We’re working on a longer write-up of SPLAT, this past weekend’s Graphic Novel Symposium, for PW Comics Week, but just a quick note to say that it was a fun day for all involved. The atmosphere at The New York Center for Independent Publishing–soaring skylights, ancients banners, hardwood card catalogs — definitely contributed to the atmosphere of serious inquiry, but the high level line-up of speakers and generally well-informed but always engaged audience made it a rewarding experience for everyone who attended.

Despite the high entrance fee, there were good crowds for all the panels we heard about — 50 for Brian Wood’s seminar, as mentioned in another link, perhaps 70-80 for the main room discussions–and they asked great questions throughout.

Gary Tyrell has a very nice write-up and there will doubtless be more over the next few days and hours.

As I told several people on the day, it didn’t feel like the first iteration of a conference; things went smoothly, the panels were informative and had a heady mix of guests and topics, and the library of the General Society of Mechanics and Tradesmen (“By Hammer & Hand All Arts Do Stand”) was a beautiful venue. In fact, the most serious complaint I can come up with is, that in a building that in part houses a plumbing trades school, I’d have expected the hot-water faucet in the loo to work.

The symposium itself was divided into three tracks — one on the what & why of graphic novels; a second on making them; and a third on graphic novels in schools and libraries. I spent most of my time on track one, but crossed over to three — having no pretensions of artistic ability, I left the “how to make ‘em” sessions to those that would benefit.

We’ll have more when we’re off deadline and cranes, investment firms, stock markets and the world economy have stopped falling.

(Above illo from Karen at Pen in Hand’s great illustrated wrap-up.)

A VERY quick, doubtless incomplete round-up of stuff announced at this weekend’s Wizard World: If we missed something let us know.

• There will be a “Who Do You Trust” one-shot leading into the whole Skrull take over story line. (Art via Marvel.com)

• Joe Kelly is the writer leaving DC and going back to Marvel, as teased in LITG—he’ll be joining the Amazing Spider-Man team.

• Frank Miller’s RONIN is getting the Absolute treatment.

• All-Star Batgirl is on hold; Geoff Johns and JG Jones are no longer on the book because they have far bigger fish to fry (saving and Final crisising the DCU, respectively) and a new team is being sought.

• Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale are reuniting for a six-issue miniseries Captain America: White. The duo are interviewed in the link.

• Matt Fraction joins Ed Brubaker on Uncanny X-Men as of issue #500, when artist Greg Land also climbs aboard the mutant express.

• In addition to writing SUPERMAN, James Robinson is launching a new JLA book called JUSTICE LEAGUE.

“Hal Jordan decides that he wants a pro-active team,” said Robinson. “They never go out and bring in people. This team will go after the equivalent of the FBI’s most wanted list, sometimes in different countries, sometimes through time. It’s a nice eclectic team of established teams and some oddball characters I’ve thrown in.” Along with Hal Jordan, Robinson named Green Arrow as a member. When writing the two characters, Robinson said “I just imagine me and Geoff Johns talking to each other.”

• Terry Dodson is now exclusive to Marvel, completing the move from DC. (One guesses his wife/inker Rachel Dodson is moving as well, although that wasn’t mentioned specifically.) He’ll be working on X-man…hm wasn’t Greg Land working on X-men…does any of this make sense? Oh they’re SHARING he art.

• Squadron Supreme gets a new series written by Howard Chaykin illustrated by Marco Turini, and edited by John Barber. It will NOT be a MAX series.

• Rich Corben at Marvel

With 2006’s “Haunt of Horror: Edgar Allan Poe,” legendary artist Richard Corben reimagined some of the visionary writer’s classic tales of terror. In June 2008, Corben will turn his eye to the stories of another renowned and highly influential horror writer, H.P. Lovecraft, with the release of the “Haunt of Horror: Lovecraft” mini-series from Marvel Comics MAX line. CBR News spoke with Editor Daniel Ketchum about the series.

• This whole “phone call to the panel” thing is now de riguer.

Reed then took a call - on McCann’s phone - from Secret Invasion crafter Brian Michael Bendis. “What do you want,” Reed joked, “You’re not good enough to come to the show but you’ll call in?” Now a Wizard World Los Angels panel staple, Bendis was put on speaker phone. He joked that his next project will be a “Captain Carrot and the Amazing Zoo Crew vs. Rocket Raccoon” crossover.

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Prosecution and defense have rested, closing arguments have been made. It’s up to the jury to decide whether retailer/convention organizer Michael George killed his wife 18 years ago. The DA has argued that only George had the motive and opportunity, and that there was no robbery, as claimed. The defense has countered by pointing out that the evidence against george in this cold case is all circumstantial, and his mother and two daughters have testified he was asleep on the couch when the murder took place.

It’s up to the jury to decide who’s telling the truth.

The Detroit Free Press has more.movie archive browse celebritymovies asswatcher freebeing whipped movie of womenmovies bus bang jessicachildren movies pornmovies masturbatingmovie hentai samplegrill studio movie Map

Mike Cavallero has posted a teaser for his new ACT-I-VATE comicsLOVIATHAN, Coming in April.

Via YouTube Craig is profiled by the local paper . . . and we get a sneak peek at his adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s SANDMAN: THE DREAM HUNTERS. This is a preview scene from “Lurid Chief” Wayne Alan Harold’s upcoming DVD profile of Craig, titled SOUND INTO IMAGE: THE ART OF P. CRAIG RUSSELL.

Don MacPherson talks about DC’s decision to print only one price on its comics for the US and Canada. The move has made Canadian retailers unhappy.

So DC’s announcement, though incredibly late, is welcome news for retailers and customers, yes? Well, not really. The manager at my local comic shop, for example, is annoyed at the development; his preference would be that U.S. publishers leave the Canadian price off their comics and graphic novels altogether, allowing for easier adaptation to fluctuations in currency values. That’s what Dark Horse does and many others as well. Anecdotally, what I’ve been hearing is that many Canadian comics retailers have been disregarding the Canadian price for some time, even more the dollar achieved parity with the U.S. buck.

…and…Noah Berlatsky wonders why comics never got with the program:

It got me thinking a little bit about how comics have done, and continue to do, so poorly in this regard. Why wasn’t there ever a blaxploitation equivalent in comics during the seventies — a series of titles starring and aimed at black people? Why are there still so few black comics professionals, and so little black representation in the industry in general? I know it’s not because black people don’t like comics — every time I go into my local bookstore, I see black folks sitting in the comics section, reading away. So what’s the deal?

My point here isn’t that American comics aren’t racist or segregated; I mean, clearly they are in terms of who you see in their pages, who works on them, and, in general, who reads them. It’s just kind of interesting to try to figure out why comics are so much worse about race than other media (movies, television, music.) It’s also interesting to think about what the consequences have been.

§ Bookforum spotlights GRAPHIC NOVELS, the hottest thing going!
– Chris Ware on Rodolphe Topffer
– J. Hoberman on Kirby (Actualy link is wrong. Anyone got the correct one?)
–Nicole Rudick on Rocketship

§ Larry Young write to remind us it’s the 9th anniversary of the release ASTRONAUTS IN TROUBLE: LIVE FROM THE MOON #1, making it AIT/PlanetLar’s 9th birthday. Congrats, Larry and Mimi!

§ Dan Goldman goes to SXSWi , the interactive part of South by Southwest, the indie music fest .

§ Brian Wood goes to Splat! Graphic Novel Symposium

§ Toon Zone interview Steve Purcell.

§ Spot the cartooners in this wedding announcement

Megan Crane, a daughter of Anne G. Crane and Thomas R. Crane Jr. of Ridgewood, N.J., was married yesterday to Jeffrey Shane Johnson, a son of Karen Wood of Kihei, Hawaii, on the island of Maui. Daniel Panosian, who became a Universal Life minister for this event, officiated at the Laguna Cliffs Marriott Resort and Spa in Dana Point, Calif. Mr. Panosian’s wife, Elena, who also became a Universal Life minister, participated.

§ NPR talks about Catwoman. Listen in the link.

Catwoman ranks No. 51 on the 100 Greatest Villains of All Time list from Wizard Magazine. And no wonder: Her hisses — and purrs — have made her a symbol of feminine power.

§ Pilipino Komiksof the 20s by Fernando Amorsolo and Jorge Pineda. The above is by Pineda.

Technorati Tags: AIT/PlanetLar, Komiks, puppy

ITEM! Fox heard ka-ching when the animated HORTON HEARS A WHO slew at the box office this weekend. It’s $45.1 million opening weekend was the biggest this year thus far and restored studio faith in both G-rated CGI films and Dr. Suess. The movie was produced by Blue Sky.

ITEM! Will Jim Sturgess, an English actor who starred in Julie Taymor’s ACROSS THE UNIVERSE, reunite with the director to play Spider-Man in the upcoming stage show? That’s the rumor..

“I haven’t spoken to Julie about it but we did do a two-week workshop for it over in New York, and it was just a real chance to hang out with Julie again,” the British actor told us. “I love Julie, she’s like a mentor to me, and Evan’s just a great friend, and the three of us are just so bound by the experience we had doing ‘Across the Universe.’ It was a lot of fun. I was just playing music with Bono and Edge from U2, singing songs about Spider-Man. The project is definitely happening. Julie will definitely make this piece of theater. Whether I’ll be in it or not, I have no idea at this point.”

Sturgess seems like a sprightly lad. He gets the Beat seal of approval if its true.

ITEM! Frank Miller has been blogging about The Spirit movie but it’s in Flash so we can’t link to it or quote it. Luckily, Cinematical has more patience than we do, and quotes his comments on Ellen Dolan:

“I love writing tough, powerful women.” And he has set out to do just that with one chick specifically — Ellen Dolan, love interest of the title character. The character has proved to be a challenge, a weak stereotype of the age in which she was created. Miller calls her “a lousy character” and complains, “[The Spirit] even tossed her over his knee and spanked her. And she took it. Ellen Dolan made Donna Reed look like Angelina Jolie.”

More in both links.

§ ITEM! Andy Serkis VERY BRIEFLY comments on working on the TINTIN movies with Peter Jackson and Steven Spielberg.

§ ITEM! A new Speed Racer trailer is up and it’s even more TRON-tastic than the last one. Prediction: This will be the love it or loathe it film of the summer.

ITEM! Long-banished director Alex Cox has been getting a lot of press lately for the comics-only sequel to REPO MAN. The AV Club has a much more extensive interview with him:

AVC: Several of your recent films haven’t had much theatrical distribution in the States. Does that bother you, or do you just consider it a byproduct of the kind of films you make? AC: What can you do, you know? Distribution is controlled by the studios, and I’ve been on the blacklist of the studios for the last 20 years. It’s not very likely that I’m going to get New Line to come along and distribute one of my films.

ITEM! Longtime Disney Watcher Jim Hill digs up some rumors and info about Pixar’s upcoming JOHN CARTER OF MARS movies. Among the speculations: the film will be live-action.

According to what Mouse House insiders recently told me, Mark Andrews (i.e. the Oscar-nominated screenwriter of “Ratatouille”) has allegedly already completed a first pass on a screenplay for the first film in the proposed “Mars” series. And given that both Pixar and Disney execs have reportedly responded very enthusiastically to Andrews’ script … Well, both companies are now anxious to put this project in the development pipeline ASAP. “So what sort of timetable are we talking about here?,” you ask. Well, really serious work on the first “Mars” movie can’t get underway ’til this Fall. Which is when Stanton will finally be through with all of his “WALL * E” -related promotional obligations

Hill also mentions that Disney might be cooling on the idea of making all seven Narnia movies, especially if PRINCE CASPIAN isn’t a monster hit. That bums us out because the next two movies DAWN TREADER and THE SILVER CHAIR are the best books, but apparently DAWN TREADER will get made regardless.

Hm, how does one celebrate St. Paddy’s Day in comics book terms?

UPDATE: From the comments, the comic book versions of Cuchulainn (pronounced, sort of, koo-CULL-in): Illustrator Connor Willumsen:

And…the standard…

Dark Horse and Universal have announced a 3-year production/distro deal. Universal is putting out this year’s HELLBOY 2 (which was long without a studio; HELLBOY 1 was at Revolution). With the success of Sin City, 300 and 30 Days of Night (which Dark Horse also had a production credit on, despite it being published by IDW) it’s a nice proven brand for Hollywood. Up next: the Goon movie, perhaps?

Universal Pictures and Dark Horse Entertainment have signed a three-year production and distribution agreement that establishes a studio home for all of Dark Horse’s creative properties going forward. The agreement was jointly announced by Marc Shmuger and David Linde, Chairman and Co-Chairman of Universal Pictures; and Mike Richardson, founder and President of Dark Horse.

Under the terms of the deal, Universal would have creative access to all Dark Horse characters and properties, as well as any material that Dark Horse might acquire on its own and want to develop as a motion picture. In addition, Dark Horse would have the opportunity to distribute movies through Universal.

Universal Pictures is opening Hellboy II: The Golden Army, directed by Guillermo del Toro and based on Mike Mignola’s Dark Horse Comics character, on July 11, 2008.

“Dark Horse is one of the most creative and innovative brands in the entertainment industry, as well as an incredibly supportive home for some of the most exciting storytellers working today,” said Shmuger and Linde in a joint statement. “Their unique connection to youth culture is proven, and we are thrilled to be part of their expanding film production work.”

Mike Richardson responded, “We’ve worked with many studios and have had several great experiences, but we are particularly happy to be joining forces with Universal Pictures in this deal. We feel a real connection with their vision and the energy and creativity they bring to developing our properties. We are also excited by the option that we’ll have to independently produce our own material and distribute it through
Universal; their flexibility in this collaboration is what we were looking for, and we’re glad we found it.”

Donna Langley, President of Production, Universal Pictures, added, “We are very much looking forward to working with Dark Horse’s talented writers and artists, and to realizing their wealth of creative content onscreen.”

Dark Horse Entertainment is represented by Endeavor and The Gotham Group.

The rescheduled HOTWIRE release party–felled by a blizzard on the original date– takes place tonight at Rocketship.

DRINKS! COMICS!! BEEF PATTIES!!(?)

and…….CARTOONISTS!! ZANGO!!!!

Mark Dean Veca
Sam Henderson
R. Sikoryak
Jonathon Rosen
Mark Newgarden
Chadwick Whitehead
Danny Hellman
Craig Yoe
Glenn Head

For ANOTHER take on making graphic mnovels, go to Jim Hanley’s Universe this afternoon for an event with Paul Karasik and the Center for Cartoon Studies:

Friday March 14th, 2008
5 - 7PM

Learn more about
The Center for Cartoon Studies
Certificate & MFA Program
From CCS Students & Paul Karasik

A group of Center for Cartoon Studies will be selling and signing their mini-comics. Cartoonist Paul Karasik will be on hand to answer questions about CCS, review portfolios and sign copies of his latest book, I Shall Destroy All the Civilized Planets: The Comics of Fletcher Hanks.

Speaking of SPLAT, the New York Post (!) previews the event with a cheeky lede:

BESIDES all the usual dreams young people move to New York to chase - singing, acting, sleeping with the governor - you can now add authoring graphic novels to the list.

but then gets into a very serious discussion with Brian Wood about how to break into comics, and
this is as good a list as we’ve seen. Clip ‘n’ Save!

* 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.” * Have patience: “I went to conventions and gave away
these self-published books to anyone I could find. It took three years until anyone called me back. You can’t get discouraged,” Wood says. * Sell it before you draw it: “If you’re just trying to get an editor interested in you, you don’t have to fully execute your 100-page graphic novel. You can just do the first chapter.” * Find the right editor: Look at the mastheads of books that you like reading and send your work to whomever edits those. Then mail a hard copy of your work.
“Don’t e-mail. An editor can just hit delete on an e-mail.” * Take to the Web: “That’s what everyone says is the next big business model,” Wood says. Many aspiring artists have been offered work by putting samples of their stuff up online.

The New York Center for Independent Publishing is presenting one of the biggest graphic novel events ever: SPLAT: The First Ever NYCIP Graphic Novel Symposium. With three tracks of programming and a speaker line-up from Brian Wood to Scott McCloud to Alex Cox to Richard Stevens, SPLAT is also one of the most ambitious. Registration is a steep $125, but the workshops and symposiums should be worth it. Details:

9am to 7.30pm including the reception with Scott McCloud
Place: The New York Center for Independent Publishing
The General Society of Mechanics and Tradesmen
20 West 44th Street, New York, NY 10036
Tel 212 764 7021

You can read the whole panel/workshop line-up here:

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Jeff Smith’s blog comments on the comics’ move to Warner Bros:

The whole thing happened very quickly last Friday night. Warners called and made us a real offer, it was as simple as that. They stated their seriousness to stay true to the books, and after a couple of back and forths, the whole thing was over in an hour and a half. Vijaya and I had a celebratory drink and went to bed. We woke up Saturday morning to find the internet on fire!

As previously reported, that “serious offer” was a “mid-six-figure option against seven figures for purchase.” So let’s hope that celebratory drink was Dom Pérignon.
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Cold Cut Distribution, the largest comics-centric alternative to Diamond as a distributor, was recently acquired by a Chicago-based webcomics publisher, and the new owners are changing the name. PR:

Rogue Wolf Entertainment announced today a new name to go along with the new face of Cold Cut… now known as Haven Distributors, or Haven Distro for short.

“Cold Cut Distribution had a solid base, but it’s time for a change,” explained Lance Stahlberg, Haven Distributors’ COO. “The independent comics terrain is some of the toughest there is in the pop culture market for retailers as well as publishers. Part of what we are trying to do is make it easier for both sides to do business together. ‘Haven’ made sense because that’s exactly what we offer both sides; a safe place to interact. We encourage both retailers and publishers to contact us with changes they would like to see as well. Feedback is not only welcomed but strongly desired!”

To join the Haven Distro newsletter, interested parties can use the signup form on www.havendistro.comwww.HavenDistro.com, where they will also find a contact form for questions or feedback. Haven’s new international toll free phone number is 877-HAVEN-50 (877-428-3650). The old number, 866-4-COLDCUT, will remain active during the transition but will eventually be discontinued. Havendistributors.com and Coldcut.com will both forward to www.havendistro.com, and all current retailer accounts will still work in the existing shopping cart.

Is the world ready for a an updated trippy director/artist-cartoon mash-up, all influenced by European sex and drugs comics of the 70s and 80s?
Yes.:

Variety is reporting that Paramount is planning a new animated Heavy Metal film with segments directed by David Fincher (Seven, Zodiac), Tim Miller (Rockfish) and Kevin Eastman of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles fame (and coincidentally the owner and publisher of Heavy Metal). The new Heavy Metal film will consist of eight or nine individual animated short films that will mirror the format of the anthology magazine, which debuted in the U.S. in 1977 and brought a new level of sex, violence and sophistication to the world of U.S. comics to which it also introduced a number of key European creators including Moebius, Enki Bilal, Phillippe Druillet and Milo Manara to name just a few.

The Comic Book Club folks are now PODCASTING. So you can now listen to the State of the Industry show with ourself, Brian Heater, Kiel Phegley, and John DiBello.

Buck Rogers, the early sci-fi comic strip icon is coming back to the comics from Dynamite Entertainment. Rogers debuted as “Anthony” Rogers in a couple of stories in Amazing Stories by Philip Francis Nowlan; syndicate executive John Flint Dille teamed with artist Dick Calkins to create the familiar “Buck Rogers” comic strip. Rogers was later seen in a TV show that coined the annoying phrase “Bidi! Bidi!” and Erin Gray’s appearance as Wilma Deering fueled countless fantasies in boys around the land, at least accoring to anecdotal evidence we’ve heard.

Dynamite’s version of the character will have covers by Alex Ross and John Cassaday, according to president Nick Barrucci. Dynamite’s agreement with the Dille Estate also allows for the creation of Buck Rogers comics, collections, including classic material, comics-based fine art prints, posters, action figures, trading cards, statues, and other high-end collectibles.

Penguin’s well-received line of classics with covers by comics-type illustrators (such as Chris Ware, above)has won the Design Museum’s Brit Insurance Design Awards :

The category winners of the Design Museum’s Brit Insurance Design Awards have been announced with Penguin’s US Classics Deluxe editions winning in the graphics category and Haque’s Burble London installation taking the interactive prize

The category winners were decided by a judging panel consisting of Vitra’s Rolf Fehlbaum, publisher Lars Müller and architect and designer Antonio Citterio.

[Via Blog@]
Designer Paul Buckley is interviewed here.

Sun and Jin, before the island. what times those were.

For talk of Sun and Jin ON the Island and maybe more, read on, Macduff.

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In case no one has noticed, The Beat is having some server hiccups. We moved servers last week and the process has been underway for a while, hence the lack of ads, which are hosted elsewhere, as near as I can make out.

For whatever reason there has been a RASH OF DOUBLE POSTING on the Beat. Please try to be patient and not hit send again. The server is taking a long time to process stuff. Be patient and you won’t look silly.

I’m also trying to figure out a way to get comments editable or at least deletable by someone other than myself. Anyone have recommendations for a WordPress plug-in that would upgrade the comments?

Wow, there are more free things than EVER on the internet! What is the use of playing softball in the park or brunching with the girls when there is so much cool free shit?

First off, some that is NOT FREE, repeat NOT FREE, but it is pretty affordable: yesterday’s news BOMBSHELL: TEZUKA ON THE WEB! Japanese bookstore Papyless will make 448 stories from manga forefather Osamu Tezuka available, including ASTROBOY, BLACK JACK and NEW TREASURE ISLAND. Starting March 18th it will cost 105 yen, or about one dollar, to read a volume over 48 hours. You can buy it for keeps for 315 yen per volume. Hopefully with a little Googling and Paypaling we can finally read NEW TREASURE ISLAND which was to manga what D. W. Griffith was to filmmaking, technically speaking.

Technorati Tags: Dr. Goldfoot, Tezuka

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The Wisdom of Steven Grant continued: This week he reveals the secret truth no one wants you to know about!

The American comics industry has lived for a long time on its own relatively isolated little island, where things have developed under fairly unique circumstances. But the medium’s no longer an island; only the business is. And now only if we choose to be. Because comics are mainstream now, as mainstream as anything. They’re acceptable. They’re accepted.

Repeat that until it sinks in. They’re accepted. Comics are accepted. We’re accepted. We’re not lionized, for the most part, but why should we be? But we’re not freaks anymore, or outsiders. The island is no longer a necessity. Great as it’s been living on coconuts all these years, there’s steak out there to be had. There’s a whole world a hell of a lot bigger and more diverse and more interesting than our island.

And I suspect that’s what a lot of people in American comics are secretly worried about.

This idea was tangentially discussed at the “State of the Industry” panel we took part in the other night, ably reported on by Laura Hudson:

When the panel discussed ways to expand the audience for comics and graphic novels, Phegley said that the medium would never truly go mainstream until it was embraced by middle America, and suggested that it would be beneficial if a graphic novel were promoted by Oprah’s book club, for example. MacDonald agreed that “passing the Oprah test” was something she often came across in her work at Publishers Weekly, and an important factor for mainstream acceptance.

Actually what interested us the most about this panel is that when asked to mention comics they liked, Bully said Dark Horse’s Little Lulu reprints and Kiel Phegley mentioned Dark Horse’s Casper collection, books the very little Beat was reading all those years ago.

WE’re not sure we can articulate the connection right now, except that the idea of acceptance for comics is scary because Oprah might not like YOUR comic, and then where would we all be?