Comics

This weekend marks the start of the Comica London International Comics Festival. Over the next month there will be many events including talks by...

Via Aidan Koch Koch is in the new Mome, and her GN The Whale just came out from Gaze Books. So call her a rising star.

Continuing our preview month, here's a 16-page preview from Pinocchio, Vampire Slayer Volume 2: The Great Puppet Theater, the sequel to the best-selling Pinocchio, Vampire Slayer by Van Jensen and Dusty Higgins. In this installment, our wooden vampire hunter meets other like him in a story inspired by the great Italian puppet theaters seen to this day in Sicily. The Great Puppet Theater is published by SLG and is on sale this month. There's more info on the book at pinocchiovampireslayer.com, on the Facebook page or on Twitter @p_vampireslayer.

Bob Schreck, one of the industry's best regarded editors, has left his position as Senior Editor at IDW to start a comics division for Legendary Pictures (not Entertainment, as the IDW release states), according to PR that just went out. The parting was amicable. Legendary Pictures, founded by Thomas Tull, has produced such films as Batman Begins, The Dark Knight, The Hangover, Inception, and Where the Wild Things Are, so the connection to starting their own comics company is pretty obvious and Schreck is well qualified to start such an effort.

Jason Little's second Bee book is coming soon from Dark Horse. Want!

SpansihInq points to a sot where you can purchase original art by Jesus Saiz, Fernando Blanco, Francis Portela, and Javier Pina including the above, by Saiz.

Colleen Doran explains the secret history of Fallen Angels and other subjects of passing interest.

It happens so seldom that it must be celebrated. Nick Gurewitch's much missed webcomic has a new strip out this week. Gurewitch dramatically scaled back production of his popular strip in February, 2008, citing a desire to stay fresh and work on some multimedia projects. He's been disappointingly quiet since then. Come back, Nick! Come back! We need you!

Continuing this week's Image teaser campaign.

Day Two of Preview month features is the Xeric Grant-winning Lone Pine by Jed McGowan, which looks like your typical duo-tone indie comic but turns into a mystery set in the deep, dark woods.

In the spirit of Election Day 2010, Frank Miller has some "fun."

Marvel held a press conference today with Senior Vice-President of Sales & Circulation David Gabriel, and VP-Executive Editors Axel Alonso and Tom Brevoort to talk about their newly announced "Point 1" initiative. Starting in February, 11 titles will have special ".1" issues that will serve as jumping on points for new readers. (See the end of the story for the complete list.) These issues will all feature standalone stories that will still lay the groundwork for the next year's plotlines. The initiative is definitely aimed at getting new readers on board, with a $2.99 cover price -– but subsequent issues, which will all ship the same month, will go back to the $3.99 price point.