Strange Adventures

Welcome to Strange Adventures - Canada's oddest and award-winning comic book stores. Now located in Fredericton, Halifax and Dartmouth, Strange Adventures has been bringing you the best in comics since 1992!

Archive for the ‘Misc’ Category

Rockets, Canuck Comic News, and other tidbits

Rocketeer rocketing your way in a week or so!

The first issue of the new Rocketeer mini-series “Hollywood Horror” by
Roger Langridge and J. Bone debuts on Feb. 27th! This series will also have
exclusive-to-Strange-Adventures variant covers by Signalnoise!

The first two images have been posted to the web and IDW’s editor-in-chief, Chris Ryall,
noted that the first one was even posted to Comics Alliances “Best Art Ever (this week)”

http://ryallsfiles.tumblr.com/post/40867873534/the-rocketeer-by-james-white-a-variant-cover

and here’s a peek at the second one:
http://geekynerfherder.blogspot.ca/2013/01/cool-art-rocketeer-hollywood-horror-2.html

and blurppy did a feature on James White / Signalnoise and the Rocketeer covers as well:
http://blurppy.com/2013/01/21/signalnoise-aka-james-white-presents-the-rocketeer-and-shares-his-knowledge-with-you/

Stay tuned to our Facebook, twitter and website – we’re hoping to arrange a charity
screening of The Rocketeer to mark the release of the first issue!

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Keepin’ it Canuck
Some nifty blogs and websites that focus on comics with a Canadian flavour:

Sequential is a Canadian comix news and culture website that has news, reviews
and more. Here’s a sample -
http://sequential.spiltink.org/the-c-list-cross-canada-links-for-comix-frinks/

Comic Syrup is a blog about Canadian comic books
http://comicsyrup.com

both these sites also have links to other spots you might find interesting!

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Hey, Ladies!
Ladies Night in Halifax is Saturday, Feb. 23rd from 6-8PM!

Ladies Night in Fredericton is Saturday, March 2nd from 6-8PM!

Tell your mom, your friends, your co-workers and strangers on the bus!

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Unreal Estate
I may have already mentioned this one, but it’s worth another look if I did.
Tim Doyle, aka Nakatomi Tim, is an artist based in Texas and recently did a solo
show called UnReal Estate. New visions of places like Evergreen Terrace, Downton
Abbey, the cafe from Twin Peaks, and, of course, Castle Greyskull.

http://insidetherockposterframe.blogspot.ca/2013/02/tim-doyle-solo-show-unreal-estate-ii.html?m=1

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It’s a SMORGY with Kevin Smith and pals!

The fine folks at Sonic Concerts are bringing back Kevin Smith for another show at the Spatz Theatre; and he’s not coming alone!

A two day event! Sonic Concerts have given us 3 pairs of tickets to the event and you can win a pair!

Info is on our facebook group page, right here:

[from the facebook thread]:
okay, so the event is on the weekend of Jan. 26th/27th and folks need time to plan, so we should give out the tickets a few days beforehand. Say, the 23rd.

So here’s how we’re going to do it. Share the photo at the top of this thread – the SMORGY poster – spread it far and wide, and we’ll know about it. Add your comment here to let us know, too. Do something to promote Jay & Silent Bob, post a photo with a link here with you dressed as one of the Kevin Smith characters.

Pose with your favourite Kevin Smith DVDs or comic books and post the pic here. Start a frenzy! Or if you’re not the frenzy type, tell us why you want to see the SMORGY and we’ll enter all of y’all into a random draw for the tickets. We have three pairs to give away to three lucky folks who can then take a pal to the SMORGY!

We’ll announce the winners here on Jan. 22nd around lunchtime!

Essentially, help spread the word, and show us how you’re doing it!

for more info on the show or to get tickets, check out Sonic Concerts:

www.sonicconcerts.com / www.facebook.com/sonicconcerts / www.twitter.com/sonicconcerts

Goodbye old friend

The Strange Adventures Bug is no more. Permit me a few remembrances of a fine automobile…

Balou, my old sheepdog and shop mascot, loved riding in the bug.

The bug took me to and from work, to Montreal, back and forth to Fredericton, to Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont and all over the maritimes. Here it’s seen with my co-pilot, a stuffed spider-man, on the way to the Fredericton shop.

Since 2000, the bug was seen all over the city promoting Strange Adventures and hopefully encouraging people to check out the wonderful world of comics! Supersnipe is pictured here with the bug on Citadel Hill.

The six foot Icebat plush doll takes a drive from Fredericton to Halifax. It loved the big windows.

The bug was even used as a backdrop for a model photo shoot. Handsome devil, that bug!

It wasn’t afraid of water, seen here on the LaHave Ferry.

The bug had a full life, once having a seized engine, but was able to recover and get back on its wheels and had many years left. It was going to get some cosmetic surgery this fall and a new paint job, but that won’t happen now.

In September, a pal was using the bug to get home to Cape Breton for the weekend and while stopped at a construction zone, the above vehicle neglected to stop and slammed into the bug.

Here you can see the skid marks of the minivan.

The bug was hit hard and the frame was twisted badly.

The front end of the bug was pushed into the vehicle ahead of it crumpling the hood and damaging the rear end of the other vehicle.

Luckily, there were no apparent serious injuries to the folks in the bug. Badly shaken up and many aches and pains. The bug, however, was mortally wounded.

We had some great times and I was hoping for many more.

Goodbye old friend.

Twenty years! So far so good!

2012 is the twentieth anniversary of Strange Adventures!

We’ll be having a few events throughout the rest of the year to celebrate and to thank all of our customers, past, present and future, for making it all happen!

(spiffy artwork by Kate Leth / www.kateordiecomics.com)

and as mentioned in a previous blog post:

On Saturday June 30th, Fredericton will be hosting a signing
with Wolverine & the X-men artist Nick Bradshaw!

AND we’re celebrating the 20th anniversary all Canada Day
weekend with 20% off comics and graphic novels!
(See in-store for details and hours)

GIRLS, CUPCAKES & COMICS

The latest Ladies Night event seemed to go very well according to all involved.

Jay, the manager at the Fredericton Strange Adventures reported, “As you’ve seen on the Twitters & the Facebooks, Ladies’ Night went over swimmingly! The lineup before opening went past Peter Roberts! I visited a couple times (just outside looking in) and the place was packed almost the entire time and everyone seemed to have a great time.

Pictured on the right are more cupcakes. I think these were made by Kelly, intrepid Strange staff member. They look great! (Another swiped
photo from Kate’s instagram:

http://instagr.am/p/I2kb6hncVq/)

We’ll hopefully have some more pics soon.
Thanks to all who attended and the ladies (and a couple of boys) who put the event together!

Some great photos are here on the facebook event page!

LOTS ON THE BURNER

Pretty cool Supersnipe, eh? A gift from Lissa Patillo who is hard at work on our new store website that will include the beginnings of our on-line store! We hope to have this beast operational in the next couple of months. Please do stay tuned! (and thanks Lissa!) You can see some of Lissa’s work at her website http://lissapattillo.com Lissa made the Friends with Boys website where Faith Erin Hicks has been serializing her new graphic novel of the same name. It concludes very soon and the printed version will be making its debut at our next Ladies Night event, Feb. 29th from 7-9pm.

More info on Ladies Night is at the facebook event page her: and the Dal Gazette ran an article about it here: http://dalgazette.com/featured/wonder-women-of-halifax/ and Wired.com just posted an interview with Faith here.

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Dave Howlett, Halifax’s intrepid store manager had a few notes about some fo the comics that arrived on Feb. 15th:

ROAD RAGE #1: An adaptation of the story “Throttle”, a collaboration between father-and-son literary powerhouses Stephen King and Joe Hill! A dangerous motorcycle club meets an even more dangerous nemesis in the form of a mysterious, homicidal trucker who stalks them on the desert highway. This story was written as a tribute to TWILIGHT ZONE legend Richard Matheson’s story “Duel” (adapted for TV in 1971 by a young Steven Spielberg!), and Matheson’s tale will be adapted for the second half of this four-issue miniseries from IDW.

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THIS JUST IN…..JAN 23RD EDITION

Some titbits from hither & yon:

Our phones in Halifax are messed up. We can make outgoing calls but don’t get incoming, so if you need to get ahold of Halifax, send an email, tweet us @strangeadventrz or drop us a note on the facebook page. Sorry for any inconvenience. We’re told this should be fixed soon.

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Mark Crilley of Akiko fame has a “how to draw” book coming soon and has been uploading videos on youtube such as this one:

How to draw feet/shoes, front view, male & female http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ntav3pmNJbU

Many more on there as well for any aspiring artists out there!

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One of my favourite cartoonists, Faith Erin Hicks posted this strip lamenting the stereotype that girls don’t read/draw/write comics. Take a moment and check it out, won’t you? http://faith.do-ob.com/smuu/mansworld.jpg

Faith’s new book, Friends with Boys, arrives at the end of February but you can read it now at http://www.friendswithboys.com/

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Kate at the Halifax store made some original valentine’s day cards and is selling them on her etsy site and at the Halifax shop

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MARTINI EDITION BOOK LAUNCH

to mark the release of Parker: The Martini Edition, we thought something should be done that was a little more than a book signing. As the oversized slipcased hardcover is titled “The Martini Edition”, why not a martini party with a 1960s theme? Nathan booked a jazz trio, the Foggy Goggle was secured as the location, special martini glasses were commissioned and we were set:

We decorated the place with large prints of Darwyn’s work and the staff of the Foggy Goggle looked like they walked off the set of Mad Men. They also put together a swanky drink menu of cocktails such as Manhattans, Sidecars and more classic 60s era drinks. Several people drove from New Brunswick for the event! A great time was had by all – thanks to our special guests Darwyn and Marsha and the evening would not have been a success without the great help of the Strange Adventures crew and the wonderful folks at the Foggy Goggle, the Greg Hann Trio, Power Promotions for their fine and timely work in getting the martini glasses, and all the folks who bought Martini Editions!

Get your copy of Parker: The Martini Edition! Makes a great gift and it’s available wherever fine books are sold.

HAL-CON WEEKEND (& CAL-CON!)

The Halifax store will be closed on Friday, November 11th for Remembrance Day and to get ready for the big Hal-Con weekend! The big sci-fi convention takes place at the Convention Center on Argyle Street in the heart of downtown.

Stay tuned to our twitter feed and facebook page for updates on special deals all weekend at Cal-Con, ridiculously good deals on Star Wars poop and Doctor Whatsit stuff!

Strange Adventures will be playing host at a signing booth in the autograph area and here’s a partial schedule of events:

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SPRING SPROINGING SPRIGHTLY

Nate Simpson has an interesting comic book series starting this spring called Nonplayer.

NONPLAYER is the story of Dana Stevens, a young woman who retreats from the dismal workaday world of the future into the digital fantasy realm of Jarvath, where she’s a fearless warrior. Dana is not alone in her pursuits, however, and before long her adventures begin to cat-and-mouse back and forth between the two worlds.

check out a preview of the first issue here.

Speaking of comics, there’s a new series starting this week called The Intrepids that I thought looked cool. Check out the first issue this Wednesday at your local Strange Adventures and click here for a preview of the second issue.

I’ll be updating this blog entry some more in a day or so as I have a blog to recommend as well as some clips from the All-star Superman movie that has just been released on DVD. You could even win a copy!

and more, gosh, lots more that I keep putting on my “to do” list and it keeps growing and growing!