Giveaways

When we bravely went to the MAN OF STEEL World Premiere and star-studded after party earlier this week, sponsored by Nokia, it wasn't just to bring you on the scene coverage, oh no. It was so we could offer Beat Readers a free smart phone. PLUS A ZOD MASK. We all know you are desperate to win a Zod mask, so please keep reading.

Publishers First Second currently have a fun and creative pre-order campaign for the print release of Faith Erin Hicks and Prudence Shen's Nothing Can Possibly Go Wrong. It's a tiered reward incentive model, with prizes...

Today sees the release of Demon Knights #20 from DC, written by Robert Venditti and drawn by Bernard Chang. And Chang is so excited about the book that he's set up a competition for...

2012 has been a spectacular year of releases for London's SelfMadeHero. Ranging from the histrionic visionary account of the People's Republic of China in A CHINESE LIFE to the triumphant return of SANDMAN alum...

Of course, with THE AVENGERS on its way to becoming the #1 movie of all time, everyone is going to want to celebrate with Avengers-themed paper plates for the summer barbecues and birthday bashes. Luckily Discount Party Supplies has what you're looking for, including a 10% discount on Avengers party stuff until the 26th if you use discount code AVENGERS10.

This one is a little different. Rather than a book coming from The Beat's own archives of duplicates and books in need of a home, comics writer Marc Andreyko is offering ALL FIVE of the paperbacks collecting his run on MANHUNTER as a giveaway. Andreyko will sign them -- and personalize them, if so desired. Included in the giveaway:

When the first FLIGHT anthology appeared in 2007, some people thought it was the beginning of a new school of comics -- a group of artists as influenced by animation (particularly Miyazaki) as comics. While many of them have yet to make a huge mark in comics, a bunch of Flight alumni have gone on to create significant comics -- for instance, Vera Brosgal's ANYA'S GHOST just came out this year; Kazu Kibuishi's AMULET series continues to gain young readers, and Jake Parker has illustrated his own books in addition to a collaboration with Michael Chabon. The list goes on and on -- Sonny Liew, Becky Cloonan, Hope Larson -- most of the artists in FLIGHT are young, and they have years of work ahead of them. FLIGHT #2 is if anything an even more spectacular than the first book. Check out the contributors and previews below -- it's a stunning anthology of breathtaking art and optimistic stories, and one of the finest comics anthologies of the decade:

When you think of Scandinavia you think of cliches like austere and laconic and fatalism -- all words which apply to the work of Norwegian cartoonist Jason. The cliches happen to be true but in the happiest, freshest way. As you can tell by reading his blog, Jason is a big fan of classic films and their pacing, and his work mashes up funny animals, ligne claire, noir thrillers, introspective indie movies where people talk in diners for hours and horror icons into his own marvelous style -- tightly plotted stories where tall rangy birds and dogs talk without smiling of life, love and death, the very essentials of human existence. Jason characters are unsmiling because they know how deadly serious are the machinations of human heart; love is a matter of life and death (sometimes undeath) in every Jason story.

It is perhaps surprising, given his huge reputation, just how slim Chester Brown's published works are -- five graphic novels and a short story collection. But given the power of the stories in THE PLAYBOY (1992) and I NEVER LIKED YOU (1994), the source of his stature is obvious. Two of the most painful, honest and haunting tales of adolescence ever put in comics, they are among the 100 best comics of all times, according to the Comics Journal.

Original comics additions to best-selling fantasy series are one of the hottest trends in graphic novels these days, and here's a new one that looks to continue that trend. Kim Harrison's The Hollows urban fantasy series has already sold over a million copies and now it's joining the graphic novel world with BLOOD WORK, an original gn set in the Hollows world with art by Pedro Maia an Gemma Magno. The book was written by Harrison herself and goes on sale on July 12th. The Hollows series is set in an alternate world where supernatural witches, vampires, werewolves and pixies lives alongside more regular humans. Rachel Morgan, a witch, is a detective who investigates crimes that involves both worlds. BLOOD WORK tells the story of how Morgan and her vampire partner Ivy Tamwood met for the first time and teamed up.

We're sure Beat readers were as pleased as we were when the incredibly talented artist/animator Shaun Tan won the Oscar™ for Best Animated Short Film last weekend for THE LOST THING. Nine years in the making, the short is based on his book of the same name, which has been basically unavailable in the US for a while now. However, a NEW edition has just come out from Scholastic in a collection called LOST & FOUND which includes not only THE LOST THING but two other magical Tan tales, THE RED TREE and THE RABBIT.

Do you like the Twilight Zone? Do you enjoy horror movies? Do you like mischievous half-human observers who set off events of mutilation, transformation and dismemberment?Then you will like today's giveaway, CAT-EYED BOY Volume...