Marvel and Williams-Sonoma announced today that they’re partnering on a line of bakeware merchandise, including cookie cutters, aprons and more, that will be sold by the retailer.

The products are available now on the Williams-Sonoma website, along with a custom comic book that features the Avengers fighting the Frightful Four while a shrunken Jarvis makes hamburgers (really). The 12-page comic was written by Marvel’s resident foodie, C.B. Cebulski, with art by Todd Nauck.

Products will also be available in Williams-Sonoma’s retail shops in the United States and Canada.

“Building upon our incredibly successful relationship with Williams-Sonoma Inc., we are excited to launch a great new line of merchandise at Williams-Sonoma stores, bringing the Marvel brand to another audience and product segment,” said Paul Gitter, President of Consumer Products for North America, Marvel Entertainment, in the press release. “We are working with Williams-Sonoma on helping kids and adults spend time together in the kitchen.

"Do you think this 'A' on my head stands for 'AVAILABLE FOR $2.99'?!?"

Kudos to our eagle-eyed Robot 6 and Spinoff compadre Graeme McMillan for spotting something interesting, and perhaps a bit frustrating, in Marvel’s January solicitations. On his Twitter, Graeme noted (edited slightly for clarity): “Number of new 32-page Marvel books @ $2.99 in new solicits: three. Number of new 32-page Marvel books @ $3.99 in new solicits: seven. What happened to price cuts?”

You no doubt recall that less than an hour after DC announced price cuts for its ongoing series during New York Comic Con — with a detailed list of the titles involved, along with page-count decreases and the cessation of back-up features — Marvel Senior Vice President-Sales & Circulation David Gabriel announced price cuts for Marvel, too, stating that new books launching in January 2011 will not debut at $3.99. Though details about the plan were scarce, here at Robot 6 we rounded up Marvel’s reaction to the price cuts at both publishers, from Senior Vice President C.B. Cebulski’s mild busting of DC’s chops for dropping page counts along with prices and, thus, reducing creator income, to sales communications manager Arune Singh’s statement that many titles debuting from Marvel in 2011 will ship at $2.99.

But a look at Marvel’s January solicitations tells a different story: Of the House of Ideas’ 32-page debuts, seven are listed at $3.99: Age of X: Alpha #1, Orson Scott Card’s Speaker for the Dead #1 (of 5) Anita Blake: Circus of the Damned — The Ingenue #1 (of 5), The Stand: No Man’s Land #1 (of 5), Ultimate Comics Captain America #1 (of 4), Daredevil: Reborn #1 (of 4), and The Thanos Imperative: Devastation #1; only three are priced at $2.99: Captain America: Hail Hydra #1 (of 5), Wolverine and Jubilee #1 (of 4), and Magneto #1. The reasoning for the different price points isn’t instantly clear upon seeing which titles get which price — as best I can tell, maybe $3.99 is still being used for event-related titles, licensed books and Ultimate Comics series? But if there are more of those than of “regular” launches, it appears to run counter to Marvel’s expressed intention, at least for this early month of the year.

Though Marvel had no official comment on the matter, a very quick bit of number-crunching reveals that while prices weren’t slashed wholesale, moves are being made in that direction, and in the direction of reducing the overall number of titles being published — something Tom Brevoort mentioned would happen at the New York Comic Con. In January, there are 54 items listed at $3.99 and 28 at $2.99, for 82 items total split between those price points (not including the Icon titles and, obviously, $4.99 items like the Iron Man anniversary issue). In Marvel’s December solicitations, there were 69 at $3.99 and 26 at $2.99, for 95 items total (again, not including Icon, etc.). So yes, overall, the number of $3.99 books is shrinking, the number of $2.99 books is increasing, and the total number of releases is declining, albeit not necessarily dramatically, and without the price cuts being noticeably tied to what’s new and what’s not.

To be clear, it might not be a terrible idea to roll prices and production back gradually. Certainly many retailers, while pleased with the publishers’ decision to eliminate what they see as a “jumping-off” factor in the form of that four-buck price point, have expressed concern that the decision to do so during the weakest months of the year for comics retail would represent an instantaneous hit to their bottom line, while any increase in sales or readership originating from the price cuts would likely be gradual. But regardless, as far as the actual price cuts themselves go, DC has the edge.

(Additional reporting by JK Parkin and Kiel Phegley.)

– Marvel’s Senior Vice President, Creator & Content Development C.B. Cebulski, with another pearl of wisdom from his magic box of “how not to break into comics” tidbits. Protip: This applies to comment-thread posters, too. Just sayin’!

Veteran Marvel talent wrangler C.B. Cebulski has a fancy new title to go along with his gig of scouting and recruiting new creators (and his hobby of eating his way through the world’s fancy-pants restaurants): Senior Vice President, Creator & Content Development. According to the press release over on the CBR mothership, the gig not only solidifies Cebulski’s role as the company’s go-to guy for new talent, it also puts him in the Joe Quesada/Axel Alonso/Tom Brevoort braintrust in terms of determining the direction for Marvel’s comics line, and also gives him input into Marvel Entertainment’s various other creative initiatives. Finally, it gives me the excuse I needed to run that picture of him with Paris Hilton again.

C.B. Cebulski and friend

One of the most welcome aspects of yesterday’s big DC digital-comics announcement from a creator-rights perspective is that “creator incentive payments” are a part of it. In his interview with CBR’s Kiel Phegley, co-publisher Jim Lee compared the payments to the royalties creators receive for print sales, saying “the freelance community will be happy that they’re being compensated in every way their stories are being sold.” That aspect of the arrival of digital comics publishing has been shrouded in mystery up until now, so DC’s move is a big first step.

Or is it? On his Twitter account, Marvel talent scout C.B. Cebulski took issue with a letter apparently sent out to creators by DC touting the move:

Sorry, DC, but despite what your nice letter says, you are NOT “the first to announce a participation plan for talent” for digital comics. I’m not sniping at DC, just correcting misinformation that’s being sent out freelancers, some who work for both companies.

Putting aside for the moment whether Cebulski was sniping or not, Executive Editor Tom Brevoort took an even blunter approach, as is his wont, when discussing the move with several readers:

So today, DC invented the digital comic and payments for same. Interesting approach, taking a leadership position from the back of the line. I don’t like it when they get press for something that isn’t true. But good on them for entering the digital arena. Not sure what catch-all contract you mean, but yes, Marvel is paying digital incentives.

Meanwhile, Cebulski’s above tweets were subsequently retweeted or replied to by Joe Quesada, Brian Michael Bendis, Andy Diggle, and Skottie Young.

Add it all up and it clearly indicates that some sort of royalty plan is in place at Marvel. But as far as I can tell, aside from Brevoort’s explicit statement, the company hasn’t said word one about it in public, whatever it may be.

The CBR mothership is looking into the story — as soon as they know more, you’ll know more.

C.B. Cebulski by Tetsuya Aoki

If you follow Marvel’s talent scout on Twitter, you know that C.B. Cebulski is a big fan of food … he’s just as likely to point out a great place to get BBQ as he is to share tips and trick on breaking into the business. Now he’s launched a blog called Eataku, “an online home for people passionately obsessed with food,” where he’s posting restaurant reviews, recipes by Alex Maleev and even food-related artwork, as you’ll see above.

He’s also going to be a guest judge on the Food Network’s Challenge show, where various chefs face off in cooking challenges. This week’s challenge is “extreme villain cakes,” and it airs this Sunday at 8 p.m. ET/PT.

“Four cake designers tap into their dark side as they create original villains and tell their stories in cake,” says the Food Network’s description of the show. “The cake designers also need to make their creations move or spin or shoot fire — making for a truly extreme competition. The competitor who can wow the judges with both the story and the special effects will take home ten thousand dollars.”

Via ComicsAlliance

Jeff Parker

Lava Men!

I’m excited by a NEW GRAPHIC NOVEL from Paul Tobin and Colleen Coover that is coming out from Top Shelf this year, that I don’t think I can name because they haven’t formally announced it yet. But really, those two names and a full length work should be all you need to hear to know I’m right.

What I’m most excited about that I’m involved with comes out in just a few weeks, it’s AVENGERS VS. ATLAS from Marvel, where I think my collaborators Gabriel Hardman, Elizabeth Breitweiser and I have really gelled. Even if you’ve never read an Agents of Atlas story, I bet you’ll enjoy seeing the original lineup of The Avengers back on the scene.

Or you’ll at least want in for the LAVA MEN.

Jeff Parker writes a whole bunch of great comics for Marvel, including all the Agents of Atlas projects and Thunderbolts. He also helped us out last year with our Robot Love posts at Valentine’s, in a post titled I ♥ learning from comics. Tim O’Shea also interviewed him about Underground earlier this year, along with artist Steve Lieber.

Paul Pope

First of all, I am excited about turning in Battling Boy, my next major graphic novel, to be published in 2011 by First Second Books. Battling Boy has been years in the works. I have a lot of faith in this project. There is a bunch of stuff related to the potential film which I would like to discuss–but can’t as of now. Same goes for the book. I have spent most of 2009 engaged in the film and book productions of this story. But the book is coming regardless of whether or not a film is made, and I am putting a lot of love into it. I hope the readers really get into it.

I am proud to say that Wednesday Comics will be collected as a large oversized book in May 2010. My 12-page “Adam Strange” strip– a tribute to heroes of yesterday like Flash Gordon and Cap’n Easy– is featured in this DC Comics special HC edition.

As far as American comics go, I am probably most excited about Sam Hiti’s new project, Death Day. He is a top cartoonist, and his latest project is full of force and menace.

I am really curious to see the Kick Ass film and the Scott Pilgrim film. I wish the creative teams on these films the best of all possible successes.

I am excited to see new work from Dustin Harbin and Kate Beaton. These are two talents I feel deserve as many new readers in 2010 as they can get, both are excellent and both have their best days ahead of them.

Paul Pope is the creator of many great comics, from 100% to THB. He has a blog that we like to link to a lot. I believe Battling Boy was also the most-named project for 2010 by the folks I contacted for this post.

Matt Kindt

Revolver

I’m really looking forward to the new series by Cullen Bunn and Brian Hurtt from Oni called The Sixth Gun. It looks to be a crazy horror/western and I’ve had the unique privilege to see some of Hurtt’s art for the first few issues and it’s some of his best work. I’ve never seen a writer/artist team work as well together as they do together and gives me hope that writers and artists maybe can work to make something greater than the sum of the parts. Here’s a link.

As for a project I’m excited about — I’m looking forward to my first Vertigo graphic novel “Revolver” coming out this summer. Here’s a link for that.

Matt Kindt is the creator of Super Spy and 3 Story: The Secret History of the Giant Man, which Tim talked to him about earlier this year. We also ran one of his stories from Super Spy: The Lost Dossiers earlier today.

Evan Dorkin

I’m looking forward to IDW’s King Aroo collection, their continuation of the Dick Tracy and Little Orphan Annie series, the long-delayed fourth volume of Walt and Skeezix from Drawn and Quarterly, Melvin Monster vol 2 and Thirteen Going on Eighteen from D&Q’s John Stanley Library, DHC’s new Harvey reprints and their Trump collection, new Yotsuba volumes from Yen Press, new Blackjack volumes from Vertical, anything by Jaime and Gilbert Hernandez, a number of recently announced Fantagraphics reprint projects (a Toth collection, the pre-code horror collection, the Jack Cole collection, the Dick Briefer Frankenstein book, etc), as well as Popeye vol 5, Captain Easy vol 1 and Prince Valiant vol 2. Anything DC reprints of Jack Kirby’s that I don’t have. Mostly, work by dead people.

Since you asked about our own projects, I’m anxiously awaiting the Beasts of Burden hardcover collection Dark Horse will be publishing. It will collect all the material Jill Thompson and I have done on the series to date, going back to the first short story from 2003 and finishing up with the recent limited series. Other than that I’ve got some Bart Simpson comics I wrote and drew coming out next year from Bongo, I’m writing two comics for Dark Horse which should be pretty nifty if all goes well, and I’m hoping to get something of mine finished up for SLG to publish next year. Not holding my breath on that, though.

I’m also hoping things will work out so we can manage to attend TCAF next year.

Evan Dorkin shares information on his comics, like Beasts of Burden, and Milk & Cheese, over on his livejournal. He spoke with Tim O’Shea about the former back in July in an interview Tim still raves about.

C. Tyler

Most excited about in the world of comics:

San Diego Con, July 2010. I’ll be there as a guest. Last time I was there: 1988.

Most excited about personal:

Book II of my trilogy. “You’ll Never Know: Collateral Damage” is due out Fall 2010.

Earlier this year Tim O’Shea spoke with C. Tyler about the first book in that trilogy. She may have had the best opening line of the year in one of his interviews.

Dustin Harbin

Elephant Adventures by Dustin Harbin

COMIC-WISE, WHAT ARE YOU MOST EXCITED ABOUT FOR 2010?

Oh man. I have to say, I’m still kinda starstruck over all the stuff that came out in 2009, much of which is still on my to-read pile. As I’m finishing up Tardi’s YOU ARE THERE I’ve got FOOTNOTES FROM GAZA and ALEC: THE YEARS HAVE PANTS piled up on my table. How can you top a year with all this plus ASTERIOS POLYP? Oh wait you asked about 2010–

The very first thing that comes to mind is my fervent hope that the third volume of MOURNING STAR comes out. I’m at the point where I anticipate new Mourning Star volumes with the same sweaty zeal as POPEYE; it’s monstrously exciting to see genre comics being done in a fresh way by a young creator–the idea that something can be well-written and funny and adventurous and dramatic all at the same time is sorta rare in American comics, if you think about it. I’m glad that manga is finally starting to rub off on American creators in a deeper way than just drawing everyone to seem vaguely catlike.

Also: DEATH DAY, by Sam Hiti, currently being serialized on his site in massive chunks will see its first book collection in 2010, which will almost certainly be near the top of a ton of end-of-year lists in a year’s time. So amazing, Sam Hiti is easily the MOST undersung cartoonist working today. OH! And speaking of Sam, his stylistic antecedent Paul Pope is finally releasing BATTLING BOY this year I think, ZOMG. I’ve seen some of these pages, and they’re pretty face-melting. This is like a kids’ book you wouldn’t necessarily want your parents to know you were reading, full of monsters and violence and gods and all the stuff that’s usually bled out of this sort of thing.

In my own world, in 2010 I’ll be starting a long cartoon memoir project called THE DHARBINS, which I’ll be serializing on my site. I’m still working out the somewhat surprisingly complicated plot–surprising mainly because my life isn’t particularly complicated, and it originally happened very much in order–but in the meantime I’ve been trying to flex my cartoon muscles with a bunch of one-off and short-series cartoon exercises, which I’ll be collecting this year in my first color special.

I’m also one of the organizers of the yearly Heroes Convention, which of course I’m professionally very excited for, this year maybe more than ever–besides a ridiculous profusion of guests like Ben Templesmith, Brian Bolland, and Guy Davis, this year Indie Island will be swollen to the gills, including a bunch of first time guests from the webcomics world, including Kate Beaton, Ryan North, and Christopher Hastings. It’s going to be like Tron in Indie Island this year for sure.

In addition to all the cool stuff Dustin mentioned above, he also spoke with our Tim O’Shea this year for Talking Comics with Tim. Twice.

C.B. Cebulski

Personally, I’m excited about the release of How to Break into Comics the Marvel Way in March, which has been a long time coming! I think they’re going to be great comics that offer wonderful insight into how Marvel works and what we’re looking for from up-and-coming comic creators who want to work for us. Plus, it will feature original stories by some of the world’s best and brightest new artists who were the finalists of ChesterQuest, my international talent search.

Overall, with the world getting increasingly smaller thanks to the Internet, I’m looking forward to seeing more and more new writers and artists making their debut in any of the growing number of ways comics are released in this day and age. There are so many new voices just waiting to break out in 2010 and I can’t wait to discover their work!

C.B. Cebulski works for Marvel as a new talent scout and has written a fair share of comics himself, like X-Infernus, Loners and Wonderlost. You can follow him on his blog and on Twitter, where he’s been known to offer advice to aspiring creators.

Faith Erin Hicks

Brain Camp

In 2010, I’m most looking forward to continuing down the rabbit hole that is Naoki Urasawa’s comics. Pluto will be ending in March, I think, and 20th Century Boys will continue on for many more twisty volumes. I find Urasawa’s comics thrilling in a way no other comics are … and by now all my friends are completely sick of me breaking into conversation to talk about how freaking awesome he is. I’m contemplating starting some kind of support group. For some reason he hits my storytelling sweet spot at this moment in time, just like Jeff Smith did with Bone when I was a teenager. I’m thrilled I have many more Urasawa comics to read… blessings upon the Japanese comic making machine that forces him to churn out 1200 pages a year! I feel terrible for the guy’s wrist, but you can never have enough Urasawa. I’m also looking forward to seeing what else Viz Signature publishes, as I’ve very much enjoyed Children of the Sea, Solanin, What a Wonderful World! and Ooku, all published by them.

As for something of my own that I’m looking forward to in 2010, my first graphic novel with First Second Books comes out in the fall. It’s a middle grade horror/comedy/coming of age graphic novel called Brain Camp, written by Susan Kim and Laurence Klavan with me on art duties. I’d never before drawn someone else’s script, which was both challenging and rewarding. I saw my artwork improve a lot over the course of the book, which was encouraging… although I’m still nervous to see what the reaction will be. Like me, nice comic reviewer people, like me!

I’m also planning to finish up drawing my second book for First Second in June, which I both wrote and drew. It’s called Friends With Boys. It’s a semi-but-not-really autobiographical story about a homeschooled girl entering public high school, and her gang of large hairy manly brothers. I’m just finishing up Christmas break with my family, and every year my brothers seem to get larger, hairier and manlier… I think they’re part Sasquatch. Anyway, I’m really thrilled that First Second is publishing this book, and I hope people will like it. Here’s a drawing of the main character, Maggie.

I’m also hoping that SLG Publishing, who published two other graphic novels by me, Zombies Calling and The War at Ellsmere, will be able to publish my long running webcomic Ice… provided I finish the sucker and all the stars align. Fingers crossed that the Small Press Comic Gods will be kind to us in 2010, and we’ll be able to make that happen. Hey comic folk, buy a book by an indie publisher today, they do awesome stuff!

I’m excited for 2010. It seems like over the ’00s we saw an amazing diversity of new comics being published, both online and offline, and I got to read them all and be a part of that. I sound like a total sap, but there’s a richness to the comics world now that I really love… I feel like I can find comics written FOR me, which is amazing. I hadn’t really felt that in the 90s, when I was a kid interested in comics and not sure what to read. I can’t wait to see what the ’10s bring us. GO COMICS! (Imagine me throwing up a couple of pom-poms here.)

Faith Erin Hicks is the creator of Zombies Calling and The War at Ellsmere, both available from SLG, in addition to the new projects she mentions above. She helped us out back in February with a post titled “I ♥ Anticipating Comics.” Follow her on livejournal.

Randy Lander

I’m excited for a lot of comics-related things next year, but the big ones are actually probably the movies. I wasn’t huge into Kick-Ass the comic, but those trailers for the movie are a blast, and I’m especially excited to see Iron Man 2, given how great the first one is and how slick that first trailer looks.

I’m also excited for STAPLE! 2010, the independent media show that I’ve been helping to put together (and co-sponsoring) for several years. This year our guests of honor include Guy Davis, who is one of my top five favorite artists of all time, plus Andy Runton (Owly) and Chris Schweizer (Crogan’s Vengeance) and a huge selection of other creators as well. It’s always a good time, and seems to be getting bigger and better this year, and I can’t wait until it’s March and time for the big show again.

Happy New Year!

Randy Lander is the owner of Rogues Gallery Comics & Games, which you should visit if you’re ever in Round Rock, Texas. He can also recommend some good places to get Tex Mex in the area.

Graeme McMillan

I’ve managed to somehow lose touch with a lot of the weekly comings-and-goings of superhero comics in 2009, but I’d be lying if I said that I wasn’t curious about seeing the new “Heroic Age” status quo of the Marvel Universe and post-Blackest Night DC Universe, if only to cynically see how long this latest version of bright, positive, optimistic superhero status quos will last. Being a sucker for DC books, I’m also looking forward to both the conclusion (conclusion-ish?) of the long-running Superman plots from the last couple of years with the “War Of The Supermen” crossover, and Grant Morrison going bat-guano crazy with The Return of Bruce Wayne, but both come with a very quiet, very small print “Oh Please Do Not Suck I Want To Like You So Bad” trailing along behind. Can I say that I’m genuinely excited about Girl Comics without the internet jumping up and down? Never mind my misgivings about the title and the whole “2010, Marvel Remembers Women Exist!” branding; ignore the gender of the creators involved and, man: That’s one of the most talent-filled anthologies around.

What I’m maybe most looking forward to are new books from people whose work I’ve come to love recently: Scott Pilgrim 6, obviously (And the movie, too), but also James Stokoe’s Orc book at Image, and the unseen King City second half by Brandon Graham. Hope Larson’s Mercury has me very excited, as does the rumored possibly maybe new possibility of new Casanova. Is Paul Pope’s Battling Boy coming out this year, as well? If so, then I’ll be first in line for that and then some. I’ve read the first issue of Joe The Barbarian, and it’s got a lot of potential – Morrison’s script is a little rough, but it’s a stunning looking book; Vertigo’s made a quiet comeback over the last couple of years, I think, and between Joe The Barbarian and Fabio Moon and Gabriel Ba’s Daytripper, they’re coming out with some great stuff that not enough people are paying attention to.

Really, though, I’m looking forward to things that I don’t know anything about: Something that’ll knock my socks off without me seeing it coming. Come on, 2010. As Pat Benatar once said, hit me with your best shot.

Graeme writes about comics and other things over at io9.com, and recently contributed to our What are you reading? feature. And of course he used to blog with us back when we were at Blog@Newsarama, so he’ll always be family.

Full-scale warfare between convention promoters isn’t universal, believe it or not — some are giving peace a chance. In addition to the recent arrangement worked out by Heroes Con and Supercon to avoid a date conflict, Emerald City ComiCon‘s Jim Demonakos tells Robot 6 that following an unavoidable conflict with Orlando’s MegaCon the weekend of March 13, 2010, he and MegaCon’s Beth Widera collaborated on choosing dates for 2011 so that future overlap could be avoided. “We ended up on the same dates for 2010 and neither of us could move, but we’ve talked and coordinated and our mutual 2011 dates will not be on each other’s dates at all,” says Demonakos. “Con planning, always an adventure.”

Indeed. While it’s not quite “all quiet on the Con War front” in terms of open hostilities between the nebulous Gareb Shamus/Wizard Entertainment empire and Reed Exhibitions, things have at least died down to a dull roar at the moment. Shamus remains silent, Reed insists it’s business as usual regardless of Shamus’s confrontational scheduling moves, and about the closest you can get to one-on-one antagonism between the two rival convention promoters is a do-it-yourself comparison of their pre- and post-Halloween guest announcements: Hellboy creator Mike Mignola will be a guest of honor at Reed’s C2E2, while Batman TV star Burt Ward will be appearing at Shamus’s Anaheim Comic Con that same weekend.

But the lack of direct conflict doesn’t mean a few verbal grenades haven’t been lobbed Wizard/Shamus’s way over the past week by other parties, ranging from former employees to a pair of recent Wiz sparring partners, cartoonist Scott Kurtz and Marvel’s C.B. Cebulski.

One such explosion took place at the message board of Panels on Pages, a site founded by now-ex-Wizard Universe Message Board users-cum-Wizard website/magazine writers. With the shutdown of the WUMB last week, PoP has become increasingly required reading for dedicated Wizard watchers. Case in point: PoP message board user Foxy recounted a story of how earlier this year, Wizard employees Brett White and Adam Tracey used the WUMB to search for fan-owned Michael Turner sketches the company could publish in an expanded version of its Turner tribute hardcover. The staffers announced that a portion of the proceeds would be donated to the Sam Loeb Foundation, set up by comics superstar (and Turner’s friend) Jeph Loeb in honor of his late son, who like Turner died (too young) of cancer. But after White was fired, Tracey unceremoniously quit, and the book finally came out, Foxy and other WUMBers discovered that the promised donation was never made. The WUMB thread announcing the search for sketches and chronicling the subsequent demand for answers as to what happened to the charitable donation never received an official response and disappeared (as did two similar threads) with the WUMB itself — but not before PoP member Solstrom preserved and reposted it on PoP’s board.

The outcry attracted the attention of Rich Johnston, who since his Wizard-funded trip to the Big Apple Comic Con has emerged as the only writer able to get Wizard staffers to comment on the record (outside of press releases and the now-defunct WUMB). Writing both on the PoP board and his own Bleeding Cool site, Johnston said he got in touch with Wizard VP of Business Development Stephen Shamus (brother of owner and CEO Gareb Shamus), who blamed the disappearing donation on a communication breakdown caused by staff turnover, and said that now that they’d been made aware of the problem, the company would contact the Sam Loeb Foundation to make the donation — and to see if they’d be interested in setting up a donation drive at future Shamus conventions.

However, Shamus’s explanation, and Johnston’s subsequent statement that “it’s possible the right people did not read the right thread,” didn’t fly with the PoPsters, who point out that threads about the Turner book, customer service issues, and other problems went on for months with the clear knowledge of Wizard staffers. Indeed, the frequent intervention of Wizard higher-ups in ordering the deletion and banning of threads and users critical of the company appear to indicate that if anything, this sort of thread received extra attention from decision-makers within the Shamus organization.

Elsewhere on PoP, former Wizard staff writer, frequent WUMB pot-stirrer, and Political Power: Barack Obama author Chris Ward was a guest on the site’s weekly podcast. (Discussion of Wizard and the death of the WUMB begins at 1:04:20; Ward’s appearance begins at 1:09:38.) Ward minces no words for his former company, which he calls “totally mismanaged.”

“These guys literally have no fucking idea what they’re doing… They have neither the skills nor the insight to keep up, and the people that had that, they fired,” Ward says of Wizard’s upper echelon. [Full disclosure: I don't know from skills or insight, but I was one of the people the company fired.] Though he does praise managing editor Andy Serwin, Ward also reveals that he’s been blacklisted from the magazine for making a joke about a freelance check bouncing, tells tales out of school about the work environment, and takes some pretty vicious shots at Stephen Shamus (and, in passing, Rich Johnston). For their part, hosts Lee Rodriguez, Jason Kerouac, Tripper McGee, and Jason Knize describe the experience of being plucked from the WUMB to write for Wizard proper, only to watch their gigs disappear as the editors who hired them got laid off one after another.

But it’s not just ex-Wizard writers who have a bone to pick with the company. Fresh off his Twitter tirade against the company, PvP writer-artist Scott Kurtz really let loose after receiving a letter from Sales Manager Larry Ernst, addressed to “Kurt,” encouraging him to attend the Anaheim Comic Con, apparently sent without knowing that Kurtz had already made his feelings about Gareb Shamus’s conventions abundantly clear. In an open letter to Ernst and Wizard, Kurtz writes “Your conventions are total horseshit” and gets angrier from there, reserving his most undiluted fury for what he describes as the magazine’s ignoring of late artist Mike Wieringo, then its public about-face upon Wieringo’s passing. Kurtz’s sentiments echo those of Wieringo himself, as expressed in this impassioned defense of Heroes Con and attack on Gareb Shamus, written by ‘Ringo during Heroes Con’s initial scheduling conflict with Shamus’s never-realized Wizard World Atlanta. (Ironically, a gallery of Wieringo’s Wizard covers, which might offer proof that the magazine did indeed pay attention to the artist, has disappeared along with the bulk of Wizard’s website.)

Reactions to Kurtz’s post have varied. Marvel talent liaison C.B. Cebulski, himself no stranger to public disputes with Wizard, tweeted a link to the open letter in seemingly supportive fashion, indicating that a recent high-level meeting between Cebulski and Wizard editorial either didn’t produce a rapprochement or was subsequently undermined by the Big Apple/NYCC battle. Comics Alliance’s Laura Hudson’s defense of current and former Wizard employees against Kurtz’s blanket statements (coupled with a few shots at Kurtz’s self-described status as “a pioneer in my field” and “‘tastemaker’”) met with vehement comment-thread opposition from Kurtz’s fans (UPDATE: and from Kurtz himself), and with considerably more polite dissent from Tom Spurgeon, who argues that getting yelled at from time to time is the price of working for a company with divisive policies. And on his own blog, Chris Ward returned with the inside story of the incident Kurtz says turned him against Wizard — a “convention horror story” involving Kurtz, Ward, Ethan Van Sciver, a deaf fan, and “the world’s shittiest band.”

As Shamus/Wizard higher-ups continue to strategically distance themselves from the comics industry (even as seemingly contradictory moves are rumored behind-the-scenes); as decision time approaches for guests of the conflicting Reed and Shamus shows; and as sharper contrasts are drawn between the tactics used by Shamus and those employed by Reed and by regional con organizations like Emerald City and MegaCon, we may see more and more professionals and Wizard alums become comfortable publicly taking aim at the house that Gareb built.

(“Con War” graphic courtesy of Jason Erwin)

That's hot.

No, your eyes don’t deceive you: That’s Marvel Talent Coordinator C.B. Cebulski with noted, uh, person Paris Hilton. This meeting of the minds took place at last night’s New York Comic Con One Year Out Party at NYC’s Bowlmor Lanes, where a Marvel Editors vs. Marvel Creators bowl-off coincidentally took place near a Paris-attended party. The Creators—who included Greg Pak, Dan Slott, and an on-fire Peter David, who rolled a 177—defeated an Editorial team that boasted Cebulski, Axel Alonso, and Mark Paniccia by a score of 900-873 in a charity match that raised money for the CBLDF. The Beat’s Heidi MacDonald was there, and has more. And oh yeah, NYCC named John Romita Sr. and John Romita Sr. its 2010 Keystone Guests of Honor during the festivities.

Hilton’s run on New Avengers begins with January’s issue #61.*

* NOT TRUE

(pic via @CBCebulski)

Having come from the manga and anime worlds, C.B. arrived at the doors of Marvel to create the Marvel Mangaverse line. It was there that he started fostering new creators for the House of Ideas. In addition, C.B. is a creative talent himself, having written the recent Marvel sellout X-Infernus, and his creator-owned Wanderlust with Image Comics. Next up for him is War of Kings: Darkhawk.

Possessing one of the sharpest eyes for talent in the industry, C.B. is known for being generous with his time and advice. “There were lots of people who helped me get to where I am today in comics and I am only happy to return the favor,” he says.

To that end, he has been using his Twitter account to post pointers for comic book hopefuls, distilled into zen-like chunks of 140 characters or less. If you haven’t been following along, grasshopper, you should start immediately!

We’ve collected some of these indispensable koans of wisdom for your guidance. Call it The Tao of Breaking Into Comics, According to C.B. Cebulski.

THIS IS A JOB
When I say “breaking into comics,” I’m generally referring to working for the more major mainstream publishers.

Barely anyone has “broken in” at Marvel or DC directly. We always say it’s better to be published elsewhere first.

Truth be told, it’s easier than ever for anyone to “break into comics” via webcomics and self-publishing these days.

The Internet and/or print-on-demand services mean anyone with an idea, motivation and a little money can bring a comic to life.

The most important thing to remember about working in comics is that THIS IS A JOB!

Your portfolio is your resume. Talks with editors are your job interviews. Be professional.

Yes, working in comics is a lot of fun, but it’s still work and has to be approached as such.

ADVICE FOR ARTISTS
Advice for artists? Start a blog. It’s the best way to get your work looked at. Picasa, Deviant Art and flickr are impersonal and bulky.

Keep click-thrus to a minimum. With a blog it’s just one click and the editor can simply scroll down & see everything you have to offer.

And blogs are easily updated and personalized, which will let more of your individuality and voice come through along with your art.

Artists, you should always post sample pages to a blog and send an editor a link rather than fill up his mailbox with files.

Sending a 15-20MB e-mail that will choke an editor’s inbox and his/her company’s server is the best way to simply have your art deleted.

The best way for an artist to get critical feedback from an editor is to attend portfolio reviews at conventions.

I can usually tell by the first page or two of an artist’s portfolio if they have what it takes to be working professionally. Most editors can.

Tip #1: Put your newest work in the front of your portfolio.

Tip #2: Never put in incomplete pages.

Tip #3: Always include sequential pages. Not just pin-ups.

Tip #4: Don’t make excuses when an editor critiques you. Listen and learn.

Quote Jim Hill: “Also, never make apologies before they say anything. No need to undermine your own work.” The perfect Tip #5.

And I’d recommend bringing a pad & paper if you do meet an editor. Take notes. If they’re taking the time to talk, write down what they say.

The two main things we look for are style and storytelling. Speed is something we learn and judge later.

ADVICE FOR WRITERS
Advice for new writers? Be realistic, start small. No major comic publisher will hire you for a mini or run on a book as your first gig.

You’re better off pitching 8 or 11 pagers or one-shots. Anthologies, back-ups and fill-ins are where many new voices are being tested now.

It’s definitely harder for writers than artists to break into comics these days, in my opinion. The fact of the matter is that it’s much easier to look at an artist’s portfolio and gauge their skills than to read a writer’s samples.

It’s so much harder and time-consuming to review submissions and samples scripts from writers. Which is why we prefer to be given previously printed work from other publishers to review from new writers. So much easier to get a sense of their story/pacing skills.

New writers, I would advise against pitching any ideas verbally to any editor or publisher at a show. Con floors are not the place to pitch. Introduce yourself, strike up a conversation and pass on your previously published work, but follow up with pitches and proposals later.

The bulk of a new writer’s work needs to come after the con, with follow-up and pitching the people you’ve met.

THE ART OF THE PITCH
One thing to keep in mind, each pitch is ultimately a unique experience. It will change depending on company, character, editor, etc.

Use message boards/websites/blogs to find out about other people’s pitching/submissions experiences. There’s a lot of info out there.

I’d say sending a letter of introduction first is a good idea when pitching to ANY company. May help save you time and effort.

Never send anything in to anyone at any major comic company cold. It’s just bad business, won’t get read and will make you look stupid.

Always review a company’s submission guidelines before sending anything to anybody. Know who you are submitting to and what the rules are.

In regards to pitching indy publishers, every one is different. E-mail and ask about their policies before sending anything.

Know who you are pitching to. That’s very important. If you follow the industry, you should know what kind of book editors work on/like.

And as for pitches, I’d keep them to one page. Tagline, high concept, and a full overview with the beginning, middle & end. Less is more.

MEETING EDITORS
My advice for meeting editors is to go to the bar where everyone drinks at the con and buy them a beer.

Seriously, if you buy an editor a drink, you’re at least guaranteed a few minutes of his/her time to toast & chat. Use it to be social.

If you meet and editor at a con and get his/her e-mail address, I recommend waiting at least a week before following up. Let them get back to their lives/jobs first. They’ve been away for the weekend and usually have a lot to catch up on. And when you do follow up, send a polite e-mail with no attachments.

If you have published work, it’s better to send the editor the actual books than links to the stories online.

NEVER LIMIT YOURSELF
Best way not to get work in comics? Use the words “I deserve …” or “I’m just as good as …”

No, seriously, I heard “I deserve …” and “I’m just as good as …” maybe 5 or 6 times at NYCC from writers & artists looking for work.

“Good, fast or nice.” If you’re two of the three, you can get a job in comics, as the saying goes.

But sometimes this old adage is still the most apt: “The best way to get published by Marvel and DC is to get published elsewhere first.”

I always recommend people make comics, whether it’s for themselves or to try and break in professionally.

Never limit yourself. Comics is a medium without boundaries. Explore all options available to you in this glorious form of storytelling.