Category Archives: Local Events

New All-Ages Anthology by the Boston Comics Roundtable Available Exclusively from MYP

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BOSTON POWERS #1: The first issue of a new, all-ages comic book from the Boston Comics Roundtable: superhero comics set in and around Boston. A young superheroine and a vampire fight it out in a swamp near Salem; a boy discovers his own hidden powers while facing down his demons at the Roger Clap Elementary school in Dorchester; a group of superkids has to deal with delays on the T while hurrying to battle a pink slime monster at the Prudential.

If you live in the greater Cambridge, Watertown, Arlington, Medford, Somerville, Waltham, Belmont, or Lexington area, and you buy ANY GRAPHIC NOVEL in addition to Boston Powers #1, the Million Year Picnic will deliver your order to you for FREE!

We are also offering curbside pickup again, starting on Tuesday, 26 May 2020. Check Twitter and Instagram for our hours during the pandemic.

If you prefer to have your copy of Boston Powers #1 shipped, there’s an additional fee of $3.50 for postage: $6 + $3.50:

The five locally-based superhero sagas in the first issue of a new all-ages comic book series Boston Powers were created by local writers and artists, all belonging to the Boston Comics Roundtable (BCR), an organization of comics makers that has been meeting regularly, holding events, and publishing anthologies since 2006. This is the group’s first series designed specifically for kids. Three issues are planned for this year, each featuring all-new, original super-characters, taking on monsters, supervillains, and evil corporations in recognizable locations.

“We wanted to emphasize the silly, colorful, imaginative excitement of the superhero genre, the reasons we all fell in love with it as young comics readers” says Dan Mazur, who edited the collection. “And by inventing superheroes whose turf is in and around Boston, we hope to have made something even more fun for local kids.” While the comic book promotes positive values and diversity, Boston Powers first goal is to entertain its readers and show them their own towns and neighborhoods as locations for adventure and fantasy.

Boston Powers was funded in part via a successful Kickstarter campaign earlier this year. The first issue of Boston Powers was to have debuted at the Boston Kids Comics Fest on April 27th, an event that was postponed due to the current health crisis. The comic book will instead be available for order online or via phone through the Million Year Picnic. Retail price is $6.00 for the 40 page, full-color comic.

If you’re looking for ideas for kid-friendly books to buy in order to qualify for FREE delivery, may we suggest the following? Contact us via email, millionyearpicnic@yahoo.com, or call 617-492-6763 (if you have to leave a message, we’ll get back to you) to arrange payment for Boston Powers #1 PLUS the comics or graphic novels of your choice!

Level 2 Comix Creation Classes for Kids! May 2020

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Hello! It’s the 2020 pandemic and our physical location is CLOSED. But we are still selling books via FREE delivery to local locations and USPS shipping. In the meantime, we’re doing some fundraising through classes for kids on how to make comics!

Jason Wiser will AGAIN be running his Intro to Comix Creation ONLINE class LEVEL 2 for kids next week, Monday, 18 May 2020 through Friday, 22 May 2020 from 3-4pm. Jason’s website for the class is here: http://www.yayaplay.com/classes.html

  • Intro to Comix Creation LEVEL 2
  • For ages 8+
  • $50 per household – NOT per child! If you have one child or seven, it’s still $50!
  • Monday, 5/18 through Friday, 5/22 at 3pm
  • All your child needs is a pencil and paper!
  • Please provide your email address (for the URL to connect you and your child to the class; no special software is needed) as well as the first name(s) and the age(s) of your child (or children) in the PayPal “note” section!
  • You’ll receive the link by 2:30pm on Monday, before class starts

Payment can be made via PayPal to blanton7772000@yahoo.com (but please DO NOT email that address; please DO put your email address and the names/ages of your child/children in the “Add a note” section) or on the phone with a credit card (our number is 617-492-6763). Since we’re not in the shop on a regular basis during the current stay-at-home order, if you need to do a credit card transaction, email us at millionyearpicnic@yahoo.com or leave us a voice message with your phone number and a good time to call so that Tony Davis, owner of the MYP, can call you back. (I promise, we’re working on an e-commerce solution.) PLEASE DO NOT EMAIL US YOUR CREDIT CARD INFORMATION.

ABOUT THE TEACHER:
Jason Wiser is a Harvard Instructor of Comics, Animation, and Game Development. His comics work has been published in the Boston Globe, his animation has appeared on the Disney TV show “Greek” and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and his published games include the award-winning cooperative card game for kids “Monsters in the Elevator” (www.YayaPlay.com/MITE).

PLEASE SHARE THIS AROUND! Even if you don’t have kids, your friends might be interested! Jason is kindly letting us keep the proceeds of this venture to raise money for the shop while we’re all practicing social distancing.

Status Report for Wednesday, 1 April 2020 (No foolin’)

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I need a more interesting phrase than “status report” but that’s what it is. We’re skipping April Fool’s day. I hope you don’t mind.

There are SEVEN different items in this report! I numbered ’em for clarity.

1. Tony will be IN THE SHOP three days this week: TODAY, Wednesday, from noon-4pm, as well as Friday (4/3), and Saturday (4/4) from noon to 5:30pm to take phone orders and answer questions. And, we are responding to email and voicemail 7 days a week! 617-492-6763 or millionyearpicnic@yahoo.com. Press inquiries WELCOME!

2. Jason Wiser will be running his Intro to Comix Creation ONLINE class for kids AGAIN next week, Monday, 6 April 2020 through Friday, 10 April 2020 from 1-2pm. He’s also considering a next level class! (Let us know via email to millionyearpicnic@yahoo.com if you and your kids might be interested in the next level!) More details on signing up for the basic class here: https://www.themillionyearpicnic.com/intro-to-comix-creation-online-class-for-kids-again/

3. In addition to the classes, Tony is still delivering comics to Cambridge, Somerville, Medford, Arlington, and Belmont with a minimum purchase of $15. He’s going farther afield for larger orders. We’re also packing comics to ship via USPS to remote locations! Unfortunately, we’ve had to discontinue curbside pickup for the time being.

4. If you want to support us, you can buy a gift certificate via our PayPal using blanton7772000@yahoo.com (again, DO NOT EMAIL that address; you will not get a response). Just put the details in the note section PayPal provides. You have THREE options: (1) we can mail out gift certificates via the United States Postal Service, (2) we can hold them at the shop until we’re open again, or (3) we can put them in with an order of comics/graphic novels and deliver them to your house… let us know your preference in the note.

5. If you’re looking for prose books, we may be able to order them as well since we have access to a couple of distributors that are still open who do both graphic novels and prose books.

6. GREAT NEWS! OUR VOICEMAIL IS FIXED! You can leave us voice messages! We’ll even listen to them!

7. For more up-to-the-minute news and status reports, follow us on the various social media platforms, especially our main Instagram account (mostly Tony) and Twitter (mostly Kelly):

Main Instagram account: https://www.instagram.com/myp_comics/

Back issues only Instagram account: https://www.instagram.com/mypcomicsonline/

Our Twitter account: https://twitter.com/myp_comics/

Our Facebook account: https://www.facebook.com/mypcomics/

Our Etsy account (also for back issues): https://www.etsy.com/shop/MillionYearPicnicMA

Join the MYP email list: https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/millionyearpicnic

Thank you so much for all of your support! We really appreciate how much people are reaching out and helping us! Stay safe and healthy!

Intro to Comix Creation ONLINE class for kids AGAIN!!!

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DEADLINE EXTENDED! THERE IS STILL ROOM IN THE CLASS! WE’LL BE ACCEPTING REGISTRATION THROUGH SUNDAY NIGHT, 4/5/2020!!!

Jason Wiser will be running his Intro to Comix Creation ONLINE class for kids AGAIN next week, Monday, 6 April 2020 through Friday, 10 April 2020 from 1-2pm. He’s also planning a next level class! Jason’s website for the class is here: http://www.yayaplay.com/classes.html

  • Intro to Comix Creation
  • For ages 8+
  • $50 per household – NOT per child! If you have one child or seven, it’s still $50!
  • Monday, 4/6 through Friday, 4/10 at 1pm
  • All your child needs is a pencil and paper!
  • Please provide your email address (for the URL to connect you and your child to the class; no special software is needed) as well as the first name(s) and the age(s) of your child (or children)
  • You’ll receive the link by 12:30pm on Monday, before class starts

Payment can be made via PayPal to blanton7772000@yahoo.com (but please DO NOT email that address; please DO put your email address and the names/ages of your child/children in the “Add a note” section) or on the phone with a credit card (our number is 617-492-6763). Since we’re not in the shop on a regular basis during the current stay-at-home order, if you need to do a credit card transaction, email us at millionyearpicnic@yahoo.com or leave us a voice message with your phone number and a good time to call so that Tony Davis, owner of the MYP, can call you back. (I promise, we’re working on an e-commerce solution.) DO NOT EMAIL US YOUR CREDIT CARD INFORMATION.

We will cap this class at 50 students, so act fast! Registration ENDS on SUNDAY, 5 April 2020!

ABOUT THE TEACHER:
Jason Wiser is a Harvard Instructor of Comics, Animation, and Game Development. His comics work has been published in the Boston Globe, his animation has appeared on the Disney TV show “Greek” and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and his published games include the award-winning cooperative card game for kids “Monsters in the Elevator” (www.YayaPlay.com/MITE).

PLEASE SHARE THIS AROUND! Even if you don’t have kids, your friends might be interested! Jason is kindly letting us keep the proceeds of this venture to raise money for the shop while we’re all practicing social distancing.