I'll take "How Did We Miss All This Smoke and Guns Love?" for $300, Alex:

"It's tailor-made for old-school action movie fans and anyone who likes cuties packing heat. After all, nothing says Christmas like nicotine and a 9mm gun."

and

"Smoke and Guns is fast fiction that rides with expert precision to the end, the kind of 104-page comic that you finish in 25 minutes and then go over again to read the clever bits."

The funniest bit from that second review is definitely this: "I would marry her [Scarlet] if she would have me. Oh, wait ... she's a cartoon character."

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I've been checking out Lifemeter Comics for awhile, since it combines two of my favorite entertainment mediums: comics and video games. But little did I know that one of its editors is Jax Epoch writer, Dave Roman!

Small world, eh?

****

*sigh* Today's the last day of having the office all to myself... better clean up the booze bottles and shoo out the hookers before Larry gets back on Monday...

--Josh

Big ups to our pals at Wizard for inaugurating their new "Wizard Edge" section with the 42 Things You Need To Know About Indie Comics in 2006 with a neat feature about Bri Wood (including all his AiT backlist) and calling us an "upstart publisher." Not just that, but they cap off the article with a blurb about this summer's Warhead, from Joe Casey and Ian Richardson.

We've got you covered, coming and going.

--Josh

Larry's out at the TED conference with Peter Gabriel and Al Gore and Burt Rutan for the next couple of days, so Scotty's got the bridge this week. TED "brings together 800 thought-leaders, movers and shakers... for four days of learning, laughter, and inspiration. They hear not just the latest ideas in Technology, Entertainment, and Design, but also Business, Science, and the Arts... in fact ANY subject area offering something fresh and important." That's off their website, and that's where Larry is.

Sippin' drinks with the Spaceship One dude.

Making Comics Better is tough work sometimes.

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Dave Campbell pulls out Colonia: On Into the Great Lands from his Long Box:

"Colonia: On Into the Great Lands is so clearly a work of love that you can smell it. This comic book stinks of love, my friends."

When a review starts off like that, you know you're in for a good time. And Terry Gilliam directing a Colonia movie? Gary Oldman as Cinnabar? Dave's got a good eye.

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Sean Maher spreads the Continuity love over at Quality Control.

"If McNamara's half as razor-witted on the page as he is in real life, this is gonna be a wild book. Seriously, you've never had a real challenge until you've tried keeping up with this guy in a conversation."

As a dude who's read the script and working up the lettering, I honestly don't think Sean will be disappointed.

--Josh

500 Posts.

Over 2 years of the AiT Daily Update in its current form.

Over 8 years of Making Comics Better™.

Hot damn, what an awesome machine to be a part of.

I started working for AiT back in March of '05, and I remember my first day on the job as if it were yesterday. My first task was scanning in pages of Tom Beland's art for the second True Story, Swear to God trade. He walked me through the motions, taught me how to set up the scans in Quark, and at the end of the day cut me a check for my work. The dude even made me lunch and fed me a little of the old "heavy fuel" while I worked.

It was at this moment that I knew I was home.

Since then I've worked on a multitude of books, talked to more creators than I ever dreamed of meeting, and busted my ass till till it bled; metaphorically, of course. Because Larry and Mimi have created something great with AiT/Planet Lar, a driving force in comics whose sole purpose is to simply make great comics.

Comics we want to read. Comics you want to read. Because we all love this beautiful medium so much. From one excited comic fan to another.

Since the 4th grade when I was handed my first comic (Peter Porker #4 if you were wondering), I've known that I've wanted to make comics. There's a lot of love in this medium, and the ability to do whatever you wish. Unrestricted by imagination or budget, comics allow you to touch people in an infinite number of ways. They make you feel. And that's the single greatest gift you can give another human being: making them feel something. That's what I want to give back to the world. AiT recognizes this more than anyone.

Three little words say it all: Making Comics Better. Constantly striving, evolving and innovating to tell great stories, and at the same time blazing trails for other creators to step up and show the world what they have to offer. Folks like Brian Wood, Becky Cloonan, Rob G, Rick Spears, Matt Fraction, Gabriel Ba, Fabio Moon, and a multitude of other AiT alumni have made fantastic comics with us and gone on to make tons more fantastic comics for a multitude of companies. At the same time a cavalcade of newcomers and old salts continue to step up to the plate for AiT and continue the tradition of Making Comics Better.

And of course, at the helm of all this is Larry Young and Mimi Rosenheim, two of the sweetest and nicest people I've ever had the pleasure of calling friends. Most of you are already familiar with the great and mighty powers Larry Young wields. He knows the riddle of steel and the power of the hand that wields it, and merges the two concepts to create one of the great driving forces in comics today. He makes comics with great love, greater care, while still maintaining a firm hand. Mimi, however, is the true backbone of AiT. Without her taking care of the business side of things, Larry and I would look like a couple of half-drunk monkeys sitting at computers. We'd bang something out eventually, but no where near as good without Mimi there making sure we eat our lunches and take our vitamins. She's very much the Den Mother of the AiT crew, and we'd be lost without her.

Then there's me, Josh Richardson. A 23 year old pop culture junkie with a dream of making funny books for a living. And I get to be a part of this fantastic company. Next month will be my one-year anniversary with the company, and it's honestly been the greatest time of my life. You guys have heard most of my adventures and exploits through my In the Trenches series of columns, so I won't go into it in-depth, but I do wake up everyday and say "Wow, I get to go make comics today." This place isn't a job, it's the realization of the constant awe and wonder I've possessed since I first saw Spider-Ham swinging through New York, beating on the Incredible Bulk.

Big thanks to you, the fans, for supporting us, digging our books, and getting what we're trying to do. Making Comics Better. Three simple words effecting so many lives in such a positive way.

So here's to 500 posts and nearly a decade of history, and here's to twice as many more in the future.

--Josh

Monday! Back to work! Anyone else have a productive weekend?

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Ryan Day over at Pop Matters nerds out with an in-depth look at the Demo collection:

"Ultimately, Demo is about the choices that everyone has to make in one form or another. Friends or family? Money or happiness? Individual or one of the crowd? That these choices are made by those on the fringes of society, often out of desperation, makes them, if not the actual scenarios, feel familiar to the reader who wonders what it is they're doing with their life."

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Jason Richards over at Riot! interviews Larry, who talks about bringing in new readers, among other things: "The success of manga and translated manga has certainly proved that new readers can be attracted by quality work. Our independent shop toiling away at Making Comics Better has brought in some cats that otherwise would be sipping champagne and betting at baccarat, I know."

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While the Presidents barbeque and the kids run around playing their "video games" and riding their "skate boards," we'll be busy in the office Making Comics Better. If you've got the day off, enjoy it while it lasts.

We're three steps ahead of you, Mr. Lincoln...

--Josh