Oni Press has always supported Free Comic Book day and this year they have a title for the older and younger comic book fans. Free Comic Book day is in it’s tenth year and will be on May 5, 2012.

For the older crowd, Oni Press is giving away #1 issue of Bad Medicine. Written by Nunzio DeFilippis and Christina Weir (New X-Men: Academy X, Batman Confidential) and artist Christopher Mitten. The comic book is about a doctor working to try and explain the unexplainable.

“This is not a zero issue, it’s not a preview or an advanced look, this is the actual issue #1 of Bad Medicine. This follows the model that we used to launch The Sixth Gun two years ago and Spontaneous last year,” Oni marketing director Cory Casoni explained. “At Oni Press, we believe that Free Comic Book Day is about Free Comics! By launching a brand new series on FCBD, we’re creating a no-risk situation for new readers to try out a new monthly comic book, and the best part is, they only have to wait a few weeks to read the next installment! For those who miss Bad Medicine #1 on Free Comic Book Day but hear from their friends how awesome the series is, they get a second chance to start from the beginning when we issue a re-release of Bad Medicine #1 on the same day Bad Medicine #2 is released in June!”

Yo Gabba Gabba! is also going to be released for all ages. It’s a 32 page comic book that samples stories from the anthology. The anthology will be offered from Oni Press at a discount.

With the launch of PulpAngels, we’re going back and reviewing titles that we didn’t have time to before. I hope you enjoy our reviews and please let us know what you think of PulpAngels!

Courtney Crumrin Tales #2: The League of Ordinary Gentlemen is the sequel to “Portrait of the Warlock of a Young Man”. The press release talks about how The League of Ordinary Gentleman is the long awaited sequel and that is because the first novel came out in 2005. The book is out of print now, but The League of Ordinary Gentleman reads like it’s own story.

I’m familiar with Courtney from other series where we follow her as a young girl. This series takes place in the past when her uncle Aloysius is a young man. Aloysius and Alice are part of the Anti-Sorcery Society until Alice finds out the Aloysius is a sorcerer himself.

The beautiful black and white art take us through a story of growing up and greed. We learn some back history on Aloysius as well as his heritage. It’s a very interesting look at how witches and humans worked together until power and greed gets in the way.

The characters are all interesting, but I did find a couple of pages where I had to look back (reading a pdf might be different than having the physical book in your hand) to understand which character did what.

In the end this series made for a great read. I highly recommend it and then going to read the other Courtney novels. I would say that I was surprised that the pdf says ages 7 and up. Personally I would recommend the book for older kids (maybe teens) because of the sometimes violent or implied violent acts in the book.

Oni Press is one of our favorite indie comic books publishers. But it’s also a favorite of nerdcore rapper, Adam WarRock. Adam has created the Oni Press Mixtape where he waxes philosophical about Oni comics.

The Mixtape is available here for free starting today. It features Adam talking about Queen & Country, Super Pro KO, Possessions, The Sixth Gun, Hopeless Savages, Wasteland, Salt Water Taffy, Guerillas, The Crogan Adventures, and Stumptown. There are also tracks with creators like Greg Rucka, Jarrett Williams and Jen Van Meter.

So check it out and go see Adam WarRock in Seattle during Emerald City Comic Con live at Kracklefest.

Scott Pilgrim Poster

Scott Pilgrim may seem like a recent phenom to some people, but Scott has actually been around for six years. Oni Press teamed up with Bryan Lee O’Malley to create the Scott Pilgrim series. Oni Press celebrates this week with the announcement of over one million copies of Scott Pilgrim in print. The series is also currently being translated for 13 different languages for more people to enjoy.

“A million copies in print is a stunning achievement,” said Kuo-Yu Liang, head of Diamond Book Distributors. “It’s great watching Scott Pilgrim and Oni Press grow over the years.” The Scott Pilgrim series first hit shelves in 2004 and has since gone from an indie sensation to a New York Times bestseller and most recently adapted by Universal Studios into a major motion picture, directed by Edgar Wright and starring Michael Cera.

“All this for a little black & white book,” said O’Malley upon hearing the good news. “it’s an amazing success story for indie comics and I can’t thank the fans enough.” Creator Bryan Lee O’Malley and the Scott Pilgrim series have both been honored with multiple awards including the Eisner, Harvey, Doug Wright, Joe Shuster, and National Cartoonists Society Reuben awards, in addition to being named Entertainment Weekly and Wizard Magazine’s Independent Comic of the Year.

If you aren’t familiar with Oni Press yet, visit their website and learn about their books. Oni Press is a company I love for continuing to show diversity in comics and publishing amazing stories.

I am going to try to keep the number of spoilers down. But in the end, just buy the whole series! You won’t be disappointed!

BUY

Bryan Lee O’Malley’s Scott Pilgrim was HUGE at San Diego Comic Con this year. All the buzz was about the upcoming movie. Many fans were picking up book 1 at SDCC, which is encouraging, but really they should have picked up all 6.

There are six volumes of Scott Pilgrim and those six took a little over six years to come out. Volume six ends the series, but there are many of you that haven’t picked up the graphic novel yet and you should.

The Scott Pilgrim series is amazing for it’s ability to fit in charming wit with video game humor. It really is a book that is almost an ode to our generation and what we love in video games and music.

If you don’t have access to a tv (I would say internet, but how would you read this?) and may not know who Scott Pilgrim is, here is the quick run down: Scott is 23 years old, plays bass in the band Sex-Bob-Omb with friends and falls in love with Ramona Flowers. In order to date Ramona, Scott must fight and defeat her seven evil exes. Volume 6 focuses on the final fight with Gideon Graves. The weird thing is, Ramona has disappeared, so Scott is disillusioned about fighting him since he has no idea where Ramona is.

I do feel that the early volumes of Scott Pilgrim had a bit more charm to them. It could be a reflection of Scott’s depression in volume 6 or him growing up, but the charm is a bit off in this volume. Instead we watch Scott get a bit introspective and really take a look at himself and his exes.

I won’t give away details about the final fight (Scott vs Gideon), but it is definitely an interesting fight scene that really ties up the entire story (you find out what happened to Ramona).

It’s sad to see the series end, but O’Malley has definitely ended it well. I think that many of us can relate to the ending of Scott Pilgrim. We all have to deal with change, and while it can be scary, if we have the right person to try it with, then it may not be that bad.

In the end, you should all see the movie, but I strongly urge you to buy the entire Oni Press series. It’s definitely worth your time.

I’ll end with this awesome video. YouTube user TheMrBlonde2010 placed images from the graphic novel to the movie trailer. It gives you a good representation of the art and show you what the original ideas looked like! Now excuse me, while I try to get tickets to see the movie!

Spell Checkers volume 1
Publisher: Oni Press
Writer: Jamie S. Rich
Artists: Nicolas Hitori de & Joelle Jones
Page Count: 144
Price: $11.99
Shelf Date: 4/14/2010

GA Amazon Link

Summary: Three teenage witches use their power for popularity, good grades, and the good life. When nasty graffiti starts showing up about them at their school, they first suspect one another. But when they start losing their powers, and their magical fetishes disappear, they realize this is an attack from outside their circle, and they must join hands (and wits) to defeat the usurper and her demon companion!

Oni Press’ newest series looks at a trio of teenage best friends that just happen to be witches too. Through the story, we learn how the girls created their witch vow and that their magic energy is related to their doll. The school seems to know about their powers and instead of being scared, it actually helps their social status. But someone decides to try and turn the friends against each other.  Think Heathers but without all the random killing.

This story by itself is only okay. But as an introduction to the teenagers, it works. I love the manga-influenced art style, but don’t think it’s a clone. The artists definitely have their own style. I recommend picking Spell Checkers up and can’t wait to see what the next.

I love Oni Press because as a publisher, they take the most chances on stories that evoke an emotion. In Lola: A Ghost Story, the story follows a little boy, Jesse, who travels with his family to the Philippines to attend his grandma’s funeral. He hasn’t been back to the Philippines since the last death in the family.

Title: Lola: A Ghost Story
Publisher: Oni Press
Writer: J. Torres
Artist: Elbert Or
Price: $14.95

I love Oni Press because as a publisher, they take the most chances on stories that evoke an emotion. In Lola: A Ghost Story, the story follows a little boy, Jesse, who travels with his family to the Philippines to attend his grandma’s funeral. He hasn’t been back to the Philippines since the last death in the family.

Lola, Jesse’s grandmother was much loved by her family but also was very special. She had visions and she used those visions to help others that lived in her small town. Jesse’s cousin tells Jesse about the stories of how Lola discovered her talent and used her visions.

We learn that Jesse also sees dead people, but that he’s never told anyone. In learning about his family history he learns how to face his own talents and to stop looking at them as a negative.

I really enjoyed Lola: A Ghost Story because of the way the story was told. I read it as a pdf, but I saw the book recently at a comic book store and the hardback is beautiful. I enjoyed the look into Philippine culture. Throughout the story we are given translations and explanations of cultural aspects. I love the artwork and the way J. Torres chose the less is more approach to dialogue. Each panel had meaning and the story didn’t feel rushed. Lola: A Ghost Story is yet another Oni Press title that delivers alot of emotion in a little package. I hope that this isn’t the last story about Jesse that we see.

Review product was provided by Oni Press, and does not affect the outcome of this review.

Oni Press has announced the addition of International Shipping to their webstore. Now all our International Angels can shop at the Oni Press online and get it delivered to them.

To celebrate the holiday season, Oni Press announces the release of The Sixth Gun short story/Them what Ails Ya: A Christmas Yarn. The really long titled story is released starting today and is brought to you by Cullen Bunn and Brian Hurtt.

The story will run every Tuesday, exclusively at the Oni Press Blog. They have the first part up now.

The epic dark fantasy set in the Old West, is an ongoing, full color series that will be launching from Oni Press in early May 2010.

“I’m really excited about premiering THE SIXTH GUN,” said writer and co-creator Cullen Bunn. “The world of THE SIXTH GUN is overflowing with potential stories, and I’ve got all these ideas that go beyond the actual comic series bouncing around in my head. So when Oni asked if I’d write a prose piece for their blog I jumped at the chance. This is a great opportunity to really expand on the core story and show some of the other things going on in the world. I think Brian might have been a little jealous so he agreed to do some illustrations for the story.”