May 9, 2008 on 3:22 am | In Events, Interviews
In case you hadn’t heard, there’s a very in depth showcase of Bone creator Jeff Smith’s comics work opening up this weekend at the Wexner Center for the Arts in Columbus, Ohio on the campus of The Ohio State University. I can’t make it down for the opening, but luckily I got the chance to talk to the curators behind the exhibit Lucy Caswell & David Filipi. The pair were extremely nice and got me really excited for the show (fingers crossed I’ll make it before they close up shop in August), and you can read the interview the big WU.
For anyone in the Ohio area, I highly recommend heading down and seeing the exhibit. All the info for the show can be found here. If you can’t head there just yet, worry not. We’re having the intrepid Robert Taylor stop in to review the show, talk to all involved and snap as many photos as he can, so check back to the blog next week for all the details!
ALSO: Vaneta Rogers talks to Smith about the show over at Newsarama.
![[Slashdot]](http://slashdot.org/favicon.ico)
![[Digg]](http://digg.com/favicon.ico)
![[Reddit]](http://reddit.com/favicon.ico)
![[del.icio.us]](http://del.icio.us/favicon.ico)
![[Facebook]](http://www.facebook.com/favicon.ico)
![[Technorati]](http://technorati.com/favicon.ico)
![[Google]](http://www.google.com/favicon.ico)
![[StumbleUpon]](http://www.stumbleupon.com/favicon.ico)
May 7, 2008 on 9:25 pm | In Events
So last weekend when the rest of the comics world was getting reprints of DC and Marvel books they already paid for for free, I headed down to the School of Visual Arts’ Fresh Meat mini comics fair to buy some rad minis from students on the super cheap. This was the second year I’ve been able to go to the show, and while this year there seemed to be a few less students showing off their wares, there were still a number of mighty fine comics on display.
Most interesting thing to note: I’d say about 90% if not more of the kids there draw in a manga-inspired style. I know, I know…shocker, right? But it was very interesting to see what the next generation of OEL kids did when faced with predetermined subject matter from the faculty rather than just spinning off into their own fantasy lands. Let’s take a look, shall we?
[Oh, and I should note that no one should consider these reviews. More so they’re just impressions, and even those should be taken with a grain of salt. If I had the guts to not only print up but actually sell my creative work as an undergrad to total strangers, there’s no way it would have been half as successful as what these guys put together.]
CHARLIE CHAPLIN: A NOT-QUITE-SILENT MINI COMIC by Hanni Brosh
I’m putting Ms. Brosh’s comic first as she was the most helpful and informative student with comics out and seemed to be doing the thankless task of selling comics for three or four of her friends who weren’t around either. Brosh explained to me that as a Junior, her thesis had to be a biography-style mini fitting the theme “Kings & Queens” which didn’t have to be taken literaly. Any famous person at the top of their field was fair game for the students, and Brosh’s Chaplin comic centered in on the creation of the silent film star’s anti-Hilter pic “The Great Dictator.” There’s a lot to like about the mini including the fact that Brosh framed the story with a few scenes of older Chaplin reflecting on the film and the histeria surrounding it. Also, her cartooning reminded me a lot of Jay Hosler’s work, which considering the subject matter works quite well.
Continue reading Student Meat Market…
April 25, 2008 on 8:25 pm | In Events
While my lazy ass is still writing about panel’s from the Thursday before NYCC, the rest of the civilized comics world will be turning their eyes toward the fifth annual Stumptown Comics Fest in Portland, OR. Stumptown is one of the remaining indie-centric shows that I’ve yet had a chance to attend, but I think by anyone’s standards, it stands in that elite category of really worthwhile ventures with MoCCA, APE and SPX.
This year’s lineup has a little bit of something for everybody as panels include everything from fan-centric interviews with creators to business-centric workshops on how to launch yourself in the small press. In addition, the Guest of Honor is Dark Horse Publisher Mike Richardson and the rest of the Special Guest list includes talents as diverse as Dave Roman, Craig Thompson (when was the last time he did a show?) and Brian Michael Bendis. For people wondering how that kind of line up can exist in one place, it might have something to do with the fact that Portland has spent years as the inofficial biggest comics town in America, and recently it went all the way to being official as the Mayor declared it comics month there.
Read more about all of that at the Mercury news , and please try to make it out to the show if you can. It’s freakin’ 6 bucks a day. If you’re already in the Portland area, kick the weekend off tonight by going to the cool-looking Sparkplug Party and telling Jason Shiga his comics are dreamy.
Semi-Related:
Speaking of Portland comics, this dude really likes Queen & Country by Portland writer Greg Rucka and Portland Publisher Oni Press.
April 25, 2008 on 6:28 am | In Events
Last Thursday I was lucky enough to duck out on work at the Wizard offices and spend my day sitting in a somewhat crowded conference room in the bottom floor of the Javitz Center listening to the business-iest part of the entire New York Comic-Con: The ICv2 Graphic Novel Conference. Held annually (this is its third year and the second I’ve attended) in conjunction with the big show, the lineup of panels is overseen by Milton Griepp, President of the pop culture retail tracking site ICv2.com and general comics sales data guru. It’s pretty interesting stuff for people boring enough to find sales data for Naruto over blue cocktails interesting.
I’m going to give an overview of what was discussed on the first three panels of the event along with some poor photography, but before we get to stop one on this panel train (Griepp’s annual White Paper summation of comics sales for 2007), I have a few disclaimers:
1 - I know this is the indie blog, but most of this report is going to talk about manga and superhero comics. That’s what sells most and what the panel talked about most, and I honestly think more people who check in here would be interested than people who frequent the Big WU. If you get sick of hearing the phrase “event crossover” then worry not. Dave’s almost done with Pancake Lover #3.
2 - One of the additional downsides to getting this up a week after the event besides feeling really lame is that my blogging elders already hit a lot of these points. So please do click through to Heidi MacDonald’s fact-laden report at Publisher’s Weekly or Tom Spurgeon’s funnier, shorter, better thoughts at The Comics Reporter.
3 - It should be stated that the numbers discussed by Griepp are estimates based on data from many, many disparate sources and therefore cannot be considered hard facts but rather highly reasoned guesses. Still, no one puts more work into this kind of thing than the ICv2 gang, and we can all really learn a lot from the data as it is. Remember: ten years ago, you could never have gotten your hands on such figures, and if you did, they would have been WAY more depressing.
Anyway…on with the show!
Continue reading At Long Last…My ICv2 Notes…
April 22, 2008 on 10:01 pm | In Events
Yo.
So despite it kicking our collective asses for three days and in some ways totally demoralizing us as people, New York Comic-Con 2008 was actually a pretty grand event for the Indie Jones crew. To that end, we’ve each compiled ten things about the show we’d like to share with all three of you still reading. To whit:
DAVE LIKED:
Willie & Joe: The WWII Years — This collection of Bill Mauldin’s World War Two cartoons is absolutely gorgeous. An Army green slipcase, faux Army file design…the cartoons inside are worth the price of admission, but this fantastic package makes it that much more sweet.
Meathaus SOS — The new Meathaus anthology, SOS, was available at the Nerdcore booth. It features indie superstars like James Jean, Ross Campbell, Jim Rugg, Corey Lewis and more! James Jean was even signing copies on Sunday. Fun!
Marcos Perez’s Carl Is The Awesome! — Marcos was in Artist Alley, but I actually bought this book a week before at Jim Hanley’s. Here’s the scoop: Carl is a dinosaur cool with haunches. He has an awesome vest. Any questions? Too bad, just go read it.
The Vault of Mike Allred hardcover — I found this little gem in a half off bin. Hot dog! This collects the four issues the Allred put out through AAA Pop that republishes old forgotten art, interviews, ads, photos and all sorts of etcetera. A lot of fun for Madman, Allred fans.
Giant Size THB — It’s not easy to find Paul Pope’s THB comics anywhere (Amazon, eBay, had to be there?), but I picked this one up over the weekend and plan on reading it over a million times before the complete THB collection drops in 2009, or 2010 (I can’t even remember).
Ashley Wood, Bertie the robot toys — Leapin lizards, this thing looks awesome! Ashley Wood designed this toy based of his Bertie robot in Zombies vs. Robots and Zombies vs. Amazons vs. Robots.
A huge Phil Hale painting — It was at the booth of some guy who was selling a lot of Ashley Wood pieces, some even some Chris Ware. I guess for now I’ll have to dream.
Lockjaw sketches —photos forthcoming ya nerds…
The Al Columbia story in the new MOME — I read it right at the Fantagraphics booth, then walked over to a corner and acted all quiet for a while.
The Bottomless Belly Button — Dash Shaw’s latest comic/brick. It’s got a very pretty design and it’s a fantastic story. Check out the review in the upcoming issue of Wizard!
KIEL LIKED:
Obscure manga – NYCC may be one of the few places where you can find little manga gems. Of particular interest at this show was the peek I was able to grab at the great-looking new offerings from Fanfare/Ponent Mon (although I was unable to stop and talk to the extremely enthusiastic publisher Stephen Robson) and the radical syringe-style pens Vertical had to promote Black Jack’s English release. I know, it’s probably unfair to call a comic by Osamu Tezuka “obscure” but I’m guessing most of the Naruto kids won’t be chomping at the bit for this release. Sucks to be them.
An actual kids day – So many conventions call Sunday “Kids Day” which is code for “The porn stars are leaving the autograph area early.” But NYCC had a ton of programming and events that the younger set would actually want to go to from “Avatar” and “Ben Ten” announcements to guests like Jeff Kinney and Mo Wilems. I even saw actual children on the floor. GASP!
Jim Campbell – He was a very nice man and seemed genuinely surprised that any outside company would be willing to put up the cash to publish future installments of Meathaus.
Plenty of indie panels – Sure, I didn’t get to go to any of them because of the job, but the con sure didn’t cut corners in allowing everything from general self-publishing panels to specific spotlights of talents and companies like Scott McCloud and Oni Press.
First Second sell outs – I’ve heard other people mention this, but it bear repeating how funny it was that the publisher’s PR officer Gina Gagliano underestimated demand for their books and had to continually run back to their offices for more copies to sell. Good thing her legs are so long.
Finding awesome things for less than five bucks – Like this volume of Metal Hurlant Presents: Like A River by Pierre Wazem. I’d never heard of the book until I bought it on the cheap, but it blows my mind that the predominantly sci-fi publisher ever put out a book that looks like it belongs in the Drawn & Quarterly catalogue.
The Icv2 Conference – I’m seriously going to have some extensive thoughts up on this in the next 24 hours, but for now I’ll just say that I had a good time and learned some interesting stuff.
New Papercutter – Dave, Rickey and I are all super pissed that we didn’t even know about this until after the show (I didn’t even see the Indie Spinner Rack booth it was on sale at), but a new issue of Papercutter is always an occasion for joy. I’m pumped to buy it at MoCCA if not sooner.
Seeing all my nerdy comic journalist friends – You know who you are.
A show without headaches that I blamed on the show – This was my first year at NYCC where I didn’t feel something went horribly awry in terms of physically getting from point A to point B on the floor. Way to grow!
So that was that…look for more of the promised stuff as well as some reviews this week. And since this is a con report:
April 21, 2008 on 9:14 pm | In Events
Damn. That was crazy.
We’re back in the Wizard offices after a looooooong weekend of being exhausted by the New York Comic-Con. I’m still wearing my same clothes as yesterday, Dave’s coming down with something, and I think Rickey Purdin may be dead (Note: no, he isn’t). Blogging during the show was somewhat hampered by our weekend laptops’ strange incongruity with both Javitz Center WiFi and WordPress and the fact that every time I tried to sit down and type I was dragged to the show floor and asked to make a total fool of myself on camera (I’m sorry, Mother).
In any event, we’ll have a complete rundown of what we saw and bought at the show for y’all tomorrow as well as my notes from the ICv2 Graphic Novel Conference. Between now and then, might I suggest you read the following links to see how things went?
- Tom Spurgeon has a list of 50 Observations about the weekend, and from the looks of it, only about 4 of them are goofs.
- Brian Heater has as good a general write-up of what the show was like as you’re likely to see.
- The Beat has her traditional pre-convention report convention report up, and if past posts are any indication we’ll probably see her full essay sometime after San Diego. 
April 20, 2008 on 12:58 pm | In Cartoonists, Events, Graphic Novelties
As I was saying earlier, I had the opportunity to hang out at the CBLDF sponsored RASL release party in Manhattan on Wednesday night, and although the supremely awesome Jeff Smith isn’t actually a guest at NYCC, the whole event felt like the calm before the storm/the nights before Christmas/the last chance to drink moderately all weekend long.
It also provided the first opportunity for my to try out Wizard Staff Photographer Dylan Brucie’s giant, super-powered Camera Monster 5000 which I was barely able to function with except to snap this shot of Smith, his wife and Cartoon Books publisher Vijaya and Toon Books Publisher Francoise Mouly. See?
Frank Miller was there too, but by the time I figured out how to properly try and take his picture, he mysteriously disappeared into the night, hat in hand. The Beat has some
photos of such things however, even though she wasn’t even there.
HOW DOES SHE DO IT?
P.S. - Yeah, I know it’s kinda a huge photo right now. I haven’t been able to post images in two days for some reason, and when this came through, I figured I’d go with it while I could. I’ll fix later. Promise.
April 17, 2008 on 9:01 pm | In Events
Hey crew.
I’m posting from inside the Javitz Center as a panel of bookstore types and retailers talk future buying trends in comics and graphic novels.
CAN YOU HANDLE THE EXCITEMENT?!?!??
Seriously, I’m chilling at the ICv2 Graphic Novel conference which is a damned interesting event for folks who wonder/worry about where comics will be going in the future be it book stores or web sites or into the hands of (gasp!) children. The conference marks the beginning of 2008’s New York Comic-Con (although things have been afoot for this show at least since last nights RASL release party…more on that later), and Dave and I are going to be all over this thing.
Look to the blog over the next few for some write-ups on the ICv2 goings ons, reviews of the books we find, photos of awesome indie types and general con goofs.
High fives all around!
- KP
April 14, 2008 on 3:14 pm | In Events, Graphic Novelties
In news that no one on earth will read here first, The Beat posts the nominees for the 2008 Will Eisner Awards.
In a shocker, Indie Jones was nominated in zero categories.
At first glance, it seems like a big year for some of Dave and I’s favorite books including Fred Chao’s Johnny Hiro, James Stokoe’s Wonton Soup and the Bá/Cloonan/Moon/Lolos/Grampa cabal’s super bitchin’ 5.
Also, props to Tim and Laura at Comic Foundry for crashing the list of established folks in the Journalism category.
Also, I still think that “Special Recognition” is a way stupider and less classy name for the category that used to be called “Talent Deserving of Wider Recognition.”
Also, I was joking about us getting nominated. Calm down.
- KP
Next Page »
