Once again, the first Saturday in May has come and gone and with it another Free Comic Book Day was celebrated in comic shops across the land. If you were celebrating in the Las Vegas area, you might have run into some of your favorite Plot Twist staffers.

PTP’s own Walid Atshe, Greg Boucher, Cillian Cubstead and James Stone spread art for art’s sake at Cosmic Comics.

Makin’ art and breakin’ hearts.

I’m told a good time was had by all. Greg’s mashups were also a hit but I dunno if I can share them here without worrying about copyrights. I guess you had to be there…

Alternate Reality Comics hosted our bosslady, Jean Munson. She was slinging sketches alongside former PTP contributors Ed Nesmith and Donovan Petersen. Yours truly was only there in a visitors capacity before I was called away to my day job.

Hard at work.

Jean also had this to say: “I am happy to be invited again to Alternate Reality Comics and rep our company with my sketch skills. The thing that makes me happiest is how receptive people are to comics and the continual increase of women identified readers. I hope people continue to open and expand their reading that be stunted by the end of Marvel movie trends. Not everyone has access to studios to make films, but folks have their local shops with affordable comics as medium for the ever expanding human imagination.”

Another happy customer.

And if you stopped by Alternate Reality, you would’ve had an opportunity to be among the first to pick up the winning selection form 2018’s Plot Twist Publishing Pitch Tank, Heaven’s Bastards. If you’ve been keeping up-to-date with our shenanigans, you’d already know that Heaven’s Bastards was written by Pierce Elliott and drawn by Donovan Petersen. Jean did the colors and Justin Newberry crossed the I’s and dotted the T’s as the letterer. Your humble blogger served as editor. If you didn’t stop by, you’ll be crestfallen to know that all the copies we had sold out. But worry no more, dear reader, because the first Wednesday in June (the 5th, in case you wanna watch your calendars) Heaven’s Bastards will be the subject of Alternate Reality’s Artist Spotlight and if you missed it, you can buy copies then before they make their way to other shops in the Las Vegas valley.

Oooh! Also, for those of you who are attending Phoenix Phan Phusion (May 23rd-26th at the Phoenix Convention Center), word on the street is that Jean will have copies at her table (A1821 & A1823) in Artists Alley. Rumor has it that our very own James Stone (A1827) and Cillian Cubstead (A1924) will also be tabling there, so there won’t be a shortage of PTP books to be had. Maybe one of them will file a report about it…. On the 22nd, Jean is also hosting Comic Zine Making For Teens at the Wasted Ink Zine Distro, 2222 N. 16th Street in Phoenix. The fun starts at 7pm and the workshop is free.

-Otto

On April 12th, Jean Munson and I flew to Denver, Colorado to attend the Denver Independent Comic-Con. “Why?” you might ask, well a little backstory is in order…

Last month, we got word that Queens: Rulers Of Feminist Comedy (which is available in our store https://plottwistpublishing.com/shop/) was being considered for four categories at the Dinky Awards. We submitted a copy and we waited. Alas, we didn’t get nominated. 😟

But, we had already booked passage and lodging, so we made like hobbits to Isengard and headed north. The flight was bumpy, we got a bit lost on our way to the hotel. I had never been to Denver before; the city has a lot of character in it’s combination of old and newer architecture. We spent the majority of our time there in the downtown area, checking out the local eateries and shops.

Also, it snowed.

We befriended a cab driver…

…and a statue.

And we also checked out the con.

It became apparent to us that this was a more Colorado-centric convention which made not getting nominated easier to swallow, in this humble blogger’s opinion. It also focused more on creators, which was a new con experience for me. Not too many cosplayers either. I recall seeing a couple of Dekus and a Nymphadora Tonks, though she could’ve also just been a purple-haired woman with a yellow and black scarf.

Our very own Jean Munson made some friends as well. Such as, Krisagon24.

And Liz Prince.

As well as getting caught up with Becky Hawkins.

Also, a Kirby Krackle cameo.

This trip was not without an appearance from comic shops, however. Denver is home to one of the largest comic shops in the country, Mile High Comics.

If anyone from Mile High Comics is reading this, I take product placement costs in store credit…

-Otto

What’s good, Twisties? Just wanted to fill you in a pair of events happening in the next few days. If you’re attending First Friday, keep your eyes peeled for the PTP booth and when you happen to find us, grab a copy of The Lowlands, a new Weird Western Adventure from Studio Stella Polaris and Plot Twist Publishing. Writer Greg Boucher describes it as “A treasure hunter finds a cave rumored to be filled with wealth beyond his wildest dreams, but has he found more than he’s bargained for?”

And if you can’t make it to First Friday, you can find us Saturday on the UNLV Campus for the Festival Of Communities which runs from 11am to 3pm. It takes place near the Student Union.

Stop by either or both and say hey.

-Otto

Mark it on your calendars: March 1st-3rd, 2019. Then be sure to join us at the Las Vegas Toy and Comic Convention at the Westgate Las Vegas Resort and Casino. You can find us at Booth 29. If you‘re looking at the map below, that’s in that group of rows on the right, fourth from the top.

See ya there!
-Otto

The 2018 Vegas Valley Comic Book Festival has come and gone and on behalf of the staff at Plot Twist Publishing, we’d like to thank all of you who were a part of it. In case you missed the new books that were released this weekend – the Queens Anthology as well as the staff-produced Plot Twist Presents, you can still get copies (as well as our other titles) on our website, plottwistpublishing.com. We were also featured in the Las Vegas Review-Journal…(CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE)
…and some of us were interviewed in a forthcoming feature slated for later this year. Stay tuned for details.

We’d also to thank those that supported us by directing festival-goers to our table.

Here it is, Twisties! Your guide for the 11th Annual Vegas Valley Comic Book Festival. You can find us this Saturday, November 3rd in the courtyard area at booth #24. We’re a stone’s throw from the doors as you make your way into the library. If you’ve been following us over the course of the year, you should know by now that you can pick up our Fresh-from-Kickstarter anthology, Queens: Rulers of Feminist Comedy. It was quite the journey to get to this finish line, but we didn’t stop believing and neither did you. Once again, thanks to all of you who helped make this a reality.

 

But that’s not all! I’ve kept this under my hat as much as I could, but Plot Twist Publishing will also be debuting out latest anthology, Plot Twist Presents. With this book, we looked inward and drew upon our collective talents to create diverse stories that are sure to stick with you well after you’ve finished reading. Copies are limited, so get them while you can! And, in case you missed it’s debut at Halloween Comic Fest, we’ll also have copies of the next chapter of the Western epic that is San Elizario, Hotel Arlington. Story by Greg Boucher with art by James Stone.

 

See you then, friends.

 

Written by Mark Otto

 

If you’re heard of Trigger Warning during this past week in American Politics, you’d hear that it’s about traumas reopening for survivors of sexual assault, harassment, and that is causes distress. I’ve thought long and hard about what I would write tonight because my heart is so heavy. As we head into election day with voter registration as an immediate remedy, I also thought of other avenues to heal a nation that has communities feeling silenced, lost, and dis-empowered even while trying their best to have a strong front. I thought about two things:

1. I used to tell my students I visited on career day that we vote every day, even if it’s not on election day. We vote by what we choose to consume, from the products we endorse and the pop culture we support. Those very entities are sustained whether or not they practice ethical business practices, employ people fairly, and offer people a voice/representation on a main stage.

2. While growing up I was exposed to the very few representations of the kind of women I wanted to become as a young woman of color with fledgling interests in feminism. And through it all, I still find myself support those notions, those people, and those redeeming characteristics that continue to live in the business, pop culture, and other feminist entities. Here’s a picture of me and Assistant Editor Mark Otto, before we even work together. But here we are tied by the image of feminist characters existing in the media that we mutually celebrated.

This raises my last point on how young people who can’t vote yet, can choose to change oppressive culture. Maybe we can create an alternate view to Trigger Warning by way of Trigger Rising. When a reader sees, reads, and understands the characters in Queens Comic Anthology, they can reference it to growing up in a way that helps them rise and uplift. With referencing Rising as immediate as Warnings which move us into emotional states, we can be pockets of healing and strength in present and bright future to come.

Thank you for helping us continue this journey to change comics, perceptions of women, ideas of activism, and most of all, rising to the best we can be. We hope that you can share our link and our love for all the women, allies, and non-allies (yes, even them) who will need and want this book. In the last few days of this campaign, while we are eagerly standing by our computer and calling upon all the larger networks and wider nets, we think it works best when YOU have a distinct and powerful conversation with a couple of friends why this book will be a game changer for anyone waiting to rise up and meet a new day.

From the Alternate Universe of the Queens Editors lots of love,

Rei Hino (Sailor Mars) & Tina Belcher

Monday morning, I was fortunate enough to get to sleep in for a bit. It was pretty neat; sleeping is one of the few vices I have left. When I woke up, I checked the daily update for our Queens Anthology on Kickstarter. (Btw, thanks for your support to those of you have pledged. To those of you have yet to do so, there’s still time) I was greeted by a less than pleasant comment….

To be fair, Zoidberg references never go out of style…

It should be noted that today, we were featured on the front page of Kickstarter so this attempt at trollery was likely in response to that. It’s cool though. It cost Wingnut a dollar to make the comment, so who’s the real winner here?

I guess it was inevitable that a comic anthology that focuses on feminist comedy would irk those who fancy themselves as comicsgaters, people (usually straight white males) who are opposed to comicbook characters that represent the underrepresented. As an upstart comics creator, I must admit that I keep this mentality in mind when writing stories as an example of what not to do. A personal philosophy I try to live by is if I don’t like a certain behavior, then I shouldn’t act in said behavior.

Over the last few years, certain comic book mantles have been undertaken by new characters designed to represent a broader cross-section of fans. This should be seen as a good thing, yet for a vocal minority, it is another target for them to project their insecurities onto. And it’s spread beyond comics. As a Star Wars fan for most of my life, parts of the fandom makes me hang my head in shame when I hear stories of online harassment levied towards actresses who apparently committed the crime of being born female and accepting work in a beloved film franchise.

“WHY CAN’T THEY STAR WARS LIKE I WANT THEM TO?”

I can type about the right and wrong sides of history til I’m blue in the fingers. Or I can be better than those I disagree with by continuing to tell stories that will hopefully appeal to a broader base of readers. More often than not, the people who are quick to complain about females, poc, and LGBTQ characters getting a fair share of the spotlight aren’t motivated to create stories that express their viewpoint. So instead, they take to their keyboards to post comments like the one from above and they go about their day thinking that they won this round. The reality is all they’ve done is remind me that we should keep pressing forward.

I just hope that future detractors will be more creative with their insults instead of relying on tired meme-based ones…

You can check out our Queens Anthology Kickstarter here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/queenscomic/queens-conquering-sexism-with-feminist-comedy/dashboard?ref=email