBR's Year of Cool Comics: "It is a great series."

Here are a few One Model Nation reviews:

"The art by Rugg and colorist, Jon Fell, is spot-on given the story arc: severe paneling and juxtapositions of bright color with monotones."
- Jason Rosas, buzzfocus.com

"At $18, One Model Nation is a good ol’ fashioned pseudo-biographical rock and roll yarn—no facts necessary."
- Jack Winn, Racket Magazine

"Jim Rugg’s illustrations are edgy, not at all like many of the Superman or Batman (or even Watchman or The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen) comics I’ve read. This is a sparser picture with less color, preferring black and white with lots of muddy reds. The dialogue is equally sparse, letting the mood of the illustrations carry the work. It is very effective."
- Janie Franz

"Dandy Warhols frontman Courtney Taylor joins the very small group of musicians who have created their own comics—and the even smaller group who have managed to produce rather good ones."
- J. Caleb Mozzocco, Las Vegas Weekly

As always, if you're a book or comics reviewer and you'd like a review copy, please email me.

ONE MODEL NATION and AFRODISIAC LOVE

ONEMODELNATION-1970S ADVERT

onemodelnation | MySpace Music Videos

"Dandy Warhols frontman Courtney Taylor joins the very small group of musicians who have created their own comics—and the even smaller group who have managed to produce rather good ones."
- Las Vegas Weekly

"Afrodisiac just gets badder and badder with each adventure! He not only defies gods, but the Devil and God himself…and wins."
- Jay Potts, World of Hurt

AFRODISIAC REVIEW

Chad Derdowski, from mania.com, gives the Afrodisiac an A+ in a very kind review:

"It is childhood recreated, with adult sensibilities...It also reminds me of reading old comic books after dropping acid and spending the evening listening to a bunch of Curtis Mayfield and Parliament albums."
- Chad Derdowski, mania.com

As always, if you're interested in reviewing the Afrodisiac, drop me a line, and we'll hook you up with a copy! Or if you've reviewed Afrodisiac, send me a link and I'll post it here (even if it's not as complimentary as Chad's review).

AFRODISIAC REVIEWS + STUMPTOWN TRADE REVIEW QUESTIONS

First up, I'm going to be interviewed on the Stumptown Trade Review podcast this weekend. They are looking for questions for me. If there's something you've always wanted to ask me, this could be your big chance!  

Now onto some very kind Afrodisiac reviews:

"...thoroughly entertaining and utterly nutso..."

- Publishers Weekly

"...highly recommended..."

- Brightest Young Things

"Jim Rugg and Brian Maruca have captured the true essence of what was going down in the streets of Black America during the 1970’s."

- Museum of Uncut Funk