Top Cow's Evolution with Hawkins and Sablik

Over the past 20 years, many comics publishers have come and gone, but Top Cow Productions has stuck around. Founded in 1992 by artist Marc Silvestri, Top Cow was one of the six original studios that established the publishing collective known as Image Comics. Since then the company has weathered every boom and bust of the comics publishing world with a handful of key properties and creators. PWCW spoke with president Matt Hawkins and publisher Filip Sablik for some insights into where the company has been and where it is going.

Comics Briefly: 9/28/2010

Changes Shake DC Comics, Malaysian Cartoonist Arrested for Comic, Groceries to Help Hero Initiative, Cuba, My Revolution Exhibit, New York Comic Con Coming Soon, Banned Books Week, Last Unicorn Creators Seek Help, This Week @ Good Comics 4 Kids, This Week @ The Beat

Harras Named Editor-in-Chief of DC Comics

Robert Harras, formerly group editor, collected editions at DC Comics, has been named editor-in-chief, v-p, DC Comics, overseeing editorial for the DC Universe, Mad magazine and Vertigo. He will report directly to DC Comics co-publishers Jim Lee and Dan Didio and he will be based in New York City.

Comics Reviews 9/27/10

Panel Mania: The Extraordinary Adventures of Adele Blanc-Sec

Created by the French cartoonist Jacques Tardi, The Extraordinary Adventures of Adele Blanc-Sec is set in Paris before World War I and follows the heroine, Adele, as she becomes embroiled in a series of mysterious and fantastic adventures--from battling a revived pterodactyl to a demon in the Eiffel Tower. This preview includes pages from the first story, "Pterror Over Paris," in which the pterodactyl in question comes back to life and reeks havoc in Paris. Fantagraphics will release the first volume of the series in December.

Mouly's Toon Books Begins New Era with Candlewick

Over the last 30 years, New Yorker art director Francoise Mouly has made a distinctive mark on American comics at least three or four times. Mostly recently she launched Toon Books, a line of graphic novels aimed at pre-readers, as an independent publishing operation. Toon Books' independent publishing status will change in October when the Toon Books line of young readers' comics becomes an imprint of Candlewick Books, a childrens' and YA publisher.

A Literary Imagination Goes Graphic

After publishing Voodoo Hearts, a critically acclaimed short story collection from 2006, Scott Snyder has teamed up with horror master Stephen King and artist Rafael Albuquerque to create American Vampire, a hardcover graphic novel collection of this unusual collaboration that will published by DC/Vertigo in October.

Tokyopop, Comixology Team to Release 'Hetalia' in Print and Digital

Tokyopop is teaming with comics resource site and app developer Comixology to release the first volume of the much-anticipated manga series Hetalia Axis Powers simultaneously in print graphic novel and digital formats in North America.

DC Comics Publishing Stays In NYC But Cuts Staff; Digital Moves To Burbank

After months of intense speculation over a possible move to the West Coast, DC Entertainment has split the difference and will move its digital, multimedia and consumer product operations as well as administrative functions to Burbank, Calif., and keep its editorial and publishing operations in New York City where DC Comics has been for the last 75 years. DCE president Diane Nelson acknowledged there will be layoffs and one report claims as many as 50 people may be let go, about 20% of DC's current workforce. Relocation should be complete by the end of 2011.

Comics Briefly: 9/21/2010

Scott Pilgrim Reaches 1 Million Copies in Print, Marvel Moves to New Offices, Speculation on Possible DC Move, All-Star Superman Comes to Animation, Cuba, My Revolution Exhibit, Neil Gaiman to Guest Star on Arthur, Grant Morrison Stars in My Chemical Romance Music Video

Rediscovering The Retro-Future: Craig Yoe on Dan DeCarlo's 'Jetta'

The late Dan DeCarlo (1919-2001) is renowned as one of the signature artists who breathed four-color life into Archie. But he also crafted the space age cutie, Jetta, "The Teen-age Sweetheart of the 21st Century", a fusion of the Archie sensibility with pre-Jetsons futurism. The comic ran for only three issues before disappearing into the mists of comics history.

New York Comic Con Is Back After Shift from Spring to Fall

After a shift from spring to fall that will combine it with the New York Anime Festival, New York Comic Con returns and will open at the Javits Convention Center, October 8-10. The combined shows will take over the entire Jacob Javits Center and Lance Fensterman, group v-p of ReedPop, Reed Exhibitions' pop culture division, couldn't be happier.

Sfar's 'Little Prince Graphic Novel' Offers New Take on a Classic

Next month Houghton Mifflin Harcourt will publish The Little Prince Graphic Novel, adapted from Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s classic illustrated novella, with drawings by acclaimed French cartoonist Joann Sfar.

Panel Mania: How to Understand Israel in 60 Days or Less

A travel memoir, How to Understand Israel in 60 Days or Less, documents Sarah Glidden's Birthright trip to Israel. During the trip Glidden visited Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, the Golan Heights, Masada, and other historic locations. Combining personal experience and historical and current events, the book explores Glidden's reconciliation of her own identity with the real world discoveries of her trip. How to Understand Israel in 60 Days or Less will be released by Vertigo on November 3 in comic stores and on November 6 everywhere books are sold.

Comics Reviews: 9/20/2010

ICv2 Debuts Conference on Comics and Digital at New York Comic-Con

Held in conjunction with New York Comic-Con, the ICv2 Comics and Digital Conference is scheduled to be held on October 7, the day before the show opens at the Javits Center in New York City. Much like the ICv2 Graphic Novel Conference, the new Conference will bring together professionals from every part of the comics industry to discuss the impact of digital delivery on the future of comics publishing and retailing.

Small Press Expo Flies Indie Comics Flag

Among the most consistent shows on the convention circuit, the Small Press Expo in Betheda, Maryland continues to be a fun, friendly and successful show for the indie/art comix crowd. D&Q, Fantagraphics, Top Shelf and AdHouse Books led the publishers on hand, while cartoonists from Carla Speed McNeill to Keith Knight to Roger Langridge led the creator contingent.

Comics Briefly: 9/14/2010

Millar to launch Women's Comics Magazine, CBLDF's New Liberty Annual Benefit Comic,Comics Writer Wolk Awarded Getty Fellowship, Josh Neufeld to Speak at Greenlight Bookstore, Dark Horse and Vanguard Team Up for Frazetta, This Week @ Good Comics 4 Kids, This Week @ The Beat

Life in Comics: Making It Work

A popular topic in conversation in the comics online world lately has been personal finances. The dearth of money in comics, and particularly independent comics, has been a subject of banter every since I’ve been in comics. However, in the midst of a long recession, for some of us, what was a bit of a joke now has become very serious.

Panel Mania: X'ed Out

X'ed Out by Charles Burns, the creator of Black Hole, follows Doug who is woken up by a buzzing on the other side of the wall to discover his long dead cat leading him through a hole in the wall and into a strange night. Pantheon will release the first volume of X'ed Out on October 19th.