Meow Everyone, Just meow,

More fantastic news from the amazing world of the funnybook-makers... Nate "The Great" is back! Nate Lovett from the fantastic "Xombie: Reanimated," published by Devil's Due Publishing (now available in trade), will be lending his artistic talents to the upcoming SPECTACULAR SUPER SECRET PROJECT!!! We can tell you that he is also going to be doing further projects with the Fat Cat in the future! More of his art can be viewed at www.natelovett.com. So, keep your eye on the prize, and don't let the man get you down!

Believe in the Meow!

Cat Call: Issue VI

Meow! We are firing on all cylinders. Issue two of, "Small Town Type" is nearing completion! After long hours, and hard work it is coming to a close.  We are getting ever so closer to the release of the next Distracula. Jay is at it again with a new series! That's right! The nocturnal Nostradamus is at it again! It is a hush-hush operation at this point, but let me assure you that this is going to be a noteworthy expansion of the Fat Cat U!  

There is an expansion happening right now! More artists are joining the ranks! Stephanie O'Donnell (http://theairingcupboard.net/tonf/) is back! After her pinups in "In the Can" she is back and doing some sequential pages in the upcoming… drum roll please…

Oh! Sorry! I can't tell you yet! BUT IT IS GOING TO BE BIG!

MORE ARTISTS! VETERANS FROM MARVEL AND DC!

Coming Soon!!!

Meow!!

The Fat Cat

 

Fat Cat Funnies, specifically its publisher, posted a creative gig on Craigslist.  It got some reaponse, but was responded to, then red flagged and kicked off; accused of fraud.  Anyone who knows anything about how hard we work and what we do knows that we do it the right way.  I generally pay my artists and writers better than I do myself, even when (as is most cases) the work is sub-par.

Why help the kid with the sketch pad? Why toss a few bucks to someone with a couple of dreams? Why not keep the 50 bucks and go buy some stupid THING that will go largely unused for the rest of time? Gee, I don't know anymore.  It merely reminds me of how brutally cruel Bostonian Fans with a capital F, can be; especially when someone is a good person, and the scenario presented may seem a little too good to be true.

I may or may not ever post again on CraigsList, no matter how far I go or what company's I work for I may not try as hard to lift others up with me as I go from the lowly beginnings of all-nighters for no pay, and cozy garden level gems.

Ian Nichols
Publisher, Editor, Promoter, Writer, Artist, Print Press Operator, Fan

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Meow Is Now! 

Fat Cat Funnies is on its way!

"Small Towwn Type" Issue One made its debut at the Boston Comic Con this past weekend.  There were many-a-folk there from all walks of life.  There were some of those guys that never leave their basements, but there were people from all levels, even a big wig from Hasbro checked us out.

The long and the Short of "Small Town Type..."  It was many months of dreams and labor to get it out.  It was Written, penciled, inked, water colored, and even printed (yes he operated the press), by Ian Nichols.  The book was a success under the circumstances because all of the local indy guys were stuck in the back corner room of the convention.

All in all it is a full color dream on paper.  It was entirely done in brush with the exception of minute background elements.  The watercolors show great skill and mastery of a medium.  It is available through this site for $4.00 plus shipping, and will always come with a free sketch.

Meow! 

Captain From a Forgotten Era

     Nostalgia can be a thing of great power.  It can be something that is over-hyped and overly abused.  There are times, however, where it is more fitting than others.  In an age where, in comics, death has no meaning, one death stands alone in the hierarchy of demise.  In the 1970's Jim Starlin defined many a character, and in his stead as the master of the cosmos he planted many seeds that would go one to bear fruitful series and crossovers.  One moment stands ahead of the others in his masterful career.  The death of Mar-vel is the only perfect moment in comics.  It was logical, epic, and something that has no chance for reprisal. 
     Paul Jenkins is a man that has written countless meaningless moments in comicdom.  He also has written many moments of note that should be coveted more than they are.  His run on, "The Inhumans," with Jae Lee is one of the greatest interpretations of Kirby characters that has ever been created.  He also was asked by Joe Quesada to do something that would go down as either a monumental flop or a ridiculous mistake.  However, it was played off as a minor note.  He simply said, "here he is," in essence. 
     The return of Captain Marvel is something that I even scoffed at.  There was no reason for it, no vendetta, no unfinished business that hadn't been remedied by one or numerous of his companions.  The death from cancer was something that made sense, after all an un-natural element was introduced into his body and it created, along with exposure to an alien gas, cancer.  Not space cancer, not super-cancer, just something that anyone can die from. 
     The 1970's was an era in comics where everything was either great or awful.  There was not the common mediocraty that there is today.  Captain Marvel was great, then terrible, then unreadable, then with Pat Broderick and Gary Fiedrich was great again in the early 1980's. 
     Lee Weeks is a man with a flair for the odl fashioned, that at times, seems, can't get a break.  He is an underrated artist that illustrated the only meaningful X-Men mini-series of the 1990's of which there were hundreds.  He went on and did stints on Daredevil that were quickly forgotten in continuity because of their lack of story or ridiculous 'Generation X' themes. 
    Each of these men either directly, or indirectly created something of weight in the new "Captain Marvel."  A man who lived in chaos and randomized events is brought to the future shortly before his death.  He knows his death is eminant and is searching for his place in the world.  No flash, no gamma bomb, he is just a man on a mission of redemption and self-discovery under fantastic cicrcumstances.  The art is beautiful and the story is something that is not trying to be more than it is.  The only crime is that the covers are not done by Weeks.  It is a book that I await its arrival every month and believe it to be something that will be a fleeting moment in time, and something worth having in the back of a long box of otherwise pointless stapled pages. 

Cat Call: Issue Two

Hey there all.  Things are going a million miles an hour and we are clawing on for dear life.  One of our artists is kickin some tail around these parts.  Ian is teaching classes at Michaels, putting out his own book, and has just signed with Broken Soul for a murder mystery type of funnybook.  Kudos for him, now he can quit bitching about the work around here.  On another note we have Jay crankin into high gear with Distracula, and should have a refined copy of issue two shortly.  After that he is working with us for the entirety of issue three.  It will be the best piece of work he has ever put out with the support of the gang. 

Comic Stuff:
A nifty surprise crossed my path recently.  It is a book by Top Cow, I know I know it's Top Cow.  Paul Dini has created a nice little Sci-Fi book, that for its own sake should seek out another publisher in 'Madame Mirage'.  It is a good story with a fantastic artist, but it is very evident that the creators were pressured into boosting up its visuals with the usual sacks of salene and such.  Don't get me wrong I like a nice tail, but there is a right and a wrong way of doing things in that regard.  Dial it down and that could be the surprise book of the back issue box.  However, the realist in me sees it falling the same way as 'Inferno.' It is a book with potential, but there is no growth in any book that they have ever put out, so that won't happen and the max run on the book will be six issues at most.  They will try to do a crossover at the end, but it will already be over. 

Alas, there are some pretty good titles to check out.  Starlin, the man, the myth, the legend, is back weaving his cosmic web throughout the cosmos of visual narratives with 'The Death of the New Gods.'  Marvel has done a good thing for a change with a relaunch.  This is maybe the first time I have said that, but 'Marvel Comics Presents' is a title that classically gave old and fogotten artists a venue, and new up-and-comers an opportunity to get a cup of coffee with the big M.  Guys like Joe Mad, Ron Lim, Sam Keith, Scott Lobdell, all got rolling on that title.  John Buscema, Steve Ditko, Steve Lightle, Brent Anderson, and others all kept their careers going and money coming in because of that book.  So, DC and Marvel did okay this month, but let's not forget that they put out dozens of titles each every month and these are but a few. 

Anyway, other crap to rant about... I had to work durring the World Series parade AND Halloween... sucks to be me I guess...

Bow before the meow!
Bye!

Cat Call: Issue One

Fatty here, and I just wanted to let you know that I will be posting all of my thoughts on everything comics, and whatever else I damn well please to rant about here.  No one is reading it now, so this if more for me so... yeah, here we go...

Comic Stuff:

Rick Leonardi is back!  They finally teamed him up with a worthwhile inker and his dynamic and stylized pencils have the same flair that they did in the early stuff.  His fluidity and layout creativity have not been compromised over time.  His Clark Kent is heroic, yet warm, and it bestows a sense of comfort onto the reader.  He does not overdo his panels and the simplistic placement of icons makes it more than ejoyable to be reading his stuff again.  He has a style very similer to that of Frank Miller's, but it is more graceful and clearly more influenced by the Ashcan artists and early American Illustrators.  

Essential Rick Leonardi Reading: Marvel Comics Presents 9-17, His Uncanny X-Men issues that were inked by P. Craig Russell in the 1980's, Spiderman 2099 (Laugh if you like, but if you read it agian you will go... man thats pretty good!), Cloak & Dagger (both series) 

 A lot of folks regard the Silvestri issues of that period, durring the, "Mutant Massacre" and, "Inferno," as the  best of the run, but I very much disagree, and they are at best equal to those of Leonardi.  On top of all that he is a very cool cat, a nice guy,  and he does con sketches for free.

Other Stuff:
The traffic on 93-South, coming from the airport... awful!

Until the next... meow!

Fatty