Another one of those annual local small press comics fests approacheth, this time Athens, GA’s FLUKE! Details below.

This year’s FLUKE Mini-Comics Festival , sponsored by Bizarro Wuxtry, Flagpole Magazine, Inch-High Button Guy, Top Shelf Productions and Wide Awake Press, will take place on Saturday, April 12 at Tasty World on 312 E. Broad Street, Athens GA from 11:00 AM until 6 PM. Admission is $5.00 for all attendees.

EVENT SPECS
Tables and spaces will be provided for mini comic artists and distributors on a first-come, first-serve basis. All attendees are welcome to bring enough work to fill a small (4′ x 5′) table space. In the interest of providing display space for as many artists as possible, attendees may not use more than one table. Large displays and booths are not permitted at FLUKE, so please do not bring them. You will be asked to keep them in your vehicle.

FLUKE’s STATEMENT OF PURPOSE/ MISSION
FLUKE is a mini-comic festival that has been organized by Athens-area comic artists, underground publishers and their enthusiasts since 2002. Conceived as a venue for the discussion and exchange of timely ideas related to mini-comics, zines, and other independent publications, FLUKE is not a large comic convention or merchandising-saturated extravaganza. This isn’t to say we don’t like our share of stuff–’cause we do. However, we have kept the organization of the event as simple as possible to ensure that it remains focused on work and ideas rather than merchandising.

Newsarama has the complete issues of GUTSVILLE #1 up for you to read — and you should. The demented offspring of creators Simon Spurrier and Frazer Irving, it’s the wild tale of a community that lives inside a giant whale. Issue #3 just hit the stands.

AdHouse announces Superior Showcase #3, an anthology of three damned fine cartoonists, and THE RETURN OF STREET ANGEL!!!

This issue explodes with the uber-talents of team STREET ANGEL aka Bodacious Brian Maruca & Jazzy Jim Rugg.
(This is the first STREET ANGEL story in years!)

Debuting the work of Dandy Dustin Harbin.

And last but not least, the Lovely Lady with Luscious Lines… Laura Park!

All wrapped in a fantastic cover by talented Rip-Roaring Roger Langridge!

Smack! Bam! Pow!

The cover is above but we’ll also reveal a pages from Park who has been been on the hot list for a couple of years now.

Technorati Tags: Jim Rugg, Laura Park, puppy

free creator ringtone

SMS text messaging was worth over 100 billion dollars in annual revenues in 2007 and power ringtone rangers average of messaging use is 2.

On the fifth anniversary of the start of America’s dumbest war ever, Public Enemy #1 Osama bin Laden reportedly dissed the Mohammed cartoons in one of those messages he periodically releases.

In the message, addressed to the ‘intelligent ones’ in the European Union, bin Laden said that publishing the ‘insulting drawings’ was a greater crime than Western forces targeting Muslim villages and killing women and children.

And the ‘reckoning for it will be more severe,’ he said, according to a transcript of the message provided by the Virginia-based IntelCenter.

Referring to a series of cartoons published in Danish newspapers, the Al-Qaeda leader also warned: ‘if there is no check on the freedom of your words, then let your hearts be open to the freedom of our actions.’

We’ve got to hand it to the big cheese of Al Qaeda, he’s on the right track here. Publishing cartoons IS a far worse crime than killing women and children. You can kill a man (or woman or child) but you can’t kill an idea.

Let freedom ring.

Many many things which we had stored up or emailed to us which we have been meaning to tell you about.

§ Douglas Wolk has a new link blog. We’re already stealing from it.

§ We were talking about con fatigue the other day and unbeknownst to us, Shaenon K. Garrity had already covered it

One big change, of course, was that I moved to the other side of the booth. Conventions aren’t quite the same when you’re selling. Some cartoonists—horrible, horrible cartoonists who should die in fires—thrive on convention sales, love interacting with their fans and recruiting new readers. I’m not one of them. When someone walks up and asks me why they should read my comic, I consider the question seriously, and usually I can’t come up with an answer that doesn’t involve a lot of stammering qualifiers. Also, working a booth, unless you’re one of those hateful popular cartoonists, usually includes long stretches of boredom, just standing at attention and staring into space. I’ve invented many games to pass the time. One is to scan the crowd for people who look like characters in my comics, in case I need to cast a movie on the fly. Another is to burst into silent tears.

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Lovable toon robot cat DORAEMON has been appointed Japan’s cartoon ambassador!

Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura appointed the cat an “anime ambassador,” handing a human-sized Doraemon doll an official certificate at an inauguration ceremony, along with dozens of “dorayaki” red bean pancakes — his favorite dessert — piled on a huge plate.

Komura told the doll, with an unidentified person inside, that he hoped he would widely promote Japanese animated cartoons, or “anime.”

“Doraemon, I hope you will travel around the world as an anime ambassador to deepen people’s understanding of Japan so they will become friends with Japan,” Komura told the blue-and-white cat.

The move is part of Japan’s growing use of its immense pop culture influence on a more formal and governmental basis — like the International Manga Award established last year.

Doraemon, a fun loving robot cat sent from the future to aid a schoolboy, debuted in 1969 as a manga. Created by Fujiko F. Fujio, Doraemon has appeared in 1344 manga stories, and been adapted into an even more popular anime series. In 2002 he was voted one of 22 Asian Heroes by Time Asia magazine

As ambassador, the helpful blue feline — or at least a movie ABOUT him — will engage in a whirlwind tour set to include Singapore, China, Spain, France, and other countries.

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• The English language version of the PERSEPOLIS animated film will be released on April 11.

This version features the voices of Chiara Mastroianni as Marjane; Sean Penn as Marjane’s father, Ebi; Catherine Deneuve as Marjane’s mother, Tadji; Gena Rowlands as Marjane’s grandmother; Iggy Pop as Uncle Anouche; and Amethyste Frezignac as young Marjane. It was recorded under the direction of Satrapi and Paronnaud as the French-language version of the film was being completed.

• Another story in The Hollywood Reporter mentions a pact between French production, distribution and international sales company MK2 and publisher Emmanuel Proust. This is of some interest to us because Proust specializes in graphic novels.

MK2 is hoping the collaboration will allow the producer to bring more books to the big screen and vice versa. MK2 is currently in production on Pascal Herold and Jerome Deschamps’ animated tale “The True Story of Puss ‘n Boots,” which Proust will adapt into a comic book. MK2 hopes to draw from Proust’s more than 120 titles and 30-40 future projects to be released per year by the publisher.

Maybe it’s just the movie trade papers picking up more on foreign film deals, but it seems like there’s been a teeny tiny move towards Euro-comics getting the kind of attention from movie studios that American comics have been receiving. First there was David Fincher being attached to Matz THE KILLER, then yesterday’s bit about James Mangold taking on CYCLOPES. Not to mention ancillary news like the TINTIN movies and Marvel’s publishing deal with Soleil. Not a landslide of activity, but it’s worth noting.

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How is it possible? The heroine emerges from the underworld every time, no matter what the odds. Hail, Persephone.

Note: Persephone not actually shown above. Results may vary.

Back in the neolithic times when The Beat first started working at Publishers Weekly, there was usually one graphic novel panel at the yearly Book Expo America. This year, they are having a whole programming track devoted to the form. Truly, 2008 is THE YEAR OF THE SYMPOSIUM. PR:

BEA’s Graphic Novel Day on Saturday, May 31 kicks off with a star-studded breakfast presented by Diamond Book Distributors, which will then be followed by more than ten conference sessions featuring industry leaders talking about a range of subjects from design and marketing, to what’s hot and what’s next. The entire day of activity is sponsored by New York Comic Con (NYCC), which is also run by Reed Exhibitions, organizers of BookExpo America (BEA). BookExpo America will take place at the Los Angeles Convention Center, May 29 – June 1, 2008.

As noted, the day begins with a breakfast which will be hosted by Jeff Smith and will include speakers Jeph Loeb, Mike Mignola, and Art Spiegelman, a line-up of award-winning comics and graphic novel creators who have played major roles in the evolution of the graphic novel format in North America. They will discuss the latest trends in graphic novel publishing and offer some predictions on the format’s future growth. The breakfast, which is presented by Diamond Book Distributors, will take place in Room 403AB. The cost is $25.

“I am incredibly pleased that our graphic novel activity is so significant, and I’m very grateful to Diamond for helping to organize such a terrific breakfast,” notes Lance Fensterman, Vice President and Show Manager for BEA. “Since I run both BEA and New York Comic Con, this is sort of like a dream come true. I get to take one big show, in this case New York Comic Con, and give it a little home inside our other big show! Without a doubt, the strength of the content and personalities involved in our graphic novel programming this year give credence to the explosive impact graphic novels are having on the publishing and book retail industry.”

The conference panels which are scheduled on Saturday, May 31 include:

* Designing a Graphic Novel: From Concept to Comic
* Graphic Novel Distribution, Bookstores, and the Direct Market
* What’s Hot, What’s Good, What’s Next in Graphic Novels
* The New Comic Book to Film Machinery: What’s Next and Who is Buying What from Whom
* What Retailers & Librarians Should Know About Video Games and Gamers
* Manga’s New Generational Trade-Up: The Publishers’ Quest for New Readers
* Emerging Voices & Artists: The Graphic Novel Edition
* Building a Graphic Novel Section for Kids and Teens
* Sex in Graphic Novels
* Graphic Novel Buzz: Editors Share List Hightlights
* The New Literacy: How Graphic Novels, the Web, and Video Games are Changing the Way We Process Information

What have things come to, when even the precocious and eternally cute Hello Kitty is willing to settle a grudge by stepping into the squared circle?

The presser:

Pro Wrestling Guerrilla, in conjunction with Gente California and SANRIO Co., LTD., will present the first ever professional wrestling match for the Kitty World Order (KWO). On April 5, 2008, the cheerful Hello Kitty® and mischievous Kuromi® will meet inside the wrestling ring in a classic battle of The Good vs. The Bad. This match between these two beloved characters has been sanctioned by SANRIO Co., LTD. and PWG, and will be part of a live event that will feature PWG World Championship and PWG World Tag Team Championship title matches. The event takes place on Saturday, April 5, 2008 at 8:00PM at American Legion Post #308, located at 7338 Canby Ave., Reseda, CA 91335. General Admission tickets for the event are $20. Please visit http://www.prowrestlingguerrilla.com or http://www. gentecal. com for more information.

Posted by Mark Coale

Following in the footsteps of Fantagraphics and Drawn & Quarterly, Picturebox, the Brooklyn-based art comix publisher, is opening a store in Gowanus, Brooklyn!

First, we are opening a retail store in Brooklyn’s sunny and breezy Gowanus, Brooklyn. The PictureBox Departmental Store will carry the full range of PictureBox publications as well as an international array of visual books, prints, editions, comics, clothing and stationary. It is a shopping experience you will never forget. Please join us on Saturday, March 22nd for the grand opening. Refreshments will be served.

Saturday, March 22nd
6 - 9 pm
PictureBox Departmental Store
121 Third St.
Brooklyn NY 11231

Second, we are now accepting pre-orders for GARY PANTER online at pictureboxinc.com. A handful of copies (as well as some Gary rarities) will be available at the store opening. For all Gary Panter book news, please check http://garypanterbook.com/

The Baltimore City Paper reviews Scrooged a show of Carl Barks art at the Geppi Entertainment museum. And you will cry:

And “Yukon” is not an example of Barks’ best work, coming as it does from very late in his career, when his art had atrophied into generic Disneyness, unlike his more idiosyncratic, Hal Foster-influenced art from the 1940s and early ’50s. Nor does it contain the satire or hard knocks of his Donald Duck stories from the ’40s-’50s, which were more stories done with kids in mind rather than kids’ stories.

Not that Scrooged’s curators, Arnold T. Blumberg and Andrew Hershberger, had any choice. Nearly all of Barks’ original artwork is gone, tossed in the trash by his publishers–in fact, “Yukon” is the only full story known to exist, the curators say.

The rest of the exhibit is filled out by a number of the oil paintings Barks made in his later years and some other miscellanea: statues, toys, and the like. Unfortunately, those paintings are mostly awful. While they feature good compositions, and some of the later ones do some nice things with lighting and backgrounds, it’s clear that Barks was a cartoonist, not a painter. He could effortlessly express movement and emotion with a few lines, but those same ducks become lifeless dolls–kitsch, and bad kitsch at that–when delineated in another medium.

The ICv2 charts same out yesterday, and for the second month in a row, things were down:

Comic and graphic novel dollar sales to comic stores dipped in February vs. the year ago period, the second time in just four months that such a drop has occurred. The 4% drop followed an anemic 1% rise in January, a 4% increase in December, and a 5% drop in November. Tough comparisons with the Civil War-fueled sales in the year ago period and a lack of significant new hits in were the primary reasons for the declines.

Prior to the last few months, May 2005 was the last month that comic and graphic novel sales to comic stores declined.

The graphic novel chart is here; top 300 comics here. The analysis of the periodical sales continued the dubious picture:

The bestselling comics in comic stores were an extraordinarily weak bunch in February, with the top title, X-Force #1 (featuring 2 covers), selling only around 105,000 copies. Only three titles, X-Force, New Avengers, and one of the Amazing Spider-Man issues, topped 100,000 copies, something that happened only once all last year, in October. Prior to October 2007, it had been over 18 months, in January of 2006, since as few as three titles were over 100,000 copies in sales to comic stores.

Declines in the top 25 titles heavily outnumbered increases; only four titles increased versus the previous issues, versus 20 decliners.

Is the still-blossoming recession to blame? Seasonal lulls? Has Paul and Marc-Oliver’s nefarious plan to kill North American comics sales finally taken hold? Is it event fatigue? Marvel fatigue? DC fatigue? Fatigue fatigue?

One of the oft-blamed culprits for the slide is DC which, not to kick a company when it is down, is really getting a full-on rollicking these days. A business piece in Crain’s has a typical headline: Marvel zaps DC in comics battle. Despite the title, it’s more of a paeon to Marvel:

To put it another way, Marvel Comics had a banner year in 2007. A combination of breakout comic book series and best-selling graphic novels allowed the creator of the Hulk, Spider-Man and Captain America to dominate comic-book shops and take market share away from Batman, Superman and other superhero stars of longtime rival DC Comics.

“It was neck and neck [a few years ago],” says Marvel Comics Publisher Dan Buckley of the competition with DC. “Now we’ve stretched out in front.”

We don’t really listen to blogosphere bitching, or, God forbid, message board comments, which are nothing but uninformed whining most of the time. However, we always said that the only way to back up complaints was to stop buying the books. Has this really taken hold? This post from Wednesday Is My Sabbath sums up the usual dissatisfaction with DC’s current output:

When it was first announced, DC Editor in Chief Dan DiDio said that Countdown was going to be the backbone of the DC Universe. The problem is that their backbone has a wicked case of scoliosis and has failed miserably in holding up the rest of the line. Quite the opposite in fact, it seems to have dragged the rest of the line down to its abysmal level. Apparently DiDio and company have learned from the mistakes of Countdown and their next weekly series (called Trinity and starring Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman - pic is of the first cover) will be self contained, but after being subjected to 52 weeks of some of the worst comics I have read in a long time, taking them at their word is something I have no plans to do. Besides the fact that there are already more titles featuring Superman and Batman than you can shake a stick at that throwing one more out there hold absolutely no interest on my end. Maybe I’ll be proven wrong but after pre-paying for Countdown I will be perfectly content to have my money in my pocket and have missed a decent series rather than be out my money and have 52 22-paged turds clogging up my closet.

Will Marvel fall to the same problems as DC? They seem to be chugging along pretty well. While most industry observers are het-up over the impending FINAL CRISIS, the Grant Morrison-penned outing doesn’t have comedian Patton Oswalt stumping for it.

After COUNTDOWN and CIVIL WAR, I was going to take a break from these big summer crossover thingies. But this SECRET INVASION…holy shit. This is not a big, disposable, multi-issue donnybrook. This is a blitzkrieg from page one. Bendis basically worked out a remorseless, nothing-but-business tearing down of the Marvel Universe. And it’s clear the story has been set up…for…years. And the deaths are treated so off-handedly, with no appeal or remorse — and this is three issues in. So far, each issue has also ended with a shit-your-pants, ’Wait, what in the FUCK?!” moment…after, of course, about three or four what-the-fuck moments tossed off during the course of each story. As it stands right now, someone’s holding a possible key to stopping the Skrulls, and it’s the LAST person in the Marvel Universe you’d want with that info. And no, it’s not Dr. Doom.

Can DC compete by racing copies of the first four issues to FINAL CRISIS to Seth Rogen’s door? Well, perhaps, but according to recent interviews, they only have two issues finished.

As if writing and helping produce ONE opera wasn’t enough, crazy Shannon Wheeler has gone to the Black & Decker auto-drip one more time for a SEQUEL to his well-received Too Much Coffe Man Opera. PR in the jump, production info below:

Too Much Coffee Man Opera the Refill

What: Too Much Coffee Man Opera: The Refill
The world premiere of the sequel to the highly acclaimed opera
Who: Music composed by Daniel Craft
Libretto and original comics by Shannon Wheeler
Additional lyrics by Damian Willcox and Carolyn Main
Directed by Randy Rollison
When: April 4 - April 20
Where: Brunish Hall, Portland Center for the Performing Arts
1111 SW Broadway, Portland OR
Admission: $20 - $25, through ticketmaster.com
Show: The show is two hours with a 15 minute intermission
More info: www.tmcm.com/opera

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§ Mark Evanier ponders the moment everyone panel moderator must face: opening the floor to questions.

§ Dallas Middaugh follows up on Brian Wood’s comments on how to break into comics:

* Publish something, anything: “Just get something into print. Then you’re proven. The next editor you approach sees that someone has already banked on you,” Wood says. If no one will hire you, print up your own copies of a book to give away as samples. “Not only does your work look the best in a printed form, it shows you can follow through on a project.”

So true! There are so many people out there who want to just submit a story idea and see if we’ll take it. It’s like fishing by throwing worms in the water; you have to have a decent fishing pole to get any kind of response back.

§ Chris Butcher lays the smack down on PiQ the manga/anime magazine follow-up to NEWTYPE USA:

I think it’s important to point out that in the first issue of PiQ, the magazine calls its readership the following names: nerds, dorks, geeks, freaks, maniacs, and pervos.

They seem to mean these little bon mots with affection, but it does tell you quite clearly what the editorial staff thinks of its readership. Of course, the new magazine from ADV (nascent anime and manga publisher) is meant to replace Newtype USA, their former chronicle of otaku culture with a name and content licensed from the original Japanese Newtype magazine, and so some recognition that it is the hardcore fan who may be used to such derisive terms may simply be a way to ingratiate itself to the new readership. But it’s going to take a lot more than saying that we’re all nerds together and adopting the tagline “Entertainment for the rest of us” to convince me that they have anything to say, let alone that we’re all alike…

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Michael Cera is taking a break from the world of Judd Apatow to star in the SCOTT PILGRIM’S LITTLE LIFE movie, The Hollywood Reporter reports. Edgar Wright is set to direct the Michael Bacall screenplay.

Cera and Wright had mutual admiration for each other’s work, which manifested itself when Wright stepped in to act alongside Cera and Jonah Hill in a viral promo for “Superbad.” Wright acted as a snarky interviewer of an exasperated Cera and Hill.

ITEM! In case you haven’t heard, Kazu Kibuishi’s kids GN AMULET came out a few months ago, but it is already optioned and on the fast track, with Will Smith’s kids Willow and Jaden set to star as siblings who must traverse a strange world in search aided by a sinister amulet after their mother is kidnapped. Kibuishi comments on his blog:

I never imagined we would be moving so quickly on the film side of things. I better get the next few books done a little faster! Anyway, I’m really looking forward to meeting the Smiths. I’ve been a huge fan ever since the early Fresh Prince days, and seeing the kind of work they’ve been doing lately, I can see that we’ll be on the same wavelength on this project. This is going to be cool.

A total of five AMULET volumes are planned.

ITEM! According to a terse trade report, that Virgin Comics/Sci Fi Channel deal is paying off. The Sci Fi Channel is developing a TV series project around The Stranded, (left) one of Virgin’s Sci Fi branded comics. It’s written by Mike Carey and involves regular folks who discover they are really aliens,
ITEM! Speaking of the Sci Fi Channel, they are also developing a pilot for TRUE BELIEVER, a series created by Rosario Dawson and David Atchinson (OCCULT CRIMES TASK FORCE) about a comic book enthusiast who hires a former superhero to teach him about crime-fighting.

ITEM! Director James Mangold ( 3:10 to Yuma, Girl Interrupted, Walk the Line) has signed on the graphic novel express with French gn CYCLOPES by Alexis Nolent :

Variety reports that Warner Bros. has secured the rights to Alexis Nolent’s French graphic novel Cyclopes, set in a dystopian future where soldiers wear cameras in their helmets and broadcast what they see in real time. One soldier realizes that what he’s fighting for isn’t justice, but commerce.

Nolent is now a two-fer, as another one of his books, KILLER is being developed for David Fincher.
ITEM! More obstacles for the JUSTICE LEAGUE movie. It appears that the Australian government is refusing the film a 40% tax rebate which is offered to Australian productions of Australian films. Despite Aussie helmer George Miller and a few native actresses in the cast, the movie is under great suspicion:

Since Warner Bros suspended filming plans in January, citing uncertainty over the new incentive, opponents have argued that the offset should not be available for big-budget movies not developed by Australian filmmakers from inception.

The director of the equity section of the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance, Simon Whipp, has lobbied against Justice League Mortal’s eligibility, describing it as an American story that will be performed in American accents.

Has this guy no desire to see Green Lantern up on the big screen? With a $200 million budget, the tax rebate was an important financial element of the film, which could be forced to shoot somewhere else. Miller was non-plussed with the decision : “A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the Australian film industry is being frittered away because of very lazy thinking,” Miller said.

Cinematical has more analysis.

The problem seems to be that it is an American film, with American accents, and it will not do the Australian film industry any favors. But native director George Miller points out that the country needs movie franchises, even if they aren’t “recognizably” Australian, to boost production and bring in jobs. I can’t really say which side is right — it seems Australia is a bit miffed Warner Bros shut down production in January over uncertainty about the incentive, and they punished them for their doubts. (I’m really curious if X-Men Origins: Wolverine is getting that tax break. Everyone knows Hugh Jackman is Australian, but come on, that’s not going to be seen as a Down Under movie either.)

The film is also apparently called JUSTICE LEAGUE MORTAL.

To Rich Johnston on the birth of new daughter Alice Grace Johnston!

Many rumors abound that democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama might show up at this summer’s San Diego Comic-con. Obama, an avowed comics reader at one point in his life, may still be campaigning in July (the Democratic National Convention takes place August 25-28) and one blogger has imagined how he would fit in with the crowds.
Personally, we think he’s be there for the Jack Kirby tribute panel.

[Thanks to MG for the link.]

In an interview with the San Jose Merucry News, Gene Wilder has solved one of the great mysteries of comedy: the origin of Frau Blücher and the horse whinny from YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN. That’s FRONK-en-steen.

“I chose the name because I wanted an authentic German name,” Wilder, who played the part of Dr. Frankenstein and also co-wrote the script with Mel Brooks, tells the paper. “I took out some of the books I had of the letters to and from Sigmund Freud. I saw someone named Blücher had written to him, and I said well that’s the name.” “Later on, I heard from about two or three sources, who said Blücher refers to a horse going to a factory and being turned to glue. I just thought it was a funny name.”

Of course there was no mystery. Dissecting humor is like dissecting a frog: you’re left with something red, green and runny. Unmentioned in the interview is Freud’s classic case of Hans, who feared his “widdler” would be bitten off by a great white horse. Blücher, played by the great Cloris Leachman, was of course a fearful women whose mere proximity would do terrible thing to anyone’s widdler. Perhaps our subjective collective unconscious puts all these things — Cloris Leachman, the sound of a horse, Freud’s ideas about dreams, a glue factory and the inherent humor of a woman with a nasty mole — and just adds it all up, resulting in a laugh.

Visionary and science fiction giant Arthur C. Clarke has died at age 90.

The British-born Clarke, who lived in Colombo, Sri Lanka, for decades, died early today after experiencing breathing problems, an aide, Rohan De Silva, told the Associated Press.

Clarke, a former farm boy who was knighted for his contributions to literature, wrote more than 80 fiction and nonfiction books (some in collaboration) and more than 100 short stories — as well as hundreds of articles and essays.

Among his best-known science-fiction novels are “Childhood’s End,” “Rendezvous With Rama,” “Imperial Earth” and, most famously, “2001: A Space Odyssey.”

Several sites are picking up on a blog posting which indicates that Yaoi House, a small boys love publisher is closing up shop.

[O]wner Kira Takenouchi announced that Yaoi Underground LLC will be terminated and money returned to investors, while she is surrendering her own shares of Yaoi House LLC and leaving it up to the investors to do what they want with it.

When I came across the post it reminded me to check up on Iris Print, another US-based BL publisher (of both comics and prose) that ran into some trouble a while back. They have managed to get two of their prose books, the novel A Strong and Sudden Thaw and the short story collection Connections up and available on Amazon’s Kindle; regular ebooks are also pending, according to owner Kellie Lynch.

While this sounds like trouble ahead for yaoi, poking around on Takenouchi’s blog reveals a gradual change of heart, including a spiritual awakening, hastened the Yaoi House disolving.

Let me be perfectly clear: I am not giving up my old life because God told me gay love was wrong. What is wrong is sexual promiscuity, the lack of an undivided, sacred union between any two people. More than this, what is wrong is that I was devoting my life to pleasure and to my own ambitions, rather than stepping aside and allowing the Will of God to flow through me.

It was not an easy decision for me. I wanted to keep my life and the success I was enjoying. I had just felt wonderful about my decision to devote all my time to writing.

Takenouchi is working on refunding money to early Yaoi House subscribers.

Above illo taken from a commission for Takenouchi by kir-tat and ©2007-2008 *kir-tat

We’ve been delayed today by Barack Obama and now a conference call on the very important Cheese Rolling Festival that we’re consulting on. We’ll be posting this afternoon, and apologize for the delays.

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A jury has found Michael George guilty in the slaying of his wife 17 years ago.

George was accused of shooting his wife, Barbara, in the head on July 13, 1990, and making the crime look like a robbery. The jury found George guilty of first-degree murder, felony firearm, insurance fraud and obtaining money from an insurance agency under false pretenses.

The four-man and eight-woman jury began deliberations Friday afternoon after listening to the testimony of nearly 50 witnesses in the trial that drew national media attention.