Ideal Comics Faithful! Here is a special thanks coming from the Home Office to you our there in Internet-Land.  I can offer no excuses for our blog-reticence, but we have been plugging along in secret, getting ready for more comic goodness! But forget all of that! Next weekend, we, along with the Monument Mall and the Planning Committee, will be hosting the 2nd Annual High Plains MiniCon! Everything will be going down from 10a to 5p on October 20th, and again at the Monument Mall, and again admission will be free! We are very pleased to announce that this years High Plains Mini-Con special guest will be none other than artist and writer Bob Hall. Robert "Bob" Hall is an American comics artist and writer as well as a playwright and theatre director. Hall is the artistic director of the Flatwater Shakespeare Company of Lincoln, Nebraska, an organization he founded.Previously, he was artistic director of the Nebraska Repertory Theatre for six years, and in 2008 was artistic director of Lincoln's Haymarket Theatre.

Hello, Internet! Happy Hallowe'en!

It has been quite a month over here at the Ol' Ideal Comics home base! For those of you IC faithful who are outside the Wyo-Braska corridor there is a good chance you missed the inagural High Plains Mini-Con, the first ever nerd-culture expo in our sleepy little hamlet. Around 200 folks from Scottsbluff-Gering and the surrounding environs came out to meet local creators and hear presentations by both professional and independent comickers and content creators! There were so many neat things going on, but I will mention two in this space.

At the Mini-Con, we opened the stage with Veteran comic scribe Ron Fortier. Known for writing Terminator: Burning Earth and being the primary architect and writer for Green Hornet by Now Comics during the 1990's, Ron was kind enough to share many stores about the history of American comics and about the craft. Ron’s Green Hornet time line had a profound impact on me and upon the foundation of our IC universe, and it was an honor to have him down!

Secondly, long time IC fan Chris Lore has in the last year started his own webcomic Z-bites. We are always happy to meet new creators, but we are a bit humbled that the guys at Z-bites chose our event to debut the first issue of the expanded print version of their thoroughly fun zombie comic!

Well, this was a swell show, and we are already laying down stones for 2018. Stay tuned here for details and news!

We have also been busy with plans for 2018 products! I am working with Rolf Gerdau on a full length special spinning out from our long running webcomic Forces of Good and Evil. The story is called "I've Been to Hell," and we have been hinting at this story for years and are very excited to get this out to you all. The first few pages are inked and look really fun. There are a few more projects in the mix, but that is all you get today!

In other news, last weekend the Rhys branch of the company (meaning myself and my sons) headed to Cheyenne, in part to check out Olympus Games and Comics and the Hallowe'en ComicFest! We picked up some fun freebie books as well as spent some face to face time with a hand full of local creators: David Kirk, the second half of the writing team for Z-bites, Chad Blakely of Pathetic Asthetic Comics, and Colin and Laurel of The Handbook of Heroes. I am not going into detail here, but all their products are we'll worth giving an eyeball to (I have even provided the links)! Plus, I got a chance to talk to the Olympus Staff; and we look forward to some future news there, too!

Well, that is about it for now. We now prepare for a busy winter as we use the shorter nights to wax creative. Expect weekly “Forces” updates, and at least monthly updates here on the blog as we put the shiny touches on new IC projects! Catch you in the funny papers, folks, and as always, Happy Reading!

Hello, Internet! How are you all?

If you haven't heard, we at Ideal Comics, along with the Monument Mall, are hosting the High Plains Mini-Con. We have invited a number of local and regional indie comic creators to participate, and it is going to be a real fun time!

The High Plains Mini-Con will be taking place on October 6th and 7th. The meat of the Con is happening on Saturday, with panel discussions, Q&A sessions, live music, and a CosPlay contest. The mall open at 10A, and the Con will run until 5:30P or so. On Friday night we will he having a special preview with some of the local creators starting about 3P.

As part of the Mini-Con, we are hosting a 24-Hr Comic event, starting 3-4 on Friday, October 6th, and running until close, and picking up again at 8 AM!

Another highlight of the Mini-Con is a special talk by comics stalwart Ron Fortier. A 30+ year veteran of the comics scene, Fortier has written such characters as Terminator, Popeye, and pulp heroes like the Black Bat and Domino Lady. Plus, Ron was the architect of NOW Comics 1990's relaunch of the Green Hornet, turning the Radio star into a multi-generational superhero epic! He will be presenting on Super-Heroes in American Fiction!

Here is a full list of guest vendors and exhibtors follows:

Ideal Comics, (Featuring Barry Tetz and Rhys) Ron Fortier Todd Jones of Wicked Awesome Tales Z-Bites writer/creator Chris Lore J.p. Biernacki and crew Ensemble Comics' artist and co-owner Jon Bonjour Angry Kitten Juice Ronald Shaw Art

We are also going to be featuring content from:

A Geek Out of Place, Vann and Chip, Brandan Stolen, Gabriel Tyce Bruton (Gabriel the Brute), and Darby Ellis Lewis Wilson of Super University for College Kids!

You can click on the links below to download a bevy of .pdf information:

2017 cosplay contest        2017 public Schedule       24hr rules

So, come on down and dig nerd culture in your own backyard!

Has it really been a year? And what a year it has been! We finished and then re-finished Zing#2, released a special edition of Zing #1, taught a comics class, launched a massive cross-over on "Forces of Good and Evil", published a handful of mini-comics and attended several comic-cons! Man, you'd think with all that activity we would find some time to write a little about it on or humble 'blog, right? Don't you judge me! But in all seriousness, we haven't, just haven't, gotten this blog together. So, for whatever reason, today we return to the 'blog to talk, randomly about things IC related. First, we are excited to return to the Monument Mall, Scottsbluff NE, for another Coins, Cards, and Collectables Show. It is happening on September , from 10A until we 5P. Last year was fun as we shared a table with "Forces" artist Rolf Gerdau. Not sure if Rolf is joining us on the 23rd or not, but time will tell! Speaking of Rolf, he has been knocking them out of the park, whether on mini-comics or coloring books, or on "Forces". In case you don't follow, we are still telling our Chad opus--outlining summer vacation and Chad's search for his mother's mysterious past! The current chapter, Plain History, is part travelogue, part cyber-fantasy, and features guest star, cameos, and crossovers with five other contemporaneous webcomics: "Cortland", "Netrek", "Super University", and "The Adventures of Seth and Murphy "(and a brief cameo from "Elf Only Inn") This story is a kick and a half to write and great to see drawn. For those of you in vista-ready Colorado, we will also be making an appearance at the Rocky Mountain Con out by the airport. The Con is the last weekend in September, and we are pretty stoked! we hope to have two new products ready for this outing, too: a long form coloring book adventure starring "Forces" darling Rapunzel; and and Expositioner mini-comic with art by Barry Tetz!  And all that event is going down the weekend of 9/30? That following weekend we will be back in the home stomping grounds! We are co-hosting Scottsbluff's first ever nerd fest and Mini-Con. The High Plains Mini-Con will feature a handfull of local indie comics and nerd-content creators, and will be located at center court of the Monument mall. We are also hosting a handful of panels and live music! The highligjht of the day, aside from supporting indie comics, will be a talk by comics legend Ron Fortier about the history of the superhero in American literature! We are still working out details, but watch this space for news! So mark down October 7th, 10A-5P on your calendar, and swing by the Monument Mall, for the best in comicbooking in the Panhandle and beyond! And don't forget, the event is free!

Hello, Internet! Things have been wild and reeling around the old IC offices! Two weekends ago we had a great time selling comics and meeting folks at the Fort Collins Comics Convention! Between running into folks we met in Cheyenne, or meeting new folks from the Front Range Comics scene, to connecting with fans (who might even turn into fans of ours!), it was a good time. One highlight for me was the chance to meet Dan Conner and Patricia Krmpotich of My Gal the Zombie, a web and print comic I recently discovered and that you all ought to be reading. Dan has a real DIY ethic and a natural sense of comic book history, creating something classic and modern at the same time. Patricia has been writing the last few printed comics, and her instant grasp of the emotional core of the characters has been more than impressive! We, of course, had copies of our anthology titles for sale, and after a eight years of limbo, it was good to get paper comics into the hands of folks! Which brings us to the news for the weekend. Barry and I are going to be hosting a booth at our home stomping grounds in Scottsbluff NE. This Saturday, starting at 9:00 AM, The Monument mall is hosing a Coins, Cards, and Collectibles Show; and Ideal Comics will be there with bells on. Strike that--but we will have our booth and banner and a table full of comics. So get ready, Scottsbluff, because it is an Ideal Comics world now! Sorta. Just give me this, folks! (BTW, the illustration above is taken from Zing #2, art by Levi Irwin, with edits by me. Thanks, Levi!) Also, ICYMI, we have a brand new Encyclopedia entry for you all the check out! More to come, too! On another track, now that things are wrapped with all the Zing 2 craziness, we are trying to get back into the 'Forces' swing, with two updates a week. Rolf has been giving us some great art, and we are very excited to share it with you! Well that is about all the news. Until next time, Happy Reading!  

It was the year 1939, and war had again come to Europe as Germany flexed it’s muscles and Hitler lead his people into his increasingly totalitarian and racist dream. Across the World, much of America stood on the knife’s edge between a fragile recovery and poverty, between law and crime, between peace and violence. Into such an America came a man from the sky. Out in distant space sat the planet Aquarius, and it’s amphibious leaders had watched and studied our planet. They had seed the colonial era and westward expansion. They had witnessed slavery and violence and war; and they now saw that the human race had again set itself on a road to cataclysm. Into this maelstrom of ideas, the Aquarians sent a messenger of peace and of voluntary cooperation—a champion possessed of un-paralleled speed—a man named Mar Yam-Llyr. In a golden rocket, he blasted through space and through time, Mar Yam-Llyr landed in Presidio, CA, and quickly found himself numbered among the first ranks of mystery men under the code name The Golden Rapid. Along with his compatriots in the Foreign Legion, the Rapid defended the shores of America before joining the fray of WWII. After the end of the war, the Golden Rapid and the rest of the Legion traveled the world, using alien technology to heal the land ravaged by the war, teaching the people to live all the better off the land. When he was not abroad, The Rapid made his home in Presidio, California where he trained local boy Gil Henderson as a side-kick. In 1951, Yam-Llyr received a panicked communication from Aquarius, stating that the planet was in danger. Boarding his rocket, he left earth behind... Credits: Created by: Mathew D. Rhys; Christopher David Lawton Designed by: Richard Depew; Matthew D. Rhys Image by: Richard Depew; Matthew D. Rhys (colors)

It is another Throwback Thursday, and we at Ideal Comics want to share another new cover for an old story. This, our 22nd story, is a novella-sized, Greg-centric epic; and follows Nerd-and-friends on a cross-country trip to the  Fremont City, CO where all manner of chaos erupts! Ideal Comics is proud to re-present "National Villainy!" This cover features a multi-media collaboration between Rolf Gerdau and Mathew D. Rhys; while the interior art was done by Rhys, Chris Lawton, Barry Tetz and Joseph Carradine. It's an extravaganza, folks!

You might have noticed that things have been a little slow over on Forces of Good and Evil. While there are reasons (and if you were following us there, you'd already know that!),  we at Ideal Comics still want to share as many goodies with you as we can! So on this #ThrowbackThursday, let's call back to our second Chad-centric story--complete with a brand new cover from young artist "Michael Van Reese". We are proud to re-present "Gym Class: Hijinks and Hi-jacks!"

In Case You Missed It, as anyone who knows me can attest, I am a huge fan of old things—old music, old stories, old whiskey.

AHEM.

Imagine my glee in finding a classic Star Wars Marvel comic from 1979 made by two giants—Archie Goodwin and Carmine Infantino! Follow me to Gaming Rebellion as I ask the question “Whatever Happened to Jabba the Hutt?”

Hello, Internet! To any of you who may have followed my column over at Ideal Comics, it is no surprise that I have a lot of comics. A lot. Now, I wouldn't say I have an excessive amount or anything, but I do own several file cabinets whose only purpose is to hold comics--five of them, in fact.

Time was that I had all my books bagged and boarded and sorted by title and publication date; and all the good stuff Gen-X-nerds were supposed to do. In my mid-20's I got just a little bit prosperous, and signed up for a comic subscription service, then I got busy and then I got poor again; and before you could say "limited edition, foil-embossed cover" I had a problem.

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