According to handouts at this weekend’s Big Apple Con, next year’s show is being held October 7-10 — the exact same dates as the long announced New York Comic-Con.
Accidents do happen, but it’s pretty incredible that the only date available for the Big Apple show was…the same dates as the second-biggest show in the US?

Is that even feasible?

Industry observers are already reacting with shock to the announcement. In a huge market that clearly loves comics, a spring or summer date would make a lot of sense. But going up against another, established show that has a great deal of good will on its side seems…well, odd. The idea of exhibitors and guests having to choose between two concurrent shows is also…mind boggling.

CBR has more and some analysis

With so many non-comics-related media guests, some commenters have speculated that Shamus’ shows would try to avoid direct competition with conventions like NYCC or Comic-Con International in San Diego by virtue of offering less of a comics focus (a view supported by promotional newspaper stories hitting this past week). However, with a four-day show planned at the same time as next year’s expansive NYCC convention (this years’ Big Apple show runs Friday to Sunday), it appears as though Shamus and company will attempt to at least capitalize on the reputation of NYCC, if not directly try to steal some of the shows thunder.

Developing.

Longtime wrestling manager Captain Lou Albano passed away today at the age of 76. In the 1970s, Albano was one of the big three managers in the WWWF, along with the already-deceased Classie Freddie Blassie and The Grand Wizard.

In the 1980s, Albano became a crossover celebrity after appearing in Cyndi Lauper’s “Girls Just Want to Have Fun” video and parlayed that into things like the Super Mario Brothers Super Show television show.

Wrestling legend and very early Beat crush Roddy Piper is not dead — although it was erroneously reported by some news sources this morning when someone with a similar name passed away. It was also reported that he had been diagnosed with terminal cancer, but that has also been retracted.

Piper, 55, who was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma in 2006, has been advised by his doctors to take some time off. He finished radiation treatment in 2007 and the disease is considered 90 percent treatable when caught early.

Whatever Piper’s current medical status, let’s all let him hear what we would say if he wasn’t here: he’s simply one of the most entertaining wrestlers of all times, an aphorism spouting legend, a heel who influenced the stick work of everyone who came after, a bad boy you love to love, and a B-movie actor of range and legendary campiness whose opus is worthy of a retrospective all its own. Rowdy Roddy is carved into the Rushmore of Nerd Icons, and has done more cool shit in his life than most of us will ever imagine.

Rodolfo Guzmán Huerta would have been 92 today.

Viva El Santo!

We totally stole this from Glenn Hauman at ComicMix who got it from the FailBlog, but it has to be seen by all. It’s an ad for a water park in Korea, and what water parks have to do with Spider-Man shooting webbing out his ass is…one of the great mysteries. We would not like to go to a water park frequented by people who shoot things out their ass. Just sayin’.

It seems all the useful internet talk about comics is currently taking place at Comics Comics, with Jeet Heer, Dash Shaw, and other people with more than four letters in their names contributing appreciations of Tom K, Tim Hensley, comical allusions in the late poetry of John Updike, and other such matters. However, in the always-essential comments, baleful Frank Santoro throws out a shocker with:

I worked all last week at Copacetic Comics and went through the shelves, book by book. I’m sad to report that how UNREADABLE most alt comics are. My 80% figure is not an exaggeration. I made a list (which I’ll never publish). It’s embarrassing how little structure alt comix have compared to mainstream comics.

Vigilant Sean T. Collins stands at the ready with a dissent:

* Related: I’m not sure Frank should be allowed to go on the way he does about how the vast majority of contemporary alternative comics are unreadable garbage without citing a lot of examples. From where I’m standing this is a pretty contrarian POV about the state of comics in 2009 and I want to see where he’s coming from.

We’d like to add that the 80 percent figure is 100 percent less* than the Sturgeon’s Law percentage of mainstream comics that are crap, so by any measure, alt comix are still demonstrably better.

BTW, Hellen Jo (above) is in the 20%, and you will see the effects of dissent in her comic for Vice. MARVEL, please hire Hellen Jo to write and illustrate the new adventures of Daughters of the Dragon, or Runaways, or young Spider-Man, or SOMETHING.

Via the Vice Mag interview with Jo:

Jin & Jam #1 is a coming-of-age comic about a couple of teenagers who meet, become friends, and do shit together. It’s based really really REALLY loosely on a few of my own experiences and those of a few close friends, but I’ve amped everything up with violence, surrealism, and fantastic lies. Eventually the comic will take a more mysterious turn. As for any similarities between the comic and my own life, I also grew up in a Christian Korean home, surrounded by high expectations, but my own “coming of age” was more mundane, typical of a lot of suburban teens. I think Jin & Jam presents a more romanticized, tragic, thrilling version of adolescence than normal, but “coming of age” is this universally profound human experience that I’ve wanted for a while to explore in a comic book.

Hellen Jo Google theme? Holy shit.
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Sorry about all the technical problems and lack of posting. We’re working on it, Dave.

In our mega-con report, we had a brief mention of the great Fables/Venture Brothers rumble at San Diego, and fuller reports and some fallout are to be found on a variety of message boards.

Over at the Fables board, things kick off with an open letter from one of the Venture fans who had camped out in the panel room during the Fables panel (which was scheduled just prior to the Ventures panel in one of the larger hall rooms), leaving little room for the Fables fans — many costumed — who were left waiting outside. The letter criticizes writer Bill Willingham for “insulting” the Venture Bros. fans instead of trying to expose them to the merits of Fables. The letter draws a somewhat testy response from Willingham. There’s also this report on what took place with getting people in and out of the panel:

The problems were compounded when the convention staff mismanaged the line. Apparently an inexperienced individual was tasked with forming the line in the backside hallway and wrapped it back and forth before crossing the second doorway creating the third column to the line which was not wanted. When the subsequent person took over, he formed a new line where it was wanted without making any attempt to accommodate the mismanaged portion of the line which was comprised of people who had arrived an hour before the panel to get in. Soon, these people were told that they were not in line and that they needed to leave. I can’t say how this shock out exactly because I was forced to take my kids to this panel and left one to hold our place while I took the other to use the bathroom and to get them some snacks. When I returned however it did not appear that many had left and the few people I had talked to were still there. At any rate, Bill Willingham somehow became aware of this fiasco and actually came out and personally apologized to this portion of the line. It was pretty clear that he had hoped to be able to address a much larger segment of his fans and it did not look like it was going to work at nearly as well as he had hoped he was clearly disappointed. I stuck it out and was able to get into the room having missed only the first few minutes of the presentation. Although, my children and I had to each sit separate. I will commend the interior staff of this panel for working diligently to accommodate as many people as possible. Unfortunately this was not the case with a certain other room I had had some experience with earlier in the show.

There’s also this heartbreaking eyewitness account:

We gave up on the line around forty minutes into the panel and after a forlorn Snow White in full costume was walking by, we had moved halfway up the line, which had wrapped around the room on three sides.

While the Fables fans who characterize The Venture Bros. as a “show that makes fun of everything” obviously aren’t very familiar with it (it’s really more of a dark, Heller-esque dissection of pop culture tropes….kinda like…Fables). given Fables’ very passionate and loyal following, you can understand their frustration.

And, in a move that seems to be very much is keeping with the thinking following this year’s scrum, Willingham hints that they are looking into moving the Fables panel to a site away from the convention next year.

Finally, the official podcast of the Fables panel is up so listeners can judge for themselves what was said.

UPDATE: CBR has their own report on the incident, with quotes from all sides.

Although I have been leaning towards the laissez faire first come, first served policy, maybe it IS time for room clearing in the bigger rooms…or separate lines that can only start two hours before a panel in the BIGGEST rooms? That would definitely separate the wheat from the chaff but leave room for other stuff.

…The Joker was an Anarchist, not a Socialist, as all you people who went to see THE DARK KNIGHT 13 times know.

Splash Page has more.

PR from Mattel:

Comic-Con attendees can put their mental powers to the ultimate test during the Mindflex™ “Babes vs. Brains” challenge, as they learn to levitate a foam ball using the power of their mind before navigating through a customizable obstacle course – a truly must-see experience. Participants (the “Brains”) will have the opportunity to compete against the Mindflex™ “Babes” for the chance to win a Mindflex™ game and levitation bragging rights!  
 
Swing by the Mattel Booth (#3029) for a glimpse of the challenge or to master Mindflex™ for yourself!  Let us know if you’d like to arrange a specific time to meet and we can coordinate in advance.
 
You have to see it to believe it!!

You can say that again. Good to know you can be a Babe OR a brain…but not both. Cuz, ya know, math is hard.

Any story that includes the terms “Mexican midget wrestler” and “hooker” (or “sexoservidoras” as they are called in Mexico) might seem ripe for comedy, but the murder of two pint- sized luchadores is no laughing matter. As reported in the NY Post and elsewhere, Alberto and Alejandro Jimenez, aka La Parkita and El Espectrito Jr., twin brothers who wrestled together in various Lucha and US indies, were found dead in a Medico City hotel room, apparently after being poisoned by two women they hired to come back to their hotel.

The 35-year-old little wrestlers, or luchadores, were first approached by the deadly call girls in the hotel lobby, where the brothers went after filming a match at a nearby ring for television.

The twins were apparently slipped the poison though an eye-dropper into their alcoholic drinks.

A rash of similar black widow-style attacks on men in bars by ladies of the evening has broken out in Mexico.

About 20 women, connected to a gang called “The Leak” or “The Drops,” have been busted in Mexico in the past year for the booze-drug scam.

It’s believed that the dosage that would merely knock out a normal sized man was fatal to the twins.

There’s more on the murders on this Spanish-manguage website, including a police sketch of two suspects that is so disturbing we’re putting it in the jump!

Meanwhile, La Parkita and El Espectrito Jr — “LIttle Death” and Little Ghost” — were popular enough that folks dressed up in their masks at a memorial service, leading to a series of surreal photos. (There’s an even more surreal one here, but it’s too sad to run.)

While the obviously lurid aspects of the story have created much of the interest, it has also raised even more of an outcry in the Mexican press for a crack down on these thieving gangs. For if a midget wrestler is not safe…who is?

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As us nerds remember all too well from high school, the “jock clique” and the “geek clique” don’t often mix well. So, imagine what it was like the other day when the Mets (the favored team in Stately Beat Manor) arrived at their hotel in Pittsburgh to see a furry convention going on.

That led to a discussion about on the air last night between Mets broadcasters Gary Cohen and Keith Hernandez. Uniwatch has the transcipt, including this gem:

Hernandez: I saw a guy with, with his pet beaver. He had his hand, he was stroking it, he was petting it. [Long pause.] I’m serious! It was a, like a stuffed animal, and he was comforting it. Very bizarre.

No word about whether Mr. Met got any action from anyone dressed like a cat.

[posted by mark coale]

If our Twitter feed is to be believed, we follow a very high percentage of people who are interested in a) watching GHOSTBUSTERS or b) purchasing the new GHOSTBUSTERS on Blu-ray or c) purchasing the new GHOSTBUSTERS video game. Perhaps this brain trust could help us answer why GHOSTBUSTERS was so great and GHOSTBUSTERS 2 is probably the lamest sequel to a beloved film ever. Our own theory? Ivan Reitman is just a very bad director.

Speaking of Twitter, one of those who was engaged in the GHOSTBUSTERS hunt was Geoff Johns, whose recent Twitterings are showcasing his storytelling skills in a stunning way. Last night’s tale of a stolen bicycle, a large slurpee and a friendly 7-11 clerk should have come with a Danny Elfman soundtrack.

As for other Twitterings, the comics world quite rightly rallied with support when Len Wein’s house sustained a serious fire…will they be as supportive for his latest setback?:

Off to a Father’s Day brunch w/@mcvalada and son. Starting to think today’s the day I’m gonna pass the kidney stone. Suspense mounts.

Technorati Tags: Twitter

The Ric Flair of Japan is dead after an in-ring accident.

We’re guessing it was a sad day at Stately Beat Manor Saturday, as it was in the Helper Monkey’s cave, to see Manchester United capture yet another Premier League title. Of course, this is emotion partially born out of envy. Both FMB’s Villains and the Helper Monkey’s Toffees will finish again out of the Top Four and will spend next season competing for the Europa Cup instead of cashing big checks in the Champions League.

And now, with the season in England and Italy and Spain almost over, we turn our attention to … MLS? Nah, we’ll stick to baseball.

* Did Dr. Manhattan shoot his load the first weekend?

Depending on whom you talked to this week, the opening weekend box office for WATCHMEN was great or underwhelming. Things look a little clearer after the first night of weekend number two.

From Variety:

Warner Bros./Paramount’s comic book epic “Watchmen” fell 78% from its opening day landing third Friday with an estimated $5.4 million from 3,611 theaters. Pic’s eight-day cume currently stands at $73.3 million.

Did all the fanboys decide they didn’t need a second viewing? Was word-of-mouth outside the nerd bubble not great? Were people scared off by Dr. Manhattan’s package?

* In other nerd news

Time.com’s Nerdworld blog interviews annotator extraordinaire Jess Nevins. (Disclaimer: Jess and I went to grad school together and his work has appeared in my magazine.)

9. Have you, as an annotator, ever gone down in defeat? Are there things in the LoEG books that you just can’t solve?

Oh, heavens, yes. When Moore & O’Neill get into areas which I don’t know anything about and which are ill-represented online and in print–1950s British comic book science fiction, for example–I’m at a complete loss, and some of their references stump even the collective brains of the people who contribute to the annotations. In the Black Dossier, for example, Kevin O’Neill drew in spaceships from various British Fifties sf comics, and if he hadn’t identified them for the print version of the annotations, they would have remained a mystery to us all.

Moore sometimes jokes about trying to stump me. I feel a pain in my head when he says that, because if/when he ever tries to do that, I’m not just stumped, I’m uprooted and thrown into a woodchipper.

*Since there was no Lost column this week…

A week without a new Lost means an extra week for people to scrutinize the most recent episode looking for clues about the statue or how to put all the various time traveling threads together. The coolest thing I read (don’t remember where) was that the hieroglyphs that showed up on the countdown clock are on the Ajira airline tickets.

*A non-comic note for all you people who hate non-comics news here.

Sad news this morning for the pro wrestling business as word broke that Andrew Martin passed away at the age of 33. For those who watched during the “Attitude Era,” Martin worked for the WWE as Test, a beefy mid-carder best remembered for being coupled with a young Stephanie McMahon and feuding with her brother Shane. While not the best in-ring performer, many people raved about the match between Test and McMahon at Summerslam 1999. Once removed from the McMahon family soap opera, he slowly drifted down the card until being released a few years ago from the WWE after failing a drug test. Recently, he had been working on shows in Europe and Japan.

Posted by Mark Coale

How The Studios Would Have Ended ‘Watchmen’:

TV’s Splash Page asked Seth Rogen about Michael Gondry taking on the GREEN HORNET movie, and it sounds very weird but promising:

“To convince the studio to let him do it, he filmed a fight scene on his own,” Rogen told us. “He just hired stunt men and did it by himself! Just to show some of the stuff he could do, some of the weird filming techniques he has and some of the stuff he can pull off. I mean, this is something he did in two days and it was instantly unlike anything you’ve ever seen before.”

Naturally, I had to press him for more details, but the “Pineapple Express” star struggled for words. “I can’t describe it man,” he laughed.

Still no confirmation of Stephen Chow’s participation.

Hm. Gondry/Chow/Rogen/Goldberg? This could be a new benchmark for postmodern nerditry.

Or it could really, really suck.

Technorati Tags: Michel Gondry

While we were mocking Japanese bi-porn star dolls just the other day, another thing the people of Japan excel at is books of pictures of kittens in boxes:

The Kittens of Boxville answers the vexing, age-old question: what would a city constructed by cats look like? Biteable cardboard, of course! Originally published in Japan, this quirky and adorable book features more than a hundred photographs of an energetic group of kittens romping around dozens of miniature cardboard houses, cafés, and restaurants. Here, a daring cat explores an abandoned farmhouse; there, a lonely kitten knocks on a friend’s window; and what’s that over there? Two kittens hugging!? Appropriately, the book features a die cut cover that reveals an irresistibly cute little kitten peeking through the front (his tail pokes through the back).

Irresistibly cute. Indeed, this book will attach itself, lamprey-like, to your eyeballs, sending you into spasms of cooing, oohing, and other toxoplasmosis-esque symptoms.

BTW, Chris Butcher characterized me as having “been in kind of a doom-and-gloom funk for the past few months.” Which contrasts with the other, anonymous fellow who said I was a “rah-rah cheerleader.” So which is it? Am I just bi-polar?

After I wrote my last doom ‘n’ gloom post, I actually got private correspondence, telling me not to lose the faith because people need hope, I guess. I actually think alarmism is very destructive right now. So with that in mind, for all you folks out there who have been looking up to me as a beacon of sunshine over the years, I’m going to try to keep my pecker up. I’m a clear-eyed realist, sure, but who doesn’t want to get Obamafied?

What will the Japanese think of next? I mean, really. WHAT?

Via Simon Jones

You know, we didn’t have time to read the fine print when we posted it, but we really MUST. Billy Herrington is apparently a real-life bi porn movie star, and this figma includes all sorts of extras:

* Using the smooth yet poseable joints of figma, you can act out various wrestling scenes.
* A flexible plastic is used for his breast muscles and biceps, allowing the proportions of his beautiful body to be kept, without compromising the posability.
* The first figma to bare his naked body, allowing for even more thriving poses!
* Barbells and dumbbells are included so Billy can keep his body in perfect shape.
* His underwear is identical to that which appeared in his videos, and there are two variations to switch between, or worn together at the same time. A skin-colored pair is also included for an even more naked appearance.
* A shower head and shower room paper craft are also included, allowing you to produce even more situations.
* Comes with a poseable figma stand that makes it possible to recreate various scenes.

“A shower head and shower room paper craft are also included, allowing you to produce even more situations.”

We really can’t repeat that often enough. If only MORE toys came with shower heads! Like Catwoman and Power Girl, say. Or Karl Urban and Eric Bana!

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?

So, I hear there is a big game today and I don’t mean Liverpool-Chelsea or the Tyne-Wear Derby. Contrary to popular opinion, there are comics nerds who like sports.

Then again, maybe you’re only watching for the commercials. There are a number of nerd-friendly ads tonight, including trailers for movies like ANGELS & DEMONS, ALIENS VS MONSTERS (Did you get your 3D glasses? Hopefully, you can use the ones that came with SUPERMAN BEYOND.), LAND OF THE LOST, RACE TO WITCH MOUNTAIN and Pixar’s UP. There’s also the GI JOE ad, which is supposed to debut tonight during the game, but it’s not listed on the list of all the ads in Friday’s USA TODAY. I guess we will see if it is shown or not.

There are now sites devoted to analyzing the ads, so you don’t have to wait until the Monday McPaper to read what people thought of the new Budweiser spots.

Posted by Mark Coale

You must see the others.

The next time some dope complains about the wrestling coverage on THE BEAT, whether it’s about Rey Mysterio wearing a Flash costume on pay-per-view or CHIKARA’s latest comic book-themed cover, we’ll just point them to this picture. (The match was from a show Sunday at Arena San Juan Pantitlan. Thanks for the tip to the lucha libre expert known as The Cubs Fan.)

Evan, if you’re out there reading this, sadly, their opponents were not Los X-Men.

Posted by Mark Coale

Chris’s Invincible Super-Blog reviews perhaps the worst comic of all time, and a new catch phrase — at least for this morning’s Twitter, is born.