Toon Books Moved Up
Raw Junior has moved up the publication date for the Toon Book collection. All three books, Benny and Penny in Just Pretend by Geoffrey Hayes, Silly Lilly and the Four Seasons by Agnes Rosenstiehl, and Otto’s Orange Day by Frank Cammuso and Jay Lynch, will be released simulteneously on April 7, 2008. Toon Books is a part of Raw Junior and is headed by editorial director Francoise Mouly; and Art Spiegelman is the series advisor. Renaissance Learning will be using Toon Books in their Accelerated Reader program, and K-2 classrooms in Maryland will integrate Toon Books as part of the Comics in the Classroom Initiative. Toon Books will release three books each season. More information about Toon Books can be found at the company’s website.
NYCC News
The free professional and creator registration for New York Comic Con ended on Febuary 15th. The cost for professional registration for a weekend pass is $45; a Friday only pass is $30; a Saturday only pass is $35; a Sunday only pass is $30. NYCC also announced that Transcontinental Printing will again be the trade day printing sponser, and Transcontinental is sponsoring the Professinal Creator Lounge on the show floor. More information about NYCC can be found at the events website.
Viz News
Viz Pictures will screen the live-action movie, Funky Forest: The First Contact, in three cities, New York, Seattle, and Los Angeles. Funky Forest is directed by Katsuhito Ishii, the director of The Taste of Tea. The film will be screened to the press in New York on Febuary 22 at 10:30 a.m., and the theatrical screening in New Yorkl will be March 7-13 at the Imaginasian Theater. In Seattle, the film will be screened from March 21to 27 at the Grand Illusion Cinema. In Los Angeles, there will be a press screening on April 3at 2 p.m, and the theatrical screening will be April 18through 24 at the Imaginasian Center. More information about the film Funky Forest and the screenings can be found at the Viz website.
Bluewater to Publish Pistolfist
Bluewater Press has acquired the rights to publish the series Pistolfist, created by J.S. Earls, beginning July 2008. The series revoles around a masked, runaway slave who fights in the revolutionary War. Originally Pistolfist was to be published by Alias last year.
New U.K. Kids Comic
Publishers Weekly takes a look at British publisher David Fickling, who heads a children’s book imprint at Random House U.K. Fickling is launching his own weekly comic book periodical series with the help of Random U.K. The new comic book series is called The David Fickling Comic, and will be mailed to subscribers in May.
