By Matthew Murray

Only two non Marvel/DC titles made the top 100 this month, as both companies put out a higher than usual number of comics. Buffy regained top spot as best selling non-big two comic, while Archie held up better than many people expected.

Further down the list I’ve included every indie comic from 100 to 150 on the charts, and a number of others lower down.

Thanks to icv2.com and Milton Griepp for permission to use these numbers, which can be found here.

31.

<strong>Buffy the Vampire Slayer (Dark Horse)</strong> 

09/2007: Buffy the Vampire Slayer #6 - 96,556
09/2008: Buffy the Vampire Slayer #18 - 77,589
=====
01/2009: Buffy the Vampire Slayer #21 - 69,980 ()
02/2009: Buffy the Vampire Slayer #22 - 67,575 (-3.4%)
03/2009: Buffy the Vampire Slayer #23 - 64,108 (-5.1%)
04/2009: Buffy the Vampire Slayer #24 - 60,916 (-5.0%)
05/2009: Buffy the Vampire Slayer #25 - 58,740 (-3.6%)
06/2009: BTVS Tales of the Vampires one shot- 45,568 (-22.4)
07/2009: Buffy the Vampire Slayer #26 - 55,393 (+21.6%)
08/2009: Buffy the Vampire Slayer #27 - 53,403 (-3.6%)
09/2009: Buffy the Vampire Slayer #28 - 52,303 (-2.1%)
				6 month (-18.4%)
				1 year (-32.6%)
				2 year (-45.8%)

Still dropping, but also still selling very well. It’s currently set to run until issue 40, before relaunching as Season 9.

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Let’s just keep this Art Day here at Stately Beat Manor. Here’s a preview of Marvel’s STRANGE TALES #3, on sale TOMORROW, with an EXCLUSIVE page from Jeffrey Brown and two pages from Paul Hornschemeier’s Nightcrawler tale.

STAPLE! is a one day indie comics event held yearly in Austin which, if the pictues we’ve seen are any indication, is much enjoyed by participants. Chris Nicholas has sent out information on Staple 2010, to be held March 10, which you can read below.
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Some links and news from APE, the Alternative Press Expo, held this weekend in San Francisco.

• Will Dinski’s COVERED IN CONFUSION won the Isotope Award for Minicomics, as reported by JK Parkin at Robot 6.

§ Parkin also has a Day 1 report.

§ Fantagraphics photos: Day 1 pics
Day 2 pics

§ NPC Comics
Community 3D
Semantick:

Ben and I awoke on Saturday, trudged down to a coffee shop and made our way towards APE. And what did we think? It was awesome. If San Diego Comic Con is meant to blow your mind with all the million-dollar bells and whistles, and Long Beach Comic Con is designed for the more intimate encounters with industry professionals, then APE is a secret fort where only fans congregate to go over their own good ideas and opinions on art, writing and everything mainstream. Sure, people are there trying to sell their product, but at APE you can talk to them and find out why… Writers grill each other on the presentation of information and misinformation, Artists trade work with each other and discuss their inspirations, while Publishers peruse through the aisles, taking it all in and maybe picking up some new talent… It’s very neat — like the Swap Meet of Comic Cons.

More photos from Scott Beale
Katy Wu
Jose Gabriel Angeles
Grim Wilkins
Alex Sheikman
Ian Nitta

Looks like it was another lively, artistic, successful weekend!

The Alternative Press Expo kicks off this weekend at the Concourse Exhibition Center in San Francisco. Details are in the link but guests can be scanned here; programming, here. Social events have their own post.

As for what to expect, here’s a quick rundown via our email:

• Buenaventura Press has a lot of new stuff including:

Kevin Huizenga and Dan Zettwoch deliver more Amazing Facts & Beyond in Fact Parader!, a new batch of the St. Louis crew’s strip starring trivia maniac Leon Beyond. It’s a mind-melting, fully indexed issue! Grand Hôtel Orbis II is a gorgeous art book published in France that features artists from around the world, such as Blex Bolex, Charles Burns, Frédéric Coché, Daisuke Ichiba, Daniel Johnston, and many more.

• Manga publisher Fanfare/Ponent Mon.

• Dean Haspiel has several appearances and panels

• Gay advocacy group Prism Comics has many events, including signings by Christine Smith, Jeff Krell, Sina Grace, and Tony Breed.

• Jamaica Dyer:
Debut: Weird FIshes GN collection.

Weird Fishes started as a webcomic in Spring 2008, a preview issue was self-published for APE that year, where it was then picked up by Slave Labor Graphics. The 120 page graphic novel will be available at APE this year, where I am one of the featured guests, will be signing books at the Slave Labor booth and I will be appearing on 3 panels!

________

• NBM:

If you’re going to the Alternative Press Expo in San Francisco the weekend of October 17th, then make sure to stop by the NBM table to meet Ted Rall- he’ll be selling his last few premier copies of THE YEAR OF LOVING DANGEROUSLY (book due in stores mid-Nov.) - as well as Shane White, signing his just released THINGS UNDONE.
Both will have other books of theirs, of course, as well as a smattering of our recent titles to sell! Better yet, credit cards accepted. So there, now you gotta go.

___________

• SIREN
SIREN Comic Collection
250 pages, hardcover, $30

Basically, an anthology of short comics (from 4 to 30 pages) all in one way or another about the same topic.  A bait, and a catch.  We’ve been working on this project for about a year, and this year’s APE will be the first con that we are going to have a table at.  We really wanted to have a lot of different styles included, but really keep the overall quality of the artists really high…. all of us know each other in person and are friends, and most of us are also based in San Fran too.  More info on the site and pics/stuff too.

_______________

• Michael Aushenker
Debut: CARTOON FLOPHOUSE FEATURING GREENBLATT THE GREAT! # 2 at the Cartoon Flophouse table # 284. The issue includes his “autobio” story, “The Secret Double Life of Michael Aushenker.”

_______

• Jon Adams
I’ll be debuting my Anthology Anthology at APE. It’s a 36-page anthology of anthology contributions I’ve done and A poster/paper doll kind of thing called Little People Toys.

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By Matthew Murray

[EDITOR’S NOTE: We’re giving an indie sales chart a whirl once again. Please let us know what you think!]

August was the best month for Archie for a long, long time in the direct market, with the first issue of the “Archie gets married” story line being the best selling non-Marvel/DC title in the direct market.

For other comics, Chew’s sales continue climbing very rapidly, while there seems to be an oddity relating to Tyrone Gibson’s Mayhem.

I’m listing all the non Marvel/DC titles in the top 100 (all seven of them) and a number of other titles, which are well known or “important”. Let me know if there’re any titles you’d like to see included next month.

Thanks to icv2.com and Milton Griepp for permission to use these numbers, which can be found at here.

 35 Archie (Archie)

08/2005: Archie #559 - 2,888
08/2006: Archie #568 - 2,697
08/2007: -
08/2008: Archie #588 - 2,818
=====
01/2009: Archie #593 – 2,318
02/2009: -
03/2009: Archie #595 - 2,484
04/2009: -
05/2009: Archie #597 - 2,563
06/2009: -
07/2009: -
08/2009: Archie #600 - 54,170
				6 month (n.a.)
				1 year (+1822.2%)
				2 year (n.a.)
				3 year (+1908.5%)
				4 year (+1775.7%)

The “Archie gets married” story begins. Percentagewise this must be one of the biggest increases any comic has ever received. As you can see, Archie (the best selling of the Archie universe* comics through the direct market) usually sells somewhere in the mid 2000s, and is generally pretty stable. The blanks are for months when its sales do not reach the minimum needed for the top 300.

I know the Archie digests are primarily sold through supermarkets and the like, but I’m not sure if/how well the full size comics do through those markets. Or if this particular issue would have been ordered more heavily there. It’ll be interesting to see how well these orders hold up for the rest of the storyline, and if any of the readership will stick around after that.

*By comparison, Archie’s best selling comic in the direct market is usually Sonic the Hedgehog, with this month’s issue (#203) selling 8,166 copies.
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New York’s already busy fall season got one more show with the official word of the Brooklyn Comics and Graphics Festival, a new oft-rumored indie-centric show to be run by Desert Island and PictureBox. It’s a specially picked guest list, including Gary Panter, Jillian Tamaki, Charles Burns, Ben Katchor, Kim Deitch, Mark Newgarden, Michael Kupperman, Frank Santoro, Lauren Weinstein, Dash Shaw, Matthew Thurber, Jon Vermilyea, and Dina Kelberman.

Although it’s coming very late in the year — December 5th is the last date you can easonably do anything without running afoul of Xmas — this show wins just for having a Charles Burns poster. Plus FREE admission.

Deets:

Saturday December 5th 2009
Our Lady of Consolation Church
184 Metropolitan Ave
Williamsburg, Brooklyn
free admission

Reminder: if you are debuting a book at APE, please send us some info.

APE (The Alternative Press Expo), as you may be able to tell from the above flashing banner ads, will be held next weekend, Oct. 17-18, at the Concourse Exhibition Center in San Francisco. Special guests include Jeff Smith, Dean Haspiel, Lark Pien, Dash Shaw, Batton Lash, Phoebe Gloeckner, and Jamaica Dyer.

According to SPX director Karon Flage, it wasn’t just your imagination: there WERE more people at SPX this year. She writes:

Paid admissions were 1772 which is a nice increase of 19% over last year.  Add to that about 150 free admissions from flyers and coupons we handed out, 500 exhibitors and 150 in staff, volunteers, retailers and press we end up with about 2600 people through the doors.

COMICS ARE STRONG.

UPDATE: MK Reed sent us a link to the Nerdlinger Award Winners. We were wary of just reporting the winners since the categories are almost the best part, such as “Jen Vaughn, winner of the Fourth Annual Montgomery Burns Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Field of Excellence.

Technorati Tags: SPX

This is far from a complete link dump, it’s more just things that struck our fancy,

¶ The Critics Panel at SPX was much discussed. You can either read about it, in Johanna Draper Carlson’s precís

OR

you can LISTEN to it at Sean T. Collins‘ recording! An age of wonders!

¶ Leah’s Stuff has the above marvelous picture, which we have ganked, in addition to a charming account of her activities, because it was THAT kind of show. Also: Colleen Venable, must you be so photogenic?

¶ Soo Lee has some piccies.

¶ Forces of geek shares an interesting notion for the end of year Skip Week:

One thing I did at his show, which is very different than anything I had done before, was visit each and every table, and try to make contact with each and every creator, and hand them a flier and give them a pitch for an event called “Indy Comic Book Week.” The ICBW is the brainstorm of Vinh-Luan Luu, who realized that on December 30, 2009, the Wednesday after Christmas, Diamond Comics Distribution, in an effort to cut costs and save money, will not be shipping any new product to any of the thousands of stores world wide that depend on them for delivery. For one week, when you walk into a comic book store, with a pocket full of holiday cash and gift cards saying to your friendly comic book store proprietor, ‘What’s new?” the answer will be, “Nothing,” unless the forces of the indy comic book world can organize to fill the shelves of receptive retailers with new product.

¶ David Welsh is a must read. David very kindly does not mention meeting The Beat, because at the moment he said “Hi”, we a) had to pee REALLY, REALLY BAD, and b) were so hungry that we were completely lightheaded and didn’t even know who he was. Apologies to David, who is indispensable.

¶ The alert nerd recap

¶ Robin Ha’s exciting news

¶ Comicsgirl had a swell time.

¶ Initially, we were very amused by the writeup by Jack at Not For You Studios

There was a surprising amount of handlebar moustaches amongst the very youthful happy youth of the very young. Moustache wax must’ve been on sale, verily, or demons possessed them all. The three-quarter hat is the very height of indie fashion, as it turns out. We have all very much seen Newsies, as it turns out. It was a brisk very Saturday on this very fateful very-berry-berry Crunchberries. Mmm. Shit, man, it, like, rained hard, dude.

And then we read what he had to say about the moderator of the Jeffrey Brown panel:

It was also discovered, as well, that Jack finds the moderator for this panel to be a dull, dull woman with dull, dull questions.

Well now, smarty pants, the audience had many chances to speak up, so you could put us all to shame, so swagger it, my cock-a-whoop.

That said a) it is still a funny writeup and b) having moderated and appeared on something like 536 panels this year, we really should write up tips and tricks (or learn some) one of these days.

Technorati Tags: women with felt beards, SPX

We’re too tuckered out for a long post for now, but here are a few tidbits to tide you over:

§ Some photos by Scott Edelman and his con report.

§ Johanna Draper Carlson’s con report.

§ Tom Neely nicely captured the culture clash between a fancy ministry charity on Saturday and a beauty pageant (with impeccably eyebrowed women selling tanning oil and bras outside) with the indie cartooner conclave next door.

§ Retconned Fangirl.

§ This fellow is not really a comics blogger, so his list of 10 Things I Learned at the 2009 Small Press Expo is more about self-help. Interesting take.

Different price points provide fans with different opportunities to support you. Dedicated fans are happy to pay $20 or more for your work. People who’ve never heard of you (but like what they see) would prefer to pay less. And products under $5 let people take a chance on your work without incurring much risk, or to support you fiscally even if they’re not your biggest fans artistically.

Be personable. I realize that people who create comics for a living are trained to express themselves non-verbally, but events like this are a showcase of talent and personality. As interested as I am in your work, I’d rather talk to you for thirty seconds than watch you ink a page of your next issue. I can always buy that issue later; I can’t talk to you again until next year. (I know, I know: “There’s a thing called the Internet.” But it’s not the same.)

§ We’re very tired right now, but thanks to travel mates Jah Furry, Josh Neufeld and Brian Heater; and Dustin Harbin and Greg Bennett for the whiskey; and the whole SPX committee for putting on another smooth, fun show.

New host Liz Baillie charmed the audience with haiku, and happy winners danced with their bricks through the legendary chocolate fountain* at the always festive Ignatz Award ceremony. Winners below:

Outstanding New Talent: Colleen Frakes for Woman King.
Outstanding Online Comic: Cayetano Garza for Year of the Rat.
Outstanding Mini-Comic: by Lisa Hanawalt for Stay Away From Other People
Outstanding Series: Jordan Crane for Uptight
Outstanding Story: Damian Jay for Willie
Outstanding Graphic Novel: Chris Ware for Acme Novelty Library 19
Outstanding Comic: Jordan Crane for Uptight 3
Outstanding Anthology: Kramers Ergot 7
Outstanding Artist: Nate Powell for Swallow Me Whole

List courtesy Daily Cross Hatch, taken from our own Twitter feed. DCH has video of the ceremony as well.

* Figure of speech only; no bricks were thrown, tossed or cavorted with.

The annual post-Ignatz Karaoke Karavan was canceled when it was discovered that the venue was closed — and had been for some time. A torrential rain kept off-site excursions to a minimum, but hotel hijinks went on into the small hours.

The Small Press Expo kicks off tomorrow. Official info

Here’s Comicsgirl’s excellent (and much needed) dining guide. And her also excellent Survival Guide.

Brian Heater has a guide to some of the new comics debuting. Also excellent, Chris Mautner’s guide at Robot 6. Rob Clough also has a guide.

Quick publisher links:
Drawn and Quarterly
Buenaventura Press
PictureBox
Fantagraphics
Sparkplug

AND, don’t forget, the big Friday pre-party at Atomic Books, with Nerdlingers — TONIGHT!

Luckily, America is not a socialist country, and healthcare is TOTALLY not rationed based on how much money you have or whether you are employed or not. What a ludicrous idea that is.

Because healthcare in the US is absolutely not the most expensive of any developed nation, Julia Wertz is having a fundraiser to pay for a hefty hospital bill. Since we have no healthcare worries in this country, just go for the laughs.

Peter Kuper, Kevin Huizenga, Kate Beaton and Al Columbia have joined the guest list at SPX. They join Gahan Wilson, Paul Karasik, Carol Tyler, Josh Neufeld, John Porcellino, Willy Linthout Jerry Moriarity, R. Sikoryak and Joshua Cotter, so, all in all, it’s gonna be pretty cool.

Peter Kuper is a contributor to Time, Newsweek, The New York Times and many other publications as an illustrator. He is the co-founder of the long running World War 3 Illustrated  as well as being the main artist on Mad’s long running series Spy vs. Spy. Peter’s latest creation is Diario de Oaxaca: A Sketchbook Journal of Two Years In Mexico published by PM Press. Diario is a combination of comics, sketches, photography and a journal of the time he and his family lived in Oaxaca, Mexico during a time of political turmoil there. This work comes on the heels of his critically acclaimed semi-autobiographical Stop Forgetting To Remember-The Autobiography of Walter Kurtz released in 2007 by Crown Publishers. Peter will only be at SPX on Saturday, September 26 in the afternoon.

Kevin Huizenga has just released the latest stories of the philosophical sage Glen Ganges, with #3 published recently by Fantagraphics. Kevin twice made Time Magazines Top Ten Comics and is a weekly contributor to the irreverent and always humorous Amazing Facts and Beyond with Leon Beyond. Visit Kevin at his blog The Balloonist at http://kevinh.blogspot.com/.

Kate Beaton  is the winner of the 2009 Doug Wright Award for Best Emerging Talent. Her History Comics  takes an irreverent and comical view of history and historical figures, this leading to coverage in Wired Magazine, Bitch and Macleans. Kate is responsible for the all of the banners on the SPX site, for which SPX has received rave reviews. Kate’s work can be viewed at her web site http://harkavagrant.com/.

Al Columbia is the creator behind the just released PIm & Francie: The Golden Bear Days from Fantagraphics, which is a collection of excavations, comic strips, animation stills, storybook covers, and other output over the years. Al started as an assistant to Bill Sienkiewicz, then moved on to create the Biologic Show.  

Tooners take note! Chris Butcher has posted a letter about TCAF at Comics212 which states that they are accepting applications for the 2010 show. Previous TCAF’s were invitation only; however, the steering committee is still going to “choose the cartoonists we think would be the best fit for the Festival. TCAF is still (and will likely remain) a show with a juried exhibition space, but we did want to give everyone a level playing-field on which to have a chance at participating.”

Some great panelists and topics…someone better be recording some of these!

SPOTLIGHTS
R. Sikoryak’s Masterpiece Comics
For twenty years, stylistic chameleon R. Sikoryak has been producing literary adaptations in comics form that marry the plots of Western literary classics with the stylistic tics and tropes of classic comics. Originally appearing in RAW and numerous other anthologies, Sikoyrak’s parodistic adaptations have been collected in a book titled Masterpiece Comics, published by Drawn and Quarterly. He will discuss his work and working methods in a special slideshow presentation.

Paul Karasik and the Fletcher Hanks Experience
Cartoonist, editor and educator Paul Karasik has spent the last several years tracking down the idiosyncratic, visionary work of comic book artist Fletcher Hanks, now collected in its entirety in two volumes published by Fantagraphics. Karasik will speak about discovering the work of Fletcher Hanks, and will present “The Fletcher Hanks Experience,” an illustrated tour over the brutally surreal Hanks mindscape narrated by the late Fletcher Hanks, Jr.

Jerry Moriarty: Jack Survives
Jerry Moriarty is a painter, illustrator and cartoonist who has been teaching at the School of Visual Arts since 1963. Several episodes of his “Jack Survives” series of comics pages appeared in issues of RAW Magazine. This year, Buenaventura Press has published a definitive hardcover collection of Jack Survives, including never before published work. Publisher Alvin Buenaventura will discuss Jerry’s life and work with him in a rare spotlight session.

Spotlight on Peter Kuper
Peter Kuper is the co-founder of World War 3 Illustrated, the artist behind Mad Magazine’s Spy Vs. Spy, and the author of comics collections and graphic novels including The System, Speechless, and an adaptation of Franz Kafka’s The Metamorphosis. In this presentation introduced and moderated by comics scholar Marc Singer, Peter will discuss his career to date and his new book Diario de Oaxaca, a visual journal of two years in Mexico that coincided with a violently repressed teachers’ protest.

John Porcellino Q & A
John Porcellino has been self-publishing his ongoing mini-comics series King-Cat Comics since 1989. His spare but elegant style, insightful self-reflection, and DIY ethic have been an inspiration to countless cartoonists. His comics have been collected in several books, and in 2008 Hyperion published Thoreau at Walden, a graphic novel for young readers. This year, Drawn and Quarterly has published Map of My Heart, a new collection of work from his King-Cat series. John will discuss his work with friend, cartoonist and publisher Zak Sally.

Gahan Wilson in the Spotlight
The unmistakably macabre and hilarious Gahan Wilson was born in Evanston, Illinois in 1930. His work first appeared in Amazing Stories in 1954. Since then, his cartoons, illustrations and comic strips have appeared in Collier’s, Punch, National Lampoon, and, principally, Playboy and The New Yorker. This year, Fantagraphics publishes Gahan Wilson: Fifty Years of Playboy Cartoons, a three-volume slipcased set collecting his contributions to that magazine. He will be joined onstage by publisher and editor Gary Groth to discuss his life and work.

Josh Neufeld After the Deluge
Josh Neufeld has published several non-fiction comic books and series, including his 2004 Xeric Award–winning graphic novel A Few Perfect Hours. In 2005 he volunteered with the American Red Cross in Biloxi, Missouri following the Hurricane Katrina disaster. From 2007 to 2008 he serialized via the web A.D.: New Orleans After the Deluge, a non-fiction story relating the experiences of Katrina survivors. This year Pantheon Books has published A.D. in a print edition. In this presentation moderated by Gina Gagliano, Josh will discuss his work and the process of producing this comics document of recent events.

Carol Tyler Q & A
Born in 1951, Carol Tyler trained as a painter, earning an MFA from Syracuse University. In 1987 she published her first comics story in Weirdo. Since then her work has appeared in anthologies including Twisted Sisters, Drawn and Quarterly, Zero Zero, and Kramers Ergot. Her work has previously been collected in the books The Job Thing and Late Bloomer. This year Fantagraphics published her book You’ll Never Know: A Good and Decent Man, the first in a series of books recounting her father’s World War II experiences and their resonant effect on his – and her – life today. Carol will discuss her work with comics critic Douglas Wolk.

Jeffrey Brown Q & A
Jeffrey Brown entered the School of the Art Institute’s Masters program to study painting; by the time he earned his MFA, he had begun drawing sensitive autobiographical comics about life and lost love. Since then he has published several autobiographical books Clumsy, Unlikely, AEIOU, Little Things, and Funny Misshappen Body. His range of work also includes short fiction, humorously observant cat comics, superhero parody, and fantasy. He was recently the subject of an award-winning short documentary film. Heidi MacDonald will join Jeffrey onstage to discuss his diverse and evolving body of work.


WORKSHOP
Center for Cartoon Studies Comics Workshop
Faculty member Robyn Chapman and other students join us from the Center for Cartoon Studies, a two-year educational institution for budding cartoonists in White River Junction, Vermont.  Robyn will talk about this unique school and will lead a hands-on cartooning workshop focusing on the basics of putting together a comics page, from thumbnail to final draft.  No matter how little experience you have, you will leave this panel having drawn a comics page!

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We got a big email from Dan Nadel at Picturebox with announcement of a sale — including some fun sets — and immanent new books, like POWR MASTRS 3, above. If you’re looking for adventure, this is the right place .

Fantagraphics is having a sale at Fantagraphics Books their brick and mortar:

What, me study? Not this Saturday, when Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery hosts a storewide sale! Get 20% to 50% off cover price on cool comix, graphic novels, and awesome art books. Lots of gorgeous new books by Fantagraphics favorites as well as some pleasant new surprises. And you’ll get a chance to see the critically acclaimed exhibition “Comics Savants: A Survey of Seattle Alternative Cartoonists” featuring local legends like Jim Woodring, Peter Bagge, Ellen Forney, Charles Burns, Jim Blanchard and others.

We don’t run every press release we get, but once in a while one tickles us, such as the announcement that STRANGE TALES #1, the indie-anthology from Marvel, has gone back to press Whatever the realities of these sell-outs, it’s cool that an alt.comix book is getting the treatment. The new printing will have a B&W version of the Paul Pope cover. Contributors include PAUL POPE, PETER BAGGE, MOLLY CRABAPPLE, JOHN LEAVITT, JUNKO MIZUNO, DASH SHAW, JAMES KOCHALKA, JOHNNY RYAN, MICHAEL KUPPERMAN, NICK BERTOZZI, NICHOLAS GUREWICH & JASON

The show is shaping up, as Jerry Moriarty, R. Sikoryak and Joshua Cotter are announced to join Gahan Wilson, Paul Karasik, Carol Tyler, Josh Neufeld, John Porcellino, and Willy Linthout at the show, which runs from Saturday, September 26 from 11 AM to 7 PM and Sunday, September 27, noon-6 PM at The North Bethesda Marriott Convention Center in Bethesda, Maryland.

BTW, please send us your debuts and announcements, SOON! If you have any questions about doing this, please read this.

It’s confirmed that cartoonist Joe Lambert will be joining the MOME line-up, and, clearly, that is really good news. (Click for larger version.)

A new Avatar book by Warren Ellis And Garrie Gastonny . That cover is catchy, no?

Via PR:

The Small Press Expo (SPX), the preeminent showcase for the exhibition of independent comics, graphic novels and alternative political cartoons, is pleased to announce Paul Karasik and Jeff Lemire as guests for SPX 2009.

Paul Karasik is a contributor to both The New Yorker and Nickelodeon magazine. He is the former associate editor of the ground breaking RAW Magazine and a former teacher at the Rhode Island School of Design. As a graduate of the School of Visual Design, he studied with Art Spiegelman, Will Eisner and Harvey Kurtzman. He was the co-creator of the graphic novel “City of Glass”, in collaboration with David Mazzucchelli. Paul’s critically acclaimed “I Shall Destroy All The Civilized Planets” on the works of Fletcher Hanks won the 2008 Eisner Award for the category Best Archival Collection/Project-Comic Books. His latest book is another collection of the works of Fletcher Hanks “You Shall Die By Your Own Evil Creation!” published by Fantagraphics Books.

Jeff Lemire won a Xeric Award in 2005 for his book “Lost Dogs.” Between 2007 and 2009 Top Shelf Productions published his Ignatz, Harvey, and Eisner-nominated “Essex County Trilogy” of graphic novels “Tales From the Farm,” “Ghost Stories,” and “The Country Nurse”. They were collected into a single volume and issued earlier this year by Top Shelf as “The Complete Essex County”. Jeff has won the 2008 Joe Shuster Award for Outstanding Canadian Comic Book Cartoonist, the 2008 Doug Wright Award for Best Emerging Talent, and the 2008 American Library Association’s Alex Award (For Adult Books with Teen Appeal.) This year also saw the release of his original graphic novel “The Nobody” from DC/Vertigo. Jeff is currently writing and drawing the new monthly Vertigo series “Sweet Tooth,” which will begin in September.

Paul Karasik and Jeff Lemire are in addition to the previously announced guests Carol Tyler and Josh Neufeld.

SPX will be held Saturday, September 26 from 11AM to 7PM and Sunday, September 27, noon-6PM at The North Bethesda Marriott Convention Center in Bethesda, Maryland. Admission is $10 for a single day and $15 for both days.

Via PR:

The Small Press Expo (SPX), the preeminent showcase for the exhibition of independent comics, graphic novels and alternative political cartoons, is pleased to announce Carol Tyler and Josh Neufield as guests for SPX 2009.

Carol Tyler, one of the original “Wimmen” cartoonists, has contributed to Weirdo, Drawn & Quarterly, Zero Zero, along with the anthologies Wimmens Comix and Twisted Sisters. She will be at SPX to talk about her latest graphic novel, You’ll Never Know Book One “A Good and Decent Man”, released by Fantagraphics. You’ll Never Know has received acclaim from critics and librarians alike for its portrayal of not only her fathers story of his experiences in World War 2, but how those experiences shaped Carol and her family.  See more of Carol’s work at her web site http://www.bloomerland.com.

Josh Neufield, author of the Xeric Grant winner A Few Perfect Hours, spent time as a volunteer for the Red Cross in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. This resulted on the online graphic novel A.D. New Orleans After The Deluge, which is now a full color book published by Pantheon that has garnered rave reviews. Josh also created the series The Vagabonds and as well as collaborating with Dean Haspiel on Keyhole. Visit Josh at his website at http://joshcomix.home.mindspring.com/.

Both Josh and Carol will be on discussion panels to talk about their works, in addition to being available for book signings while at SPX.

SPX will be held Saturday, September 26 from 11AM to 7PM and Sunday, September 27, noon-6PM at The North Bethesda Marriott Convention Center in Bethesda, Maryland. Admission is $10 for a single day and $15 for both days. 

Brian Chippendale is blogging.

This Brian Chippendale.

But he’s blogging about…DAREDEVIL.

Matt Murdock was the second most important character in this mega-issue. Master Izo has shown us his legacy and we are happy he invited us in. finally, why not a drunken kung fu master to brighten the day with mixed up morality. Marvel should have introduced this off-kilter warrior 35 years ago. Frank Miller(in his saner years) gave us Stick, Murdock’s mentor, and now Stick has a mentor of his own and we are all the wiser. Izo, the many-hundred year old ex-leader of the Hand. It seems that writers since Miller have been unconfident to push FM’s additions to the DD mythos till now(other than Electra). Even Turk gave us a glimpse of humanity in this issue. Tis a sad day that Brubaker has given us his best story and packed his bags all in one. Like Immortal Iron Fist, the subtle grasp of character and history may plummet with his departure. Michael Lark, i fear what follows, your solid composure illustrated a sordid dark gritty New York. A textured city. A balanced graceful Daredevil. I have i think 450 of these 500 issues in my possession. small treasure. Daredevil, Man without Fear, must I fearlessly collect the last 50 or so floppy format comics, from that ugly section of history known as issues 300-380. those cheap days better be over. DD 500 is a prize.

[Via Dan Nadel]