About Us!!!
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Here at Comic Impact we cover the world of comic books and anything that may impact it! Here you’ll find reviews, previews, upcoming films, video games, toys, power rankings, plus other articles and updates in geek culture!

We host a weekly podcast called the POW (Pick of the Week) to chat about our comic book picks and pull lists, and every two weeks we produce a round table podcast to discuss some of the biggest news in the world of comics. From our comic-inspired Tattoo of the Month column, to the nerdy/sexy Cosplay Girl of the Month, we’ve got every corner of the comic book universe covered from the true fan’s POV.

In June 2009 (six months after we began), ComicImpact 2.0 was established. The updated look is so awesome.

Aaaanyway, we would love to hear from you - the fans - because (if you haven’t already noticed) we are fans too!We work for free (for now any way….ahh maybe one day) and put all our articles up here on Comic Impact for you guys ,so let our writers know how much you appreciate it ! Comment! Cause as cool as getting to interview big names and getting cool swag for pay is ,it is always better to know that people are reading what you are writing.What do you love? What do you dislike? What could you care less or more about in the world of comics? Please feel free to contact us, and make sure to add us on Myspace, follow us on Twitter, and join our Facebook group.

The Comic Impact Team …..Assemble!!

THE PODCAST TEAM

Simon Daoudi
Simon@comicimpact.com

Simon enjoys reading comics. Oh wait, no, he LOVES reading comics. As a kid, he was watching the old 1970’s batman cartoon (yeah, the one with Bat-Mite!) when he was only a few months old.

He lived in France as a kid and that’s is why he talks kinda funny and loves Eurotrash comics such as Asterix, Lucky Luke, Judge Dredd and TinTin.

When Simon returned to the States, he fell in love with the X-Men and knew that he wanted to draw comic books. After getting sick of art school because of all the bullshit, he took up Graphic Design and now works as a freelance designer and for a newspaper in Los Angeles. A few years ago he fell in love with podcasting, and in June of 2008 he came up with BagsandBoardspodcast.com, which is now known as ComicImpact.com

When he is not designing something or bitching out a comic he enjoys photography, reading books (yes, the one with out pictures), purchasing an inordinate amount of action figures and pondering philosophy as he gets more tattoos. If he was a comic character he would be Scott Pilgrim / The Hulk, because he loves music, and when there isn’t any, he’s been known to get frighteningly disgruntled.

Some of his favorite writers are Stan Lee, Alan Moore, Grant Morrison, Brian Michael Bendis, Chris Claremont, Geoff Johns, Bryan Lee O’ Malley, Mark Millar, Josh Howard, Robert Kirkman and artist Jim Lee,Norm Breyfogle,Rob Lifefeld, Bryan Hitch, Alan Davis and Jack Kirby.

You can follow Simon here on Twitter.

Sheldon Lee
Sheldon@comicimpact.com

Born into a clandestine family of Ninjas in the deep, deep southeast of the American Colonies, Sheldon began his training to become a great super hero / zombie killer with a heavy emphasis on quips! Aside from all that, I started reading comics at a young age and got my hands all over early, early issues of Uncanny X-Men, Avengers, Iron-man,Teen Titans, The Incredible Hulk, and Amazing Spider-Man.

Needless to say, I was a Marvel Fan Boy early on thanks to my uncle’s extensive Marvel Collection. Once I started really getting into comics and deciding what I liked, guys like Todd McFarlane, Jim Lee, and Rob Liefeld came onto the scene over at Marvel and I was hooked! I fell outta comics a bit in high school, but sometime in 2001 I became a Comic Shop Weekend Manager and I was once again…hooked. When I am not diving face-first into comics I am either working in the Film and Television Industry or my other love - music and video games!!

You can follow Sheldon here on Twitter.

Some of his favorite people in comics are Jim Lee,Todd McFarlane,Bryan Hitch,Norm Breyfogle,Andy Kubert,Frank Cho,Adam Kubert,Erik Larsen,Mike Perkins,Darwyn Cook,Greg Land,Steve McNiven,John Cassaday,Butch Guice,Romita Jr.,Joe Qusada,Alex Ross,Frank Quitely,Ethan Van Sciver,Terry Dodson,J. Scott Campbell,Tim Sale,Norm Breyfogle,Ed Benes,Chris Bachalo, Karl Kerschl,Warren Ellis,Frank Miller,Brian Micheal Bendis,Mark Millar,Joe Madureira,Clay Mann,Grant Morrison,Darwyn Cooke,Joss Whedon,Mike Mignola,Tom Veitch,Bruce Jones,Kevin Smith,Ed Brubaker,Allan Heinberg,J. Michael Straczynski,Mark Waid,Luke Ross,Jeph Loeb,Brad Meltzer,Chris Claremont,Scott Lobdell,Alan Davis,Alan Grant.

Rob resides on the colder side of the Atlantic, in England, where he lives a life set apart from the general mass of his age, dipping in and out of various fixations, while primarily maintaining to uphold a firm bond with a culture slowly burning out in today’s society.

Rob has been reading comic books for a few years now, and has become somewhat obsessed with the new world it opened for him back in 2007, when he picked up his first ever comic book; ‘Madman Atomic Comics #1′ by favourite writter Mike Allred. The reason as to why exactly Rob decided to locate his nearest comic store, and purchase said comic back in 2007, is a mystery forgotten and lost over time. Although ever since, Rob has become a big fan of the comic book medium.

His three passions from an early reading age, are stories from the B.P.R.D/Hellboy universe, Marvel’s cosmic line of books, and everything to do with Mike Allred’s ‘Madman’ character.

To this day, Rob still buys his weekly comics and keeps his passion for comic books alive. He attends comic conventions at least once a year, whenever he can get the opportunity, and is currently looking to study at University in the following year. If it’s paranormal, intellectual, historical or psychedelically dimension-bending, then Rob will probably be on it’s scent.’

Dana Shukartsi
Dana@comicimpact.com

When Dana was young she was introduced to comics, it went something like this…She went to a comic store down the street and her brother was like “Comics, this is my sister Dana, Dana I want to introduce you to comics”  and so the great love affair began.

As in many love stories the two grew apart.  Dana went years without seeing comics, she tried to fill that void with x-men cards and cartoons, but it just wasn’t the same. By the time she came around and decided she wanted comics back in her life, comics had moved away without a forwarding address. Years passed and she again filled the void, this time with girly things like boys and the babysitters club.  Then one day when Dana was in college studying Philosophy, a friend told her about a local comic book store and there she found comics again. Her dear comics were just as she remembered. The first two she got on the day of their reunion were Ultimate Spiderman #1, which had just been released, and Identity Crisis #1, which brings us to the most important chapter of her life….

The cover of Identity Crisis #1 was the sketch variant by MIchael Turner, the artist who ultimately inspired her to work in comics.  She got the WACKY idea that she should photocopy and ink this image, even though she didn’t really know what that meant.  Shenanigans ensued and before she knew it she was getting paying jobs and was even published. In addition to inking, Quick stat time…Favorite Comic: Soulfire, Favorite Publisher: Aspen Comics, Favorite Writers: Matt Fraction, J.T. Krul, Len Wein, Adam Beechen,  Favorite Pencilers: Michael Turner, Ale Garza, Micah Gunnell, Francis Manapul.  Favorite Inkers: Gary Martin, Karl Story, Rachel Dodson, and the list goes on.

You can follow Dana here on Twitter.
Comic Impact Staff Writers

John Mueller
John@comicimpact.com

I was raised on a steady comic book diet of super heroics, supernatural horrors and sci-fi shenanigans. As fascinated as I was (and still am) by costumed crusaders there was something more enticing about DC titles of the 70’s such as The House Of Mystery, Swamp Thing, The House Of Secrets and the bizarre humor comic Plop! As strange as these books were nothing could have readied my grade-school brain for the day I randomly happened upon reprints of the notorious E.C. comics of the 1950’s, especially ShockSuspenseStories. This I was not prepared for. These stories were as grim and grisly as it got: drug addiction, terminal madness and cold-blooded murder.

At the same time I was discovering the above, MAD magazine (which I read religiously), was reprinting their early 50’s, anarchic comic-size E. C. issues in their special editions. The convergence of these things on my tastes in visual storytelling that I would hold forever could never, ever be overstated.

That, as I grew older, I would gravitate towards creators of such diverse, but perhaps equally bizarre comics creations (that exist, for the most part, firmly outside of the mainstream) by individuals like Robert Crumb, Daniel Clowes, S. Clay Wilson, Charles Burns, Mark Schultz, Art Spiegleman, Alan Moore, Grant Morrison, Mary Fleener, Seth, Richard Sala, Serpieri, Mike Mignola, Los Bros Hernandez, Jim Woodring, Tim Vigil and Tony Millionaire is not much of a surprise.

In short, I guess what I am saying is that comic books, in all of its many genres and styles, are one of the greatest influences and greatest loves of my life and will be until the day I die. Period.

Oh, and I once got drunk with Warren Ellis.

Hollie Bennett
Hollie@comicimpact.com

Hollie (or Phoenix as she is commonly known within her circle of geeks) is another British writer with a passion for sarcasm whose descent into geek-dom started, despite her parents obvious objections, at a young age. A gift of a hand-me-down N64 and Zelda Ocarina of Time had her fate as a hardcore gamer sealed and thanks to Toonami and Fox kids showing anime such as Dragon Ball Z, Tenchi and Sailor Moon, is wasn’t long until anime and manga become a second passion. From there it only got worse when she started playing TCG’s and reading comic books.

If you don’t find Hollie staggering around any of the major UK gaming/comic/anime conventions with a Vodka and Cranberry in her hand chances are she is listening to music, reading, modelling, looking at shoes she can’t walk in/afford or drooling over corsets. And she does NOT bloody twitter.

Richard Bashara
Rich@comicimpact.com

Richard Bashara is probably one of the most misguided people you’ll ever meet in your entire life. While most people walk around reading nothing, he dares to defy conventional logic by burying his nose in comic books. Having abandoned the medium for more than a decade while he matured to a point of understanding and enlightenment, he has returned to the comic world with a vengeance. Richard currently writes incoherent nonsense about the comics he reads and has hired 30 monkeys to translate and submit that mess to the fine people at Comicimpact.com.

Known outside the mainstreamfor his detailed research into the world of zombie culture, he has been called the “Jane Goodall” of zombiedom. A fascinating individual who stands as a paragon in the emerging science of Zombology.

Richard has also been known to write on a wide variety of topics including, games, movies, and zombie related mythology. He is currently working on an as yet unnamed zombie comic which will hopefully hit store shelves soon. He strongly suggests you get your money ready to purchase it, because he swears up and down that he knows where you live.

Butner Brimberry
Butner@comicimpact.com

Butner Brimberry hails from the good ol’ U.S. of A. Also known as, “Butmac,” Butner spends the large majority of his time playing video games. In fact, he’s known as one of the most educated persons in the field of “Comic Book Video Games.”

Born in 1983, Butner grew up during some of Marvel’s greatest years, 1989-1994. Though he would eventually follow video games more than comics, his love for Marvel and DC never waned. In 2004 he became deeply interested in Avengers: Disassembled and it is this event that brought him back into comics.

Christina Flores
Christina@comicimpact.com

I have always loved to read, never went anywhere without a book. Before that sunny day in May came along I was content to read books with no pictures or word bubbles. I had no clue what my 28 years of life had been missing. No idea, that there was such a rich culture of Super Heroes and Villains, bright shiny capes and skintight costumes. All I knew of comics was what cartoons and movies showed me. I had no idea that fandom could be so intense. That storylines could be written over years and still keep you in suspense.  I really have our own Sheldon and Simon to thank for leading me to the path that started my journey almost a year ago (They needed an extra set of hands at an event).

Fables was my gateway drug, started reading it and was hooked. Once I got footing in that world, I wanted to find more worlds to explore.  Now, I read everything that catches my eye. Me and a sponge are one in the same, I soak up everything people tell me about the great Comic Universe. I have to say Vertigo, Image and DC have been the main companies in my life and I will admit I am kind of a DC Fangirl but, I am incorporating more Marvel into my Wednesday rotation.

I may be a newbie in this club of Fanboys and girls but I feel like I found my people. My sister told me I was always a “Comic Nerd” I just didn’t read comics and you know, she was right.  I whole heartedly embrace that and am proud to say “I read Comics!”

Sebastian Gordils
Sebastian@comicimpact.com

Born in Hollywood, CA Sebastian Gordils was destined for a love of film, television and animation. In his early years his father brought home a small stack of comics and at the top was Green Lantern Corps #222 and his love of comics began.

Not only does he collect comics but has amassed quite the statue collection which began with DC Direct’s Women of the DCU Series 1 Wonder Woman and his first full size being Bowen Design’s Mary Jane Watson. He currently works in retail and loves every minute of it

Quint Jenkins
Quint@comicimpact.com

The story thus far…

Once upon a time Awesome was introduced to Rad and the two immediately hit it off and became a couple.  Soon they gave birth to their first child, which was given the name Epitome, who grew up and earned a PhD in all time awesomeness. (No hyphen needed, that’s how awesome we’re talkin’ about here)  Anyway, the son of Awesome and Rad began his career in all things friggin’ cool until one day he found out a shocking truth: He was cloned at birth by the evil scientist who performed his delivery.   Upon finding out this news, Epitome set out on a search to find his doppelganger.  By chance, Epitome eventually found his mirror image clone in the small- ville  of Herrin, IL, going by the name of Quinton Benjamin Reilly Jenkins.  The clone had escaped the captivity from the evil scientist and was taken in by millionaire comic book

enthusiasts.  Eventually the evil scientist caught up to Quinton and his new family and murdered them in a dark alley after leaving a movie theater.  Quint somehow survived.  Since that fateful day he has dedicated himself to amassing all the comic book knowledge in the world to honor his slain parent’s memory, spending his entire fortune to do so.  Epitome was so impressed by his clone’s journey that he decided to switch places with him, even allowing Quint to take over Epitome’s relationship with his true love, Mary Jane.  Now, with a newfound purpose, Quint has returned to comics, spreading truth, justice, and the Daniel Way to anyone who will listen.
The saga continues………..

Quint reads most things Marvel and DC with some Image, Vertigo, DDP, BOOM! and all the rest thrown in for good measure.  (Go ahead, ask me a question of what’s going on in comics…I will wax philosophic and drop some info bombs on dat ass)
Matt Jackson
MattJ@comicimpact.com

Matt is a Born Again Comic Geek.  In the beginning it was all about buying everything with an X, Spider, or fancy cover; as much as his little wallet would afford.  But lo, this came to an abrupt end at the turn of the century when his love for collecting was lost in a sea of comic convolution.

Years later, he tested the comic waters again only to be grabbed by an undertow of awesomeness.  Quickly he found that comics were more than just the X, Spider, and fancy cover, and a new world was opened to him.  Freed from the collector mindset, he found the magic of the medium and has been a disciple ever since.

Nowadays he can be found in the City of Angels, spreading the good word about comics, forcing great books upon the masses as a one man crusade to save them from horrible entertainment.

His favorite books include: Scott Pilgrim, The Walking Dead, Invincible, Captain America, Iron Fist, Thunderbolts, The Incredible Hercules, Goon, Nextwave, Y:The Last Man, Preacher, and generally anything that’s fun, though-provoking, or just down-right awesome.

David Dearmore
David@comicimpact.com

When David was six years old his next-door neighbor’s fiancé made him give away his comic books. Included in his collection was a complete run of Iron Man’s “Demon In A Bottle” storyline, which David then used for a book report in the second grade. David’s early appreciation for comic books was unappreciated.

David his a photographer now, specializing in commercial product photography. He recently graduated from Brooks Institute in Santa Barbara and now he is ready to take over the world. From David you will get reviews and photography of the latest comic book collectables and toys to hit the market. Enjoy.

Mathew Hyde
Mathew@comicimpact.com

Mat is the ghost of comic fans past. He’s British, born and bred, with a brief stint in France. He grew up reading Judge Dredd in 2000AD comic, enjoying Alan Moore, Grant Morrison, Garth Ennis and Simon Bisley before they headed stateside. Got heavily into DC in the late ‘80’s and is still an unrevised Dark Knight Returns fan.

Mat worked for Marvel UK (the UK branch of Marvel Comics) in the early 90’s and had access to all the comics he could ever want, working with them 5 days a week. And, like a kid caught smoking and locked in a closet with a cigar to finish, his love of comics drifted away. Nowadays he relies on friends pointing him towards the good stuff.

When getting paid he’s mostly a webguy in various areas to varying degrees. When not being paid he podcasts (HydePodCorner.co.uk), pub quizzes and likes rocking out to spiky music. When it comes to movies the usual ‘robots, spaceships and explosions’ rule applies.

Favorite writers include Alan Moore, Neil Gaiman, Grant Morrison and has been assured he’d love Warren Ellis. Fave artists include Brian Bolland, Simon Bisley, Liam Sharp, Kevin O’Neil, David Lloyd and John Bolton.

Pamela Auditore
Pamela@comicimpact.com

Has acted in theater and worked in film and television for 30 years doing everything from making scenery, props, grip to Cat and Rat Rangler and assisting stop motion animator the late John Gati. Highlights include working as a Writer’s Assistant on the “Cosby Show”  to VFX artist on  Tim Burton’s “Mars Attacks”,”Eraser”,”Daffy Duck in the 25 1/2 Century in 3-D”, “Die Hard: With a Vengeance”,”Judge Dredd”

She’s currently working with Alex Topete on an his animated short for Cystic Fibrois and is trying her hand at the Graphic Novel format

…as the Comedian says in “Watchmen”  “God help us all.

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