Books

A preview Heroes Con preview; a smashing comic book wedding; is a comic book really worth $3.99? Not when you have to get rid of hundreds of them; and my final thoughts on BEA.

A little perspective via Writer's Digest publisher Jane Friedman: Stat from BEA: 7% of books published generate 87% of book sales. And 93%...

As mentioned previously, we were at BookExpo America all day Wednesday, and will be there all day Thursday. The show is much smaller than in recent years -- the children's book section which once took up the entire bottom part of the Javits is now just a corner of the main floor. The Diamond alley of comics publishers seems smaller this year, as well, although Dark Horse, Image, Dynamite, IDW and Marvel are all set up, along with a few others. By contrast, Fantagraphics was set up in the Norton Booth right at the front of the hall and was practically the first thing you saw as you walked in. They are giving away galleys of Moto Hagio's HERE COMES THE SON and Joyce Farmer's SPECIAL EXITS, which we have and have flipped through, but haven't had time to read yet. Something to look forward to in life, thank God! Fanta assoc. publisher Eric Reynolds explained that he felt that this year it was more effective to pay for more galleys to give away than to have an author appearance, and given the alacrity with which people roaming the floor scoop up those galleys, it might be a good idea.

 BookExpo America is kicking off today at the Javits Center with a day of panels and roundtables The exhibit floor opens tomorrow. Image Comics...

Graphic Novel Reporter, the resource site for book industry professionals, has released a list of "core" graphic novels that librarians and store owners should consider basics to carry. The list starts with a basic ten book list:

Amulet/Abrams has just announced that the next Wimpy Kid book goes on sale November 9, 2010. The title has yet to be revealed, but creator Jeff Kinney promises changes for Greg and Rowley. The press release also reminds us that a second Wimpy Kid movie is also in the works.

A publisher in the UK has come up with the most commercial mash-up yet. Or we could be totally wrong and neither grade school boys nor junior high girls will like it. Kind of like brussel sprouts.

I was moving an exercise machine - The Total Gym -down to the basement on the sly. My wife and I had discussed moving it from our bedroom – she wanted to keep it there and I wanted to move it to the basement. So, of course I moved the machine behind her back. Now, the thing weighs about 90 pounds and has ropes and pulleys so it’s awkward to carry. As I wrestled with it coming down the stairs, I missed the last step, and landed on my left ankle. As I went crashing to the ground, the Total Gym followed and came down on my chest…just as my wife was turning the corner. She screamed thinking I had died. When she realized that her idiot of a husband was alive, she started yelling at me for being an ass for carrying it down on my own and reminded me she didn’t want it moved at all. Even though the machine was still on my chest, my wife was crying and yelling, and my ankle hurt like hell and was ballooning up to the size of Schwarzenegger’s bicep, all I could think was; “Shit, the Neil Gaiman book is coming out soon – I have too much to do.” Then I asked my wife for an Advil. 2003 turned out to be an important year, for me and for graphic novels. DC Comics was publishing a BIG book, Neil Gaiman’s Sandman: Endless Nights. It was Neil’s return to Sandman comics and it was not a collection of comics, but an original graphic novel. There was the idea floating around the office that maybe, with Neil’s success with his novels and the fact that American Gods had hit the New York Times Bestseller List, we could have a bestseller on our hands. It was of a dream of mine, to have one of our graphic novels become a best seller.

Cartoonists were showing off their upcoming books covers EVERYWHERE this week. Here's the cover of the first collection of Dylan Meconis's historical yet mystical webcomic, Family Man . And here's a photo of Meredith Gran's first Octopus Pie collection from Villard, coming in June. The book is shown with a cup of coffee for both scale and inspiration.

David Mazzucchelli's stunning ASTERIOS POLYP won the prize for the best Graphic Novel in the Los Angeles Times Book Prizes, which as the...

Oh yeah, speaking of the London Book Fair, this little news nugget was buried in Rachel Deahl's preview of the event for PW: Russia will...

I have been writing these in chronological order, but from now on I’m going to channel Lost by doing a flash forward, a flash...