Tag: News

Very sad news out of Florida, where Mike Pandel, employee at A Comic Shop and co-host of the store's video blog A Comic Show and The Nerdy Podcast, is in a coma after a car accident and not expected to pull through.

When six of today's finest, funniest cartoonists created a studio together it was news; that all of them were women somehow made it a "thing". Thus it is with some sadness but a sense of inevitability that the disbanding of the Pizza Island studio has been noted on its blog. Gathering together Kate Beaton, Sarah Glidden, Domitille Collardey, Julia Wertz, Lisa Hanawalt, Meredith Gran and most recently Deana Sobel, this kind of talent put in one room would have been noteworthy under any circumstances.

Cartoon Movement continues its notable journalistic endeavors with a new 75-page series on Haiti. Haitian cartoonist Chevelin Pierre and journalist Pharés Jerome are collaborating on the first chapter which launches on January 12th, the second anniversary of the 7.0 earthquake which flattened the island. The first chapter looks at the tent cities that still fill Port-au-Prince.

That's it -- we're wrapping up our annual look into what's on the minds of the comic industry -- from creators to retailers to publishers. Thanks to all who participated, and thank you for sticking with us. On monday, the results of our COMICS INDUSTRY PERSON OF THE YEAR voting! It's a close race and you may be surprised at the results.

MORE sneak peeks! More news! More fearless pulse-taking of the comics industry. What are you waiting for? Dive in.

We're still rolling out our titanic 2012 survey with looks back and ahead from every level of the comics industry. And lots of news buried in the 2012 projects, too if you want to find it. Previous parts; One, Two.

Continuing our roll-out of picks, prognostications and previews from the comics industry. Part one can be read here.

First off -- something we forgot to post yesterday: pages from Charles Vess's projects for the year:

A 16 page full color graphic narrative about Istanbul, Turkey. 50 paintings for ‘The Cats of Tanglewood Forest’ written by Charles de Lint and to be published by Little Brown & Co. And my on-going work on my own book, ‘The Greenwood’ which use a combination of pure text, illustration and hundreds of pages of graphic narrative content to tell its story.

The world may be ending in 2012, but that doesn't mean that people don't have some things to keep them busy until then. In our annual year-start tradition, we asked comics industry professionals -- creators, publishers, librarians, retailers, journalists -- about the year past and the year to come. While a few huge stories seemed to dominate last year -- reboots and digital -- there was much more to it. And 2012 is wide open. Along the way, we have some previews and news tucked away in those "2012 project" descriptions. Before the end, well all have something to read. Many thanks to all who took time from the busy holiday season to answer our survey. And here's to a great 2012 for all!

Did you get some money from Memaw and Pepaw for Christmas? If you're not going to spend it on a comics shop, howabout buying Kevin Eastman's art studio? The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles co-creator is auctioning off all the contents of his art studio -- located within Meltdown Comics -- with 20% of the proceeds to go to the Hero Initiative. Eastman gives a tour of the overflowing contents of the studio in the very entertaining video above. Among the anecdotes he drops along the way -- he once owned a Batmobile and his goal was to dress in a complete Batman costume and drive up to the 7-11 for a pack of smokes in full Batman gear -- a dream sadly unrealized. Here's some of what you will win in this treasure trove of '90s and '00s nostalgia.

WonderCon may have moved to Anaheim for 2012 due to Moscone Center construction, but the Bay Area will not be without a spring comics show....thanks to Image Comics and the Image Expo. The creator-owned company is planning its OWN convention, to be held February 24-26 at the Oakland COnvention Center (original home of WonderCon, btw). Image Expo is planned as a 20th anniversary celebration for Image, and will feature as guests of honor Image partners Robert Kirkman, Erik Larsen, Todd McFarlane, Marc Silvestri, and Jim Valentino. Other creators attending include Image founders Rob Liefeld, and Whilce Portacio, plus Joe Casey, Jay Faerber, Jonathan Hickman, Ryan Ottley, Richard Starkings, Fiona Staples, and Brian K. Vaughan. All will participate in panels, signings and other traditional convention activities.

Marvel's culling continues, with both GHOST RIDER and BLACK PANTHER reaching their final issues.

New series from Dark Horse, a new Brandon Graham project and a Martian team-up have been announced for early next year.