Quebecor Leaves Bankruptcy
Quebecor, the second largest commercial printing company in the world and known for printing most DC, Marvel and Image comics, has announced their reorganization plan to leave bankruptcy. A majority of their creditors have approved it, and the subject now is before the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York. If approved, Quebecor will leave bankruptcy in mid-July and take on a new board of directors. The Canadian printing giant has been plagued by financial difficulties for the last year and a half. More information is available in an article on the subject at PublishersWeekly.com.
Diamond Drops Yen Press Books
Diamond Comics has cancelled 13 different Yen Press titles solicited for July and August in Previews. There is speculation that this may be related to Diamond’s new order minimums. The books will still be published, but retailers will need to order them through other channels. Only one title from Yen’s July list of 11 titles remains: Sundome Vol. 5 by Kazuto Okada. More details are available at Brigid Alverson’s Manga Blog.
Asian American Comicon
The first annual Asian American ComiCon will be held on Saturday, July 11, at the Museum of Chinese in America. The convention is a non-profit event that was created to celebrate the history, participation and influence of Asians and Asian Americans on comic books and graphic novels. The featured guest will be science fiction author William F. Wu, multiple nominee for the Hugo, Nebula and World Fantasy awards. Veteran comic creator Larry Hama will be the first recipient of the con’s award, the Henry Y. Kiyama Award recognizing the achievements of Asians and Asian Americans in comics. Hama is known as the father of the popular G.I Joe comic book universe, among other things. The event runs from 10 a.m. — 5 p.m. and admission is $15 for MoCCA members, students and seniors, free to children under 10, $25 to the general public and $75 for a VIP membership. Tickets can be purchased ahead of time at NyCharities.org and may sell out, since only a total of 250 tickets will be available. The Museum of Chinese in America is located at 215 Centre Street, New York, NY.
Eisner Awards iPhone; iPod App
The Eisner Awards and digital comics provider Uclick have teamed up to create a free iPhone and iPod application allowing readers to preview images from this year’s nominated comics, see the list of nominees and learn more about the awards themselves. The app is now available for free through the App Store on iTunes or at this link.
Netcomics at San Diego; Diamond Deal
Although NetComics is not exhibiting at the San Diego Comic-con this year, the Korean manhwa publisher is bringing four manhwa-ga's (or Korean manga artists) from Korea (along with a representative from KOCCA, the Korea Creative Content Agency) to the show. Artists include Kimjin (LETHE; Kingdom of the Winds); Youjung Lee, (0/6 Zero/Six; Let's be Perverts); Youngran Lee (Click; Lie to Me; Romance Papa) and Taeho Yoon, a young artist not yet published in English. NetComics publisher Heewon Chung and marketing director Soyoung Jung said NetComics will be showcasing its books and its artists as potential film projects for the movie industry on July 25-26. Netcomics also announced that the print editions of their books will now be distributed exclusively through Diamond Book Distributors. Previously, Netcomics had distributed to comic stores through Diamond and to bookstores through Ingram, whereas now, Diamond will provide a full-service distribution deal. Manwha is the Korean term for comics, and is used to refer to comic books and graphic novels of Korean origin,
Frank Frazetta Regains Rights to Art
Famed fantasy illustrator and comics creator Frank Frazetta has regained all rights to his art in a settlement with his publisher Underwood Books. Underwood published three books of Frazetta’s art: Icon: A Retrospective by the Grand Master of Fantastic Art, Legacy: Paintings and Drawings of Frank Frazetta and Testament, the Life and Art of Frank Frazetta. Having regained the rights, he is now in negotiations with other publishers about new books collecting this art.
Transformers Comics Top iTunes
The digital editions of IDW’s series of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen tie-in comics have been topping the charts in the iTunes app store. All twelve issues of IDW’s line of tie-in comics for the recent Transformers movie are in the iTunes App Store’s list of top 25 paid book applications. Transformers is an entertainment franchise about sentient alien robots fighting over the fate of Earth and capable of disguising themselves as Earth machinery.
Runaways Theme Song & Video
Runaways, the critically acclaimed Marvel comic about the children of a group of supervillains who run away from home to become superheroes, now has an official theme song. The book’s editor, Nick Lowe, wrote and sang the song himself and it is available on Marvel.com in both mp3 download and music video formats. Starting with this month’s Runaways #11, the book has switched to the new creative team of writer Kathryn Immonen and artist Sarah Pichelli.
Bluewater Michael Jackson Comic
Less than a week after the death of Michael Jackson, Bluewater Productions has announced plans to publish TRIBUTE: Michael Jackson, King of Pop, a biography comic about the late performer. Bluewater Productions is known for such comics as William Shatner Presents and Puppy Power: Bo Obama as well as the Female Force series of biography comics about prominent women.
Archaia Launches Hardcover Promotion
Archaia, the comics publishing company known for such books as Mouse Guard and Gunnerkrigg Court, has announced a new promotional publishing program aimed at drawing in new readers. Four times a year, Archaia will release one high quality hardcover graphic novel for the low price of $9.95. The first book is a hardcover collection of the critically acclaimed science fiction graphic novel The Engineer: Konstrukt created by Brian Churilla and Jeremy Shepherd, available this August.
Prism Comics Press Grant Call
Prism Comics, a non-profit promoting the awareness and creation of comic books with lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered themes, awards an annual grant to assist in the publication and promotion of LGBT comics. They are currently open for applications — this year’s grant has an application deadline of October 1, 2009. In previous years, these awards have ranged between $1,000 and $2,000 depending on fundraising. Prism Comics will have a presence at San Diego Comic Con and a portfolio review exclusively for those interested in the grant. Professionals offering advice and critique to entrants will include Phil Jiminez, Colleen Coover and Bob Schreck.
Oni; Viper; Starz Talent Search
Oni Press, publisher of such comics as Greg Rucka’s Queen and Country and Chynna Clugston’s Blue Monday, is running a talent search for prospective artists. Artists are to illustrate and submit one of several provided scripts. More details are available here. Viper Comics, publisher of such comics as The Middleman, is also running a talent search, but they’re looking for writers as well as artists. More details are available here. Finally, Starz Digital Media is looking for animators willing to submit a short film. Information is available here.
ICv2 Confab; G4 at San Diego
ICV2, known for their monthly compilations of comic book sales statistics, will host a one day conference on Comics and Media in coordination with SDCC on the Wednesday before the convention. Guests include a wide array of industry guests from the fields of comics, television, movies and video games. This conference is co-sponsored by Publishers Weekly.The television channel G4 will give the first live television broadcast of a San Diego Comic Con panel in the show’s history. As part of their extensive convention coverage they will air the entire Lucasfilm panel, including exclusive spoilers and a live dramatic reading of the script to an upcoming Star Wars: The Clone Wars television episode. The script from the upcoming Viper Comics comicThe Middleman: The Doomsday Armageddon Apocalypse will be performed at SDCC in a dramatic reading by the complete cast of The Middleman television series based on The Middleman series of comics. The Doomsday Armageddon Apocalypse was originally intended to be the thirteenth episode of the show before it was cancelled last fall.
This Week @ Good Comics for Kids
This week School Library Journal’s blog Good Comics for Kids has a review of the graphic novel Jellaby: Monster in the City, Survival Guide to Comic and Manga Conventions, the 6/24 listing of comics suitable for all ages, and an Updates and Reviews links roundup for the week from Brigid Alverson.
