SVA's Ink Plots Coming in October
New York's School of Visual Arts will present Ink Plots: The Tradition of the Graphic Novel at SVA from October 8 to November 6. The exhibit will feature animation, original art, books, prints, and more. The list of SVA alumni and faculty participating in this one is gigantic and reads like a who's who of comics greats past and present: Sal Amendola, R. O.
-- John HoganUpcoming New York Comic-Con Panel
I'm pleased to say that I'll be on a panel at New York Comic Con this year. The annual event, taking place October 8-10 at the Javits Center in Manhattan, draws huge crowds every year and is one of the most exciting comics conventions in the country. If you're attending, I hope you'll check out "The Evolution of Graphic Novel Publishing: What Publishers Need to Consider in Order to Grow the Market from Here." It's a fascinating topic, to be sure, and one that has a lot of areas to cover. In fact, there's really no shortage of things to talk about in the hour.
-- John HoganHelp Kids Comic-Con
Alex Simmons, creator of Kids Comic-Con and a good friend of GNR, is trying to raise funds to help out kids in Africa using comic books to teach literacy. He's not asking for much--just one dollar!--and the work he's trying to accomplish is nothing short of amazing. Please help him out if you can! Go to this link to pledge money for his cause, which would help bring his Color of Comics exhibition to Senegal this December.
-- John HoganMoCCA Earns Some NeoIntegrity
If you're in the New York City area, the goings-on at MoCCA should always be on your radar. Their new exhibit, NeoIntegrity: Comics Edition, is fantastic and runs through next Sunday. Find out more about it here.
-- John HoganThe Smithsonian Visits Superman's Birthplace
Here's a great article by an acquaintance of mine, Anne Trubek, detailing the Ohio origins of Superman and his creators, Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. It's a nice article about the history of comics; check it out.
-- John HoganComixology Celebrates a Year
To mark their one-year anniversary, ComiXology, the digital comics provider, is offering 79-cent comics (marked down from their normal 99 cents). Right now, at their website, you can get discounted comics from nearly 20 publishers, including Dark Horse, Top Cow, and SLG; plus you can get big discounts on more books from DC, Boom!, and others. They're doing a lot to kick up excitement about their anniversary, so check it out!
-- John HoganHow Comics Inspire Readers
Here's a very interesting article on how comics can help motivate readers. I loved how it debunked so many of the common myths surrounding comics...one being that those who read comics will somehow forego reading anything else. If anything, being a comics reader promotes active reading of more and more things (other comics, of course, but also more and more books). Nice to have this long, footnoted article from the Canadian Council on Learning back that up.
-- John HoganTroublemaker Tops Bestseller List Two Weeks Straight
Dark Horse is quite excited, and deservedly so, over the news that Janet and Alex Evanovich's Troublemaker is #1 on the New York Times' graphic bestsellers list for the second week in a row. Troublemaker represents two rather interesting experiments for Evanovich: One is the obvious, her foray into the graphic-novel realm. The second is that the graphic novel is a continuation of the prose Barnaby series, which had two books previously published and is now driving many non-comics fans into stores looking for Troublemaker.
-- John HoganTLA Picks a Graphic Novel...and You Can Vote on Which One
Our friends at the Texas Library Association will select a graphic novel for their One Book, One Conference this year (wherein all TLA attendees will be encouraged to read the same book).
-- John HoganBluewater Makes the Times
There's an interesting article about Bluewater Comics in today's New York Times. It's a short but in-depth look at the company's output...a good read for those who want to know more about the company. Read it here.
-- John Hogan
