Comic Book Resources

SDCC '09 | Thursday programming schedule released

Comic-Con

Comic-Con International has released the programming schedule for Thursday, July 23, as well as some special programming for preview night. You can check out the entire day's worth of activities right here for yourself. Here are some of the highlights ...

• During preview night on Wednesday, Warner Bross Television will show some of their pilots for upcoming TV series -- Human Target, Vampire Diaries and the remake of V.

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Comics A.M. | The comics Internet in two minutes

From the "KLiC!" comic

Controversy | A U.K. charity is under fire for a comic strip depicting a crucifix-wearing boy bullying a Muslim girl. The comic appears in the latest issue of KLiC!, a magazine for children ages 8 to 13 in public care, published by The Who Cares? Trust.

Mike Judge of The Christian Institute says the comic is "a clumsy caricature, symptomatic of a culture which says it is OK to bully Christians in the name of diversity." However, Natasha Finlayson of The Who Cares? Trust claims the crucifix was intended as "bling" and not a religious symbol. [Telegraph]

Legal | The Michigan Supreme Court has remanded the case of Michael George to appellate court for a full hearing to decide whether his murder conviction should be reinstated. The retailer and convention organizer was found guilty in March 2008 of the 1990 shooting of his first wife Barbara. However, the judge later overturned the jury conviction, citing prosecutorial misconduct and possible new evidence.

A hearing is scheduled for today to determine whether George will be released from jail pending a new trial. [Detroit Free Press]

Creators | Jules Feiffer talks about his long career, and working for Will Eisner: "I showed him my samples which he thought had no promise at all. And only when I started talking about his work and it was clear that I knew everything he had done, from the first thing that he had ever printed, that he got interested in me. He had men in the inner office working on The Spirit. There was a penciller named John Spranger and a letterer named Sam Rosen. All of these were good guys. All of [them] were very professional. And none of them had any interest in Eisner at all. This was just a job. And they actually thought Will’s stuff was rather old-fashioned. They just considered him old hat. And I considered him a great artist. And so essentially he hired me as a groupie." [Bookslut]

Creators | Steve Duin chats with Playboy cartoonist Doug Sneyd at Emerald City ComiCon. [The Oregonian]

Creators | Graeme McMillan talks to writer Geoff Johns about Flash: Rebirth. [io9.com]

Publishing | Josh Blaylock, founder and president of Devil's Due Publishing, explains those bizarre comics solicitations featuring President Obama: "Everyone's doing just these little cameos and stuff. I said, let's just go do something nuts. I want people to look at this and say 'What the hell is this?' " [Chicago Tribune]

2009 Joe Shuster Award nominees announced

The nominees for the 2009 Joe Shuster Awards, which honor Canadian comics creators, were announced today. The five-year-old awards program is named after Joe Shuster, co-creator of Superman. The list of nominees this year includes Darwyn Cooke, J. Torres, Karl Kerschl, Dave Sim, Kathryn & Stuart Immonen, Faith Erin Hicks and Seth, among many others.

Check out the full list of nominees in the press release after the jump.

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Everyone else is doing it, so why can't we?

Barack the Barbarian

We've all heard countless times that President Barack Obama is a fan of Spider-Man and Conan the Barbarian, and we saw where his affinity for the wall crawler led a few months ago. Now the other sword has dropped.

On Sunday, Comic Continuum posted Devil's Due Publishing's solicitations for June, and they include a comic titled Barack the Barbarian: Quest for the Treasure of Stimuli #1, written by Larry Hama. There's also a poster offered of the cover to the first issue by Tim Seeley (pictured above). Here's the full solicitation text:

BARACK THE BARBARIAN: QUEST FOR THE TREASURE OF STIMULI #1

Written by Larry Hama, art by various, covers by Tim Seeley and Rachelle Rosenberg.

From a far away land rises a mighty hero. The son of peasants from two different realms, the one known only as Barak protects the people of Hope Kingdom at all costs. Watch as he takes on the likes of Boosh the Dim, Red Sarah, and Cha-nee the Grim in this first issue!

But wait, there's more!

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