Kids Comic-Con Set for March
The second annual Kids Comic-Con will return to the campus of the Bronx Community College in New York City, Saturday, March 29, 2008 featuring a day of comics events designed for young readers. Kids Comic-con founder Alex Simmons also announced that next year the show will launch the Kids Comic-Con Comics Awards to honor the best comics for kids and their creators; and he also announced that the New York Comic-Con will become a sponsor. Once again, Simmons emphasized that KCC will focus on bringing young people, comics professionals, parents, librarians and teachers together to have fun with comics, but also to learn more about educational potential of the comics medium. And once again Simmons emphasized that there will be “no gore, extreme violence, nudity, or vulgarity. Just tons of funs.” The Bronx Community College is located at University Ave at 181 Street in the Bronx.
ICAF Meets at LC
The Prints and Photographs Division of the Library of Congress is hosting the 12th annual meeting of the International Comic Arts Forum (ICAF). The forum will feature Kyle Baker and the Malaysian cartoonist Lat. The meeting will take place October 18-20 in the Mumford Room on the sixth floor of the Madison Building. Two shows of cartoon art will be displayed on Thursday October 18th, from 4-5 PM "Treasures of Caricature Art, and from 5-6 PM art by Malaysian cartoonist Lat. Lat will speak at 4 PM on Friday October 19yh, and Kyle Baker will speak at 4 PM on Saturday October 20th. During the conference there will be 20 presentations by experts and scholars of comic art. More information about the ICAF can be found at the ICAF's website.
Rall Elected to Head AAEC
Ted Rall has been elected as president of the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists. Rall has been a nationally syndicated cartoonist since 1991, and he has compiled three volumes of his book Attitude, a collection of alternative political cartoons. More information about the AAEC can be found at the AAEC website.
Williams Directs NYCC Programming
Jay Williams has been appointed the manager of education and programming of New York Comic-Con. Williams' first initiative is a Kid’s Day on Sunday of the convention, focused on events for younger fans. The Kid's Day was developed in partnership with Kids Love Comics, a non-profit collective of comics creators working to promote children's comic books. Kid's Day activities will include green screen photos, a special kid drawing area, and giveaways. kid's programming will include panls on creating your own super-hero, turning your own experiences into comics and self-publishing. There will also be panls aimed at parents about kid’s comics. Next year’s York Comic Con will be held April 18-20, 2008 at the Jacob Javits Center in New York City. More information can be found at the NYCC website.
Rotterdam to Head Sales at DC
Steve Rotterdam, formerly chief creative officer of Eastwest Marketing Group, has been named senior v-p, sales and marketing, of DC and will direct sales efforts in the bookstore and the comics shop markets. He will also supervise DC's publicity, marketing, advertising and custom publishing efforts.
Little, Brown Cancels Congo Tintin
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers has cancelled the planned publication of Belgian cartoonist Herge’s Tintin In the Congo, originally published in 1931 and long criticized for its colonial-era, racist depictions of Africans. The publisher also said the book will not be included in a forthcoming boxed set of 24 of Herge’s classic Tintin books.
Shableski Joins Diamond
Diamond Book Distributors has hired John Shableski as the sales manager for graphic novel sales to the book trade. Shableski will oversee sales and marketing to independent bookstores, libraries, and schools. He previously worked at the Brodart Company as the graphic novels coordinator and marketing and sales coordinator for the Tartan Books Division.
Viz: Death Note, Naruto DVD, Halloween
Viz Media has licensed the Death Note anime series to Adult Swim on Cartoon Network. Broadcast of Death Note will begin Saturday October 20th at midnight (EST). The first volume of Death Note DVD's will be released on November 20th. Viz reports that sales of Naruto the Movie: Ninja Clash in the land of the snow on DVD have sold very well. The DVD placed number twenty-five on Nielsen's VideoScan list for the top one-hundred DVD titles for the week ending at September 9th. Viz Media will also release four horror mangas under their Signature imprint for the Halloween season. The titles include Portus, Drifting Classroom Vol. 8, and second editions of Uzumaki and Gyo. Uzumaki, Gyo, and, Drifting Classroom Vol. 8 will be available on October 16th; Portus will be available on October 9th. All four titles are rated "M" for mature and cost $9.99. Also, the October issue of Shojo Beat will include a variety of Halloween content. On October 18th, Viz Media will sponsor an event in New York City at Blood Manor, a 5000 square foot haunted attraction; the first 500 attendees will receive a Shonen Jump/ Shojo Beat gift bag. More information about Blood Manor can be found at the establishment's website. More information about Viz Media's Halloween promotions can be found at their website.
