Good news Monsterplex wins Zuda's February contest

This has been a pretty rough month overall. We've been dealing with some medical issues with my 1 yr old son, which are nerve wracking to say the least, so it was nice to have a nice surprise as we prepare to move into March.

It was a long month with us sitting in second place for the better part of the competition. The day before the competition's end we shot into second. Myself along with, Brock (writer, also of SuperFogeys fame) and David Schlotterback (artist) were already preparing back up plans in case we didn't make it. Low and behold we won!

Thanks for everyone who came out and supported us, we couldn't have done it without all your help. Now I have to sit down and figure out how the hell I'm going to color the next 52 pages with everything else going on, hehe. It's a welcome problem.

New Year New Posts

Hopefully we can get back to some regular blogging this year.

Th3rd World Studios launches dark fantasy series The Stuff of Legend on Free Comic Book Day

Th3rd World Studios' (www.th3rdworld.com) new fantasy series, following the adventures of a band of loyal toys on a mission to save their owner from the clutches of The Boogeyman, is available April 29, 2009 through Diamond Comics Distributors. The first volume of the series will be released bi-monthly with the first issue hitting stands in July. The series has already received high praise from some of the industry's top veterans.

Brian K. Vaughan (Y: The Last Man, Lost) calls The Stuff of Legend, "�some of the loveliest artwork I've seen in a comic book in a long, long time, and a darkly beautiful story to boot."

Frank Quitely (All Star Superman, We3) described the series as, "...a real page-turner. Economical, effective story-telling, with both story and art complimenting each other perfectly, and hinting at something darker. Very involving."

Joe Kelly (Amazing Spider-Man, Deadpool) declares, "I came for the preview, but stayed for the war. "The Stuff of Legend" caught me immediately and much to my surprise utterly refused to let go. The art is fantastic (I'd say "luxurious" if it wouldn't sound too haughty!) and what looks at first blush to be a simple story quickly reveals itself to be layered, emotional, and complex. The characters are painted with austere but revealing strokes, saying more in a few panels than most writers do in an entire issue. By the end of this preview, I didn't just want to get the next issue, I needed to get it, because I found myself concerned about what might happen to them next."

The Story was created and penned by Mike Raicht (Army of Darkness) and Brian Smith, with pencils by newcomer Charles Paul Wilson III. Set during the height of World War II in 1944, The Stuff of Legend follows a group of toys on a grand and sometimes frightening adventure into a realm called The Dark to save their master from every child's worst nightmare -- The Boogeyman.

"I think when people see Charles' art on this book they will be absolutely blown away", said publisher Michael DeVito. "Raicht and Smitty have done something just as special with this script, taking familiar story elements and making them their own. This story crosses all age barriers. There is something here for everyone, whether you are 13 or 40. "

To celebrate the announcement Th3rd World Studios creators will be signing at various locations across the US where FREE preview copies of the first 20+ pages of the book will be available. The creative team of Stuff of Legend as well as other creators will be signing at these locations:

Mike Raicht (The Stuff of Legend writer)
Play the Game Read the Story: Syracuse, NY
(http://ping.fm/BzKly)

Scott Closter (Space Doubles creator)
Comic Encounters: BC, Canada
(http://ping.fm/MccFv)

Charles Paul Wilson III (The Stuff of Legend artist)
Michael DeVito (Th3rd World Studios publisher)
Scott King (DAD! A Documentary Graphic Novel)
Captain Blue Hen: Newark, DE
(http://ping.fm/3WnQR)

Brock Heasley (SuperFogeys creator)
Heroes: Fresno, CA
(http://ping.fm/RRqY2)

Dwight L. MacPherson (Interagents writer)
Mountain Empire Comics: Johnson City, TN
(http://ping.fm/oi0Hr)

Keith Dallas (Omega Chase writer, The Flash Companion writer)
Fourth World Comics: Smithtown, NY

The Stuff of Legend is a 2 issue series (52 pages per issue, no ads, square bound, $4.99) with the first issue hitting shelves in July. (Diamond Order # MAY091019).

Why WWII for The Stuff of Legend

Mike Raicht dishes on why the series takes place during WWII.

"One of the most important elements of Stuff of Legend is it's place in history. Set during World War II, we are really looking at how a boy would respond to a war being fought on the other side of the world by his father. How he would imagine that place and how that same emotion and feeling would permeate into his most precious toys. If, as we are kind of believing in this tale, that the boy creates the life and personalities for these toys, how would this change their lives as well as his as he tries to come to grip with what is happening, his new role as "man of the house" and the fear that his father may not come home.

Not only is that reflected in the toys themselves, which are more classic in nature, but also in the themes and setting throughout our band's adventure as they attempt to save the boy. Or at least we hope it is.

Originally, we had pictured this as a more modern fairy tale. More modern toys doing battle with other modern toys. But during our initial pitch (which was to an editor nice enough to take a look at our proposal named Brandon Montclaire) we were given a note to try to make the toys more classic in nature while also making it reasonable a boy would actually be playing with toys. Now, while I do believe kids do still play with toys, I understood his point. So we wracked our brains. Brian and I had already spoken about having the book take on an epic feel when in The Dark. We had every intention of building a story structure that gave battles names and dates to make them feel more important. And we realized a lot of the things we were doing were paralleling moments in World War II. So we came back with the idea that this would be a boy with a father away during World War II. While the things wouldn't completely parallel real life it could definitely be a skewed reflection of it.
So, while the book didn't end up at that publisher, it definitely gave us a push in the right direction for where we ended up with our tale.

How "The Stuff of Legend" came to be

Creator Mike Raicht explains The Stuff of Legend's beginnings.

"Where do your ideas come from? This is a question people seem to want to know a lot. I really don't know. If I did I'd have a lot more good ideas.

This particular idea began around the time my son, Austin was born. Becoming a bit of a sap following his birth I really wanted to create something for him. So I created a teddy bear who I ever so imaginatively named Ted. This was going to be an adventure book about a little boy and his teddy bear protector from the dark parts of the world. And honestly Stuff of Legend is really at its heart still about that. Of course, because I'm a bit sick and twisted this tale got a bit too dark for really young kids to hear. But as I kept thinking on it I began to see a world where the Teddy Bear becomes a rampaging Grizzly fighting other now real toys in a war to save his best friend.

From there I came up with the idea of The Dark, a nasty place ruled by the Boogeyman. Not really reinventing the wheel but it gave my hero, Ted, a villain. As I usually do I began to talk the story out with my frequent writing/artist collaborator Brian Smith. He, like he usually does, saved me from the unfortunate name of Ted for my main character and came up with the title of the book itself. And since he is a master of creating cool concepts and characters he started to create a group around our teddy bear, now named Max, who would accompany him into The Dark in their effort to save the Boogeyman. And from there were off, building whole scenarios and worlds for our band of heroes to overcome in their effort to save their one true friend, the boy.

So now, Brian and I were partners in crime on this one. And we started to build a mythology around our bear. But at this point it was still set in modern times when we took our first pass at pitching it... that would change following our first attempt at pitching Stuff to a publisher."

The Stuff of Legend Blogging Begins

For those of your note familiar we have been working on a new book called "The Stuff of Legend" for the better part of 8 months. Our plan is to start using this blog to record our production on what exactly goes into the creative decisions and day to day stuff for an independent book. Feel free to ask any questions you have. We will be as transparent about everything as humanly possible.

2009 also marks our first inclusion into Free Comic Book Day. We will be offering the first 20+ page of "The Stuff of Legend" for retailer and fans to check out. We're going to need all the help we can get so please be sure to let your local retailers to know about this book, or if you're a retailer please ORDER THIS BOOK.

We will be trying a number of different strategies to get the word out. We will be offering not only a weekly blog, but bi-weekly art updates, sketches, forum posts, online web comic formatted reading, and hopefully conducting interviews with various news organizations. In the past advertising and marketing for our books has been a mixed bag. We have tried many different strategies and on the whole we have been only what I would classify as mildly successful in converting those numbers. We are hoping or a strong entry for "The Stuff of Legend" (which I will often time refer to as SoL, yes I'm aware of the connotation)

Below I have listed the solicit for the free comic book day entry, let the blogging BEGIN!

SOLICIT:
"The year is 1944. An allied force advances along a war-torn beach in a strange land, outnumbered and far from home. Together, they fight the greatest evil they have ever known. Never ending waves of exotic enemies come crashing down on them, but they will not rest. Thousands of miles away, the world is on the brink of destruction. But here in a child's bedroom in Brooklyn, our heroes, a small group of toys loyal to their human master, fight an unseen war to save him from every child's worst nightmare.

Led by the toy soldier known as the Colonel and the boy's faithful teddy-bear named Max, the toys enter the realm known as The Dark. There they will face off against the Boogeyman and his army-- a legion of the boy's forgotten, bitter toys. Fighting to survive insurmountable odds, the toys will discover this is a battle not only for the soul of a child, but for their own as well..."

Th3rd World at Baltimore Comicon this weekend

It's that time of the year again and we will be making the annual trek up to Baltimore for the comic con. This yea we will be graduating up from our artist alley table to a full sized 10x10 booth.

We have a lot of great stuff this weekend including an exclusive print for a new series in production called "The Stuff of Legend." Be the first to get copies of "Creature Feature" issue 1 as well as Th3rd World's first trade paperback "Space Doubles."

On hand with us doing signing and sketches will be writers:

CB Cebulski
Mike Raicht
Brian Smith

As well as artists and creators on some of Th3rd World's comics and web comics:

Mike Witmer (Pinkerton)
Tony DeVito (Eskimo Dave)
Tim Collins (Creature Feature)

It should be a great time, so please come out and see us this Saturday and Sunday.