If it’s New York, there must be drinking, as Comic Foundry celebrates its first issue with A LAUNCH PARTY:

The first time is always special. Thus, we’re having a party to celebrate Comic Foundry’s August 22nd debut.

WHERE?
The Irish Rogue
356 W 44th St.

WHEN?
Wednesday, August 29th
6 PM – whenever

BONUS: We’ll be giving out a limited number of gift bags to the first however many people get there, containing a free issue of Comic Foundry, a comic book pulled directly from my or Tim Leong’s personal collection, and potentially other… mysteries.

Wednesday also happens to be ladies night at The Irish Rogue, which means 2 for 1 Cosmos for the fairer sex. We aim for female friendliness!

Via Colleen Coover the “Comics are not literature” panel from San Diego that was practically the only provocative one, as far as we can tell, is up. We haven’t listened yet, but it’s very high on our catch up list.

Image of Douglas Wolk, Dan Nadel, and Sara Ryan stolen from Coover. Who just got married this weekend to panelist on the above Paul Tobin so big congrats to the happy couple, and here’s a picture of that, taken by Paul Guinan.

While we were out of town, the McCloud clan returned from a year-long tour that saw them traveling this great nation of ours and visiting all 50 states:

Yes, we actually did it! Even though we still have one more event — the wrap party at Golden Apple in LA listed below — we’ve now successfully fullfilled the mission we set out to accomplish: Staging at least one public event in every state in America in a single year. We could get hit by a meteor tomorrow and it wouldn’t change a thing since California has already seen a full 11 events even before the wrap party.

Congrats to Scott, Ivy, Sky and Winter. We’ll miss following their travels via the McCloud Tour LJ, even as we’re secretly smiling over the fact that, just like Dorothy, they have returned to the very place they left from, and will be staying in Southern California. There is one last event — a wrap party at the Golden Apple this Saturday:

So, in conclusion, if you are anywhere even remotely close to Los Angeles we hope you’ll join us for our final, final, final event:

Saturday, September 1
Los Angeles, CA
Golden Apple
Tour Wrap Party!
4-7 pm

See you there!

Peter Bagge writes to reveal a series of public appearances for the rootin’ tootin’ tooner:

Big Doin’s for me starting next week! First up is:

DRAGON CON in Atlanta, GA, Aug 31st- Sept. 3rd. It’s hosted by 3 hotels: The Atlanta Hilton, Hyatt Regency, Marriott Marquis all in the heart of downtown, and all right next to each other. I’ll be signing and drawing all day in the “artists alley” area, so please stop by and say hi if you’re planning on attending.

On the following Wednesday, Sept. 5, REASON Magazine will be hosting a meet ‘n’ greet in my honor at their Washington DC offices. Blush! It’s invitation only, however, so if you’re in the DC area and are interested in attending please contact me here or at: peterbagge@earthlink.net about the details. Drinks and light snacks will be served, I’m told. Can’t beat that!

Finally on Saturday Sept. 8th, I’ll be taking part in a big art show featuring work by myself, JIM BLANCHARD and JOHNNY RYAN at the Star Clipper Comics Shop and Gallery in St. Louis, MO. The opening reception runs from 7 – 10 pm, and all three of us will be in attendance. Par-tay!
Starclipper is located at:
6392 Delmar Blvd. (In the Loop!)
St. Louis, MO
Phone: 314.725.9110

http://starclipper.popshoponline.com/

I hope to see some of you soon!

Here’s one of the subjects we really need to read up on: the legal tangle surrounding the return of Valiant comics. It seems the tangle has already caused one problem: Diamond will not be distributing the HARBINGER reprint due to legal concerns:

In the latest development in what has seemingly become a quagmire of intellectual property rights and legalities over the former Valiant characters took another twist this past week. The Harbinger: The Beginning hardcover, originally due to go on sale this Wednesday from Valiant Entertainment, LLC. collecting the original 1990’s Harbinger #0-7 along with an all-new “Origin of Harada” story by Harbinger creator Jim Shooter, has been cancelled in the Direct Market. Retailers who have called their Diamond Comics Distributors representatives to inquire about the availability of the hardcover have been told that the item was canceled Friday due to “legal reasons.”

More in the link.

Joining already announced guests Gilbert Hernandez, Rutu Modan and Bill Griffith, this year’s SPX has added three more intelligent and exciting guests: Matt Wagner, Jeff Smith and Kim Deitch. This is one of the best balanced guest lists we’ve seen at a small press show, and we’re definitely looking forward to hitting Bethesda October 12-13.

The Small Press Expo (SPX), the preeminent showcase for the exhibition of independent comic books, graphic novels and alternative political cartoons, is proud to add Matt Wagner, Jeff Smith and Kim Deitch to the roster of guests for SPX 2007. This years SPX will be held October 12 and October 13 at The North Bethesda Marriott Convention Center in Bethesda, Maryland.

Matt Wagner is one of the pioneers of indie comics with his original creation of “Grendel”, which celebrates its 25th Anniversary this year. Matt also created, wrote and drew “Mage”, and has worked on a number of projects for both DC and Vertigo. His next installment of the Grendel saga, “Behold The Devil” is due to be released this November from Dark Horse.

Jeff Smith, is the creator of the celebrated epic “Bone”, which has over a half million copies in print and is now available in Italian, Spanish, German and many other foreign languages. Jeff recently completed his critically acclaimed reworking of the Golden Age hero Captain Marvel, “Shazaam! The Monster Society of Evil” for DC Comics. He has recently been named by Fantagraphics as the art designer in charge of the upcoming reprints of Walt Kelly’s classic, “Pogo”.

Kim Deitch will be at SPX to promote his well received latest graphic novel, “Alias The Cat” from Pantheon Books. Kim is one of the original “underground” cartoonists who redefined comics in the 1960’s and has also worked in the field of animation.

These creators are in addition to Bill Griffith, Gilbert Hernandez and Rutu Modan who were previously announced as guests at this years SPX.

Additional guests will be added over the next few weeks, please stay tuned for those announcements.

For further information on the artists or to request an interview, please contact Warren Bernard at webernard@spxpo.com.

But while we’re at it, IGN has an exclusive preview of THE NIGHTMARE FACTORY, a collection of horror stories by Thomas Ligotti adapted by some of comics finest. As the editor of this book, I’m as proud as a peacock of it, and once you certify that you are old enough to look, I think you’ll agree. Left, a page from “Dr. Locrian’s Asylum” by Joe Harris and Ted McKeever.

We’re back at Stately Beat Manor, but everyone is taking it slow for the last week of summer, and so will we. In the mean time we’re catching up on our reading, taking the pulse of the people, and gearing up for exciting announcements, or at least droll japery.

It is the 90th anniversary of Jack Kirby’s birth.
Mark Evanier remembers

Jack Kirby would have been 90 years old today.

I know I write too much about Jack but that’s because people are always asking me about him. And as more time passes on this planet without him, more people ask. I don’t know how many times I’ve heard fans of his work regret that they didn’t get to meet him. His work enriched their lives in some way and they assume, probably correctly, that a personal encounter would have been even more enriching. At the very least, they could have told him what his unbounded creativity meant to them, professionally and/or personally.

So does Tom Spurgeon.

And the New York Times:

He created a new grammar of storytelling and a cinematic style of motion. Once-wooden characters cascaded from one frame to another — or even from page to page — threatening to fall right out of the book into the reader’s lap. The force of punches thrown was visibly and explosively evident. Even at rest, a Kirby character pulsed with tension and energy in a way that makes movie versions of the same characters seem static by comparison.

The frenetic action and the rooftop fighting so common on the superhero set did not just materialize out of nowhere. Mr. Kirby remembered much of it from his Depression-era youth on New York’s Lower East Side, where, he once told an interviewer, the incessant fights among rival gangs were often staged up and down fire escapes and during running battles across tenement rooftops.

More links at Blog@

by Paul O’Brien

The era of big events continues apace, as Marvel’s WORLD WAR HULK squares off against DC’s COUNTDOWN. And while WWH isn’t a sales juggernaut on quite the same scale as CIVIL WAR, it’s comfortably enough for Marvel to once again flatten DC in the North American direct market. The gap is narrower than last month, but Marvel still take the lead by 42% to 30% in dollar share, and 48% to 32% in unit share.

Marvel’s biggest new launch of the month was J Michael Straczynski and Olivier Coipel’s THOR, which returns from a period in limbo with vastly increased sales. Other major events include the X-books’ “Endangered Species” crossover; the debut of Matt Fraction and Barry Kitson’s ORDER; the start of the three ANNIHILATION: CONQUEST tie-in miniseries; and the interbrand promotional exercise you’ve all been waiting for, NEW AVENGERS/TRANSFORMERS.

Thanks as always to Milton Griepp and ICV2 for permission to use their figures for these calculations.

1.  THOR
07/01  Thor #39 -  39,454
07/02  Thor #51 -  37,087
07/03  Thor #66 -  33,557
07/04  Thor #82 -  36,094
=====
07/07  Thor #1  - 165,325
                   3 year  (+358.0%)
                   4 year  (+392.7%)

This may be a crossover-driven year, but July’s number one title has nothing to do with any of that. THOR has been in limbo since October 2004, when the previous series ended on sales of 49,000. However, that was due to a last-minute surge of interest, and the book had previously been selling in the 30K range. The lengthy delay in relaunching the title seems to have been caused as much by difficulties in lining up a creative team as by deliberate planning, but it’s certainly paid dividends in building up anticipation for a character who had previously been languishing somewhat.

There’s a variant cover on this issue, of course, but that’s largely beside the point. I had this down as a surefire top ten book, and a probable top five, but I’m surprised to see it doing quite as well as this. A very promising start.

(more…)

§ Toronto Fan Expo link round-up at Sequential.

§ Round-up of cupcakes in comics courtesy Rachel Kramer Bussel:

§ Jon Spencer Geek explosion interview at Daily Cross Hatch. BTW, Spencer’s wife, if we recall, is Boss Hog’s Christina.

What are you reading [comic-wise, naturally]? The Pushman & Other Stories by Yoshihiro Tatsumi, Silverfish by David Lapham, B.P.R.D., Fear Agent, Batman, Jeff Smith’s Shazam, The Pride by Brian K. Vaughan, Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi, and anything by Sfar and/or Trondheim.

Venerable Victorian postcard subject serves as setting for POSTCARDS signing:

Ventnor, NJ writer Chris Stevens and Brooklyn, NY artist Gia-Bao Tran will be signing copies of Postcards: True Stories That Never Happened (Villard Books; On-Sale Now), at Lucy the Margate Elephant historical landmark on August 29, 2007. Stevens and Tran are the creators of “Blue,” the lead story of the graphic novel anthology, which pays homage to the innocent age of Atlantic City.

“Blue” is the story of an Atlantic City native returning home and trying to find a connection with his grandmother, a woman who’s not as sharp as she used to be. An image of Lucy on a postcard becomes their means of escape into the landmarks (and relationships) of their past. Creators Stevens and Tran will be signing copies of Postcards: True Stories That Never Happened at the building that inspired it all—Lucy the Margate Elephant.

Where: Lucy the Margate Elephant
9200 Atlantic Avenue
Margate, NJ 08402
When: Wednesday, August 29th
2 – 4PM

Harvey Pekar’s appearance on No Reservations aired last night but we’re sure you can catch it in reruns.

John Green, Disney Adventures freelancer recounts the end of the magazine
— and by the way folks, he’s now looking for work and anyone who doesn’t hire him is stupid.

I can’t say it’s completely unexpected. When I started at the magazine almost ten years ago, I recall a big meeting about the fate of the magazine within my first few weeks. Basically, the decision seemed to be that the need for Disney to have a kids magazine out there was greater than the need for Disney to be making lots of money off said kids magazine. It’s subscription rate was great, and always has been, but ad sales have been on a steady decline. For a long time no one was really worried about that, though (other than of course people in the ad sales department.) So long as kids were still buying the magazine (or, parents buying their kids the magazine), Disney was going to make it for them. And if the magazine was in any real danger, the impression everyone got was that it would be reformatted, restructured, phased out, phased in, or something. At worst, I expected a “This is your last year” kind of scenario, so the “That’s it, finish what you’re doing and go home” scenario that has happened came as a bit of a shock.

Related: Drew Weing on his strip WULF AND MERL.

We’re back online but still off the grid. Full service resumes tomorrow.

All us nerds know plenty of these viral websites tied into things like the new Batman movie or LOST. Now, there’s actually one tied into a good old-fashioned comic.

Last week, news about a website tied into the most recent issue of CHECKMATE began circulating on various comic book forums. In the story, the new head of security (CASTELLAN) at the headquarters of the espionage organization set up a sophisticated computer system to defend their castle. We need that he (former supervillain CARL DRAPER) has set up a website into which he is linked cybernetically.

Well, as it turns out, that website actually exists. Once you get past the password protection on the site, the user is hooked into a Wiki created by Draper full of his notes about Checkmate, their members and a load of DCU heroes and villains.

On the Comic Bloc forums, the issue’s co-writer Eric Trautmann, was fairly coy about the website’s creation and whether he had anything to do with its creation.

Regardless of who made it, it is a great way for a DCU nerd to kill a couple hours on the computer, looking up stuff about The Calculator or Count Vertigo.

Posted by Mark Coale

The Beat has been unavoidably detained in a remote location, and will return later in the day.

Ad Age reports that after 17 years, Disney has cancelled Disney Adventures magazine, with the November issue the last one.

Disney Publishing attributed its decision to an effort to better focus resources and maximize long-term growth potential through new magazine and book initiatives.

The demise of Disney Adventures, which was introduced for tweens in 1990, closely follows the end of fellow child soldier Nick Jr., which MTV Networks closed with the April issue. It isn’t clear that there’s any particular exodus of children from magazines, but proliferating competition and rising costs are knocking out big magazines at a fairly regular clip these days; adults for their part have lost Premiere, Jane, Life and Child so far this year.

While DA still had a healthy circ of over 1 million, ad pages were down — a common complaint among magazines — and that sealed its fate.

DA was of course, The Beat’s old stomping ground for many years, and this announcement fills us with a bittersweet feeling. With its vast circulation, and stand alone comics spin-offs, “Comic Zone” this was one of the lone lights for children’s comics during the darkest days of the comics industry, and over the years published such cartoonists as Jeff Smith, Evan Dorkin, Art Adams, Christine Norrie, Rick Geary and many others. Selling ads was always a challenge however, and the slowly eroding ad market for magazines couldn’t have helped.

But it was fun while it lasted, creating the comics adventures of TailSpin, Rescue Rangers, Toy Story, Timon & Pumbaa, Pirates of the Caribbean and many others. The “DA Kids” grew up to read and buy comics and helped show that comics weren’t just for grown ups after-all.

PR:

In memory of Mike Wieringo, who passed away Aug. 12, Project: Rooftop has announced an open call for redesigns of Bart Allen (Impulse/Kid Flash/The Flash), the character created in 1994 by Wieringo and Mark Waid.

Submissions will be accepted through Sunday, with the best entries showcased during a special “Wieringo Week,” which also will feature some of the best costume work from Wieringo’s career.

“Mike had a timeless appreciation for these awesome characters and enjoyed the heck out of online costuming/drawing events, so I think he’d really dig this kind of fun being held in his honor,” writes Project: Rooftop founder Dean Trippe. “Whether you consider yourself a friend, fan, or both, come join us in remembering Mike Wieringo, whose incredible artwork and unfailing kindness continue to serve as a source of unending inspiration and joy.”

For full details, visit the Project: Rooftop website at www.projectrooftop.com.

Sequential weighs in with a very lengthy interview with Kevin Boyd, whose move from the Paradise comicon to the Toronto FanExpo has written a new chapter in the long running – but now relatively dormant- fued between the two shows:

In the relatively small world of Toronto comics fandom it is a story of almost Biblical proportions: Kevin Boyd, long-time promoter of the Paradise Toronto Comicon, has left Paradise for arch-rival, Hobbystar Promotions, owner of the Toronto FanExpo.

Boyd, along with Paradise Comics owner Peter Dixon, had been co-promoter of the Paradise conventions since 2002. He announced his move to Hobbystar last month through several online venues.

Boyd’s move came as a surprise to many, given the recent acrimony between Hobbystar and Paradise. Boyd was an active player in these disputes, even going so far as accusing Hobbystar of “aggressive counter-programming tactics” in 2006.

Boyd’s move was being talked about at San Diego, and the piece has tons of background info:

“The two sides met many times last fall to try to resolve something, and while no agreement was reached, we’ve been trying to get along and the conflict has pretty much disappeared and the Paradise Comicon had this year to stand or fall on it’s own without interference. The Stop Hobbystar people closed the blog up in the spring, feeling it had served its purpose. They’ve also worked out their concerns with Hobbystar and will be at the show in August. Most of the industry didn’t like the conflict, but remained neutral in their actions as they saw merit in supporting both.”