SMASH Sketchbook: THE PUNISHER

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SMASH artist Kyle Bolton's first attempt at drawing the Punisher. (Click the image for a larger version.)

Punisher

To see more of Kyle's artwork, visit his website.

Or follow him on Tumblr.

Great Review: SMASH "Made My Day!"

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Smash: Trial by Fire earned a wonderful review from the blog Kiss the Book:

I am always on the hunt for a great graphic novels for elementary students. The catch is that they must have quality artwork and a quality story, all while staying G rated. It’s a tricky bill to fit and this graphic novel does a fantastic job. The cover art itself is so great that students are going to be fighting over this. The illustrations are top notch: bright, fun, action packed, and creative. The story will relate to any student who would like to try to their hand at superhero powers. Hooray, this book made my day! A must have for any graphic novel collection!

Smash Cover

To order your copy of Smash, click on any of the links in the margin to the right!

Indies First Storytime Pics

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Bestselling, award-winning (and fellow Candlewick) author Kate DiCamillo liked what she saw on Indies First day and decided there should be a similar celebration for children's bookstores. So began Indies First Storytime Day, which encourages authors to visit their favorite independent children's bookstore on May 17th and read a book (or two) out loud. I was thrilled to participate at Green Bean Books in Portland, Oregon. Green Bean

Green Bean is basically a tiny house that is one of the ten most amazing places on the planet Earth. You walk in and fall in love with shelves full of beautiful books — and there are some dioramas that you can't take your eyes off of. (Signs ask people not to touch, which is good because even the adults could barely help themselves...)

Walk In The Indies First Storytime display, with our very own SMASH: TRIAL BY FIRE right in front! I'm in the back with owner Jennifer Green, whose infectious love of children's books grabs you right away.

The Store Seriously, are you in love yet? Great things come in small packages.

Hello Kitty You could spend half the day admiring displays like this Hello Kitty corner.

Sparky Here I am reading the wonderful Sparky, written by Jenny Offill and illustrated by Chris Applehans. Now I want a sloth for a pet!

Imaginary The endpapers of Dan Santat's beautiful The Adventures of Beekle show a gallery of imaginary friends. This pumpkin-headed one is my pick!

Reading Sparky

Reading Sparky 2 Reading Sparky to a great group of eager listeners.

Dino Dinosaurs roam the beautiful back deck at Green Bean, feeding on delicious donuts.

Signing Smash Signing a copy of SMASH for some new fans.

I had a fantastic time on Indies First Storytime Day and I can't wait for next year!

Special thanks to Jennifer Green and everyone at Green Bean Books for hosting a great event — I'm even more excited to read at Green Bean Books next month for Superhero Weekend! And if you live in Portland, make sure you visit Green Bean Books the first chance you get. I promise it will be love at first sight!

SMASH Is a Top Ten Most Circulated Book!

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The school librarian blog 100 Scope Notes has compiled a list of the Top 10 Circulated Books of 2014:

As we approacheth the end of the year, I like to take a look back at the books that really moved in my K-4 school library. These are the books that my students couldn’t get enough of during the 2013-14 school year.

And guess which book is #10? We'll give you a hint:

Smash Cover

We're honored to sit right next to Diary of a Wimpy Kid and Amulet on the list!

We like to think Smash, Wimpy Kid, and the Amulet heroes all hang out on school library shelves, swapping wild tales about how excited kids get when they read them.

SMASH Is a Black-Eyed Susan Nominee!

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The Black-Eyed Susan Award is presented each year by the Maryland Association of School Librarians (MASL) to "authors and/or illustrators of outstanding books chosen for the award by Maryland students." The list of 10 nominees for the 2014 Black-Eyed Susan Award has been posted — and we're thrilled that Smash: Trial by Fire is one of them!

Smash Cover

We've made the list alongside such fantastic titles as Nathan's Hale's Big Bad Ironclad, Rob Harrell's Monster On the Hill, Jake Parker's Missile Mouse: Rescue on Tankium3, and Dave Roman's Astronaut Academy: Zero Gravity.

Click here to see the full list of nominees — there's a ton of great reading to be found here.

Emerald City Comic Con Report, Part 3: Pictures from the Floor

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We had so many photos from this year's Emerald City that we couldn't fit them all into one post! If you've ever wondered what it's like to wander the floor of a sold-out comic convention, here's your photo tour. (Click any of the photos below for a larger image.) Smash ECCC 1 Outside the convention center.

Lego ECCC 1

Lego ECCC 2

Lego ECCC 3 Lego Rivendale! (We want to go to there.)

Smash ECCC lobby In the lobby, superheroes mingle with ordinary folk.

Crowd ECCC Crowd? What crowd?

Escalators ECCC Escalators are your best friend.

Batcave ECCC Welcome to the Batcave, kids!

Boom ECCC The Boom! Box.

Gotham ECCC Because we can't get enough of Legos... Gotham Park!!

R2D2 ECCC Life-sized Lego R2D2!

Fluffy ECCC Too fluffy and cute for words.

Alley ECCC Artists Alley took up three rooms this year — and we only got to see ours!

SMASH meets Super-Kyle!

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We received a fan letter from Matthew Dixson, who brought his son Kyle by our table at the Emerald City Comic Con. We found out Kyle has his own superhero character named Super-Kyle ("Great name!" says my brother), and real-life Kyle promised to show us his team-up with Smash. Well, here it is! (Click on the picture for a larger version.)

Super Kyle Meets Smash

Matthew writes:

After watching your panel, my son, the artist, was extremely excited to meet you, he kept saying he should make a comic of his own... We went to your booth to purchase Smash... We talked briefly with you about a Super-Kyle (that he has been drawing for years) vs. Smash team-up, where they both mistakenly thought they each were the villain, then after an epic battle they realized they were both friends.... So included is his "Smash vs Super-Kyle".... Enjoy!!! On the bottom it took me a minute to figure out what the little Superman getting bitten was.... Kyle explained that Superman bites Super-Kyle to give him his powers... Gotta love those 8-year-olds! Thanks for inspiring him. — Matthew

Thanks for sharing, Kyle — we're already huge fans, and we can't wait to see more of Super-Kyle!

If you have fan art, kids' comics, or anything else you'd like to share, please email us at smashcomic@gmail.com. We'd love to hear from you!