One of the big topics on the floor at SPX among exhibitors was the seeming move of San Francisco’s Alternative Press Expo from its April slot to November, as shown in the above graphic, found on the San Diego Comic-Con website. Needless to say, the Spring-Summer-Fall rhythm of the indie show circuit as set up by APE-MoCCA-SPX has been a staple of the indie economy for a few years now, and a change would mean a radical shift in release dates and cash flow. Developing.

The Beat doesn’t really need to write an SPX report, because Liz Baillie covers it all: the comics, the drinking, the awards, the karaoke. It really was a great time. Above, the first photo we could find of Nick Gurewitch and the Ape, taken from Joe Zabel of Comics Talk.

More later.

Teen Boat #8!

•Closed Caption Comics has some interesting looking things, including OLDE TALES, above. Check the link for more.

Late listings:
•Rafer Roberts and Plastic Tree Farm

• John Bintz of Clarity Comics

Aside from SPX, this weekend there’s the second Birmingham International Comics Show, in the UK, featuring all the hard-drinking Brit comics folk you would expect to see, and even panels. Tony Lee, who got dosed at last year’s show, is man enough to come back, and even posts his schedule. For those of you in the UK, hopefully your livers have been in training for a month or so. This is the big one!

If you send us your link we’ll add it in right quick like
• Raina Telgemeier
• Mikhaela Reid
• Pat Lewis:
• Liz Baille:
• Larry Marder:
• One Percent Press:
•
Jason Rodriguez and Eximious Press:
• Blank Label Comics

Here’s Ad House’s activity list:

AdHouse Tables W36 & W37.

creators:

- Joshua Cotter concludes his Skyscrapers Opus with SKYSCRAPERS OF THE MIDWEST #4.

- Fred Chao attends his first Expo ever in support of JOHNNY HIRO.

- Jamie Tanner is out to support THE AVIARY.

Look for Joey Weiser and his all-ages book THE RIDE HOME and J Chris Campbell and his respective ZIGZAG #2 at their own locations.

miss E. Lany:
- Limited PROCESS RECESS 2 and PULPHOPE books (only bringing a few, so get there early if you a wanting)
- Signed James Jean BEGUILING posters.
- One copy of Project: Telstar (I traded with Dave at Baltimore).
- If you purchase SKYSCRAPERS 2-4, you’ll get a FREE S&N print of ACT OF MERCY.
- And the 5th anniversary AdHouse pin.

Ganked from their blog:

C.F., Brian Chippendale, Frank Santoro and Jon Vermilyea will be on hand to sign books.

Friday:

4 pm - 5 pm: Jon Vermilyea, Brian Chippendale and Frank Santoro 5 pm - 6:30 pm: Brian Chippendale, Frank Santoro and CF

Saturday:

11:30 am - 1 pm: Brian Chippendale, CF and Frank Santoro 1:00 pm – 1:45 pm: CF interviewed by Dan Nadel 2 pm - 4 pm: CF and Brian Chippendale 4 pm - 5 pm: Jon Vermilyea and Frank Santoro

FBI will be at SPX in force. Check this FLOG post for even more details here her’es the signing schedule:

FRIDAY:

3:00 Paul Karasik & Bill Griffith
4:00 Paul Karasik & Bill Griffith
5:00 Gilbert Hernandez & Tom Kaczynski
6:00 Gilbert Hernandez & Miss Lasko-Gross
7:00 Kim Deitch & Miss Lasko-Gross

SATURDAY:

11:00 Gilbert Hernandez
12:00 Miss Lasko-Gross & Paul Karasik
1:00 Miss Lasko-Gross & Paul Karasik
2:00 Kim Deitch & Paul Karasik
3:00 Kim Deitch & Tom Kaczynski
4:00 Gilbert Hernandez & Tom Kaczynski
5:00 Gilbert Hernandez & Bill Griffith
6:00 Gilbert Hernandez & Bill Griffith

PANELS:
Friday 6PM: Paul Karasik on Fletcher Hanks
Friday 8PM: Gilbert Hernandez Q&A
Friday 9PM: Bill Griffith at D.C.’s Politics & Prose bookstore
Saturday 12PM: Kim Deitch spotlight
Saturday 4PM: Bill Griffith Spotlight

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[17] This aspect of the mobile telephony business is, in itself, converter ringtone online e.

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As chart car amortization loan expanded and neared capacity, the ability to reduce transmission power allowed new cells to be added, resulting in more, smaller cells and thus more capacity.

The New York Comic-Con announces its new point man, Jay Williams, and his email is in included — so you people feel free to contact him. We’re told he LOVES it.

New York Comic Con (NYCC) has announced that it has appointed senior staff member Jay Williams to the post of Manager of Programming & Education. The role is considered critical as much of NYCC’s activity and opportunity is generated by the special events and panel discussions which supplement the excitement of the show floor. Organizers are pleased to have both a trade show professional and veteran, as well as a huge comics fan to fill the role. Williams is expected to bring an intuitive grasp of creativity and management skills to the function.

In a related announcement, show organizers note that one of Williams’ first initiatives is the launch of Kids’ Day, a significant all-day program on Sunday, April 20 which will focus on events and activities designed to attract and entertain young fans. A key partner in the development of this program is Kids Love Comics (KLC), a nonprofit organization dedicated to the development and growth of children’s comic books in North America.

New York Comic Con will be held April 18 – 20, 2008 at the Jacob K. Javits Center in New York City. Jay Williams is open to receiving ideas and suggestions for all areas of programming at NYCC and may be reached at jaywilliams at nycomiccon.com.

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PR:

The New York Anime Festival (NYAF) today announced prominent online artists and performers Chris Hazelton, GeekNights, Juno Blair B, Lindsey Henninger, and Uncle Yo will be featured at its inaugural event, December 7-9, 2007 at the Jacob Javits Center in New York City. The New York Anime Festival, organized by the creators of the New York Comic Con, is committed to being an event which spans the anime world, and NYAF’s newly announced guests — podcasters, webcomic authors, and online illustrators — further expand the convention’s boundaries. Existing guests, including Kobun Shizuno (Co-Director of Evangelion: 1:0 You Are (Not) Alone), David Kalat (author of J-Horror: The Definitive Guide), and Yoshi Amao (founder of performance group Samurai Sword Soul), come from both the pop culture to traditional culture realms.

“I’m very pleased to welcome NYAF’s new guests,” Show Manager John McGeary said. “Chris, GeekNights, Juno, Lindsey, and Uncle Yo are all talented fans of anime and manga, and they’ve each turned their love into something creative. We’re very happy to give them this opportunity to shine.”

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We don’t know about you, but Occasional Superheroine has been slaming it out of the park on a regular basis and is definitely on our absolute must-read list on a daily basis now. Following her trip down to Baltimore, Val took a look around what is a charming but “mainstream” con:

The truth was that the sense of willingness to try new things on the part of the attendees — seek out new books and talent — was relatively small. At least much smaller than San Diego or New York.

Some webcomics creators expressed frustration about the con, noting this lack of attendees who were even receptive enough to take their flyers.

“In a few cases they actually gave my flyer back and refused to look at it” one webcomics exhibitor reported. “In all the many conventions I’ve been to, that has NEVER happened.”

The same exhibitor noted that their success in anime conventions has been far greater, even though their webcomic is not related to manga. “Anime fans just have much more of an adventuresome energy, and want to try new things.”

While we wouldn’t wnat to fault the Balitmore show — it’s truly a relaxing oasis in a summer of tensions and anxiety, and everyone has a good time — the comment about anime cons is very interesting. We had quite a few conversations at the retailer summit about whether manga fans would make the reverse commute to read Occidental comics. Are they more open minded? Any anecdotal evidence from the peanut gallery?

We’re still on the road rappin; with retailers and getting all kinds of scoop for our loyal readers. So in the meantime, here’s Jimmy’s Juke Joint: Baltimore Comic-Con Recap complete with many pictures.

To sum up: lotsa crabs, some Harvey’s, MICA, a Goddess, and some rock band called Pope/Jean. If you must read all about it, please dear reader…read on.

We’re actually down in Baltimore for the Diamond Retailer summit. We arrived yesterday as the Comic-Con was wrapping up and heard that Saturday was boffo, and even Sunday was bustling in a new, larger floor space. We got plenty of news and views in a short while, and we’ll have more of a news roundup later. Also: Jeff Newelt’s Flickr set

In the meanwhile, CBR talks of Dan Didio’s “oceans of guff”:

A fan asked Didio if the “oceans of guff” he’s gotten recently has affected him. Not at all, he said. “We’ve had a game plan for a while,” he said. “I feel very confident in where it’s going. I have a lot of faith in ‘Countdown’ and where it’s going. Everything we do is part of a learning process.” Didio explained that the “showrunner” writing method used for “Countdown” was in response to the difficulty “52″ writers were having.

Blog@ has the rest of the Baltimore news, of which the most interesting is that Sergio Aragones (and Mark Evanier) will be writing THE SPIRIT, following Darwyn Cooke’s departure.

Marvel news was much more random — No Ultimate Misty Night or Spider-Ham. More is expected at today’s retailer summit.

Yay it’s Baltimore Comic-con weekend, taking place Sept. 8-9 at the Baltimore convention center!
Guests include Sergio Aragones, Jim Lee, Mike Mignola, Joe Kubert and MORE.

§ The Harvey Awards are tomorrow night! Sergio is the keynote speaker and Kyle Baker emcees. Should be good.

§ Mike Wieringo will be remembered.

§ Image Comics is coming!

§ Lillian Baker will be selling her minicomic/legal comedy DRAMA A LA COCOA (Saturday afternoon only).

§ Top Cow is bringing First Born architect Ron Marz (Witchblade) along with rising artistic talents Kenneth Rocafort (Madame Mirage) and Michael Broussard (The Darkness).

Top Cow will also debut their Baltimore Comicon exclusive variant cover for Madame Mirage #2 by Kenneth Rocafort at the show. And finally, Top Cow will be holding a panel on Saturday at 3pm in “The Batcave” (Rooms 318-320) where they will unveil sneak peeks of upcoming titles and make some exclusive announcements. Every attendee will receive an exclusive gift just for attending.

§ Newsarama talks to organizer Marc Nathan:

Nathan: Yeah – it’s good news that it’s the Orioles, it brings a lot of people in to town, and everyone who’s frustrated about hotel rooms – thank your lucky stars it’s not the Ravens. This weekend, the Ravens are in Monday Night Football, and are on the road. Football fans in general are worse for us, because they don’t just take our hotels, they take our parking as well. They show up at five o’clock in the morning, and start roasting hot dogs. At least we got that.

The only thing that I’ve got to offer is that when you get downtown – you’re going to see this giant pit of construction next to the convention center – that will be a new hotel, very similar to what Shelton Drum has with the Weston in Charlotte – that will connect to the convention center, with hundreds and hundreds of additional rooms. They say it will be ready for fall of next year. “Fall” is really ambiguous…but again, we’re pushing our show back, so we’re hoping that we can be one of that hotel’s first conventions next year.

The Beat is missing Saturday and the Harveys due to a wedding, but will be on the scene Sunday, and for the Diamond Retailer Summit which begins on Monday. C U there!

Even though THE BEAT and her helper monkey have been talking about Chris Benoit’s brain, that’s not the wrestling talk we have for you today.

As everyone knows, there are a multitude of similarities between the two popular culture whipping boys: brightly-colored outfits, supersized muscles, and so on.

Today, we shine a line on one of our favorite wrestling companies, CHIKARA PRO, and their love of comics. You may have seen them references on MTV recently, talking about wrestling and video games (CHIKARA has a Nintendo-loving garppler on their crew called Player Uno).

CHIKARA’S DVD releases have, for the last couple years, been homages to famous comic book covers. You undoubtedly recognize the originals that inspired these discs.

More after the break
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§ CBR wraps up the McCloud 50 State Tour in an excellent piece:

The family then singled out a few places on their trip where they had particularly good experiences. “I really loved Alaska,” Scott McCloud said. Portland, Toronto and London numbered high on his list as well. “Also, let’s not leave out Savannah. Savannah is a real comics town now, because of Savannah College of Art and Design,” which famously offers a curriculum in sequential art.

McCloud said some of his favorite places were the towns that were more than just cookie-cutter slices of Americana. “There were certain places in America that don’t look like anywhere else,” McCloud explained. “Like West Liberty, West Virginia does not look like anywhere else. White River Junction, Vermont; these places aren’t generic, it’s not just that they have a Subway and a Wallmart and an Applebees, they just look like this unique place.”

§ Filip Vukcevic at Wizardwonders about the modern comic-con Via the Toronto Fan Expo:

Is there still room for comic books at a comic book convention? That’s what I was left wondering as the three-day media-palooza that was the 2007 Toronto Fan Expo died down. The once humble convention has grown to over 50,000 attendees. On the comics side, where once the con couldn’t even get one John Romita, this year it had both—and Greg Pak, and Frank Quitely, and Steve McNiven, and Paul Dini… the list goes on. While the venue, the guests and the dealers have changed, one thing hasn’t: It’s still the best place to be if you’re a comics fan in Toronto. The funnybooks, faded though their presence may be, are still the backbone of the event. Thank God.

§ The New York Sun looks at the new comics bio of Ronald Reagan, the last true conservative:

The Reagan graphic biography lifts the ambition of the form to a new plane, and if the likeness of Reagan is sometimes woefully approximate and the drawing of other familiar characters, such as John Kennedy, Jimmy Carter, and Mikhail Gorbachev, suggest only a vague acquaintance with reality, it is hard to fault the seriousness of the enterprise.

To ensure accuracy, the book is at times too wordy and strains to encapsulate the long career of the oldest politician ever to enter the White House in a limited number of frames, but never mind.

Image Comics returns to the Baltimore Comic-Con in a big way September 8th and 9th with two panels, The Mice Templar Retrospective and the newest Image Comics Show!

“Our next edition of the Image Comics Show will be a great one,” said PR & Marketing Coordinator and Image Comics Show host Joe Keatinge. “On tap for the panel will be Erik Larsen, Scott Kurtz, Dean Haspiel, CB Cebulski, Frank Cho and around half a dozen announcements I’m dying to reveal. We’re also doing a retrospective on the Mice Templar. Mike Oeming and Bryan J.L. Glass have been working on this book for around twenty years so we’ve dug into their archives to unearth never before seen conceptual art they’ll discuss during the show.”

Attending fans will have the chance to participate as Image is looking for people to film both panels for internet circulation and Image isn’t going to let them go home empty handed.

Keatinge adds, “The first five people who contact me about filming both panels and throwing them on YouTube will receive a free copy of the Mice Templar #1 Retailer edition as well as a set of all four Image Comics 2007 convention exclusive prints! As this is our last convention of 2007 this may be your final chance to obtain these limited items!”

Mice Templar: A Retrospective takes place Saturday at 11:00-11:50 in The Batcave (Rm 318-320) and The Image Comics Show will be on Sunday, 2:00-2:50 in Avengers Mansion (Rm 319-320). The Image Comics can be found throughout the show at booth 1150. Joe Keatinge can be contacted at joekeatinge@imagecomics.com.

Through his art, stories and personal appearances at conventions, artist Mike Wieringo touched the lives of fans, collectors, fellow professionals and most of all friends and family.

Mike’s untimely passing hit the industry like a proverbial ton of bricks, and it’s a loss those who knew him won’t soon recover from. Instead of mourning the loss of this brilliant talent, though, the Baltimore Comic-Con wants to celebrate his life and work at its September 8-9, 2007 show.

“We invite everyone who’s interested to join Mike’s friends and colleagues, including Mark Waid and Todd Dezago, as they share their fondest memories of one of comics greatest artists,” said Marc Nathan, the show’s promoter. The panel will be held Saturday, from 4 PM to 6 PM.

Additionally, the show will sponsor the Mike Wieringo Humane Society Benefit fund raiser booth. During the convention, such creators as Todd Dezago, Craig Rousseau, Mark Waid, Cully Hamner, Scott Kurtz and John K. Snyder III will sign, sketch and otherwise raise funds in furtherance of a permanent naming opportunity with the Humane Society of Baltimore County. Many other creators will be involved as well.

“Mike was such a good friend of the show, a kind person and so fond of animals, that we really wanted to do something special in his memory,” said Nathan. “This seems like a fitting path to take, and we’re looking forward to this being a regular part of the Baltimore Comic-Con for years to come.”

Since its founding in 1927 by Elsie Seeger Barton, the Humane Society of Baltimore County has provided for the care of suffering and homeless animals. Situated on 365 acres of land held in trust for the Humane Society, it operates an animal shelter, a spay/neuter center, a pet cemetery, and a 345-acre wildlife sanctuary. The Humane Society is dependent on donations from individuals, corporations, and foundations, and income from fundraising events to support animal care operations.

The Baltimore Comic-Con will be held Saturday and Sunday, September 8-9, 2007 at the Baltimore Convention Center . Tickets are available from TicketMaster and at the door ($15 for one day, $25 for both days).

§ The Ledger-Enquirer previews DRAGON-CON the freakiest show of them all.

There’s only one weekend when you get the chance to see Spiderman, Doctor Who and the Sith cheerleaders in one place.

Lucky for you, this is it.

Dragon*Con, touted as the nation’s largest popular arts convention for sci-fi, fantasy and a miasma of other delicacies, starts Friday in Atlanta. Hosted in the Hyatt Regency Atlanta, the Atlanta Marriott Marquis and the Atlanta Hilton, Dragon*Con will turn downtown Atlanta into a Tatooine cantina faster than you can do the Kessel run.

“It’s just good seeing a whole street filled with storm troopers and Doctor Whos,” said Josh Plock, secretary for the Campus Nerds at Columbus State University.

§ Meanwhile, Warsaw braces for Polcon

Once in a year people of unusual talents meet in a Polish city. Some of them have seen Star Wars over 200 times and still take pleasure in watching for the 201 time. Some easily quote dialogues from Spiderman comic books, others know more about trolls and elfs than about washing machines. The Polcon convention is just the ideal place for them to talk, exchange opinions and learn more about science fiction.

Via Colleen Coover the “Comics are not literature” panel from San Diego that was practically the only provocative one, as far as we can tell, is up. We haven’t listened yet, but it’s very high on our catch up list.

Image of Douglas Wolk, Dan Nadel, and Sara Ryan stolen from Coover. Who just got married this weekend to panelist on the above Paul Tobin so big congrats to the happy couple, and here’s a picture of that, taken by Paul Guinan.

Joining already announced guests Gilbert Hernandez, Rutu Modan and Bill Griffith, this year’s SPX has added three more intelligent and exciting guests: Matt Wagner, Jeff Smith and Kim Deitch. This is one of the best balanced guest lists we’ve seen at a small press show, and we’re definitely looking forward to hitting Bethesda October 12-13.

The Small Press Expo (SPX), the preeminent showcase for the exhibition of independent comic books, graphic novels and alternative political cartoons, is proud to add Matt Wagner, Jeff Smith and Kim Deitch to the roster of guests for SPX 2007. This years SPX will be held October 12 and October 13 at The North Bethesda Marriott Convention Center in Bethesda, Maryland.

Matt Wagner is one of the pioneers of indie comics with his original creation of “Grendel”, which celebrates its 25th Anniversary this year. Matt also created, wrote and drew “Mage”, and has worked on a number of projects for both DC and Vertigo. His next installment of the Grendel saga, “Behold The Devil” is due to be released this November from Dark Horse.

Jeff Smith, is the creator of the celebrated epic “Bone”, which has over a half million copies in print and is now available in Italian, Spanish, German and many other foreign languages. Jeff recently completed his critically acclaimed reworking of the Golden Age hero Captain Marvel, “Shazaam! The Monster Society of Evil” for DC Comics. He has recently been named by Fantagraphics as the art designer in charge of the upcoming reprints of Walt Kelly’s classic, “Pogo”.

Kim Deitch will be at SPX to promote his well received latest graphic novel, “Alias The Cat” from Pantheon Books. Kim is one of the original “underground” cartoonists who redefined comics in the 1960’s and has also worked in the field of animation.

These creators are in addition to Bill Griffith, Gilbert Hernandez and Rutu Modan who were previously announced as guests at this years SPX.

Additional guests will be added over the next few weeks, please stay tuned for those announcements.

For further information on the artists or to request an interview, please contact Warren Bernard at webernard@spxpo.com.

§ Toronto Fan Expo link round-up at Sequential.

§ Round-up of cupcakes in comics courtesy Rachel Kramer Bussel:

§ Jon Spencer Geek explosion interview at Daily Cross Hatch. BTW, Spencer’s wife, if we recall, is Boss Hog’s Christina.

What are you reading [comic-wise, naturally]? The Pushman & Other Stories by Yoshihiro Tatsumi, Silverfish by David Lapham, B.P.R.D., Fear Agent, Batman, Jeff Smith’s Shazam, The Pride by Brian K. Vaughan, Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi, and anything by Sfar and/or Trondheim.

Sequential weighs in with a very lengthy interview with Kevin Boyd, whose move from the Paradise comicon to the Toronto FanExpo has written a new chapter in the long running - but now relatively dormant- fued between the two shows:

In the relatively small world of Toronto comics fandom it is a story of almost Biblical proportions: Kevin Boyd, long-time promoter of the Paradise Toronto Comicon, has left Paradise for arch-rival, Hobbystar Promotions, owner of the Toronto FanExpo.

Boyd, along with Paradise Comics owner Peter Dixon, had been co-promoter of the Paradise conventions since 2002. He announced his move to Hobbystar last month through several online venues.

Boyd’s move came as a surprise to many, given the recent acrimony between Hobbystar and Paradise. Boyd was an active player in these disputes, even going so far as accusing Hobbystar of “aggressive counter-programming tactics” in 2006.

Boyd’s move was being talked about at San Diego, and the piece has tons of background info:

“The two sides met many times last fall to try to resolve something, and while no agreement was reached, we’ve been trying to get along and the conflict has pretty much disappeared and the Paradise Comicon had this year to stand or fall on it’s own without interference. The Stop Hobbystar people closed the blog up in the spring, feeling it had served its purpose. They’ve also worked out their concerns with Hobbystar and will be at the show in August. Most of the industry didn’t like the conflict, but remained neutral in their actions as they saw merit in supporting both.”