The New York show, which opened Thursday night at the Jacob K. Javits Center in Manhattan, bounced around the calendar for a couple of years before finding a home in October last year, when 96,000 fans made the trek to New York to attend.
Organizers expect attendance at the show, now in its sixth year, to surpass 100,000 this year. And while its rival in San Diego grapples with growing pains, New York Comic Con is finding its footing.
CEO Jeff Bewkes told staffers in an email that the company’s preparing to evaluate “our office footprint in the New York metropolitan area and develop a long-range plan to meet our future needs.” The team leading that process — to be run by Chief Financial and Administrative Officer John Martin and Global Real Estate SVP Tom Santiago — probably won’t make a decision until the end of 2012. Then it could take years to implement. The corporate ranks and cable channels including CNN probably will stay in the Time Warner Center at Columbus Circle; the company owns about 1 million square feet in the building. But Time Warner leases an additional 3 million or so additional square feet of office space in the New York area. The agreement for the publishing unit’s operations at the Time & Life building expires at the end of 2017, while the one for HBO’s home on 6th Ave runs out in 2018. There are plenty of options in Manhattan, including the new World Trade Center. But neighboring New Jersey and Connecticut probably will try to persuade Time Warner to move some of its operations, and jobs.
Let’s get the anecdotal/name dropping portion of this blather out of the way up front:
Five, maybe six years ago, I was leaving the British Broadcasting Company’s offices in Manhattan, where I’d been brainstorming a kids’ show with a producer and some writers, including Sean Kelly, who was accompanying me to Third Avenue. Sean mentioned that when he was editor of the late, lamented humor magazine, the National Lampoon, and the Lampoon shared a midtown building with my usual employer, DC Comics, he considered asking me to contribute something to his pages, but that someone told him that I wouldn’t be interested.
Now, let me take a deep breath and aver, emphatically, that I would have been delighted to have my work appear in the hippest and funniest magazine on the racks. I don’t know and don’t want to know who Sean spoke with, but it’s fair to say that this mysterious person did me a disservice with an untruth.
So yes, experience allows us to state that falsehoods, whether malicious or innocent, do affect people and events, and we can’t console ourselves by thinking they have no consequences. And they piss us off: some squiggle deep in our brains probably perceives them as threats and we want to react, we want to strike back and avenge and bring low the foe.
Not easily done and maybe not wisely done, either. I retaliate and the foe retaliates to my retaliation and there are arguments and side-choosing and and and and…
The unhealthiest part of the relevant egos, foes’ and mine, fattens on anger and vengeance and, yes, hate, and validates their existence with our sorry conflicts.
Redress by law? Hey, ever been privy to a lawsuit? There’s no guarantee of satisfaction from a process that can drag months in its wake, maybe years, and break the bank and chew up and spit out one’s life…
I’ll stop waxing metaphorical now, take another deep breath and, head bowed, admit that I have recently been on the receiving end of some brickbats that make whatever was said to Sean Kelly, decades past, seem like powder puffs. (I said I was done with metaphors, didn’t I? Sorry.)
A final deep breath and–my friends: I believe the First Amendment to be the best thing in the Constitution and I believe John Stuart Mill’s essay On Liberty should be required reading for everybody (or at least recommended reading) and I wish there was some way of reprimanding politicians and journalists and pundits when they deviate from the truth but…we pay a price for our most cherished freedoms and allowing the publication of rumors (or worse) is the ugly cost of freedom of speech.
This can be, I admit, a paltry consolation, and at the moment it is indeed feeling pretty paltry ,but it will have to serve.
Recommended Reading:
[[[On Liberty]]], by John Stuart Mill.
[[[Saints Preserve us: Everything You Need To Know About Every Saint You’ll Ever Need]]], by Sean Kelly and Rosemary Rogers
In response to requests since ALL PULP started as well as the posting of the great piece you’re about to read today, ALL PULP is kicking off a new column (logo to come soon) ! NUTS AND BULLETS will feature articles from creators and publishers of New Pulp and will focus on the process of putting out Pulp today. It will err on the technical side of things, how to format, how to develop a character, how to establish pacing, how to write a back cover blurb…and as for the inaugural entry, How to Build a Pulp Cover. New Pulp creator and Airship 27 Publisher Ron Fortier shares with ALL PULP a fantastic process for creating and designing modern Pulp covers. Enjoy NUTS AND BULLETS and expect more helpful hints to come!
Greetings. This week we are going to do something we’ve done several times before on my Flight Log that many of you have enjoyed a great deal; show how we put together one of our Airship 27 Productions pulp covers. Step by step you’ll see our planning and how we helped our artist execute the final image for a book now going into final production.
Earlier in the year one of our regular writers, Joshua Reynolds had submitted a full length Jim Anthony Super Detective novel entitled MARK OF TERROR. It’s a great read and somewhere in the middle of the book there is an action sequence wherein Jim chases an assassin wearing a gargoyle mask out of a theater and onto a busy nighttime New York street. The killer jumps into a sedan driven by another mask wearing colleague and they peel away, only to have the Super Detective come charging off the sidewalk and leaping onto the top of the vehicle. As it careens wildly through the streets of Manhattan, the killer leans out the passenger window and attempts to shoot Anthony off the car. Upon reading this sequence in the book, we knew immediately it was what we wanted for our cover. Then came a stroke of real good fortune. Earlier in the year, we had the opportunity to meet several local artists who live here in Fort Collins. One of them is a truly talented young fellow named Jeff Herndon. When Jeff learned about Airship 27, he offered to paint a cover for us and we immediately recalled the that Jim Anthony book waiting in the wings.
Actor -Body Building Champ Steve Reeves The first thing we did was explain the character to Jeff and told him our ideal image of the Super Detective was none other than the late body-builder turned actor, Steve Reeves, who made some classic Hercules movies back in the 1960s. We then sent Jeff half a dozen shots of Reeves we found on the internet like the one above. This was how we wanted our Jim Anthony to appear on the cover.
Cora, Alex and dad, Alan Posing for Action. Next we explained in great detail to Jeff what action scene we wanted him to bring to life with his paints. To help him better visualize that dramatic moment in the book, one Sunday afternoon our son Alan and grand kids, Cora and Alex, allowed their granddad to photograph them on one of our cars in a set-up pose mirroring the action in the book. We took several photos from different positions. The one above was the one that best suited our needs and would help Jeff better mentally envision what we were after.
Old 1930s Sedan in New York City.
But a neighborhood street in modern day Fort Collins, Colorado bears no resemblance to a busy Manhattan downtown scene. So once again we headed for the internet and found a photo of a New York city street and another of a proper mid-1930s automobile. We sent these off to our Art Director Rob Davis and he photo-shopped them together into the above picture. Now Jeff could use these elements as the basis for his drawings and eventual painting.
Jeff Herndon’s Final Drawing.
Using all the various elements we had provided him with, along with our description of the action, Jeff then proceeded to whip up this amazing drawing. Note the moon in the background sky, indicative of how this was about to become a night time image. Once we gave him the thumbs up to commit to paints, he really went to town.
Completed Painted Cover
For the next few weeks Jeff worked diligently at bringing his drawing to full color life and he succeeded far beyond our wildest imagination. The night he sent us a jpg. image of the finished painting, Rob and the Air Chief were delighted. Now here was a truly dynamic pulp cover. There remained only one final step, for Rob to design the text and logos etc. to finish the entire cover. So inspired by the art Jeff had accomplished, Rob wasted no time in bringing this dazzling project to a proper conclusion.
COMING SOON!!
And above is the finished cover to what will be our 39th title – JIM ANTHONY – SUPER DETECTIVE – MARK OF TERROR by Joshua Reynolds, cover painting by Jeff Herndon, with nine terrific black and white interior illustrations by Isaac “Bobit” Nacilla and designs by Rob Davis. Currently the book is in the final stages of proofing and we hope to have it out within the next two weeks. Rest assured we will reprint that cover shot here when it is finally on sale. This is our third book in our Jim Anthony series and we are all damn proud of it.
Finally, the icing on the cake arrived only last week when we learned a local art gallery here in the Fort is launching a brand new show featuring ten local artist, one of which is Jeff. And most likely this painting will be on display there in Jeff’s collection. The show runs between 3 Sept and 5 Oct. and is located at the Rendition Gallery, 251 Jefferson St., Fort Collins, Co. Valerie and the Air Chief plan on attending opening night, we’ll bring our camera along to snap some shots of Jeff and his amazing work.
Apparently, I can run for mayor of New York City because – to paraphrase Sarah Palin – I can see New York from my house.
I live in Bayonne, NJ, across the Hudson from the city, about two miles from Lower Manhattan as the crow flies, and on a good day, and if I judge the timing right, I can zip through the Holland Tunnel and be in the city proper in about fifteen minutes. (Then there’s rush hour L.) Seriously, right now I’m looking out the window at New York Harbor, Staten Island and the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge (its proper name) are to my right. Directly across the water is Brooklyn – on a sunny clear day I can see the cars moving along the Belt Parkway without binoculars – and to my left is the Statue of Liberty and the skyline. I can even see the Brooklyn, Manhattan, and a hint of the Williamsburg Bridges. I can watch the Macy’s July 4th fireworks from my roof.
I love my view. Like a cat, I like to sit and look out on the water and the harbor traffic and the constantly changing colors of the sky. Most of the time it’s glorious.
But sometimes, things happen. Like on September 11, 2001. For a week I kept the blinds down, because I couldn’t bear to see the smoking emptiness where the towers had stood. It only helped a little, especially at night, when the mega-million kilowatts of giant spotlights and the still-smoldering embers of death and destruction would break through the slats.
Like today, as the metropolitan New York area prepares for the arrival of Irene.
Yesterday I was one of the scoffers, as Mayor Bloomberg, Governor Christie, and other officials in New York and New Jersey announced mandatory evacuations and closings of the transit systems and roadways. (Governor Christie closed the Garden State Parkway heading south from exit 98 – which is the “entrance” to the Jersey Shore – as of 6 P.M. because he wanted to keep all lanes available for evacuation and emergency vehicles.) “Oh,” I said to anyone who would listen, “It’s the media. It’s a slow news cycle. Obama’s on vacation, Congress is in recess. And we’re coming up on an election year. Nobody, Democrat or Republican, wants to get caught with his or her pants down, like Brownie and Dubbya during Katrina. And anyway, the levees broke in New Orleans. Besides, hurricanes draw their strength from warm water. It may be summer, but the Atlantic up here is nowhere near as warm as it is down South or in the Caribbean.” And on and on I went.
I even got into a fight with my daughter, who lives in lower Jersey City, over evacuating. “Why are you gettin’ crazy?” I said when she said she wanted to come to my house last night, which was Friday. “It’s not even going to be here until Sunday morning. Wait and see. The Giants haven’t cancelled the game against the Jets, they only moved it to start at 2 p.m. instead of 8. If they cancel the game, then it’s time to worry. It’s football. They never cancel games unless it’s a real emergency.”
The Giants-Jets game was cancelled Friday night.
Alixandra and Jeff are now in my living room. They came over last night. Well, Alix came over. Mandatory evacuation because of storm surge. Jeff, who was at Oberlin in Ohio being oriented as a new professor, had to drive all night to get here because not only was his flight cancelled, all area airports were closed. He wanted to be here before they possibly closed all roads in. Plus, they’re in love. If I lived a few blocks or a mile to the west or east, I’d be mandatory evacuated, too. I don’t have to worry about flooding, but will my windows hold up? What about the cell towers up on the roof of my building? What happens if they get blown over, will they coming crashing down through my ceiling? (I live on the top floor.) This morning I walked down the street to the supermarket because I didn’t have any teabags, and I love, no, I need, my tea in the morning. Do I have to tell you what a madhouse that was? The store was actually running out of food and water. Later I drove past my local gas station. Well, I inched past my gas station, because the gas-rationing days of 1979 were back, with twenty or more cars waiting in line at both entrances to fill their tanks. Mine was already filled.
Irene is coming. Storm clouds are gathering outside my window. It’s her. There’s a monsoon outside my window. Wait, it stopped. No, it started again. A warning. She is approaching. There was no breeze earlier. Now the leaves of the trees are rustling. Irene is near. I hear a police siren. And an ambulance.
My refrigerator is stocked. But what if the power goes out? Alix brought over shit none of us have eaten in years. Like Chef Boy-ar-dee. (Yum-Yum) I got Twinkies and Entenmanns’s and potato chips. Hey, they’re not called non-perishables for nothing.
Anyway, all this got me to thinking. If Thor was here, he could stop Irene – after all, he is the God of Thunder. All he’d have to do is swing Mjolnir around and poof! there goes Irene. Or if the Flash was around, he could run circles around Irene, break her up into little squalls. If Storm was in the area – wait, does she still live in Westchester? – she could simple command Irene to back off! Green Arrow and Hawkeye could launch some type of special chemical arrows that would cause Irene to collapse into herself. If Zatanna was here – !yawa og, enerI
Instead we sit here waiting. For the full force of Irene to strike.
It’s the time of year when the world holds its breath. Back from vacation and if you’re old enough and lucky enough to be employed, fill the tank, Monday morning will be here before you know it, and if you’re going to school, either to sit in rows among the other students or to stand and teach… well, there are supplies to get – how late is Staples open? – and maybe some last minute reading and – one, two, three, all of us cop to it now – the anticipation: will the subjects be interesting, will the room’s other occupants be pleasant and/or pretty or trolls, will something that spins existence on its axis occur and change life forever and if you’re a lady who’s just retired after schoolmarming in four states for fifty years will you feel a tad blue – not that I know anyone like that – and, finally, will the English teacher get really frosted at having to read sentences that go on and on and on and on…?
No gold star for me? I’ll live with it.
If you’re a comics geek – and yes, we do know who we are – you may be feeling a bit disoriented. Not long ago, the days that cluster around the September holiday marked the end of major fan activity. The big conventions were history, the summer annuals lie all snug in their Mylar nests, the big publishers seemed to take a breather between those annuals and the big Christmas push to fill stockings with graphic novels, preferably in hardcover. Oh sure, all the regular titles appeared, but they were just … you know… stories. Nothing special. This year, though, there are several conventions yet to come, including the monster-doozie that occurs at the Javits Center in Manhattan, Marvel and DC are going digital, which will almost certainly change the biz, maybe a lot, and – what am I forgetting…?
Oh yeah. DC Comics is relaunching its whole line. Relaunching its superhero pantheon when print publishing is struggling to survive and reinvent itself in what may be the most turbulent climate since Gutenberg set his first stick of type: an important bookstore chain that according to one estimate accounts for maybe fifteen percent of retail sales is closing its many doors and an online retailer is altering the way business is done and nobody seems to know what the hell the e-book revolution will spawn.
All that is figure resting on the ground of a legislative system that seems hopelessly broken and huge environmental uncertainties that might affect publishing and everything else.
Plus…is the Mayans who say the world will end next year? Or am I thinking of that television preacher?
Yessir, Mr. D, the times they are a’changin’.
Ask me if I care. In about six weeks, the Rockland County foliage will begin its yearly display and, for a while, the daily trip to the mailbox will be reason for rejoicing. That will be enough now, and maybe forever.
Recommended Reading: The Will Eisner Companion, by N.C. Christopher Couch and Stephen Weiner. Disclosure: I contributed an essay to this book, but I’m not in the way of any royalties. If you know Eisner’s work, you’ll want to read it, and if you don’t…hey, it’s about time.
Straight from Heidi at The Beat comes word that the Big Apple Con has been purchased by Wizard and will move to a new venue, Pier 94, and an October date for this year. If this date holds for next year it would put the show in direct competition with the New York Comic-Con which is moving to a fall date next year.
The Big Apple Con had been held at the rapidly decaying Penn Plaza Hotel– a great location, a lousy facility. Wizard has had its own problems with the cancellation of their Texas show, the postponement of their Los Angeles show, and the cutbacks in their publishing line. The Chicago and Philly shows are still planned. As with other Wizard shows, the new Big Apple Con will be partnered with another pop culture show, this time the Video Game Expo. Here’s the press release:
Gareb Shamus, CEO of New York-based Wizard Entertainment, today announced he has acquired Big Apple Con, one of the trailblazing brands in the comic book and pop culture world, and the longest running annual show in New York City. The “new” Big Apple Con is moving to Pier 94 in Manhattan the weekend of October 16-18, 2009.
“I’ve been going to shows in New York City since I was a kid and I have a fondness for Big Apple Con,” Shamus said. “Today’s acquisition fulfills a dream of running a mega-show in New York City unlike anything there’s ever been.”
This move also enjoys tremendous support and enthusiasm from industry leaders. “Diamond is really looking forward to working closely with our friends at Wizard as they expand into the New York market,” said Bill Schanes, Vice President for Purchasing at Diamond Comics. “We anticipate a great event based on their ability to attract key talent, to promote and market the event, and at the same time to give consumers a tremendous value for their admission price.”
Ed Fleming, CEO/Founder of Video Game Expo (VGXPO), the largest East Coast expo of its kind, announced recently its partnership with Wizard World Philly. Now, VGXPO will expand its relationship to include Chicago Comic-Con and Big Apple Con as well. “Our partnership provides VGXPO with the ability to rapidly grow our footprint from Philadelphia to Chicago and now New York City,” he said. “We look forward to working and sharing our passion for video games with all the fans in New York.”
Michael Carbonaro , the longtime and current producer of the show, will continue to provide his limitless creativity and enthusiasm to the show.
2 oz. clove-infused gin
1 oz. dry vermouth
1/2 oz. St Germain
Splash of blue curacao
2 dashes Peychaud’s bitters
Place several ice cubes in a mixing glass or cocktail shaker. Don’t skimp on the ice (I use about five cubes per drink), as Dr. Manhattan is to be served straight. Chill a glass on the side by filling it with ice or placing it in the freezer.
Add 2 oz. of clove-infused gin, then 1 oz. of dry vermouth. Follow with 1/2 oz. of St. Germain (the good Doctor still knows how to love, after all). Throw in a couple dashes of Peychaud’s bitters- I use Peychaud’s instead of Angostura because of their red hue and less punchy flavor. Finally, add just a bit of blue curaçao, enough to give the drink a crystal blue tinge without making the end result too sweet. Stir all of the ingredients thoroughly (I usually stir for half a minute or so) to ensure that they are well mixed and well chilled. This drink does not get better as it gets warmer.
Strain the mixture into the chilled glass and serve immediately.
Serve with a giant blue swizzle stick. The blueberries are optional.
Drink enough of these, and the morality of your actions will escape you too.
At the Spike TV 2008 Scream Awards last night, Watchmen director Zack Snyder and actors Malin Akerman, Carla Gugino and Jeffrey Dean Morgan introduced a never before seen extended trailer for the film. Highlights of the trailer include:
– Dr. Manhattan with Silk Spectre on Mars
– Rorschach investigating The Comedian’s apartment after his death
– A glimpse of Adrian Veidt’s arctic lair
– Manhattan blowing up a tank, a Vietnamese soldier, and sticking his hand in the middle of Ozymandias’s base
– The dream sequence where Nite Owl and Silk Spectre kiss against an atomic backdrop
– An extended look at The Comedian’s death, including a good look at the bloodied smiley face button.
To check out the trailer for yourself, as well as a rundown of new scenes featured in the trailer, head over to Watchmen Comic Movie.
Additionally, Yahoo! has premiered a featurette for Frank Miller’s upcoming The Spirit. The video offers a behind-the-scenes look at the history behind the character and the making of the movie. Highlights include:
– Samuel L. Jackson as the Octopus, wearing a never-before-seen samurai garb
– The Octopus beating down on the Spirit while shouting, "There’s nothing I like better than kicking your ass all night long!"
– Frank Miller’s insight into the character: "He can’t fly, he’s not super strong, but he can take an awful lot of punishment."
– Beautiful women, including Scarlett Johansson’s Silken Floss, Eva Mendes’ Sand Saref and Paz Vega’s Plaster of Paris
– Frank Miller’s claim that "this film is not a tribute to Will Eisner, it’s a tribute to The Spirit."
A large portion of America is all about Hollywood. Who’s the new big star? What new movie is coming out? Which director will blow us away this year? Understandably, we have so many struggling artists – actors, singers, writers, directors all trying to find their big break – that it’s become cliche.
Likewise, we comic fans have similar feelings towards our books. Who’s the new big writer? What artist is going to knock or socks off with photo-realistic work? What new title is going to give us a new reason to love comics? How many more teams will Wolverine join before people realize there must be at least three of him?
But what if … what if these two paradigms were merged? What if strange beings with exotic looks and super-human abilities made their way to California and waited on tables while they auditioned to star in a comic book? What if a lad who was born with blue-skin and antennae was able to be an extra in an Image comic while he dreamt of one day starring in his own on-going series?
Straight from 
From 
At the Spike TV 2008 Scream Awards last night, Watchmen director Zack Snyder and actors Malin Akerman, Carla Gugino and Jeffrey Dean Morgan introduced a never before seen extended trailer for the film. Highlights of the trailer include:
A large portion of America is all about Hollywood. Who’s the new big star? What new movie is coming out? Which director will blow us away this year? Understandably, we have so many struggling artists – actors, singers, writers, directors all trying to find their big break – that it’s become cliche.
