Goldstein Named IDW COO
IDW Publishing announced that Greg Goldstein has been named chief operating officer. As COO, Goldstein will manage IDW’s day-to-day operations and assist in expanding the company’s product lines. Goldstein was previously the vice president of Gaming and Entertainment at Upper Deck and was the founder and CEO of Popmania, a brand-licensing agency focused on digital entertainment.

Image Debuts All-Ages Line
Image Comics’ Shadowline is debuting Silverline Books, an all-ages graphic novel imprint. The first Silverline book, Dear Dracula by Joshua Williams and Vicente Navarrete, will be released October 29; the next release, Bruce, The Blue Spruce by Kristen Simon and Jim Valentino, will be in November. Two more Silverline books will be released in December: Missing the Boat by Justin Shady and Dwellephant and a soft cover edition of PX! Book Two by Eric A. Anderson and Manny Trembley. More information about Silverline and the upcoming books can be found at the Silverline website.

Ignatz Nominees; SPX Programs
The nominees for this year's Ignatz Awards, awarded each year at SPX, have been announced. A panel of five cartoonists, which included Gabrielle Bell, Farel Dalrymple, Eleanor Davis, John Hankiewicz, and Andy Hartzell, chose the nominees. The Ignatz Awards will be given during a ceremony at Small Press Expo on October 4 at 9PM. SPX attendees can vote for the Ignatz Awards at the Convention on October 4. A full list of the nominees is on the SPX website

The Small Press Expo has also released the programming for the upcoming convention. James Kochalka and Bryan Lee O’Malley will both have Q & A sessions, and there will be a spotlight on Ben Katchor. Panels and presentations include a CCS Workshop; a panel on children’s and young adult comics with Frank Cammuso, Hope Larson, Dave Roman, and Raina Telgemeier; and also a Critics Roundtable and a Small Press Publishers’ Roundtable. A full list of the programming can be found on the SPX website. SPX will be held October 4 and 5 in Bethesda, Maryland.

ABDO Adapts Boxcar Series
Minnesota Children’s library publisher The ABDO Group announced plans to create comics adaptations of the Boxcar Children, Scott Foresman’s 1942 classic children’s series about 4 siblings living in an abandoned railcar. The prose series has 19 volumes and ABDO’s Graphic Planet imprint will create 32-page comics for each volume in hardcover and trade paperback. The series will launch in January 2009 and the comics titles will target the 2nd and 3rd grade reading levels. ABDO will distribute the hardcover library bindings to the children’s and library market and Albert & Whitman, which owns the rights to the Boxcar Children series, will distribute the paperbacks to the general bookstore trade. “Now we’re part of bringing these characters to readers in the hottest format for reading today,” said Jim Abdo, ABDO Group publisher.

Marvel Movies Online Comics
Marvel is presenting web-only Iron Man and Incredible Hulk movie tie-in comics through the Marvel Digital Comics Unlimited subscription service. Produced by Marvel Studios, the two series tie directly into the movie continuities. Iron Man: Last Friends, written by Paul Tobin with art by Ronan Cliquet, launched on September 17th, leading up to the September 30 release of the Iron Man DVD. Incredible Hulk: The Fury Files, by Frank Tieri and Salva Espin, will launch on October 8th, also in advance of the Incredible Hulk DVD release on October 21. Both Series will be released on a weekly basis on Wednesdays.

NPR Comics Reviews
PWCW’s Laurel Maury also does double duty as the regular graphic novel reviewer for National Public Radio. Maury has several graphic novel reviews up on the NPR website. Past reviews include Joann Sfar’s The Rabbi’s Cat 2 from Pantheon, Fantagraphics’ collection of Bill Mauldin’s Willie & Joe: The WWII Years, Rob Vollmar and Pablo G. Callejo’s Bluesman from NBM, and the fifth volume of Kazu Kibuishi's anthology Flight from Ballantine. Maury’s most recent review is of Dash Shaw’s much lauded new graphic novel Bottomless Belly Button.

Fingeroth Reads at B&N
Danny Fingeroth will read and discuss his new book, The Rough Guide to Graphic Novels, on Tuesday September 23 at the Barnes and Noble on Court Street in Brooklyn, NY. Fingeroth, known for his work in superhero comics, focuses on literary graphic novels in this new book. The event at Barnes and Noble begins a 7 p.m.

This Week at The Beat
In this week's Beat, the essential comics culture blog: Italian art legend Sergio Toppi, thoughts on Stephen Chow, which PWCW writer has just gotten a dream job?, a book deal for Sarah Glidden, and will a "graphic novel sensibility" result in an improved movie version of Moby Dick?