The Act-i-vate Primer makes The Gray Lady's Christmas List!

In his NY Times holiday guide to graphic novel gift giving, George Gene Gustines has included The Act-i-vate Primer! Here's what he had to say,

'Act-I-Vate Primer'

The “Act-I-Vate Primer” is not for everyone, but it opens a window to the world of free, online comics. Named after the Web collective that created the collection’s 16 stories (some of which contain strong language and sexual situations), the anthology is a mixed bag. Dean Haspiel’s “Bring Me the Heart of Billy Dogma,” a love story between the title character and Jane Legit, is one of the best. It continues the bombastic tone, sexual escapades and striking color palette of the continuing Web series. Other highlights include “The Boy Who Came to Stay,” “Veils” and “Memoirs of the ‘Kid Immortal.’” (IDW, $24.99)

Now hopefully more folks' holidays will be illuminated by the illustrated stories in The Act-i-vate Primer and by the glow of computer monitors browsing Act-i-vate.com! Click the link to purchase a copy at Amazon.com or visit your local comics retailer.

Comic Critique Reviews The Act-i-vate Primer!

Adam McGovern has written yet another astute and discerning review over at ComicCritique.com! This time he doles out the praise in his usual eloquent reportage. Here's a quote:

Peering into the faux-yellowed, off-register murk of Infurnari’s ULTRA-lad! we find a forgotten pulp potboiler concealing a serious graphic novel – concerning an amoral Captain Marvel-esque eternal child-hero inside a series of unworthy adult personalities – that flies toward the scary tension of superlatives without ideals.

That's all he devotes to my story, but what a grand prose it is! Adam is truly a reviewer without peer and he is by far one of the most intelligent readers of comics I know. He closes his piece with this:

The range of interests, level of storytelling and sheer wealth of style are staggering. I haven’t been this anxious to curl up with a colorful collection of the medium’s possibilities since The Great Comic Book Heroes in nineteen-seventy-never-mind. The golden age of comics gets its restart here.

Comic Critique scores the Primer a 4.5 out of 5! To read the rest of this review, click here.

Comic Book Resources Reviews The Act-i-vate Primer!

In his four star review of the Primer, Chad Nevett had this to say about "Memoirs of the 'Kid Immortal'":

…classic comic-looking work of Joe Infurnari on “Memoirs of the ‘Kid Immortal,’” a fantastic story where he does two regular-looking comic pages on each page, telling the story of a wrestler who shares his time with a superhero counterpart.

Click here to read the rest of the review. Thanks, Chad!

Act-i-vate at King Con this Weekend!

I'll be visiting Brooklyn's Comic Convention, King Con, this Saturday November 7th! I'll be participating in the Act-i-vate panel on Saturday and working the table selling Primer's all day. Please stop by and say hello. If you haven't already got your copy of the Primer, this is a great opportunity to have it adorned with signatures and sketches!

Here are some of the highlights and panels members from ACT-I-VATE are participating in:

FRIDAY - NOVEMBER 6TH 2009 - 8PM sharp

THE ACT-I-VATE EXPERIENCE - NYC DEBUT + PRE-PARTY SCREENING The story of the preeminent webcomix collective. A documentary film directed by Seth Kushner + Carlos Molina. Featuring interviews with Nick Bertozzi, Kevin Colden, Molly Crabapple, Simon Fraser, Mike Cavallaro, Dan Goldman, Tim Hamilton, Dean Haspiel, Josh Neufeld, and others as they discuss the genesis of ACT-I-VATE, its impact on the art and business of comics, and its future both online and on the printed page.

SATURDAY - NOVEMBER 7TH 2009

THE ACT-I-VATE PRIMER: SATURDAY 12PM-12:50PM Dean Haspiel (Billy Dogma), Mike Cavallaro (Loviathan), Leland Purvis (Vulcan & Vishnu), Tim Hamilton (Adventures of the Floating Elephant), Simon Fraser (Lilly MacKenzie), Molly Crabapple (Backstage), Joe Infurnari [ULTRA-Lad!), Tim Hall (Uplift the Postivicals), and moderator, Jeff Newelt (SMITH Magazine comics editor), discuss the genesis of THE ACT-I-VATE PRIMER, the premiere webcomix collective's first print anthology, and ACT-I-VATE'S impact on both the art, business, and future of comics.

SPOTLIGHT ON JONATHAN AMES & DEAN HASPIEL: SATURDAY 4PM-4:50PM Jonathan Ames and Dean Haspiel elaborate on their multi-media collaborations, which include their graphic novel, "The Alcoholic," Ames' latest essay collection, "The Double Life Is Twice As Good," and the HBO show, "Bored To Death."

SUNDAY - NOVEMBER 8TH 2009

ZUDA: SUNDAY 3PM-3:50PM Join Ron Perazza (ZUDA COMICS), Kwanza Johnson (ZUDA COMICS), Bobby Timony & Peter Timony (Minion Maze, THE NIGHT OWLS), David Gallaher (HIGH MOON, Box 13), Steve Ellis (HIGH MOON, Box 13), Kevin Colden (Fishtown, I RULE THE NIGHT), Dean Haspiel (Billy Dogma, STREET CODE) and others for an inclusive, roundtable discussion about the advantages, challenges, questions, solutions, costs and benefits of making webcomics for fun and profit. Topics include working with a publisher, self-publishing, promoting yourself, best practices, style and moving from web to print (or vice-versa)!

DIGITAL COMICS ROUNDTABLE: SUNDAY 4PM-4:50PM MODERATOR: Mike Zagari ZUDA, Ron Perazza & Kwanza Johnson ACT-I-VATE, Mike Cavallaro COMIXOLOGY, John Roberts & David Steinberger SMITH MAGAZINE, Jeff Newelt & more to come!

For more panel information, including spotlights on GRAPHIC NYC, Harvey Pekar and The Pekar Project, and Bob Fingerman, go to:

http://www.kingconbrooklyn.com/panels/ http://www.kingconbrooklyn.com/

Pop Matters Reviews The Act-i-vate Primer!

Zane Austin Grant has written a thoughtful and considered review of the Act-i-vate Primer over at PopMatters.com. He has lots of great things to say about a lot of the stories in the book but here's what he had to say about "Memoirs of the 'Kid Immortal" by yours truly:

Another standout story is Joe Infurnari’s Memoirs of the ‘Kid Immortal’, for example, which follows a defeated wrestler on an occult conquest to become a champion.  The art for the story is made to look like a golden age comic you might have found in a junk bin.  The page is faded and the edges are worn, but the story itself transforms the dramatic language of early adventure comics into a sad poetics that matches the main characters disappointment perfectly.

There's lots more to this review and he gives the book an 8 out of 10! I encourage you all to read the whole thing here.

Thanks, Zane!

The Act-i-vate Primer Salon at Book Court Thursday!

Brooklyn preeminent independent bookstore, Book Court, will be hosting a unique and exciting event this week, The Act-i-vate Salon! What makes it oh so fancy (hence the 'Salon') is that members of the Act-i-vate collective will be doing dramatic readings of some of their stories in The Act-i-vate Primer. It's a comics anthology meets performance art plus free alcohol and book signing extravaganza. Whoa, whoa there, Nelly! Don't rush off just yet, the event happens next Thursday, October 29th! Check out the poster above or the this blog post for even more tantalizing tidbits!

Cosmic Comix Discusses The Act-i-vate Primer!

David Lee over at Cosmic Comix wrote a nice piece about our little collective's anthology. Here's an excerpt:

There were 16 stories within this collection and, like all anthologies, there are some stories that really worked, some that showed promise, but there weren’t any that failed. What makes Act-i-vate so strong is the fact that these are all established creators. Act-i-vate is a place for previously published writers and artists to try new things. Some of the highlights were:

(A) “When Lilly Met Cosmo” by Simon Fraser. This is a straight forward science fiction serial and probably the most conventional of all the stories. Our heroine Lilly is traveling to deep space where she will be one of the few women among a large group of men. Along the way she encounters some strange goings on and a man who seems to know her, but she doesn’t recognize him! This is a very polished story that quickly introduces the characters and a couple of subplots. But that’s to be expected from Fraser. He’s been working with 2000AD for a very long time and is a great writer/artist.

(B) “The Boy who came to Stay” by Roger Langridge. Langridge is by far the biggest name on the book because he most recently re-launched the Muppets for BOOM! He’s not new to the business and is one of the best cartoonists out there. This story involves Mugwhup the Great who Langridge has been writing for yours. It’s the same high quality humor that one expects from Langridge

(C) “Memoirs of Kid Immortal” by Joe Infurnari, which is a story about the quest for power and fame. It also made sure that there is a price to pay for such things. I’m not familiar with Infurnari but he turned in a great short story. He also set the pages up to look like an old comic book which was a nice touch.

There are too many good stories in this book to talk about all of them individually, but “Veils” by Mike Cavallaro, “Bring me the Heart of Billy Dogma” by Dean Haspiel (the one risqué story), “Motro” by Ulises Farinas, and “Persimmon Cup” by Nick Bertozzi were all very, very strong. Finally, all the stories are different. Some are science fiction, some are superheroes, some are just people dealing with weird situations but the diversity of the art and subject matter makes the book enjoyable.

Read the entire review here. Thanks so much David!

The Act-i-vate Primer is 29!

I don't exactly know what the number 29 refers to in this article by Jim Gibbons for Wizard Magazine but it's still great to have made it into print (again)!