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Today at AiT/Planet Lar

September 19, 2008
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OK, I've been getting a whole lot of email from fans and press tipping me off to and asking for my comment on our inclusion in The Rough Guide to Graphic Novels, so I guess I'm going to have to say something publicly.

First, Danny Fingeroth obviously has good taste in comics.

Next, it's the very definition of flattering and gratifying and complimentary that our first book, Astronauts in Trouble, makes the cut for the Top Sixty Graphic Novels as one of the "canon" ... one of the essential graphic novels you should read if you're thinking about getting into comics... (like Blankets and Bone and Palomar and Sin City and Sandman and From Hell and whatnot), but that I'm also in there with Neil and Alan and Frank as one of the "legendary writers, artists, and publishers."

I love that Astronauts in Trouble is described "...its goal is not philosophy but breezy, exhilarating action and melodrama. In that, it succeeds magnificently." and that "Young's work and the work he chooses to publish generally fall into the love-it-or-hate-it category."

I'm telling you, you can't get much better than that.

September 18, 2008
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More love from Booklist, this time for The Black Diamond:

The Black Diamond: Get in the Car and Go.
Young, Larry (Author) and Proctor, Jon (Author)
Aug 2008. 144 p. AiT/Planet Lar, paperback, $19.95. (9781932051537). 741.5.

In his 2016 inaugural address, President Fulton announces plans to build a transcontinental, elevated superhighway called the Black Diamond. Fulfilling the conservative government’s dubious aim of isolating society’s ne’er-do-wells and keeping law abiders safe 150 feet below the roadway, the eight-lane thoroughfare becomes a breeding ground for junkies, motorcycle gangs, and shantytowns. Under a successor administration, Washington decides it's time to clean up the Black Diamond. In reaction, hard-core road loyalists kidnap its architect’s daughter, Kate Maddox. When Kate’s orthodontist husband, Don, gets wind of her abduction, he takes the only reasonable course of action available: he borrows his brother-in law’s illegal 1973 Mercury Cougar and takes it on a high-speed cruise to get the outlaws. Young and Proctor’s gritty, Tarantino-esque crime-and-car-chase yarn relies less on dialogue than breathtakingly rendered, neon-hued panels packed with action. The combination of crackling repartee, motorized pursuit, and climactic showdown (between the military and a biker gang) makes one rather hope for a big-screen version. — Carl Hays

September 17, 2008
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At the Comic Book Box Martian Confederacy signing, September 13:

September 16, 2008
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American Library Association Booklist weighs in on Aces:

Aces: Curse of the Red Baron.
Denton, Shannon Eric (Author) and Wilson, G. Willow (Author) and Square-Briggs, Curtis (Author) Jul 2008. 112 p. AiT/Planet Lar, paperback, $12.95. (9781932051520). 741.5.

As World War I retreats further into the past, good yarns about the Allies’ flying aces and their archenemy, the Red Baron, become increasingly rare. Fortunately, veteran Cartoon Network storyteller Denton and his collaborators have at least one more Great War story up their sleeves. When two intrepid fighter pilots — one Yank, one Brit — recover a map from the Red Baron’s crashed plane, they take an impromptu military leave and wing it over to the Scandinavian coast in search of hidden treasure. Instead of gold, however, the pair finds trouble in the form of enemy spies angling to recover the map. After a daring escape, a round of air battles, and a run-in with a court-martial tribunal, the flyboys are quickly drafted into a newly minted intelligence agency. Their ultimate mission, to discover the map’s real target (an underground cavern harboring an enigmatic time engine), gives the aces’ story an sf spin that may alienate some military buffs but should entertain every fan of action comics. — Carl Hays

September 15, 2008
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Wesley Green reposted an interview we did a couple years back on his new site Indy Comic News.

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Omaha-based Silent City Magazine reviews Omaha Perez' Holmes. Coincidence? "Featuring a graphic novel because its creator happens to share a name with the city that this magazine is based in is something of a stretch. Luckily, Omaha Perez created a fun and noteworthy re-imagining... The few pages of illustrations created using a scratchboard technique are impressive, exhaustingly created and not to be missed."

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Speaking of Holmes, the prestigious American Library Association Booklist says:

Holmes: Haydn's Head.
Perez, Omaha (Author)
Apr 2008. 104 p. AiT/Planet Lar, paperback, $12.95. (9781932051513). 741.5.

Ever since Conan Doyle penned his last Holmes and Watson whodunit, imitators have been resurrecting the pair in a colorful variety of further adventures. Perhaps none of those have been quite as bizarre as this risque Sherlockian spoof from noted comics artist Perez. Holmes’ infamous weakness for narcotics takes center stage in a case involving the disappearance of Joseph Haydn’s skull from a touring exhibition currently in London. His brain addled by chronic cocaine ingestion, Holmes bumbles through bars and bordellos looking for clues, gets tossed on his keister by enraged pub patrons, and narrowly escapes arrest after victimizing an elderly gentleman Holmes insists is his evil nemesis Moriarty. Serving as Holmes’ supposedly sober biographer, Watson doesn’t fare much better, resembling a brawny henchman more than a demure doctor in Perez’s luridly elongated drawing style. Purists who prefer tales that keep the deductive genius’ dignity intact may want to steer clear, but fans open to a few chuckles at Holmes’ expense will find Perez’s iconoclasm refreshing. — Carl Hays

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...and finally, if you're not reading The Martian Confederacy, you must hate America. One part Dukes of Hazzard, one part kick-ass science fiction, one part whimsical art from Paige Braddock and one part a frightening look into writer Jason McNamara's id, this is the best book not published by us since The Nightmarist. We had a chance to go up to up to Kathy Bottarini's excellent, excellent shop, The Comic Book Box, this weekend to pick up a copy and have it signed by Paige and Jason. It was a blast to go up again, not just to see Kathy and Paige, and Jason, but to show Kathy that Walker is actually living up to his name by walking around. Last time she saw him was in December, and he wasn't much more than a sleeping bag of steaks, then. But this time, well, let's let Kathy tell it:

First of all, I want to thank the awesome, and wonderfully fun creators of the MARTIAN CONFEDERACY, Paige Braddock & Jason McNamara! This was their first joint signing for MARTIAN CONFEDERACY, and I am honored to have hosted them! They are both wonderful, and left signed copies of MARTIAN CONFEDERACY -- just in case you weren't able to meet them! And, we had a special guest appearance by Larry Young and Mimi Rosenheim of AIT/Planet Lar, who came along with the youngest marketing director in comics, Walker Young -- who has just learned to walk on his own! Walker is able to walk on his own if he has something in his hands, so as a savvy guy new to walking, he chose to carry a MARTIAN CONFEDERACY postcard to greet customers! He is the most awesome marketing toddler, ever! I want to thank everyone who came in! Especially, Paige & Jason -- thank you! I can't wait for the next volume of MARTIAN CONFEDERACY!

I recommend picking up a copy of The Martian Confederacy. And I recommend you email the creators and ask them to do another one. Like, right now.

Find any AiT/Planet Lar publication at your nearest comic store.

Can't find it at your local retailer? Get it online at Khepri.com