Bleeding Cool, the premiere source for breaking news and gossip in the comic book industry (www.bleedingcool.com), will launch its own print magazine beginning in May 2012. Featuring editorial contributions from blog founder Rich Johnston, Bleeding Cool Magazine will debut with an introductory #0 issue in late May, its worldwide in-store release coinciding with the Phoenix Comicon event.
The special introductory #0 issue of Bleeding Cool Magazine features 32 dense pages of coverage, value-priced at $1.49 per copy, and will cover the comic industry's hottest summer events and blockbuster films. The cover story features the return of Valiant Entertainment, and its regular features will provide ample coverage of all the top publishers, including Dark Horse, DC Comics, Marvel, Image, IDW, Boom, Avatar Press, Top Cow, and more. The full-length regular magazine launch will take place in October, featuring over one hundred pages of insightful features, exclusive content, and investigative reporting.
"Everyone else is going from print to digital, but we're going from digital to print! We're bucking the trend, zagging when others are zigging," says Rich Johnston. As a blogger with a substantial and vocal fan base, he quips, "Oh, and I'm looking forward to writing something without having people comment underneath on how awful everything is."
"Readers expect longer, beefier reads from magazines than they do from the web, and Bleeding Cool will be happy to oblige with good, in-depth pieces amongst all of the usual chaos. I'll certainly relish the extra space for mental legroom," says Brendon Connelly, Bleeding Cool's film writer. Regarding the intended audience, he adds, "There's a lot of different people in and out of comic shops, and there's a lot of different things for those people in our magazine. But Bleeding Cool Magazine won't be just for the comic-reading core; it will be plenty newsstand friendly, too."
Retailers will have special incentives to stock Bleeding Cool Magazine. Those retailers who stock over fifteen copies will receive an additional 10% discount on their investment, while retailers who order 25 or more copies will see their store promoted online at BleedingCool.com as a "Bleeding Cool Store." Furthermore, with a cover retail set at $1.49, the price of the introductory magazine is half the cover price of any comic book currently on the market, making it an affordable add-on for comic book consumers.
"Comic book fans need a place where they can find the content you can't get from a short blurb or blog on the web. Bleeding Cool Magazine will provide features that go deep into the biggest events in comics and give creators a forum to really express inspiration for projects. We're putting together the essential fan publication that will celebrate comics and all the many facets of collecting," says William Christensen, the publisher of Bleeding Cool Magazine. "With features that are extensive, creative, and entertaining, we plan to enhance the reading experience for the Bleeding Cool Online fans and really create a magazine that is an essential part of the comic book collecting culture."
What's coming up from Bleeding Cool Magazine's film coverage? Brendon Connelly lets you know.
BleedingCool.com hosts over one million site visitors monthly, and has been ranked as the world's most influential comic book blog by Technorati, the leading search engine for blogs. Bleeding Cool also regularly places within Technorati's top ten rankings for pop culture and entertainment, and top fifteen for film coverage. The website features regular contributions from Rich Johnston and Brendon Connelly, as well as retailer and comic book creator columns. For more information about Bleeding Cool Magazine, please contact keithdavidsen@bleedingcool.com.