MoCCA Art Fest Schedule
The MoCCA Art Festival, held each year in the Puck Building at 293 Lafayette Street in New York City, has announced its programming schedule for the 2007 Summer convention held from June 23-24. To view a full list of programming events, individuals can visit the MoCCA Web site. However, convention organizers have announced a slight change in the venue for the programming events this year. Programming events for the festival will be held at the Museum of Cartoon and Comic Art at 594 Broadway, which is located two blocks from the Puck Building where the annual festival will take place.
Reed Launches Anime Fest
Reed Exhibitions has announced the upcoming launch of the first New York Anime Festival, December 7-9, 2007 at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York City. The New York Anime Festival will offer news and products from the world of anime, manga, and video games as well as the newest releases in Japanese film, music and fashion. Special festival events will include a cosplay masquerade ball, celebrity panels and various film screenings. A Web site and monthly electronic newsletter have been created to provide fans with continually updated information on the inaugural event. Tickets can also be purchased online through the site.
Aurora: New Manga Publisher
Manga publisher Aurora Publishing has announced that it has inked a deal with Diamond Book Distributors to distribute English language versions of Aurora's Japanese manga volumes to bookstores, libraries and comic book specialty shops worldwide. Aurora Publishing is a smaller subsidiary of the large Japanese publisher Ohzora. Ohzora previously maintained agreements with American book publishers such as Dark Horse and Digital Manga Publishing that allowed those companies to publish English language versions of its licensed manga properties. No information on the current state of these prior agreements has been given at the moment. Aurora has yet to announce any titles for U.S. release.
DMP AnimeExpo Guest; Hiring
Manga publisher Digital Manga Publishing has announced that author Satoru Kannagi will be appearing as an honored guest of Digital Manga Publishing at this year's Anime Expo occurring at the Long Beach Convention Center.Anime Expo 2007 will take place on June 29 until July 2. For further information, please visit the Anime Expo Web site.
Digital Manga Publishing has also announced that it is currently seeking applicants to apply for two open positions at the organization. The company is in need of a productionassociate as well as a licensing and guest relations associate. For further information please visit the Digital Manga Publishing Web site.
Runaways Nominated For Peach Award
Runaways: Pride & Joy from Marvel Comics has been nominated for a Georgia Peach award. The award is given to select works that are deemed to be the best in young adult literature for children in their mid-teens. Books that are chosen as award winners are made part of the Georgia school system's required reading list. The seventh volume of the Runaways series will be released in April of 2007. It will be the final volume to collect author Brian K. Vaughn's work on the series.
Drinky Crow Joins Adult Swim
The pilot episode of the Drinky Crow Show will appear May 13 as part of Cartoon Network's Adult Swim programming block. The Drinky Crow Show is based on the Maakies comic strip created by indie cartoonist Tony Millionaire. The Maakies comic strip has been seen in popular newspapers such as the Village Voice and the New York Press. In addition to show creators Tony Millionaire and Eric Kaplan, many other well-known individuals in the world of entertainment have helped to bring the Drinky Crow Show to the small screen. Award winning director Igor Kovalyov has taken on directing chores for the project and the theme song for the show was written and performed by the group They Might Be Giants.
The Hero Initiative Expands
The Hero Initiative, which was solely a non-profit organization that aided veteran comic creators in times of need, has announced that it will be expanding its efforts in order to provide a selection of new services to comics professionals. The charitable organization will now provide financial planning and educational opportunities for creators in the industry and hopes to later have an established guild that will provide group health insurance for active participants. The organization also plans to have Hero-branded products available for auction or purchase. To facilitate the development of these new services, Hero Initiative co-founder Jim McLauchlin has come aboard as a full-time employee of the organization. To date, the Hero Initiative has raised $240,000 that has gone to aid 40 families in need. For more information on the Hero Initiative, please visit the organization's Web site.
To date, the Hero Initiative has raised$240,000 that has gone to aid 40 families in need. For more information on the Hero Initiative, please visit the organization's Web site.
Archie's 65th Anniversary Celebration Continues
Archie Comics celebrates 65 year's of Riverdale's favorite teen with a special issue in Archie Digest #236 which reprints Archie's very first adventures from Pep Comics #22 and Archie Comics #1 in 1941. Written by Vic Bloom and others with art by classic Archie artists including Bob Montana , the storiesreflect the free-wheeling fun of the popular screwball comedy movies of the day. The reprints include little-seen back-up features insluding "Squoimy the Woim", "Cubby the Bear" and "Bumbie the Bee-tective". The issue goes on sales 7/4.
Dark Horse launches Translucent
Dark Horse has announced a new shojo manga title, Translucent, by Kazuhiro Okamoto. It's the story of Shizuka, an introverted schoolgirl who feels invisible who finds out she is victim to a disease that is making her literally translucent. Shizuka finds support with Mamoru, a boy who is falling for her despite her appearance, or lack thereof. Another friend, Keiko, suffers from the same illness and has turned completely invisible. The strange disease becomes a metaphor in the ordinary lives of the students in their classes, as they work their way through romance and friendships. The book arrives in stores on July 18th.
Dark Hunter Novels Go Graphic
St. Martin's Press will publish graphic novel adaptations of two prose novels from bestselling fantasy novelist Sherilynn Kenyon's Dark Hunter series, Night Pleasure and Night Embrace. St. Martin's editor Monique Patterson acquired the books in a deal brokered by agent Merrilee Heifetz of Writers House. These aren't Kenyon's first books to be adapted to comics. This summer Marvel Comics will serialize two works, Sword of Darkness and Night of Darkness, written by Kenyon under the pen name Kinley MacGregor, and later collect them into hardcover releases.
Octavia Butler: Graphic Novelist?
If Writers House literary agent Merrilee Heifetz has her way, there soon will be graphic novel adaptations of the works of the late science fiction writer Octavia Butler. Heifetz represents the Butler estate and says she's received permission from the estate to seek out publishers to produce comics adaptations of Butler's novels. There's no deal yet, but Heifetz has begun shopping the idea."The estate wants to make sure that Octavia's audience continues to grow," Heifeitz said, "they want to make sure she has younger readers." The author of such acclaimed works as Kindred and The Parable series, Butler was the recepient of the 1999 Nebula Award for best novel, science fiction's highest literary prize, and a 1995 McArthur "genius" Fellowship. She died in February 2006.
