With Squirrel Girl, Marvel is proving just how strong the Marvel brand is—so strong that it can do a 180 and it's still part of the fun. Written by Ryan North (Adventure Time, Dinosaur Comics) and drawn by Erica Henderson (Atomic Robo, Marceline and the Scream Queens) this book is as "indie" and charming as comics can get. It even has lovely flat colors by Rico Renzi. Squirrel Girl is Doreen Green a typical college student except that she also has the proportionate speed and strength of a squirrel....and a big bushy squirrel tail, which she stuffs into her pants to keep her secret identity secret. Squirrel Girl was created in 1992 by writer Will Murray and Steve Ditko (!) and the gimmick is that even with powers that sound less than a-list, she can defeat anyone —and so far she's defeated Doctor Doom, MODOK, Terrax, and Thanos, all with the help of her squirrel sidekick Tippy-Toe.
Fandom-inspired fashion certainly isn't going anywhere; gone are the days of unisex, potato-sack tees as companies like WeLoveFine, Hot Topic and other retailers capitalize...
It isn't primarily a comic-con, but Salt Lake City Comic Con's FanX starts today, a three day show with a focus on nerdlebrities: Glen and Beth will be there; Walter White Jr will be there; Jamie Lannister will be there, Judge Doom, Doctor Who and even Princess Leia! A few comics guests as well, including Neal Adams. And a LOT of SF authors—Utah is actually the nerdiest state, and there's a lot of support for this kind of material.
by Zachary Clemente
When not out fighting fiendish villains, teaming up (adorably) with Wolverine, or being late to class - Kamala Khan AKA Ms. Marvel...
When Scholastic launched its Graphix imprint 10 years ago, graphic novels were a novelty, if you can pardon the expression, in the mainstream publishing world. And kids comics were an unknown quantity—comics shops didn't want them and bookstores didn't know what to do with them. In the first wave, there were many miscues and misunderstandings at many houses along the way. But Graphix wasn't the one making them. Granted, starting out a line with Jeff Smith's Bone is about as much a sure thing as possible—6.9 million copies in print and counting. But picking Raina Telgemeier to do a Babysitter's Club relaunch and eventually Smile, and Kazu Kibuishi to publish his Amulet series weren't as sure—but they sure paid off. Along the way Graphix has picked up multiple Eisner Award wins and nominations, a Stonewall Book Award, a Boston Globe-Horn Book Award Honor, an Edgar Allan Poe nomination, and 14 New York Times bestsellers. They've published many more top cartoonists such as Doug TenNapel, Greg Ruth, Mike Maihack and Jimmy Gownley. And there's more to come.
At NYCC Retailer Day, Marvel's new Editor in Chief Steve Wacker spent more than half an hour telling store owners what they can expect from the new Marvel
