The Emerald City Comicon has released the cover for the 2012 edition of their annual Monsters & Dames art book. Marvel cover artist Adi Granov provided the cover, seen above.

The 80-page book is limited to 1,150 copies and proceeds go to the Seattle Children’s Hospital. “We’ve created not only a unique collectible that spotlights our show’s amazing and diverse roster of artists, animators and illustrators,” said ECCC Convention Director Jim Demonakos in a press release, “but also something that allows us to give back to our local community by raising thousands of dollars each year for Seattle Children’s Hospital. It’s pretty special.”

The 2012 edition features contributions from Bill Sienkiewicz, Camilla D’Erricco, Louie Del Carmen, Kevin Nowlan, Tony Moore, Bruce Timm, Katie Cook, Francis Manapul & Agnes Garbowska, Mikeatron!, Scott Morse, Phil Noto, Mike Allred, Paul Guinan, Brandon Graham, Daniel Davis, Lar DeSouza, Marcus To, David Petersen, Moritat, Tony Parker, Dustin Nguyen, Jeremy Haun, Nat Jones and more. Several artists have posted their contributions online, including Ron Chan, Corey Lewis, Tom Fowler, Aaron McConnell and Randy Kintz.

Comics have covered a variety of subjects, but in a unique new webcomic strip by Brad Guigar and Chris Giarrusso, comics themselves are the subject. Launched earlier this week, Tales From The Con aims to give a humorous look at the ins and outs of comic conventions and the unique vagaries of these fan-driven events. Another interesting facet of the webcomic is that it’s originating from the website of a convention itself — Emerald City Comicon.

“Anyone who has exhibited at a comic convention has a great story about the experience — some funny, some frustrating, some bizarre — and that makes for great comics,” said Brad Guigar in a press release. “Combined, Chris and I probably have 20 years of conventions under our belts. Not only is this a terrific chance to share some of that, but it’s a unique way to connect it to one of the premiere comic conventions in America, the Emerald City Comicon.”

According to Guigar, convention director  Jim Demonakos approached him about this project without knowing Guigar had briefly mentioned this sort of thing in an earlier interview with GammaSquad as an ideal compliment to a publisher’s website.

ECCC and the creators plan to post a new installment of Tales From The Con every Thursday on the convention’s website. I expect con crud jokes early and often.

Holy Terror

Comics | Frank Miller says he has finished his upcoming graphic novel, Holy Terror, which is due from Legendary Comics in September. The book, which once was set to feature Batman fighting terrorism, now stars a character called The Fixer: “I took Batman as far as anyone, and this guy is just not him. He’s been playing the crime fighter to stay in shape. What he really wants to do is fight terrorism. He knew the day would come. The story is essentially New York under attack by suicide bombers and our hero is out to find out their greater scheme. He’s much more a man of action than a detective. He’s a two-fisted Dirty Harry type, really.”[Hero Complex]

Comics | Calling it a “sick magazine comic strip depicting shootings in schools,” The Daily Mail reports on “Beat My Score,” written by UK comedian Jimmy Carr with art by Ryusuke Hamamoto. The reporter says the comic, which appears in the latest issue of Mark Millar’s CLiNT magazine, “will horrify the families of school shooting tragedies such as Dunblane and Columbine with his ultra-violent story.” CLiNT responded by saying the strip is “a nihilistic satirical sideswipe at the glamourisation of violence, tackling the difficult and disturbing effects as seen in school shootings around the world.” The comments are fun. [Daily Mail]

Organizations | Johanna Draper Carlson checks in with one of the interim group directors of the nonprofit Friends of Lulu and learns the organization is “pretty much dead.” [Comics Worth Reading]

The Gutters

Organizations | Gary Tyrell responds to a comic strip by Ryan Sohmer and Ryan Lee on The Gutters, which parodied the recent advertising campaign for the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund. The comic strip says the CBLDF fights “for your right to view graphic depictions of naked children” and features silhouettes of adults approaching children. “The very straightforward, declarative nature of that sentence gives the impression that that is all that the CBLDF does, which isn’t true,” Tyrell says. The original strip has more than 300 comments. [Fleen]

Digital | Following his comments earlier this week on the digital strategy inherent in DC’s line-wide reboot, Warren Ellis looks at Marvel’s digital strategy—or lack thereof: “Their digital store, then, is a big back-issue bin, with the occasional experiment in day-and-date simultaneous release in print and digital. They’re unlikely to go line-wide day-and-date like DC unless DC’s numbers are explosively successful and stay that way for six months — in digital AND print. Right now, Marvel own the comics stores in terms of dollar sales and market share, and probably see no compelling reason to risk a dilution of those figures.” But he would like to see them do more original material for digital release anyway. [Warren Ellis]

Creators | Justin Giampaoli interviews Brian Wood about the third volume of DMZ, Public Works: “At the time, I remember getting some of the first negative feedback over some of the choices I made in this story, specifically making the bad guys, the terrorist cell, Muslim. This decision came out of a back-and-forth with my editor (Will Dennis) because I had originally made them white guys. He called me on it, essentially, for making ALL bad guys in the book up to that point white, and perhaps I was playing it safe, or avoiding some potentially tricky decisions. His logic, which I agreed with, was that all these various ethnic groups who live in NYC didn’t just vanish once the war started. They’re still there, and just as apt to be up to no good as anyone else. And since Trustwell was using them as a front, that was another reason. They are obvious scapegoats because of their religion and skin color.” [Live from the DMZ]

Green Wake

Creators | Artist Riley Rossmo discusses his work on Proof, Cowboy Ninja Viking and Green Wake, as well as his career and schedule: “I have to be super disciplined — I don’t really have an immediate boss, so if I don’t work nothing gets done, and I don’t get paid. I work every day [except] Sunday, [from about] 7 am to 4 pm or so, then email the day’s work to the writer [or] editor. With the little bit I’ve done for Marvel, I send thumbnails before doing the final pages just to be sure they know what they’re getting.” [Planet S]

Fandom | Laura Hornack, organizer of the protest against DC’s upcoming relaunch of their superhero line, says she decided to organize a “peaceful walk” when she saw the redesign of Harley Quinn. “We don’t expect an open ear from -everybody-, neither do we demand some weird sort of respect for what we do. We just do it, because we’re fans. And we love being fans.” [ComicBookMovie.com]

Criticism | Sean Michael Robinson reviews Onward Towards Our Noble Deaths, Shigeru Mizuki’s tale of doomed Japanese soldiers in World War II. [The Comics Journal]

Digital | 2000AD creator Pat Mills and critic Paul Gravett discuss the potential of digital media to expand comics beyond the supehero fanbase—yes, even to girls. Says Gravett: “Superheroes are a very niche thing but they seem big because everyone’s heard about the movies. In actual fact, sales are pretty pitiful. There are more comics readers who don’t read superheroes than do.” [Metro]

Awards | Bakuman, Maid Sama!, Drops of God, and A Distant Neighborhood all won Japan Expo awards for manga. Japan Expo is a French convention that takes place in Paris each year. [Anime News Network]

Conventions | The Associated Press profiles the this weekend’s L.A. Anime Expo. [Associated Press]

Conventions | GeekWire profiles Jim Demonakos, director of Emerald City Comicon, comics retailer and member of the rock band Kirby Krackle. He also has a graphic novel coming out in February. [GeekWire]

Conventions | Erica Friedman offers some networking tips for con newbies. [Okazu]

Dr. Doom & Harlequin by Chris Samnee

One of the most thrilling parts of attending conventions is meeting the people who make the books you love. And especially great is artist’s alley, where creators show off a range of art from special editions, sketchbooks and, in some cases, pieces drawn before your eyes. And although I wasn’t able to attend Emerald City Comicon this year, seeing the steady stream of artwork produced for fans there and put online is still a thrill.

Take, for example, Chris Samnee, a prolific artist who’s bounced around the industry for the past few years before settling in at Marvel, thanks to the critical success of Thor: The Mighty Avenger. After finishing the final issue of that series, Samnee has being doing some short-term gigs such as last week’s issue of Ultimate Comics Spider-Man. Although his next major project hasn’t been announced yet, his sketches from ECCC show he’s ready for … well, anything!

On the flipside, and only a few tables down, was the always-awesome Eric Canete. The artist, whose last major project was the underrated New Avengers: Luke Cage miniseries from last summer, busted out some phenomenal sketches, including this delectable Black Widow and Nick Fury piece. If you’re like me and wondering what Canete is up to next, we may get that answer soon — as Canete said on his DeviantArt that he just signed contracts for new projects.

The Amazing Spider-Man #1

Comics | A July house fire in Minneapolis that killed homeowner Gary Dahlberg spared his meticulously preserved comic-book collection, which experts say could be worth $1 million. The comics, which includes first issues of The Amazing Spider-Man, Fantastic Four and Daredevil, will be sold at auction on May 5 by Heritage Auction Galleries, with the money going to Dahlberg’s estate. “To go for the really big money they have to be really perfect, and that what these are,” says Barry Sandoval of Heritage Auction Galleries. “The comics look like they just rolled off the printing press and nobody’s ever touched them.” [KSTP TV, with video]

Crime | A 17-year-old boy accused of attempting to rob Fun 4 All Comics & Games in Ypsilanti, Mich., on Monday has been arraigned on charges of assault with attempt to rob while armed and attempted larceny. Police say the teen, wearing a blond wig, bandanna and dark glasses, gave an employee a list of merchandise — “most, if not all, of it Yu-Gi-Oh! cards” — then opened his coat to reveal what appeared to be an improvised explosive device. The boy allegedly threatened to detonate the bomb if he wasn’t given the merchandise. When the employee yelled for the owner to call police, then teen said he was only joking, then bought some inexpensive items and left the store. The sheriff’s department later arrested the teen in his car in a Burger King parking lot. The Michigan State Police bomb squad responded, and determined the potential explosive device was inert. [AnnArbor.com]

Clowntime

Comic strips | Two years after Washington City Paper eliminated its syndicated comics amid massive budget cuts at its parent company, the alternative weekly is bringing back its comics page. The new lineup, debuting in this week’s issue, includes Derf’s The City, Shawn Belschwender’s Clowntime, Michael Kupperman’s Up All Night and David Malki’s Wondermark. [FishbowlDC]

Creators | Alex Carr interviews Guy Davis, Dave Stewart and John Arcudi during at last weekend’s Emerald City Comicon. [Omnivoracious]

Creators | Kurt Busiek, Austin Grossman, Gerard Jones, Sean McKeever and Gail Simone offer advice on “how to create your own original superhero from scratch.” [io9.com]

Creators | Howard Buck reports on a recent visit to Washington State University Vancouver by Josh Neufeld, creator of A.D.: New Orleans After the Deluge. [The Columbian]

Creators | Collaborators Molly Crabapple and John Leavitt discuss their “Blade Runner meets Dangerous Liaisons.” clockwork murder mystery The Puppet Makers. [Guerrilla Geek]

Noah Van Sciver

Creators | Noah Van Sciver talks about Blammo, Four Questions and his upcoming graphic novel about Abraham Lincoln’s life in Springfield: “Blammo drew me to it. I was doing a short story on his duel with James Shields. As I researched it, I became more interested in Abraham Lincoln in his time before the Civil War. He’s my favorite president—he just seems like a cool guy. There’s not a lot out of there about Abraham Lincoln at that point in his life. I was interested in him because of his depression, and also because he came from nothing. I feel a kinship to people who come from nothing, because I come from a very large, very poor Mormon family. I’m trying to do that in comics — come from nothing and achieve something, which I guess is stupid, but it’s what I’ve got.” [The A.V. Club]

Creators | The Center for Cartoon Studies has launched a blog dedicated to its visiting artists. [CCS Visiting Artist Blog, via The Comics Reporter]

Comics | Matt Wilson counts down “10 Major Comics Events that Actually Mattered.” [Topless Robot]

Comics | Jason Serafino looks at “The 10 Lamest Batman Villains of All Time!” [Complex]

On any other day this would have been the very first thing I wrote about, but I figured you may have already been aware, thanks to the high-pitched wails of “NOOOOOOOOOO” that echoed throughout Twitterdom when the news broke Saturday at Emerald City Comicon: Artist Guy Davis is leaving B.P.R.D. The current B.P.R.D: Hell on Earth: Gods miniseries will mark the end of Davis’s run as the regular artist for the core Hellboy spinoff, which along with its parent title formed the heart of the “Mignolaverse.” Newcomer Tyler Crook will take over as the book’s artist with the subsequent arc, Monsters — his second-ever comic from a major publisher. Davis himself will focus on his creator-owned title The Marquis and other projects. Click the links for CBR’s interviews with both artists on the changeover.

Frankly, this is as close to devastated as I’ve ever come thanks to a creative-team change. And this is not at all a reflection on incoming artist Crook. I’ve never seen his work, so not only am I not passing judgment, I stand ready to potentially be delighted; moreover, I trust Mike Mignola’s art direction and ability to select talented collaborators, with Davis himself, and B.P.R.D‘s primary writer John Arcudi, as Exhibits A and B. No, this is purely a reflection on how very, very, very, very, very good Davis was on that book. In a style that looked nothing at all like Mignola’s, he somehow not only fit into the preexisting world Mignola’s visuals had established, but contributed on an equal footing. His creature and character designs were as good as Mignola’s, which is astonishing in and of itself; the Wendigo (above) and the Black Flame (below) in particular are all-time, world-class comic-book character designs. Davis was also able to capture the quiet, despairing horror that was so key to what Arcudi and Mignola were doing in their epic saga of what J.R.R. Tolkien might have called the Bureau of Paranormal Research and Defense’s “long defeat.” He was an absolute master of those silent beats when something terrible and tragic was revealed. But in addition to conveying funnybook spectacle and melancholy horror, Davis’s work on B.P.R.D. placed equal emphasis on character. Kate, Liz, Abe, Roger, Daimio, Andrew, and even Panya the mummy and Johann the ectoplasm-in-a-suit looked believably weary or wry, depending on the circumstances; when they got angry or upset or sad, you damn well knew it.

In short — and trust me, I plan on writing even more about this in the coming days — Guy Davis was an integral part of what could be argued to be the best ongoing superhero comic of the past decade, one that in many readers’ eyes surpassed the title from which it sprung, creating art that would do any comic from any area of the medium proud. Go with gods, Mr. Davis.

Oni Press Mixtape

Oni Press and nerdcore rapper Adam WarRock have teamed up to create The Oni Press Mixtape, which features musical tracks by WarRock inspired by Stumptown, Queen & Country, The Sixth Gun, Hopeless Savages and several other Oni titles.

In addition, it features “interlude” tracks with creators such as Greg Rucka, Cullen Bunn, Jen Van Meter and Jarrett Williams, who created the artwork for the album. It can be downloaded for free from Adam WarRock’s website. And if you’re in Seattle this weekend, Adam WarRock will perform tracks from his new album at Kracklefest during the Emerald City ComiCon. The concert also features Kirby Krackle and H2Awesome.

by Guy Davis

Although I’ve never been to the Emerald City Comicon itself, I dig the artwork they get for the Monsters & Dames art book. Case in point: the above illustration by Guy Davis.

This year’s book once again benefits Seattle Children’s Hospital, and includes contributions from Geof Darrow, Cully Hamner, Humberto Ramos, Frank Cho, Yanick Paquette, Skottie Young, Aaron Lopresti, Cliff Chiang, Mike McKone and many more. After the jump you’ll find their official PR, along with a few more images.

*****

Debuting again at the upcoming Emerald City Comicon (ECCC) will be the 2011 edition of the shows popular MONSTERS & DAMES art book. The 2011 book not only features an amazing cover by acclaimed illustrator Adam Hughes, but has expanded to a whopping SIXTY (60) pages of brand new illustrations by some of the top illustrators in comics and animation!

Since its inception in 2009, the MONSTERS & DAMES art books and auctions have raised over $10,000.00 for Seattle Children’s Hospital, a premier child health care & pediatric center, recognized as one of the leading hospitals for children. The art book has sold out each year at the convention.

“Helping bring this book to life each year is an incredible experience,” says ECCC Convention Director Jim Demonakos. “Being able to not only create a fun, collectible art book that fans love and at the same time raise a huge amount of money to benefit local children is very rewarding.”

The full-color, 9″x12″, 60-page MONSTERS & DAMES hardcover is limited to 1000 individually numbered copies. The 2011 book features contributions from some of the top creators in the industry, including JG Jones, Geof Darrow, Cully Hamner, Bruce Timm, Humberto Ramos, Guy Davis, Todd Nauck, Frank Cho, Yanick Paquette, Skottie Young, Aaron Lopresti, Cliff Chiang, Mike McKone, Cameron Stewart, Erik Larsen, Chris Giarrusso, Pete Woods, Jonathan Hickman, Sean “Cheeks” Galloway and dozens more! For the complete
list of creators involved in this amazing art book, visit http://www.emeraldcitycomicon.com/monstersndames.php

The Ninth Annual EMERALD CITY COMICON, newly expanded to three days, will be taking place March 4th-6th, 2011 at the Washington State Convention & Trade Center in beautiful downtown Seattle, WA.

by Skottie Young

By Humberto Ramos

Chris Giarrusso

Cover by Adam Hughes

by Aaron Lopresti

Guitar picks from the Kirby Krackle concert at Emerald City ComiCon (photo by George Tramountanas)

Among the highlights of Emerald City ComiCon was the Sunday concert by Seattle-based “nerd rock band” Kirby Krackle (Kyle Stevens and Jim Demonakos) and special guest Marvel Editor-in-Chief Joe Quesada. At the performance, which marked the release of the band’s sophomore album E for Everyone, attendees were given these nifty Marvel-branded guitar picks that bear the mysterious acronym “O.M.I.T.” (Anyone have a guess what it stands for?)

Look for more images from the concert and the convention later this afternoon in Comic Book Resource’s Emerald City ComiCon photo parade.

Super Pro K.O.!

BOOM! Studios isn’t the only publisher at the Emerald City Comicon with news. Here’s a rundown on some of the other stuff coming out of the con …

• Laura Hudson at ComicsAlliance reports from the DC Nation panel that occurred earlier today. We already know that animated star Batman Beyond is set to appear in this year’s Superman/Batman annual, written by Paul Levitz. According to editor Ian Sattler, the annual will be out in June and will feature Superman Beyond as well. And a new Batman Beyond series kicks off that month.
• At that same panel, Geoff Johns also confirmed that the JSA would appear again on Smallville toward the end of the season. “The hope is for every DC character to appear outside the comic book. Correctly,” Johns said.
• And James Robinson is working on a new Shade series. Previously he told iFanboy he’d love to explore Opal City in the form of a Shade series.
• Laura also reports on the Mondo Marvel panel that occurred in Seattle. Although there were no announcements, they did talk about the recent Tea Bagger controversy in Captain America, how the Disney/Marvel merger was going and, as always, “One More Day.”
• iFanboy reports on some of Oni’s news from the show. Guerillas by Brahm Revel is moving from Image to Oni, with a first volume collection due in October. In July they’ll release a new graphic novel called Super Pro K.O.! by Jarrett Williams, described as “Shonen Jump meets high-impact, old-school wrastlin’.” And Phil Gelatt and Tyler Crook’s Petrograd comes out in November. I spoke with Gelatt about the book last summer, when it was announced at SDCC.
• As reported on CBR, Hack/Slash is moving from Devil’s Due to Image. “…it became pretty clear that the pretty well [publicized] financial problems DDP was having weren’t going to help me get my book out every month or help me get my creators paid on time,” creator Tim Seeley told CBR. “I’ve been working with Image on my other creator-owned stuff like “Loaded Bible” and “Colt Noble and the Megalords,” and I’ve always had great experiences working with [Image Comics Publisher] Eric Stephenson and [Sales and Licensing Coordinator] Joe Keatinge and the rest of the crew. And, most of the comics I read and enjoy every month come out of Image. So, with the help of DDP president Josh Blaylock, I set up a deal to bring Cassie and Vlad over to Image.”
• Heidi MacDonald reports that next year’s Emerald City Comicon will run three days. They’ll also run a one-day show called the Jet City Comic Show in September.

The Amory Wars: In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3

BOOM! Studios sent out a trio of press releases this afternoon in conjunction with their announcements from the Emerald City Comicon in Seattle this weekend.

As noted on CBR this afternoon, Darkwing Duck is joining the BOOM! Kids line, written by my buddy Ian Brill and drawn by James Silvani. Big props to Ian on writing his first four-issue mini-series.

The Amory Wars moves from Image to BOOM! in May, as Coheed & Cambria frontman Claudio Sanchez teams with comics writer Peter David for The Amory Wars: In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3. The 12-issue maxi-series ties into the release of Coheed & Cambria’s album Year of the Black Rainbow, due out in April. BOOM! will also release The Amory Wars Ultimate Edition, which collects the previous Amory Wars tales published by Image.

“Working with Claudio has been an absolute revelation in terms of Coheed and Cambria’s popularity,” said David. “I cannot tell you the number of times I’ve encountered people who don’t read X-Factor, never heard of Fallen Angel, but I mention that I’m working with Claudio and they instantly declare their undying love for all things C&C. They start rattling off titles, song lyrics, and they absolutely cannot wait to get their hands on the next installment of Claudio’s epic science fiction vision. For those fans who have been waiting years for this new comic series, the wait is over. For anyone who’s going to be entering Claudio’s world for the first time, welcome to Heaven’s Fence.”

Finally, this May BOOM! will release 7 Psychopaths, written by Fabien Vehlmann with art by Sean Phillips of Criminal fame. Originally published by Delcourt in France under the title Seven Psychos, the World War II story is about seven psychos charged with killing Hitler.

“7 Psychopaths is probably the most difficult story I’ve ever drawn,” said Phillips. “Nine or ten panel pages, having to find reference for everything I had to draw, drawing a type of story I’d never tackled before, it was hard work. Many times I wondered if it was worth the effort. Then I started to receive jpegs of Hubert’s coloured pages, and it was definitely worth it. He’s made it look like a book drawn by someone who knew what he was doing! It seemed as if I could do Fabien’s great story justice after all.”

Emerald City ComiCon

Thousands of comics creators, celebrities and fans will descend on the Washington State Convention Center in Seattle on Saturday for the eighth annual Emerald City ComiCon.

The guest list is pretty impressive, with comic-book creators like Mike Allred, Laura Allred, Brian Azzarello, Brian Michael Bendis, Ed Brubaker, Kurt Busiek, Jo Chen, Colleen Coover, Farel Dalrymple, Matt Fraction, Kieron Gillen, Brandon Graham, David Hahn, Phil Hester, Geoff Johns, Joe Kelly, Matt Kindt, Scott Kurtz, John Layman, Jeff Lemire, Corey Lewis, Steve Lieber, Rob Liefeld, Kevin Maguire, Alex Maleev, Sean Murphy, Ryan Ottley, Jeff Parker, Jason Pearson, Joe Quesada, Darick Robertson, James Robinson, Jim Rugg, Andy Runton, Tim Sale, Dave Stewart, Ben Templesmith, Jill Thompson, Jhonen Vasquez, Mark Waid, J.H. Williams III, G. Willow Wilson and — well, it’s a long list.

“Media guests” include the likes of Leonard Nimoy, Wil Wheaton, Stan Lee and Thomas Jane.

Doors are open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday.

by Livio Ramondelli

The Emerald City Comicon, scheduled for March 13-14 in Seattle, is once again putting together a charity art book featuring pin-ups of “Monsters & Dames” by some of its very impressive guest list. Proceeds from the book benefit the Seattle Children’s Hospital.

Over on Gelatometti, several attendees have been posting their contributions, including Livio Ramondelli (above), Carlos D’Anda and Oliver Nome, among others. Go check’em out.

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)

Tweet #1:

sadly, i will not be guest of honor or attending the wizard anaheim show next year. i will be staying home and making comic books.

Tweet #2:

i will be at the excellent emerald city con. why? no con war.

When asked to elaborate on the rationale for his cancellation by a user of his message board, Bendis replied:

you can figure it out.

[Wizard Editor] mike cotton and those guys are good guys. there’s just stuff going on behind the scenes i don’t want to be part of. when those things stop, i’ll do more cons.

Though it’s not 100% clear, the three posts at the very least imply that the writer will also not be attending Reed Exhibitions’ Chicago-based C2E2 show, against which Shamus scheduled Anaheim, choosing instead to opt out of the con conflict entirely for the unaffiliated Emerald City Comic Con in Seattle this March.

For their part, Wizard continues to soldier on in the wake of their decision to schedule next year’s Big Apple show for the same weekend as the New York Comic Con in much the same way as they have in the past: by releasing ebullient, yet vaguely worded, press releases. Their post-BACC PR refers to the show as “the tri-state area’s largest pop culture festival,” a claim Reed will no doubt take issue with, and claims “this past weekend’s convention broke the event attendance record for Pier 94 in New York,” though no attendance figures are cited.

Perhaps the key passage of the press release is its list of mainstream media outlets that covered the con: “People magazine, the Wall Street Journal, Crains, AOL, National Public Radio, CBS, ABC, NBC, AP, Reuters, Nikki Finke’s Deadline Hollywood, Variety and more.” If, as rumored, Shamus plans to more or less openly move away from a comics-based model for his shows, an ability to successfully land favorable stories in the mainstream press, as opposed to navigating the more skeptical waters of the comics press and promotional outlets, is all the more important.

While individual Wizard staffers still remain tight-lipped about the show, Stephen Shamus — Wizard’s VP of Business Development and brother of founder and CEO Gareb Shamus — could hardly contain his enthusiasm about his on-stage appearance with Big Apple guests Naughty by Nature. On his Facebook account, Shamus posted a video of his cameo during the hip-hop group’s performance of “Hip Hop Hooray” and wondered “if any other Comic Con ever had such a high profile act perform on site.” (That’s him on the right, next to NbN’s Vinnie.)

Meanwhile, the Con War has claimed some unusual casualties online. Rich Johnston’s post quoting Wizard writer Mark Allen Haverty’s defense of the Shamus organization’s moves is now missing in action, while Wizard’s own website has been replaced with a bare-bones portal containing little more than links to purchase magazine subscriptions and convention tickets. (The Beat’s Heidi MacDonald also yanked a Con War post, though as she explains, this is because it was an unfinished post that went up accidentally.) Further developments are no doubt forthcoming.

by Joe Jusko

Earlier this year the folks at the Emerald City ComiCon put together a benefit book called Monsters & Dames that featured pin-ups by many of the artists who attended the con. The original artwork by Joe Jusko (above), David Petersen, Bruce Timm, Mark Brooks and many others is being auctioned off to benefit the Seattle Children’s Hospital; you can find the available pieces up on eBay right here.

Monsters and Dames by Kieron Dwyer

The folks at the Emerald City ComiCon this past weekend put together what sounds like a really cool benefit book for the Seattle Children’s Hospital. Called Monsters and Dames, it featured pin-ups of, well, monsters and dames by some of the show’s guests. While the book was a show exclusive, some of the art that was included has started to pop up around the internet. Over at the Periscope Studios blog, you can see contributions by Colleen Coover and Steve Lieber, while Becky Cloonan has posted hers on her own blog. And at the Emerald City site, you can find contributions from Ben Templesmith, Bruce Timm, Kieron Dwyer (above), Mark Brooks, Mike Huddleston and Moritat.

If you’ve seen any others, let us know in the comments field

Emerald City ComiCon

Editor’s note: Strangeways creator Matt Maxwell attended the Emerald City ComiCon and agreed to write up a report for us about his weekend.

by Matt Maxwell

—–

See, I’m good enough at this convention thing now that I have to tack on extra difficulty just to keep myself from being bored. Which is why I traveled with my two kids by plane up to Seattle instead of doing the sensible thing and flying up on my own. At least I have enough sense to drop them with the grandparents while I try to sell books. Having an easily bored pair of five and eight-year-old kids is just not conducive to doing anything other than clinging to my last shreds of sanity and composure, and add to that selling books and spreading the Strangeways gospel? Not gonna happen.

Not that I’ve sold a ton of books this year as of yet. I write this on the Sunday morning of the show, as vendors and guests are beginning to creep in, volume steadily rising, like the lion house waking up at the zoo on a lazy morning, murmurs of greeting peppered with good-natured laughter. I guess other folks are doing better than I am. Not bad existentially, mind you, but I coulda sold a lot more books than I ended up doing yesterday. The comparison between this show and WonderCon isn’t fair, though. WonderCon on Saturday was OFF THE CHIZZAIN as the kids say. ECCC, by comparison, had a lot of foot traffic, but perhaps not as many people opening their wallets, at least not yet.

And it’s probably not fair, since Murder Moon was a brand new book at last year’s ECCC, and it’s a retread item this year. I’ve had a number of people come up who bought the book last year and ask “what’s new?”. I can only point them to the webcomic but nothing to buy. Maybe I need some merch or chapbooks or something. But truthfully, the chapbooks are a loss leader. I don’t feel comfortable charging more than a buck for ‘em and they cost more than a buck to make (and you gotta haul them around.) And they’re unsatisfying to read. I’ll print them for retailers, but I’m not excited about printing them for anyone else right now.

And that just there was a ten-minute-visit from Mel and Clark of Dead Ahead, oh, and that little book we like to call Gumby. Mel was just telling me about the wonder of seeing both pencil art from Rick Geary, and un-lettered art from Rick Geary, both of which seem both weirdly alien and compelling to me.

Oh, ashcans. Right. The idea of printing non-books to sell just seems kinda weird and wasteful now. But again, I don’t expect comic book sellers to be interested in what they can or can’t read online, and they’re about selling the printed experience anyways, so it goes to figure that I should go out of my way to get them printed preview material.

I just wish it was lighter.

As for the show itself, so far it’s been wel-run, well-lit and well-attended. Plenty of guest artists, both big and small (me among the smallest, rilly.) But there’s room for all levels of fan followings under the big ECCC tent (though I wonder if it gets any bigger, how it’ll get split up in a non-destructive manner). I understand we’re in the biggest room at the Seattle Convention Center as it stands. The crowds seemed healthy, not in danger of trampling one another or anything. But then artist’s alley isn’t usually the most active part of any convention (hell, even at SDCC, you can usually walk pretty freely around the alley when the floor itself is choked with fans and cosplayers.)

Matt's booth

Oh, cosplay. I suppose I’m jaded, but I really only notice now when things are really crazy, or really wrong or really really creative. I look for the incongruities now. Xena pushing a stroller, that’ll get a second look and a smile. Stormtroopers versus Borg in a fight to see which expendable minion is the most expendable? I’ll give that a look. Vanilla Rorschach? Not so much. Though I loved seeing the Dr. Manhattans in black suits, blue dish-washing gloves and…no facial makeup. Talk about not being the bunny. But sometimes leaving your costume incomplete is the best way to get noticed.

Okay, more later. The floor’s gonna open in a few minutes and I need to buy some Godzilla T-shirts. And no, I’m not buying one for my editor at Comics Waiting Room, no matter how much a kaijuphile he might be. My daughter gets a Pink Godzilla from the booth/company of the same name. It’s cute. And pink. Hello Godzilla!

I won’t bore you with too many details of the flight in. But let’s just say that putting a couple of mini Cinnabons on top of a Quizno’s Italian sub loaded with cappicola is probably not the smartest thing I’ve ever done. I managed not to use the airsick bag, but it took a lot of willpower and some isometric exercises.

When in Seattle and at the show, I was lucky enough to have the Big Man, aka Jim Demonakos, show me up to the fourth floor (having gotten lost within five minutes of getting to the convention center). Look up “salt of the Earth” and you’ll find a picture of Jim’s smiling mug right there. Year seven of the show and going strong. One wonders how it’ll grow, but I suspect they’ll figure out a way.

Got a look at the real behind-the-scenes work while I helped friend Jimmie Robinson get set up. Rode a beaten freight elevator that had a 36,000 lbs. capacity (good for the exhibitor who’s had too many Cinnabons) and made me feel like I was going to step out into a big control room out of War Games, Dabney Coleman smoking profusely and being a perfect avatar of J. Jonah Jameson while World War III ticked down.

I gotta lay off the sugar…

Poked around the show floor a bit and was thankful that I could get my setup into an extra suitcase and some carry-ons. Though I did get dinged a fair amount of money for being over-weight. Next time I think I’ll ship stuff ahead of time. May actually be cheaper. Or less herniating, at least, with a SEVENTY SIX POUND suitcase.

Saturday started a bit slowly, but only because the gigantic lines out front needed to be processed. Cooled my heels and observed, put stacks of books in precise marching order, dropped cards on the freebie table. Waited, like a jungle cat, ready to pounce on anyone who lingered in front of my table for more than a heartbeat. Well, leap not so much as pounce. Hard for me to bend into a good crouch after that knifing I got in Reno a couple years back.

Passed by the Periscope Studio table/cluster to say hello to Steve Lieber (who is still scheduled to do the next Strangeways book cover). Would have said hello to Parker, but that morning, the role of Jeff Parker was being played by a box of Top Pot doughnuts (which I rhapsodized about last year). Johnathan Case had all three volumes of his beautiful and weird Sea Freak book for the insanely low price of two bucks apiece. Got a neat button from Indigo Kelleigh. Bavarian Illuminati go!

One of my favorite things that I get to do is to tell people that “I’m just the writer” when they ask for the artist, book in hand. I try to explain the “five minute story” concept to people and most don’t get it. Only had two people bite.

Here’s the rules: You give me something to write upon. You give me three words. “Superman” is one word. “Spider-Man” is two. Oh, okay, full proper names are one word, but nobody has yet to call me on that. I then give you at least one paragraph, probably five lines. Sometimes it takes longer. Sometimes shorter, but I try to give people their money’s worth.

Wait…what money? I’m doing these for free. That’s what I’m doing wrong…

Sold a few books. Not as many as last year. But then, I don’t have any new books to sell as of yet. Just cards to give away for the webcomic, which you already know is here. I did have a number of people come by saying that they’d bought Murder Moon last year and wanted more. That’s nice to hear, but I feel bad when there isn’t a second book to sell to ‘em. Patience. Get more of them headed towards the webcomic and get ‘em hooked.

Bought a copy of Air from G. Willow Wilson, who was just across the aisle from me. Lucky, too, since she ran out of copies before the end of the day on Saturday. Only just started reading it and found it better than I’d though it would be (this is a good thing, as I’m not likely to spend money on things that I think are gonna be just average. I’ve got no time for just average.) High-tailed it back to my booth in time to answer some questions and pass out more cards.

This next part is weird. See, I have to say nice things about Brandon Jerwa (writer for Dynamite, ex-writer of GI Joe back at DDP, and all-around menace to society.) Saying nice things about Jerwa is like saying nice things about John Layman. You occasionally need to do it, because their actions have merited such magnanimousness, but still…it’s weird. Anyways, Brandon did the nicest thing that anyone could do for me at a convention. He watched my booth so I could skitter out and, uh, do stuff, and even get something to eat. Thanks, Brandon. But you’re still a menace to society.

And when they say there’s horseradish on the roast beef sandwich at the concessionaire, they’re not just whistling the Battle Hymn of the Republic. My sinuses were on fire.

The crowds were solid, even in the hinterlands of the Artist’s Alley. It wasn’t standing room only or a gigantic and intertwined vining of queues (at least not until you got to Ed Brubaker’s table). One could move and breathe relatively freely, aside from the congealing of crowds around costumes or when a geeklebrity moved outside their normal signing area.

Towards the end of Saturday, I chatted briefly with Jason Aaron of Scalped and a handful of other Marvel books (but Scalped is the big draw, I won’t lie). And I broke a rule. I actually bought single issues. Like what would have been the fourth trade’s worth of them, in addition to #25. This, however, does not mean that I’m ready to start hitting a store ever week (I do NOT have the time for that). It just shows that I’m weak when the material is strong enough.

Grabbed dinner with some of the Periscope folks over at the Tap House. Watched a pair of cosplayers dressed as Sally Jupiter and Silhouette descend the long staircase into the restaurant with Joe Walsh blaring over the speakers and said to myself “Hurm,” by way of recognition. Funny how Silhouette got only about 1500% more screen time in the film version of Watchmen than she did in the comic. Diggin’ the lurid, my friends.

Talked comics, flamewars, vegetarianism and other subjects over cider and halibut and chips. Listened to a soundtrack right out of Rock Band, which immediately put me at ease. There’s no situation that can’t be made better by blasting “Gimme Shelter” at top volume. Really.

Afterwards, we retired to the Dragonfish to kill time before planned karaoke. I ordered The Confucious, which was a pineapple, mango pure and rum concoction topped with a burning sugarcube. The flames flickered cool and blue, rum-fed and enthralling. It was mighty tasty. I only felt a little old as I retired, begging off karaoke (nobody, drunk or sober, needs to hear my infernal caterwauling). Watched The Arcade Fire on Austin City Limits, interspersed with flicking back to a documentary on the assassination of MLK, creating my own Godspeed You Black Emperor album in the process. Try it at home!

I’m being mean. The Arcade Fire does better straight-ahead rock songs than GYBE does. GYBE is probably more interesting sonically. And they’re a truckload darker.

Which brings us back to Sunday morning when I started writing this in the first place. Sunday itself was a fair bit quieter than Saturday, though I had a lot of late sales that brought the days within neck and neck of each other. I’ll note that “Cowboys and Werewolves” seems to be the thing that drops people in their tracks and makes them march over to my booth after cruising noncommittally down the middle of the hall, not making eye contact. I’m probably gonna be sunk when I have to use another tagline.

Got a good look at the new book Viking from Ivan Brandon and Image. I was ready to buy a copy but apparently they’re not for sale just yet. Orders came in huge and more had to be printed, pushing things back a bit. I guess that’s a good problem to have.

The best costume at the show, bar none, was the four-year-old girl in the gold lame (not lame as is bad, but lame as in fabric) Dalek costume, cherubic grin peeking out over death ray and manipulator appendage. She may have some deep-seated psychological problems later on, but for today, she was queen of the world. Honorable mention goes to the six-foot-plus Mojo Jojo costume-wearing guy, who totally worked it.

Had a lot of time to look at what some other vendors were doing instead of just selling books. I’m going to have to investigate t-shirts and prints a little more carefully. Maybe buttons, too. Again, I’ve got to learn that just because I don’t like ephemera and other merchandise doesn’t mean that other people don’t like and won’t consider purchasing it.

I’m sure there’s more stuff, but it does tend to blend together when you’re at the show. I Twittered a lot of stuff in off-time (which was frequent, sad truth be told), which you can read by following highway_62 over at Twitter. There’s probably more twit than anything else there, really.

Made a few contacts, got to look at some new artwork. Gelled some plans regarding the next Strangeways book. See, The Thirsty is dragging out a bit, and going to come out later than anticipated. I would have hoped for a late Summer release, and that may still happen, but that’s seeming unlikely here in the early days of Spring. So what probably will happen is The Thirsty will come out early next year. Next will be Dry Heart (and other stories). The main feature, about 40 pages, is nearly done (it was planned to be issue #5 of the monthly Strangeways book, the one that withered on the vine.) The rest of it will be made up of shorts, and some short shorts. While that one’s cooking, I’ll have pages for book 4, called The Stitcher, underway, so that the gap between three and four will not be so long.

It’s a lovely plan. It may not even blow up in my face. This is, of course, assuming I can construct eight page stories. That’s got me a little nervous, actually. But it will be good exercise. And maybe I can get to work with some other artists, which is also educational.

Packed the show down and said brief goodbyes to people. Said “hello” and “goodbye” to Ed (that Criminal guy) Brubaker in the same five minutes, and then headed out of town to see family (aka, the reason why I was able to hand kids off to grandparents and actually get work done this weekend). Traffic on the 5 north, radio channel-surfing, fragments of favorite songs and brief flickerings of other things. Homemade jerky at the gas station and some Tim’s Cascade Chips (kettle chips beat Lay’s all hollow).

Then figuring out how to fix my mistake of double-booking the weekend of 4/19 while away from my office and not having any of my reservations in front of me. Stumptown in two weeks, Fangoria convention in LA, sadly, will have to wait until next year.

Oh, and don’t worry, even in light of a slow con, I’ll be back next year. Got my table already and everything. One slow show does not defeat make.

28 Days Later , the popular horror movie and one of the comics Fox Atomic previously published on their own, will return to comics in July as part of the venture BOOM! and Fox Atomic announced at WonderCon earlier this year.

No creative teams have been announced, but it looks like at least one of the covers for the first issue will sport a wraparound cover by Sean Phillips:

28 Days Later

(Quick update: The second cover, shown after the jump, is by Tim Bradstreet).

Fox Atomic previously published 28 Days Later: The Aftermath in 2007, which was written by Steve Niles. The complete press release on the new book is available after the jump.

*****

Los Angeles, CA, April 4, 2009 – Fox Atomic Comics and BOOM! Studios announced today at the Emerald City Comicon in Seattle, WA that July will see 28 DAYS LATER return to comic books and graphic novels.

28 Days Later

Initial launch story will be firmly based in 28 DAYS LATER continuity with the first arc focusing on Selena. Bridging the gap between 28 DAYS LATER and 28 WEEKS LATER, a few key questions will be answered along the way: what happened to Selena after 28 DAYS LATER? How did Selena happen upon the machete she wields in 28 DAYS LATER?

The film franchise has grossed over $145 million globally and been named by the cable channel Bravo as having one of “The 100 Scariest Movie Moments” — Empire Magazine honored it as one of the “500 Greatest Movies of All Time.” The New York Times called it “Bracingly smart.”

Fox Atomic first made a splash with a series of SpikeTV Award-winning original graphic novels in 2007 including 28 DAYS LATER: THE AFTERMATH, featuring work from 30 DAYS OF NIGHT creator Steve Niles, followed by THE HILLS HAVE EYES: THE BEGINNING written by Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray. A third graphic novel, the International Horror Guild Award-winning THE NIGHTMARE FACTORY was also released, adapting stories from Bram Stoker and World Fantasy Award-winner Thomas Ligotti. THE NIGHTMARE FACTORY: VOLUME TWO, the second graphic novel in the series, followed in 2008.

The new Fox Atomic Comics and BOOM! Studios collaboration will see titles serialized as individual single issue comic books before being collected into trade paperback graphic novels available in the direct and mass bookstore markets. 28 DAYS LATER #1 is the first in the series for this new collaboration.

The Fox Atomic Comics – BOOM! Studios venture will see a broad expansion of Fox Atomic’s titles after its previous success. Partners are keeping the specific details of the series under wraps with expectations for further announcements later in the convention season featuring marquee series and high-profile creators.

Green River Killer: A Detective Story

Dark Horse Comics chose a fitting venue to announce its graphic novel about the 20-year search for the Green River killer: Emerald City ComiCon, held this weekend in Seattle.

Gary Ridgway, considered one of the most prolific serial killers in American history, was convicted in 2003 of murdering 48 women in the early 1980s and dumping most of their bodies in or along the Green River in Washington. He is suspected of killing dozens more.

Green River Killer: A Detective Story, planned for release in early 2010, is penned by Jeff Jensen, an Entertainment Weekly writer and son of Green River Task Force Detective Tom Jensen. The 120-page graphic novel is illustrated by Ramon K. Perez.

The seventh annual Emerald City ComiCon kicks off at 10 a.m. Saturday at the Washington State Convention & Trade Center.