On Your Mark. . . Get Set. . . GO! MARATHON in Stores THIS WEEK!

It all comes down to this. This week, my book with Boaz Yakin called MARATHON will finally be available in stores. Please consider picking up a copy at your local comic book shop, independent book store or Barnes & Noble. If you are in the New York area, please accept my invitation to come celebrate the release this Friday June 22nd at 8pm at Bergen St. Comics (Facebook event page here). If you do, you'll also have the pleasure of celebrating another important release, HADES by George O'Connor! Thanks so much, everyone!

MARATHON and HADES Book Launch Party at Bergen St. Comics!

I am so happy to announce the upcoming book launch party and art exhibition for MARATHON and HADES. HADES, in case you didn't already know, is the fourth book in the critically acclaimed Olympians series of graphic novellas by George O'Connor. Marathon is my latest book with writer, Boaz Yakin. As you can see from the poster above, the event goes down June 22nd at 8pm at Brooklyn's finest comic shop, Bergen Street Comics! There will be a selection of alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages available as well. This is likely to be the only event celebrating MARATHON's release, so please come out and help me celebrate the culmination of a long and endurance-testing book.

Praise for Marathon:

Booklist, Starred Review, 4/15 “A finely tempered forge of heroism and exhaustion, history and adrenaline.”

Kirkus, Starred Review, 5/1 “Marathon gets righteous due – and so does its greatest hero.”

Broken Frontier, 4/19 "…dramatic, engrossing…"

MARATHON Earns a Star from Booklist!

It's come to my attention that my upcoming book, MARATHON has been awarded a starred review over at Booklist! Here's an excerpt:

A finely tempered forge of heroism and exhaustion, history and adrenaline.

For those of you who subscribe to Booklist, the full review is available here.

Trip City Salon at Fornino's Park Slope on May 30th!

Trip City is happy to announce the Trip City Salon at Fornino's in Park Slope, Brooklyn. The event will feature comics, live music, readings, girls (!) and of course, booze! As you can see from the event flyer, the roster is stacked with Trip City favorites. Personally, this is the first time I'll have the honor of performing alongside my lovely lady, Plucky Charms who will be performing a song on the ukelele for your pleasure. Vavavoom! Myself, I will be reading Time Fucker . Knowing that I will be in arms throw of the audience has me a little concerned, however. How many heads of lettuce do you think I can dodge!? Come and see for yourself!. Don't you dare miss this one! See you there!

Marathon Awarded a Kirkus Star!

Kirkus book reviews proudly claims to be the "world's toughest book critics." It's for that reason that I'm so excited that Marathon by Boaz Yakin and I has recently been awarded their highest honor…the Kirkus star review.

Infurnari fills patchwork panels with glimpses of rugged faces, slashing swords and jumbles of martial action with “KLAK” “CHK!” sound effects. Yakin draws from ancient historical and legendary sources but adds invented incidents to round out Eucles’ character and elevated dialogue to heighten the epic atmosphere: “The gods have laid a feast both bitter and sweet before me.”

Marathon hits bookstores and comics retailers June 19th.

Time Fucker in "I'm Taking this Laying Down!" Pt 2 Now at TripCity

I've been remiss in posting here about the latest updates of Time Fucker. Last thursday saw the second installment with the penultimate third arriving tomorrow. For those who didn't get in on the ground floor (let's get real people this is seriously basement quality humor) the first installment is available here.

MARATHON included in School Library Journal Spring GN Selections

Brigid Alverson, writing for the School Library Journal, has included MARATHON as one of it's Spring Graphic Novel recommendations. Here's the skinny:

YAKIN, Boaz. Marathon. Illustrated by Joe Infurnari. First Second. June 2012. pap. $16.99. ISBN 9781596436800.

Gr 7 Up—Yakin tells the story of the first marathon runner, a former slave who carried vital messages between the rulers of Athens and Sparta before and during the Battle of Marathon. Although recommended for ages 12 up, this book has some violence and a (tasteful) bedroom scene that might make it inappropriate for some readers.

Marathon hits stores June 19th, 2012.

Time F•cker Arrives at Trip City.net Thursday!

That's right! All you salivatin' salacious sci-fi afficionados will finally be…SATED! I feel like a I usually write in this blog with a certain whiff of snake oil salesman. That's because I'm generally uncomfortable with tooting my own horn unless I do it a little tongue-in-cheek. Not with Time Fucker, however. The few times I've mentioned it, my language has been histrionic to say the least…

I've made claims that it will change the course of comics history forever.

Why? Because I'm really excited about it, and I'm overcompensating for my own insecurities. This project has always felt dangerous because of it's audacious title and content (you'll see what I mean) but also because it's very personal. I don't often write but when I do, it's because it's really something I have to get off my chest and for all it's insanity and levity, Time Fucker means a lot to me. Love it or hate it, this is my sense of humor and it's very very wrong. The image to the left explains how Time Fucking works and believe me when I say that this only scratches the surface.

Okay, I'm doing it again!! Always with the huckstering! Thursday April 5th at Tripcity.net look for this image for the first of four installments throughout the month of April. Each subsequent Thursday will continue this first Time Fucker tale titled, "I'm Taking this Laying Down!"

Thanks for your continued support.