To promote Volume 7 of their awesome Zblu Cops comic series (available now in France), Gobi, Bill and a few of their animator friends went to work on this super fresh animated trailer. I'm ashamed to not have posted it sooner... (we were briefly playing around with the idea of doing an English version) but am proud to FINALLY share this amazing bit of animation. Mad respect goes out to Julien Neel who did the music (he's also the cartoonist behind the super successful Lou series). Here's an excellent glimpse into the awesome craziness that exists in the vivid imaginations of Bill and Gobi:

Man, I'm loving me some ORC STAIN.

I've been familiar with James Stokoe's work for a few years now. I bought the first volume of his Wonton Soup comic when it initially came out. I immediately fell in love with Stokoe's art style (a unique mix of manga stylings, Geoff Darrow, and Vaughn Bode)... but was a bit thrown off by Wonton Soup being an intergalactic cooking comic. I was expecting sci-fi fantasy space battles. What I got was a bunch of crazy cooking recipes with intergalactic vegetables and extraterrestrial meats. In Wonton Soup, Stokoe deftly displays his strong sense of storytelling, world building and insane ability to convey a variety of textures through his linework. But I wanted some more ultra-violence!

I'm ashamed to say that initially I passed on ORC STAIN. The covers were beautifully drawn. The main character's design was awesome. But I ended up passing because I'm not that big of a swords & sorcery fan.

Then I read that, in the world of ORC STAIN, sliced orc penis was a symbol of wealth and power (there's even a "how-to" comic on the steps taken to make a chopped orc penis into coins!). That was enough to CONVINCE me to read it!

I am now officially an ORC STAIN fan! It may have taken murmurs of orc penis to read the comic (should I be ashamed?)... but having read the 5 issues that are currently available I'm baffled by the next level brilliance of what Stokoe has created. My geek-love for ORC STAIN is so strong that I bought BOTH the issues 1-5 and TPB collection of those very issues!

Even more so than WONTON SOUP, the world of ORC STAIN is richly realized. From a design and cultural standpoint, James Stokoe has built a brutal world where Orcs social culture of barbarism are seeds from which Stokoe visually and philosophically creates a beautifully bizarre universe.

Go out and buy ORC STAIN. If you still need a bit of convincing, read this FREE PREVIEW OF THE FIRST ISSUE and THEN buy it!

I hope you all have a wonderful year in 2011. It's because of you guys that we can build our little corner in the zany world of comics and toys. For that we are eternally grateful! Let's hope 2011 is a fun, adventurous and fulfilling year for us all!

Below are Happy New Year's illustrations by Ohm (Figure designer for our Tcho! Minis) and Fabien M (King Katch character and figure designer).

King Katch Original is now readily available at your favorite Designer Toy Retailer. Feel free to share your thoughts on our newest Lucha Libre figure!

Fabien was kind enough to sign and sketch on a few King Katch Originals. Its our way of giving those of you outside of Los Angeles an opportunity to partake in Fabien's signing tour. For a limited time you can purchase a King Katch Original with box sketch for $80.00 USD HERE.

As Fabien's signing tour comes to an end, we've got one more signing at Stuart Ng Books in Torrance, CA. If you're in Southern California join us, Fabien and William Stout for one last opportunity to get King Katch and the Tikitis HC signed by artist Fabien M. Details can be found in the image below.