The Bettie, Book Update, & Dan Burke's Odd Comics Gets Reviewed

Happy Thanksgiving Palms Fans (well 1 day late,oh well...)
Hope everyone has had a great holiday. As for me just a little business to take care of.

The Bettie Award for Independent/Small Press Excellence!!!!
I received the statuette today. A really nicely crafted piece. Limited edition & numbered even.
A big thank you to Dan Burke at Comics Cafe & Allen Freeman of Fanatic Press for the honors. Here a a couple of pics of me & The Bettie...

Palms Comics Update - Coconuts #2 is now complete. I am waiting til I finish the Force Team Prequel "Forgiven" before sending them off to press. Forgiven is the story that leads up to the popular superhero/heroine comic. Look for it to be 24 pages of full-color Gemini at his earliest & most evil. This FTC Prequel is about 1/2 ready at the time of this post. I also have Onryou #1 abuot 1/3 of the way through. I hope to have the books up by Christmas (I Hope!!!)

Finally...
Read Dan Burke's Odd Comics #1!!!!!!!!

I just received my copy of the book along with the Bettie Award. This is Dan's first comic in some time, & unlike his animated cartoon shorts, or the Attack Earth project, the book was a very unique & entertaining read. The comics are quite reminisant of the Kurtzman era Mad magazine funnies, spoofing such comic icons as Mr. Miracle, Doc Savage, & the Master of Kung-Fu. The following is a couple of great reasons to get the book...

*Great eye-cathing front cover art by Dave Herring - Awesome golden age look & classic color scheme. The title fits the comic very well, being a spoof of the Mad Magazine.

*Great stories - The comics I thought were very creative. There is enough of the claasics to know exactly which comic is which. I honestly loved the Mr. Miraclewhip (Mr. Miracle homage) was the strongest piece in the book.

*The Full-color Fantastical 4 (Fantastic 4) homage - The colors along with Dan's style make the section flow just like one of his animated shorts. I could actually picture this being animated in my mind. Unvisible Girl was probably my favorite character from this section (The model scene on page 13 of the book is an extemely strong art piece, especially showing the great detail of the cloth folds.)

*Dan's Overall style & layout - Very well put together. Dan's shading & shadowing throughout his stories are incredible. The whole book goes past traditional comic drawing & throwing in great computer drawn skills into the whole make-up of the book.

I can go on an on, but trust me, the book speaks for itself. A must read for any Kurtzman of Mad magazine fan. I can honestly say there was only one slight draw-back to the book. The 4 page color section & Dan's back cover art make me sorta want to see the rest of the 28 page book in color as well. Overall though, still a great book, a must get & must read available from www.fanaticpress.com for $5!!! Palms Rating - 5 out of 5 Coconuts! (stars don't grow on Palm trees)

Later

2010 Betty Award Winner!!!!

That's right folks. Joshua Hicks & Palms Productions was recently awarded the 2010 Betty Award for excellence in Indepenent comics by Comics Cafe & the fine folks at Fanatic Press.

Click the ad above to hear the podcast hosted by Dan Burke.

Also, I plan to be on the weekend Talkshoe Comics Cafe podcast on 11/21 at 6pm CST.

Tune in and listen.

Outside of the big honor, I finally finished Coconuts #2, & have a decent start on Onryou #1. Hopefully I will be able to put these out by years end.

ALSO, don't forget the deal going on at Hometown Variety & Gifts @223 Second St. in Henderson. If you buy any 2 Palms comics, Get either Comic Quest Showcase #3 or Comic Quest "The ScoOp" for FREE!!!(while supplies last).

Before signing off for this post, I would just like to say a BIG thank you to all who have come by Hometown Variety & commented and encouraged me during the past several weeks. I greatly appreciate all the kind words, & I would like to say I am truly grateful to all.

God Bless,

Joshua Hicks

Brothers in art - from the Gleaner article 10/31/09

Recently The Gleaner published an article about Palms Productions in their daily newspaper.

You Can read it here...

Check it out!!!

Palms Productions Update

Just a little update for all our loyal fans...

1) The Website - Yes, The site is back up, only not with Tripod. After getting the shaft from them for 2 weeks, I took down the site & went elsewhere. Check out the new site at http://palms-productions.webs.com . You will like the new site, complete with readable comic previews. Check it Out!!!

2) The comics - Yep, I'm officially a slacker, but I have been busy. You can check out some of my work soon in SlamBang vol.3 #5, as well as a new Comic Quest Creators Alliance book that is in the works. I do have Coconuts #2 about complete, & have a decent start on Onryou #1. I also have Aftermath #2 scripted out. I might be able to print new comics by years end.

Later

Palms parts with Tripod!!!

After setting and resetting the old Tripod site for several nights in the past 2 weeks, I finally got tired of messing with them. The last straw is when Tripod yanked the site down, & after trying to get it back up for the who knows how many-ith time, I decided to just to delete the whole account and go elsewhere. So for now check the blog or facebook for news.

to order books go here!!!
to view some comic work, go here!!!

I also have comic previews up in the facebook photos section. Please bear with me while I find a new home for the official site. Sorry for the inconvenience.

Lady Midnight in LIMBO!!!

The project has unfortunatlely hit a snag folks. Lady Midnight was to make her debut in the "Comics Cafe #1" magazine, but the future of the project was put in "Limbo", as announced through the Comics Cafe podcast due to several factors. I still plan to release the Lady Midnight project, whether the 8 page debut comic is published or not. I'll keep everyone posted about the future of Comics Cafe & Lady Midnight through this blog.

Thank You Tony Strawn!!!

I am writing this blog more as a thank you. I recently found out through The Gleaner's August 13 edition, that a long time friend of mine Tony Strawn was stepping down as chief editor of Henderson Community College's student newspaper, "The Hill". I was saddened, yet at the same time glad for Tony making this choice in his life.

I myself am a product of Tony's teachings. During my time at HCC, back in 1998-2001, it was Tony that taught me such skills as layout, design, as well as creative thinking & writing. These skills Tony stamped into his students have benefited not only myself, but several people in broadcasting & journalism. It was also thanks to Tony & "The Hill" that I had my comic strip "The Uni-ToOns" published for the first time. I still use his creative processes to this day. These teachings have allowed me to expand my own creativity into having my own line of comic books, & even a book of some of my writings & songs. Tony gave me an education that has given me useful experience & real world techniques & practices.

Tony was a great asset to Henderson Community College. In 31 years, he has left a legacy that I believe that will be hard to fill. Tony was more than an instructor, he was an inspiration to so many people. I am proud to say that I know Tony Strawn & have been under his teachings. Tony, thank you so much for being such an inspiration to so many for 31 years. You truly will be missed in the newsroom at HCC. As a final word of advice to Tony, you maybe should consider finally writing that book with all those KIPA stories you have heard over the years. Just kidding. God bless you Tony, & thank you for all that you have done.