Originally published on April 20th, 2007.

First, some plugs. A lot of Postcards activity this month. We had control of Blog@Newsarama for a week, Chris Arrant interviewed me for Newsarama proper, Comics in the Classroom talked to me about the book, and we're coming up on day two of our week-long takeover of Comic Book Resources (Rick Spears and Rob G where the highlights of day one). Please, check them out.

And check out the website! Go to the promote page and do what you can to show some love! Tell me if your comic shop is ordering Postcards so I can add them to The List! Send someone you love an ePostcard! Friend us up on MySpace!

Ok, enough of that. You're here for the contest…

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We had a lot of entries. A lot of good entries. James and I read each one. There were some that made us laugh, some that made us roll our eyes, and some that made us…well…feel a little dirty. At the end of the day, we went with one that captured the spirit of the anthology. It was sent by Jeff Siwanowicz of Seattle, Washington.

Charley,
Franklin and I were pleased that you caught a train to visit us for our annual Labor Day supper. Mother left our house the eve of September 7th stating that she had business to attend to in Africa. Her fiancée knows Teddy Roosevelt and has been ranting about the wonders of the African East Coast. She informed us that she will be traveling on an ivory expedition and should return for a July 4th celebration we are attending in Toledo next year. We hope you will be able to make it out again to visit.
Sincerely,
Eva Billman

This story (which, I'd like to add, is 99-words long, one short of the maximum) has everything we look for in a Postcards story. It's grounded in our reality, it's aligned with history, it's clever, and, like a postcard, it represents a fragment of the whole story, leaving our imaginations to figure out the rest.

So, congratulations to Jeff Siqanowicz – your page of Michael Gaydos' art will be in the mail shortly. He sure looks shocked:

Now, as I said, there were a lot of good entries. So many, in fact, that I've decided to give out some runner-up prizes – but the winners are going to have to wait a little while to get them. Two lucky people will be receiving super-signed copies of Postcards: True Stories That Never Happened. What does super-signed mean? Essentially, the copies will be sent out after San Diego Comic-Con, which will allow me to get a LARGE chunk of the creators to sign them. Most of them, really.

The first prize goes to David Lamson who sent us the following entry:

Charley,
Town councilman Whitney Klingbell is a cad. That scalawag treated your mother like a trollop. At the trading post I even heard Lucas Walters and Ule Malloffson laughing about her "dry goods" selling so cheaply. But your dear mother never lacked for gumption. She sauntered into the Town Board meeting, and with great fanfare pulled Whitney's monogrammed monocle from her décolletage. The scandal! The brouhaha! Mavis Klingbell dumped her rhubarb pie right on his bald head. The Gazette's headline: "Red-Faced Romeo Rues Roving Eye." Your mother then hopped a steamer to London, to enjoy autumn beneath Queen Victoria's skies.

It's a grand tale. A real ballyhoo. I found it interesting how many people had Charley's mother either running around with the opposite sex or stoned out of her mind. You're talking about someone's mother, people! Cheers to David Lamson for giving Charley's mom a bit of hardihood – she showed all you undistinguished chaps how to treat a lady!

Then we have the person known only as "Thom." Thom – can you please send me your full name and address? Thanks! The ePostcard feature uses an alias email, so I don't have your email address. Your entry is like the ones I mentioned above, with Charley's mom chasing sex, except, well…very clever…

Charley
We regret to inform you, but your mother was last seen roaming the fields of wheat in ghostlike fashion. True, she is nay a ghost, but age and sun has ravished her once beautiful exterior. Her words float ominously like a sick bird across the stalks that gently bend in the wind, as if they all doff their collective hats to the mysterious visitor. Wheat can be quite the gentlemen if treated properly.

Thanks to everyone who submitted an entry for this contest. I wish I had ten more prizes to give out. But they'll be more contests, likely in July. Check out the blog and the website for any updates. Thanks for your love and support! Postcards: True Stories That Never Happened coming June 26^th to a store near you!

Labels: postcards, press

This entry was posted by Jason, on Tuesday, June 5, 2007. You can leave your response.