Yet another institution is jumping on the graphic novel bandwagon, with a comics night at Joe’s Pub’s Happy Ending Reading Series:

GRAPHIC BOOK NIGHT

The consistently sold out, Happy Ending Music and Reading Series, chosen by New York Magazine and NY Press as the best reading series in NYC, and singled out by the New York Times Magazine for helping to “Keep downtown alive,” features the most interesting storytellers, writers, musicians, raconteurs and personalities, and requires the readers to take one public risk, while the musicians, who perform two short sets with their original, lyric-driven music, are required to play one cover song and try to get the audience to sing along. Called the “most vital authors’ series in the city,” by Time Out NY, and known for its consistently good taste, Happy Ending has launched careers and proudly, ended none. http://www.amandastern.com

Featured Artists

* Chip Kidd
* Brian Selznick
* Laurie Sandell
* Amy Correia

The show costs $15 and starts at 7:00 pm.

With the line between trade and public book festivals coming under increasing scrutiny, the New York Comic Con is teaming up with New York City’s biggest book festival to include an even bigger graphic novel presence. There’ll be a performance tent, guest presentations, guest autographing sessions and a dedicated marketplace area, all devoted just to graphic novels, and cartoonists including Matt Madden, Guy Delisle, and Danica Novgorodoff, along with prose authors such as Paul Auster, Naomi Klein, Oliver Sacks, and many more. The Brooklyn Book Festival will be held Sunday, September 13th. PR below.

The renowned Brooklyn Book Festival and New York Comic Con (NYCC) announce that the premiere pop culture convention and its stars will have a powerful presence at this year’s Brooklyn Book Festival, which the L.A. Times has called “the center of the literary universe.” NYCC will have its own colorful and exciting programming area at the free Festival, which draws nearly 30,000 visitors to experience readings and panels featuring international literary superstars, buzzworthy newcomers and more than 150 booksellers, publishers, independent presses and literary organizations in a bustling literary marketplace.

“The Brooklyn Book Festival is an awesome gathering and I have had tremendous respect for the festival from the moment it started,” notes Lance Fensterman, Vice President and Show Manager for New York Comic Con. “We are proud to bring an intense graphic lit and pop culture presence to such a great festival. I am sure this will provide our customers with the opportunity to connect directly with lots of new fans. Plus, it’s all for free! This is a win-win in every respect.”

“These days, Brooklyn is a hotbed of pop culture, high-tech culture, literary and blog culture, ethnic culture, indie culture, and has basically become an international hub for in-your-face creativity,” says Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz. “It’s only fitting that the Brooklyn Book Festival would form a dynamic duo with New York Comic Con!”

NYCC’s programming area at the Brooklyn Book Festival will include a performance tent, guest presentations, guest autographing sessions and a dedicated marketplace area. NYCC’s participation will be a positive way to spread further awareness of comics and graphic literature while providing free interaction and entertainment for thousands of NYCC fans. The next NYCC will take place October 8 – 10, 2010 at the Jacob K. Javits Center. Ranked by Crain’s New York Business as the second-largest annual event in NYC, it has grown from a convention that attracted 33,000 visitors when it was launched in 2006 to a show that will occupy the entire Javits Center and will attract well over 75,000 fans in 2010. For comics exhibitors and vendors, the NYCC programming area will provide a unique opportunity for them to not only have a home that attracts like-minded customers and fans, but to have a central location where new fans and readers can check out the latest in comics and pop culture entertainment. Comic book writer and editor Denny O’Neil, creator Phil Jimenez, and writer and editor Tom DeFalco are just a few of the many popular guests who will appear in the NYCC programming area. In addition to guest speakers, NYCC’s diverse Brooklyn Book Festival programming includes Hip Hop Hearts Anime, a live-performance featuring local DJs which focuses on the intermixing of American hip hop culture and Japanese anime. Some of the companies who will be participating include Captain Action, Midtown Comics, Moonstone Publishing, and Disney Publishing. An additional announcement with more guest names and participating companies will be made in the near future.

This year’s Brooklyn Book Festival will again feature a literary marketplace with more than 150 booksellers, publishers and literary organizations in Borough Hall Plaza as well as panel discussions and readings, a children’s authors stage and special programming for teens and exhibitors that will include bookstores, publishers and literary organizations. Readings are held at Brooklyn Borough Hall, in Borough Hall Plaza and Columbus Park, at St. Francis College and the Brooklyn Historical Society.

Confirmed authors include Jonathan Ames, Paul Auster, Staceyann Chin, Guy Delisle, Lupe Fiasco, Edwidge Danticat, Rawi Hage, Tao Lin, Jonathan Lethem, Colson Whitehead, David Lida, Matt Madden, Thurston Moore, Gary Shteyngart, Melvin Van Peebles, Sherman Alexie, M.T. Anderson, Naomi Klein, Danica Novgorodoff, Esmeralda Santiago, George O’Connor, Raina Telgemeier, Jessica Abel, Nick Bruel, Peter and Randall de Seve, Christopher Myers, Tom Tomorrow, Mo Willems, Russell Banks, Kate DiCamillo, Cynthia Ozick, Anne Carson, A.M. Homes, David Cross, Mary Gaitskill, Oliver Sacks, Nelson George, Amy Sohn, Jeffrey Rotter, Keith Gessen, Greg Milner, Francine Prose, and more.

Programming will include fiction, nonfiction and poetry panels on hot topics such as: “The International Graphic Novel,” featuring Guy Delisle (The Burma Chronicles), Peter Kuper (Diario de Oaxaca: A Sketchbook Journal of Two Years in Mexico), and Sarah Glidden (How To Understand Israel In 60 Days Or Less), moderated by Matt Madden; “The Great Recession” (featuring Justin Fox, Naomi Klein, Kai Wright and moderator Errol Louis of the New York Daily News); “The Naked City: Urban Realism and the Global City in Fiction & Non-Fiction” (featuring David Lida, Meera Nair, Hirsh Sawhney and moderator Cheryl Harris Sharman; “Literature in a Digital Age” (John Freeman, Dwight Garner, Sarah Schmelling); “Poetry, Pop and Hip-Hop” (Lupe Fiasco, Thurston Moore, Tracie Morris, Matthew Zapruder and moderator Touré); and “PSA Presents” (a reading by the nation’s oldest poetry organization, featuring some of the country’s best bards, including Anne Carson, Sonia Sanchez, Philip Schultz, Arthur Sze and Alice Quinn).

BROOKLYN BOOK FESTIVAL

The 2009 Brooklyn Book Festival is presented by Brooklyn Tourism and the Brooklyn Literary Council, initiatives of Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz. Sponsors include the NYC Department of Parks & Recreation; the NYC & Company Foundation; New York Comic Con; Astoria Federal Savings; Citi; Boar’s Head Provisions; the New York Marriott at the Brooklyn Bridge; and Time Out New York, media sponsor again this year. Cultural partners are BAM; the Brooklyn Historical Society; Brooklyn Public Library; and the National Book Foundation. Programming partners include Housing Works Bookstore Café; PEN American Center; Poetry Society of America; The New York Review of Books; St. Francis College; and The Nation. For more information about the Brooklyn Book Festival, visit www.visitbrooklyn.org or check out the official Facebook page at www.facebook.com/pages/Brooklyn-Book-Festival-Official-Site/20650359836. On Twitter, follow the Brooklyn Book Festival at bkbf.

About Comics’ Nat Gertler welcomes Benjamin Meyer Gertler
Born August 4, at 8:22 AM, 8 lbs., 8 oz.

Details here.

Underground pioneer Howard Cruse has just published a collection of his gay-themed comics, called From Headrack to Claude. It includes such things as “Gravy on Gay”, his never before reprinted first story from BAREFOOTZ #2. Ordering details in the link.

A special report by Zena Metal

Day One of San Diego Comic-Con 2009 has come and gone, and though my heart feels a little bit heavier for not being a part of it, I’ve resigned myself to playing armchair critic in addition to my role as The Beat’s second-string reporter this weekend.

Just think of me as a pop-culture Watcher: I observe and compile knowledge, but I can’t actually cause any of the fun trouble I’ve been known to evoke in past years. Below are some dispatches from the Con that made me feel a little warm inside.

- Not surprisingly, Comic-Con is trending highly on Twitter. If you want to personalize your own well-rounded SDCC-related feed, I suggest you follow these fine folks: Comic News Insider’s Jimmy Aquino, the ever-witty Ben McCool, mistress of Adult Swim Liz Mackie, Geeks of Doom, and Entertainment Weekly’s well-scrubbed Michael Ausiello.

- Here are some giant display movie posters for the JONAH HEX film, featuring Josh Brolin and Megan Fox.

- Star Trek cologne. Really? I never even knew the stuff existed, but apparently Khan got his own exclusive scent this week. It’s called (what else?) “Khaaann!”

-  An exclusive 25-minute trailer of James Cameron’s AVATAR seems to have made quite a good impression; there’s been a lot of chatter from attendees thrilled to see him collaborating with Sigourney Weaver again.

- Johnny Depp crashed Tim Burton’s ALICE IN WONDERLAND panel. I wonder if anyone asked him about his next role as principle in the Carol Channing biopic. Here’s a wrap-up with photos.

- Adult Swim creators recount their most awkward Comic-Con moments.

- John Lithgow will guest star in season four of Dexter, portraying the Trinity Killer, widely heralded as “the most dangerous serial killer ever.” Lithgow is perfect for the part; seriously, the dude has creeped me out ever since that one Twilight Zone episode with the doll. Eek! For more on the Dexter panel, check out EW’s coverage.

- Big ups to Twilight’s Kristen Stewart for rocking what looks like a Minor Threat T-shirt. I must say, even at twice her age, the real Joan Jett is still foxier.

-  Nathan Fillion is threatening to “whip Comic-Con into a frenzy” if he gets 100,000 followers on Twitter by Saturday. We get the feeling he’ll try either way.

- Someone can easily win my love by picking up this Voltron exclusive for me. Truly, this sexy black Designer vinyl is one of the quickest ways to my heart. Incidentally, this is the primary-colored metal god’s 25th anniversary.

- Seems that overcrowding is already an issue, as this quote of the day exemplifies: “Comic-Con is so packed, one bonehead thought it wise to yell ‘I have diarrhea! I have diarrhea!’ to try and part the crowd. It didn’t work.” - EW Pop Watch via Twitter

And it was just Day One…

P.S.: Photo courtesy of Parka Blogs.

Our report for PW Daily on Day 0 is up here, with some notes on the ICv2 conference.

The big news, via PR, is that there will be more BONE material on the way from Scholastic, written by creator Jeff Smith and Tom Sniegoski and drawn by Smith.

Elsewhere, it was announced that Jeff Smith will continue to create and publish new stories for Bone, his immensely popular epic fantasy adventure graphic novel series, for Scholastic. He’ll collaborate with writer Tom Sniegoski on Bone: Tall Tales, coming next summer. Next comes expansion of the Bone world—the Quest for the Spark Trilogy. Overseen by Smith, the trilogy will be written by Sniegoski and illustrated by Smith. The first book in the trilogy will be out in Fall 2010 and represents the first time Smith has continued Bone’s adventures beyond the original series. Scholastic has sold more than 4 million copies of the Bone series.

Reprinted material will include such things as the never-before-reprinted Bone story from Disney Adventures.

We managed to catch up with Smith this morning and he confirmed that the first volume of the trilogy will include Smiley Bone and Bartleby in a series of “Bone Scout” stories, with a trio of young scouts telling tale tales (in the grand comics tradition of the Junior Woodchucks.) More will be told at this afternoon’s Jeff Smith/Terry Moore panel.

iGoogle has just unleashed a huge slate of Comics Themes for users’ home pages. Themes include Vertigo, Zuda, Daniel Clowes, Mutts, Jaime Hernandez, Renee French, Jeffrey Brown, Rumiko Takahashi, Children of the Sea and more. In honor of the day, Jim Lee has the artwork on the Google homepage, which, as he twittered, “It will be the single most viewed image I have ever drawn!200 million hits+.”

Check out the page there are LOTS more cartoonists involved, from every stream of the industry.

Richard Thompson, a guest at next week’s SDCC, and creator of Cul de Sac, one of the finest comic strips currently running, has announced he has Parkinson’s disease. Let’s all send him some good thoughts, okay?

Hey, everyone, just a reminder to get me your San Diego Comic-Con PR ASAP. I’ll be running it all this week and next. Anything later than Friday and no one is going to see it, so let’s go. That’s heidi dot macdonald at gmail dot com. 

T-16! 

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced today that there will now be TEN Best Picture nominees instead of only five. Certainly done for marketing reasons (more pictures with Oscar nominations, don’t you know?), the question to ask in these here parts is: How does this effect both “genre movies” and animated features?

Thoughts?

One of the Wizard-related announcements at WWPh was the debut of FunFare, a new magazine which is owned by Wizard publisher Gareb Shamus but published via Wizard. You can read the PR in the jump but it will be a kind of family service magazine, with product reviews and recommendations, especially toys. The concept spins out of the “Hot Dozen Toys” event that Wizard and ToyFare have been promoting for years. It’s also a bit reminiscent of Family Fun, a magazine published by Disney for a while back in the ’90s.

UPDATE: Several people have reminded me that this is an update of Toy Wishes, a similarly-themed but more limited in scope magazine.

AND PLUS, two more staffers have apparently left Wizard, including the managing editor of Toy Wishes.

While the magazine industry is still in shell shock, FunFare is certainly a decent idea for a launch. The debut issue will come out in conjunction with the October Big Apple Con.
(more…)

Best wishes to our pals Erin Finnegan and Noah Fulmor, who not only got married this weekend, but had the first ever Zero Gravity wedding!

A few oddments of news we’ve had floating around our inbox for the last few days:

§ Tucker Stone’s MoCCA coverage dropped the bomb that the upcoming SIMPSON’S TREEHOUSE OF HORROR #15 will contain stories by the cream of the latest art comix crop, including John Kerschbaum, Kevin Huizenga, Jordan Crane, Jeffrey Brown, C.F. and Dan Zettwoch. CF on the Simpsons! Can’t wait!

§ Canadian cartoonist Doug Wright has been getting much attention of late due to D&Q’s lavish collection of his work. This jogged Marv Wolfman’s memory regarding a little known phase of Wright’s career:

Doug was one of my regular Crazy artists. I…got in touch with Doug and other Pulitzer prize winning editorial cartoonists who did stories for me at our ridiculous rates. Turns out editorial cartoonists had plenty of time each day while waiting for the story that they’d do their cartoon about. They were also lightning fast as well as brilliant. Doug did a number of stories for me as did several other editorial cartoonists who wanted to keep busy. Great stuff and it made Crazy look beyond wonderful.

§ Agent/artist Denis Kitchen has a few notes for us; his UNDERGROUND CLASSICS book from Abrams has gone to a second printing. Also, daughter Alexa Kitchen, is hitting the mainstream with a new book due from Hyperion this August, Grown-Ups Are Dumb! ((No Offense)). Young Kitchen has been publishing her cartoons since she was five years old, and this work — the fruit of her 10th year — represents her most mature work yet!

The lovable canard is 75 years young, and as cranky as ever.

[Image via Cover Browser.]

… then what do you think about his new assistant?

According to the BBC website, the new companion for Doctor # 11 Matt Smith will be 21-year-old Karen Gillan.

The actress has already appeared in the series, playing a soothsayer in a Series Four episode set during the Pompeii/Vesuvius disaster.

Well, so much for all the talk about a possible return of Sally Sparrow, the spunky heroine from the episode BLINK written by new head honcho Steven Moffat.

I had been hoping for the intriguing dynamic of young Doctor/older female companion with Moffat casting longtime collaborator Gina Bellman, who worked with Moffat on both COUPLING and JECKYLL. It’s possibly her commitments to the TNT show LEVERAGE may have prevented her from taking the part. Or I’m just wacky for this suggestion.

As someone clinging to the “In Moffat We Trust” mantra, I’ll wait and see how this young pairing works. That said, wouldn’t it be great if they finally introduced a third companion to the TARDIS during the show’s revival (not counting semi-regulars like Mickey or Rose’s Mum) and it was someone totally opposite this younger demographic? You know, like Bernard Cribbin as Wilf?

Posted by Mark Coale

As Archie Comics has been teasing for a few weeks, in issue #600 of his comic, Archie Andrews, the world’s oldest teenager, is finally getting married to either Betty or Veronica:

“The longest comic book love triangle in history is coming to an end. We’re told that Archie Andrews will at long last propose to either Betty or Veronica in a special issue coming out this summer,” said The Early Show co-anchor Harry Smith. The series features the fictional teenage Archie Andrews, Betty Cooper, Veronica Lodge, Reggie Mantle and Forsythe “Jughead” Jones characters by publisher/editor John L. Goldwater, written by Vic Bloom and drawn and created by Bob Montana.

While internet battles raged over Betty or Veronica, Archie has just released a cover (above) which shows whether Archie’s kids will be blond or brunette….and it’s…BRUNETTE!

Notice poor Betty crying in the background. You know, kid, there are other pebbles on the beach, other dots in the Benday. You will find another four-color character who will make your life complete, we feel certain. In fact, Jughead is looking a little jilted himself, so maybe you two can console one another.

§ Meanwhile, Peter Parker and Mary Jane’s marriage has been retconned back IN to the daily Spider-Man comic strip. Robot 6 has more. While the strip went along with comics continuity for a while and made the marriage never happen, bowing to reader (not fan) pressure, it turns out it was ALL A DREAM.

Well, only yesterday we reported Mike Patton might be working with Alan Moore, but Robot 6 dashes our hopes. However, it will still be very cool:

The other details on the project were correct — it will include a photographic novel, art prints, a two-hour audiobook and a soundtrack that will include contributions by Andrew Broder of Fog. Patton, meanwhile, is doing some work with Lex Records, specifically a collaboration with TV On the Radio’s Tunde Adebimpe.

ALSO, the Hayden-Christensen-is-Mandrake-the-Magician story has also been quashed:

Yesterday afternoon, word hit the wire that “Star Wars” prequel star Hayden Christensen had signed on for a live-action film based on the “Mandrake the Magician” comic strip created by Lee Falk. After speaking with a representative of Christensen, however, MTV News has been told that he is not attached to the “Mandrake” movie.

We know you are all devastated now, and we’ll just leave you to quietly whimper yourself to an uneasy sleep.

Speaking of sailors, our attention has been drawn to BRAVO ZULU, part of the “Fulfill Your Destiny” campaign to increase minority enrollment in the US Naval Academy. Created by writer and director Deborah Franco, the campaign has included ad spots, but will now expand into a graphic novel, above. According to a spokesperson for Franco, “This campaign has been the most successful in attracting new applicants to date! Since the campaign’s roll out, there has been the highest number of minority applications ever: 4,384, an increase of almost 50 percent over last year.”

Hm, what future shapes can this comics/sailors crossover take? V. v. exciting!

And one more! Impact Books is sponsoring a one day intensive on July 21, the day before the San Diego Comic-Con kicks off.

Online registration is now open for the new Impact University Pro Comics and Art Workshop, a one-day intensive of comics, graphic novel and art educational programming featuring some of the industry’s top names. Sponsored by the publisher of Impact Books, this groundbreaking event takes place Wednesday, July 21, 2009 at the Manchester Grand Hyatt Hotel in San Diego, California. Impact University is the place for would-be comic writers, illustrators and colorists to learn about breaking into the comic book industry. Seminars, hands-on workshops and portfolio reviews will provide last minute guidance for attendees at Comic Con later that week.

Panelists and workshop instructors include Peter David, David Petersen, Jimmy Palmiotti, Amanda Conner, Andy Schmidt, Chris Ryall, Scott Tipton, Tom Nguyen, Maggie Thompson and Brian and Kristy Miller from Hi-Fi Colour.

The price for the one day conference is $199. Workshops may be added on for an additional $75 fee each but space is limited. Complete details on Impact University and online registration can be found at www.myimpactuniversity.com.

Once more, here’s where to find out more.

Jessica Abel writes to alert us to anther great comics seminar, a pre-MOCCA Summer Intensive Comics Workshop at SVA:

Starting the day after Memorial Day, Jessica and I are offering an intensive 2-week class at SVA, the goal of which is to learn how to make comics by writing, drawing, and printing a minicomic in time for the MoCCA Art Festival the weekend of June 6-7. We’ll teach in the mornings and afternoons will alternate between open studio time and visits from a group of stellar guest cartoonists: David Mazzucchelli, Becky Cloonan, Tom Hart, Gary Panter, and Kim Deitch! Each will have a three hour session that will be a combination workshop/craft talk/crit.

The roster’s filling up fast so sign up sooner rather than later. Info below, registration info here.

Summer Intensive Comics Workshop
CIC-3012-A
Mon.–Fri., May 26–June 5
(begins Tuesday, May 26)
Instructional Hours: Mon.—Fri., 10:00 am–5:00 pm
Studio Hours: Mon.–Fri., 5:00 pm–10:00 pm;
Sat., May 30, 9:00 am–10:00 pm
9 sessions; 6 CEUs; $950

The seminar starts next week, so hurry hurry!

More info in the link, but here’s how to get more info.

Peter Sanderson, a comics historian of erudite and informed lineage, writes to tell us he’s teaching a course about graphic novels and movies at NYU this summer:

I will be teaching “The Graphic Novel and Cinema,” a course that compares movies to the comics in which they are based–including works by Eisner, Lee and Kirby, Miller, Moore and Pekar–at New York University’s chool of Continuing and Professional Studies this summer, starting May 27. But only if enough people sign up for the course! Each session of the course will incude a film screening as well as a discussion of the relationship between the film and the original comics.

For more information or to sign up, go here.

Hey kids, next week is BookExpo America, the big book show of the year. As we’ve been reporting, there will be a diminished presence by many former floor-hogs, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t still going to be a busy, newsworthy show, and there will be much graphic-novel related activity. If you have some activity to promote, let us know! Please put BEA in subject line, so it gets properly filed.

The very next week is the annual MoCCA Festival. As many of our correspondents have been noting, information on the show at the MoCCA website is somewhat….sparse at the moment, with a list of last year’s exhibitors as a highlight. In fact, most of the public information about the show has been gleaned from the poster we previewed here a few weeks back. However, based on our email and conversations, there will be a ton of folks there, and a ton of books. So let’s get those MoCCA debuts rolling, shall we? Email blast us with art and info, but make sure you put MoCCA in the subject line.

A new anthology dealing with gender issues has been announced, and it’s called The Big Feminist BUT. It’s edited by Suzanne Kleid (The Believer Magazine), Joan Reilly (Deep Six Studio), and Shannon O’Leary (PET NOIR), and includes stories by Jeffrey Brown, Ayun Halliday (BUST Magazine), Julia Wertz and Dean Haspiel. It sounds pretty meaty:

Women can run for the highest offices in the land. BUT: turn the channel and we’re bombarded with Girls Gone Wild, Bridezillas, and Real Housewives. Women can have any career they want. BUT: they still have to do the bulk of the childrearing at home. We know what we’re supposed to do if a guy turns out to be “not that into you.” BUT: what if he is? Can an artsy urbanette still call herself a hipster if she secretly longs for a husband and a baby and a white picket fence? What do we really mean when we say things like “I’m not a feminist BUT…” or “Sure I’m a feminist! BUT NOT ONE OF THOSE…”? These days we are probably no closer to answering Freud’s age-old question, “What does a woman want?” BUT: we’ve fired up our laptops, sharpened our pencils, inked up our brushes, and we’re going to make some comics about it.

A single panel from Jeffrey Brown:

That app for iPhones for finding the nearest comics shop that we told you about a few days ago is now available on iTunes. Via PR:

In a move promising tremendous benefits for comic book specialty shops, Diamond Comic Distributors and iVerse Media have joined forces to create a special “app” for Apple® iPhone® and iPod Touch® that puts the power of the Comic Shop Locator Service (CSLS) in the hands of consumers – for FREE.

“We’re entering a new phase with the Comic Shop Locator Service and we’re excited to expand its reach to customers using mobile and GPS devices like the iPhone,” said Dan Manser, Diamond’s Director of Marketing. “With the help of iVerse Media, this helps extend Diamond’s position as an e-marketing innovator.”

“At iVerse we’re committed to helping publishers sell more comics to new and existing readers, both digitally and in print.” said iVerse founder Michael Murphey. “By partnering with Diamond on innovative mobile solutions like the CSLS iPhone App, we can do just that. “

An outgrowth of the strategic partnership between Diamond and iVerse, and just the first of many planned initiatives, the new Comic Shop Locator Service application is available for free download from the iTunes store and compatible with iPhones and iPod Touch. Combining the searchability and interactive map features of the web-based ComicShopLocator.com, iVerse Media’s version also offers the ability to pinpoint your exact latitude and longitude via the iPhone’s GPS capabilities, giving you the closest possible participating comic shops, even if you don’t know the ZIP code.

Of course, users can still search for stores by entering a ZIP code, just like the original 888-COMIC-BOOK number or website version. Like those earlier resources, the new iVerse CSLS app draws information from a database of hundreds of comic shops worldwide, expanding the cutting-edge service that has been connecting consumers with comic book retailers since 1996. Since its inception, the CSLS has given out referrals to more than one million consumers, driving thousands of fans into comic book specialty shops.

Once the closest shops are located and beamed to your iPhone or iPod Touch– giving you the store name, street address, city, state, ZIP, phone number and distance – you have the option of calling the store of your choice or viewing the location in Maps, all at the touch of a button. Future plans include an International version of the Comic Shop Locator app, widening the Service’s reach even further.

For more information and to download the free Comic Shop Locator iPhone App, go to  or