We popped over to Bowlmor Lanes off Union Square last night for the New York Comic-Con 2010 One Year Out party, and it was quite a festive evening. The John Romitas — Jr and Sr — were announced as keystone guests for the 2010 show (to be held October 8-10 at the Javits Center.) Marvel freelancers prevailed against Marvel editors in a Bowl-off. And paparazzi were stationed outside in thick lines. Wow, are people really that interested in Denis Callero and Rodney Ramos? we thought, as we entered.

BUT NO. It turns out Paris Hilton was attending a party in the bar upstairs, meaning anxiously swarming publicists, and every once in a while, a large man in a suit would tell you where to stand. We had to leave before Ms. Hilton made her appearance, but NYCC’s Peter Tatara captured the moment, and Hilton’s unorthodox bowling footware.

But even the famed socialite could not steal the spotlight from comics! No sir. There was a nice crowd of friendly faces, too many to name, really, but we wanted to shout out Fanfare/Ponent Mon’s Steve Vrattos who was limping from an SPX spill at the Silver Diner — see, THAT is why we never go there! — and told us about his blog, which recounts adventures from his years as a Spider-Man.

We also caught up with Greg Topalian, from Reed Exhibitions, the guy who came up with the idea for NYCC more than five years ago. Turns out he was on the right track, and Reed now has three comics oriented shows and has pacted with the video game show PAX for two more. Greg is a very smart guy, and we always make sure to listen more than we talk when he’s around. Greg, Roger Bilheim, who does PR for NYCC, NYAF, C2E2 and BEA, among others, and myself chatted about the state of the “fantasy economy.” According to Greg and Roger, it’s still holding up — NYCC 2010 will take up the entire Javits — and Pax East, to be held in Boston next March, also looks like a strong show, they said.

It’s hard to go wrong with bowling and beer, let’s face it. Marvel’s freelance team — including Ramos, Peter David, Dan Slott, Chris Sotomayor, Greg Pak, and others — beat the editors — Axel Alonso, Mark Paniccia, CB Cebuski, & Co. — 900 to 873. Peter David had the high score of 177, and everyone was hoping he’d take on Hilton in a championship round, but sadly, it was not to be. However, on a bright note, Hilton is teaming with Marvel’s Jen Grunwald for a new reality show called “Between the Sheets of Paper.”

Tatara has lots o’ pics up at the NYCC blog, starting right about here.

(Disclosure: We’re hosted by a sister company of Reed Exhibitions, which puts on New York Comic-Con, and have, in the past, consulted for the show.)

Party Poop! Friday! Featuring the fairly amazin’ Amanda Palmer:

Amanda Palmer, the creative force behind Who Killed Amanda Palmer & The Dresden Dolls, is appearing at this year’s San Diego Comic-Con to benefit the First Amendment work of the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund!

On Friday, July 24 Palmer will appear at two events to benefit the Fund. On Friday night, she headlines a benefit show at the San Diego Women’s Club, appearing with Vermillion Lies. Tickets are $20 in advance, $25 day of show. Acclaimed graphic novelist Jill Thompson will be creating live art during the event. Vermillion Lies will also be performing. Tickets are available at: (http://casbah.frontgatetickets.com/choose.php?a=1&lid=32249&eid=38329)

Earlier in the day Amanda appears at Comic-Con for CBLDF Master Sessions: Who Killed Amanda Palmer, at 1:00. Bring your sketchbook and witness how illustrative masters Camilla D’Errico, David Mack, and Terry Moore draw from life as internationally renowned performer Amanda Palmer poses at this CBLDF Master Session! Palmer will establish the mood for the event, while the artists translate her dramatic poses into their own distinctive styles. The original art from this session will be auctioned off on Saturday night at the CBLDF’s auction! Room 30CDE

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We don’t usually run full press releases for movie/tv/video game channels or whatever, but we’ll make an exception for the BBC:

As previously announced, in support of BBC AMERICA’s U.S. premiere of four Doctor Who Specials, the Doctor himself, David Tennant, will appear alongside writer/executive producer Russell T Davies at this year’s Comic-Con in San Diego. They will take part in a Doctor Who panel along with executive producer Julie Gardner and director Euros Lyn, moderated by Los Angeles Times television critic, Robert Lloyd on Sunday July 26, 10:00-11:00am PT.

In addition, two autograph signings have just been added to the schedule with writer/executive producer Russell T Davies signing at the BBC AMERICA booth (#3629) on Saturday July 25, 10:30-11:30am PT. He’ll also join executive producer Julie Gardner and director Euros Lyn to sign in the official autograph area on Sunday, July 26, 12:00-1:00pm PT.

Also just added is a chance for fans to party alongside The Mighty Boosh cast with creators-stars Julian Barratt and Noel Fielding, along with actors Michael Fielding, Rich Fulcher and Dave Brown as they DJ the night away at Fourth and B (345 B Street) on Friday, July 24, 11:00pm. Tickets are $5 in advance/$10 at the door and currently available at Ticketmaster and Club Box Office. Guests must be 21+ for admittance.

Earlier that day, The Mighty Boosh cast will be on stage to discuss the magical, bizarre and exciting world of The Boosh, Friday, July 24, 4:45-5:45pm and the following day is a newly added autograph signing session with the cast at the BBC AMERICA booth (#3629) on Saturday, July 25, 4:30-5:30pm PT.

BBC AMERICA’s highest rated show ever, Torchwood will have just completed the five-part special, Children of Earth. The show makes a return visit to Comic-Con with a panel featuring star John Barrowman, writer/executive producer Russell T Davies, executive producer Julie Gardner and director Euros Lyn, moderated by Rich Sands, senior editor at TV Guide and tvguidemagazine.com on Sunday July 26, 2:15-3:45pm PT.

As part of the same panel, Sunday July 26, 2:15-3:45pm PT, catch the talent from BBC AMERICA’s most buzzed about new sci fi drama, Being Human. Creator and writer, Toby Whithouse, plus lead actors Russell Tovey, Lenora Crichlow and Aidan Turner, talk about the inspiration for the show and what it’s like to play three twenty-somethings with secret double-lives – as a werewolf, a vampire and a ghost. All four panelists will be signing exclusively at the BBC AMERICA booth, Saturday July 25, 3:00-4:00pm PT.

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We forget what they call their little booth group of Cliff Chiang, Becky Cloonan, Brian Wood, and Jill Thompson. Whatever they call themselves, they will be at booth #1322 and they’ll have neat things to buy.

Jill will have copies of Magic Trixie, Magic Trixie Sleeps Over, and Magic Trixie and the Dragon for sale as well as new swell embroidered patches (see attached photos).

I’ll have preview art of the new series from Dark Horse called Beasts of Burden.

I’ll also be signing autographs, doing commissioned sketches, chit chatting and generally being Jill. And I’ll be Twittering. (ooh- Ahh!) Come one come all!

Cliff Chiang will have assorted prints and postcard sets for sale, and of course, commissioned sketches.

Brian Wood will have 125 copies of his self-published sketchbook Public Domain 2, which is 120 b/w pages, signed, numbered, and sketched in, for $20. He’ll have another set of mini-screenprints, as well as VERY few replica “PRESS” badges not unlike what Matty Roth wears in DMZ.

Becky Cloonan will have limited edition silk screens. More info at her blog.

New York Comic-Con 2009 is nothing but a lingering sore throat now, but all the forces and dramas that clashed and mingled continue to ricochet around the industry. Coming, as it did, at the crossroads of so many factors–the global economic collapse, plunging profits at bookstores, Borders on the critical list, and belt tightenings of varying degrees of painfulness at many comics companies–it set the tone that will carry us through several quarters

Amazingly, the tone was one of fan mania and not the gloom and doom that is everywhere else. In the week before the show, even the pluckiest of observers told The Beat privately that they feared a spending freeze on the floor, leaving exhibitors in a pool of red ink. When I wrote my preview for PW a month ago, everyone had been legitimately plucky and optimistic, but since then economic conditions had quickly worsened everywhere, and Diamond and DC had been hit with cutbacks. Exxpecting attendees to be tight with their pennies was a no-brainer.

But that didn’t happen. In Bob Chapman’s famous phrase, “Inside these walls the ‘fantasy’ economy is perfect. Outside the doors of the convention the economy sucks.” It was like everyone got to the Javits Center and decided it was really 2005, and ran around doing what people normally do at cons, getting autographs from Torchwood stars and Geoff Johns, watching movie previews and Cup O’ Joe panels, oogling Slave Leais, and marveling at Unemployed Skeletor. It was con, and even if it was fantasy, it was an escape.

Now, we are not here to say that everyone was raking it in like Bernie Madoff in 2008. Big ticket items, as expected, moved sslloowwllyy. Sales were quiet in the original art section and if you are thinking of casting a few expensive resin statues to sell, our advice is DON’T. Back issue sales were brisk because everything was slashed to bargain basement prices. Some artists and publishers did fantastically well, but many had sales that were far below a regular convention. It wasn’t champagne and caviar for everyone — but it was busy. And that in itself was remarkable.
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No more, we promise, unless it’s really revelatory.

§ CBR talks to show runner Lance Fensterman, including the answer to what many were speculating about:

We heard a rumor that Reed could be combining Comic Con and the Anime Fest here in New York. What are your thoughts on that on a scale of “A Strong Possibility” to “Just Speculation?”

I think it’s both. I think it’s a possibility and speculation at this point. We haven’t decided what to do with Anime in 2010, and our minds are really open. Basically, we just pulled of New York Comic Con 2009, a week before that we pulled off a massive con launching in downtown Chicago, we’ve relocated our Comic Con to the fall; so the feeling was, “We will run an awesome New York Anime Fest in 2009 and worry about what we’re doing from there.”

We’ve got a lot on our plate right now, and we’ll do whatever’s best for the fans. I’ve always said that we respect the community we’ve built for the Otaku and hopefully make it even better in 2010.

§ Although most stories seem to peg the show as an upbeat recession buster, not everyone saw it that way:

In the basement food court Ordalina Acevedo thought this year’s conference wasn’t as buoyant as last year. “There are less people; it’s because of the economy,” she said as she rang up a customer’s sandwich at a cash register.

§ Ron Hogan went to the PWCW panel moderated by Calvin Reid, that covered selling good books in a bad economy:

“High-end titles really haven’t dropped so much,” said Tokyopop’s Stuart Levy, “but the midlist titles have dropped a lot.” Barnes & Noble graphic novel buyer Jim Killen concurred, adding that Batman and Iron Man titles had been hot sellers because of the movies—the latter had actually becaome “an A-list character” as far as sales were concerned. The problem, Liang suggested, was that over the last decade or so comics publishers had ridden a wave of expansion in the retail chains until they’d reached all the audience they could reach there. “I don’t see any explosive growth coming out of the chain sector in the next few years,” he predicted. Killen expanded on the thought: “Constant growth in any market is not possible,” he warned. “There’s a point where you stop being a growing business and become a mature business… Every title is fighting for shelf space now. Every title has to have a reason for being in the store.”

§ One thing that frustrates us about a show like NYCC, which had, all things considered, a very diverse programming schedule is that you have to go through 20 reports on “Cup of Nation” panels to find out about actually interesting things, like the uclick panel. Luckily io9 was there:

It may be minor, but sitting with an iPhone and viewing their most popular converted title - Jeff Smith’s Bone - is truly an impressively enjoyable experience. No longer are you accidentally viewing a frame or two ahead because of the nature of multi-panel pages; you’re actually able to see it panel-by-panel — just like the artists originally created it. Also, because the iPhone is backlit, you’re able to see more vibrant colors and artwork than you’d ever see on crudely-printed paper. It’s not just good for the readers. The model also works well for the content creators.

Jorge Vega, owner of Kid Kong Entertainment and Two Fisted Press, writes the comic book Kaeru-Boy, distributed on the iPhone by iVerse, a UClick competitor. “I can leverage the ease of using the platform…downloading from iTunes… allows me as an independent creator to drive more, easier sales. Because of the $0.99 price point, it’ll bring in potential new readers.” Vega also loves the portability of the iPhone, saying it’s “like a virtual long box.”

But see also the io9 comments section.

§ More of Kiel Phegley’s reporting on the ICv2 conference:

However, the news for graphic novels and comics sales remained good in 2008, with gains in total sales and a jaw-dropping 134% increase in the number of comics for children and tweens. “Graphic novels are continuing to grow, albeit not as fast as they were before. Overall, [there was] about 5% growth in the comics and graphic novel medium. I think one of the questions for 2009 will be whether there will be an economic impact on format choice for people buying comics. I’ve been in this business for over 30 years, and in that time there’s been a very reliable, counter-cyclical relationship between economic conditions and sales of periodical comics. It’s very cheap entertainment and something that is a good entertainment alternative. This is kind of uncharted territory because graphic novels are a much greater percentage of the business than they’ve ever been in the past when the economy has been bad. Also, comic cover prices have gone up faster than inflation, and the continuity of comics is probably different than it has been, [because] the very tightly woven continuity between comic titles makes comic periodicals a much bigger investment than when you’re buying one-off stories.”

§ Dave Roman has his own thoughts on his panel at the ICv2 conference and his exchange with Ira “Hey you kids, get off my internet!” and “Girls? Comics? The devil you say!” Rubenstein, Marvel’s new technology guy. He links to a further discussion on the CBR forum.

§ But our favorite NYCC anecdote has to be this one from Rich Johnston — because it shows that EVERYBODY wants to see Comic-Con!

Daniel Dae Kim, better known as Jin off of “Lost”, also attending the New York Comic Convention this weekend, in his capacity of being in “Lost,” “24,” “Enterprise,” “Angel,” “Hulk,” “Crusade” and all that. But he also wanted to walk around the show, buy comics, meet creators etc, without getting mobbed.

So someone found him a “V For Vendetta” mask, letting Daniel walk around untouched for hours.

[Photo via Brian Heater.]

We have only a brief window between waking, coughing, and lunch, but here’s all you need to read. Discuss.

§ ICv2 highlights the fact that the show was an oasis of spending in the bleak economy:

Nearly 77,000 (unique) fans thronged the Jacob Javits Center in New York over the weekend for New York Comic Con, smashing last year’s record (see “NYCC Rocks”) with over 15% growth. Saturday tickets sold out despite a bigger space than last year’s, and Friday and Sunday were also both busy. As a harried Bob Chapman of Graphitti Designs told us while doing land office business on Saturday afternoon, “Inside these walls the ‘fantasy’ economy is perfect. Outside the doors of the convention the economy sucks.”

§ But Brian Heater laments the empty spot:

But while the temptation is certainly ever-present to spend the show lamenting the ways in which it’s unlike a MoCCA, SPX, Stumptown, or APE, there’s little point in waging such complaints. New York Comic Con knows its place in the universe, and, for the most part, it plays the role well. The show was put in place in attempts to bring some semblance of San Diego’s spectacle to east coast residents, and while its organizers insist that the focus is, to some degree, on the book industry—as evidenced by the presence of publishers like Penguin (obligatory, really, in a city like New York)—NYCC has grown pretty comfortably into its current place as a smaller, more tightly-packed version of San Diego, a bubble guarded by the Javits Center’s reality distorting walls, where donning a trenchcoat and draping a sharpie-blotted wash rag over your head makes you a bit of a celebrity for one extended weekend.

§ This was sad, too, but, from what we saw, a bit of an anomaly:

So as I’ve been patrolling the Comic Con, I happened to overhear a scene that really made me kind of sad. I saw a father, maybe in his late 30s, and his son walking into the Con. …And the kid didn’t want to go in. To make matters worse, the dad — wearing a Spider-Man button-down shirt — started really browbeating the kid, snatching away his Game Boy, telling him to pay attention. “Stop that! You need to follow me, we’re going to be late for the panel!” For me, it was just really jarring. It’s not to say that I didn’t get my own share of discipline when I was with my folks (hi, Mom!), but what really got me was that the New York Comic Con — an event that is as exhilirating as it is exhausting — was a chore for this kid. It was endurance, not fun.

§ Other parents, Jossip reports, were even more proactive:

Sitting down at the last panel on Saturday evening in a packed auditorium, waiting for the creators of Adult Swim’s Venture Brothers to take the stage, an older woman next to me turned and smiled. “How old are you?” she asked conspiratorially out of the side of her mouth. I told her, and she nudged the younger boy sitting next to her, “See! She is only a couple years older than you, Martin! You should ask her out!”

§ Finally, Kevin Melrose has the best of the news.

The one lesson we have learned above all else from New York Comic-Con 2009 is to go find that funny little cable that came with our computer that we had no idea what to do with! Our two panels yesterday went awesomely but would have been enhanced by our slide selections…had we only known that that funny little cable was our gateway to the world of AV, things would have been so different.

Not that the Javits tech folks weren’t helpful. They actually pulled out BAGS full of Mac connector cables…however, none of them fit the modern popular Macs. It seemed all of those had been given away already.

Or, as one of them said as I moaned over the loss, “Yep, a lot of people forget that cable once…but they never forget it again.”

We’re very sorry to not be blogging from the con as much as we should be. The reasons are bad internet connections, bad phone connections and our own enfeebled state.

Saturday was mad crowded, San Diego or worse crowded, but good spirited. We hear (although we never saw it) that you have to line up for panels and the rooms were SRO even for topics you wouldn’t think would be SRO.

The logline for the show is definitely “What recession?” More than one person referred to the con as an “escape” from the realities of unemployment, and global deflation. Indeed, though many — The Beat included — feared that vendor sales would be dismal at the show, everyone we spoke with directly has had better than expected sales, and from the busy, bustling mood on the floor, you’d never know that January’s job numbers are going to be horrific.

ARE comics really recession proof? We heard a lot of informed news and speculation about Diamond policies, internet delivery, price increases and more to think we’re approaching some kind of new world for comics, but the buoyancy in the face of economic bad times is truly something to see.

The party scene at the show has been likewise busy. We started out the evening grabbing some Thai tea with ACT-I-VATErs, moved on to the ComicSpace party, and then hit the annual Chesterfest, CB Cebulski’s big shindig, which was a madhouse as crowded as the show. Unfortunately, all other revelry for The Beat had to be cut short, but it was a fine time for those who don’t have the plague.

In the most awesome news of the show — news that had fans standing up and cheering as if they were at a Kevin Costner movie or something — Yen Press announced that they have the license for YOTSUBA&!, Brigid Alverson reports, and Volume 6 will be out in September, The popular series about a young alien and her gentle yet funny adventures was previously published by ADV.

§ It’s hard to pick up on what actually happened at Marvel and DC panels unless you have a crib sheet, but apparently:

• The whole Ultimate line is going away and there will be a NEW Ultimate line.

• Eighteen minutes of THE WATCHMEN were shown (while we were still in bed, alas) and everyone had to change their pants afterwards.

§ There will be FINAL CRISIS tie-in books.

Seriously, we’re too knackered to take this all in. Where are our translators?

Various news bites from news sites at the show:

§ Greg Rucka’s and J.H. Williams’s BATWOMAN arc will appear in DETECTIVE. The story was previewed in the con program book and at Newsarama.

¶ Lots of Vertigo news from the Vertigo panel, including:

¶ A Peter Milligan resurgence, with a run on HELLBLAZER and a new original series, GREEK STREET, with artist Davide Gianfelice, about myths and London.

¶ Other new titles: THE UNWRITTEN by Mike Carey and Peter Gross about a man whose father based a famous character on him.

¶ DAYTRIPPER, a new ten-issue series by Fabio Moon and Gabriel Bá.

¶ BANG TANGO is a new book by Joe Kelly and Adrian Sibar about a mobster who becomes a tango dancer.

¶ New graphic novels:

GONE TO AMERIKAY, an Irish generational saga, by Derek McCulloch and Colleen Doran.

CUBA: ONE STORY by Inverna Lockpez and Dean Haspiel, a fictional memoir about life in revolutionary Cuba.

HOW TO UNDERSTAND ISRAEL IN SIXTY DAYS OR LESS, the story of a young woman’s birthright journey, by Sarah Glidden.

LUNA PARK by best-selling novelist Kevin Baker and Danijel Zezelj.

¶ In addition, Vertigo will test $1 first issues and jump on points, including GREEK STREET, the UNWRITTEN and AIR #7. “We’re trying to get as many people to read our monthlies. We know a lot of people will just wait for the trade, and that’s great, but it will help us a lot if people buy the monthlies too,” according to Karen Berger.

§ Penny Arcade has moved to Del Rey.

§ Robert Kirkman and Todd McFarlane are teaming on a new book for Image.

Robert Kirkman and Todd McFarlane present the new monthly series “Haunt.” Written by the pair with layouts by longtime “Spawn” artist Greg Capullo, pencils by “Invincible” penciler Ryan Ottley and inks and covers by McFarlane, the series formally announced today at the New York Comic Con promises a combination of superhero action, horror comic tones and espionage twists.

§ MTV News reports that a POWERS pilot is in the works:

“‘Powers’ is in active development as a pilot at FX,” Bendis told MTV. “I just handed in a draft to the network and we’re getting our notes from the network as soon as this thing is over. So next week I’ll get the notes, and as long as they don’t involve sock puppets and some sort of orgy scene that I’m not interested in, then hopefully it will go in the right direction.”

§ In other news: Christian Bale has apologized and come out of this whole thing better than ever.

§ Finally, the con’s WTF moment::

A female fan offered to sit on [Jim] McCann’s lap if he let her write a Marvel book. “You offer *me* a lap dance? Everybody knows me, riiight?”

Last night was a huge night for partying at New York Comic-Con, as Marvel and DC held their traditional Friday night fetes. However, as revealed on Twitter, partygoers at one of the soirees made a troubling find: an abandoned bra in the ladies room. The owner of the bra appears to have been well endowed but other forensic evidence has not been released.

Many questions remained. Was this merely viral marketing for some “event”? Had Jim Balent accidentally been in the ladies room? Had Jim Balent purposely been in the ladies room? Most worryingly of all…where was Big Momma?

The website made it official: Flying in the face of a bad economy. this year’s New York Comic-Con is sold out for Saturday:
Saturday and weekend passes are sold out. Sunday-only passes are available for $40.

The cautious optimism that has gripped the comics industry remained in full force at the show. Although the worsening economic conditions affecting much of the world were much on everyone’s mind, they didn’t seem to be affecting most of the show — or at least not to levels anywhere near what other sectors are experiencing.

Obviously, attendance isn’t a problem. We only had time to poll a few vendors, but they were reporting good sales, if nothing that was record setting. To paraphrase Milton Greipp’s industry white paper, if flat is the new up, comics are still doing well.

More later.

Just to remind everyone, we’ll take part in two panels at the show, both on Sunday:

The Beat Presents The Art of Storytelling
Sunday 11:15 AM - 12:15 PM 1A06

As comics have become a more influential part of pop culture, their stories and characters are known more widely than ever. Step inside the minds of some of the comic biz’s best storytellers to find out how they approach their craft and shape their visions to create their best known works. Moderated by Heidi MacDonald, with Jim Lee, Marv Wolfman, Ben Templesmith, Terry Moore and Carla Speed McNeil.

Please note the final panel line-up. It’s incredible to know that Marv is now a “LIVING LEGEND.” We’ve known him since he was just living.

THEN:

Lilly Renee Phillips Spotlight
Sunday 1:45-2:45 PM Room 1A17

Lily Renee Phillips was one of the pioneer women cartoonists in the Golden Age of Comics, working primarily for Fiction House publishers. Fleeing Nazi Germany to America as a child, she went on to draw covers and such features as The Lost World, Senorita Rio, and Werewolf Hunters for Planet Comics, Rangers Comics, and Fight Comics. With her then-husband Eric Peters, she also drew covers and interior stories for a number of Abbott & Costello Comics. Phillips talks about her amazing life and career with Heidi MacDonald (The Beat).

WE went over to visit with Lily Renee Phillips earlier this week to prep for the spotlight panel and what an amazing lady! She’s led an incredibly full life and remains gracious, charming and fascinating. Please come out to hear her story — you won’t hear one like it.

GIvane all the talk over stereotyped casting and racial images going on here at The Beat of late, we wanted to draw attention to two panels at NYCC this weekend, both concerning SECRET IDENTITES, an upcoming anthology of comics described as:

This groundbreaking anthology brings together top Asian American creators in the comics industry — including Gene Yang (American Born Chinese), Bernard Chang (Wonder Woman), Greg Pak (The Hulk), Sonny Liew (the upcoming Liquid City; Vertigo’s My Faith in Frankie), Greg LaRocque (The Flash), Christine Norrie (Black Canary Wedding Special), and Francis Tsai (Heroes for Hire) — as well as new and established creators from film, television, and literature, to craft original graphical short stories set in a compelling “shadow history” of our country: from the building of the railroads to the Japanese American internment, atomic bombings, the Vietnam airlifts, the murder of Vincent Chin, and the groundless incarceration of Dr. Wen Ho Lee.

There will be two panels on the topic:

* On Saturday’s 1:30PM “Asian Americans and Superheroes: Secret Identities” panel in Room 1A18, SI editor-in-chief Jeff Yang and editor-at-large Keith Chow will be joined by Greg Pak and Bernard Chang (creative team of “The Citizen”). The panel will be moderated by Anne Ishii and will also feature the world premiere of the first Secret Identities trailer. (Room 1A18)

* Sunday’s 11:15AM “The Multicultural Mask” panel, moderated by Jeff Yang, will feature Greg Pak, Jann Jones, Danielle O’Brien, Perry Moore, and Stuart Moore. (Room 1A17)

And here’s where you can find a few of the SI-affiliated creators in Artist Alley:

BERNARD CHANG (Artist Alley) A8
BILLY TAN (Artist Alley) B13
CLIFF CHIANG (Artist Alley) J18
DUSTIN NGUYEN (Artist Alley) K8
GREG LAROCQUE (Artist Alley) M5
(Greg LaRocque will also be at the Exiled Studio booth #2177.)

Finally, make sure you visit Art Director Jerry Ma (and buy a t-shirt or two) at the Epic Proportions booth #1908!

The Beat has been felled by a pesky bronchial infection and missed all of yesterday’s ICv2 conference and party slate. Boo hiss. After a regime of juice and tea, we hope to be on the floor tomorrow, even if at reduced strength.

We haven’t seen many online reports on the conference yet, aside from a few Twitters. Douglas Wolk:

Q: “What happens if Watchmen doesn’t go anywhere?” Paul Levitz: “The 200,000 I printed today would probably be a mistake, then.”

And Evie Nagy:
learned today from Art Spiegelman that “Goethe was the Oprah of his time.”

Otherwise nothing but complaints about how cold the Javits and New York at large are. In fact, even while lying swaddled in bed, eating rice pudding, it was easy to follow along with who was doing what on the ubiquitous Twitter. Weird.

Our collection of parties and events during NYCC is a bit curtailed, due to the fact that we are going down the tubes healthwise, and won’t be able to hit any parties, but here’s a rough stab at it. BTW, we have no public events for Friday, so if you’re havin’ one…send us a link!

THURSDAY:
Official NYCC Pre-Con Party:
5:30pm - 7:30pm

Special Events taking place at Dave & Buster’s
First Ever NYCC Pre-Con Party | Thursday, February 5, 2009 | 5:30pm - 7:30pm | Dave & Buster’s Times Square - The Official NYCC Con-Bar

NYCC is thrilled to announce the first ever New York Comic Con Pre-Con party taking place at Dave & Buster’s in Times Square Thursday, February 5, 2009 from 5:30pm - 7:30pm. This event is open to everyone so grab some friends and join the excitement of the weekend ahead with other fans, exhibitors, NYCC staff and even some guests! Oh yeah…and the first 200 NYCC ticket holders to arrive at the Pre-Con party will receive a pretty sweet gift bag.

If you don’t have your NYCC show ticket yet no problem…you will be able to purchase a ticket to NYCC at Dave & Buster’s along with some cool NYCC Official Merchandise! So grab your favorite nerd in your life and swing on down to Dave & Buster’s to play a few games, have some drinks at the cash bar, mingle with some guests and to get ready for the incredible weekend ahead!

Proceeds benefit the Hero Initiative and attending pros include Joe Quesada, Jimmy Palmiotti, Amanda Conner, Phillip Morris, Aaron Douglas and more.

IMAGE COMICS AND DARK HORSE PRESENT THE COMIC BOOK LEGAL DEFENSE FUND WELCOME PARTY!
7:00 PM to 10:00 PM
Side Bar
120 E. 15th Street (Near Union Square)

Enjoy drinks, free sliders for early arrivals, and door prizes! Admission will be $5 and up for CBLDF members, $10 and up for non-members. Attending artists will include: Colleen Doran, David Mack, Rantz Hoseley, Dean Haspiel, Mike Cavallero, Nikki Cook, Mahmud Asrar, Brahm Revel and many more!

Mike Golden, Mark Texiera and Steve Scott Sign at Illustration House
5:00-7:00
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Location:
Illustration House
110 West 25th St.
2129669444

Marking the opening of the show “Astounding Art.” Details here.

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Marvel provided the following schedule for signings:

New York Comicon is this weekend February 6-8th, so be sure to stop by Marvel’s booth (Booth #1141) for all the singings and giveaways happening all weekend long. And here’s the schedule for all the Marvel madness this weekend at NYCC:

SIGNING SCHEDULE

FRIDAY

12:00 – 1:00 PM

*SPECIAL PROFESSIONAL HOURS SIGNING*
ANDY DIGGLE
JONATHAN HICKMAN
PAUL CORNELL
RICK REMENDER
SIMON SPURRIER

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Archie Comics was kind enough to send over their schedule for the show:

Stop by the Archie Comics booth #1821 and meet writers Misako Rocks!, Alex Simmons, Paul Castiglia and Barbara Slate and artists Fernando Ruiz, Dan Parent, Joe Staton, Bob Smith, Jim Amash and Tito Pena. They’ll be on hand signing autographs and giving away FREE comics! Plus, for the first time ever you can purchase select Archie Graphic Novels at special convention prices! (While Supplies Last!)

Signing Schedule:
Friday:
3-4 Paul Castiglia

Saturday:
11-12 Misako Rocks!
12-1 Barbara Slate
1-2 Tito Peña
2-3 Bob Smith
3-4 Joe Staton
4-5 Alex Simmons

Sunday:
11-12 Dan Parent
12-1 Jim Amash
1-2 Fernando Ruiz
2-3 Alex Simmons

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MoCCA Director Karl Erickson wrote to tell of their panel and signings:

Sunday, Feb. 8, 1:30pm at NYCC
Comics and the Language of Visual Symbolism
Comics are able to communicate dense layers of narrative, emotion, and action in a manner that no other media is able. This panel will explore the way the cartoonists use pictures to tell their stories in a way that is unique to comics.
Panelists Ryan Dunlavey, Paul Karasik, Danica Novgorodoff, and Alex Robinson, moderated by MoCCA Director Karl Erickson

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¶ First we would like to direct everyone’s attention to The Daily Cross Hatch and their feature, New York Comic Con 2009: An Indie Survival Guide. As Brian Heater points out, it’s not exactly Winter MoCCA Fest:

It’s unfortunate, to be sure, but let’s face it—having attending the show for the past few years, we can sympathize. The focus of shows like NYCC and its larger west coast counterpart is squarely focused on the big name players in the industry. They are, after all, the ones who largely tend to bring bodies through the door. While the showing from smaller publishers is smaller (Fantagraphics, for one, let us know that it won’t be in attendence, as it’s since decided that there’s little to be gained from a show like NYCC), they’re there if you know where to look.

We put the message out to indie artists and publishers, asking where we might find them at this year’s show. The responses largely came back in one of two forms:

1. Those who swore on their life that they’d never again risk setting foot in the convention, and wished us luck on our seemingly self-destructive pursuit.
2. Those who were, in fact, planning on attending the show, and were therefore more than happy help their indie brethren direct traffic.

There are some indie cartoonists and publishers attending, and for sure they spent a lot of money to be there, so make sure you go and check them out.

¶ Abby Denson:

So here’s my appearance schedule for this weekend’s NY Comic Con! It includes my first ever Marvel signing and the lovely and talented Colleen Coover will be there with me (along with loads of other superstar Spider-Man cohorts)! So if you want to get that copy of Amazing Spider-Man Family #3 (featuring the debut of Amazing Spider-Ma’am!)?signed by Colleen and I, this is THE TIME to do it! 6PM Saturday at Marvel Booth #1141. Be there!
Read on for my full schedule:

Feb. 7th and 8th
NY Comic Con!
Jacob K. Javits - 655 West 34th Street, NYC
Panel schedule so far:
Saturday?- 12:15PM-1:15PM “Friends of Lulu Panel: The Representation of Women in Comics” with Jillian Tamaki, Calista Brill, Robin Furth , Chris Butzer - Room 1A18
Saturday?- 4:15PM-5:15PM “Men are from Krypton, Women are from Paradise Island” with Jimmy Palmiotti, Colleen Doran, and Jamal Igle - Room 1A17
Saturday-?6:00PM to 7:00PM - Signing @ The Marvel Booth (#1141) with Mike McKone, Phil Jimenez, Joe Kelly, Dan Slott, and Colleen Coover
Sunday?- 11AM-12PM - “Kids Comics Workshop” with?Matt Loux?and?Dave Roman?- room: Kids Zone 1

¶ Neil Kleid:

Just a heads up as to where I’ll be signing at this year’s New York Comic Con. I’m promoting THE BIG KAHN, my upcoming graphic novel from NBM Publishing, and signing copies of BROWNSVILLE, COMIC BOOK TATTOO, NINETY CANDLES and more! I also have one or two things to announce. If you have a chance during the convention, please swing by to say hello.

Here’s where you’ll find me:

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 6TH:

11AM-1PM: NBM Publishing (Booth 1713)
2-3PM: Image Comics (Booth 1403)
3-5PM: NBM Publishing (Booth 1713)

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 7TH:

Meetings and general walking around, saying hello to pals.

SUNDAY:

10-11AM: NBM Publishing (Booth 1713)
11AM-12PM: Image Comics (Booth 1403)
3-5PM: NBM Publishing (Booth 1713)

Links to more stuff:
¶Ben Templesmith
¶Dean Haspiel
¶Elizabeth Genco

Well, we seem to have had the snow on Tuesday, a light, charming sprinkling that left a dressy coat of white all over. The above image applies to the entire East Coast to MidWest.

The bad news is, it’s getting a little arctic today and Thursday (in the 20s), followed by a rise in temperature. The current forecast called for nearly 50 degrees on Sunday. Shirt sleeves.

Our packing advice? Layers! And lots of ‘em.

Also sequins and feathers. Because New Yorkers love people clad in sequins and feather. Really.

BTW, if you’re living in the SoCal area, David Lynch does the weather every day at his website.

Via PR:

Officials at New York Comic Con announced today that Grant Morrison will not be able to attend this year’s convention, which is taking place this week, February 6 – 8 at the Jacob K. Javits Center in New York City.

In a prepared statement, Grant Morrison said: “As a result of family issues, I won’t be able to make it to the New York ComicCon this week. My apologies to everyone, and particularly to the readers I won’t get a chance to meet this time around due to circumstances beyond my control. See you next time.”

We sincerely hope Grant isn’t having a “crisis” of his own.

If you think SCOTT PILGRIM Volume 5 will be the book of the show, you are not alone. Here’s all the deets on the hoopla and more goings on at Oni:

Oni Press is in New York City for this year’s New York Comic Con! February 6th - 8th we’ll be strutting our stuff at booth #1413. Come by and check out our eclectic library of titles including the premiere of:

SCOTT PILGRIM VOLUME 5: SCOTT PILGRIM VS THE UNIVERSE
by Bryan Lee O’Malley
Scott Pilgrim is at the top of his game: he just turned 24, he moved in with the girl of his dreams, and he defeated at least half of The League of Ramona’s Evil Exes. But life at the top is treacherous and if things can’t possibly get any better for Scott, it means they can only get infinitely worse! Scott’s band is in total turmoil, his own exes have all boarded the train to crazy town, and Ramona’s evil exes have started appearing in pairs! And what’s up with Ramona, anyway? She’s been acting kinda weird ever since she and Scott moved in together. It’s the second-to-last volume of the Scott Pilgrim series and it looks like Scott’s precious little life has come back around to bite him in the butt!

To celebrate the release of the eagerly anticipated next chapter of the SCOTT PILGRIM SERIES, Oni Press is pleased to announce the following events and specials:

AFTER WORK SIGNING AND MIXER
Wednesday, February 4th from 7-9pm at Rocketship Comics in Brooklyn.
http://rocketshipstore.blogspot.com

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Abrams ComicArts first books make their debut at NYCC, with Craig Yoe, Adam Koford, Tim Pilcher and Gene Kannenberg Jr. and more. If you peruse the following PR, you’ll see many announcements of Fall books and beyond as well.

Abrams, the preeminent publisher of illustrated books since 1949, announced the launch of the new imprint Abrams ComicArts at the San Diego Comic Con last year. Now, the first books to be published under the Abrams ComicArts imprint will debut at New York Comic Con and will be featured at the Abrams booth.

The first three books on Abrams ComicArts’ debut list will be featured at New York Comic Con and each of these authors will be on hand at the Abrams booth (#1825) to sign copies of their books. Craig Yoe’s groundbreaking book, Secret Identity: The Fetish Art of Superman’s Co-creator Joe Shuster goes on sale in April and features an introduction by Stan Lee. The Laugh-Out-Loud Cats Sell Out, by Adam Koford, with an introduction by the Daily Show’s John Hodgman, goes on sale in March and combines the popular LOLcats speak with the aesthetic of George Herriman’s Krazy Kat. Erotic Comics 2: A Graphic History from the Liberated ’70s to the Internet, by Tim Pilcher and Gene Kannenberg Jr., features a foreword by Alan Moore and will go on sale in March.

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