East Side Mags would like to send a BIG BIG THANK YOU to Norman Lee for coming all the way down from Boston, MA to be with us yesterday. 

We had a great turn out and Montclair, NJ really showed Norman a great time!  

With an amazing turnout, we gave out a TON of signed 11 x 17 prints including Hulk, World's Finest, Batman and the Avengers!

Norman did a few sketches and kids who came out got TONS of free swag including smaller prints signed by Norman!  Pictures were taken and memories were made!

Thanks again to Norman Lee (and Eric Korpi) for coming out, hanging out and being the awesome guys they are!  Montclair thanks you too!

Posted
AuthorJeff Beck
CategoriesESM Universe

Saturday, 9/13, at 7pm we held our first movie night!  We had a showing of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - rated PG from 1990 - and it was a rousing success.  

We had people.  

We had snacks.  

We had fun.  

And most importantly, we had TURTLE POWER!

Gateway AV donated a 6' projection screen and a short throw LCD projector to give our audience an authentic movie experience like some us of us had in the 1990s.  You can click here to see GAV's website and the myriad of products/services they offer.

We also collected food donations for Toni's Kitchen - right here in Montclair!  For those who are unfamiliar, Toni's Kitchen provides nutritious meals along with health and wellness programs, skills training opportunities and connections to supportive services throughout the community - all for those in need.  They are amazing in what they do and we are happy to support their cause to better the community and provide a healthy and engaging environment for those who live in it!  Click here to check out Toni's Kitchen and show them some love too!

All in all, we had an amazing time and we're really looking forward to the next one.  The next movie night will be on 10/18 but we're still trying to come up with a good movie.  You can go to our Facebook page and make suggestions or leave your suggestions here in the comments section.  We love getting feedback.  If we don't pick your movie of choice this time, don't worry, there will be plenty more to come!

Posted
AuthorJeff Beck
CategoriesESM Universe

Well, we have officially completed our first Magic the Gathering 2015 Core Set Standard Draft last night and it was a SUCCESS!  Thank you to everyone who came out to show support and a BIG SPECIAL THANKS to Colron for leading the draft, judging and making the experience as fun as possible.

This is something that we plan to do FREQUENTLY and we know the demand is there!  More news to follow VERY soon on the next draft (hint, hint - 9/26) with details to follow.

Congrats to Julian on placing first for which he received $25 store credit!  Also - congrats to Olivia (2nd place) and Dan (3rd place) with Justin rounding out as the "random draw" winner!

Looking forward to the new set being released and many, many more drafts to come!

Posted
AuthorJeff Beck
CategoriesESM Universe

He was there best there was at what he did.  And what he did wasn't always pretty.  But he was a solid soldier, a good friend, a formidable opponent, a cunning strategist and a respected teacher.  I am, of course, talking about Wolverine aka Logan aka James Howlett.

On Wednesday, 9/3, East Side Mags hosted a memorial service for the (soon to be) fallen hero while also commemorating the release of Death of Wolverine #1 by Marvel Comics.

We presented a eulogy and even had a guest appearance from Spider-Man who shared some his professional and personal thoughts from his previous experiences with Logan.  

Spidey brought along a set of dog tags, given to him by Mr. Howlett himself.  

Spider-Man's Eulogy Part 1

Spider-Man's Eulogy Part 2

It was a heart-felt moment and ESM dedicated its famed chalkboard wall to those who wanted to leave a message for the dearly departed.  The chalkboard wall will remain up all week for those to record their memories and share their thoughts with the community. 

We lost a great hero.  His death will surely leave scars and have ramifications across the entire Marvel Universe.  Time will tell what those ramifications will be - in the form of a series of upcoming comics centering on some of the people Wolverine was closest to and how they deal with his untimely demise.  

Don't forget - only issue #1 has been released!!!  To get the full story, get issues #2, #3 and #4 as they come out right here!!!

On Sunday, August 17th, East Side Mags hosted Ms. Kayla Miller - creator/artist/writer for indie comics CREEP and SMALL THING.  The response we got was incredible with familiar faces and new ones coming out to see Ms. Miller and check out her work.  

CREEP is a full size comic about a boy who, through an accident combining electricity and fruit punch, gains super powers.  Issue #1 is on our shelves as we speak!

SMALL THING is an ashcan comic and features a short story about a small girl.  We don't want to give too much away but the art and writing are amazing and quickly becomes a must read!

Check out some photos below of the signing and of Kayla herself!  She was the very first indie comic artist to take the plunge with ESM and our partnership continues to grow with more and more copies of CREEP and SMALL THING moving out the door at an incredible rate!

Check out both comics today!  You can find more of Kayla's art/writing here.

On August 7, 2014 we hosted Adam McGovern - writer of Nightworld #1 on Image Comics.  


We had a great time!  We had fans of Nightworld, friends of Adam's and other customers who didn't hear about the signing initially but - upon meeting Adam - became fast fans of the book!  We still have a few copies left so come on by and grab a copy!  It's the first book of a limited series so its a great jump on point for anyone new to comics or just looking for a cool book to read.

Batman Day was so much fun!  

In celebration of Batman's 75th anniversary, we provided customers with the ability to acquire one of four different Batman masks commemorating some of the most memorable moments in Batman's comic history including:

-Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns

-Adam West's Batman '66

-DC Comics The New 52 version of Batman

-Bob Kane's original Batman

Batman 75th anniversary capes were also provided and we worked really, really hard on our Christian Bale voice.  

Needless to say, we had a great day and so did all the kids, parents, youngsters and young-at-heart adults who came out to show their love of the Dark Knight!  

We also determined that Bruce Wayne is THE BEST LOOKING 75 year old man in the world...

We recently held our GRAND OPENING weekend celebration with tons of friends, family and community members all coming out to show some love for us, for comics, for art, for music and for FUN!  

We kicked off Friday night - 7/18 - with a live music performance from Policemen in Pickups (www.policemeninpickups.com) which not only rocked the house but we also sacrificed a Game of Thrones pint glass to the rock 'n' roll gods - and they were pleased!

Day 2 - 7/19 - Brian Smith, writer/illustrator was in house to sign copies of his work and provide free sketches for the community at large.  Some of his includes, but is not limited to:  Spongebob Squarepants comics, The Intrepid EscapeGoat, Max Steel, Stuff of Legend, Voltron Force and more!!!  Brian is seriously one of the nicest guys we've ever met and having him here was a delight!  As a Montclair native, we hope to have him back in the near future!  He's also got a new book coming out called Tree Mail so keep your eyes posted for more news on this!!!

 

Day 3 - 7/20 - FINAL DAY - Dylan Klymenko of Upside Down Grin came to the store to sign copies of his prints and brought a limited edition EAST SIDE MAGS print that was only available for that day!  We've actually got a couple extra copies for sale if anyone is still interested!  The response Dylan got was great and everyone loves his prints!  Not only did we sell a bunch that day but people brought back their prints from previous purchases - just to have Dylan sign 'em!!!  How awesome is that?

Thanks again to everyone who came out, helped out, bought stuff, said hi, smiled, drew on our chalkboard wall, told us how nice/amazing the store is, welcomed us to the neighborhood and shook our hands!  It's great to be here in Montclair and the response has been nothing short of AMAZING!  We look forward to a LOOOOONG tenure here and hope to be here for many, many, many years to come!  

Enjoy the photos of our Grand Opening celebration - courtesy of HSL Photography!  (Thanks, bro!)

We had an AMAZING time at the Montclair BID’s sidewalk stroll on June 14th.  We had face painting for kids and a bunch of our super-hero / villain friends came out to show their support including Deadpool, Harley Quinn, She-Ra Princess of Power, the white Mighty Morphin Power Ranger, Wonder Woman and of, course Batman himself!  Our table outside and face painting area was also graced with Mary Jane Watson who also posed for a bunch of pictures with our very own (and the love of her life) Spider-Man!!!  We had an amazing time and we can’t wait for another great outdoor sale!!!  Maybe we’ll have our own coming up soon…