Conventions

Among the countries most taken by comic con fever is India. A lengthy email offering pr on this year's Mumbai Film and Comic Con 2014, taking place at the Bombay Exhibition Centre from 19th December-21st December arrived in my mail box. Among the facts revealed: Guests include Nick Spencer, Nicolas Wild and Dan Goldman. She show will offer a 50,000 sq feet show floor and 100 exhibitors, including Amar Chitra Katha, Orange Radius, Pop Culture Publishing, Holy Cow Entertainment, Crimzon Studios, Simon and Schuster India, HarperCollins Publishers, Aayumi Productions, Shamik Dasgupta, Jazyl Homavazir, Pepper Script and Raj Comics.

by Zachary Clemente   IMAGE COMICS AT THOUGHT BUBBLE 2014 Image Comics panels, signings, and a WYTCHES variant for sale I can remember a day when Image went...

The Beat took pictures at CAB 2014! Some of them are Hipstamatic. Live with it. This was a good show, as usual. I came...

By David Nieves Even though Los Angeles is the entertainment capital of the world, ten years ago, you’d be remiss to find comic conventions, toy...

And that just about wraps it up here! With new books by Horrocks, Rickheit, Schrauwen, Knisley, James Romberger and Marguerite van Cook, and a...

D&Q sent along info on their four debuting books this weekend at CAB: Earthling Aisha Franz, translated by Helge Dascher   First Year Healthy Michael DeForge Showa 1944-1953: A History...

Whoops a LOT to do tonight! Fire up your Über! These are ALL tonight. A Faintly Lit Light- Group Show at 4:00pm - 7:00pm

Right now! HOT...

Exhibitors at Comic Arts Brooklyn this weekend were kind enough to send me listings of their books—as usual there is something for everyone. I received so many listing I'm dividing this into two parts. Many thanks to the creators who took the time to send me news of their work. It looks to be a very exciting show.  Enjoy!

San Diego Workforce Partnership, a local employment consultant, has released some stats on the con's impact on local employment, concluding that convention center staffers are paid $320,000 for working during the con, which requires 100% of the staff where other cons only need 80-90%. This information was highlighted in some PR released by CCI, which I'll quote below, but Con scholars will probably want to read the original report. Among other figures, SDWP estimates for $178 million in economic impact for the 2014 show. I believe this is the highest estimate I've yet heard for his metric.

At the summer Image Expo one of the most notable announcements was Tooth and Claw by Kurt Busiek and Ben Dewey. Not only did it mark the return of Busiek with a new comic for the first time in years, but Dewey's art looked amazing. The story involves high fantasy, with animal protagonists and Game of Thrones level intrigue. The first issue is on sale today in a bargain format: just $2.99 for 40 pages of story. As you can see from the preview pagesk, this is one spectacular comic. One of the best things comics do is world-building and this looks to be a strong examples of that by Busiek and Dewey.

Image Expo, the "Apple announcements" of comics is returning for a fourth outing in January on January 8th, once again at the Yerba Buena the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. The creator line-up includes Brian K. Vaughan (SAGA, Y: The Last Man), Todd McFarlane (SPAWN), Scott Snyder (WYTCHES, Batman), Emi Lenox (EMITOWN), Jeff Lemire (Green Arrow, Trillium), and Marjorie Liu(Astonishing X-Men) but SPECIAL GUESTS are promised. It would not be a stretch to guess that the above named creators will be announcing new projects from Image.

Independent Sources is a local to NYC show that spotlights ethnic and local news. Hosted by Zyphus Lebrun, it's put together by CUNY (City University of New York ) and runs on their cable station. Last week's episode, covers various aspects of diversity in comics, with thoughtful interviews with Marvel's Sana Amanat, Image's David Brothers, Morgan Dubin from Abrams Comic Arts, Jonathan Gray, Assistant Professor of English, John Jay College, artist Dexter Vines and yours truly. Aside from my having to terrifyingly reënect walking into a comic shop, it's a sprightly look at the basic issues of diversity and the widening audience for comics. There's also a nice segment on a cosplayer who designed a Rita Repulsa costume and others for curvier women.