§ Japanator weighs in on the Kodansha mystery with a pretty unequivocable Rumor squashed: Kodansha not making a move into the US market, based on a conversation with Ali Kokmen of Del Rey Manga.

After a bit of a laugh at it, Ali told me that it was totally false. He was at BEA, and heard nothing of Kodansha’s move, and when the rumor hit that Kodansha was coming in, Del Rey had someone in Japan setting up new Kodansha licenses for 2009 and 2010. So, that would seem to be a rumor that got busted.

Unless of course, I’m going to be proven wrong, and just need to “wait and see.” The biggest indication towards this whole rumor being true, in my mind, was the massive pullback of Tokyopop’s titles. But, that’s just to keep themselves from losing more money through cannibalization.

Quashed? Well, er, yes and no. We keep hearing rumours of Kodansha getting into the US market from reliable sources not named after an HP Lovecraft character, which is not exactly the same rumour as Kodansha pulling all its licenses from Del Rey and so on. We’ll just put a big question mark next to this one for the time being…there’s definitely more than a surface ripple here.

§ ICV2 sits down with former Tokyopop publisher Mike Kiley for more info on the restructuring (note: Kiley is still with TP, but his new position hasn’t been named yet.)

At a fundamental level, we wondered about the reasons for the corporate reorganization into two business units, and asked why two lines of business led to the decision to split into two companies. “I think the most immediate and practical answer is that we wanted to set things up in ways that would very clearly and definitively allow those businesses to focus on what they need to do to succeed,” Kiley responded. “The goals in each company are different and the achievement of those goals is more realistic, more possible if everyone working in each of those companies is very clearly focused.”

Added bonus: this interview with Kiley is the first time we’ve ever heard the term “rightsizing” used to mean “downsizing,” which itself means “layoffs or cuts.” Truly corporate euphemisms are a wonderful, wonderful thing. We’d like to attend the seminar where they invent them some day.

§ Bonus Tpop gossip of the day: Several OEL creators are even now attempting to buy back the rights to their books. Whether they will succeed or not — how much does Tokyopop need to money? — is unknown. One of the reasons for the big restructuring, we’ve been hearing, is massive returns from Borders recently, to the tune of 80% — part of Borders own massive financial woes.

ALSO, don’t expect to see too many exit interviews with Tokyopop editors.

§ MORE rumours! While Tokyopop remains the most chattered about company right now, Wizard is a close second. Everyone told us that Wizard World Phily was horribly attended — one exhibitor told us they made $14 on Saturday, and that was from someone who normally pays for travel expenses at the very least from booth sales. Most people doubt they’ll be going back. Wizard World Chicago , normally their biggest show of the year and arguably the second biggest comics show in the US, is in three weeks and no one seems particularly enthused. There’s been a lot of chatter about whether there will even BE Wizard World conventions next year — one rumor we heard a few times is that Wizard and Reed Exhibitions, which puts on the New York Comic-Con, may be in some kind of negotiations.

Dept. of Newsarama: Sharp-eyed readers may have noticed that Graeme McMillan is no longer blogging for Blog @ Newsarama; he’s devoting himself full-time to i09, Gawker’s somewhat chimerical SF blog. Speaking of Newsarama, the new-look site apparently arrived so suddenly that the Blog@ crew didn’t even know it was happening until the site went offline. Long-time posters are predictably annoyed by the changes, and if you’re a really a masochist, you can read some of the pain here. From our standpoint, anything that makes Newsarama posters have to think just a bit more before they post may be a very good thing indeed.

We’re pretty exhausted here at SBM. Not only are we putting the finishing touches on THE NIGHTMARE FACTORY graphic novel we’ve been editing in our space time, but this whole man vs. woman thing is surprisingly EXHAUSTING! Jeez louise, once you mention “boobs” you unleash a raging flood of bottled up angst and anxiety! We have one more essay planned, on female creators and a few other loose ends, but we’re going to rest up today and tend to other matters.

To relax, we did a little Google for DDGB and we’re terribly afraid that the 300 worldwide icon yadda yadda deal may have gone to his head. Not only has he gone from below-the-radar acting guy to tabloid hanging-out-with-porn–stars (Stormy Daniels? What kind of name is that???), banging-Naomi-Campbell guy, but he’s signing up for a kiddie movie produced by Walden Media called NIM’S ISLAND where he gets to play Abigail (Little Miss Sunshine) Breslin’s dad.

Based on the Wendy Orr children’s book of the same name, Nim’s Island concerns the resourceful daughter (Breslin) of a scientist (Butler) on a remote tropical island. When her father is lost at sea, she begins communicating through e-mail with the authoress of one of her favorite books (Jodie Foster) and, with distant coaching, begins to handle her difficulties on the island. It’s hard to think of two bigger recent breakout Hollywood stars than Butler and Breslin, so the idea of them battling together onscreen against greedy tour companies is rather intriguing.

Gerry, we know you are firmly committed to getting old and fat now, but missing dad? Seriously, with Oscar®-nominee Abigail on screen, no one is even going to LOOK at you! Ask Mel Gibson. And now you are not even going to be in WATCHMEN, so you can star in a Brian de Palma sequel. And whatever you do, don’t play He-Man!

And you need a STYLIST, fast, Tubby! Look at the way you showed up at Cannes…and that get-up on the right is what you wore to accept a LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD for looking like a piece of steel! We know you don’t drink any more, so you don’t even have the Paula Abdul excuse!

Oh and don’t bother going up on a rooftop and smoking a cigarette and looking all hot…you didn’t dress yourself! Gimme a break.

You used to be so COOL when you were OUR Gerry…now you are just…oh, never mind.

…Stormy Daniels…

The battle over who gets to build the Harry Potter theme park has been raging, and Universal was the winner, defeating Disney. However, Disney Watcher Jim Hill explains that due to J.K. Rowling’s stringent demands, Disney may be just as glad.

So how’s about instead that I say that Ms. Rowling was reported to be very protective of her characters. More to the point, that she supposedly had some very definite ideas about what a theme park version of Harry Potter’s world should look like.

How so? Well, according to the folks that I’ve spoken with who worked on the Disney version of this project … J.K. allegedly wanted each & every guest who was experiencing the theme park version of Harry Potter’s world to do so by first entering the Leaky Cauldron pub. Where — by tapping on just the right brick (”Three up and two across … “) — they’d then gain access to Diagon Alley, that odd collection of Wizards-only shops & restaurants that’s hidden away in the heart of London.

Copyright 2001 Warner Bros.

From this area (Which was — at least in the stand-alone version of the proposed “Harry Potter” theme park — supposed to have been the equivalent of Main Street U.S.A. at Disneyland. As in: That area that established the style & the tone of the theme park to follow. More importantly, Diagon Alley would have been where most of the guests purchased their souvenirs before exiting the park that night), these folks were then supposed to have made their way to Platform 9 & 3/4 at King’s Cross Station. Where — after magically piercing the barrier that separates the Muggle world from the Wizard world — guests would have then been able to board a full-sized version of the Hogwarts Express for a trip to Harry’s alma mater.

Which admittedly (on paper, anyway) sounds wonderful. But to the folks who actually run the Parks & Resorts side of things at the Walt Disney Company, what Rowling was reportedly asking for sounded unfeasible.

Much more in link.

I’ve got the coat! Let’s start a super-team!

While we don’t expect anyone to dive into the Legendary Rick Olney thread at CBR, Graeme has a mini round-up, but even BETTER, Olney himself has waded right into it, by YET AGAIN ANNOUNCING A CONVENTION (one of his most notorious maneuvers is cancelling cons at the last minute), and swearing he has a venue, although he hasn’t announced it yet. But he does so have a venue.

Anyway, this is the last public post on this matter by me. We do have a venue for the June 23rd & 24th Mighty MiniCon event. We hope you’ll bother to come check us out!

The next Mighty MiniCon is June 23rd & 24th in upstate New York. As stated, details will be released shortly here.

Any vendor previously discouraged or having any feelings of regret from 2004-2005 are encouraged and invited to contact me to resolve their concerns.

In closing, TightLip Entertainment welcomes any interest from certified vendors, potential guests, and any small press or indy publishing entity interested in our next event.

For some reason, Olney’s announcing a new Mighty Mini-Con has led to a bunch of people rushing to state that they AER NOT GOING TO BE AT IT, Markosia:

Markosia Entertainment today confirmed that as a company, they would not be attending June’s Mighty Mini Con, run by TightLip Entertainment.

“We’ve been told that we were mentioned as guests,” Tony Lee, Group Editor for Markosia said. “But the text going around the net currently is from last year and was asked to be taken down by Chuck Satterlee, our Director of Operations. We will not be at MMC.” The text has consequently been removed.

Markosia apologizes to their fans but stresses that they will be back in the US in 2007 at a variety of conventions across America.

“Individual creators may still attend the Mighty Mini Con or any other event, of course. However, Markosia will not have a presence, no matter what you have heard,” finished Lee.

For more information on what conventions Markosia will be attending, go to www.markosia.com.

And Tony Isabella, who has posted his warning all over the internets:

A message to all my friends and readers…

If you are approached by an individual named Rick Olney or a representative of this man, if you are approached by Olney or anyone else representing entities known as The Mighty Mini-Con, TightLip Entertainment, or ORCA, I strongly urge you to run in the other direction. You can find more details here:

http://www.unscrewedcomic.com/

Please, if you trust me, do not attempt to do business with Olney. In fact, please pass along this warning to any comics professionals, aspiring comics professionals, retailers, exhibitors, media guests, and fans you know.

Olney is not someone you want to do business with.

I’d hoped not to involve myself in this in such a public manner, but, with Olney again advertising a convention and claiming that he is still planning to publish comic books, the greater good demands I speak out.

hurry up guys, Rosario Dawson and Jason Lewis have split up!
:

“They’re being very private about why they broke up,” says a source, “but they are for sure broken up.”

Their publicist, Meredith O’Sullivan, had “no comment” for Star when asked to confirm the split.

Rosario, who became famous for playing Colin Farrell’s exotic lover in Alexander — and then was rumored to be his real-life lover too — met Jason, best known for starring on Sex and the City as Samantha’s boytoy, at Vin Diesel’s birthday party in July 2004.

‘The O.C.’ star Rachel Bilson is reportedly set to play Wonder Woman in the new comic book movie.

The brunette actress - best known for playing ditzy Summer Roberts in the hit teen series - will don the famous starred hot pants and wield her gold whip in the film.

Bilson has already proved her suitability for the iconic part, after she donned a Wonder Woman outfit for a sexy seduction scene in ‘The O.C.’.

A host of Hollywood stars had been tipped for the role, including Catherine Zeta-Jones, Cameron Diaz and ‘Van Helsing’ actress Kate Beckinsale, who turned down the part saying she “did not want to embarrass her daughter” by wearing the revealing outfit.

Mark Millar is now partying with JK Rowling at his friend Muriel’s b-day party. Who is this Muriel who knows so many literary types? Is her last name “Spark”? (Yes, we know Muriel Spark is dead.)

It was my friend Muriel’s bday and her husband had a big surprise bash, one of those things where everybody hides and then jumps out and screams as the birthday girl comes in. Crouched down beside me was JK (Joanne) and Robbie Coltrane (Hagrid from Harry P) and we all jumped out together. Had met her once before, but this was the first time I had a long chat. She’s really nice and very down to Earth; the perfect role model for a successful writer in that she never let the money go to her head. Just a really nice person. Her husband’s a lovely guy too and is a local GP in their neighbourhood.

Also met Denise Mina, who’s doing Hellblazer right now and she was absolutely hilarious. I told her she had to come over and do something at Marvel and she was totally up for it. Didn’t realize Ian Rankin was such a fanboy. He was jealous when Denise said she was doing HB, Constantine being his fave character and he’s a huge fan of the Moore stuff. Amazing who turns out to be into comics.

Totally knackered this morning. I’m going back to bed soon as this typing lark is next to impossible right now.

Given Mark’s new airy faerie mates, it’s no wonder he thinks comics are doomed because everyone in comics is going to go off and do movies.

Just a few of the wonderful sights of the show. We have achieved con.

Bad Sunburn Parade: Frazier Irving. Mad Dogs and Englishmen and all that…

(more…)

A while ago we told you about budding filmmaker Matt Busch reporting on his LiveJournal about a nasty breakup with his girlfriend, actress Sarah Wilkinson, with writer Steve Niles as the third party. We’re not going to rehash all the story because it’s just ugly stuff that should have been kept private, but in the interests of fairness, the other shoe has dropped, and Wilkinson tells her story.