Help out a good cause and have a good time — the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund is having a party to kick off the San Diego Comic-Con on Thursday, July 24. And Newsarama is one of the sponsors … which I hope means I get free drinks, but probably means I’m responsible for mopping up after everyone leaves. Here are the details:

Kick off the year’s biggest comics show in style at the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund’s Comic-Con Welcome Party on Thursday, July 24 at the Westgate Hotel in downtown San Diego.

Sponsored by Image Comics, New York Comic-Con, Newsarama, and ICv2.com the CBLDF’s Comic-Con Welcome Party is the perfect start to Comic-Con. Join top artists for a night under the stars where you’ll receive an amazing gift bag, witness an exclusive meeting of the Drink & Draw Social Club, featuring Dave Johnson, Dan Panosian & special guests.

The CBLDF Welcome Party starts at 7:30 PM on Thursday July 24. Admission is a $10 donation for CBLDF Members, and $20 and up for non-members.

Stay tuned for gift bag details, guest updates, and more!

Speaking of Terry Moore … you might remember the Hulk #1 cover project that I blogged about right before Wizard World Chicago. It was a fund raiser for the Hero Initiative, where artists were asked to draw original Hulk art to be auctioned off on eBay. Moore points out that Frank Cho’s piece for the event was rejected:

Catching up on Frank Cho’s funny forum recently I read his Hulk cover was rejected entirely. Something about his rendition of the Hulk and She-Hulk, doing something or producing something decent people have decided we shouldn’t see. I haven’t seen the art in question, but now that it’s banned in all English speaking countries, I am, of course, dying to see it. Naturally, Frank’s cover would have sold for thousands. Sober estimates (much more trustworthy than the alternative) run at $8,000. It’s a shame. That’s a lot of money for a charity to lose.

On his message board, Cho comments on why it was rejected:

C’mon. It’s me. It can only mean one thing – too risque.

Americans fear female nudity.

Plans in Cleveland to celebrate the history of Superman have run into problems of Kryptonian proportions.

The Cleveland Free Times reports that efforts to restore the Glenville-neighborhood home of Superman co-creator Jerry Siegel and possibly establish a museum are caught in the middle of a dispute between the president of the city’s convention and visitors bureau and the ousted chairman of the Superman Committee.

Earlier this week Michael Levin, former chairman of the committee overseeing the “Summer of Superman” festivities celebrating the 70th anniversary of Superman, sent out an email criticizing Positively Cleveland President Dennis Roche for replacing him with local realtor Richard Pace:

“I have it all set up to go,” says Levin. “I have all the money raised. But Dennis can’t make any money that way. Instead, they’re going to scam as much money as possible and screw it up. Watch, they’ll go to the Port Authority to get money to build the museum and Pace will design it. This doesn’t smell fishy, this smells like dead fish.”

The Free Times notes that Terry Stewart — president and CEO of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum and former president of Marvel Entertainment — also is now involved, “negotiating with his former nemesis, DC Comics, for its blessing to host Superman events in town.”

Roche, who asserts he had no real influence on the appointment of Levin’s replacement, says, “We want this thing to grow. I don’t think a museum is achievable. But over the course of four or five years we could put together a large annual festival that draws people in from out of town to spend money in Cleveland.”

Earlier this week I was working on a post that summarized a few less-than-enthusiastic reactions to the Harvey Award nominations. One nomination in particular kind of stuck out at me — the nomination for the blog Meanwhile…Comics! in the “Best Biographical, Historical or Journalistic Presentation” category.

Please don’t get me wrong here — John, Jason and Scott, the contributors to the blog, are doing some fun stuff over there. My question had nothing to do with whether their content was worthy or not to be nominated. No, the question I had was how a site that launched in April made the list when nominations for the Harveys were due in March.

Back on Jan. 24, the Harvey Awards put out a call for nominations. You can find the press release on their news page. Here’s the first paragraph:

The Executive Committees of the Harvey Awards and the Baltimore Comic-Con are proud to present the official Nomination Ballot for this year’s Harvey Awards . Named in honor of the late Harvey Kurtzman, one of the industry’s most innovative talents, the Harvey Awards recognize outstanding work in comics and sequential art. Ballots are due for submission by March 21st.

I thought maybe I was missing something, that perhaps the site had existed at another URL or in another form, so I emailed Jason, one of the three bloggers who contributes to the site. He confirmed Meanwhile … Comics didn’t launch until April 7. (Here’s their first post). Jason said he was stunned by the nomination, too, especially as his site has had less than 1,000 page views since its inception.

I figured maybe there was an unannounced deadline extension … or even an announced one that I just couldn’t find anywhere on their website. So I emailed Johanna Draper Carlson, who helps out the Harvey Award folks with proofreading and fact checking … which eventually led me to Paul McSpadden, administrator of the Harvey Awards. He confirmed on Wednesday that there was no extension of last year’s Harvey eligibility period.

So, last night I received an email from Jason. He said Paul informed him their nomination has been officially withdrawn due to a clerical error, and the Harveys would issue a press release about it in a day or two.

Jason gave some more details on what exactly happened:

Well, Paul actually explained it pretty well over the phone. When they received some ballots by email, the formatting caused some of the lines to carry over to the next line, which made it hard to decipher some of the nominations. Add to that the fact that there was a Milton Caniff biography released last year titled “Meanwhile…” by RC Harvey, which was listed on a chunk of ballots from the same company (I’m assuming Fantagraphics who produced it, but I didn’t ask). And, not only were ballots due by March 21…but books and sites were only eligible if they appeared from Jan 1-Dec 31, 2007, so we were definitely out of that range!

Meanwhile … by R.C. Harvey was, indeed, published by Fantagraphics. So will Harvey be nominated for a Harvey now? I guess we’ll have to wait and see.

I’ll end with three points:

– Meanwhile … Comics is a great blog and you should check it out. And I’m not just saying that because I feel shitty about my inquiry leading to their nomination being withdrawn. Seriously, go check it out.

– While there was obviously no malicious intent by the Harvey Awards folks here and it sounds like it was a pretty easy error to make, I think the statement that Meanwhile … was “listed on a chunk of ballots from the same company” really underscores the need for a better nomination process. One that doesn’t fall prey to comic companies who want to stuff the ballot box.

– In his email to me, Jason also suggested that maybe the Harveys could expand their categories: “And perhaps they should invent a category for blogs or commentary sites. As far as I know, the categories haven’t been updated since their inception in 1988. The times they are a changin’…”

This Thursday the Hero Initiative will display 100 original Hulk covers by artists like John McCrea (pictured to the right) as part of a fund raiser in conjunction with Wizard World Chicago. Apparently you can’t hide the Hulk for long, though, because some of the covers are already leaking out onto the Internet. I found McCrea’s over on the Hero Initiative blog, and MySpace has three more of them, by John Cassidy, Terry Dodson and Brett Blevins. Some will be auctioned off at Wizard World, while the rest will find their way to eBay.

Moe details on the Thursday night event can be found here.

– CBR has a 50-page preview of Oni’s The Apocalipstix.

– Diesel Sweeties is now available in ten ebooks that collect the first 2,000 comic strips. They’re also available on Bittorrent, per the site:

Bittorrent is not illegal. Piracy is illegal. As the holder of copyright on this material, I grant you permission to freely distribute it non-commercially. Don’t sell DS and no one will ever sue you for uploading it. Please maintain attribution to R Stevens and link back to this site.

– Heidi at The Beat talks to David Glanzer, PR director for Comic-Con International, about four-day passes selling out and other show topics, like if airfare prices will affect people’s travel plans:

GLANZER: That’s a great question and one I have mixed opinions about. I would think anyone coming to the show from a distance great enough to fly will have already secured their accomodations and badges. With the cost of travel these days I can’t imagine anyone deciding at the last minute to travel via plane. But I know that I have limited some of my own personal travel this year because of fuel coss, but now that I think of it, I tend to cut the things I don’t mind cutting out. But the really big things, the really fun things, I try to save up for so I can be sure and do them.

– Over at ComicMix, Rick Marshall talks to Emily Horne and Joey Comeau about their online strip, A Softer World.

– Having trouble following all the Tokyopop news? Go here, and then here.

– Neil Gaiman, J.K. Rowking, Nick Hornby and several other authors have written postcard-length stories for an upcoming anthology that will benefit Dyslexia Action and English PEN. You can read their stories or submit your own on Waterstone’s website. Via

– Astro Boy made from recycled Tokyo Metro tickets.

Compiled by Chris and JK.

If The Hulk thought Abomination was tough, how will he handle 27,000 anti-smoking advocates?

In a press release issued yesterday, the American Medical Association Alliance — the volunteer arm of the AMA — took Universal Pictures to task for the depiction of a cigar-chomping Gen. Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross (William Hurt) in The Incredible Hulk.

“Shame on The Incredible Hulk for unnecessarily adding smoking to a sequel that would have been just as exciting and believable without it,” alliance president Dianne Fenyk says in the statement. “Universal Studios and the other Hollywood studios should be especially embarrassed for using comic book movies, which they market to children and know youth will want to see, to promote tobacco.”

The release points out that the Gen. Ross in Ang Lee’s 2003 film didn’t smoke. The group also cites the elimination of smoking from Marvel comics by Editor-in-Chief Joe Quesada after his father died from smoking-related lung disease.

The AMA Alliance is encouraging its members to spread the word about the smoking in The Incredible Hulk, and to pressure Motion Picture Association of America and Universal to remove smoking from youth-rated films.

The Incredible Hulk, which opens Friday, is rated PG-13.

Todd Martinez, the store manager for Comic Relief, dropped us a note about the Rory Root memorial celebrations that are being held June 21. One of them is a family event in the afternoon, while the other is a memorial for everyone else at Comic Relief in Berkeley, Calif. later that night.

Unfortunately, the shop can’t pay for the memorial, so they’re asking for donations:

The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund (CBLDF) has graciously extended an offer to handle the donations processes for the memorial celebrations that will take place on June 21st. This generous act will allow the staff at Comic Relief and the Root family to focus on planning the events. All donations made will not only be greatly appreciated, but will now also be tax deductible.

Donations that have not yet already been mailed to the store can now be mailed to:

Comic Book Legal Defense Fund
271 Madison AV STE 1400
New York, NY 10016

The CBLDF is also accepting on-line donations at:
http://www.cbldf.org/

Be sure that you make note that you wish to donate to:
The Rory Root Memorial Fund

All donations received at the store will also be re-directed into the CBLDF account. The Comic Relief staff would like to thank the CBLDF as well as the numerous websites, groups, and individuals who immediately offered support with donations.

-Todd C. Martinez
Comic Relief Store Manager

As we continue to wait for our comments to start working again, here’s the first batch of letters I’ve received from various folks today … as well as several promo emails that have come through over the last day or two.

I’m still accepting letters, too, BTW, so send me your thoughts, comments, whatever and I’ll post again later or tomorrow.

‘Ringo tribute book

First off, let’s start with some art. The Hero Initiative’s Janine Bielski sent over a press release this morning about the Mike Wieringo Tribute Book debuting at HeroesCon on June 20.

(more…)

The San Diego Blood Bank is giving away a “One of a Kind Collectible Honda Element designed by Marvel Comics” as a part of their San Diego Comic Con outreach this year. $1 Raffle tickets can be bought at the show or online now.

Artist Matt Busch has designed and is selling this poster featuring Return of The Jedi‘s villains, with proceeds going to the National Lymphoma Society.

Via

The Last Musketeer by Jason, Fantagraphics Books, $12.95.

This may well be my favorite of Jason’s works yet, and considering how highly I esteem books like The Left Bank Gang and I Killed Adolph Hitler, that’s high praise indeed.

For those unfamiliar with his work, the Norweigan artist known as Jason primarily toils in the realm of genre mash-ups. Why Are you Doing This is an ode to Hitchcock with an existential bent. The Living and the Dead is a zombie pastiche. Meow Baby offers comedic takes on various horror and sci-fi icons. The only book that really avoids easy genre classification is the emotionally powerful Hey Wait, which served as his American debut and to an extent left some readers (at least those disdainful of genre trappings) with a sense of unfulfilled expectations ever since. (more…)

There are several initiatives going on right now in the comics industry to hold auctions and raise money for charity, ailing professionals and a retailer, so I thought I’d give an update on the various activities going on. If I missed something, feel free to drop me an email and I’ll either add it here or post an update.

Gene Colan: Gene Colan’s liver is failing him, as detailed here. Writer Clifford Meth is organizing an auction to benefit the Colans, and has received commitments from a long list of creators and publishers to donate items. Today he announced that Marvel has stepped up as well.

The family also has several auctions of Gene’s artwork up on eBay. You can also donate money directly to them via PayPal to genecolan@optonline.net.

Josh Medors: Comic artist Josh Medors is fighting cancer, and a recent auction held at the Emerald City ComiCon raised more than $10,000 to help him with his medical bills.

Robert Kirkman is auctioning off the chance to appear in an upcoming issue of Walking Dead … as a member of the walking dead. You can find the auction here.

In addition, BOOM! is doing a benefit book.

David Pirkola: Retailer David Pirkola was shot during a robbery at his store in Grand Rapids, Mich.

iFanboy has been spearheading donations and an auction; Ron Richards sent us an update:

We’ve raised over 6 grand so far for David and are in the process of organizing an auction with stuff from Oni, Image, Boom, Marvel and a TON of creators – should be a good one and we should be rolling with the auction in June.

Candlelighters: Thomas Denton hit a snag this week with his charity auctions for the Candlelighters. But now Time Warner has okayed one of the previously canceled auctions … specifically the piece by Paul Salvi that’s at the top of this post.

Friends of Lulu recently spoke with Jennifer de Guzman about various topics related to women and comics. During the interview, Jennifer reveals some information on Faith Erin Hicks’ next project:

We’re doing our second graphic novel with Faith Erin Hicks, The War at Ellsmere. She really skyrocketed after the publication of Zombies Calling last year, and it’s been one of our best-selling graphic novels lately. Ellsmere again focuses on female characters, this time freshmen at an elite girls’ boarding school. It deals with bullying and friendship and fostering your gifts. I was really excited when she pitched it because I’ve been thinking a girls’ boarding school comic would be great for a while now.

Jim McLauchlin reports some good news on the Hero Initiative blog:

Casey Jones has penciled the final page to be completed for June’s What If? The Fantastic Four Tribute to Mike Wieringo. That makes the final creative lineup (I think!) Mike Wieringo, Jeff Parker, Art Adams, Paul Renaud, Stuart Immonen, Cully Hamner, Alan Davis, Casey Jones, David Williams, Sanford Greene, Humberto Ramos, Skottie Young, Mike Allred, Barry Kitson, Paul Mounts, Val Staples, Nate Piekos and Nathan Massengill. The 48-page book will feature the 27-page What If? story that Mike started before his untimely passing, and additional tributes from some of his many friends.

He adds that 11 of the creators involved with the project will be at HeroesCon in June, so if you’re attending, pick up the book and get it signed.

On his blog, Scott Dunbier fills us in on a new Comic Book Legal Defense Fund benefit book he’s put together called Liberty Comics.

The book will feature several all-new stories:

Stories by:
Ed Brubaker & Sean Phillips provide a CRIMINAL tale
Garth Ennis & Darick Robertson bring us THE BOYS
Mark Millar & John Paul Leon give us their take on DRACULA
Darwyn Cooke delivers something entirely new
Mark Evanier & Sergio Aragones take us on a tour of the CBLDF

Additional material by:
Arthur Adams, J. Bone, and Rick Vietch (The return of BRAT PACK!)

The book comes out July 23.

No offense to the Rome News-Tribune, who have done a good job of covering the Gordon Lee case over the last few years, but I’m kind of hoping this is the last time I have to link to them on the matter. In any event, they report on the closing of the case, noting that Lee wrote a letter of apology to the family that received the offending copy of Alternative Comics’ Free Comic Book Day book back in 2004:

Charges against local comic book store owner Gordon Lee have been dismissed, according to Floyd County District Attorney Leigh Patterson.

“I’m still catching my breath from it,” Lee said Sunday. “(The announcement) hit me so quick that everything is still a blur.”

Patterson said the case was dismissed after her office met with Lee’s counsel and decided a measure other than prosecution could be taken in resolving the case.

“He did a written apology to the victims in the case,” said Patterson.

Congrats to Lee and the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund on the end of the case.

Update: A press release from the CBLDF adds a little more context on the letter Lee wrote:

Following the mistrial, Rome District Attorney Leigh Patterson vowed to bring the case back for trial on the next misdemeanor calendar. Last winter, CBLDF counsel filed a motion to dismiss on grounds of prosecutorial misconduct. That filing detailed the history of the prosecutor’s errors up to and including the mistrial. Last February, the next trial calendar came and went without Gordon’s case being called and without that motion being heard. Shortly afterwards, Patterson’s office contacted Lee’s counsel, and said they would be willing to drop the case if Gordon wrote a letter of apology. Lee had always been willing to write such a letter, and promptly delivered one to Patterson’s office, where it sat for several weeks. After multiple attempts to bring the matter to a close, CBLDF counsel finally succeeded in moving Patterson’s office to live up to their end of the agreement and drop the case last Friday.

Friends of Lulu president Valerie D’Orazio posted a press release on her blog today about the annual Lulu Awards moving from the San Diego Comic-Con to the MoCCA Art Festival in New York. This means the awards will be given out more than a month earlier than usual on Saturday, June 7 at 8:30 p.m.

The quote from treasurer Marion Vitus sums up why they’re moving: “We are excited to bring an award event to MoCCA Artfest, and just as excited not to be competing with the multitude of great events at San Diego Comic-Con this July. We are able to reach a larger group of people eager to see wonderful creators recognized for their hard work in this field.”

It makes sense they’d want to move it to a smaller, more intimate and more comic-focused event like MoCCA, versus trying to compete with the plethora of big events that make up SDCC nowadays.

Check out the organization’s website for more info on them.

– Hero Initiative’s Jim McLauchlin shares some button designs for their FOOG, Too project.

– Congrats to Neil Kleid!

– The New Yorker reports on the recent Friars Club celebration for Drew Friedman’s book, More Old Jewish Comedians. They also review David Hajdu’s The Ten-Cent Club.

– E&P reports that editorial cartoonist Matt Bors will be doing a biweekly comic for the ACLU.

– Newspapers are looking around for temporary replacements now that Doonesbury is on hiatus.

– Sam Gross says that swastikas can be funny.

– Bees!

– Double O Section is giving away copies of Left on Mission.

– Isotope has a report and pictures from this past weekend’s event with artist Tim Sale and Whitney Matheson. Matt Maxwell also talks about the event briefly in a longer column on hitting the California highways to promote his new comic.

– Make your own Wonder Woman sweater.

Compiled by Chris Mautner and JK Parkin.

Christian Bale talks about working with Heath Ledger on The Dark Knight:

“I’m absolutely fine talking about Heath. Although I don’t like trivialising the tragedy in conjunction with an interview to do with the movie, which is clearly far less important.

“But Heath was a joy. He really was like that, because he was a very unique man. I enjoyed watching him work, working with him – you know, we had a lot of the old gang from the first one together, and then there were new members, Heath obviously included.

“What was so great to see with Heath is just how seriously he took it. And he did one hell of a job.”

He also says he wants to do a third film, but only if Nolan is involved.

(more…)