Comic Book Resources

Comics A.M. | The comics Internet in two minutes [Updated]

Stitches: A Memoir

Publishing | Publishers Weekly teases its forthcoming lists of the best books of the year with a Top 10 that includes David Small's National Book Award-nominated memoir Stitches. [Publishers Weekly]

Publishing | UK newspaper The Times rolls out a package marking the 70th anniversary of Marvel Comics with profiles of Chris Claremont and John Romita Jr., 70 facts "you didn't know" about the company, and a gallery. [Times Online]

Publishing | Back issues of Cerebus Archives, Dave Sim's bimonthly DVD extras-style collection of letters, stories and artwork, are now available through print-on-demand publisher ComiXpress. [ComiXpress]

Blogosphere | Mike Nebeker, co-host of the Geek Tragedy Podcast, passed away Oct. 27 from an apparent stroke. He was 41. According to this blog entry, his co-hosts plan on Tuesday to post a new episode that will contain their farewells and Nebeker's unaired interviews from the Alternative Press Expo. After that, they'll take some time off from the podcast. [Geek Tragedy Podnotes]

Comic strips | Amazon has announced the 10 finalists for its Comic Strip Superstar contest. [Digital Strips]

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Cartoonists band together for health care art auction

Hornschemeier's Beasts art

Anders Nilsen (Big Questions, Dogs and Water) has organized an impressive array of big-name cartoonists to participate in an ongoing art auction and fundraiser designed to promote universal health care. Entitled the "46 Million Art Auction and Benefit," it features contributions from folks like Chris Ware, Ivan Brunetti, Dan Clowes, Kevin Huizenga, John Porcellino, Jeffrey Brown, Lynda Barry, Paul Hornschemeier and many, many more.

The auction runs until September 6th, in 10-minute increments. All proceeds will go to Democracy for America Now, a national advocacy group pushing for the Public Option in democratic swing districts and offering support to congressional members who take a stand for the policy. To see the art, go to ebay and do a search for "46 million."

For more details, check out Jeffrey Brown's blog, which has detailed info on the what, when and why, or go to Hornschemeier's blog.

SDCC '09 | Charity auctions, panels, hookups, scalping and more

Comic-Con

The 2009 San Diego Comic-Con kicks off with preview night on Wednesday, July 22 and runs through Sunday, July 26. If you are a publisher, creator, retailer or any other kind of exhibitor who would like to let folks know about any special plans you have for the show (panels, signing schedules, exclusives, debuts, etc.) drop me an email and I'll run it here.

Organizations | The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund and Things From Another World have teamed up to create a set of limited edition cards by various comic creators that will be handed out by various publishers, the CBLDF and TFAW. The original artwork for the cards will be auctioned off at the con, with proceeds going to the fund. Contributors include Mike Mignola, Phil Hester, Eric Powell, Gabriel Bá, Fábio Moon, Steve Lieber and many more.

Panels | Although the official programming schedule hasn't been released yet, a few companies have started sharing their panels via press releases and such. Thursday at the con brings a panel on Disney animator Walt Stanchfield, who is profiled in a new book called Drawn to Life: 20 Golden Years of Disney Master Classes.

Also, FOX TV has released their schedule. They'll have panels dedicated to the Simpsons, Family Guy, The Cleveland Show (a Family Guy spinoff), 24, Futurama and Bones. They'll also have Joss Whedon and Eliza Dushku on hand to introduce a never before seen episode of Dollhouse. And they'll have a panel dedicated to their new show Glee, where they'll show another episode. You can watch the first one on Hulu; it is hilarious.

Interestingly enough, the release doesn't mention Fringe, but there will be a panel with several members of the cast.

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Help artist Josh Medors in his battle with cancer

Artist Josh Medors has been fighting cancer for more than a year, and his condition continues to worsen. Image Comics sent out the following letter yesterday asking for help with an alternative treatment:

The Darkness cover art by Josh Medors

This is a call to action!

As many of you may know already, artist Josh Medors (Frazetta's Swamp Demon & Sorcerer, Runes of Ragnan, 30 Days of Night) has been fighting a losing battle against a terminal form of cancer for well over a year, and it has recently taken a turn for the worst. The doctors and conventional medicine have all but given up on him and say there isn't anything else they can do. But he has found an alternative treatment that has the possibility of extending his life a bit and can help improve the quality of his life near the end so he can spend it with his wife and son. There is even a slim chance it can make him somewhat better, so he has to try. But of course the treatment is very expensive and Josh has no medical insurance.

So myself and my brother, Andrew Mangum (currently Josh's inker on Frazetta's Sorcerer) decided to arrange another benefit auction like the one they did at Emerald City Con back in '08. This auction is different though because the last one was organized by Jay Fotos to help Josh pay his rising medical bills to fight the cancer, and this one is specifically to get the treatment he needs to be keep him around. I know there are a lot of fans and friends out there that want to help, so this auction series will be that opportunity. A wide variety of artists are contributing personal works and art from their collections just like last time, but this time it's open to collectors, fans, and everyone else. as well anyone can donate if they want to help! We just ask that it be comic or comic art related.

I have set up a special "preview gallery" for all the items as they come in on my Comic Art Fans webpage at http://www.comicartfans.com/GalleryRoom.asp?GSub=80032

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Who'll pay six figures for Action Comics #1?

Action Comics #1

Global recession or no, bidding on a rare copy of Action Comics #1 is expected to be heated when an auction kicks off tomorrow.

Although copies of the 1938 comic in "fine" condition have sold for as much as $126,000, one expert tells The Associated Press this one could bring in many times that amount.

So who, in this economy, could throw down that kind of money for the first appearance of Superman? The U.K.'s ever-reliable Telegraph apparently has the inside track, linking virtually every celebrity comics fan to the auction: Nicolas Cage, Shaquille O'Neal, Jerry Seinfeld, Barack Obama.

Wait. Barack Obama?

Not so, says a spokesman for online auctioner ComicConnect: "Although he is reportedly a fan of Spider-Man, and was recently featured in a highly publicized comic book published by Marvel, Barack Obama is not bidding in the ComicConnect auction."

The Telegraph labels the president's interest as only "rumored" -- excuse me, "rumoured" -- but that doesn't prevent the newspaper from being far more concrete in the article's original headline ("Barack Obama and Jerry Seinfeld compete for Superman comic").

Oh, well. At least they're not writing more about Batwoman.

The auction ends on March 13.