crime
Comics A.M. | Thief steals all 64 volumes of One Piece
One Piece, Vol. 46
Crime | An energetic thief stole all 64 volumes of One Piece from a Japanese bookstore by stuffing 10 volumes at a time in his duffel bag. As One Piece is the most popular manga in Japan, he could have gotten a good price for his booty at a used manga store, had the forces of law not intervened. [Kotaku]
Legal | Michael Cavna talks with cartoonist Susie Cagle about being taken into custody again over the weekend during Occupy Oakland protests. [Comic Riffs]
Creators | Kiss member Gene Simmons still remembers the postcard he got from Stan Lee as a kid. [Noisecreep]
Comics | Jeff Parker and Erica Moen’s webcomic Bucko has reached its last panel, but Parker says a book is on the way, and there will be “exciting news” at Emerald City Comic Con. [Parkerspace]
- February 1, 2012 @ 07:10 AM by Brigid Alverson
Comics A.M. | FBI shuts down Megaupload file-sharing site
Megaupload
Legal | The U.S. Justice Department and the FBI on Thursday shut down the popular file-sharing site Megaupload, seized $50 million in assets and charged its founder and six others with running an international enterprise based on Internet piracy that’s cost copyright holders at least $500 million in lost revenue. The FBI has begun extradition proceedings in New Zealand to bring company founder Kim Schmitz, aka Kim DotCom, to the United States. He and three other associates are being held without bail until Monday, when they’ll receive a new hearing. Three others remain at large. They face a maximum of 20 years in prison.
News of the shutdown was met with retaliation by the hacker collective Anonymous, which attacked the websites of the Justice Department and the Motion Picture Association of America.
- January 20, 2012 @ 07:15 AM by JK Parkin
Comics A.M. | Artist Brett Ewins injured in struggle with police
The Art of Brett Ewins
Creators | Former Judge Dredd artist Brett Ewins suffered serious head injuries Saturday after he allegedly stabbed a police officer who responded to complaints about a man shouting throughout the night. Police say when they arrived the 56-year-old Ewins attacked them with a knife. One of the officers received minor wounds during the struggle, but Ewins was hospitalized, where he remains in serious condition. The newspaper report asserts the artist, best known for his work on Judge Dredd and Rogue Trooper for 2000AD, has a history of mental-health problems. [Ealing Gazette]
- January 18, 2012 @ 06:55 AM by Kevin Melrose
Comics A.M. | Teen sentenced in comics burglary; Reuben Awards adds webcomics
Legal
Legal | A teenager was sentenced Monday to seven years in prison for his role in the July 2010 theft of a valuable comic collection from an elderly Medina, New York, man, who later died of a heart attack. Eighteen-year-old Juan C. Javier, who pleaded guilty last fall to attempted second-degree burglary, is one of seven people whom police say were hired by businessman Rico J. Vendetti to break into the home of Homer Marciniak to steal his comics. Marciniak, 77, awoke during the burglary and was beaten, suffering only cuts and bruises. However, he had a fatal heart attack later that day. Eight people, including Vendetti and Javier, were indicted in November 2010; the indictments were dismissed against four of the accused so the U.S. Attorney could charge them with murder under federal law. [The Daily News]
- January 11, 2012 @ 07:15 AM by Kevin Melrose
Comics A.M. | Drunken Incredible Hulk arrested for dealing drugs
Drunk Hulk
Crime | A drunken Coventry, England, man was arrested for selling drugs outside a nightclub while dressed as the Incredible Hulk. According to the article, “Police were alerted by his costume which was based on the TV and film character who becomes green and superhuman when angry.” [Coventry Telegraph]
Creators | Dinosaur Comics creator Ryan North discusses his work on BOOM!’s upcoming Adventure Time comic. [ComicsAlliance]
Creators | Colleen Doran posts some character designs she worked up years ago for a never-completed animation project written by Warren Ellis; she admits to using Star Trek actor George Takei as the model for the main character. [A Distant Soil]
- December 28, 2011 @ 06:55 AM by Brigid Alverson and JK Parkin
Comics A.M. | Riverdale’s gay wedding; Tintin wannabes
Life with Archie #16
Comics | CNN covers the upcoming wedding of Archie Comics’ Kevin Keller, who will get married to another man in Life with Archie #16. Keller was injured while serving in the military in Iraq and Clay Walker, his groom-to-be, was his physical therapist. “Riverdale is this picturesque vision of American life, and when you see yourself reflected in that, you have a role in even the most idealized version of the reality you live in,” said Matt Kane, associate director of entertainment media for the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation. “That’s the difference between feeling like a rejected outsider and feeling like you’re a part of something.” [CNN]
Comics | Jim Caple worries that viewers of the Tintin movie won’t appreciate it the way he does, comparing old-school Tintin fans to old-school Boston Red Sox or Seattle Mariners fans: “That’s what I worry about. I worry there will be all these Tintin wannabes who only know the character from the movie, who don’t appreciate Herge’s genius, who don’t know what it was like to wait a month for the next 10-page installment or when you had to special order the few books made available in America. Fans who didn’t earn this movie.” [ESPN]
- December 22, 2011 @ 06:55 AM by JK Parkin
60 arrested in Canada in ‘Project Marvel’ gang investigation
The Marvels Project #1 ... not to be confused with Project Marvel
Sixty people were arrested Tuesday in a series of pre-dawn raids across Canada following a police investigation dubbed “Project Marvel” because many of the alleged gang members involved assumed the names of Marvel superheroes.
Unfortunately, neither the press release from the Toronto Police Service nor the report from The Toronto Star lists which characters the accused, some of whom are as young as 14, chose. I’m guessing there’s at least one Punisher, though, and probably two or more Wolverines.
However, we do learn that gang with the youngest members is Young Buck Killaz, which I’ll pretend is a reference to James “Bucky” Barnes.
The operation is being described as one of the largest ever in Canada, with more than 900 officers from 22 law-enforcement organizations simultaneously executing 67 search warrants across the country. Project Marvel grew out of May a robbery and subsequent shooting in Toronto.
- December 14, 2011 @ 08:00 AM by Kevin Melrose
Comics A.M. | Angoulême Official Selections; cartoonist suspended
Angoulême International Comics Festival
Conventions | The Angoulême International Comics Festival has announced the Official Selections for the 2012 festival, which will be held Jan. 26-29 in Angoulême, France. Eddie Campbell’s Alec, Craig Thompson’s Habibi and Daniel Clowes’ Mister Wonderful are among the almost 60 graphic novels on the list. [Angoulême]
Editorial cartoons | The Columbus Dispatch suspended political cartoonist Jeff Stahler after finding that his Monday cartoon was too similar to a New Yorker cartoon published in 2009. At The Daily Cartoonist, Alan Gardner posts several of Stahler’s cartoons alongside earlier pieces with similar punchlines. While one can debate whether Stahler lifted his ideas from the older cartoons, it’s obvious that he drew them in his own style, unlike David Simpson, who was recently accused of copying Jeff McNally’s cartoons. [Comic Riffs]
Crime | Several pieces of original artwork, among other items, were stolen from the car of AdHouse Publisher Chris Pitzer while he was in New York City last weekend for the Brooklyn Comics and Graphics Festival. Pitzer is offering a reward for any information leading to the recovery of the artwork. [AdHouse]
- December 7, 2011 @ 06:55 AM by Brigid Alverson and JK Parkin
Retailer Michael George gets life sentence for wife’s murder
Michael George
Former retailer and convention organizer Michael George was sentenced this morning to life in prison for the 1990 murder of his first wife Barbara in their Clinton Township, Michigan, comic store.
George was found guilty a second time on Oct. 11 after his 2008 conviction was overturned because of prosecutorial misconduct and the release of potential new evidence. Prosecutors contend that George shot his wife in the head in the back room of their store July 13, 1990, and then staged the killing to look like a robbery so he could collect money from an insurance policy and a shared estate, and start over with another woman.
The Detroit News reports that 51-year-old Michael George, who maintains he was asleep on his mother’s sofa at the time of the shooting, was also ordered to pay restitution of $130,000 to John Hancock Life Insurance Co.
A tearful Michael George, sitting in a wheelchair, addressed the court, saying, “Something will be found. Someone will come forward. I have never harmed a woman in my life. Let’s not forget no one saw me there — no one.” He plans to appeal the conviction.
Barbara George’s sister and brother also spoke, directing their comments to Michael George as well as his daughters Tracie and Michelle, who supported their father but were absent from the courtroom today at his request.
“We think about you all the time,” Christine Ball said, reading from a prepared statement. “Your mother lost everything. She didn’t get to hold you and watch you grow up. I know we sit at opposite sides of the courtroom, but we have and always will love you.”
- November 21, 2011 @ 11:00 AM by Kevin Melrose
Comics A.M. | $15,000 comic goes missing; donations for Bill Mantlo
Amazing Fantasy #15
Crime | A man in Lincoln, Nebraska, told police that a copy of Amazing Fantasy #15, valued at $15,000, disappeared from his home sometime between Oct. 27 and Monday morning. The 1962 issue was kept with other comics, but the man claims several people had been in and out of his home since he last saw it. A near-mint copy of the comic, which features the first appearance of Spider-Man, sold at auction in March for $1.1 million. [Lincoln Journal Star]
Creators | Writer Greg Pak has set up a page to take donations for former comics writer Bill Mantlo, whose tragic situation was detailed in an article last week. “Bill Mantlo has had a huge influence on me as a writer and reader,” Pak said. “His Micronauts stories blew my mind as a kid and his Incredible Hulk run laid the groundwork for the themes I explored my five-and-a-half year run with the character.” Money donated through the site goes directly to Mike Mantlo, Bill’s brother, for Bill’s ongoing care. [Greg Pak]
- November 16, 2011 @ 06:55 AM by Brigid Alverson and JK Parkin
Superman thief sentenced to six years in prison
Mike Meyer
The Illinois man who stole thousands of dollars worth of Superman memorabilia from a mentally disabled collector in late August has been sentenced to six years in prison.
The Belleville News Democrat reports that Gerry Armbruster, 38, pleaded guilty today to stealing the collection from Mike Meyer and assaulting and robbing an elderly man. Armbruster befriended Meyer, a 48-year-old man who lives on Social Security and works part-time at McDonald’s, before swindling him out of more than 1,800 Superman comics, figures and other memorabilia he’d been collecting since 1974.
News of the theft drew worldwide attention, with fans and creators from as far away as Australia and the United Kingdom rallying to replace Meyer’s stolen items.
Police arrested Armbruster in mid-September while investigating the forcible robbery of money and jewelry from a 76-year-old man, and were able to recover Meyer’s collection. The grateful fan, who lives with his dogs Krypto and Dyno, pledged to give the donated memorabilia to charity. “People were generous to me,” he said at the time. “This is how I can be generous in return.”
Armbruster’s sentencing comes as Meyer is on vacation in Cleveland, birthplace of Superman, courtesy of Carol & John’s Comic Book Shop. He and Keith Howard, who organized the effort to replace the stolen items, visited the former home of Jerry Siegel on Monday, and today toured area comic shops, where they received gift certificates. Their trip will conclude tonight with a party at Carol & John’s.
“I feel like I’m connected with Siegel and Shuster,” Meyer told the Plain Dealer from the living room of the Siegel house, “a piece of history was created here.”
- November 15, 2011 @ 01:50 PM by Kevin Melrose
Former comics retailer Michael George found guilty in second murder trial
Michael George
The jury in the second Michael George murder case found the former comics retailer and convention organizer guilty today, according to the Detroit Free Press.
George, 51, was accused of fatally shooting his wife, Barbara, on July 13, 1990 in the back room of their Clinton Township (Mich.) comic book store. This is George’s second trial and second guilty verdict. Macomb County Circuit Judge James Biernat Sr. overturned the first verdict, citing prosecutorial misconduct and the release of new evidence that could lead the jury to believe another person was responsible for the murder of Barbara George. The first trail resulted in George being sentenced to life in prison before it was overturned.
The jury deliberated Thursday, Friday and today for a total of about 14 hours before delivering the verdict.
- October 11, 2011 @ 01:26 PM by JK Parkin
Comics A.M. | Janelle Asselin exits DC; Del Rey’s Betsy Mitchell retires
Janelle Asselin
Publishing | DC Comics associate editor Janelle Asselin has left the company, reportedly for a job with Disney. She clarifies on Twitter that, contrary to a report, she wasn’t escorted from the building on Tuesday but, rather, left “at my leisure.” Asselin had been with DC since 2008, working primarily on Batman books like Batman and Robin, Batman: Streets of Gotham, Red Robin, Birds of Prey and the relaunched Batman, Batwoman, Detective Comics and Savage Hawkman. [Bleeding Cool]
Publishing | Longtime editor Betsy Mitchell is taking early retirement from her post as editor-in-chief of Del Rey, where she helped create Del Rey Manga. Tricia Pasternak, a former Del Rey Manga editor herself, has been promoted to editorial director. Del Rey was established as a science fiction prose imprint; the manga line was created in 2004 and was mostly shut down in 2010, when Kodansha began publishing its manga directly in the U.S. However, Del Rey still publishes a handful of manga and graphic novels, including xxxHolic, King of RPGs, and Deltora Quest. [Publishers Weekly]
Legal | In a twist that sounds like something out of a comic (or even an ad from an old comic), a witness in the Michael George trial testified he saw someone wearing an obviously fake beard outside George’s Clinton Township, Michigan, comics shop a few minutes before George’s first wife Barbara was murdered inside the store in 1990. [The Tribune Democrat]
- September 28, 2011 @ 07:10 AM by Brigid Alverson
Comics A.M. | Asterix co-creator retires; publisher Sergio Bonelli dies
Asterix
Creators | Eighty-four-year-old artist Albert Uderzo, who created Asterix the Gaul in 1959 with writer René Goscinny, has announced he’s retiring, saying he’s “a bit tired” after 52 years of drawing. The news came as publisher Hachette celebrated the sale of 350 million Asterix books worldwide. Uderzo, who took over writing after the death of Goscinny in 1977, said he has found an as-yet-unnamed successor to continue his legacy, beginning with a new book planned for release in late 2012. [Reuters, BBC News]
Passings | Italian comics writer and publisher Sergio Bonelli, whose company Sergio Bonelli Editore (formerly CEPIM) releases such titles as Dylan Dog and Nathan Never, passed away Monday in Milan. He was 79. [UPI]
Legal | A witness testified Monday in Michael George’s murder trial that she heard the defendant and his first wife Barbara George have a particularly heated argument in their Clinton Township, Michigan, comic store on July 13, 1990, only hours before Barbara was shot and killed. [Detroit Free Press]
- September 27, 2011 @ 06:55 AM by Kevin Melrose
Police nab suspect in Superman theft, return collection to owner
Mike Meyer
Police in Granite City, Illinois, have arrested a man suspected of stealing thousands of dollars worth of Superman memorabilia from a mentally disabled collector in St. Louis. Better still, they were able to recover the collection and return it to the owner, a very grateful Mike Meyer.
The Post-Dispatch reports that 37-year-old Gerry A. Armbruster of Granite City was connected to the late-August theft during the investigation on Thursday of the forcible robbery of money and jewelry from a 76-year-old man. Armbruster has been charged with one count of residential burglary for the Superman theft, and one count each of robbery and aggravated burglary for the incident with the elderly man. He’s being held in jail on $100,000 bond.
Armbruster allegedly befriended Meyer, a 48-year-old man who lives on Social Security and works part-time at McDonald’s, before swindling him out of more than 1,800 Superman comics, figures and other memorabilia he’d been collecting since 1974.
The theft quickly drew worldwide attention, with fellow fans from as far away as Australia and the United Kingdom rallying to replace Meyer’s collection. According to the Post-Dispatch, officials in Cleveland offered to pay for Meyer to tour the house where a young Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster created the Man of Steel, while the Metropolis, Illinois, Chamber of Commerce has its own plan in the works.
Meyer, who now has close to double what had been stolen — with more promised or already en route — plans to give those donations to charity, likely a children’s hospital.
“People were generous to me,” Meyer, who lives with his dogs Krypto and Dyno, told the newspaper. “This is how I can be generous in return.”
- September 16, 2011 @ 05:21 PM by Kevin Melrose