The Visionary Challenge to Get Headlocked! Visionary Comics Studio Puts Its Money Where Its Mouth Is! (San Diego, CA) Visionary Comics Studio wants retailers to try their debut series Headlocked. So much so, that they are offering a money-back guarantee on the first issue of their new mini-series, Headlocked: The Tryout. “We understand the economics for retailers of trying something new and being left holding the bag,” explains VCS Creative Director C. Edward Sellner. “So we’re going to make it completely risk free for any retailer to try Headlocked.” “We are making a pledge: Visionary Comics Studio will offer a full refund on up to five pre-ordered copies of Headlocked: The Tryout #1 if they haven’t sold within 60 days. Simply pack up the unsold copies and return them to us with a copy of your invoice from Diamond and we’ll send you a full refund.” The book, published by AAM/Markosia and listed in the August Edition of Previews, also features a fully painted cover by WWE Hall of Famer, Jerry “The King” Lawler. It is the follow-up to the critically-acclaimed series debut, Headlocked: Work of Art. The series has garnered praise from WWE/ECW star Rob Van Dam, Booster Gold writer Jeff Katz, Survivor and reality television star Jonny Fairplay, and TNA superstars Samoa Joe and Shawn Daivari. For series creator Michael Kingston, the decision was really a no-brainer. “Every retailer I’ve ever spoken with has told me that they have regular customers that are wrestling fans. Unfortunately, there have been some bad wrestling comics over the years, and some retailers are convinced that wrestling comics don’t sell…and to be honest, I don’t blame them. But Headlocked has been selling like mad at wrestling shows and almost everyone asks the same question…“Why didn’t they get this at my store?” I’m very confident that if you put this in front of wrestling fans, they’ll like it and they will buy it.” So confident, according to VCS business manager Charlie Hall, that they are willing to put their money where their mouth is. “Make no mistake. The money isn’t coming from Diamond. The money isn’t coming from AAM/Markosia. This is coming from our own pockets. That’s how strongly we believe in this series.” Adds Kingston, “And the book has Jerry Lawler’s first published comic book art. As a wrestling fan, how can you not want that in your collection?” Diamond Order Code: AUG083662 (Headlocked: The Tryout #1) Get Caught up with Headlocked on Wowio… http://www.wowio.com/users/searchresults.asp?nGroupId=[408] Also, if you are a retailer that takes us up on the challenge, let us know by emailing us at cedwardsellner@aol.com with your store's name and web-site, we will add you to our links list for retailers! We will be posting the details for returns on our site's Contacts Page closer to the 60 day deadline and will email every retailer that let's us know they are taking the challenge with the information once the deadline hits. Aug 19, 2008 03:57am by C. Edward Sellner

Visionary Goes Wow(io) http://www.wowio.com/users/searchresults.asp?nPublisherId=171 Visionary is now live on Wowio, click the above link to go to our Publisher's page on Wowio to check out all our current books. Please help support the studio by reading online or downloading for free, and if you really like them, you can purchase ad-free PDF's as well! Also thanks to Comic News for a recent detailed interview they did with Creative Director C. Edward Sellner that you can find here... http://comicnews.info/?p=480 Aug 15, 2008 04:20am by C. Edward Sellner

WWE Hall of Famer, Jerry “The King” Lawler gets Headlocked! Diamond Order Code: AUG083662 (Headlocked: The Tryout #1) Get Caught up with Headlocked on Wowio… http://www.wowio.com/users/searchresults.asp?nGroupId=[408] (San Diego, CA) For one generation of fans, he is “The King of Memphis” and the guy who slapped Andy Kaufman on Late Night with David Letterman. For another generation of fans, he is the diva-obsessed voice of WWE Monday Night Raw. Now this Hall of Famer looks to add another title to his already impressive resume…. Comic Book Artist. “The King” has signed on to provide a cover for the critically acclaimed comic book series, Headlocked: The Tryout from AAM/Markosia and Visionary Comics Studio. Lawler’s fully painted cover will grace the first issue of the new mini-series, available now for pre-order in Diamond’s Previews and shipping in October. For Lawler, an accomplished artist, the combination of wrestling and comics was a no-brainer. “I’m a huge comic book fan and I’ve wanted to do some comic book work for a while now and what better way to get my start than with a wrestling comic? So when (Headlocked writer/creator) Mike Kingston asked me if I would be interested in doing a cover, I jumped at the chance.” VCS Creative Director, C.Edward Sellner is delighted that “The King” chose to lend his artistic talents and star power to their debut comic series. “The man’s been on television, in movies, and he’s a household name to three generations of wrestling fans, so we’re obviously very pleased to be publishing Jerry Lawler’s first comic book work.” For Kingston, a lifelong wrestling fan, the chance to collaborate with one of his favorite wrestlers was definitely a dream come true. “I’ve always been a huge Lawler fan. I used to trade for tapes of Memphis wrestling back before you could find everything on the internet. Getting to work with him and actually getting to watch him physically paint the cover has easily been my career highlight thus far.” Headlocked debuted late last year with the acclaimed one-shot Headlocked: Work of Art, now available on Wowio, drawing praise from both wrestling and comic book fans alike including WWE/ECW star Rob Van Dam, TNA Champion Samoa Joe, reality TV star Jonny Fairplay. and ECW original Blue Meanie. The story features Mike Hartmann, a skinny theater major, and his unlikely journey to become a professional wrestler. “It’s a little peek behind the curtain,” according to series creator Mike Kingston. “It’s a story about all the crazy stuff that goes into what you see on television. When a guy shows up on a WWE show, he most likely already has four to seven years in the wrestling business but you rarely hear anything about that. Headlocked is the chronicle of that journey for Mike Hartmann.” But because of his unusual perspective, Hartmann tends to take a different approach to things. “He approaches wrestling the same way he did acting. He bulks up just like an actor preparing for an action movie and he moves to Philadelphia, which is essentially Hollywood for aspiring wrestlers. Because of his background, we’re able to put a little more focus on the craft of professional wrestling and examine its place as a true performance art.” While the book obviously deals quite a bit with wrestling, Kingston cautions against just seeing it as just a wrestling comic. “There are a lot of coming of age themes in Headlocked. The story is just as much about Hartmann becoming a man as it is about him becoming a wrestler. He’s a nineteen-year old college kid who has given up his relatively safe existence to chase this crazy dream and at the same time he’s almost totally reinventing who he is from the ground up. He’s pretty much out there on his own in a new city trying to forge this new identity for himself while navigating through the darker underbelly of the wrestling business as a total outsider.” According to Kingston, the upcoming mini-series Headlocked: The Tryout picks up right where Headlocked: Work of Art finished up. “Hartmann has just moved to Philadelphia having secured a tryout with the legendary Leo “The Legbreaker” London for admission into his wrestling school. For the most part, things up until this point have been fairly effortless for Hartmann. This is where he starts to get the idea that he might just be in over his head.” Headlocked: The Tryout #1 is available for pre-order in the August Edition of Previews. You can pre-order at your local comic book store ( www.comicshoplocator.com ) or online ( www.mailordercomics.com ). We strongly recommend you pre-order the book to ensure getting your copy! About Visionary Comics Studio: Having launched in 2006, VCS is the world’s first Teaching Studio for aspiring comics’ creators. Working with creators on series they own, VCS paves the way for those creators to bring their works to the mainstream market. With a line of creator-owned books, its own studio line, licensed work and other special projects, Visionary is all about bringing something new to the comics industry. For more information, check out our web site: www.visionarycomics.com About Visionary Comics: Having launched in summer of 2008, VC is the digital publishing arm of Visionary Comics Studio, bringing the studio’s creator-owned, original, classic and studio books to digital publication through association with Wowio. About AAM / Markosia: AAM / Markosia Enterprises, Ltd. is a multi-faceted publishing company specializing in sequential story-telling. Markosia has become known for quality art and stories. Founded in 2005, the company has always been committed to integrity and excellence in our craft. For more information, visit www.markosia.com . Aug 02, 2008 01:27pm by C. Edward Sellner

Visionary and Headlocked Tackle San Diego Comic-Con! Visionary Comics Studio will be invading the 2008 San Diego Comic Con as a special guest of Haven Distribution. We'll be located in a prime location at booth 1901 in the IP Pavilion! Appearing will be Headlocked writer/creator Mike Kingston and VCS Creative director C. Edward Sellner! SDCC is the largest comic book/pop culture convention in the world with over 100 thousand visitors coming through the doors over the course of 4 days! Its packed with all the top comic book creators as well as some A List celebrities! This year's convention is July 23rd to July 27th and as always is held at the San Diego Convention Center. We'll have copies of Headlocked: Work of Art and the last few Headlocked 0 issues we have remaining as well as some really nifty art prints. And you can be the first kid on your block to sport the brand spanking new Headlocked T-shirts! We'll also have an exclusive look at the upcoming mini-series Headlocked: The Tryout and we'll have some big news about the first issue of that book as well as well as announcements about our debut as a Digital Publisher and our first foray into the world of prose fiction with the upcoming Chronicles! And Chuck will be on hand to do portfolio reviews for VCS, so stop by and show your stuff! If you're planning on attending the con, make sure you stop by and say hi! Jul 22, 2008 03:19am by C. Edward Sellner

VCS Artist Azim Akberali Nominated for Two Eagle Awards! SAN DIEGO, CA – Visionary Comics Studio is proud to announce that Visionary Artist Azim Akberali has been nominated for two Eagle Awards! Coming in with nominations on Favorite New Artist and Favorite Painted Artwork. Azim has been a member of VCS almost since its inception and the studio has been proud to be associated with such a quality talent! Some of Azim's earliest US work can be found in the VCS online comic Gangland Avalon. We managed to get an interview out of Azim just as he hit celebrity status. So what got you started in art? I've been drawing and painting since childhood. All kids love to draw and color with their crayons and markers. But as they get older, they find new hobbies and somehow forget about the artist that once resided in them. I guess I just never found a better hobby and so never stopped drawing and painting. What drew you (sorry, pun intended) to comics work specifically? Comic books aren't readily available in my country, but I did own a few Superman, Batman and Spider-man comics and so was familiar with the characters and the medium. More than anything, I think its the ability of comics to tell a story using pictures is what really drew me to the medium. I remember reading a comic strip which didn't have any dialogue and yet anyone could understand the scenario based only on the drawings. Such versatility means that comics aren't really limited by language, culture or borders. A man slipping on a banana skin is funny, irrespective of what language the reader speaks or what country he or she resides in. Give us an overview of your career in art and comics I have been regularly exhibiting and selling my paintings at the local art galleries in my hometown for many years and still continue to do so. Not wanting to limit myself to doing just fine art, I was looking to try my hand at something new and initially I was thinking about illustrating children's story books. I searched the net incase anyone might be looking for an illustrator and ended up on a website where people were looking for comic artists. So I thought I'd give drawing comics a shot and immediately fell in love with it. I did work on a few webcomics and short stories at first and people who noticed my work on these offered me more comic work and I kept on going. So far I've done covers and short stories for Visionary Comics, Orangutan Comics, Bluewater Productions, and Approbation Comics. How does it feel to be nominated on nothing less than two categories for Eagle Awards? It feels amazing!! Almost surreal. Its an honor to be nominated alongside some of the greatest comic creators of today. I was thrilled when my name appeared on the first nomination list. I never thought I would make the final list. What's your dream in comics? I guess my dream isn't much different from what many other new comic artists dream and that is to one day work for a big comic publisher like DC or Marvel. But more than anything, I would really like people from all over the world to read the comics that I've worked on and to really enjoy them. Because basically, that's what comics are all about. We certainly wish Azim all the best in his run. Check below for links to his work for VCS, his online gallery and to go and vote for this exceptional young talent. Relevent Links: Read Gangland Avalon online, by award-winning writer A. David Lewis and Eagle nominated Azim Akberali... http://www.visionarycomics.com/v2/pages/webcomics.php?book=ganglandavalonpreview Check out Azim's full online portfolio... http://azimart.rain.prohosting.com/Comics-pg.htm and his VCS Gallery... http://azimart.rain.prohosting.com/Comics-pg.htm And, now that you've been blown away, go vote for the man! http://www.eagleawards.co.uk/vote.asp Apr 23, 2008 11:28pm by C. Edward Sellner