East Side Mags is stoked to announce that we’ll be hosting local comic creator Taku Ward and his newest comic creation - THE TALE OF THE ONE-INCH BOZO!

About the comic: "The Tale of One-Inch Bozo" is a 40-page, all-age adventure comic about a one-inch tall boy who gets lost in a forest filled with all sorts of dangerous animals and monsters. A retelling of the Japanese folktale, "The One-Inch Samurai," read to find out what it really takes to become a samurai as a one-inch boy in a big, big world.

About the creator: Taku Ward is a cartoonist born and raised in New Jersey. He attended and graduated from the School of Visual Arts with a Bachelor's Degree in Cartooning in 2020. His comics have been published in anthologies such as Level Ground Comics' "The Greatest Hits: A Comic Mixtape," Chidrawgo's "I Like Robots," and The Nib's "Cities" issue. During his free time, Taku likes to work on his comics, go on walks, and pet his cats.

This comic is perfect for all ages including kids so bring the family, your friends and yourself and come on down and check out this amazing comic by an equally amazing creator! And support local creators and comics!

Meet Paul Belliveau! You might have seen his Darth Maul prints hanging in the shop. He’s an amazing artist and we’re BIG fans of his work so we’ve decided we can’t keep him to ourselves - it’s time to share him with the WORLD!

Paul moved to Glen Ridge from Brooklyn in 2014 with his wife. He went to NYU for Painting and studied Traditional Animation at the School of Visual Arts (SVA). He’s a huge comic fan and has worked from companies like Fleer and Skybox, he worked as an animator for Between the Lions on PBS has worked as a storyboard artist for TV Commercials.

Paul will be hanging out with us from 1pm-5pm, sketching on blank covers and honing his skills as he gets ready to launch his Kickstarter next year called The 20k!

Come meet Paul and find out more info about his upcoming Kickstarter, what it’s like to be an animator and an artist and maybe he’ll even tell you his favorite place to get baked goods and homemade candy!

Well dudes, dudettes and duderinos - here we are!  ONE YEAR!!!

It was this weekend in 2014 where we had our big Grand Opening blow out featuring bands, artists and more comics than you can shine a bat-signal on!  Well, this year we're hitting the ground hard!  MORE DETAILS to be forthcoming but here's what's in store for you - our valued and loyal customers:

Meet Joe Caramagna - Eisner & Harvey-nominated comic book writer and letterer of Marvel's AMAZING SPIDER-MAN, ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN:  WEB WARRIORS, AVENGERS ASSEMBLE, AVENGERS VS, FREE COMIC BOOK DAY ROCKET RACCOON and GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY!  He currently lives in NJ with his wife and three kids!

Meet Isaac Goodhart - a lifelong comic fan, graduated from the School of Visual Arts in New York in 2010.  In 2014, he was one of the winners for Top Cow's annual talent hunt.  He is currently drawing POSTAL for Top Cow comics!

Brian Smith is a former Marvel Comics and DC Comics Editor, his credits include Ultimate Spider-Man, Iron Man, Captain America, The Incredible Hulk, Batgirl, Deathstroke, and dozens of other titles. Smith is the co-creator and writer behind the New York Times best selling Graphic Novel The Stuff of Legend, and the writer/artist of The Intrepid EscapeGoat. His writing credits include Finding Nemo: Losing Dory from BOOM! Studios, Voltron Force from VIZ, TMNT New Animated Adventures from IDW, and SpongeBob Comics from Bongo.

Smith is also the illustrator of The Adventures of Daniel Boom AKA LOUDBOY! Series of graphic novels. His illustration clients include Time Out New York Magazine, Nickelodeon, MAD Kids Magazine, Harper Collins, Grosset & Dunlap, and American Greetings.

A graduate of the famous Kubert School, Fernando Ruiz has worked in comics and commercial illustration for over twenty years. Much of his work has appeared in the various publications of Archie Comics. He has been the regular penciller on Archie, Archie & Friends, Archie's Weird Mysteries, and the Eisner-nominated magazine series Life With Archie. He has also drawn other Archie characters such as Sabrina the Teenage Witch, Betty & Veronica, and Jughead. His work has also appeared in comics published by Dark Horse Comics and Image Comics. In addition to his comic book work, Fernando has worked for a number of corporate clients such as Simon & Schuster, Ogilvy Commonhealth Worldwide, and JCPR drawing storyboards, toy designs, white board illustrations, and many other projects. In 2012, he published the first issue of his independent comic anthology, EPICS. In 2013, he illustrated the children's book, RABBIDS: Laugh Your Rabbids Off! Most recently, he has illustrated the popular, best-selling crossover Archie Vs Predator!

In 1995, Fernando returned to the Kubert School as an instructor.  He has been teaching there regularly for twenty years.  He is a regular guest at many comic book conventions every year.

Signings will take place from 1pm-5pm.

One of our favorite things about the past year is how great everyone in the community has been to us so to say "Thank You", we're going to hold a special RAFFLE!  Being summer and baseball season, we're offering packs of baseball cards that will be used to raffle off some amazing prizes right here in the store!  That's it!  Buy a pack of baseball cards and you can win some great comics, toys, figures and more!  We're giving something away EVERY HOUR STARTING AT 11AM!!!

UPDATE (7/14/15):  JUST ADDED!!!  When you think things couldn't get any better, we've added a musical act to our Grand Opening Celebrations!  Local Montclair garage rock band Tula Ver will be here!  Performance starts at 7pm and they are sure to bring the house down!  You can check out their Facebook page or their Soundcloud page here!

UPDATE (7/17/15):  FINAL UPDATE!!!  East Side Mags is happy to announce that we will also be having a SALE!!!  20% everything in the store (does not include new comics, wall books, artwork, pull boxes or anything already on hold).  That's it!  Save on great stuff like hard covers, toys, trades, back issues, comic sets, t-shirts, novelty items and MORE!

We're so excited to celebrate this massive milestone with Montclair and the rest of the surrounding community!  We can't wait to see you all here!