My thanks to Gervasio and Jok for their artwork on this series.

Yeah, wrap-up will be coming later. Thanks for reading along, folks.

Art by Gervasio and Jok. Written by Matt Maxwell.

Art by Gervasio and Jok. Written by Matt Maxwell.

Still gonna be at Wonder-Con. Still gonna be in the small press area. And I’ll bet you a dollar that nobody will ask for a five minute story, even though I don’t usually charge for them. Betcha.

Art by Gervasio and Jok. Written by Matt Maxwell.

And as a reminder, I’ll be at this weekend’s Wonder-Con in San Francisco, over in the small press area. Probably going to be at the thing at the Isotope on Saturday. And eating at Henry’s Hunan sometime. Mmmm…Hunan ham…

Art by Gervasio and Jok. Written by Matt Maxwell.

If all goes well, I’ll see you tomorrow.

Art by Gervasio and Jok. Written by Matt Maxwell.

Dayum.

Back next week.

Art by Gervasio and Jok. Written by Matt Maxwell

Back next week.

Chapel Hill Comics

Retailing | Ada Price surveys six retailers from across the United States about weathering the tough economy, what’s selling (and what’s not), and the effects of price increases and “event fatigue.” “Event titles brought people in last year, both long-time fans and new readers, but [this year] people are suffering from event fatigue,” said Eric Thornton of Chicago Comics. “The last year and a half [crossover] events didn’t bring people in, and catered to people who are [already] fans.” [PW Comics Week]

Publishing | Manga sales in Japan fell 6.6 percent to $4.63 billion in 2009, the largest annual decline in market history. The Tokyo-based Research Institute for Publications points to fans reading in manga cafes instead of buying in bookstores because of the recession, and the release of fewer hit titles. [Anime News Network]

Wandering Son, Vol. 1

Publishing | Matt Thorn, editor and curator of Fantagraphics Books’ recently announced manga line, reveals plans for four releases a year with print runs of 6,000 to 8,000 copies each. [PW Comics Week]

Legal | The vote by the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly on the proposed legislation to restrict sexual provocative “visual images” of characters that appear or sound to be younger than 18 years old apparently will be postponed until June. The amendment, which would affect manga, anime and video games sold in metropolitan Tokyo, was protested earlier this week by manga creators. [Anime News Network]

Conventions | Reed Exhibitions Group Vice President Lance Fensterman discusses the debut Chicago Comics & Entertainment Expo, set for April 16-18. There’s also a brief preview of the Diamond Retailer Summit, which will be held April 14-16 in Chicago, in conjunction with C2E2. [ICv2.com]

American Vampire #1

Creators | The American Vampire promotional tour continues as writer Scott Snyder discusses working with Stephen King, and why he focuses on vampires, rather than, say, zombies or werewolves, for the new Vertigo series: “What’s so scary about vampires is that they are the same people — they just come back from the dead and they have this infection, this abomination of the blood that makes them into something that’s unnatural. For me they were always the scariest creatures for that reason. Scary zombies are sort of No. 2, where your father can come back and try and kill you. Vampires come back and are actually knowledgeable. It was the people around you turned into these monsters — the people you trusted like your neighbors in Salem’s Lot, or the people who live in the trashy trailer next door in Near Dark, or the kids you look up to in Lost Boys.  It’s that idea of someone you care about or somebody you trust coming back and being this evil version of themselves that Stephen King does so well.” [USA Weekend]

Madman Gargantua!

Creators | Brandon Burpee posts a video interview with Mike Allred from last weekend’s Emerald City ComiCon. [Multiversity Comics]

Creators | Stumptown Trade Review has audio interviews with Jeff Lemire and Terry Moore from Emerald City ComiCon. [Stumptown Trade Review]

Creators | Bob Fingerman discusses From the Ashes, the End of Days, his upbringing and more. [Heeb]

Creators | Brian Heater talks with artist Ryan Alexander-Tanner about his Xeric-winning book Television #1 and his collaboration with Bill Ayers on To Teach: The Journey, In Comics. [The Daily Cross Hatch]

Comics strips | Greg Evans’ syndicated strip Luann turns 25 years old today. [North County Times]

Comic strips | Olivia Putnal names seven comic strips, now in collected form, that deserve a second look. [Woman's Day]

Art by Gervasio and Jok. Written by Matt Maxwell

Back Wednesday. Hopefully less grouchy, but wouldn’t bet on it.

From "American Vampire" #5

At The Daily Beast, Shannon Donnelly speaks with Stephen King about American Vampire, his collaboration with Scott Snyder and Rafael Albuquerque that debuts this week from Vertigo, and offers a three-page preview of the first issue.

In the interview, King admits to the challenges of his comics-writing debut, and confesses his disappointment after learning that thought balloons have fallen out of vogue: “I got this kind of embarrassed call from the editors saying, ‘Ah, Steve, we don’t do that anymore.’ ‘You don’t do that anymore?’ I said. ‘No, when the characters speak, they speak. If they’re thinking, you try to put that across in the narration, in the little narration boxes.’ … I think it’s a shame to lose that arrow out of your quiver. One of the nice things about the written word as opposed to the spoken word in a movie is that you can go into a character’s thoughts. You do it in books all the time, right?”

Barrow, Alaska (photo by Ben Templesmith)

Ben Templesmith has begun to post photos from his recent visit to Barrow, Alaska, northernmost city in the United States and the Arctic setting of his 2002 miniseries (with Steve Niles) 30 Days of Night.

“It was a homecoming of sorts,” Templesmith writes on his blog. “To the place that changed my life in many ways because of a book that became a movie. Time now, to put all that well in the past and move on. This was a symbolic ‘goodbye’ to all that, on the day of my birthday. No phone, no net. Just me and my thoughts on the shore of the Arctic Ocean.”

Art by Gervasio and Jok. Written by Matt Maxwell.

Silent panel. Does it work? Does it not? Still feelin’ that out.

And again, as a reminder, I’ll be up at the Emerald City Comic Con in Seattle this weekend (first big show of the year for me!). I’m in the C’s of Artist’s Alley, so come on by and say hello and remind me that real people do indeed read this strip on a weekly basis, or I’m gonna end up thinking that all my commentors are just figments of my imagination.

As usual, Five Minute Stories will be available for those who ask nicely, provide three words and something to write upon. If you don’t provide those, how can I be expected to provide a story in return? Plenty of show-priced collections of MURDER MOON, as well as the ashcan version of the first chapter of THE THIRSTY. And you can even hit me up for a sketch, but it’ll probably end up coming from my extensive swipe file.

See you back here next week.

Art by Gervasio and Jok. Written by Matt Maxwell.

Joe’s dead, baby. Joe’s dead.

Just the first of many reminders, but I’ll be up at the Emerald City Comic Con this weekend, somewhere in the J tables of Artist’s Alley. Looking forward to the show, may even get a chance to see some of it, as I’ll have tablemates to help watch things if I want to stretch my legs. The guys from BRAINS, Anthony Leano and Paul Allen, will be splitting the table with me, so you can wet your horror whistle in more ways than one. Should be a good show.

Hey, anyone know a good Mediterranean/Persian restaurant in Seattle? I could do with some koubideh. Or maybe a nice shawerma.

Back on Wednesday.

Art by Gervasio and Jok. Written by Matt Maxwell.

Uh-oh. That can’t be the way they planned all that.

See you all next week.

Of course, now that I’ve said that, I’ll cut my pinky off or something…

Art by Gervasio and Jok. Written by Matt Maxwell.

Well, looks like someone has a bunch of new best friends.

Let’s see how that works out on Wednesday.

I’m not generally a fan of promotional trailers for comics and books — most rely on dull montages and even worse music — but this new spot for Seth Grahame-Smith’s upcoming novel Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter is incredibly well done. Well, if you can ignore the really obvious wig and fake mustache on whom I presume is vampire-John Wilkes-Booth.

The novel, Grahame-Smith’s follow-up to the bestselling Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, depicts Lincoln as the savior of the Union and lifelong enemy of the undead. The author has a couple of comic-book connections: He was among the genre novelists who contributed to the latest Marvel Zombies miniseries. In May, Del Rey/Villard will release a graphic-novel adaptation of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter is due March 2 from Grand Central Publishing.

Art by Gervasio and Jok. Written by Matt Maxwell

Looks like someone wants to make a couple of real good friends. This oughta end well.

Back next week.

Art by Gervasio and Jok. Written by Matt Maxwell.

Back next week!

Art by Gervasio and Jok. Written by Matt Maxwell.

No comments, no bon mots. Just me frantically trying to keep up. See you on Wednesday.

Art by Gervasio and Jok, who are on time more than I am.

Back on Monday. If I make it that long.