News

After months of searching for the right person, Wizard World, the convention/website company, has hired John Macaluso as CEO. Macaluso, whose background is in the apparel business, was already on the board. We had a brief chat with Macaluso about the news last week, and he's excited about the role. "We're going to be running a better company and fans are going to see a difference in our shows."

Yes, we know that there is only one Reuben Award, the big one, but for the sake of a headline, here are the NCS divisional nominees. This is the first time the NCS Awards have recognized webcomics, a welcome and inevitable move towards modernization. The choices — The Oatmeal, Penny Arcade and Scenes from a Multiverse (above)—aren't too groundbreaking but they are all good strips. The winners will be announced Memorial Day weekend at the annual NCS meeting, to be held this year in Las Vegas.

New Yorker cartoonist Al Ross has died age of 100. Two of his brothers were cartoonists as well.

We're growing, moving and shaking here at Stately Beat Manor and we want YOU to be a part of it!

Talk about a lousy break: The van containing all of Avatar's merchandise from WonderCon that was going on to Emerald City Comicon was stolen from a comics shop parking lot:

Long-time Steve Roper and Mike Nomad artist Fran Matera has passed away at age 88. An ex-Marine, Matera specialized in realistic adventure comics in a long career that also included a run on Kerry Drake.

This is what we call a "hot drink" post in the biz*, as in, you must get a hot drink and a comfy chair before you dive in to the next link. Pádraig Ó Méalóid has done an amazing job of putting together a Gaiman/McFarlane/Marvelman timeline, which, although it only skims the details of the Marvelman deals of the '80s, does cover the 10-year legal battle between Gaiman and McFarlane as it pertains to Marvelman. It's a tale of (Tony) twists and turns. Of course the pre-history is also stunning:

This long PR piece based on a Wired article gives you lots of details but here's the logline: hyphenates Steve Niles,, Brett Gurewitz and Matt Pizzolo are starting a new venture called Black Mask Studios that will distribute comics via a hybrid print/digital model. Niles (creator) will be the creative director, filmmaker Pizzolo will be President, and Bad Religion guitarist Gurewitz will use his Epitaph Records as the engine for the venture.

March 23rd is the deadline for voting in The 2012 Eisner Hall of Fame Awards. There are 14 nominees; four will go in:

It's my mother's 75th birthday!

Ryan Matheson, the American who was arrested, detained, abused and charged with child pornography after a single image was found on his computer on the Canadian border, has had criminal charges dropped after making a plea bargain to plead guilty to a non-criminal procedural charge. It's a big victory for the CBLDF and civil rights. The CBR story above has more details:

Hey there, The Beat will officially be appearing on Saturday at WonderCon on this panel: