Elfsar Comics & Toys Blog

Well due to the holidays the order for December is due a little extra early this Monday December 17thYou can find our staff hand written elfbytes HERE. Read and enjoy.

We will be doing our Big Boxing day MONTH sale between December 26th and January 29th - more details and news on this sale will be following shortly.

 Are you looking for gift ideas? Want to give back to your community but don’t know how or where to look? I found an interesting site that dedicates itself to helping those who want to start/help/donate to local charities in our community. This site: www.givemeaning.com hosts fundraising pages on behalf of charities, non-profits and grassroots projects.

From grass-roots international development projects to online fundraising pages for walks, swims and rides, they give you the tools so that you can create your own fundraising page at GiveMeaning.com to fundraise for most any benevolent purpose.

This is something I may want to consider doing for Free Comic Book Day  this year. In the past we have done food drives and raffles to help better our community. But we are always buying the free comics out of our own pocket. Yes, …we buy the Free comics. It is a common misconception that the public has. The comics of course are at a reduced price from the publisher ranging from $0.12 to $1.00 a book (depending on the publisher) but when you add the cost for the shipping of the books which (due to the amountof books that we give away) its not cheap, and can add up quickly.

Now don’t get me wrong, we love FCBD and have been a proud supporter since it’s inception.  But we want to do more.  We apply the cost of the event to our very modest advertising budget and the average cost is only about $2,300.00 for the books.  I’ll talk more about it later. 

Anyway, back on topic.  All the GiveMeaning projects have tangible, measurable charitable goals, and only registered charities may be chosen to carry out those goals. The reason why I like it is that when you donate at GiveMeaning.com, you have the comfort of knowing:

• 100% of all money donated goes directly to charity
• you will receive a tax receipt, as permissible by law (in the U.S. and Canada)
• you can measure your ‘Return on Generosity’ by viewing progress updates and more on each Project’s webpage. Things like blogs & podcasts really help you keep informed.
• your personal information will never be shared. I like this one a lot.

And, should a Project target not be met, they give you the option of re-allocating your donation to another Project. So basically when you donate to a GiveMeaning Project, you always know what happens to your money.

So if you are looking to donate to a charity during the holidays, you might want to check this site out.

The Gift of Giving
 

This year, Elfsar donated a cumulative of over $600.00 to the Vancouver Covenant House and World Wildlife Fund.

I know this was announced back in mid October but I just wanted to comment that the trailer for Street Fighter IV is great in design.  The whole ‘okami-look’ is awesome.  The movement of the characters is emphasized by the splashing and splattering of black ink almost as if the characters are art brushes used for Japanese calligraphy.  How cool would it be for the game to use this motif even further?  Imagine if you had this kind of effect in actual gameplay.  It would be a pretty bold new direction for a Street fighter game.  Imagine red ink for the final blows …lol.  View the Street Fighter IV Trailer Here!

So what’s going on with the comics?  Well just this past weekend at the 2007 New York Anime Festival, UDON made some exciting announcements.   Just in time for Street Fighter’s 20^th anniversary (highlighted by the all-new Street Fighter IV video game and the upcoming live action movie), UDON plans to release three pulse-pounding Street Fighter comic book series in 2008. 

First up, Street Fighter II Turbo will be a 12 issue maxi-series continuing the core story of UDON’s Street Fighter universe. Featuring the dynamic and energetic artwork of Chamba (Sinbad: Rogue of Mars), this latest arc pits the World Warriors against each other in an epic tournament-style slugfest.

Secondly, artist Omar Dogan (Sakura, Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles) follows up his run on the popular Sakura mini-series with Street Fighter Legends: Chun-Li. This new 4 issue mini-series focuses on a young Chun-Li, revealing how she grew up to become the world’s most famous female fighter.

Finally, Joe Ng (Red Sonja: Sonja Goes East, Transformers, G.I. Joe VS Transformers) brings his skilled line work to the pages of Street Fighter III: New Generation. This 6-issue series will not only explore the new characters introduced in the Street Fighter III video games, it will also show fans for the first time what classic characters like Guile, Sakura and others are up to during the SF3 era! 

Beyond Street Fighter, UDON is diving back into other publishing projects in 2008.  The studio will be expanding their successful Capcom Manga line with several new titles including Onimusha: Twilight of Desire and Devil Kings Basara. Fans can also look forward to more Capcom art books including Onimusha Dawn of Dreams: Official Complete Works and the Darkstalkers Graphic File.  In addition, UDON is also kicking its Korean Manhwa line into high gear with new titles including Daring Students’ Association, Dear Waltz, Reading Club, Evyione and Chronicles of the Grim Peddler. 

December 13th, 14th & 15th
December 20th, 21st & 22nd
6 glittering days from noon ‘til 6 pm

Elfsar is proud to announce that the Yaletown Business Improvement Association is hosting the Yaletown Gift Wrap Centre for Charity this year.  For six glittering days from noon ‘til six pm, volunteer elves - direct from the North Pole - will be at the Yaletown BIA office to wrap up your holiday presents by donation.  All monies raised will be donated to the Empty Stocking Fund and Yaletown House, right here in the neighbourhood.  The Yaletown BIA office is conveniently located at the corner of Hamilton and Drake.  Call the Yaletown BIA office at 604-683-7473 or email projects@yaletowninfo.com if you need more info.

For the first week of December we Canadians get screwed over yet again as comics have been delayed due avalanche warnings and resulting road closings, shipments will be delayed 24 hours this week.  So that means all the new stuff will be arriving sometime on Thursday December 6th.  Bah humbug… I hope that this is not a trend for the month of December!

On a side note:  It has come to my attention that there is an opportunity for any of you savvy video game types out there.  A focus group is being called for at Hothead Games this Friday from 9-5 with compensation being $50 and a very tasty lunch.
If interested call Susannah Skerl 604-616-3555 for more details.

Also, I have free movie advance movie passes for the new Tim Burton film “SWEENY TODD THE DEMON BARBER OF FLEET STREET” showing on Thursday December 13th at 7:00pm located at the Cinemark Tinseltown, 88 West Pender Street Vancouver.  If interested swing by the shop and get free passes with any purchase.  Limit one pass per person (however each pass allows you to bring a guest because it sucks to watch a movie by yourself).