Fun in Baltimore Part 6 of 5

In keeping with the spirit of comic publishing...here's blog 6 of 5.

For your viewing pleasure, a few pictures of my walk in D.C. This was my first time there as an adult, and I have to say, Wow. It's amazing the effect something you've seen a million times before can have on you the first time you see it. And also, the World War II memorial is just amazing. It's the most peaceful, restive, and...fitting place I've been. The only way it could have been better is if they had put it on top of a mountain in the Colorado Rockies. Maybe.

Scud the Disposable Assassin

It's been ten years since Rob Schrab has done any work on arguably his most popular creation Scud the Disposable Assassin, but for those dedicated fans who have been waiting a decade for the conclusion of the series, good news has just arrived. Image Comics is slated to release the complete Scud the Disposable Assassin, a 700 page collection featuring the original 20 issues and Schrab's all new over 100 page conclusion issue, in 2008.

For those of you that might not remember Scud, it's the tale of a robotic assassin purchased from a vending machine that self-destructs upon the completion of a mission. When Scud realizes that he will explode if he completes his first assassination, he opts to leave his victim, Jeff a mutant with a electrical plug for a head and mousetraps for hands, on life support rather than dead, thus prolonging his own life. The series then follows Scud's continuing work as an assassin to pay Jeff's medical bills.

Scud was hysterical, hyper stylized black and white, and flat out cool, but the series was left with a disappointing cliffhanger while Schrab focused on making film and television (He is currently the co-creator of the Sarah Silverman program). When we last heard from Scud he was set to destroy the entire earth after the death of his true love. Here is one of the finally pages to catch you up:



In an revealing and emotional interview with newsarama Schrab explains that the conclusion of the Scud would have been very different had he ended it ten years ago:

"I know at one point on the Robot Bastard forum, I revealed what I would have done in the last issue, and it was just this dark, depressing hate-filled ending! It was like, Scud does destroy the world, and everyone dies, and there’s no point to anything, and that’s how I was going to end it back in 1998.

I look at it now, and I go, “God, that’s not me anymore!” I’m not that person any more. I’ve let go of so much anger and hatred. And now, I want to do something that’s in keeping with the rest of the book."

For further information on the completion of Scud check out Schrab's video blog:



Remember kids, it's still cool to be a robot!

-Jon

Fun in Baltimore Part 5 of 5

That's about it for the Retailer Summit in Baltimore. I did pick up a few other things while I was there though. Actually the best part of the Summit is usually at the bars. It's then that you really have a chance to talk to other retailers. Find out the stuff that works for them, the stuff that doesn't. Such as, "How's DMZ doing for you", and "How many copies of Astonishing do you sell?" They're benchmarks you see. If store A sells 200 Astonishing and 15 DMZ, but store B sells 100 Astonishing and 40 DMZ, well that tells you a lot about the stores and what type of market they're in. And for the most part you're talking to retailers who aren't even in the same time zone, let alone market, so you're not talking to the competition, you're talking to... well, comrades almost. And being a bit buzzed doesn't hurt either.

The last day of Summit is the Exhibit Hall. This is where all the companies who came to Summit get to set up a booth and talk to the retailers about their product and hand out goodies. Oh and were there goodies! Jim Lee was signing at the DC booth, Frank Cho and John Cassaday were at the Dynamic Forces booth, and Terry Moore had a booth for Abstract Studios. I asked Terry if he was working on anything, or was even planning anything yet. He does have a new project, but it's not far enough along to talk about apparently.

But it was fun all the same, the guys over at Achaia Studios Press, or ASP for short were very cool, and hopefully we'll be able to get a few of them in the store for you guys to meet as well. If you don't know, they publish Artesia and Mouse Guard among others. Speaking of Mouse Guard, Diamond Select Toys was giving away sets of the Mouse Guard PVC sets. They're just unpainted production copies, but they're still pretty cool all the same. And I did get to see the finished products, which were even cooler. Dark Horse had Eric Powell signing at their booth, where they were also giving away these awesome comic displays. They're up at the front counter if you want to see them next time you're in. They got a little beat up in my bag on the way back, but they managed alright. They guys over at Graphitti Designs were also very cool, showing off a couple of nice shirts not due to hit the market for a couple of months yet. Including a very nice Death of Superman shirt. I was very impressed that Red 5 Comics had a booth, as their books haven't even gone to market yet. Though I think that was the main reason they did, they were giving out a complete set of their launch titles to everyone, but more on that in a future blog. Virgin Comics had a nice set up, complete with M&M's (real ones, not fake copies) with Garth Ennis and Dan Dare written on them. Very cool, but apparently very, very expensive. DC was giving out signed copies of All Star Batman & Robin, along with the very cool oversized Watchmen poster that Zac Snyder showed off in San Diego. Marvel was giving away the in-house bible to Brand New Day, which promised to be very cool, but then turned out to be just about the worst thing I got while I was there. Stop by the store and ask me if you want to see it, but it just really isn't all that. There's really only two things you manage to learn from it, first that J. Jonah Jameson sells The Bugle, and somehow Peter is working there again. Wha?

Well, I think that is it for the Retailer's Summit. Oh, wait I forgot. You see that nice little picture up there at the top? The one that looks like John Cassaday might have drawn it? Well he did. Right on the inside cover of my Absolute Planetary Vol 1. Oh, and there will be an Absolute Planetary Vol 2, I asked. I also asked if I could get him to do a sketch in that. He just laughed.

-Dan

Fun in Baltimore Part 4 of 5

Next up is the House of Idea's, the Mighty Marvels. And probably DC as well. Neither of them had a whole lot to say that they hadn't already said either that weekend in panels, or (as in DC's case) that they had already talked about sometime over the summer. But there were a few things worth mentioning:

Marvel

-There will be an all new X-Men book next year. They might have meant All New X-Men, or just, y'know, another X book.

-October is zombie month, and Suydam is doing covers for about twelve different comics, Iron Fist, Ms Marvel, and She-Hulk among others

-MAX comics is making a comeback, starting with Foolkiller. There will be 2 to 3 more as it picks up steam.

-Marvel Knights will continue with limited series, but there are no plans to make any on-going titles part of the MK line.

-First up for the MK line is Logan by Brian Vaughn and Eduardo Risso

-Battle of the Purple Pants'ed Monsters!!!! Hulk vs. Fing Fang Foom! Let's just hope Hulk stays out of Foom's pants.

-Hulk goes Commie! Maybe. I tossed the image they showed us at the con up here for all to see. Afterwards at the bar, the other retailers and I decided that it was Capitalist Hulk and Commie Hulk.

-Part of that image got explained (kind of) when we were told that Jeff Loeb and Ed McGuinness were the new creative team on Hulk. But that Greg Pak and Carlo Pagulayan would remain on the book. What? And that's all they would say.

-Greg Pak will also be writing a few other things Hulk related such as Warbound and Hulk: Against the World

-The X-Men "Disassembled" teaser that we saw is not the actual name of the series, it's just supposed to have the same "feel & flavor"(?)

-Secret Invasion is the big news for '08. It will be an 8 issue limited series (and ninety million tie-ins).

-Ultimate Iron Man II by Orson Scott Card and Pascal Ferry is coming this winter

-There will be a Bendis/Maleev Omnibus for Daredevil. Which is cool, those guys really deserve it.

-Dark Tower: The Long Road Home is the next installment of the DT story. Jae Lee is already working on issue 3 apparently.

-I'm sure you've seen the pictures of the new X-Force team. I don't know if this is supposed to be the secret X book they were talking about, but we'll see. If you haven't seen it, or have trouble placing the characters, it's Wolverine, Wolfsbane, X-2, and Warpath. I wonder if Cyclops, Colossus, and Cannonball will get their own team?

-There will be no team known as the X-Men anymore. They even showed us a teaser, the "No More Mutants" image from House of M, but replacing Mutants with X-Men

- Cable is coming back, but which Cable, and from when?

Okay, on to DC. This is much shorter as pretty much everything they had to say had already been talked about, most of it back at San Diego!

-There will be a 20th Anniversary Hardcover of The Killing Joke. It has been re-colored and will include bonus material of some sort

-Sergio Aragones will be writing Batlash with John Severen on art, Sergio will also be taking over writing on The Spirit

-Billy Tucci will be doing Sgt. Rock

-Bob Wayne's old Time Masters will be released in trade

-Vertigo is expanding with Madame Xanadu, where we will see the Phantom Stranger? But Phantom Stranger is DCU!? And, those two can't cross anymore, right? I'm so confused

-Lastly, WildStorm Armageddon will lead into WildStorm Revelations in January

See? Hardly a thing. Shameful. Okay, that's for this one. Stay tuned for more bits and pieces about the con, as well as a few touristy pics I took when Ben and I headed up to Washington D.C. Tuesday evening.

-Dan

Fun in Baltimore Part 3 of 5

Today we do more the "vendor" presentations. Following Dark Horse we got the wonderful folks from Virgin Comics. It was pretty funny actually, Eric Powell had done such a good job with his Goon campaign, thats all Virgin could talk about for first minute or two. That's good marketing.

I also want to thank them for the sweet Dan Dare t-shirts we got. If you stopped by this past Wednesday you may have seen me sporting it around the store. I'm sure it'll come around again if you didn't. As you may, or may not know, Virgin does three types of books, Indian Heritage comics such as Devi, celebrity comics such as John Woo's Seven Brothers, and Horror and Sci-Fi comics like Dan Dare and Virulents. Virgin's presentation was kind of short (probably because Dark Horse's ran so long), but they made up for it by bringing in Garth Ennis to talk about Dan Dare. So here we go.

-As you have probably heard by now, in December Shadow Hunter by Jenna Jameson will be shipping. I have no idea what this gonna be like, but it should be good for a laugh or two at least.

-Virgin will be going West Side this year with a comic involving the fine folks over at West Coast Customs. What I find interesting, if you go to their site, is not only could I not find a way to get my car customized (probably showing how exclusive their clientle is), but they have West Coast Customs in Australia, Dubai, Malaysia, and Russia. WTF?

-Duran Duran is doing a Sci-fi comic for Virgin, scheduled for next year. Surprise, surprise. Duran Duran doing sci-fi? They are sci-fi. And not in the good way.

-Virgin will begin publishing more one shots like Virulents, more 48-56 page OGN's

-Ron Marz will be writing the companies first crossover with a another company in Devi/Witchblade

At this point they brought out Garth Ennis to talk about Dan Dare, on which he did not have much to say and quickly started taking questions from the audience (which, y'know, of course I couldn't think of anything to ask)

-Dan Dare will be a seven issue limited series, with a double sized #7

-There are already plans to do a second limited series, no word past that, but they are not ruling out an on-going

-It will be a "bit of commentary on British politics of the past couple years"

-There will be a brief history at the beginning of the first issue, so not to worry if you haven't read it before

-It is based primarily on the comics from the late 50's, not so much with the later stuff like Morrison's story

Lastly Garth took questions about other things, the only one that I bothered to write down was this "The Boys - 50 more issues of the same". What more do you really need to say?

-Dan

Iron Man Trailer Revealed

Though Tony Stark is currently the most hated guy in the Marvel Universe, movie goers are going to be flocking to the 2008 Iron Man movie in Spider-Man 3 numbers once they see the wicked trailer.

The film will update Stark/Iron Man's origin from him being a vietnam war prisoner to him being kidnapped by terrorist in Afghanistan while showing off his industries new missile design. Upon his escape by designing the original Iron Man armor, Stark returns to America and most battle Iron Monger/Obadiah Stane, his main business rival.

Of any superhero movie to be made this one makes the most sense to me. The fantasy of Iron Man is as close to reality as any masked vigilante story is going to get, besides maybe Batman.

I think this guy would agree!



-Jon

Fun in Baltimore Part 2 of 5

Its time to move on to one of the best parts of the Summit, the "Vendor" presentations. "Vendor", in this case, refers to the companies such as Marvel, DC, Dark Horse and the rest. The reason they don't call them publishers is because they also have presentations from Diamond Select Toys (BSG fans - watch for ship replicas coming this winter, they're sweet), WizKids, and Wizards of the Coast. To be honest, I didn't really take that many notes during those, because, well, we don't really carry that stuff. Sorry. But I did take many notes on the comic guys.

First up was Dark Horse. Bunch of interesting stuff coming from these guys in the next year, but you almost couldn't concentrate on what they were saying because of Eric Powell's viral marketing campaign for The Goon. As soon as one of the guys would start, Eric would come up, take the mic away and start talking about The Goon. He held up posters in front of them, pretended to be a retailer asking questions from the floor, among other things. But a few nice things did pop out, so here they are:

- There will a line wide cross over for the Star Wars comics called "Vector". I don't really have any details, I did ask though, but somehow it will crossover through all of the books, even though they're set thousands of years apart.

-Dark Horse will be publishing Indiana Jones again. There will be an Omnibus collecting the old stuff, including material published by other companies. There will also be a new series to go along with the new movie

-This May Conan is going to be relaunched as Conan The Cimmerian. The current series will be ending with issue 50.

-Also coming soon will be Kull the Conqueror and Soloman Kane

-Joss Whedon will be returning to Buffy next year for issues 16 through 19. They have the story for this season all finished (they still have to write it, but they know what it will be) and already working on Season 9.

-Also for next year, Whedon will also be doing a second Serenity mini-series. It should come out sometime in the spring, and will be set in the same time period as the first, in between the show and the movie. They are already in talks for a third.

- Not much on this one, but Rick "Fear Agent" Remember will be doing a new series called End League. Super-heroes in a post-apocolyptical world. Nice, I always say we don't get enough post-apoclypse fiction. Though Y and Zero Killer are both good exceptions.

-DH will also be publishing new manga, starting with Blood+ and Gantz

-Behold the Devil will be written and drawn by the esteemed Matt Wagner. Guess what it's about? Yeah.

-The Scream will be coming back to comic shops the country over courtesy of Mr Peter David. The Scream is actually on of Dark Horse's oldest properties and it should be a hoot to see it back after so long.

-The Goon will be going MONTHLY in 2008, with Dave Stewart on colors.

Last but not least

-The second Hellboy movie will be coming out next July, so DH has a few things lined up. First up will be the "Libraries". These will be oversized hardcovers (similar to the Invincible HC's). They'll be Fifty bucks and contain two trades each in them. Also coming soon will be an Abe Sapiens series/mini-series(?), I'm not sure which, as well as a BPRD origin book. Probably what I'm looking forward to the most. And Dark Horse will be doing another Hellboy comic for Free Comic Book Day next spring.

Ok, that's it for now, check back Monday for more goodies.

-Dan

Fun In Baltimore Part 1 of 5

I have been totally slacking on getting these blogs out to you guys. So expect to see a bunch in the next couple of days as I get caught up.

First lets talk about the trip Ben and I took to the Retailers Convention in Baltimore last week. Man, so many cool things were going on I don't really know where to start. But as a wise man once said "Start at the beginning".

We headed out pretty early Sunday morning (Ben and Aj picked me up just after 6am!) Thank god they have Starbucks at the airport! Then onto the plane and off to Charm City, sunny Baltimore Maryland. After we got in and got all our stuff stowed away at the hotel Ben and I headed over to the Baltimore Comic Con. Of course, Ben managed to lose me about 30 seconds after we stepped onto the show floor. I paused to look at one of the retailer booths and next thing I know he's gone. Of course since I had my iPhone with me Ben and I just text messaged back and forth all day.

It has been a couple of years since I walked through the retailer section of the con, there's just usually way to much else to see! But this year I took my time. It was a real mix of different stuff. Some retailers just row upon row of long boxes, no order, not bagged, just comics in a box with a price sign. Others though, man, I think some of them must do the con thing alot. They had what looked to be custom made fixtures just to go to cons with. Some people sold nothing but statues, some where nothing but anime or manga. I spent a bunch of time at one that was just action figures (I'm trying to put together a Green Lantern collection), but nothing came of it. And people come prepared too. I saw one guy with a dolley for all the statues he'd bought. Another pair of guys had custom made carts that were basically filing cabinets on wheels. And what was the hottest selling item at the show, you ask? Poster tubes. These little plastic tubes with a cap on one end a strap to put over your shoulder. Probably one in three had one. I tried to find who was selling them, but they had sold out earlier in the day. Its not that they were cool or anything, I just wanted to congratulate them for their forward thinking. Another guy that really impressed me was set up in Artist's Alley, and he sold mylar sleeves of every size possible. Every time I went by his booth he had a line of people wanting a sleeve to put a sketch or such in.

And Artist's Alley was pretty cool all in of itself. Of the course, the first guy I ran into was none other then our very own Harvey Award-Winning Matt Kindt! He was over at the Top Shelf booth hawking copies of his new book Super Spy along with Owly creator Andy Runton. Then it was off to the DC booth to see Jim Lee and talk to his wife for a minute or two. I also picked up a bunch of the DC convention buttons, you know, the ones that say "DC Nation" and "Jimmy Olsen Must Die!" They're pretty sweet. Then over to Image booth were I talked to Eric Larsen. Nice guy. I also talked to Bryan Glass, the writer of Mice Templar. Coolest part of that was he had read my review on the first issue! At first I was like "Oh crap, what did write about that?" But then I remembered I liked it, and he liked my review, so it was good. I saw David Finch, and talked to his wife about doing a show. Here's a helpful tip if you ever want to get a writer or artist to do a show, don't talk to them, talk to their wives, it usually works out better. I met Kyle Baker next, then headed over to talk to Amanda Conner and Jimmy Palmiotti. After that I moved on over to Barry Kitson's table, who is extemely nice, and with whom I have been exchanging e-mail with already about doing an art show and signing. More on that if we get the details hammered out. IF.

After that it was time for a late lunch and then off to the Geppi Entertainment Musuem. I know Ben talked about it a bit so I will just say this, if you're a comic nerd of any kind, and are anywhere even remotely close to Baltimore (say anywhere on the east coast), go there. It is just that cool. I wish I had some pictures to show you, but they all came out blurry with not enough light. I blame it on the open bar.

Ok, that's it for today, next we'll cover the vendor presentations, my second favorite part of the con. If you're wondering, the first part is the open bars.


Matt Kindt continues his plans for world domination.


Bryan Glass pimps some mice!


Amanda Conner tries to decide how big is "too big".


It's a very nice cake they had at the Geppi Museum,
well, I assume it was, they never let us have any.

-Dan

Apocalypse Nerd #5

So check it out - Peter Bagge's "Apocalypse Nerd" from Dark Horse Comics came out yesterday. I was pretty excited to see that the cover looked familiar - like I had seen it somewhere before. Scratching my head, I wandered into the gallery and lo and behold, there it sits - the original hand painted watercolor cover to Apocalpse Nerd hanging on our walls for two weeks before the comic even came out.

So Peter Bagge fans, here is your big chance to own some original art from the man himself at extremely reasonable prices! Not to mention the terrific work from Jim Blanchard and Johnny Ryan we also have.

I'm considering picking up a couple pieces for myself - and I'm eyeing some of Blanchard's work.

Anyway, I was excited to see the original art on the walls of Star Clipper - it reminded me of how far we've come since the old days! I hope everyone enjoys the gallery as much as we do.

-Ben

Mister Wonderful Part 2

Sorry all you loyal bloggers that my first update about Mister Wonderful was posted after the fact, the Star Clipper blog was having some technical difficulties. To make it up to you, here is the first Strip from Dan Clowes' Mister Wonderful .

Also, as reported on the helpful Fantagraphics
blog Dan Clowes and Terry Zwigoff again will be collaborating on the film "The $40,000 Man." They have previously work together on films such as "Art School Confidential" and "Ghost World."

Well, that's enough Clowes' news for now.

-Jon

Clowes Report - Mr. Wonderful

The New York Times will be launching Daniel Clowes' new weekly comic strip "Mister Wonderful" this Sunday, September 16th. This is exciting news for Clowes fans, as this is the first new work from the cartoonist since 2004's "Death Ray" issue of Eightball. Clowes has released very little information about the series besides it will be a "romance" and will run through January 2008.

In other similar news, Clowes, as well as Art Spiegelman (Maus) and Alan Moore (V for Vendetta) will be guest stars on the Simpsons on October 7. The episode will be about a rival comic shop that opens in Springfield owned by a character voiced by Jack Black.

Finally, Clowes will be releasing a special 10th anniversary edition of Ghost World with a brand new cover in 2008.

It's about time to get a Clowes update that's worth a damn!

-Jon

No Posts in 3 Days? What the Heck is UP?!@

Sorry for the long delays in regular postings to the Star Clipper Blog. It's like this - the internet is a fickle mistress. BUT NOT ANYMORE!!!

Stay tuned...regular posts resume tomorrow AM!

-Ben

5 Years

Ben and I have been back from the Baltimore Retailers Summit for just over 24 hours now. I know Ben sent out a couple of updates while we were gone, but I'm just not that good at using the iPhone keyboard yet to do full size blogs with it.

I guess I should start with last Friday actually, two days before we left. Last week was my fifth anniversary here with Star Clipper. I don't remember the exact date, but I know I started the first week in September. So to commemorate this special occasion, Ben and Aj got me an iPhone. Yes, an iPhone. So I really want to thank them for that. As many of you know I have been against cell phones for years. I like to stay unavailable, what can I say? But I think this phone has changed all that. It's just so cool! You can check out Ben's blog from a couple of months back if you want, suffice to say I loaded it up with all kinds of crap for the trip. Music, TV shows, and even an audiobook (a new reading of Orson Scott Card's "Ender's Game"). The book actually really came in handy, but more on that later.

And the phone wasn't even the coolest thing they got for me. Ben also managed to get my all time favorite author, ********** ***** (name edited to protect the innocent - plus he might not want anyone to know), to record my voicemail message. How cool is that? Cooler then even a free iPhone. I know you would like to hear what ****** has to say, but a) he hasn't recorded it yet, and b) I'm not giving you my number. Unless you ask nicely. Or maybe Ben can show me a way I can put it up on a future blog, but I don't even know if that's possible.

I took some pictures with the phone while we were in Baltimore, so you will be seeing those, as well as some from my night in DC.

Oh, one last thing I want to clear up, I did not get to "hang" with Jim Lee. I did talk to him several times over the weekend, mostly about coming to the store. And he did remember my name the third time we talked, so that was cool. But mostly I just drank in the same bar as him and his people. He did stop and talk to our table, but he also talked to all the different tables as well. He and his wife were both very nice, and I really hope we can get him to come back to his hometown and do a little signing, maybe even an art show.

So there you go, the first part about my trip to Baltimore. I have a lot of info and fun stuff, maybe even a few giveaways, so be sure to check back daily.



Jim Lee signs Sunday afternoon at the Baltimore Comic Con (taken with my iPhone)

-Dan

Hulk Keeps on Smashing!

With World War Hulk wrapping up in a few months I have to admit I'm clueless as to how Hulk's rampage will end. He is seemingly invincible now, beating down nearly the entirety of the marvel universe. What more, Super-heroes who are suppose to be more powerful than Hulk, such as Black Bolt who is known to be able to destroy whole cities with the sound of his voice, are rapidly being de-powered in comparison to the Hulk. So help me out here blog readers, what do you think will happen? Will this crossover series have a better ending than Civil War? And, do you think any other major characters will die?

I guess I'm obligated to make a prediction, so here goes. Sentry will finally come to save the day in a battle that will level all of New York, resulting in Hulk being thrown into the sun! Who dies? Thankfully, only Tony Stark and all of Heroes for Hire... okay, I'm sure thats not actually going to happen but lets see you come up with something better.

-Jon

iPhone Blog II

I just wanted to make a quick post saying that Dan & I are back - or at least almost back. We just cleared security and are waiting to board our shortish (2 hr) flight back to the Lou.

just to warn you all, Dan has been taking scrupulous notes for the sole purpose of blogging all about his Baltimore Summit experience. No doubt he'll mention the auction to bring Jim Lee to your store (we bid but lost - final bid: $7500 - so you can appreciate how hard we work to bring you great events).

Anyway, props to AJ, Evey and James for doing check-in this morning and getting all your books out to you on time today. Dan, James and I are a well oiled machine, so what AJ, et. al. are doing is pretty great. Dan and I will be back behind the counter to tell you all about the trip tomorrow!

-ben

iPhone blog

Right now I'm sitting at the publisher Q&A listening to interesting questions being fielded by the publishing big wigs. It's interesting because there is definitely some tension between the publishers and the retailers so there is this alternating process of the retailers trying to be nice but cautious in their questioning and the publishers trying so hard (and often failing) to give meaningful answers without giving up too much information.

Anyway, I'm posting this from my iPhone so this is going to be short. I'll finish by saying I sat by Jim Lee at dinner last night. Weeeeeee!

Dan and Ben in Baltimore

This week is the Diamond Retailer Summit where Direct Specialty Market (read Comic Book) stores meet at a convention hosted by the industry's leading distributor - Diamond (the folks who make Previews).

Yesterday was spent flying to Baltimore early (after a very late night with the Fantagraphics Buddies - who, incidentally, were great sports about basically getting rained out Saturday night - and a "Thank You" to the few dozen of you who made the trek to the reception in the driving rain, the show will be up all month and it's really great, maybe the best one we've had yet). Then we attended the Baltimore Comicon before a dinner reception at Steve Geppi's entertainment museum. Steve own Diamond Comics Distributors (and the Baltimore Orioles in case you wondered where your comic dollars ultimately wind up).

Today is lots of conferences and lunches and dinners. Dan hung out with Jim Lee last night, so he's riding that wave right now.

Fantagraphics "Buddies" Reception Tonight!!

Just In Case You Missed It!!!

Star Clipper is pleased to present three of the funniest guys in the funnybook business- Peter Bagge (HATE), Jim Blanchard (TRUCKER FAGS IN DENIAL), and Johnny Ryan (ANGRY YOUTH COMIX) for a gallery reception on Saturday, September 8 from 7 to 10 PM. The show, collecting their prints, paintings, posters, books, toys and more will run until September 29, 2007.

By common consensus, Peter Bagge is the funniest cartoonist of his generation. Bagge is probably best known for the '90s comic book series HATE, which followed the exploits of the slacker ne'er-do-well Buddy Bradley.

Texan Jim Blanchard is best known as a cover artist for books & CDs, spot illustrator, comic book artist, silkscreen poster artist, logo designer & art director for Fantagraphics Books, and inker for Peter Bagge's much-lauded HATE.

ANGRY YOUTH COMIX is the current heavyweight champ in the proud tradition of lowbrow humor cartooning. Johnny Ryan's utterly unpretentious taboo-tackling is an infectious and hilarious bombardment of political incorrectness, taking full advantage of the medium's absurdist potential for maximum laughs.

Fantagraphics "Buddies" Reception Tomorrow Night!

Star Clipper is pleased to present three of the funniest guys in the funnybook business- Peter Bagge (HATE), Jim Blanchard (TRUCKER FAGS IN DENIAL), and Johnny Ryan (ANGRY YOUTH COMIX) for a gallery reception on Saturday, September 8 from 7 to 10 PM. The show, collecting their prints, paintings, posters, books, toys and more will run until September 29, 2007.
By common consensus, Peter Bagge is the funniest cartoonist of his generation. Bagge is probably best known for the '90s comic book series HATE, which followed the exploits of the slacker ne'er-do-well Buddy Bradley.

Texan Jim Blanchard is best known as a cover artist for books & CDs, spot illustrator, comic book artist, silkscreen poster artist, logo designer & art director for Fantagraphics Books, and inker for Peter Bagge's much-lauded HATE.

ANGRY YOUTH COMIX is the current heavyweight champ in the proud tradition of lowbrow humor cartooning. Johnny Ryan's utterly unpretentious taboo-tackling is an infectious and hilarious bombardment of political incorrectness, taking full advantage of the medium's absurdist potential for maximum laughs.

The Yellow Kid

Checker Press is releasing two ongoing turn-of-the-century comic collection, one is Little Nemo In Slumberland, which has already been released and is superior to most all the other Nemo reprints except the large Sunday Pressedition, and the other being The Yellow Kid. R. F. Outcault's The Yellow Kid dates back to 1894 and is often considered the first American comic strip. This early comic, originally nicknamed Hogan's Alley, became popular in the New York World newspaper and is credited for helping start the phrase "yellow journalism" because of its critical observations on New York and United States culture during the time. It is also famous for being the first strip to be printed in color for mass production and also one of the first cartoons to use "word balloons" to contain dialogue. The Yellow Kid (pictured below) was a snaggle-toothed bald child who commented on the happenings in Hogan's Alley, which was filled with equally strange characters.



For a closer look at the collections, Checker Press owner Mark Thompson gave a great interview with newsarama about the release of both the Nemo and Yellow Kid Books. Though The Yellow Kid is considered more primitive and less acclaimed than Little Nemo, it is essential to the development of comics and I urge all comic historians to read up on such an important achievement to the medium.

-Jon

Korean Comics: A Society Through Small Frames

Many Asian nations are overshadowed in their love of comic books by the popularity of Japanese manga. Yet, all throughout Asia comics are hugely popular, especially in North and South Korea. The current exhibit at Washington University's Kemper Art Museum, Korean Comics: A Society Through Small Framesexemplifies Korea's finest comics. The gallery show features the work of twenty one of Korea's most influential comic creators, with over 80 works on display. Covering Korean comics created between the 1950's to the 1990's, many aspect of Korean culture, from children's entertainment to socialism, is explored through comic book panels.

For more information on the artist featured check out the Korean Comics press release.

The traveling exhibit will be on display from August 31 to December 17. It is free and open to the public. The museum is located at the intersection of Skinker and Forsyth bolevards. Regular hours are 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays; 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Fridays; and 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays. The museum is closed Tuesdays.

All you manga fans better check it out!

-Jon

The Mice are Marching

The past few weeks we've seen two new books come out featuring mice as the protagonists. And I'm sure you're thinking, do I really need TWO mice books? Well, yeah. Mice Templar, and Mouse Guard: Winter 1152, while appearing to be pretty similar, stories about fighting mice, they really do take different approaches.

Think of the Mouse Guard alot like the Green Lantern Corps. They are the protectors of mouse society, charged with protecting the innocent from everything from maurading snakes, hungry owls, to open rebellion. In the current story, a follow up to last years Mouse Guard: Fall 1152, the Mice are trying to recover from the deadly blow they were dealt in the fall. The Guard has never been in such dire straights, and is seeking help the neighboring communities to recover. Mouse Guard is a slow moving book, so it remains to be seen what the larger challenge, beyond mere survival, will be for this arc. I don't mean to say the book is boring, it just doesn't use the conventional pacing. It reads more as if it was one large book that then got chopped down to individual issues. Maybe not so good for the single issues, but when you read the series as a whole, well, it's really well done.

Mice Templar, on the other hand, is written much more like a regular book, with highs, lows, and twists aplenty just in the first issue. The Mice Templar story follows certain parts of the Temple Knights story, while at the same time replacing other parts. For ten thousand seasons (thats 2500 years for the seasonally challenged) the Mice Templar had been the guardians of not only the mice, but of many of the creatures who resided in the Dark Lands. Think Jedi Knights without the voodoo. These mice were not betrayed by greedy kings as the Templars of our world were however. The Mice Templar betrayed themselves and went to war with each other. Now many seasons after, the few remaining Templars are in hiding, sheltered by some, shunned by others, unwelcomed by most. But now, in the small town of Cricket's Glen, a young mouse by the name of Karic has been entrusted to rebuild the legacy of the Templars. Very Luke Skywalker-ish. That's not to say it's derivative, it just has a lot of elements in common. Did I mention it's huge? Even at 3.99, the first issue just seems to go on and on.

Which one is better? I can't really say. Mouse Guard is fantastic, with rich storytelling and fantastic art. Mice Templar is a well crafted "coming of age" action story. They each have their good points, but based on just the first issue, the Temple Mice look to be pulling ahead just a bit. It remain to be seen though if they will be the hare to the Guard's tortoise.

We're Turning Japanese!

Selling tons of Ramune at the Japanese Festival this Labor Day is making the whole crew at Star Clipper feel a little more Japanese. So in honor of Japan I encourage you to check out this super cute Japanese potty training video. It's all the buzz on youtube right now. Enjoy crazy Americans!



-Jon

Come See Us at the Japanese Festival!

Star Clipper returns for the fifth consecutive year to the Missouri Botanical Garden's annual Japanese Festival over Labor Day Weekend, September 1 - 3! Enjoy taiko drumming, tea ceremonies, the beloved Candyman, candlelight tours of the Japanese Garden and sumo wrestling. Star Clipper will be presenting the anime film MY NEIGHBORS THE YAMADAS in the Shoenberg Auditorium on Saturday, September 1 at 8 PM.

The Star Clipper booth is just outside the Ridgway Center, where you will find the loyal staff smiling, sweating and serving up all kinds of new Japanese toys, apparel, snacks and goodies. Don't miss one of the nation's most impressive festivals of its kind Labor Day weekend!

From the Botanical Garden's Website:

"It will be a Midwest matsuri (celebration) when the Japanese Festival returns to the Garden on Labor Day weekend 2007. Learn about the fascinating, mysterious world of geisha from a woman who knows it firsthand. Experience the thrilling action of a sumo wrestling bout. Listen to the thunderous pounding rhythms of taiko drums. Don’t miss the Candyman; kimono fashion shows; ikebana flower arranging and bonsai ornamental pruning demonstrations; bon odori summer festival dancing; budo and koryu bugei martial arts exhibitions; candlelight walks through the Japanese Garden; and an anime screening. Browse the merchandise marketplace for Japanese souvenirs or the food court for yakisoba noodles, okonomiyaki pancake, and green tea ice cream. Signature event pricing applies."