Kids' comics

When the weekly DFC comics magazine came to an end in 2009 after only 43 issues many in the UK comics scene were saddened...

It's been a little bit since we saw an indie comic get picked up by a mainstream publisher, but after many months of rumors, it is true: Andy Runton's popular Owly character is a getting a full color book, to be published in March by Simon & Schuster. The book is licensed from Top Shelf, which has been Owly's home for five books and six years.

Meltdown Comics in LA is holding a one day kid-centric comics event, spearheaded by Sam Humphries, with other children's comics makers Ian Brill, David Server and Jackson Lanzing , and Chris and Shane Houghton also on hand. These kid of children friendly events are a great idea and more and more are springing up. Info below.

A couple of posts over the weekend commented on the diversity or lack there of of contemporary comics and comics retailing: In the wake of the Thor: The Mighty Avenger disaster, Brigid asks Can all-ages comics survive on the direct market alone? and ponts out thet kids these days like GNs and not periodicals:

Diamond has a newish website called kidscomics.com with information and even a separate Kids Comics Previews order form .pdf for those retailers who want to jump into this fast-growing market segment.

Last week's books releases saw two blockbusters going head to head: George W. Bush's memoir, Decision Points, and Wimpy Kid #5: The Ugly Truth....

Animator Kyle Bolton provides a team-up of sorts between his own Smash Comics character and a more familiar one. Smash Comics is a superhero webcomic for kids, written by Chris Bolton, that was recently picked up by Candlewick Press. More info here.

Okay, so far today we know senior citizens are reading comics, millennials are using wifi to have human contact...but WHAT ABOUT THE CHILDREN????? Well according to a Scholastic study, they are reading things on handheld devices We'll just jump ahead to the nut graph:

Jeff Kinney's best-selling Wimpy Kid is about to get another honor reserved for only the greatest of kids entertainment legends -- this year's Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade will include a Greg Heffley balloon. This honor is reserved for only the greatest icons of cartooning, including Bart Simpson, Garfield, Snoopy, and of course Spider-Man.

"I'm incredibly excited that Diary of a Wimpy Kid has been chosen to be a part of Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade," said Jeff Kinney. "When I think of all of the iconic characters that have flown in years past, I feel humbled and honored that my character will be a part of the Parade's history."

With 37 million copies of his first six books already sold, the next Wimpy Kid book, Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Ugly Truth goes on sale on November 9th and a second WImpy Kid movie is due in March, 2011. To celebrate the dawn of the Wimpy balloon, publisher Abrams has just started a contest for one winner and three friends to come to New York for the parade. While debating whether Diary of a Wimpy Kid constitutes being a comic book character or not -- the books are mostly prose but include comics interstitials, and creator Kinney considers himself a cartoonist -- we say just embrace success and enjoy the sight of the helium giant floating down Broadway.

The acclaimed artist of Marvel's Oz adaptations thinks there are a lot more kids comics around than we think:

Mark Andrew Smith alerts us that The New Brighton Archeological Society, the children's adventure comic he created with artist Matthew Weldon can now be read free online. The Book One: The Castle of Galomar is being serialized with a new page being uploaded every day.

TOON Books, Françoise Mouly's imprint of comics for beginning readers, has announced a partnership with Candlewick Press. Previously a standalone line distributed by Diamond...