Comic Book Resources

What Are You Reading?

Map of My Heart

Welcome to another edition of What Are You Reading. Pull up a chair and sit down, won't you? Our guest this week is Bill Kartalopoulos, who teaches classes about comics and illustration at Parsons, is a contributing editor for Print Magazine, and a comics reviewer for Publishers Weekly. But he's probably best known as the Programming Coordinator for the SPX convention in Bethesda, MD.

Bill and everyone else has quite a number of books by their bedside table this week, so we'll get right to it. Be a dear and click on the link below, won't you?

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D23 | Saturday pictures and report

As I've mentioned in previous posts, my wife and I are in Anaheim for Disney's inaugural D23 Expo. Our Saturday started a little later than our Friday, as we thought we should take advantage of the opportunity to sleep in on at least one of our days out of town, and the first presentation we wanted to see wasn't until 11. So we made it to the Anaheim Convention Center a little later than we did on Friday.

From what I could tell, Saturday was a whole lot busier than Friday, as the weekend attendees (and more kids, as Geoff Boucher noted) came out. The leisurely pace of Friday was replaced with longer lines and thicker crowds. I should add that it's still a long way from the chaos of Comic-Con, but there was a noticeable difference between the two days.

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SDCC '09 | Watch the Season 2 trailer for Star Wars: The Clone Wars

Lucasfilm and Cartoon Network have released the Season 2 trailer for Star Wars: The Clone Wars -- one that's apparently slightly different from what was shown yesterday at Comic-Con.

(via The Live Feed)

Five things a movie fan should do in San Diego

Jon Favreau

Between panels, autographs, world premieres, sneak previews, merchandise, booths and meeting other fans, the San Diego Comic Con offers a full plate for the movie fan. Here are six things -- a small sampling, really -- for the movie fan to do at the con:

1. Check out some clips from Iron Man 2: I haven't seen any announcements about who exactly will be at the Iron Man 2 panel yet, but no doubt with principal photography finished up, a few of the folks involved probably have an opening in their schedule. So I wouldn't be surprised if Jon Favreau, Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Mickey Rourke or any of the other cast members show up for the con. And no doubt they'll bring something cool to show the audience. (4-5 p.m. Saturday, Hall H).

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Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to Kung Pao Chicken.

Kotobukiya

Now here's an idea that's a long time in the making. Next year Kotobukiya will release “Chop Sabers" -- a mash-up of Star Wars lightsabers and chopsticks. They come in three varieties: Darth Vader red, Luke Skywalker blue and a smaller Yoda green for the kids.

Although the chop sabers won't be out until 2010, if you're going to San Diego next week you can not only check them out, but also participate in Chop Saber Duels. "Fans will get a chance to test their Chopstick skills by competing against members of the 501st Legion to see who really is the 'Chop Saber Jedi,'" reads their website. "These tests of dexterity will result in the winners (Jedis) taking home a prize!"

Kotobukiya's booth is #2601. Start practicing now.

SDCC | Friday's programming schedule

Comic-Con

Friday's programming schedule for the San Diego Comic-Con is up; you can check out right here. Let's take a look at some of the highlights ...

• Friday at the San Diego Comic-Con is Star Wars day, with seven panels themed around the space epic. It includes the "Lucasfilm: Star Wars Spectacular" panel, which will be aired on G4.
• The Brave & the Bold episode "Mayhem of the Music Meister" featuring the voice of Neil Patrick Harris, will be shown at the con. Harris isn't listed as being at the panel, but hey, it's San Diego -- anything can happen.
• Warner Bros. will show off footage from a number of upcoming movies, including Jonah Hex.

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SDCC '09 | Exclusives, Green Lantern, Farscape and more

The 2009 San Diego Comic-Con is less than a month away, with preview night kicking things off on Wednesday, July 22. If you are a publisher, creator, retailer or any other kind of exhibitor who would like to let folks know about any special plans you have for the show (panels, signing schedules, exclusives, debuts, etc.) drop me an email and I'll run it here.

Exclusives | Artist Daniel m. Davis, who does a webcomic called Monster Commute, will have an exclusive print at the show.

"Limited to an edition of 150 pieces, this print depicts the heroes and villains of this steampunk comic," Davis said over email. "Available only at the Steam Crow booth #4207, it measures 12 x 18 inches, and is printed on satin matte paper. A similar exclusive print sold out in about an hour at the 2009 Emerald City Comicon."

Signed and numbered by the artist, the print will sell for $20.

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Gotham City: You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy

Penguin the Hutt

Artist Dean T. Fraser has mashed together Star Wars and Batman, with characters like Darth Bat, Luke Nightwalker and Penguin the Hutt. Go check out "Empire of the Bat," then take a look around his site for more cool artwork.

Via The Cool Kids Table

Star Wars: The Old Republic webcomic

Star Wars: The Old Republic

LucasArt and Bioware are working on a new MMORG -- massive multiplayer online roleplaying game -- called Star Wars: The Old Republic, which takes place well before the events that unfold in the Star Wars movies. If you'd like to learn a little more about it, Dark Horse is working with them on a webcomic that you can find right here.

Send Us Your Shelf Porn!

Welcome to Send Us Your Shelf Porn, where you, the reader, sends us your shelf porn. Our special guest this week is our very own Tom Bondurant, who took time out of his busy schedule to snap some photos of his own extensive collection. Regular readers of this site know Tom and his insightful columns well enough that I shouldn't have to go into a lengthy introduction but merely say "Take it away Tom!"

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Sharing is caring: Coke ads, Darwin and Star Wars

"The New Godfather" by Drew Friedman

Sharing Is Caring is where we take all the interesting art and Webcomics links we've accumulated in our inbox and unleash them in one messy pile. Watch where you step!

* Drew Friedman riffs on Janis Joplin and The Godfather.

* Any excuse I can have to link to a Kate Beaton comic is a good one.

* D&Q posts a massive one-page strip by John Stanley that could have easily fit within the pages of KE7.

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WonderCon | Wonder Woman's 'West Coast big screen premiere'

WonderCon kicks off a week from Friday at the Moscone Center South in San Francisco. The show welcomes special guests Jim Lee, Ed Brubaker, Matt Fraction, Brian Azzarello, Jill Thompson, Alex Robinson and many more Feb. 27-March 1.

From now until the show kicks off, I'll be posting round-ups of what various publishers, creators, retailers, etc. have planned for the show. If you'd like your booth schedule, special event or other information included, drop me an email.

General information: Programming | Registration | Special guests | Autographs

Wonder Woman

• The Wonder Woman animated DVD, which comes out March 3, will receive "a West Coast big screen premiere" at the show, per a press release from Time Warner.

The 6 p.m. screening will be followed by a panel discussion featuring filmmakers and voice cast, including Bruce Timm and Academy Award nominee Virginia Madsen. Filmmakers will also screen the world premiere of the first footage of Green Lantern: First Flight, the next DC Universe animated DVD.

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Latest auctions for Carla and Lance end soon

I linked to the awesome artwork Walt Simonson donated to our auctions for our injured friends Carla and Lance Hoffman a few days ago, and since our latest round is about to end I thought I'd show off a few more pieces currently available for bidding. First up, a Wonder Woman original watercolor by Jose Carlos:

Wonder Woman

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