DON’T MISS

This once in a

lifetime opportunity

to see

The Beat

Douglas Wolk

Aaron McQuade & Evie Nagy

Thursday, Oct. 1, 7 p.m. 2009
The Comics Press: a panel discussion
Admission: $5 | Free for MoCCA Members

MoCCA invite you to join us for a conversation about the comics press. What is the role of comic reportage today? What gets covered and why? Find out at this discussion with comics critics and reporters Heidi MacDonald, Aaron McQuade and Evie Nagy and Douglas Wolk and find out the answers.

Heidi MacDonald has edited award-winning comics for Disney, Warner Bros., and Fox. She is currently the editor and main writer for The Beat, a blog covering comics as they relate to pop culture. It was named one of the “100 Greatest Websites” by Entertainment Weekly.

Aaron McQuade and Evie Nagy are husband and wife co-hosts of the weekly podcast and pseudo-awards show Awesomed By Comics. In addition to writing about comics for Publishers Weekly and other publications, Evie is a music journalist and editor at Billboard Magazine; Aaron can be heard hourly as a radio news anchor and producer on Sirius XM.

Douglas Wolk writes about comics for the New York Times, Publishers Weekly, the Washington Post, the Believer and elsewhere. He’s the author of the Eisner- and Harvey-winning “Reading Comics,” as well as “Live at the Apollo.” He lives in Portland, Oregon.

THE SPIRIT OF INDIE COMICS as an avid fan struggles to keep a copy of KRAMERS ERGOT upright for reading purposes

———————————-
You can read my “official” report on SPX at PW Comics Week, but there were some more rambly thoughts I wanted to share. I think Brian Heater (one of my traveling companions and roommates for the trip) nailed something very important in his writeup:

Remember the old location? It was great, so much closer to downtown. The restaurants were much better—and closer—than those around the North Bethesda Marriott Convention Center. Remember when the show was held on Friday and Saturday, so everyone could play softball and picnic on Sunday?

I don’t. I only began driving down to the Small Press Expo three years ago—not quite enough time, I think, to have developed a glimmering sense of nostalgia for those long gone good old days—you know, when the show actually meant something. Three years, however, is certainly long enough to have fallen in love with SPX, and it’s more than enough time to have designated the early autumn weekend as three of my favorite days of the year.

This is, ironically echoed in the report by ANOTHER one of my travellng companion, Josh Neufeld:

But there were so many ol’ pals missing: Dean Haspiel, Nick Bertozzi, Alex Robinson, Tony Consiglio, David Lasky, Mike Dawson, Chris Radtke, Joan Reilly, Jason Little, Gabrielle Bell, Jon Lewis, and Karen Sneider, just off the top of my head. I guess what with book deals, kids, and of course the continuing allure of MoCCA, the drive down to D.C. is losing its appeal for those folks. (I have to confess I stayed away from SPX the last few years because I didn’t have anything new to hawk until this year.)

However, despite my sadness at missing so many folks, I have to admit that SPX is alive and well! The great funky/DIY/artsy tradition is still very much in evidence, and the comix tribe is rejuvenated with lots of new blood. That included my tablemates this year, fresh-faced 2009 Xeric winners J.T. Yost and Sophia Wiedeman. I was under strict luggage (and economic) constraints, so I only picked up a few things, but everywhere I looked there were young cartoonists offering tempting delights. I couldn’t resist some purchases, of course, and came away with Yost’s Old Man Winter, Wiederman’s The Deformity, Jeffrey Brown’s Funny Misshapen Body, Liz Baillie’s My Brain Hurts, Picture Box’s crazy oversize Real Deal #1, and a decrepit Robin T-shirt by fellow SPX returning veteran Tom Galambos.

Between these two opposite yet complimentary views we have some idea of the overall purpose of SPX: as befits the “SMALL” press, it’s a place for creators to emerge, grow, find an audience and, hopefully, evolve, just like the show.

In its 15 years SPX has evolved from the showcase for drawing board warriors like Dave SIm, Jeff Smith, Batton Lash, David Lapham and Colleen Doran, people committed to the comics periodical format and getting their books out on a very regular basis and building a parallel audience to the superhero mainstream. When SPX began, the ascendance of the graphic novel was just an ideal, not something that was expected to occur.

The generation Neufeld is missing is far more indy in its origins — they’re all more Clowes-Warian in their sensibilities and aspirations — and most of them flirted, at least at one point, with the periodical. (Other folks in this generation: Matt Madden and Jessica Abel, Dylan Horrocks, Sam Henderson, Tom Hart, Steven Weissman, Kochalka, Brown, et al.) Aside from getting older and starting families, this generation has become far more established in the publishing world — most of them have had book deals at one points, and — in varying degrees — achieved the dream of being a professional cartoonist. (Reminder: when these folks came to SPX, they used the internet for email and not much else back then.)

SPX (and MoCCA, but I haven’t been to APE or TCAF so I can’t say what the sitch is there) is now the province of the very young and aspirational, and their work is even more personal. As CCS, SVA, MCAD, SCAD, and other art schools turn out class after class of highly competent and well-informed art students, it’s become a bit more of a pageant, in some ways. Young cartoonists get their Xeric, put out a perfect book, spend a season or two as the deb of the year and then…some will go on, some will just become memories in the shoe box.

Technorati Tags: huge massive posts, SPX

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Have you ever wanted to just ditch it all and go on tour for a few weeks? If adult responsibilities are preventing you fro doing just this, perhaps The Voyages of The Grimace, the tale of MK Reed, Liz Baillie and Ken Dahl in a car for a few weeks, will be a welcome (or warning) substitute.

§ Vice Magazine does Where The Wild Things Are, and a modern legend is born. Above, Ben Jones. (Link Via STC.)

§ Rick Marshall gets Robert Kirkman to spill a bit on Frank Darabont’s planned WALKING DEAD TV series. :

MTV: How much will you be involved in shaping the series on AMC?

KIRKMAN: I’m going to be an executive producer on the show, so I’ll have my hands all over the thing. But it’s important to me that I’m only involved in the show as much my comic book career will allow. I’m excited that there is a television show, and I’m excited that Darabont is involved—and one of the big reasons for that is that I trust him. I don’t need to look over his shoulder.

Frank understands the material 100 percent. It’s always been shocking to me, doing Hollywood meetings over the years, just how easy it is for someone to come in to the meeting and say something like, “We want the zombies to have super powers.” Knowing that, I’m really excited about it, because from my discussions with Frank, he likes the right things about “Walking Dead.”

§ Robert Langdon Variety discovers that a sinister secret cabal is controlling what we watch and talk about in a searing expose they call “Internet influences film audiences”.

§ Brigid Alverson rounds up NYAF reports and news, including the absence of Yen Press — they were at a sales conference.

§ Retailer Steve Bennett faces The World That’s Coming Is Coming For You:

Oh, I can definitely see comic books being published in print form fifty years from now, in the same way pulp magazines are still being published, facsimile reprints and pastiches with print runs in the hundreds sold to a small but devoted fan base. And frankly the prospect doesn’t horrify me the way it probably should, maybe because it seems like somebody has been predicting the imminent demise of comic books since 1974. As a comic book guy of a certain age I’ve had plenty of time to prepare.

§ Is this is what’s meant by “Critical discourse”? Rich Johnston compares Mickey Mouse and Herogasm and find intertwined themes and allusions.

Possibly in deference to its review stablemate, Herogasm is a much more subdued than in previous episodes. There are no sex scenes at all, let alone orgies. This is a pause, possibly waiting for something to explode in the next issue. Mickey & Friends also has no sex scenes, though Donald does jump into Goofy’s pocket briefly in quite a suggestive fashion. There are C-bombs in both issues however, though in Mickey & Friends, that C stands for crystal. And what a lot of fuss this missing crystal causes!

§ This one is a few days old but it is worth repeating. Blogger Okazu finds that The New York Times does not treat manga seriously, or at least not as seriously as they treat such things as Iran’s growing nuclear capabilities, real estate prices in Turtle Bay, and one couple’s battle to find a greener way to wash baby bottles:

This first one is for an American GN:

WALKING DEAD, VOL. 1, by Robert Kirkman and Tony Moore. (Image Comics, $14.99.) The gripping story of the human survivors in a world overrun by zombies continues.

This one is for a manga:

YOTSUBA&!, VOL. 6, by Kiyohiko Azuma. (Yen Press, $10.99.) This series follows Yotsuba, a young girl learning about the world. In this chapter, she recycles, gets a bike and discovers sticky notes. Really.

Yotsuba&! has won awards around the world, and is a truly delightful book about a quirky kid and her worldview. Walking Dead is the millionth book about zombies. Really.

We’d like to endorse this notion. The NYT’s manga descriptions seem particularly glib and condescending. It’s not like there aren’t plenty of smart people who read manga — perhaps one of them should be employed for the task. God knows there are lots of unemployed journos out there!

§ Chris Butcher reminds is that it’s the last day to pre-order Key Moments from the History of Comics at Comics212.

§ SPX! People won’t shut up about it! Good quotes in the jump.
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According to SPX director Karon Flage, it wasn’t just your imagination: there WERE more people at SPX this year. She writes:

Paid admissions were 1772 which is a nice increase of 19% over last year.  Add to that about 150 free admissions from flyers and coupons we handed out, 500 exhibitors and 150 in staff, volunteers, retailers and press we end up with about 2600 people through the doors.

COMICS ARE STRONG.

UPDATE: MK Reed sent us a link to the Nerdlinger Award Winners. We were wary of just reporting the winners since the categories are almost the best part, such as “Jen Vaughn, winner of the Fourth Annual Montgomery Burns Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Field of Excellence.

Technorati Tags: SPX

Is there a living cartoonist besides Robert Crumb who could hold a press conference just about a comic book? For two hours? And sit in front of a picture of God and look great doing it? Crumb recently faced questions in Paris about GENESIS, his towering interpretation of the first book of the Bible:

The 66-year-old hero of underground comics who wowed the 1960s with “Fritz The Cat” and “Mr Natural”, said he took up the challenge 40 years later of creating another white-haired long-bearded figure “to illuminate the text of Genesis by illustrating every single thing that’s in there.”

“It hasn’t been done before I think,” he said. “There are hidden stories that are very strong.”

The lanky gray-haired Crumb, in grey suit and waistcoat for the two-hour media conference, poked fun at the Almighty hero of the book but said he had reneged his Roman Catholic upbringing to become a gnostic “on a spiritual quest”.

Crumb will be doing some events in conjunction with the book’s release. Does anyone have the schedule?

Speaking of GENESIS, at SPX, we had a fun conversation with Carol Tyler and Douglas Wolk in which we imagined what it would be like if EVERY book of the Bible got a comics adaptation. Can you imagine who would do what book? Tyler said she’s been told she’s perfect for Ruth, and suggested Justin Green for one of the Gospels. We like Jim Woodring for Ezekiel and Todd McFarlane for Revelations. Who do YOU think should draw what book of the Bible?

UPDATE: Douglas has his own suggestions at Comics Alliance:

This weekend, at SPX, Carol Tyler mentioned that someone had suggested she should draw the book of Ruth; Chester Brown has already done Mark and part of Matthew. Anyone want to suggest cartoonists particularly suited to other books of the Bible? Joe Matt on Job, anyone? P. Craig Russell’s Song of Solomon?

It’s been an astonishing year in graphic novels, but…we’re not done yet. Comicmix has the goods on what may be the most amazing book of the year, LOVERBOY, by Dondi creator Irwin Hasen.

Loverboy is the risqué, romantic escapade story of a short bachelor, who adores tall, women. The double-breasted suit wearing man-about-town seeks psychiatric insight to his tendencies in this humorous new graphic novel by award winning Dondi cartoonist, Irwin Hasen. Also includes a major biography of the noted cartoonist, and is filled throughout with Hasen’s famous humor.

Hasen is 91, so…he must have a good memory.

Hm, Let’s see, FMB is in Blighty for BICS*, so maybe it’s time to sneak a peak at some…old friends.

Whatever happened to dear, dear Gerard Butler, we hear you asking? Well, aside from being linked to all kinds of Hollywood hotties, and scuffling with seniors at the dog park, he’s also starring in about seventeen movies this year.

The latest is called LAW ABIDING CITIZEN, and if the above still is to be believed, it is a welcome return to, er, form, even if he does need to buy a belt. It’s also a change of pace, he told Geoff Boucher, as he’s playing a bad guy.

He’s a crazed vigilante bent on taking down the entire legal system.

Yeah, baby! Tear it down! He’s also hosting Saturday Night Live in a few weeks. Odds of a joke involving Spartans: 3-1.

And what of Clive Owen? It seems he’s talking SIN CITY 2. It might be starting production next year! Not that old saw again!

“I’m hearing it might be next year,” Owen told MTV News. “I heard that from a very good source… recently.”

However, Owen wouldn’t reveal where he heard the news (“Maybe one of them,” he grinned, when asked if it was Miller or Rodriguez), and he didn’t let fans’ hopes get too carried away. According to the actor, he hasn’t read a script for the film yet.

More astonishingly, Clive was also recently spotted at FMB’s favorite bar on earth, Nevada Smiths, talking to the New Yorker. And it happened to be the one day FMB wasn’t there!!!

It was four-fifteen on a Tuesday. Owen was drinking a rum-and-coke, and he wore a black suit and a white cotton shirt, open at the collar. On the screen, his neck seems a little thick—a fullback’s physique—but in person he resembles a lean, eager midfielder.

A midfielder? Like Ashley Young?**

BUT WAIT! THERE’S MORE! Both Clive and Gerard were recently spotted in the same room talking to Bono and Jon Bon Jovi!!! What could they have talked about? Maybe something like this: “I miss Heidi’s posts.” “Aye, me too.”

FINALLY: These girls have all the proof you need that Clive and Gerard are just about the SAME PERSON.

It took all our will power not to show the side-by-side comparison of DDGB and CO snogging Angelina Jolie, but for that….you must click the link.

This concludes our broadcast day.

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Did we post the John Porcellino tour dates before? Twice is better than never. He IS coming to a store near you.

Tues. Sept. 29, 2009; 7-9 PM – Brooklyn, NY
Desert Island
540 Metropolitan Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11211
(718) 388-5087
www.desertislandbrooklyn.com

Weds. Sept. 30, 2009; 7PM – Somerville, MA
Hub Comics
19 Bow Street, Somerville, MA 02143
(617) 718-0987
www.hubcomics.com

Tues. Oct. 6, 2009; 7PM – Montreal QC
Librairie Drawn & Quarterly,
211 Rue Bernard Ouest, Montreal, QC H2T 2K5
(514) 279-2221
www.drawnandquarterly.com/211bernard

Weds. Oct. 7, 2009; 7 PM – Toronto, ON
The Beguiling
601 Markham Street, Toronto, ON, M6G 2L7
(416) 533-9168
www.beguiling.com

Fri. Oct. 9, 2009; 7-9 PM – Ann Arbor MI
Vault of Midnight
219 S Main St., Ann Arbor, MI 48104
(734) 998-1413
www.vaultofmidnight.com
w/ Patrick Porter (acoustic music)

Sat. Oct. 10, 2009; Noon-2 PM – Dearborn MI
Green Brain
13210 Michigan Ave., Dearborn, MI 48126
(313) 582-9444
www.greenbrain.biz

Sat. Oct. 10, 2009; 7 PM – Cleveland OH
Visible Voice
1023 Kenilworth, Cleveland, OH 44113
(216) 961-0084
www.visiblevoicebooks.com
w/ Patrick Porter (acoustic music)

Mon. Oct. 12, 2009; 7PM – Columbus OH
Wholly Craft
3169 N. High St., Columbus, OH 43202
(614) 447-3445
www.whollycraft.net
w/ Patrick Porter (acoustic music)

Tues. Oct. 13, 2009; 6-9 PM – Bloomington IN
Boxcar Books
408 E. 6th St. Bloomington, IN 47408
(812) 339-8710
www.boxcarbooks.org
w/ Patrick Porter (acoustic music)

Weds. Oct. 14, 2009; 5-7 PM – St. Louis MO
Star Clipper
6392 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, MO 63130
Phone: 314.725.9110
www.starclipper.com
w/ Patrick Porter (acoustic music)

Fri. Oct. 16, 2009; 7PM – Chicago IL
Quimby’s
1854 W. North Ave., Chicago, IL 60622
(773) 342-0910
www.quimbys.com
w/ Patrick Porter (acoustic music)

Tues. Oct. 20, 2009; 12:15 PM – Palatine IL
Harper College
Building I, Rm. 115
1200 W. Algonquin Rd, Palatine, IL 60067
(847) 925-6000 x2389
www.harpercollege.edu
Open to the Public!

Thurs. Oct 22, 2009; 7 PM – Madison WI
Rainbow Bookstore Cooperative
426 W. Gilman Street, Madison, WI 53703
(608)257-6050
www.rainbowbookstore.org
w/ Patrick Porter (acoustic music)

Fri. Oct. 23, 2009; 7PM – Iowa City IA
White Rabbit
109 S Linn St., Iowa City, IA 52240-1803
(319) 358-9557
www.whiterabbitgallery.com
w/ Patrick Porter (acoustic music)

Sat. Oct. 24, 2009; 5-7 PM – Minneapolis MN
Big Brain Comics (w/ Reception following at West Bank Social Club?)
1027 Washington Ave South, Minneapolis, MN 55415
(612) 338-4390
www.bigbraincomics.com
w/ Patrick Porter (acoustic music), and Zak Sally

Fri. Oct. 30, 2009; 6-9 PM – Lawrence KS
Wonder Fair
803 Massachusetts St, Lawrence KS 66044
(406) 360-5875
www.wonderfair.com
w/ Patrick Porter (acoustic music)

Technorati Tags: puppy

We’re just stealing this from Tim Hodler at Comics Comics, via a Village Voice interview with French director Alain Resnais because it is three-way cool.

“We decided that the light should be emotional rather than realistic,” says [Alain] Resnais, citing a source of inspiration in one of his beloved comic-strip illustrators, Terry and the Pirates creator Milton Caniff. “At a time when comic strips were very disparaged as an art form, I was very happy to learn that Orson Welles and Milton Caniff had a correspondence in which they said that each was influenced by the other. And Orson Welles was not an imbecile!”

No sooner has Rich Johnston noted that much-loved and admired Amanda Conner was the first woman to make Wizard Magazine Top 10 artists list—to much huzzahing and rejoicing—than it was noted, via CB Cebulski’s Twitter, that the SAME issue of Wizard contained THIS:

Boobs!

Did you know that “a boob” means:

1 : a stupid awkward person : simpleton
2 : boor, philistine

So, perhaps the Wizard staff was engaging in a rare moment of self reflection?? Let’s all help them in their admirable goal of self-examination and give them some more feedback. A “trust” exercise, if you will.

This is far from a complete link dump, it’s more just things that struck our fancy,

¶ The Critics Panel at SPX was much discussed. You can either read about it, in Johanna Draper Carlson’s precís

OR

you can LISTEN to it at Sean T. Collins‘ recording! An age of wonders!

¶ Leah’s Stuff has the above marvelous picture, which we have ganked, in addition to a charming account of her activities, because it was THAT kind of show. Also: Colleen Venable, must you be so photogenic?

¶ Soo Lee has some piccies.

¶ Forces of geek shares an interesting notion for the end of year Skip Week:

One thing I did at his show, which is very different than anything I had done before, was visit each and every table, and try to make contact with each and every creator, and hand them a flier and give them a pitch for an event called “Indy Comic Book Week.” The ICBW is the brainstorm of Vinh-Luan Luu, who realized that on December 30, 2009, the Wednesday after Christmas, Diamond Comics Distribution, in an effort to cut costs and save money, will not be shipping any new product to any of the thousands of stores world wide that depend on them for delivery. For one week, when you walk into a comic book store, with a pocket full of holiday cash and gift cards saying to your friendly comic book store proprietor, ‘What’s new?” the answer will be, “Nothing,” unless the forces of the indy comic book world can organize to fill the shelves of receptive retailers with new product.

¶ David Welsh is a must read. David very kindly does not mention meeting The Beat, because at the moment he said “Hi”, we a) had to pee REALLY, REALLY BAD, and b) were so hungry that we were completely lightheaded and didn’t even know who he was. Apologies to David, who is indispensable.

¶ The alert nerd recap

¶ Robin Ha’s exciting news

¶ Comicsgirl had a swell time.

¶ Initially, we were very amused by the writeup by Jack at Not For You Studios

There was a surprising amount of handlebar moustaches amongst the very youthful happy youth of the very young. Moustache wax must’ve been on sale, verily, or demons possessed them all. The three-quarter hat is the very height of indie fashion, as it turns out. We have all very much seen Newsies, as it turns out. It was a brisk very Saturday on this very fateful very-berry-berry Crunchberries. Mmm. Shit, man, it, like, rained hard, dude.

And then we read what he had to say about the moderator of the Jeffrey Brown panel:

It was also discovered, as well, that Jack finds the moderator for this panel to be a dull, dull woman with dull, dull questions.

Well now, smarty pants, the audience had many chances to speak up, so you could put us all to shame, so swagger it, my cock-a-whoop.

That said a) it is still a funny writeup and b) having moderated and appeared on something like 536 panels this year, we really should write up tips and tricks (or learn some) one of these days.

Technorati Tags: women with felt beards, SPX

The number of Chinese people eating there was a testament to its quality and the number of cartoonists eating there was a testament to its affordability.

Ben Towle on the crowd at the Fortune Star Buffet in Rockville, MD, during SPX.

§ Oh Shaenon, why can’t I be you? The Patrick Swayze Manga Recommendation Guide.

§ Robot 6 calls this post “The comic Chris Ware doesn’t want you to see“, and it is pretty hard to improve upon that description. What is the secret of…FLOYD FARLAND???

§ Geoff Boucher looks at Jack Kirby, the abandoned hero of Marvel’s grand Hollywood adventure:

The satisfaction was fleeting. The artist may be reverently referred to as “King” Kirby by the pop scholars and younger artists who celebrate his genre-defining work but Kirby is, in some ways, an overlooked figure in the broader view of American culture. He didn’t live to see his creations fly across the movie screen over the last decade and his four children made nothing from those lucrative films, although they are now pursuing legal action to claim some of the future Hollywood wealth. “There is,” daughter Lisa Kirby says, “a bittersweet legacy to my father’s work.”

§ Jog looks at Krusty’s Ergot.

§ Marc-Oliver continues his look at Steve Gerber and makes us think that OMEGA THE UNKNOWN was WATCHMEN before WATCHMEN was WATCHMEN.

§ Movie stuff! Steven Zeitchik points out that animated movies make lots of money these days and suggests it may have some consequences:

§ Remember when? Marc Sobel looks back at the 1999 SPX anthology and wonders where rea they now?

1. The Jay and Silent Bob cover by Matt Wagner is a reminder of just how big a deal Kevin Smith once was to comics fans, and how much that has changed in the subsequent decade. I don’t think most comics fans have had any real kind of emotional investment in Smith’s movies since Chasing Amy, and Smith’s few forays into writing comics have either been mired by ridiculous delays or simply underwhelming stories.

§ An oldie but a goodie we came across during surfing: 22 unflattering moments from autobiographical comics

The woman that inspired the Beatles song “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” passed away at the age of 46 from Lupus.

From the WaPo obit:
…

Mrs. Vodden’s connection to the Beatles dates to her childhood friendship with schoolmate Julian Lennon, John Lennon’s son.

Julian Lennon, then 4 years old, came home from school one day with a drawing, showed it to his father and said it was “Lucy in the sky with diamonds.”

We alluded a few weeks ago to KingCon, yet another new convention on the schedule, this one spotlighting BROOKLYN. The announced dates are November 7-8 and the venue is the Brooklyn Lyceum. According to a new press release, organizers hope to spotlight comics, animation, and so on. Held barely a month after the Big Apple Con, KingCon arrives in the midst of an already busy convention schedule! Full PR below:

KingConBrooklyn.com
227 4th Ave in Park Slope, Brooklyn, NY 11215 R train at Union St.
718.857.4816 BrooklynLyceum.com

Brooklyn, New York has long been home to some of the Comic medium’s greatest talent, yet the borough has never had a comic convention to call its own. That is all about to change. On November 7th and 8th, 2009, the Brooklyn Lyceum will host KingCon: A Brooklyn Comic and Animation Convention. Featuring dozens of the borough’s most talented independent artists, writers, animators and publishers, KingCon will include exhibitors, vendors, panelists and signers. Some featured guests will be Act-I-Vate’s Dean Haspiel, Northlanders’ Brian Wood, celebrated illustrator Molly Crabapple, Matt Manning, Bob Greenberger and many others. KingCon will also boast a host of contests and activities, and offer attendees the opportunity to interact with celebrities from the world of comics, film, television and sports.

Brooklyn has long lacked a forum for this wealth of talent to convene. After birthing the Lyceum’s ongoing series of groundbreaking events (the popular Craft Market series and NYC Zine Fest ‘09), Lyceum festival organizer and programmer Deb Klein helped pave the way for future events like KingCon.

“It was the natural next step” says Lyceum owner Eric Richmond. “The Zine Fest brought in so many comic artists and writers, it was clear they needed a showcase of their own and that the Brooklyn Lyceum was an ideal location.” Local Talent. Subway access. History. Great food and drink. What more could you want?

Thus the idea for KingCon was born. Utilizing the building as a veritable museum of comic art and branching out into a number of adjacent Brooklyn businesses, the convention will encompass the pop culture element of its larger Manhattan cousins, while shining the spotlight on the dozens of independent artists who  often get lost among the costumed chaos of New York conventions.

“The lack of a Brooklyn based comic convention always surprised me,” says writer, artist, and convention co-organizer Mike Zagari. “Now with KING CON, Brooklyn’s flourishing and emerging writers and artists finally have an event to call their own!” With its close proximity to the subway, and its stunning, raw space, the building intends to do just that. Located in a century-old NYC Public Bath house turned event and performance space along a formerly rough and tumble industrial stretch of Fourth Avenue, the Lyceum has been, since 2000, a venue for emerging and well-established talent. Past showcases have included Jose Gonzalez, The Polyphonic Spree, The Dresden Dolls, Yo La Tengo, Fiona Apple and French folk singer Krystle Warren.

Says KingCon organizer and longtime comic lover Regan Jaye: “I had no idea when I presented the idea how overwhelming the response was going to be.” Indeed the response has been powerful, and the event promises to be a landmark event, not only in the history of the building but in Brooklyn as well.

You can find out more about the Con and the full schedule of events at http://kingconbrooklyn.com.

There is still Exhibitor space available! Please check http://www.kingconbrooklyn.com/exhibitor_info for more info and rates!

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We’re hearing that the New York Anime Fest was a big hit. Lance Fensterman, who runs the show, reports:

Saturday was by far the most insanely busy day in the history of the New York Anime Fest. Unbelievable numbers of people. But even with the crowds, we managed to count them all and this year’s attendance including fans, professionals, press, guests/speakers but NOT exhibiting staffers was 21,388! Woot! That’s a 16% increase over last year’s 18,399.That’s an awesome number of otaku roaming the aisles, sitting in panels and dancing all over the Javits Center this weekend.

The fantasy economy is strong!

We haven’t done a scientific blog scan, but this, from one Jack Shippo seemed to be representative:

And packed it was. The amount of attendees for Saturday was nearly triple the amount on Friday from what I could see (My brain hurts from lack of sleep so my estimation skills are weak right now). Compared to Friday though, the con was really fun! The day started with walking around the dealers room jumping from shiny object to shiny object to cheap object to overly priced object I dreamed of having (Yay for A.D.D!) and deciding to waste money or not. This was easy because there was hardly anything that really drew my attention in the dealers room that I could afford, only things I really bought were a gashapon Witch Yuki (Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya) figure and a gashapon Yoko Kurama figure (Yu Yu Hakusho). The dealers room was pretty crowded during the day but it wasn’t crowded to the point of not being able to breathe all the time. It did get unbearable in certain areas though, and smelly too….

The strong attendance is despite the show having relatively few vendors and becoming more of a social occasion for con-goers. Next year, the NYAF will be held concurrently with New York Comic-Con, a situation which will doubtless bring new challenges.

We’re too tuckered out for a long post for now, but here are a few tidbits to tide you over:

§ Some photos by Scott Edelman and his con report.

§ Johanna Draper Carlson’s con report.

§ Tom Neely nicely captured the culture clash between a fancy ministry charity on Saturday and a beauty pageant (with impeccably eyebrowed women selling tanning oil and bras outside) with the indie cartooner conclave next door.

§ Retconned Fangirl.

§ This fellow is not really a comics blogger, so his list of 10 Things I Learned at the 2009 Small Press Expo is more about self-help. Interesting take.

Different price points provide fans with different opportunities to support you. Dedicated fans are happy to pay $20 or more for your work. People who’ve never heard of you (but like what they see) would prefer to pay less. And products under $5 let people take a chance on your work without incurring much risk, or to support you fiscally even if they’re not your biggest fans artistically.

Be personable. I realize that people who create comics for a living are trained to express themselves non-verbally, but events like this are a showcase of talent and personality. As interested as I am in your work, I’d rather talk to you for thirty seconds than watch you ink a page of your next issue. I can always buy that issue later; I can’t talk to you again until next year. (I know, I know: “There’s a thing called the Internet.” But it’s not the same.)

§ We’re very tired right now, but thanks to travel mates Jah Furry, Josh Neufeld and Brian Heater; and Dustin Harbin and Greg Bennett for the whiskey; and the whole SPX committee for putting on another smooth, fun show.

New host Liz Baillie charmed the audience with haiku, and happy winners danced with their bricks through the legendary chocolate fountain* at the always festive Ignatz Award ceremony. Winners below:

Outstanding New Talent: Colleen Frakes for Woman King.
Outstanding Online Comic: Cayetano Garza for Year of the Rat.
Outstanding Mini-Comic: by Lisa Hanawalt for Stay Away From Other People
Outstanding Series: Jordan Crane for Uptight
Outstanding Story: Damian Jay for Willie
Outstanding Graphic Novel: Chris Ware for Acme Novelty Library 19
Outstanding Comic: Jordan Crane for Uptight 3
Outstanding Anthology: Kramers Ergot 7
Outstanding Artist: Nate Powell for Swallow Me Whole

List courtesy Daily Cross Hatch, taken from our own Twitter feed. DCH has video of the ceremony as well.

* Figure of speech only; no bricks were thrown, tossed or cavorted with.

The annual post-Ignatz Karaoke Karavan was canceled when it was discovered that the venue was closed — and had been for some time. A torrential rain kept off-site excursions to a minimum, but hotel hijinks went on into the small hours.

The 2009 Joe Shuster Awards, honoring the finest in Canadian comics, were presented last night at the University of Toronto’s Innis Town Hall. The winners are:

Artist
David Finch – Ultimatum #1-2 (Marvel Comics)

Cartoonist
Dave Sim – Glamourpuss #1-4, Judenhaas (Aardvark-Vanaheim)

Colourist
François Lapierre – “Gédéon et la bête du lac” Contes et légendes du Québec (Glénat Québec), Magasin général 4 (Casterman)

Writer
Mariko Tamaki – Emiko Superstar (DC/Minx), Skim (Groundwood Books)

Cover
Niko Henrichon – Hostile Tome 1 (Dupuis)

Webcomics
Cameron Stewart – Sin Titulo

Publisher
Les 400 Coups/Mécanique Générale

Comics for Kids
Kean Soo, Jellaby Book 1 (Hyperion)

Gene Day Award for Canadian Self-Publishers
Jesse Jacobs for Blue Winter, Shapes in the Snow.

The Harry Kremer Award for Outstanding Canadian Comic Book Retailer
Legends Comics and Books (Victoria, British Columbia)

Canadian Comic Book Creator Hall of Fame
* George Menendez Rae (1906-1992)
* Réal Godbout (1951-)
* Ken Steacy (1955-)
* Diana Schutz (1955-)

Congrats to all!