Events

THOR had its big Hollywood premiere last night and Brian Bendis was there to report on all the doings via Twitter. But first he had a tantalizingly busy day:

by BRADY RUSSELL -- Philadelphia recently hosted an exhibition called "This is a Love Letter," of notes and drawings by Charles Schulz to a mistress in Philadelphia. The show was held at SPACE 1026, an artist space and gallery connected in its own way to comics history. Founded by young artists from Providence, SPACE 1026 was founded to be Philadelphia's own Fort Thunder. The gallery and workspace at 10th and Arch Street has been going more than 10 years. SPACE 1026 is one of the most interesting forces in Philadelphia's art scene.

One more for the weekend -- meet the future superstars of comics at FRESH MEAT, SVA's annual comics fair for graduating students. More info on participants in the link, but this is one place where you are sure to find some future superstar in the making.

The PEN World Literary Festival is a pretty big deal, bringing authors and audiences from around the world together for over a week of readings, talks and other events. They've had several cartoon-related events over the years (including a complete day of comics a few years back.) This year they are presenting a single event but it's pretty sweet: Get Super Lit: Comic Books Come Alive on Stage

If you've been wondering when we'll see this year's "White Paper" from Milton Griepp, with year-over-year statistics and trends, it will be presented at the ICv2 Comics, Media, and Digital Conference 2011 which will be held on the Wednesday before the San Diego Comic-Con. Griepp holds similar events at various shows around the calendar. Here's some PR; these one-day events are traditionally an information packed professional day.

Hey peeps, we'll try to give you a bit more warning about awesome events and here's a do not miss: A benefit reading for Tom Hart and Leela Corman's new school in Florida with an all-star lineup. A great night for a great cause.

Another one we'd love to attend.

Author, graphic novelist, and screenwriter Neil Gaiman (Sandman, American Gods, Coraline, The Graveyard Book) has been described by the Dictionary of Literary Biography as "one of the top ten living post-modern writers."  Join Paul Levitz, former publisher of DC Comics and lecturer at Columbia University's Center for American Studies as he talks with Gaiman about his life and his writing.    Presented by the Institute for Israel & Jewish Studies and the Center for American Studies, ColumbiaUniversity.

Seriously, you people need to start taking your iphones and recording this stuff, kamikaze style.

Another one we'd love to attend.

Author, graphic novelist, and screenwriter Neil Gaiman (Sandman, American Gods, Coraline, The Graveyard Book) has been described by the Dictionary of Literary Biography as "one of the top ten living post-modern writers."  Join Paul Levitz, former publisher of DC Comics and lecturer at Columbia University's Center for American Studies as he talks with Gaiman about his life and his writing.    Presented by the Institute for Israel & Jewish Studies and the Center for American Studies, ColumbiaUniversity.

Seriously, you people need to start taking your iphones and recording this stuff, kamikaze style.

To do!

Join us at Midtown Comics Downtown for Marvel: Meet the Publishers! This one of a kind event will feature a Q&A with the editor in chief and six editors at Marvel Comics, all of whom are instrumental in the daily creative decision-making process at Marvel, while guiding the fates of the iconic characters of the Marvel Universe. Learn more about what goes into the creation of events like Fear Itself, and Death of Spider-Man and ask about daily life in the fabled bullpen of Mighty Marvel Comics!

While comics sales may be soft these days, one aspect of the comics lifestyle is still booming: the ever humble comic-con has gone from an affair centered on a few bearded guys in t-shirts sitting behind some yellowing longboxes to what is the modern equivalent of the county fair: a chance to dress up, take pictures, meet nerd people, and buy nerd shit. Comic-cons around the country are booming, with sell-outs, constant media coverage and enthusiastic reports from people of every gender and age. Despite this upswing, there is some grumbling among the original comics folks about how movies and TV stars are taking over the comic-cons -- and not just at San Diego where the Hollywood hype machine throws an annual three- ring circus/orgy of promotion. Reed Pop's shows -- NYCC and C2E2 -- have been traditionally lighter on movie panels and nerdlebrities signing autographs, but even the announcement of a few guys from Ghost Hunters threw up alarm bells. Plus, even at real comic-cons the major media coverage always centers on costumes and nerdlebrities -- and that's annoying.

As if to prove my thesis of comics supremacy, in what other than a golden age could a summit of great minds like Randall Munroe and Larry Gonick have previously escaped almost all notice? Gonick explained the history of almost everything with cartoons in his History of the Universe book seres, and Munroe is the cubicle-wall hero behind the defining webcomic XKCD. The event took place at Princeton U, and the Daily Princetonian offers a report: