| Happy Holidays from Team Rant Comics |
[15 Dec 2009|11:18pm] |
From our yet-to-actually-be shoveled (whew!) relocated home office in New Jersey, Team Rant Comics wants to wish you and yours a safe and happy holiday season.
Thanks for supporting THE BIG KAHN in 2009, and here's looking to a brand new year filled with health, happiness, success and sequential excellence.
Happy Holidays!
Neil, Laurie and Jack
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| Best Damned Comics of 2009 |
[14 Dec 2009|08:15pm] |
Yeah, yeah... I know I'm neglecting this thing but I'm looking forward to a full 2010 of blogging, so get yer sweet digital asses ready. In the meantime, Brian Heater of the Daily Cross Hatch reached out to ask me (and a bunch of my cartoon type pals) what I thought the best comics of 2009 were.
Here were mine:
Unknown Soldier: Haunted House by Josh Dysart
I held off reading this gripping tale of African child soldiers for the longest time, mostly because, well, I didn’t think I would understand it. Josh Dysart presents this chilling look at a doctor losing his borders in the middle of a bloody, ongoing revolution in such a way that it hooks you in and clearly explains why it’s one of the most important books of the year.
Richard Stark’s Parker: The Hunter by Darwyn Cooke
Darwyn Cooke doesn’t let Stark’s lead, Parker, say a word for the first 20 or so pages of this book, letting mood and movement drag us in to an era where I’d sorely love to live despite the gunplay and obvious danger. I wanna live in a better designed world, and I wanna call legs “gams”, and this book beautifully lets me do that for the length of time it takes to read the tale… without the gunplay and obvious danger to myself.
The Collected Essex County by Jeff Lemire
Hockey, brothers, small town life and intensely private inner conflict are what have made Jeff Lemire the stand out cartoonist of 2009. This collection of his three Top Shelf graphic novels exploring the interconnected lives within Essex County is picture perfect, haunting and all too familiar.
MODOK: Reign Delay by Ryan Dunlavey
Yes. I said freaking MODOK. MODOKMODOKMODOK. Yes, this is a Dark Reign tie in… but not really. It’s actually a love letter to the glory that is A.I.M’s Scientist Supreme and the hilarity that ensues when he finally goes home. The first page of this comic, masterfully crafted by Ryan Dunlavey, featuring MODOK’s Swingers-level, desperate answering machine messages to Norman Osborn, should be enough to swear your allegiance to MODOK. MODOK!
Green Lantern #43
The creepiest origin story you’ll read all year, this prelude to DC’s Blackest Night event elevates small-time villain Black Hand not only to a genuine threat, but injects a dramatic back story worthy of Showtime’s Dexter or any other misunderstood would-be serial killer. This issue made me a Black Hand fan for life, Geoff Johns.
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| Get BIG KAHN signed for the Holidays at Hanley's End-of-Year Spectacular, 12/3 @ 6PM |
[28 Nov 2009|11:43pm] |
Howdy! The holiday season is upon us and as you race through your Black Fridays, Gloomy Back-to-Work Sundays and the like looking for that perfect gift to stuff yer stockings or brighten your menorah, might I suggest the perfect gift?
Yes, that's right! Pick up a copy of my latest graphic novel, THE BIG KAHN (with Nicolas Cinquegrani for NBM Publishing) and give your friend, family member, boss or lover the gift of sequential drama.
And if you're in the New York/New Jersey area, personalize your gift by joining me at Jim Hanley's Universe in Manhattan on December 3rd from 6PM to 8PM for their End of the Year Spectacular Blow Out signing! I'll be signing copies of THE BIG KAHN, BROWNSVILLE and more with my pals Stuart Moore, Fred Van Lente, David Gallaher & Steve Ellis, each incredible talents whose books would make great gifts, as well.
Jim Hanley's is located at:
4 West 33rd St.,
New York, New York
(opposite The Empire State Building)
If you're not in the area and can't make the signing, please consider THE BIG KAHN as a holiday for friends and family, as well. It's a drama about loss, lies, belief and renewal and a graphic exploration of a family secret so well-hidden, even the family didn't know about it until it was too late. Check out previews and reviews of both KAHN and my first book, BROWNSVILLE, at the NBM site.
New interviews and reviews can be found at the following links:
The Daily Oklahoman
This Week in New York
Now Read This!
Thanks for considering the book... and looking forward to seeing you at Jim Hanley's on the 3rd!
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| BE PREPARED THIS THANKSGIVING |
[26 Nov 2009|12:03am] |
Everyone have a great, happy, food-filled Thanksgiving... I'm thankful for my family, home, job, career, representation, comics, barbecue and health.
Also? I'm thankful that I'm not a turkey
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| Neil Kleid, Indie Cartoonist, is dead |
[09 Nov 2009|09:17pm] |
Long live Neil Kleid, Big Time Cartoonist.
Signed quite the hefty looking contract this evening after months of waiting, for a project that's going to be my next drawn book, G-d willing. Feeling pretty damn good about it and thinking about heading downstairs to hoist a shot in my honor.
Now the real work begins, kids. More on this in future electronical missives.
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| Neil's presenting THE BIG KAHN at the Miami International Book Fair |
[02 Nov 2009|09:28pm] |
Yes, it's true — next weekend I will be flown out as a guest of this year's Miami International Book Fair to take part in their Comix Galaxy programming, presenting THE BIG KAHN (despite the website calling it 'Great Kahn') alongside Eisner-nominated cartoonist Brian Fies on Sunday, November 15th at 1:30PM and then signing books following our talk. I will also be teaching an exclusive minicomics class at Miami-Dade College on Friday, November 13th, and will be walking around the Fair saying hello to friends and checking out the amazing lineup of authors.
The fair takes place November 8-15, with the street fair starting on the 13th. There's a pretty impressive list of participants including Al Gore, Iggy Pop, Rich Cohen (I'm gonna try and talk Jew gangsters with him!), Jonathan Lethem, John Hodgman and graphic novelists like Josh Neufeld, Dan Goldman, Josh Dysart, Carol Tyler, James Sturm, Jimmy Gownley, Bob Sikoryak, David Small and more. If you're in the area, please come by and check it out.
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| On Endings or "So long, Planetary, and Thanks for All the... Whatever it Was." |
[20 Oct 2009|11:45pm] |
Saying goodbye has never been my strong suit.
Personally, professionally, creatively -- walking away from a situation I've embedded myself into, surrounding myself with the familiar and comfortable always requires a brave face and, with luck, some kind of farewell cake/drink/parting gift. Farewell means moving forward, closing the books on chapters I can never regain, and a man that excels at wallowing in the past can only look ahead to bitter, melancholy thoughts of the past and scattered, drunken wishes for better, older, familiar days.
I'm the same way with the media I surround myself with. How many, like me, grow frantic and depressed watching the final pages of a favorite, anticipated novel fall to the left? Who, upon viewing the last, best, most hopeful installment of a long-running television show doesn't walk away sad to never again have a new episode, a new caper, a new problem for their well-loved characters to solve?
Saying goodbye sucks. It doesn't matter if it's to a relationship, a friendship, a work situation or a TV show. Nobody, anywhere, ever wants to see something they enjoy come to an end.
Stephen King, in the final chapter of his long-running and well-loved Dark Tower series of novels, says that endings are heartless; just another way for saying goodbye. King claims there's no such thing as a "happy" ending and that he never once met one to equal "once upon a time" (though beginnings have their own, frustrating problems, too — believe it from a writer who's stared at blank pages for more hours than he'd like to count). When the last Harry Potter novel hit the stands, King penned an editorial for Entertainment Weekly in which he writes:
"The sense of sadness I feel at the approaching end of The Monsters of Templeton isn't just because the story's going to be over; when you read a good one — and this is a very good one — those feelings are deepened by the realization that you probably won't tie into anything that much fun again for a long time. This particular melancholy deepens even more when the story is spread over multiple volumes. I felt it as I approached the end of Mervyn Peake's Gormenghast trilogy, more strongly as I neared the conclusion of Frodo's quest in The Lord of the Rings, and with painful keenness when, as the writer, I got to the end of The Dark Tower, which stretched over seven volumes and a quarter century's writing time.'
He goes on to write, "It's time to say goodbye to the whole cast, from Moaning Myrtle to Scabbers the rat (a.k.a. Wormtail). Which leads to an interesting question — will the final volume satisfy Harry's longtime (and very devoted) readers?"
Let me amend my earlier claim before we go on: sure, I'm not a fan of goodbyes but I'll admit that when it comes to film, television, novels, comic books... I crave them. Not in the way we crave to get to the end of a novel and find out whodunnit, mind you; I've always seen the ending of a well-loved, long-running story as an opportunity to see the players one last time, tie up loose ends and watch the finely crafted tale come together in the final seconds, perhaps followed by a glance at where the major players may be sometime in the not too distant future. King would hate me for that. J.K. Rowling, beloved author who set her final chapter Nineteen Years Later (Nineteen, Stephen! Even YOU would approve of that!) might relate. But whether the ending wraps with a sudden fade to black, a bunch of dancing Ewoks, a leisurely ride out to sea with Gandalf or a straightjacket fluttering in the wind, you can be damn sure of one thing: The ending, no matter how commercial, popular, anticipated or hopeful, isn't going to be written for you and me. It isn't going to be everything you want it to be, everything I hope it to be or everything the world thinks it's going to be. What it will be, is the ending that serves its story.
Remember the pre-show buzz about the final episode of SEINFELD? How about the mad, wild theories about who was going to get it at the end of THE SOPRANOS (or, for that matter, the Potter books)? Did the last frame or page measure up to what you or the world was expecting? Not exactly. Mass, worldwide, media letdown, if I recall. There have only truly been, to my mind, a handful of solid, satisfying endings to major pieces of literary media that both the readers and creators agreed upon. M*A*S*H* was one. The beautifully sad ending to HBO's brilliant SIX FEET UNDER was another. But odds are that the creators didn't write those endings to satisfy the consumer — they wrote the endings the way they needed to be written, in order to end the story the way it needed to end.
Long ago, gnashing my teeth as the camera pulled away from Jerry, George, Kramer and Elaine, I wasn't this enlightened. But age brings wisdom, temperance, and more endings. The last few years saw the finales to a score of long-running, well-regarded comic book series including Bone, Strangers in Paradise, Cerebus, Starman, Sandman, Y the Last Man and several others whose titles escape me at the moment. Each series has or had it's cadre of loyal, dedicated, rabid fans eagerly waiting for the last, final, closing word that would leave them happy, satisfied, able to close the door and walk away because they'd read the ending they felt was the right ending. Now, I won't tell you that happened. I'm sure many readers slammed that door closed, angry and unfairly critical of the ending they'd received, unable to understand that the writer/creator didn't craft it for that particular reader but rather in a way that it needed to be told. Some of these endings followed my cravings —Y the Last Man, specifically, set its ending years in the future, allowing me, the faithful reader, to see what had become of Brian Vaughan's wayward escape artist and his irrepressible little monkey Ampersand— and some did not —I'll admit to being torn about that final issue of Strangers in Paradise, an episode that seemed a bit too good to be true for my jaded taste. But age and wisdom have taught me one thing: the reason that endings are heartless is because they care little for the reader, somewhat for their creator and devote everything to the story. It's happened time and again, and as more and more comic book series move towards the end, the pages falling to the left with cruel, heartless abandon, it will happen again. Scott Pilgrim. Fables. Finder. Scalped. DMZ and more. None, however, will match the dreaded anticipation—the nearly comical hoping and waiting attributed to the recently released, better late than never final issue of Warren Ellis and John Cassaday's beloved series, Planetary.
You've heard the jokes, I'm sure, the ones that claim the length of wait for issue #27 was nearly as long as the rest of the run? Well, have your laugh and move past it because the end is finally here, the white whale is in our sights and now we can ask the question millions of kids the world over asked after getting their hot little hands on the seventh, fat, Potter novel: "Does the final issue satisfy Planetary's longtime (and very devoted) readers?"
Let's get something out of the way here: I'm not a DC/Wildstorm shill, I don't agree with everything Warren Ellis does, types, says or posts and there have been moments along the way where I, too, wondered where the fuck this last issue was. I'm not here to convince you to read the series, nor am I here to act as it's mouthpiece. What I am here to do is describe my feelings on its ending and my place in, near, around and between the frequency of its publication. Oh, and SPOILERS? Obviously.
I came into Planetary with "Magic", the infamous Superman/Wonder Woman/Green Lantern issue, having been tipped off by my brother who'd been devouring the early issues. That entrance led me to discover a world where some of my favorite fictional heroes, locales and ideas were subtly being subverted with creepy moments, dry humor (humour, for Warren) and a wild eyed sense of wonder that painted a canvs so strange, so compelling, that the series found pride of place in my weekly reading stack: at the bottom, after the comics I usually saved to read last. My initial impression was that the series was a unique view of mainstream comics —the obvious DCU digs at the Big Three, Captain Marvel and the like; the familiar takes on the very British, very Vertigo characters in that one, amazing issue where Jack Carter became Spider Jerusalem. At the time I was looking for a new view of superheroes and perhaps a bridge from there unto brave new strange world. Worlds like the one Planetary was there to explore.
Since Planetary began it's run, I've grown some. Got a wife, found a life. Became a daddy and bought a house. My world moved from being fascinated by the superhuman to managing the mundane—from Superman to Harvey Pekar, as it were— and so did my sequential tastes. I started reading books by Fantagraphics and D&Q, Top Shelf and Alternative Comics. I was still invested in the superhuman and strange, but immersed myself in the personal, the immediate, the interpersonal relationships and less RAWK more talk.
And in a sense, in my mind, so did Planetary. It wasn't about big, cool fucking amazing giant ants and a creepy, neoNazi Fantastic Four anymore — I mean, sure, they were THERE but it was now about slowly developing personal relationships and connections... a web unraveling, pulling away shiftships and blitzen suits and the mad, awesome, insanely genius trappings to reveal who Elijah, Jakita and the Drummer truly are, what drives them to do what it is they do, and where they need to end up once that last, fabled, twenty-seventh issue unfolds before our eyes.
Planetary, when you get right down to it, is about the strangest fucking family that ever was. It's about Elijah Snow figuring out who he is why he's here, and the way the world works in order to save his lost, best friend who's basically like a son. And in the end, despite the set pieces and madness all around, that's what he's going to have to do. Most know that the previous issue, #26, was in all intentions the standard "final' issue. Bringing together most (if not all) of the loose pieces, vanquishing evil, putting things to rights. It's the way we end the RAWK. #27, to me, is the heartless ending—the one that many readers may slam closed and walk away from, wishing they'd left it where it stood a year ago—because it's the ending the story needed. The ending never intended for we, the readers. But it's the ending intended for Elijah and the story around him. The adult, mundane, nearly administrative endings that ties up that one, final, overwhelmingly important loose end. The ending that brings Ambrose Chase home. Sure, there are the usual Planetary trappings —lots of scientific exposition that hurts my simple head, cool moments that call back to the Planetary/JLA one shot—but all that is just the bread to the personal, immediate conclusion racing around us in a skewed beam of light, carried by the Bleed from another world, many worlds. This last issue isn't about we, the readers. It isn't about Warren pontificating and masturbating about quantum physics and how it applies to frozen, fictional realities. It's about a man, and it's about his lost son, and it's about doing whatever it takes to get him the fuck back.
Here now at the end of all things, as Frodo once said, I can finally understand that this is what the journey around the world was all about, down through the years since 1900, from Africa to Antarctica to space and back. We weren't waiting to discover something new and strange and weird and creepy like we have in the twenty-six issues prior. We weren't begging Warren and John for months to finish the damn story so we could see something we've never seen before. Because we've seen it all. From a hard drive full of souls to a bar where scientists go for one last drink before they die, we've seen it all. What we'd been waiting for, the ending we needed —no, the ending the story needed—all this time was one that needed time to tell because (and take it from me, a dude who makes his living writing dramatic father-son moments in most, if not all, of his comic book and graphic novel work) it isn't easy to reunite a father and son and end a beloved story. It's never easy to say goodbye. Endings are heartless, didn't you know? But this one served the story and creators and in this reader's mind, everyone else. It was right. It was difficult. It left us wistful and melancholy for the past. And in the end, isn't that all we should really expect from an ending?
So... goodbye, Planetary. I'm glad I stuck it out to the end (or the beginning, if Elijah Snow has his way... and he usually does) and I don't expect anything better than what was given. It was cool and strange, awesome and intimate. And though saying goodbye sucks, I'm really glad I finally saw this series I enjoyed come to its inevitable, appropriate end.
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| REMINDER: Neil signing THE BIG KAHN, CREEPY COMICS #1 at A&S Comics in Teaneck, NJ 10/25 @12PM |
[19 Oct 2009|10:58pm] |
Just reminding you that I'll be signing copies of Dark Horse's CREEPY COMICS #1 at A&S Comics and Cards in my hometown of Teaneck, New Jersey on Sunday, October 25th at 12PM. I've got an eight page story in the issue entitled "All the Help you Need' with artist Brian Churilla, and A&S is graciously opening their doors for me to sign a limited number of copies. I'll also be signing some of my other work — particularly THE BIG KAHN, my new graphic novel with Nicolas Cinquegrani about a rabbi who dies and at his funeral his family and congregation discover he was conning them: he isn't even Jewish. The book has been called "a beautifully meditative story" by the Onion, a "rich and meaningful exploration" by Heeb Magazine, "Gripping" by Publisher's Weekly and Whitney Matheson from USA Today said " I almost missed my subway stop because I was so engrossed in this book."
Swing by this Sunday to pick up and talk about comics, get stuff signed, get something sketched and generally have a great old time.
A&S Comics & Cards is located at 563 Cedar Lane, Teaneck NJ. The phone number for directions is 201-801-0500
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| Kleid signing CREEPY, KAHN in Teaneck, NJ, 10/25 @12PM |
[13 Oct 2009|09:56pm] |
In the spirit of the impending Halloween season, I'll be signing copies of Dark Horse's CREEPY COMICS #1 at A&S Comics and Cards in my hometown of Teaneck, New Jersey on Sunday, October 25th at 12PM. I've got an eight page story in the issue entitled "All the Help you Need' with artist Brian Churilla, and A&S is graciously opening their doors for me to sign a limited number of copies. I'll also be signing some of my other work — particularly THE BIG KAHN, my new graphic novel with Nicolas Cinquegrani about a rabbi who dies and at his funeral his family and congregation discover he was conning them: he isn't even Jewish. The book has been called "a beautifully meditative story" by the Onion, a "rich and meaningful exploration" by Heeb Magazine, "Gripping" by Publisher's Weekly and Whitney Matheson from USA Today said " I almost missed my subway stop because I was so engrossed in this book."
Swing by on Sunday, October 25th to pick up and talk about comics, get stuff signed, get something sketched and generally have a great old time.
A&S Comics & Cards is located at 563 Cedar Lane, Teaneck NJ. The phone number for directions is 201-801-0500
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| 70 PEKAR HEADS! |
[08 Oct 2009|11:18pm] |
Happy Birthday, Harvey Pekar! Here are 70 Pekar heads by a fantastic array of awesome cartoonists. Mine's about two thirds of the way down. But for you people without the ability to scroll:
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| Sometimes I Get Cool Art in my Email |
[30 Sep 2009|11:51pm] |
And those times, I have to share. Here's a tease for something I'm cooking up with URSA MINORS! pal and collaborator Fernando Pinto.
Bon Appetit!
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| BIG KAHN interview in PW Comics Week |
[15 Sep 2009|09:40pm] |
And the BIG KAHN parade continues with a fairly kickass interview in today's Publisher's Weekly Comics Week newsletter. Have a read for bits like this:
"In The Big Kahn, Avi, Rabbi Kahn’s son, asks, “What does this mean for me?” when he finds out that his father wasn’t really Jewish. He wonders, “Does this mean I can abandon everything I've known until now?” These are similar to questions I’ve asked myself. As Jews we’re taught that God chose us and that we're going to inherit the earth but Joe Christian's been told the same thing, Muslims have been told the same thing, so how am I so dead sure? I've always been interested in questions like that and the books allow me a platform to explore them. Mainly though, it's where can I find a good story that people will want to read? If I can educate at the same time, that’s great."
Share and Enjoy!
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| THE BIG KAHN is a Good Comic... and Comics SHOULD be Good |
[14 Sep 2009|09:39pm] |
Greg Burgas at Comic Book Resources' "Comics Should be Good" blog claims that THE BIG KAHN is "definitely in consideration for best graphic novel of the year."
He also says that "I enjoyed Brownsville, Kleid's last book, but thought there was room for improvement. With The Big Kahn, he's made a big leap in mastery of the craft. It's a powerful comic that makes you think about faith and family and hypocrisy."
Mastery of the craft. You heard it here first, sports fans.
As you might know, THE BIG KAHN hits non-comics book stores this Sunday, September 20th, and keep your eyes peeled here for a pretty high profile review to honor it's release...
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| 9-11: LETTERS FROM A BROKEN APPLE |
[11 Sep 2009|12:45am] |
Today, eight years after the events that violently and tragically transformed the global arena and taught the world new levels of fear, I urge you to remember the friends, family, neighbors and fellow human beings who lost and sacrificed their lives in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania on September 11, 2001.
They are and always will be heroes.
Please take a moments to read through my thoughts of that day, illustrated by Mark Wheatley, Marc Hempel, John Staton and late, great illustrators Harry Roland and Gray Morrow.
( Read more... )
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| Jazma Interview and HEEB Magazine weighs in about BIG KAHN |
[08 Sep 2009|09:22pm] |
Two more BIG KAHN bits for your scoresheets - first, a decent little interview went up at Jazma Online.
"Jazma: Why write about the Jewish faith?
Neil: Write what you know, basically. Honestly, I think one of the things that drags me back to Jewish comics might be that I'm the one of the few out there doing it. See... you know the comics industry, right? That insecure medium that flies into a tizzy anytime someone mentions comics on television, in movies, etcetera? The victimized, oppressed literature that's been looking for respect for so long that it clings to moments when the 'mainstream' acknowledges its existence, pointing and shouting and thrilled when someone makes a Justice League reference on the news or drops Doctor Doom's name in a novel or flashes a Hellboy poster in a movie? Remember comics? Judaism is the religious equivalent of the comic book industry. We puff our chests out with pride and make sure everyone knows when the X-Files features a golem lore or some sitcom has a 'very special Passover episode' or Ben Grimm turns out to be a Yid. Jews are never the action heroes—we're Bruce Willis' lawyers, Indiana Jones' accountants and sometimes, if Adam Sandler is having a good day, we're comedic relief."
HEEB Magazine, the great little magazine I did a one page comic for way back when, just posted a nice little review with one minor quibble. A quibble, I'll add, I don't necessarily agree with but I'll let you, Attractive Reader, decide for yourself.
"The book presents an interesting look at a variety of important spiritual questions, and treats the religiousity—and religion—of its characters much more believably than any other comic we’ve seen (and everybody who keeps kosher will particularly appreciate the scene in the supermarket)."
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| BIG KAHN gets an A minus from the Onion A.V. Club! |
[05 Sep 2009|09:40pm] |
As THE BIG KAHN starts shipping to major bookstores and via Amazon, we picked up a great review from the Onion A.V. Club on Friday, garnering an A minus!
"Kleid’s story is intimate and mature about relationships, both interpersonal and between people and their beliefs, and he resists any urge to underline or spell out what’s going on in his characters’ lives; Cinquegrani’s facial expressions and the characters’ actions do all the talking. This is a beautifully meditative story, and readers don’t have to be Jewish (or pretend to be Jewish) to get absorbed…"
The good people at Comic Bulletin's Line of Fire Reviews also had this to say:
"This story moves in unexpected directions in a quiet and real-feeling way. This is not a sensationalistic story that might appear on a cable network; instead, Kleid allows the characters sufficient time and space to move in their own interesting directions. The art by Nicolas Cinquegrani is appropriately quiet and thoughtful. He seems at home with this story--never striving to make events seem larger than they are. This is a quiet family drama, and Cinquegrani works hard to keep things quiet."
Good stuff! Keep yer eyes to this space for an October signing if you live in the Bergen County, NJ area... also some good news for you Miami residents come November.
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| Read About Comics gives BIG KAHN a great review! |
[26 Aug 2009|01:13am] |
Greg McElhatton gives us a kickass review here:
http://www.readaboutcomics.com/2009/08/26/big-kahn/
"The Big Kahn is easily Kleid’s best work to date as a writer; it’s clever and gripping, and there are a couple of turns in the story as it heads towards the conclusion that genuinely surprised me even as they still made sense. This feels in many ways like a turning point in Kleid’s career, and I know I’m not the only one who is eager to see whatever Kleid’s next project is based off of the strength of this graphic novel. It’s a strong slice-of-life story that makes you think, and I’m happy with that. Highly recommended."
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| Life in Brooklyn is murder... and now downloadable to your iPhone |
[25 Aug 2009|10:48pm] |
BROWNSVILLE by Neil Kleid and Jake Allen, a 200 page graphic novel about the Jewish Mafia, is now available to download and read directly on your mobile phone via NBM Publishing and Panelfly.com!
NBM Publishing is proud to announce partnering with Panelfly, the newly launched iPhone app that’s bringing the best graphic novels direct to you… instantly! Panelfly allows you to read your favorite graphic novels as the creators intended; you get full-page views, automatic panel navigation and more! You can purchase your comics using your iTunes account; tap the screen twice, and you’ll immediately have one of the world’s best graphic novels right in your hands.
NBM titles now available include the sold-out smash BROWNSVILLE by writer Neil Kleid, Jesse Lonergan’s powerful romantic drama FLOWER AND FADE, Swedish sensation Naomi Nowak’s UNHOLY KINSHIP, Rick Geary’s award-winning LINDBERGH CHILD and Shane White’s NORTH COUNTRY. All of these by authors NBM is publishing new titles from this fall. More titles will be added throughout the fall.
Each of these NBM graphic novels is available on your iPhone for $6.95 to $9.95, less than the paperbacks. Go straight to iTunes or to www.panelfly.com.
Stay tuned for further announcements of partnerships between NBM and leading E-Book and mobile download sites. “It’s clear this is the future where readers increasingly have a choice as to how they want to read their comics,” said NBM publisher Terry Nantier, “and we consider ourselves purveyors of graphic novels, not pushers of print publications. Any way you want a quality, engrossing novel-length comic, we’ll make that available, whether print or electronic.”
For further information, please contact our publicist, Marc Mason: marcmasonnbm@gmail.com.
ABOUT BROWNSVILLE:
"Jewish gangster" isn't a term you hear much in post-Holocaust society... but back when the Dodgers played in the East and licorice cost a penny a bag, Brooklyn corners were lousy with semitic young toughs looking for adventure and excitement - none more so than in Brownsville.
Follow the intertwined lives of Allie Tanennbaum, Abe Reles and scores of hoods organized by Louis Lepke Buchalter into the deadliest hit operation in Mafia history, "Murder, Inc.", as they escape the mean streets and lonely tenements of East New York., make themselves into the most dangerous men in America, only to eventually send their best friends and closest allies up the river.
Written by Xeric Award winner Neil Kleid and illustrated by Jake Allen, here's what critics had to say about BROWNSVILLE:
"Forceful storytelling and deep passion for its characters and indeed for this dark chapter of Jewish-American history." -The Jewish Chronicle
"Smart, absorbing." - Booklist
"Beautifully moody evocation of a bygone Brooklyn inhabited by Jewish gangsters, Brownsville follows the career of some of the biggest names in the hoodlum business." -Publishers Weekly
"Weaves history and fiction into a visceral and moving story." -Miami Herald
"***1/2. NBM's ComicsLit line delivers. As a history buff, I looked forward to this book written by Xeric Award winner Neil Kleid, and, once I had it in hand, it lived up to my lofty expectations." - Comics Buyer's Guide
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