For years now, autographed books coming direct from publishers -- or direct from the authors themselves -- have been an affordable way to collect ink from notable names in all realms of pop culture.

It's not a perfect system with stamped autos, fakes and autopens sometimes in the mix -- a problem for publishers to catch as they are not authenticators -- but thanks to dedicated collectors on the Blowout Cards Forum and elsewhere, those problems often get caught and fixed ... or at least become well-known enough to avoid if it's an issue that goes uncorrected. Getting ink in-person is always best -- book tours still happen, of course -- but landing autographed editions from publishers, online sellers or celebs themselves via their websites or other appearances are common.

Our latest subject and autograph in this ongoing series? Well, this time it's something totally different, actually, as nothing recently released in the books realm has grabbed my attention. Instead, I turned to something from the comics world -- a category with plenty of signed stuff out there regularly and ink flowing.

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The ThunderCats are about to roar once again in a new way.

A Kickstarter campaign to bring a new game to life hit its funding goal in one minute after it recently launched and it will get into collectors' hands not long after the ordering window closes.

Lynnvander Studios and Dynamite Entertainment are behind ThunderCats: The Roleplaying Game with pledges topping $46,000 so far via more than 500 backers after having a goal of only $1,985 when it launched.

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Their 40th anniversary will be celebrated in style.

A Kickstarter campaign to bring a new set of Transformers cards to life was funded in minutes and a number of options for collectors to partake in their celebration of the 1980s toys and now television and film icons.

Dynamite Entertainment is behind the Transformers 40th Anniversary Trading Cards set with pledges topping $180,000 so far via more than 700 backers after having a goal of only $19,840 when it launched -- there are 25 days left, too, to grab some premium pieces such as sketch cards alongside various packages.

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Never doubt the duck ... especially Darkwing Duck.

A Kickstarter campaign to bring back the entire collection of Darkwing Duck comics from the past all in one spot -- as well as first dibs at a reboot with a new series -- hit its goal in mere minutes this week. The total raised is pushing 10 times that right now with a number of advanced options available to collectors before the campaign ends in about two weeks.

Dynamite Entertainment is behind it all, which includes a trio of trade paperbacks as well as an omnibus-size and oversized 9-by-12 hardcover edition -- both being the Darkwing Duck Complete Comic Collection -- that revisit all of the past comics based on the early 1990s TV series. There are several other choices in the campaign, ranging from new comics, original sketches and other artwork -- nearly 30 options for fans to get a piece of the action.

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Update (Feb. 16) -- Pre-ordered copies of this one are shipping today.

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It's almost time for a ThunderCats reboot ... and it's one that will include BlowoutCards.com.

Set to arrive next week, Dynamite Entertainment's first issue of the legendary series is set to arrive with a number of variant covers in play (see some of the others here) as part of a launch that's already pre-sold more than 170,000 copies. That's the biggest-selling new arrival for the comics industry in years.

Blowout will be part of that array of arresting artistic odes to the heroes of the lair with a limited series of ThunderCats No. 1 exclusives that are an homage to not just one but two iconic and best-selling comic books from the early 1990s all rolled into one -- with exclusive artwork from an iconic creator of that era, too.

There will be four single covers and a fifth collecting them all -- and if you weren't around in 1991 to collect 'em all and to already know what that means, we'll reveal them all right here, right now.

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Did somebody say "ThunderCats?"

They did and that one got The Boss' attention at Blowout Cards as Thomas Fish is a serious collector of original comic book art that includes the original pen-and-ink debut panels and/or covers for iconic characters such as Wolverine, Ghost Rider, X-Force and Deadpool. If you didn't know, he also owns the entire issue's worth of original artwork from Jim Lee's X-Men reboot in 1991 ... the No. 1 issue remains the best-selling comic book issue ever with more than 8 million copies sold across five variants. (He's got all of the covers, too -- click the image here to see 'em all up close.)

But ThunderCats? That one checks in as his favorite series ... which leads us to right here, right now today.

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A comedy classic is coming to the board game realm thanks to a successful BackerKit campaign -- and it could include additional surprises depending on how high it goes.

It's Monty Python & The Holy Grail The Game and it's coming in July from Dynamite Entertainment for those who back its production right here. The game-makers' goal was $50,000 to put this one into production and it's already sitting at more than $140,000 with almost a month to go.

In other words, The Black Knight ain't stopping this one, which its creators call "an epic adventure of absurdity."

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KISS and Vampirella -- seems like an unusual yet still natural crossover, right?

That's just one of the comic books arriving this month -- this one specifically today -- via Dynamite Entertainment, a Mt. Laurel, N.J.-based publisher that has a tie to something beyond the typical realm of comic book characters.

KISS/Vampirella arrives with six different covers for issue No. 1 -- all seen in a gallery below along with a sketch cover -- and that's a common trait for other series from Dynamite, many of which come with ties to movies, video games, famous book and comic strip characters, Internet stars and more.

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Grumpy Cat is one of those things that, well, you either get or you don't.

How else do you explain a cat with a few hundred-thousand Twitter followers, 8.2 million Facebook fans, countless YouTube hits and even more memes?

Don't answer that -- just consider that Grumpy Cat isn't just an Interwebs force. Grumpy Cat sells comic books, too.

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