I just wrapped up Jack Kirby Collector #56, and it’s off to the printer. What a fun issue! It focuses on Jack’s “unfinished sagas”—all those ideas and series that either never got produced, or that he never got to complete properly.

Some would say concepts like his SOUL LOVE blaxsploitation magazine deserve to remain unfinished; we’ve got a complete story from it in the issue, so you can judge for yourself. Me? I think, once you get past the need for supposedly “hip” dialogue, it’s actually pretty solid romance comics (by the guy who co-pioneered the genre, so no one should really be surprised).

There’s a free preview available now in both PDF or FLASH format, so check it out. The issue ships March 30.

The Eagle Awards, Britain’s answer to the Eisners, has just given TwoMorrows two—count ’em, two—nominations in the category of “Favorite magazine about comics”. Both ALTER EGO and BACK ISSUE are up for the honor (and unlike the Eisners, the Eagles are break websites and magazines into two different categories—cause, c’mon, they’re entirely different animals).

Congratulations to both editor ROY THOMAS and MICHAEL EURY for the recognition of their stellar work on their respective mags! I just hope they don’t split the vote… (and don’t ask me which one I’ve voting for, Sophie!).

But you can vote here.

BrickJournal #14 takes you into the world of stop-motion LEGO films, and is guest-edited by renowned brickfilmer David Pagano, who’s also our Special Guest at the BrickMagic LEGO Festival here in Raleigh, NC over Mother’s Day Weekend this May. (That’s David in the shadows on the cover.) If you’ve ever been curious how they make all those wonderful LEGO films you see all over the Internet, and on the LEGO Club show and on LEGO.com, check out our free PDF preview of the issue:

http://www.twomorrows.com/media/BrickJournal14Preview.pdf
The issue will be available on March 23 in both Print and Digital Editions (print customers will receive a free link to the digital edition), and you can pre-order here:

http://twomorrows.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=962

And for those of you who are really into brickfilming, you’ll want to check out our BrickFlix Film Festival, held the day before the BrickMagic festival on May 4 in Durham, NC at the historic Carolina Theater. David’ll be on hand to offer commentary on some of the films at BrickFlix, and taking a Q&A after each showing, as well as hosting a panel at BrickMagic.

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You can get the lowdown on everything we’ve got in the new issue of Diamond’s PREVIEWS catalog by clicking HERE!

Diamond inadvertently listed the wrong price for ALTER EGO #101 in the new issue of their PREVIEWS catalog. The correct price is the usual $7.95, and that’s what you’ll be charged if you order it through your local comics shop. Retailers have been notified by Diamond of the mix-up.

(The problem happened because issue #100, a.k.a. ALTER EGO: CENTENNIAL, which is due out in two weeks, is a double-size $19.95 book instead of the usual $7.95 mag, and the one-time price increase accidentally got carried over in their system.)

Our 2011-2012 catalog is now available in both Digital and Print versions! You can download the interactive Digital version right now at:

http://www.twomorrows.com/media/2011DigitalCatalog.pdf

Once you download it, just click on any item, and you’ll automatically be taken to the correct page on our webstore to order it.

If you’d prefer we mail you a free copy of the Print edition, just go to this link:

http://twomorrows.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=66&products_id=370

Add it to your shopping cart and checkout, and it’ll be on its way to you shortly.

Help us save paper, the environment, and postage: If you’re getting a copy of BACK ISSUE #47, ALTER EGO #101, DRAW #20, or JACK KIRBY COLLECTOR #56 by subscription or at your local comic book shop, DON’T ORDER AN EXTRA PRINTED CATALOG! You’ll already be getting a copy of the catalog included with those issues, so no need to order another one. But go ahead and get the Digital version right now if you just can’t wait to see what we’ve got cookin’ for 2011!

Yep, our BrickMagic LEGO Festival here in Raleigh, NC last year was such a big hit, we’re organizing it again this year over Mother’s Day Weekend (May 5-8)! You can find all the details at www.brickmagic.org, but we’ve just confirmed what our Guest of Honor will be building.

Sean Kenny is a Certified Professional LEGO Builder, of which there are only a handful in the world. He’s also a big supporter and advocate for transportation alternatives—he doesn’t own a car, and he rides a bike to work every day in New York City. As part of his goal of reducing traffic and making streets much safer and more enjoyable for everyone, at BrickMagic he’ll be letting fans of all ages use LEGO bricks to build the gnarliest, worst, clogged up traffic jam in the world, while he adds a FULL-SIZE BICYCLE towering over it, made entirely of LEGO bricks!

I can’t wait to see this thing completed, especially since he only has two days to do it. And based on last year’s “group build”, I think the “traffic jam” that kids will help build may be even more amazing than the bike!

…Roy Thomas and Bill Schelly will both be Guests of Honor at this summer’s Comic-Con International: San Diego in connection with their “50th Anniversary of Comics Fandom” theme. Other special guests will be Richard and Pat Lupoff, Richard Kyle and Maggie Thompson, all of whom were responsible for the founding and growth of comics fandom in its infancy in the early 1960s. Without them, I’m pretty sure we wouldn’t be publishing comics mags today. Glad to see Comic-Con’s going to honor these fine folks!

ALTER EGO: CENTENNIAL (a.k.a. Alter Ego #100) is at the printer, and it’s a whopper! It clocks in at 160 pages (twice a normal issue), in trade paperback format for this one issue, with a lengthy color section. It celebrates not only Roy’s 100 issues of the current incarnation of A/E, but the 50-year anniversary of ALTER EGO’s founding by Roy and Jerry Bails, in the early days of 1960s comics fandom. I’m proud to have been publishing the original, legendary super-hero fanzine all these years, and this special anniversary edition features Jim Amash interviewing Roy Thomas about his work at DC Comics in the 1980s (with LOTS of behind the scenes stuff I’ve never heard Roy discuss before). There’s also Alter Ego staples Mr. Monster’s Comic Crypt, Fawcett Collectors of America (FCA), and lots, lots more, so check out the free preview I just posted, and look for it on sale on March 16.

BACK ISSUE #47 features the FINAL IN-DEPTH INTERVIEW with our friend, the late, great DAVE STEVENS, creator of the Rocketeer. Dave died from hairy cell leukemia complications on March 11, 2008 at the way too young age of 52. While we’re still feeling his loss three years later, Dave’s friend Kelvin Mao conducted an in-depth discussion with Dave just over a year before his death, and it’ll finally see print on March 9.

You can download a FREE PDF PREVIEW of the issue HERE.

You can preorder the PRINT or DIGITAL EDITION (or see a Flash preview) at THIS LINK.

BACK ISSUE #47 will be on sale in comic book stores on Wednesday, March 9.