The Small Press Expo is this weekend in Bethesda, MD!

It is the first time in a while that the show will be a weekend (Sat.-Sun.) affair, so it should be interesting. We’ll have a full preview in a day or so. Iin the meantime, it’s gonna be rough, but if you have books debuting at SPX, send me info. But PLEASE, send me a short paragraph on the book and a cover image. Include a link to your website.

UPDATE: VERY VERY IMPORTANT: PUT SPX DEBUT IN THE TITLE OF YOUR EMAIL.

Also, due to either a) popular acclaim or b) no one else being fool enough to say yes, I am the host for the Ignatz Awards for the THIRD TIME this year! Oh boy. Third time’s the charm.

See you all soon.

So anyway, the Kirkman/Bendis debate thingie. Perhaps it was just because everyone was still amped about the previous night’s Obama/McCain matchup, but everyone came expecting a real debate. What they got was Bendis and Kirkman sticking to their talking points. ComicMix has a near transcript, but Vaneta Rogers’s report at Newsarama has a more accurate take on the vibe of the room. While this particular exchange may not have reached soaring rhetorical heights, it was still a high-profile airing of the central matter of the creator’s life: making a living from your work. Via Rogers:

Bendis said he hopes “everyone in this room sits down and tries to make a comic. That would be amazing. But know that there’s an opportunity for it not to be seen.” He said that Torso, his early creator-owned work, never sold more than 2,200 copies, “which meant it sold 100 copies more than it needed to make a profit. Thankfully years later, the book has found an audience. But it didn’t look like it was ever going to find an audience.”

The writer said it’s a huge struggle to try to do creator-owned comics. “I just eeked out a living. And I just don’t care because I have mental problems,” he said to laughs. “You can’t live on it at all. I lived as a character artist,” he said, emphasizing that even when he thought he’d made it, he still needed another job.

“I remember very, very clearly winning an Eisner and leaving San Diego that night because I had to get to a gig doing a Bat Mitzvah that night.”

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While we were in Baltimore, the Manga Set were at New York Anime Fest. Reports are everywhere on the web. Brigid, predictably, has a fine roundup. Yen Press announced several new titles, and Del Rey announced a deal with Cartoon Network:

Joining Bakugan in their new Cartoon Network comics is Ben 10 Alien Force. Similar to their Bakugan roll-out, a Ben 10 full color ani-manga will debut in April 2009, followed by an original black and white manga story in Fall 2009.

Again, good to see more kid-friendly comics coming out in 2009 — but I had to wonder why Cartoon Network opted to work with Del Rey Manga on this project instead of partnering with their fellow Time-Warner partner CMX Manga or DC Comics. There’s probably a simple answer to this, but this was a topic that came up as a few of us in the audience compared notes afterwards.

We even got some text messages about this news, but Del Rey would seem, on the face of it, to be in much better position to produce ORIGINAL manga than CMX is, so it may be that simple.

[Photo taken from and ©2008 digitalvillain’s Flickr stream.]

Andy Khouri follows up on the Minx cancellation with interviews with most of the Minx creators on the fate of various books. The biggest casualty is David Hahn’s ALL NIGHTER, which is finished but will not be published by DC.

While the comics punditry performs a thorough post-mortem on Minx, reader concern has largely been with respect to announced, in-progress or otherwise unreleased books. Solicited projects “Emiko Superstar” and “Token” will be released as planned, but other works including the completed “All Nighter” will not, and the future of an in-progress second sequel to “The PLAIN Janes” remains uncertain. A sequel to Brian Wood and Ryan Kelly’s “The New York Four” will be published, with details regarding release date and imprint to be determined.

Much more from Cecil Castellucci, Jim Rugg, Mike Carey, and others in the link.

BTW, while Minx postmortems abound, from what we’re hearing, the main reason for pulling the plug was simple: the chains couldn’t support the line. The problem of shelving YA graphic novels — where they go and how they are labeled– is a big part of this, and based on some of the numbers we’re hearing, has affected a lot of the GNs for younger readers that have come out this year.

§ Wow, shocker! Kenneth Branagh is gonna direct THOR? Branagh is a trained Shakespearean actor, acclaimed for his dynamic screen and stage renditions of the Bard’s work, so getting attached to a superhero movie sounds like a big stretch. But is it?

This news was so momentous that The Beat was quoted on E! Online and we did give them some of our best lines, but let’s face it: Thor is a medieval kinda guy, and he’s gonna talk like a character from THE LORD OF THE RINGS, and Branagh is an expert in bringing that kind of stuff to life, so it makes muckle sense.

Speaking of Marvel, Nikki Finke reports and a press release confirms that Paramount has signed a five-picture deal to distribute Marvel’s movie offerings. Finke:

I know that Paramount was thrilled with picking up those fat distribution fees during the enormous $574 million global success of Iron Man this past summer. Now it’s got a lock on Marvel Studios’ coming product which should prove successful at the box office if the publicly traded indie’s creative chief Kevin Feige doesn’t screw it up. I’m told that Paramount and Marvel have done a big overall deal calling for the movie major to distribute Marvel’s next self-produced films on a worldwide basis.

The deal covers IRON MAN 2 and 3, Thor, Captain America, and The Avengers.

Speaking of The Avengers, it is apparently Marvel’s plan to introduce Iron Man, Cap and Thor in their own movies and then team them all together in a mega-tentpole. Now how cool would that be if Kevin Feige could pull it off? That’s just the kind of entertainment spectacle we’ll need to get us through the Great 21st Century Depression ’round about 2011.

§ MTV quizzes Kirsten Dunst; she sounds kinda like she’ll be coming back for the next two Spidey movies.

§ And now some great news for DC: Looks like the Green Lantern movie will start shooting early next year:

Earlier today I caught up briefly with producer Donald De Line, who is developing the Green Lantern film, and asked him for an update. He told me that “a new draft of the script came in” and they’re “gearing up to start shooting early spring.” While it’s not confirmed, he added that “it’s coming together and I’m excited about it. Hopefully we’ll make it to start gate. We’re really close - really close.”

Nisha Gopalan has more — script reports, which indicate a space opera-ish kind of origin story.

Last Thursday Paul Pope celebrated both his birthday and the launch of his “2089″ clothing line for DKNY Jeans at THE HAPPY CORP headquarters in SoHo for a comics/fashiony bash. Guests included Dean Haspiel, Molly Crabapple, Seth Kushner, Arlen Schumer, Josh Bernstein (Royal Flush), Lindsey Reiman & Anna Van Slee (Devil’s Due), Michel Fiffe, Laura Hudson, Pornsak Pichetshote (Vertigo), and Gina Gagliano (First Second).

The party also celebrated HappyCorp / LVHRD founder Doug Jaeger’s birthday as well as his becoming president of The Art Directors Club. A comics-friendly bunch, The Happy Corp previously hosted the double launch party for Doug Rushkoff’s Testament & Anthony Lappe/Dan Goldman’s SHOOTING WAR and as LVHRD, the NYC-based ongoing creative social events organization, they produced a  speaking “Bi-Fold” event mashing Paul against 8-bit music artist Mark Denardo.

Sadly we could not attend, due to a prior commitment, but it sounds like it was a groovetastic night.

DKNY Jeans just launched a mini-site for the Pope clothing line which includes a hand-drawn camouflage windbreaker hoodie inspired both by the natural patterns of butterfly wings and Kirby-krakkle. The site boasts a good bit of exclusive content, including a sketchbook and Inspirations section. The clothing is also hitting stores, so if you want the latest in comics-inspired clothing, now’s the time to go shopping.

Jeff Newelt was kind enough to pass along some photos from the evening, all taken by and © Andrew T. Foster.

Legendary Graffiti artist / sculptor Mare139 sporting the Camo Windbreaker
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§ If you missed the results of our reader poll, it’s here, allegedly legible.

§ Rob Clough has a report on the big Dash Shaw/Gary Panter event at Duke University (above):

Shaw went on to describe his experiences as a student in Japan, the ways in which manga influenced his storytelling choices in BOTTOMLESS BELLY BUTTON, and how he views autobiographical comics as a genre like any other. Panter said that Shaw was an easy student to work with because of his work ethic, and Shaw thought that many of his classmates at the School of Visual Arts were lazy. Panter bemoaned the fact that many of his students couldn’t even produce a page a week, blaming it in part on distractions like video games and the internet. Shaw gently chided him for that comment, saying “You’re such a dad!”, but Panter was adamant about this point, as well as his view that artists didn’t take advantage of libraries as a set of visual resources and inspirations.

§ Rick Veitch recalls his one collaboration with the late Steve Gerber.

§ John Jakala contemplates manga longevity:

I was cleaning my office over the weekend, trying once again to organize my mess of a comic collection. I definitely need new bookcases to arrange all of my graphic novels, but for now I shoved most of my manga into old diaper boxes just to clear out some of the clutter. I filled five “long boxes” with manga I didn’t think I was likely to reread any time soon and then reorganized the “keeper” manga on my bookshelf. Sifting through my collection like this made me reflect once again on the “re-readability” of various series. Here are several of the manga series I keep coming back to with some comments on what gives each series such ongoing appeal.

§ Speaking of collections, we also missed Tom Spurgeon’s impressive list of “50 Things That Every Great Comics Collection Needs to Have,” which caused us great anxiety, because we have most of them — for instance, we have LOTS AND LOTS of mini-comics, going back to the ’80s—and no place to put them, really. Just how many people need a great comics collection, though? And should they be stored in boxes on shelves vertically or horizontally?

§ Dick Hyacinth has some of the same thoughts:

9. A Suite of Modern Literary Graphic Novels Who doesn’t have this? I mean, who doesn’t have this and is still reading, rather than dismissing the whole endeavor as pointless, so long as Crisis on Infinite Earths isn’t specified as a must-have?

§ Also at the Comics Reporter, David Welsh muses on shojo manga that deals with real stories, in re: Minx’s stated goals:

It’s the last one that really baffles. Don’t get me wrong. I’ve got nothing against sparkly-eyed, orphan faerie princess. But to suggest that shojo manga doesn’t feature contemporary young women in realistic settings dealing with relatable issues is to willfully ignore a good half of what’s currently available in English from the category.

§ Test your ability to understand Grant Morrison! A. David Lewis posts the audio of his interview with the heavily-accented visionary.

§ Quotable Warren Ellis:

Newsarama: Warren, as always it’s good to speak with you. The first book’s worth of FreakAngels episodes have finished and a print edition is on its way and you’ve recently started Book 2. How’s the ride so far?

Warren Ellis: Well, now I understand why all the British comics writers from the 70s and 80s who worked exclusively in weekly comics had those deep lines all over their faces and those eyes that pleaded silently for death.

§ We got to meet Tucker Stone and his fellow-blogger wife Nina in Baltimore, and he’s a nice young fellow, a complete camouflage for the fact that he’s actually a delightfully snarky scamp as this report on a DCU panel shows:

• DC will continue to publish Final Crisis as a mini-series—the recently published third issue will be followed by a fourth.
• The Final Crisis: Rogues’ Revenge mini-series will also be having future issues.
• These will be joined by two new one-shots: Final Crisis: Submit and Final Crisis: Resist.
While this information isn’t exactly surprising or new, it was met with a pretty excited response that was completely out of proportion with the fact that the comics were vaguely referred to as existing in the near future, which everyone knew before they sat down.

A story from last week we didn’t have time for: San Diego has announced a planned 300,000 sq. ft expansion of their existing convention center, adding to the 525,000 sq. ft. existing floor space. The Convention Center expansion has long been mentioned by SDCC organizers as a necessity for the show to remain in the city of its birth. The new section wouldn’t be open until 2014, however.

The proposed new area would be built in back along the waterfront — a weedy, forklift-strewn area we’ve been exploring for our own mental health breaks for the last five years or so. The article is a bonanza for San Diego Kremlinologists, with a list of the city’s most lucrative shows, many references to Comic-Con as a convention the expansion would benefit, and interesting discussion from the locals about parking and other matters in the comments. There’s also this:

Adding another wrinkle, another major convention space is brewing in Chula Vista, just south along the bayfront. Gaylord Entertainment has proposed a resort hotel of 1,500 to 2,000 rooms with 400,000 square feet of meeting space. The Chula Vista project, on the table since 2005, isn’t expected to receive permits until the end of next year. San Diego convention officials said they don’t view Gaylord’s proposal as competition because of its smaller size.

Another potential player departed last month. Marriott was seeking permits for a 1,900-room hotel with 215,000 square feet of convention space next to Petco Park. But Marriott dropped the plan, citing the tight credit market.

So much for that secret intel from our cabbie!

That darned Congress! Have you heard? It’s incredible? They passed that Orphan Works bill. Colleen Doran explains::

Worst case scenario: the Senate has passed the Orphan Works Bill and the wording of the Senate bill is even more hideous than that of the House bill. The bill is not law, but may become law if we all do not act now.

That this bill was hotlined without open debate during a financial crises speaks volumes about the nature of this bill, and of those who support it.

Here is a direct link for writing your Senators and Congressman.

Concerned persons outside the US should also be sure to sign the petition and contact US legislators as the nature of the bill will also effect your copyrights.

You will no longer have the same copyright protections when you create your works. Without being listed in a database for which you will probably have to pay, your work may be considered “orphaned”, and the copyright infringer will be in the position of deciding the “fair rate” to pay you for use, assuming you ever find out your work was stolen. Oh, excuse me, “used”.

We’d hardly call ourselves experts in this area, but the bill as it stands does sound a little baby and bathwaterish. Read Colleen’s post for a more informed opinion.

Sorry about that media blackout yesterday. The Marriott Inner Harbor in Baltimore is a fine hotel with wonderful bedding and a friendly staff (as well as SHOWER CAPS, a recent bugaboo at SBM), but the Ethernet modem in our room cut out every time out the computer went to sleep — necessitating a 10 minute phone call to Indiana or somewhere every time to reset the modem. After we turned down a generous offer to send a repairman to the room at 1 a.m., a bathroom break resulted in another modem failure and we just had to give up. It was weak, we know, but we’re only human. At least we got the charges taken off the bill.

The sad part is that we could get the Wi-Fi from the nearby Holiday Inn on our iPhone, but not on our PowerBook. Ah, the joys of modern life.

Does anyone have a picture of the Kirkman/Bendis hug at their panel I can use for a Baltimore story I’m writing? Full credit will be given. Email at the usual spot.

Thanks.

Has hit the web. Discuss. Back in a bit.

Technorati Tags: The Spirit

Posting for today is delayed by a crappy hotel Internet connection. The Beat will return soon.

Sorry for the panic of Twitter last night! Basically, The Beat’s table included Kyle Baker, Dean Haspiel, and Ben McCool, so to say there were laughs afoot would be an understatement. We were all kidding about the deadly-looking steak knives when it turned out that Kyle had cut his finger buttering bread. Someone called a waiter over and the waiter intoned “Come with me!” and TWO people led Kyle off to get a Band-Aid. It was funny at the time but not as funny when it was Twittered. Anyway, at least one other person cut themselves with those darned knives. They are truly SNAPPED-worthy.

The highlight of the night was legend Nick Cardy getting the Hero Award. As presenter Todd Dezago explained, no one even knows how old Nick really is — either 88 or 89…but either way, he’s a treasure to be around.

A few photos of Table 1 hijinks:

Dean opted for double the meat.

Henrik Andreasen is unafraid of the Harvey knife danger.

We have lots more pictures that aren’t on Flickr…posting later.
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Official list; winners in BOLD. ALL STAR SUPERMAN was the night’s biggest winner with three, while Nicholas Gurewiitch’s PERRY BIBLE FELLOWSHIP won two.

BEST WRITER

Ed Brubaker, Captain America, Marvel Comics
Jeff Kinney, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Amulet Books
Grant Morrison, All Star Superman, DC Comics
William Van Horn, Walt Disney’s Comics and Stories, Gemstone
Brian K. Vaughan, Y: The Last Man, Vertigo/DC Comics

BEST ARTIST

Gabriel Ba, Umbrella Academy, Dark Horse Comics
John Cassaday, Astonishing X-Men, Marvel Comics
Guy Davis, BPRD, Dark Horse Comics
Frank Quitely, All Star Superman, DC Comics
William Van Horn, Walt Disney’s Comics and Stories, Gemstone

BEST CARTOONIST

Darwyn Cooke, The Spirit, DC Comics
Matt Kindt, Super Spy, Top Shelf
Jeff Kinney, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Amulet Books
Bryan Lee O’Malley, Scott Pilgrim Gets It Together, Oni Press
Vasilis Lolos, Last Call, Oni Press
William Van Horn, Walt Disney’s Comics and Stories, Gemstone

BEST GRAPHIC ALBUM - ORIGINAL

The Arrival, Scholastic Books
Donald Duck: The Case of the Missing Mummy, Gemstone
Exit Wounds, Drawn & Quarterly
Laika, First Second
Scott Pilgrim Gets It Together, Oni Press

BEST GRAPHIC ALBUM - PREVIOUSLY PUBLISHED

The Annotated Northwest Passage, Oni Press
Antiques, Volume 1, Gemstone
Captain America Omnibus, Volume 1, Marvel Comics
Damned, Volume 1, Oni Press
Dark Tower: The Gunslinger Born, Marvel Comics

BEST DOMESTIC REPRINT PROJECT

Complete Peanuts, Fantagraphics Books
Complete Terry and the Pirates, IDW
EC Archives, Gemstone
Popeye, Fantagraphics Books
Walt and Skeezix, Drawn & Quarterly

BEST AMERICAN EDITION OF FOREIGN MATERIAL

Eduardo Risso’s Tales of Terror, Dynamite Entertainment
Exit Wounds, Drawn & Quarterly
Manga Shakespeare: Romeo and Juliet, Abrams
Moomin, Volume 2, Drawn & Quarterly
Witchblade Manga, Top Cow/Image

SPECIAL AWARD FOR HUMOR

Chris Eliopoulos, Franklin Richards series, Marvel Comics
Nicholas Gurewitch, Perry Bible Fellowship, www.pbfcomics.com
Jeff Kinney, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Amulet Books
Bryan Lee O’Malley, Scott Pilgrim Gets It Together, Oni Press
William Van Horn, Walt Disney’s Comics and Stories, Gemstone

BEST ON-LINE COMIC

Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Jeff Kinney, www.wimpykid.com
EZ Street, Robert Tinnell and Mark Wheatley, www.comicmix.com/title/ez-street/
Penny Arcade, Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik, www.penny-arcade.com
Perry Bible Fellowship, Nicholas Gurewitch, www.pbfcomics.com
Surreal Adventures of Edgar Allan Poo, Dwight L. Macpherson, Thomas Boatwright and Thomas Mauer, www.drunkduck.com/The_Surreal_Adventures_of_Edgar_Allan_Poo

SPECIAL AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE IN PRESENTATION

The Annotated Northwest Passage, Scott Chantler, Oni Press
Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Jeff Kinney, Amulet Books
EC Archives, Various, edited by Russ Cochran, Gemstone
Postcards: True Stories That Never Happened, edited by Jason Rodriguez, Villard
Super Spy, Matt Kindt, Top Shelf

BEST SINGLE ISSUE OR STORY

Alice in Sunderland, Dark Horse Comics
All Star Superman # 8, DC Comics
Captain America # 25, Marvel Comics
Donald Duck: The Case of the Missing Mummy, Gemstone
I Killed Adolf Hitler, Fantagraphics Books
Immortal Iron Fist # 7, Marvel Comics
Stephen Colbert’s Tek Jansen # 1, Oni Press

BEST BIOGRAPHICAL, HISTORICAL OR JOURNALISTIC PRESENTATION

Blah Blah Blog, Tom Brevoort, http://www.marvel.com/blogs/Tom%20Brevoort/
The Comics Journal, edited by Gary Groth and Michael Dean, Fantagraphics Books
Meanwhile…: A Biography of Milton Caniff, R.C. Harvey, Fantagraphics Books
The Naked Artist: Comic Book Legends, Bryan Talbot and Hunt Emerson, Moonstone Books
Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide, edited by J.C. Vaughn, Gemstone
Reading Comics: How Graphic Albums Work and What They Mean, Douglas Wolk, Da Capo Press

BEST COVER ARTIST

John Cassaday, Astonishing X-Men, Marvel Comics
Marko Djurdjevic, Daredevil, Marvel Comics
James Jean, Fables, Vertigo/DC Comics
Mike Mignola, Hellboy, Dark Horse Comics
William Van Horn, Walt Disney’s Comics and Stories, Gemstone

BEST LETTERER

Chris Eliopoulos, Daredevil, Marvel Comics
Jared K. Fletcher, The Spirit, DC Comics
Willie Schubert, Walt Disney’s Comics and Stories, Gemstone
Douglas E. Sherwood, Local, Oni Books
Chris Ware, Acme Novelty Library, Acme Novelty

BEST COLORIST

Susan Daigle-Leach, Uncle Scrooge, Gemstone
Jamie Grant, All Star Superman, DC Comics
Matt Hollingsworth, Daredevil, Marvel Comics
Matt Kindt, Super Spy, Top Shelf
Laura Martin, Thor, Marvel Comics

BEST INKER

Stefano Gaudiano, Daredevil, Marvel Comics
Jeff Kinney, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Amulet Books
Steve Leialoha, Fables, DC Comics
Mark Morales, Thor, Marvel Comics
Kevin Nowlan, Witchblade, Top Cow/Image

BEST SYNDICATED STRIP OR PANEL

Doonesbury, Garry Trudeau, Universal Press Syndicate
Get Fuzzy, Darby Conley, United Feature Syndicate
The K Chronicles, Keith Knight, Self-Syndicated
The Mighty Motor-Sapiens, Mark Wheatley, Daniel Krall, Robert Tinnell, MJ Butler,
Craig Taillerfer, Matthew Plog, and Jerry Carr, Self-Syndicated
Mutts, Patrick McDonnell, King Features Syndicate

BEST CONTINUING OR LIMITED SERIES

All Star Superman, DC Comics
Captain America, Marvel Comics
Damned, Oni Press
Daredevil, Marvel Comics
Umbrella Academy, Dark Horse Comics
Uncle Scrooge, Gemstone Comics

BEST NEW SERIES

Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Amulet Books
The Order, Marvel Comics
Resurrection, Oni Press
Thor, Marvel Comics
Umbrella Academy, Dark Horse Comics

BEST NEW TALENT

Jeff Kinney, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Amulet Books
Jeff Lemire, Essex County, Top Shelf
Vasilis Lolos, Last Call, Oni Press
Robbi Rodriguez, Maintenance, Oni Press
Christian Slade, Korgi #1: Sprouting Wings, Top Shelf

BEST ANTHOLOGY

Flight Volume 4, edited by Kazu Kibuishi, Ballantine Books
Mome Volume 8, edited by Gary Groth and Eric Reynolds, Fantagraphics Books
Popgun Volume 1, edited by Joe Keatinge and Mark Andrew Smith, Image Books
Postcards: True Stories That Never Happened, edited by Jason Rodriquez, Villard
Walt Disney’s Comics and Stories, edited by John Clark, Gemstone

Hey, guys, sorry for the lack of posting today. Poor Internet connections! However, we are Twittering the Harveys at Twitter / Comixace. More later.

Yes, it’s Baltimore once again! We elected to go down and enjoy the Harveys, the scenic inner harbor and our occidental pals as opposed to NYAF this weekend, but we’re sure it’s a sound choice. Guests include Bernie Wrightson, Brian Bendis, Jim Lee, and Mike Mignola, and many, many more. We couldn’t find the link to the panels, so we’ve posted it in the jump. We’ll be there Saturday for this one for sure:

2:45pm-3:45pm
Kirkman vs. Bendis: The Future of Comics
Oa room (upstairs, room 307)
What began as an open letter on the future of comics has turned into one of the hottest topics to hit the industry in decades. Now, the two main opposing forces in the discussion get together as Robert Kirkman and Brian Michael Bendis come face to face in a no-holds-barred debate! Don’t miss out on what promises to be the most talked about panel of the year!

The Harvey Awards are Saturday night and we’re presenting! Thank the Lord — a chance to dress up! Kyle Baker returns as emcee. For those who wish to attend:

Tickets are available for $10, or free with a two-day pass to the convention. The hall will be opened for those ticket holders at approximately 8:45pm. Attendees who purchase a ceremony-only ticket are not eligible to receive the gift bag. The two-day convention tickets may be purchased through Ticketmaster, accessible from www.baltimorecomiccon.com.

We always have a swell time at Baltimore, and this year should be no exception. Come up and say hi. This is our big show of the year to kick back and have fun at, and a lot of others think so too.

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The Hollywood Reporter has more on the launch of Liquid Comics, formed when Virgin Comics’ Gotham Chopra, Sharad Devarajan and Suresh Seetharaman bought out the assets of the company. As previously expected, Liquid will continue to develop digital content, films, animation and gaming projects based on its original characters and stories. Director Shekhar Kapur will have a changed role, however.

In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Kapur said he will no longer be associated with the company, except as a minority shareholder. “The company is in the process of being restructured, and I continue as a founder-shareholder,” he said.

Liquid’s management plans to proceed with a number of projects previously announced by Virgin and said it soon would announce project launch dates.

But it was not clear whether Virgin-associated talent such as actor Nicolas Cage, porn actress and entrepreneur Jenna Jameson and U.K. musician Dave Stewart would work with Liquid.

Ongoing projects include “Virulents,” a feature based on a Virgin graphic novel to be directed by John Moore (”Behind Enemy Lines”).

The New York Anime Fest kicks off today, and we haven’t given this NEARLY the kind of buildup we should have, but it should be a lot of fun. The move from December has definitely given it a better slot, but more conflicts with other shows (like Balitmore Comic-Con and Yaoi Con.)

But this is still a big show. Major guests include Yoshitaka Amano (above), goth Lolita clothing designers Baby, The Stars Shine Bright, horror novelist Hideyuki Kikuchi, voice actress Rie Tanaka, and many more who you can see here.

There are parties. There are panels. Contests! …and all kinds of tie-in events. Oh, and concerts. If we weren’t going to Baltimore, we’d be there.

WHAT:
Justin Hall & Dave Davenport HARD TO SWALLOW @ Isotope
Friday, September 26th
7pm - 11pm

Kicking off Folsom Street Fair weekend in high style… queer comics icons Justin Hall and Dave Davenport will be launching the fourth issue of the edgy, gay erotic comics HARD TO SWALLOW at the Isotope.

One of our favorite indy books, HARD TO SWALLOW brings together three award-winning creators in an orgy of sex adventures featuring all the hardcore pirates, naughty werewolves, exotic locales, and horny studs you could hope for. Isotope is known for throwing some of the best bacchanalias in the comics world, and we’ll be jam-packing the store full of raunchy comics, booze, loose men and brash women, weak-willed cartoonists, and plenty of that HARD TO SWALLOW action that you need!

This event features hot tunes spun by The Eagle & The Cinch Saloon’s own DJ BEARZBUB.

The failure of WaMu Minx pretty much took over the blogosphere yesterday. A few highlights:

§ Mariah Huehner, who worked on the initial Minx launch, has her own postmortem:

And I think a huge part of it is a lack of long term planning. It was always going to take time for this line to find the right combination to work, probably with various hiccups along the way. The fact that it wasn’t an overnight, break out star, shouldn’t be surprising to anyone. It’s not like YA fiction just suddenly became popular…it’s been growing for awhile. Decades, in fact. And it’s really the fact that many of them have become films recently that makes it seem more “sudden”. Same thing with Manga, which often had tv shows and movies that were already successful here. There’s no such thing as an overnight success, in my opinion, and expecting it in publishing doesn’t make a lot of sense to me. Minx was still going through a lot of growing pains and I’m truly sad it won’t be able to continue to evolve and grow.

§ Raina Telgemeier refutes a lot of what I was hearing yesterday: Minx going down doesn’t mean girls don’t want to read comics:

Girls do want to read comics. They email me and send me letters to say so. Their parents do the same. I meet them at comic conventions, libraries, bookstores, comic stores, schools, and via my friends. They find personal inspiration in comics. They decide to start their own publishing companies and draw their own comics. They look for comics about interesting topics (nothing unusual there), and comics about characters they can identify with. They want comics that are made for them. They need comics that are made just for them.

§ Chris Pearson at Comic Book Junction has an interesting look back at Acclaim’s 1997 attempt at a line for kids:

But if Acclaim Young Readers never made it into — or made an impact on — the book stores, in the Direct Market they were completely lost. Relegated to the bottom shelves, packed in with the “Kids Ghetto” of comic selections — or even worse, racked spine-out. Unlike the beefy mangas that would make such a splash less than ten years later, the spines on the Acclaim Young Readers line were extremely thin and nondescript. If they had the misfortune to be placed on store shelves like actual books –they were completely invisible & forgotten.

§ Katherine Farmar has a very long and insightful post which does heavy duty finger pointing, and compares the Japanese and American markets:

One of the ways in which the Japanese manga market differs from the American comics market is the degree to which Japanese publishers cater to their audiences’ whims. If there is a niche out there to be exploited, you can bet your ass there’s a Japanese manga publisher exploiting it. If there’s a bandwagon to jump on, they will jump feet first. This requires three things: firstly, a keen eye for trends; secondly, tight editorial control so that creators stick to their given mandate and are carefully sheparded through every stage of the process; and thirdly, a hotline from your audience — and, before you begin publishing, from your potential audience — so you know what they’re looking for and can gauge what works and what doesn’t.

I do think the American Big Two do a LOT of market research into what their audiences want, in some ways — more Green Lantern Corp., more Skrulls–but it doesn’t quite pay off the same way because the audience models are different. And I think some people go too far in comparing American reading habits to those of Japan: Japanese society accepts what we consider shocking and distasteful as light entertainment, and have far far different views of “letting off steam” than we do. Plus, they read on trains. You might as well say that having more long train rides in America will improve comics readership.

A few more links of note:

• PW story by Calvin Reid
• KadyMae, who has some interesting insights from the retail end of things.
• Kai-Ming Cha
• Leigh Walton
• Leigh Dragoon
• Richard Bruton
• Chris Butcher
• Randy Lander
•Kevin Church
• Johnny Bacardi
• Simon Jones
• Johanna Draper Carlson Part 2

That survey looked readable in the preview.

I’ll be honest with you kids, it is hard to write about comic books right now when a meeting of our greatest leaders to decide how to stave off a depression (not recession) ends in finger pointing and shouting and begging. When the biggest bank in the country has gone under. And our potential vice president can’t coherently answer tough questions from Katie Couric.

It’s all worrying.

But…I’ll keep trying.

PS: We’re off on the road to Baltimore today, so look for some road dispatches and Twittering.

We’ve decided to make everything a little more interactive here at Stately Beat Manor, because we’ve heard that social networking and interactivity are where it’s all at. To that end, we want to know more about YOU, the faithful Beat reader. Perhaps we can even create a sort of Beaters profile, kind of like the old Dewar’s Profiles when drinking fine Scotch was a better way to get laid than using social networking websites. Help us, won’t you? First up: YOU ARE WHAT YOU READ.