Bongo Blog

Free Comic Book Day 2012

On Saturday, May 5th, comic stores will offer free comics to every man, woman, and child who couldn’t get tickets to a Saturday matinee of The Avengers and decided to go to a comic book store instead.

 

All kidding aside, Free Comic Book Day, now in its eleventh year, is a day dedicated to celebrating the joy of reading comics. Retailers, publishers, artists, and writers join together to introduce new readers to comics, to bring back former readers, and to show current readers their continued support by offering dozens of comics for FREE!

 

This year, Bongo Comics and United Plankton Pictures have teamed up to bring you a double-dipped flipbook of four-color comic free-ness with the 2012 Bongo Comics Free-For-All!/SpongeBob Comics Freestyle Funnies. This year’s issue starts off with a proud tale from the boasting barflies of Moe’s Tavern, as they recount their close encounter with marauding beasts as members of the Springfield Bear Patrol. Sergio Aragonés joins the fun with a story from his past of how he made his first peso as an underground and underage artist. Then, flip the book over for two of the swimmingest SpongeBob sagas from the series' hard-to-find earliest issues. In "Squidward and the Golden Clarinet," SpongeBob reads an issue of Mermaid Man to a less-than-welcoming Squidward. But this story has a musical hook even Squidward can’t resist. Plus: a page of gags that goes off the deep end by indie artiste James Kochalka.

 

Several of Bongo’s artists and writers will be appearing around the continent on Saturday, including:

 

Evan Dorkin and Sarah Dyer (Comic Book Jones in Staten Island, NY)

Nina Matsumoto (Metropolis Comics and Toys, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada)

Andrew Pepoy (Third Coast Comics in Chicago, IL from 12-3 PM)

Scott Shaw! (Golden Apple Comics in Hollywood, CA starting at 10 AM)

Ty Templeton (The Comic Book Lounge in Toronto, Ontario, Canada from Noon- 7 PM; Ty will also host a live talk show “On the Couch” that evening at the same location from 7:30-11 PM ) Chris Yambar (Chautauqua Comics in Jamestown, NY)

 

To find a comic retailer near you that is participating in this year’s event, click here to check out the Free Comic Book Day locator site.

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In Stores 4/11/12

By Graham Annable, Hilary Barta, Vince DePorter, James Kochalka, and various

 

Patrick and SpongeBob's kelp karpet sleds go REALLY fast--and in SLIP-SLEDDING AWAY, SpongeBob finds a way to make them go even faster! Soon the friends find themselves sledding to a mysterious, faraway retirement community. In FORMULA FOR SUCCESS, Plankton finally puts his genius to work and creates a delicious secret formula of his own. Is this the end of Krusty Krab? All this plus a cover pin-up; and more!

 

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Jim Woodring Earns Eisner Nominations

 

Bongo Comics is pleased and honored to announce that guest artist Jim Woodring (Frank comics, The Book of Jim, Seeing Things, and Weathercraft) has received an Eisner nomination (Best Short Story) for his contribution to our Simpsons Treehouse of Horror #17 this past year. Jim has also been nominated for an Eisner as Best Writer/Artist for both his Treehouse of Horror story, “Harvest of Fear,” and his book Congress of the Animals from Fantagraphics Books.

 

“Harvest of Fear” is a tour de force tribute to EC horror comics and its many imitators. In the story, Bart is introduced to the world of horror comics, and before long he finds himself caught in the middle of one.

 

Of his Simpsons experience, Jim Woodring had this to say: “Well, I can tell you that like almost every other sentient being in America I have gotten to know the world of The Simpsons so well that working on the Treehouse of Horror story was just like writing about friends and family. I'd been wanting to pay homage to those horrid old second-string horror comics from the fifties and this was the perfect opportunity; it was fun to torture Bart in the same way those old comics tortured me. So many things I like came together in that story that working on it was like a good dream. One thing I learned is how deceptively perfect those character designs are, how hard it is to get accurate portraits of them. All in all it was a great experience and a real honor to play a part, even such a tiny and corrupt one, in the great sprawling Simpsons saga.” 

 

The Seattle-based Woodring had spent much of his time in the past couple years raising money to fund his own pet project: the creation of a 7-foot steel-tipped dip pen and pen holder, which he debuted in January of this year. To learn more about this project do a search for Nibbus Maximus.

 

We’re huge fans of his work and continue to be inspired by his genius.

 

Congrats, Jim!

 

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We Have a Winner!

 

The time has come to announce the winner of our Ralph Wiggum #1 contest. After scrutinizing all the entries in a double-blind test to ensure their authenticity, we can finally announce our winner...

 

Congratulations, Sam Young!

 

Sam was the first to send in a picture of himself holding all 5 Ralph variant covers, so he'll soon be immortalized in the upcoming pages of a Simpsons comic! We hope he enjoys his metaphysical journey to Springfield and we can only guess at the accolades and fame he will receive as a result. Be careful, Sam! You should probably invest now in some quality sunglasses and/or bodyguards.  

 

Thanks to everyone who participated. We applaud your efforts!

 

Keep checking out our blog and Facebook page for more upcoming contests and events.

 

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Sergio Aragones Update

 

Many fans have noticed that there hasn’t been a new issue of Sergio Aragonés Funnies in the last few months. Sorry to say, we’ve had to put the series on hold while Sergio recuperates from some recent back trouble. We love having Funnies in our stable of books and always look forward to Sergio’s trips into the office. We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again…Sergio is a national treasure! 

 

Bear with us while Sergio puts the finishing touches on Sergio Aragonés Funnies #8. We guarantee it’ll be well worth waiting for! We’ll post a new release date on the blog as soon as the issue is ready for soliciting. Meanwhile, feel free to go back and re-read Sergio Aragonés Funnies #s 1-7. And this time, solve all the puzzle pages without looking at any of the answers! 

 

That should keep you busy.

 

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Bongo Comics Facebook Page is GO!

For up-to-the-minute information of all things Bongo! Like us…if you dare!

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Who Shall Be Chosen?

For those of you following our Ralph Wiggum #1 contest, the final variant cover hits newsstands today! That's five out of five! 

 

A winner will soon arise…why not make it you? 

 

And for those of you not following the contest, why the heck not?

 

Grab this opportunity to be immortalized Simpsons-style in the pages of your favorite Bongo comic!

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Wonder Pros and Cons

As you may know, this past weekend Bongo was in attendance at WonderCon in (mostly) sunny Anaheim, California.

 

FRIDAY: The convention hit the ground running, with surprisingly full attendance. Thank goodness for nerds playing hooky! 

 

SATURDAY: Con-goers continued to show up in full force, braving the uncharacteristic torrential rain. The Bongo panel was held in the afternoon, with Bill Morrison, Terry Delegeane, and Jason Ho (standing in for Nathan Kane) hamming it up for the fans, while giving them a sneak peek at upcoming comics and explaining how the whole creative process comes together at Bongo HQ.

 

SUNDAY: The skies cleared, and we were back to sunny weather. It was so sunny, we barely noticed the bone-chilling winds as we ran into the convention center, desperately seeking shelter. The show was packed right up until it closed, and the Bongo staff got to meet tons of fans face-to-face. 

 

VERDICT: We sold funny books, we shook hands, we made friends, and we spent all our pocket money on artsy sketchbooks, obscure action figures, and dorky t-shirts. In short, WonderCon was a rousing success!

 

Big thanks to everyone who stopped by the Bongo booth to pick up a few comics, get a sketch, or just say hi...and a special thanks to the folks who showed up to the panel!

 

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