MoCCA Watchmen Benefit Screening
The Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art will present a benefit advance screening of the film Watchmen, in connection with the museum's exhibit The Art of Watchmen. The event will begin with a silent auction at the museum, followed by a screening of the film itself at the AMC 19th Street theater and will conclude with photographer Clay Enos signing his book Watchmen Portraits. The Art of Watchmen exhibit covers the entire history of Watchmen - from the original character sketches by artist Dave Gibbons, to the landmark 1986 graphic novel he created in partnership with acclaimed comic writer Alan Moore to stills and production photographs from the upcoming movie directed by Zach Snyder. All proceeds from the event go to benefit future MoCCA programming.
MoCCA is located at 594 Broadway, Suite 401 between Prince and Houston in New York City and is open free to the public, with a suggested donation of $5. Tickets for the Watchmen benefit may be purchased in person at the musem, by phone at 212-254-3511, Tuesday-Saturday 12-5 p.m. or online for $100 to the general public and $75 to MoCCA members.The Watchmen benefit will take place on Thursday, March 5, at 7 p.m. and go on into the night. Festivities begin in the museum and guests will proceed from there to the theater. Watchmen opens in theaters everywhere on March 6.
DeMatteis Comic Free To Schools
Eisner Award winning writer J.M. DeMatteis has scripted the comic Scrapyard Detectives #4 for the non-profit organization The Diversity Foundation. The comic depicts a group of friends from varying social and ethnic backgrounds coming together in a positive manner. This particular issue covers the dilemma of Jinn Lee, a young girl who has been paralyzed, when the person responsible for her condition asks for forgiveness. In the same issue, The Scrapyard Detectives deal with a book full of mysteries and an annoying cousin. The Diversity Foundation is a nonprofit organization devoted to "empowering vulnerable and underprivileged children with access to quality education" and has made the comic available to schools and libraries free of charge. Scrapyard Detectives #4 will also be available for free to attendees of the "Secret Origins of Good Readers" panel at Wondercon. The Wondercon comic convention will be held from February 27-March 1 in San Francisco's Moskone Center located at 747 Howard Street. Teachers and librarians interested in obtaining free copies for educational purposes, as well as a free lesson plan, can find the application form at The Diversity Foundation's website.
Eagle One Brings IDW Backlist Online
Comics publisher IDW has teamed up with Eagle One Media to put digital copies of comic titles from their backlist online in what is hoped to eventually be a comprehensive collection of digital comics. Including work from Eisner nominee Ben Templesmith and the Presidential Material biography comics Barack Obama and John McCain, all will be available in PDF format for $1.99 each at eagleonemedia.com. Initial online offerings from IDW include Blood-Stained Sword, Cobb, CVO, D’Airain Aventure, Doomed, Everybody’s Dead, Grumpy Old Monsters, Igor, Lore, Lost & Found, Pirat Tales, Presidential Material, ShadowPlay, Singularity 7, Snaked, and Zombies!: Feast. These will be followed by additional material from the IDW backlist.
Middleman
Finale Released As Comic
The Middleman, the short-lived 2008 ABC Family secret agent/comic book hero comedy television cult favorite, will air its finale The Doomsday Armageddon Apocalypse in graphic novel format. The show, starring Natalie Morales and Matt Keeslar, was based on the Middlemanseries of graphic novels by TheMiddleman producer Javier Grillo-Marxuach, published by Viper Comics. The Doomsday Armageddon Apocalypse graphic novel will be written by Grillo-Marxuach and fellow producer Hans Beimler, illustrated by Armando M. Zanker and published by Viper Comics in July in time for the San Diego Comic Con. The graphic novel will be a sequel to the television series, not the original graphic novel series, since the lead character of Wendy Watson will resemble actress Natalie Morales and not the red haired original version. A dvd set of the complete television series will also arrive this summer. More information is available at Grillo-Marxuach's Middleblog.
Spike: After The Fall Collected
At the end of Joss Whedon's television series Angel, Los Angeles is plunged into a massive supernatural battle, the result of which is never shown. Now, in the sequel comic Spike: After the Fall, readers find out everything went to hell—literally. Set in the dystopian aftermath of the finale, anti-hero vampire Spike tries to lead a ragged group of survivors in a Los Angeles overrun by demons while protecting the ancient being Illyria as she wavers in and out of vulnerable humanity. Unlike the Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 8 comic, Spike: After the Fall isn't written by series creator Whedon, or published by Dark Horse Comics. Spike: After the Fall is written by Brian Lynch, illustrated by Franco Urru and published by IDW with a story personally overseen and approved by Whedon himself.
Free Donna Barr Downloads
Long time comic creator Donna Barr will make her print on demand books and comics available as free downloads from March 1-14 as part of the upcoming Facebook Comic Con. Barr is best known for her creator-owned comic Desert Peach about "The Desert Fox" Rommel's imaginary gay brother, and several volumes of this, as well as her centaur epic Stintz, her children's book Grandmother's Hive and a number of her illustrated prose books. Facebook Comic Con is a new virtual event that will feature panels, exhibitors, guests of honor, costume competitions and portfolio reviews just like a regular comic convention. Facebook Comic Con runs from March 12—15 online at the Facebook Comic ConFacebook group and is open to all Facebook users. Barr's downloadable works will be available at her page on POD publisher lulu.com.
Hudson, Walton Blog Cerebus
Comic Foundry editor and PW Comics Week writer Laura Hudson and Leigh Walton of Top Shelf Productions are blogging their reactions to the complete run of the legendary and controversial Cerebus the Aardvark comic, issue by issue at Cerebus: A Diablog.
