Del Rey’s Dallas Middaugh writes to let us know he’s teaching a class at NYU this Saturday entitled ‘Publishing the Graphic Novel’ The class is shy a few attendees so check out the NYU link or the info below and sign up for what sounds like a very informative event:

As to the class itself, what I try to do is give a primer on the graphic novel business. I’ve been reading comics for decades, and working the biz for the past ten years. I start with breaking down how comics are perceived and read, touch a bit on the history of the medium, and then jump right into the business of making, selling and distributing graphic novels.

I’m a year wiser and thanks to the great feedback from my last class, this is going to be a lot of fun. I hope to see you there!

The syllabus follows after the jump.

Center for Publishing
School of Continuing and Professional Studies
New York University
Spring 2010

Course Title: Publishing the Graphic Novel
Course #: X59.9193
Term: February 6 – February 27 (no class February 20)
Day and Time: Saturdays, 10:00am – 3:00pm
Instructor: Dallas Middaugh, Associate Publisher for Del Rey Manga
Contact info: dmiddaugh@randomhouse.com (email)
Location:
_________________________________________________________________

Course Description
The growth and popularity of graphic novels have been explosive in recent years, as readers and publishing houses discover the excitement and possibilities of this category. This weekend intensive focuses on all types of graphic novels including manga, superheroes, memoir, and literary; and the elements of successful creation, sales, and marketing strategies. Students explore what works for adult and adolescent audiences and what makes effective art and editorial content. In addition, students examine how to introduce graphic novels into the mainstream, through online and other innovative channels, as well as a self-publishing venture.

Via our email, the opening for what looks like an entertaining show tonight focusing on dark humor, something which I’m sure we all need a bit of these days. Artists include Ivan Brunetti, Lisa Hanawalt, Tom Neely, and Michael Kupperman. Complete list in the jump.

FUNNY (not funny)
Recent Comic Art Exhibiting Signs of Black Humor
Curated by Ryan Standfest
 
January 22 – February 26, 2010
Reception: Friday, January 22 6–9pm
 
The University of Michigan Work : Detroit Gallery
3663 Woodward / Suite 150
Detroit, MI 48230

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Sacco has two events for his searing FOOTPRINTS IN GAZA graphic novel, starting tonight:

MCNALLY ROBINSON BOOKSELLERS
7:00 – 8:00pm 52 Prince Street
READING/BOOK SIGNING New York, NY
Phone: 212- 274-1160

Thursday, January 21 Brooklyn, NY

BROOKLYN PUBLIC LIBRARY
7:00 – 8:00pm Dr. S. Stevan Dweck Center for Contemporary Culture
READING/BOOK SIGNING 10 Grand Army Plaza
Brooklyn, NY 11238
Phone: 718-230-2100

FANTAGRAPHICS BOOKS AND THE STRAND PRESENT:

An evening with GAHAN WILSON

Signing and discussing his new book:

GAHAN WILSON: 50 Years of Playboy Cartoons

Tuesday, January 19, 7PM

THE STRAND BOOKSTORE
12th & Broadway
New York, NY

Darwyn Cooke will be reading his acclaimed HUNTER graphic novel at the Smithsonian on Saturday January 30th. Comics just can’t stop being noticed in high places can they? PR below:

On Saturday, January 30th at 4 PM, award-winning creator Darwyn Cooke will read from his much-lauded graphic novel, The Hunter, which is based on the groundbreaking Richard Stark (a.k.a Donald Westlake) novel, at the Smithsonian American Art Museum. One of the most acclaimed books of 2009, The Hunter has been included on over 50 “best of” lists, including NPR, Publisher’s Weekly, and Aint it Cool News. Cooke’s defining work has also been named best graphic novel of 2009 by over 15 outlets, such as The Village Voice, IGN and MTV.  

Cooke will read from Stark’s novel while presenting images from his adaptation, demonstrating how creatively and accurately he interpreted Stark’s tale.  A limited number of tickets are available for this exclusive event through the Museum.  .
“I am incredibly honored that the Smithsonian American Art Museum is giving me this opportunity to discuss my work and that of the late, great Donald Westlake,” said Cooke.  

Released by IDW Publishing in July 2009, The Hunter quickly became a commercial hit and critical success. The Hunter remained on The New York Times best-seller list until it was sold out. A second printing of The Hunter is now available wherever graphic novels are sold.  

The Hunter is the first in a series of four graphic novels based on Stark’s character Parker from Cooke and IDW. The second book, The Outfit, will be released in October.  
 
The Hunter (144 pages, hardcover) is now available in stores. ISBN 978-1600104930. 
The Outfit will be available in stores in October 2010. 

Via PR:

Green Brain Comics is proud to announce the opening of a new art exhibit entitled “COVERED” on Wednesday, January 13th. The exhibit will be on display in Green Brain Comics’s recently named gallery, HEADSPACE .

Inspired by a similar theme at the Covered blog (www.covered.blogspot.com) HEADSPACE curator Dan Merritt has assembled several pieces by artists that have brought their own touch to famous and infamous comic book covers from several different decades. ”The theme for this exhibit has really sparked a creative flame.” says Merritt “Each of these pieces has been lovingly recreated in tribute to the original art and the original artists that created them.”

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Beat pal and ace artist John Cebollero drew our attention to tonight’s Dark Pop 2.0 gallery show, with art by

AIKO (Aiko Nakagawa), Lisa Alisa, Esao Andrews, John Cebollero, Joshua Clay, Molly Crabapple, Amy Crehore, Yoko d’Holbachie, Leslie Ditto, Mickey Edtinger, Mark Elliott, Eric Fortune, GAIA, Stella Im Hultberg, Sarah Joncas, Aya Kakeda, Ben Kehoe, Dan-ah Kim, Daniel Hyun Lim (Fawn Fruits), Danni Shinya Luo, David MacDowell, Mike Maxwell, Simone Maynard, Dennis McNett, Tara McPherson, Michael Page, Nathan Lee Pickett, Leslie Reppeteaux, Mijn Schatje, Tin, Dan Witz, Jaeran Won and more.

If we weren’t on death’s door, we’d be there for sure.

Via Flog::

Don’t miss an opportunity to get a sneak peek at some of the great books you’ll be reading later this year at the FANTAGRAPHICS 2010 PREVIEW event this Saturday, January 9 at Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery in Seattle.

On display will be work from Fantagraphics favorites like Peter Bagge (HATE ANNUAL #8), Tony Millionaire (BILLY HAZELNUTS AND THE CRAZY BIRD), Jim Woodring (WEATHERCRAFT), Jason (WEREWOLVES OF MONTPELLIER), Michael Kupperman (TALES DESIGNED TO THRIZZLE #6), Richard Sala (THE HIDDEN), and Gilbert Hernandez (LOVE & ROCKETS NEW STORIES #3), as well as new offerings from masters like Jacques Tardi and Carol Tyler and relative newcomers like Joe Daly and Nate Neal, among many others. 2010 promises more of the amazingly diverse yet cohesive line of compelling comics you’ve come to expect from Fantagraphics Books. See for yourself this Saturday.

The opening from 6:00 to 9:00 PM coincides with the colorful Georgetown Art Attack featuring visual and performing arts presentations at several locations throughout the historic neighborhood. For details and a map visit www.georgetownartattack.com.

Fantagraphics Bookstore is located at 1201 S. Vale Street (at Airport Way S.) only minutes south of downtown Seattle. Open daily 11:30 to 8:00 PM, Sundays until 5:00 PM. Phone 206.658.0110.

We’re informed that you can buy discount tickets here and at the door with codeword COMIX. More info here..

Tonight the Golden Apple in LA presents a launch party for The Complete Rocketeer, which FINALLY collects all the Rocketeer comics by Dave Stevens in a marvelous, newly recolored edition.

WEDNESDAY NIGHT….12/16 from 6-8PM
WHO…THOMAS JANE & Friends
He wrote the book intro and was a good friend and fan of Dave Stevens.
SEE….The Movie Costume on Display!
FREE…Rocketeer art print to the first 100 fans!
WIN….a print signed by Dave & Bettie Page!
DRINK…it up. Beer & Wine will be served.

If we were on the West Coast, we would definitely be there.

At Meltdown!

It’s about that time again when holiday spirit takes over Meltdown Comics in the form of the BOOM! Studios Holiday Party!

Everyone and anyone is invited to our holiday event next Friday, December 18th, as we spread some merry cheer at Meltdown Comics.

Who: The BOOM! Crew. Mix and mingle with Mark Waid, Ross Richie, Michael Alan Nelson, Matt Gagnon and more!

When: Friday, December 18th, 8:00pm – till they kick us out!

Where: Meltdown Comics & Collectibles
7522 Sunset Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA, 90046

Why: FREE BEER while supplies last!

Plesae note this CORRECTED flyer for the event. Guests! Surprises! More info here.

Dan Nadel, co-organizer of the recent BCGF, wraps things up at Comics Comics — it was a very successful day, and in response to my musings over how much money changed hands, indications are that it was a very successful show for exhibitors, as this picture graphic shows.

Nadel also comments directly on my own Kirby-to-Panter analogy:

That is true, but it’s also true that Kirby exerts a huge influence over many of the cartoonists in that room, as does Chaykin, Simonson, and many other “mainstream” (increasingly non-mainstream, really) artists. I guess what I’m saying is that Jack Kirby is our Jack Kirby. After all, one of the busiest tables was Frank Santoro’s back issue bins, in which he highlights such gems as Larry Hama’s brilliant G.I. Joe # 21 (my own “book of the show”) and selections by Michael Golden, Trevor Von Eeden, Carl Barks, Steranko, Kevin Nowlan, et al. Frank’s careful selection is a kind of mini history of comics unto itself. And to me, that’s the crux of it: This generation is looking far and wide for inspiration and finding it in unlikely places. That may be partly why the crowd seemed so jolly and generous: It was a limited selection, but anyone curious enough to come could find something to their liking without having to wade through too much “other stuff”.

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It was the first actual day of winter on Saturday, a wet raw day that no sun could pierce with the sky spitting out alternate fits of rain, freezing rain, snow and sleet — sometimes all at the same time.

Despite the inclement weather, the first annual (another is planned) Brooklyn Comics and Graphics Festival at Our Lady of Consolation Church and Secret Project Robot hit its marks. The venue — a church basement decorated by wood paneling and tinsel in the fashion of the finest church basements — was very small. The above excerpt from a photo by Joel Speasmaker, shows that you could pretty much see exactly who was in the room at all times. It was also quite crowded and really hard to get through the aisles at times, but everyone was so well socialized that there was no stress. Or perhaps the fact that the crowd was so young, good-looking and mixed (in the Williamsburg way) that made bumping into one another more of a social event than a problem.

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While we’re still recovering, physically, spiritually and morally from the brutal fall show schedule, we’re going to man up one more time for what should be the final — and one of the best — local shows of the year, the The Brooklyn Comics and Graphics Festival, to be held this Saturday in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NY. Though modest in size, the guest list is heavyweight all the way — Charles Burns, Gary Panter, Jililan Tamaki, Ben Katchor. Publishers from France, Italy and Zurich will be there. There’s even a token nerdlebrity, with TV on the Radio’s Tunde Adebimpe selling his wares. And best of all… it’s FREE, so you can save your money for that print from Le Dernier Cri you’re buying your Aunt Harriet for Hanukkah.

Given NYC’s many crossing streams of comics genres, the BCGF (oh why couldn’t they have just called it BCAF and been done with it) looks to be the kind of culture-focused, curated show that can be a very effective showcase for this thriving branch of the scene.

Read the entire panel lineup in the jump and download a map and program here. In case you don’t make it to the jump, here are the venues: Exhibitors and Artists:
Our Lady of Consolation Church
184 Metropolitan Ave.
Williamsburg, Brooklyn
11 AM – 7 PM

Panel Discussions, Lectures & Art Exhibition:
Secret Project Robot            
128 River @ corner of Metropolitan Ave.
Williamsburg, Brooklyn
1 PM – 6 PM

Musical Performances:
Death by Audio
49 S. 2nd St Between Kent & Wythe
Williamsburg, Brooklyn
9 PM onward

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Although now known as part of the San Diego Comic-Con’s portfolio of events, APE, the alternative Press Expo, as the brainchild of SLG president Dan Vado, and was held in San Jose for its first few years. Although Vado’s involvement with APE ended a while ago, he’s back at it with the San Jose Comics Festival, a series of one day events that he hopes will become part of a wider cultural festival. The first one will be held January 17th, 2010 with guests Landry Walker, Rich Koslowski and Jamaica Dyer. Details below:

SLG Publishing announced the founding of a new series of comics festivals focused on indy and small press comics and zines. The San Jose Comics Festival will be a series of single day events held throughout the year, but SLG President Dan Vado hoped that the event would grow into a larger, city-wide festival that would take place in the various galleries and public buildings in downtown San Jose. The aim is to create a comics related event that is different from that standard convention with an aim to becoming one of the biggest free events of its kind in the United States.

“We did a trial run of a single event in our warehouse earlier this year and we hit our projections in regards to attendance” said Vado. “As we try and develop and grow the festival we will reach out to the other galleries and to places like San Jose State and to the public library to host comic related events and allow attending artists, creators and publishers to set up and display their work.” While Vado’s previous convention brainchild, the Alternative Press Expo, was started as an event meant to spotlight the independent and alternative comics creators and publishers, the San Jose Comics Festivals will not focus on a single type of comic or creator “the Comics Festivals will be about people who do the work, regardless of what kind of comics they choose to produce” added Vado.

The next San Jose Comics Festival will be held on January 16th  at the SLG Publishing gallery/warehouse compound in downtown San Jose. Attending artists will be announced at the event website www.sjcomicfest.com. Attending artists at the inaugural event included Jamaica Dyer (Weird Fishes) Rich Koslowski (3 geeks) and Landry Walker (Tron, Little Gloomy). Admission will be free.

For more information about the San Jose Comics Fests contact Dan Vado via email at
dvado@slgpubs.com 

Archie gets an art exhibit tonight at MoCCA in a show that runs through February:

Welcome to Riverdale! Join the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art – MoCCA in celebrating the world of Archie Comics, one of the oldest and most beloved family-friendly brands in the comic book industry. Thrill to the exploits of Archie Andrews and his friends, Betty, Veronica, Jughead, Reggie and the rest. And don’t be surprised if you see a cameo from Josie and the Pussycats, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, and some of Archie Comics’ other supporting players. This exhibition features pages and pages of rare and unpublished comic art, animated cartoons, gold record winning music, as well as vintage house ads, news clippings, custom collectibles, toys and other merchandise from Archie’s 65 plus years as America’s eternal teenager.

November 19, 2009-February 28, 2010
Opening Reception: November 19, 7-9PM

For more info.

Now through Sunday it’s the Thought Bubble Festival in Leeds, a four-day fest of all things comical, with a one-day comics show on Saturday. The complete schedule is here with a full plate of screenings, workshops, and panels. The graphically stunning but uncopyable guest list is here — suffice to say it includes all your UK faves like Bryan Talbot and Andy Diggle and foreign stars such as Ben Templesmith and Alex Maleev.

We linked to this interview with organizer Lisa Wood yesterday. It sounds like a great way to spend a few days.

Thanks for all the birthday wishes, everyone. It was a great day, with unseasonably warm weather such as we never remember in a pre-global warming world, so thank you greenhouse emissions! We took a total internet vacation for the weekend so are just now returning to this wonderful, fact-filled world.

We got about 45 minutes into the Prisoner remake before deciding it was completely misguided and had no idea what made the original compelling — namely mood, tone, storytelling, suspense, etc etc. Adi Tantimedh has a nice dissection of the rather muddled theme of the remake:

Why remake a popular story if you’re going to toss everything that people liked about the original under the bus? The catchphrase and key theme of the original show was Number Six’ weekly decree, “I am not a number, I am a free man!” In an interview in last week’s New York Times, the writer of the remake said he felt the need to modify that sentiment into something more, moderate, less individualist, more… community-minded.

So the credo of the remake is, “I am not a number, but I want to be a member of a nice community that gets along with each other!”

Still trying to figure that one out.

Anyway, back to the trenches. Keep those, links, tips, and inside info coming!

I will be appearing tomorrow afternoon at Jim Hanley’s Universe in midtown for this event:

Join film-maker Miguel Cima and special guests at the JHU Underground at our Manhattan Location for screening of the award-winning documentary DIG COMICS on Saturday, November 14 beginning at 3:00pm. Following the screening will be an A-List panel discussion with Mr. Cima, Tom Brevoort, Heidi MacDonald, Andy Helfer, Chris Irving, and Danny Fingeroth!

DIG COMICS is a film exploring the public’s attitudes, about reading comics, and it won the documentary award at the 2009 San Diego Comic-Con film festival. Tom O’Shea interviews filmmaker Cima here, and he has some interesting ideas…

I’ve heard too many big publisher execs say in interviews that their concern is not comics, but how they can monetize the legacy characters. That’s totally fucked up! Imagine Capitol Records was like, well, these Beatles T-shirts and video games are doing great, we no longer need to distribute music. How insane would that be? Robbed of Beatles music, that’s my analogy. How is it that such mentalities are holding the keys to an art form? It’s outrageous! These guys would be ready to let Spider-Man comics vanish as long as the movies prove to be the most lucrative. And the fact is readership is down and keeps going down. It doesn’t make sense economically, either as there are obviously great opportunities to up readership and sell more books, but really, it’s just a sin for them to think that way, and it’s nuts that these guys would admit as much in public. So, yeah, if the big publishers don’t step up, comics may well go the way of the Zoetrope.