New York Comic Con
Comics A.M. | St. Trinian’s cartoonist Ronald Searle passes away
Ronald Searle
Passings | British cartoonist Ronald Searle, best known as the creator of the fictional St. Trinian’s School, passed away Friday at a hospital near his home in southeastern France. He was 91. His spiky drawings of the wicked pupils of the girls school debuted in 1941 in Lilliput magazine, leading to five books and seven films. Searle, a Cambridge native, also co-authored (with Geoffrey Willans) the Molesworth book series. [Reuters]
Conventions | Four-day passes for New York Comic Con go on sale for $85 today at noon ET/9 a.m. PT. The event will be held Oct. 11-14 at the Jacob Javits Convention Center in New York City. [press release]
Conventions | Comiket, the world’s largest self-published comic book fair, drew a total of 500,000 people for its winter convention, held Thursday through Saturday at the Tokyo Big Sight in Japan. Held twice a year, in August and December, the event doesn’t use turnstiles or unique passes, so a visitor who attends all three days would be counted each time. [Anime News Network]
- January 3, 2012 @ 06:55 AM by Kevin Melrose
Comics A.M. | Marvel, DC join Google+; Susie Cagle on her arrest
Google+
Publishing | Marvel and DC Comics are among the first companies to join Google+ as a part of the Google + Pages initiative, along with other early adopters like the WWE, Angry Birds, The Muppets and Pepsi. Companies that initially joined Google+ back when it first launched had their accounts shut down as Google worked on “building a similarly optimized business experience for Google+” like they had for individuals. Google+ Pages launched yesterday. [The Source, Marvel.com]
Creators | Cartoonist Susie Cagle shares her account of being arrested last week during Occupy Oakland. [AlterNet]
Digital | Digital comics distributor iVerse Media has received a $4 million private-equity investment for the expansion of marketing and product development for its Comics+ app. [TechCrunch]
- November 8, 2011 @ 06:55 AM by Brigid Alverson and JK Parkin
Comics A.M. | Comics market on the verge of a turnaround?
Action Comics #1
Comics | ICv2′s latest report on the comics market shows a mixed picture for monthly comics and graphic novels. While DC’s New 52 reboot has helped push comics sales, the graphic-novel versions of those comics won’t be out for months — and Amazon is gobbling up a larger and larger share of graphic novel sales, especially at the high end. And this is interesting: “Digital sales are growing as a percentage of the market, but apparently not at the expense of print sales. Retailers interviewed by ICv2 do not feel they’re losing sales to digital competition on DC’s day and date titles.” That seems to be more anecdote than data, but you would think retailers would be the first to notice a drop in sales. The report also includes lists of the top 10 properties in various categories. [ICv2]
- November 3, 2011 @ 06:55 AM by Brigid Alverson and JK Parkin
Comics A.M. | Nate Powell at U.N.; Stan Lee’s YouTube World of Heroes
Nate Powell at the U.N.
Creators | Any Empire and Swallow Me Whole creator (and our special guest this weekend for What Are You Reading?) Nate Powell appeared at the United Nations earlier this month with several teen-fiction writers who contributed to What You Wish For, a benefit book to fund libraries in Darfuri refugee camps in Chad. Video of the event can now be found on the U.N. website. [Top Shelf]
Business | Details on the collaboration between Stan Lee’s POW! Entertainment Inc. and former Disney CEO Michael Eisner’s Vuguru have emerged: The two companies will work on a YouTube channel called “Stan Lee’s YouTube World of Heroes.” The channel is one of the 100 online video channels announced by the Google-owned video site, which seeks to add “professional, high-quality programming” to its site. [Los Angeles Times]
Business | They might move slow and eat people, but MSNBC estimates that zombies are worth about $5 billion to the economy. [MSNBC]
- October 31, 2011 @ 06:55 AM by Brigid Alverson and JK Parkin
Comics A.M. | Stan Lee to receive visual-effects award
Stan Lee
Awards | The Visual Effects Society has named Stan Lee as the recipient of the VES 2012 Lifetime Achievement Award, which honors individuals whose “lifetime body of work has made a significant and lasting contribution to the art and/or science of the visual effects industry by way of artistry, invention and/or groundbreaking work.” Previous recipients include George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, Ray Harryhausen and James Cameron. The award will be presented Feb. 7 at the 10th annual VES Awards. [press release]
Organizations | The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund reports it raised $12,500 last weekend at New York Comic Con. [CBLDF]
Awards | Comic-Con International has opened nominations for the The Will Eisner Spirit of Comics Retailer Award, which awarded to “an individual retailer who has done an outstanding job of supporting the comics art medium both in the community and within the industry at large.” [CCI]
- October 20, 2011 @ 06:55 AM by Brigid Alverson and JK Parkin
Comics A.M. | Dwayne McDuffie’s website to focus on writer’s legacy
Dwayne McDuffie
Creators | Eugene Son, a friend of late comics creator Dwayne McDuffie, announced plans to transform the writer’s website from “one that promoted his work to one that reflects his immense legacy.” The site’s blog will remain active, with plans to post old columns and scripts written by McDuffie, as well as tributes and stories from McDuffie’s friends. Earlier this week Son posted a 2002 essay he said was one of McDuffie’s most-read works, “Six Degrees of St. Elsewhere (aka The Grand Unification Theory).” [DwayneMcDuffie.com]
Publishing | Wizard has hired Kevin Kelly as managing editor of its “website, social media and digital content endeavors.” Kelly has previously worked for several entertainment websites, including io9, Moviefone, Cinematical and Joystiq, and was most recently senior features editor for G4tv.com. [press release]
Manga | Playback hosts a “Manga Moveable Feast” on Ken Akamatsu’s Love Hina, which returns to print from Kodansha Comics next week. [Playback:stl]
- October 19, 2011 @ 06:55 AM by JK Parkin
NYCC hangover | A round-up of additional news from the show
Age of Apocalypse
News and reports from the New York Comic Con rolled out even after the lights were turned off on Sunday; here are a few of them, as well as some tidbits we missed the first time around:
• Marvel announced an ongoing Age of Apocalypse series by David Lapham and Roberto De La Torre, spinning out of the current “Dark Angel Saga” storyline in Uncanny X-Force. [CBR]
• Designer Chip Kidd is writing a Batman book called Batman: Death by Design with art by Dave Taylor. It’s due out next summer. [ComicsAlliance]
• USA Today spotlighted Captain Brooklyn, due next May from Jimmy Palmiotti, Frank Tieri and Amanda Conner. The three-issue miniseries will be published by Image Comics. [USA Today]
• Following the convention, Marvel has released pages from the Prep & Landing story that will appear in a few of their upcoming November comics. [CBR]
- October 18, 2011 @ 07:00 AM by JK Parkin
NYCC | Is the Human Torch joining the Secret Avengers?
Secret Avengers
Marvel.com has posted an interview with Rick Remender about his upcoming run with Gabriel Hardman on Secret Avengers, and a piece of promotional artwork reveals a potentially different roster for the team — one that includes the Human Torch and Venom.
Over the weekend, Marvel announced the new creative team and shared a promotional piece by drawn by Art Adams (the book’s cover artist, according to the Marvel feature). It showed new team member Captain Britain, the team’s new leader, Hawkeye, as well as Hank Pym and other current members of the team. Hank Pym doesn’t appear on the promo art from Marvel’s site, but Venom and the Human Torch do. Or a Human Torch, anyway; whether it’s a resurrected Johnny Storm, the WWII-era Torch he took his name from or, heck, even Toro is anybody’s guess at this point. But Marvel has teased the return of the Johnny Storm Human Torch already, so he seems like the likely suspect.
In the interview, Remender doesn’t talk much about the roster beyond Captain Britain and Hawkeye, but he does reveal that along with introducing a new Masters of Evil, he’s also revamping another classic Avengers villain as the team faces the Adaptoids — “sentient, hyper-evolved descendants of the original Super Adaptoid.”
- October 17, 2011 @ 02:02 PM by JK Parkin
NYCC | Convention draws a record 105,000 attendees
New York Comic Con
New York Comic Con set an attendance record, with an estimated 105,000 people pouring into the Jacob Javits Center between Thursday and Sunday, the first time the event has been held over four days. That figure is up from the 96,000 who attended the 2010 convention.
Every year the show has grown so dramatically that it feels like we are starting over with our plan and building a brand new show,” show manager Lance Fensterman wrote this morning on the ReedPOP blog. “In spite of that fact, every year we try to make it better and improve upon the things that did not go well the year before. We got some things right and we know we missed the mark on some things as well. What’s important though is that we always are listening.”
He acknowledged that in a year of several NYCC firsts — first Thursday preview, first business summit, first three-day sellout — there were complaints about lines for the presentations for The Avengers and The Walking Dead, as well as the Saturday and Sunday queue hall. (From what I’ve seen online, he can probably add the Javits Center’s spotty Wi-Fi to the list.)
New York Comic Con 2012 will be held Oct. 11-14.
- October 17, 2011 @ 11:00 AM by Kevin Melrose
NYCC | A taste of Steve Niles and Mike Kaluta’s Paradise Lost
Paradise Lost by Mike Kaluta
This weekend Legendary Comics announced that Steve Niles and Mike Kaluta are working on a new graphic novel for the publisher, an adaptation of John Milton’s 17th-century poem Paradise Lost. The poem tells the Biblical story of Satan tempting Adam and Eve, and how the couple is eventually cast out of the Garden of Eden.
Now, over on the publisher’s website, they’ve revealed the first piece of artwork for the new book. No word on when it will appear. “It’ll be a while,” Kaluta said at the panel. “It’ll take more than seven days.
- October 17, 2011 @ 04:00 AM by JK Parkin
NYCC | Shaolin Cowboy returns from Dark Horse
Shaolin Cowboy
Hey, what’s with the turtle? Where’s the mule?
Ahem. At the New York Comic Con this weekend, Dark Horse Comics announced that it will bring Geof Darrow’s Shaolin Cowboy back into print next year. The book was last published by the Wachowski Brothers’ Burlyman Entertainment in 2007.
Shaolin Cowboy told the story of an unnamed, exiled monk and his talking mule, Lord Evelyn Dunkirk Winniferd Esq. the Third. Dark Horse is planning a three-issue series next year, which they describe as “a loaf of wry in a wonder bread world, a nicotine patch in a ten pack-a-day universe. He wonders as he wanders through a world where yesterday, today and tomorrow exist in a collage of carnage of his own making!” As you can see in the image above, it’s Darrow doing what he does best.
“Geof Darrow’s relationship with Dark Horse goes back to the early days of the company. I can’t tell you how excited I am to again be publishing his amazing work” said Mike Richardson, Dark Horse president, in a press release. “Geof’s art literally stopped me in my tracks when I first met him more than two decades ago and his work is every bit as stunning today. Geof has influenced a generation of artists and I am proud and excited to have him back partnered with Dark Horse.”
- October 15, 2011 @ 11:14 PM by JK Parkin
NYCC | A round-up of Saturday news
Avengers Assemble
Saturday at the New York Comic Con brought news for the Avengers, Superman, Legendary Comics and … Disney’s Prep & Landing? Here’s a round-up of announcements from the show today.
• With a big, blockbuster Avengers movie scheduled for next May, Marvel announced a new ongoing series, Avengers Assemble, by writer Brian Michael Bendis and artist Mark Bagley. The book will launch next March and will feature most of the Avengers featured in the movie — Iron Man, Captain America, Black Widow, Hawkeye and the Hulk. The first arc will feature the villainous group the Zodiac.
• Speaking of that big, blockbuster Avengers movie, fans were treated to new footage from it featuring Bruce Banner and the Black Widow. Tom Hiddleston spoke to CBR about his work on the film.
• Marvel also announced that writer Rick Remender and artist Gabriel Hardman will take over Secret Avengers with issue #21.1, adding new members and pitting them against a new Masters of Evil.
• At the Cup O’ Joe panel today, Marvel also announced a Disney/Marvel crossover — Prep & Landing: Mansion: Impossible. It features the elves from the Disney television special who prepare homes for the arrival of Santa Claus every Christmas eve — only this time they’re trying to break into Avengers Mansion to get it ready for Santa. Written by director Kevin Deters and drawn by story artist Joe Mateo, the story will run in the back of the Marvel Adventures books as well as Avengers #19 in November.
- October 15, 2011 @ 08:42 PM by JK Parkin
NYCC | Jim Lee vs. Spy vs. Spy
Jim Lee's Spy vs. Spy custom toy
This year is the 50th anniversary of the Mad Magazine feature “Spy vs. Spy,” and to celebrate, the magazine created a blank “Spy vs. Spy” toy and asked various artists to customize it. They’ve been sharing them over on their blog since around the time of the San Diego Comic Con, and in New York this weekend they’re unveiling one by DC Comics co-publisher Jim Lee.
You can find more of them on the Mad blog The Idiotical, or in person at the New York Comic Con.
- October 15, 2011 @ 12:00 PM by JK Parkin
NYCC | Shazam back-up to run in Justice League
Just Imagine ...
Fans wondering if or when the original Captain Marvel, a.k.a. Shazam!, would make an appearance in DC’s New 52 can wonder no more. DC Comics announced today at the New York Comic Con that writer Geoff Johns and artist Gary Frank will team up on a back-up feature, The Curse of Shazam, that will run in issues of Justice League starting with #5.
Beyond that, DC offered very few details. We’ll keep you updated as more news becomes available.
Johns and Frank have worked together previously on Superman: Secret Origin and Action Comics, and are the creative team for the upcoming Batman: Earth One graphic novel.
As I went looking for art for this post, I was reminded that this isn’t the first time Frank has drawn Shazam — back in 2002, when DC Comics recruited Stan Lee to “reimagine” some of their characters, Frank teamed up with him on a very different version of the character.
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- October 15, 2011 @ 10:55 AM by JK Parkin
NYCC | DC unveils cover for second volume of Superman: Earth One
Just ahead of its “DC All Access: Superman” panel at New York Comic Con, DC Comics debuted the cover of the second volume of Superman: Earth One, the bestselling 2010 graphic novel by J. Michael Straczynski and Shane Davis. Presumably the publisher will announce a tentative release date during the presentation.
See the full cover below, and check back with Comic Book Resources for a report from “DC All Access: Superman.”
- October 15, 2011 @ 10:26 AM by Kevin Melrose