The New York Times talks with Joe Simon, at 94 one of the last of the Golden Age creators. Simon, who once sued for ownership of Captain America, the character he co-created for Timely, has a few comments on the recent developments in the Siegel/Superman case:

“That’s great,” the bespectacled Mr. Simon said. “Jerry Siegel started it,” he added, referring to the effort by Mr. Siegel’s wife and daughter in 1997 to secure the copyright to Superman. (Under a 1976 law, heirs can recover the rights to their relatives’ creations under certain circumstances. Mr. Siegel died in 1996 without major compensation for his character.) That family’s stand inspired Mr. Simon’s own claim to Captain America in 1999.

“We always felt ‘we wuz robbed,’ as Joe Jacobs, the boxing promoter, used to say,” Mr. Simon said of his dispute over the ownership of Captain America, which he settled out of court with Marvel in 2003. He said his royalties for merchandising and licensing use of the hero now help pay his legal bills from the case.

Batman flavored ice cream:
Courtesy of Marion Vitus. What does it taste like? It appears mysterious, cool and aloof…like the man.

A few quick photos from last night’s event which was a packed hoot with all the folks from Act-i-vate, ComicSpace, the CBLDF and assorted out of towners from Oregon, England, Italy and maybe even the Bronx.

There was drinking but also drawing. You can see folks like Jeffrey Brown, Larry Marder, Paul Maybury and more slaving away.

The CBLDF’s Greg Thompson addresses the troops. Drama!

Alex Maleev, Jen and Greg Thompson and returned from world travels Ivan Brandon.

Tony Lee Dean Haspiel, and Neil Kleid.

The many drawings on hand! Ask at the CBLDF for those still available.

The party was great but many attendees spoke of the rigors of “the home show.” Not only must you deal with the upcoming con but regular stuff like taking out the garbage. It’s grueling.

Tickets are still available!:

Toast the arrival of Jeff Smith’s new comic book epic RASL! Come meet Jeff Smith in person at his only New York City appearance of the season, enjoy an open bar, and get a takeaway bag of tons of exclusive RASL goodies. Only 100 general admission tickets and 26 VIP tickets are available so get your ticket now! Tickets are available now!

Details:
Wednesday, April 16
Coolture Spain
409 W 39th St (between 9th and 10th)
New York City
8:00 PM to 11:00 PM

$25 — General Admission: Includes 8PM admission to the party; an exclusive RASL print signed by Jeff Smith, CBLDF gift bag, and Open Bar.

$50 — Preferred General Admission: Includes 8PM admission to the party; a Bone hooded sweatshirt, an exclusive RASL print signed by Jeff Smith, CBLDF gift bag, and Open Bar.

$100 — VIP Admission: Includes admission to pre-party VIP reception & party; an exclusive RASL print signed & remarqed by Jeff Smith, a Bone hooded sweatshirt; CBLDF gift bag, and Open Bar. (only 21 pieces available).

$500 — Deluxe VIP Admission: Includes admission to pre-party VIP reception & party; an original RASL drawing by Jeff Smith, a signed variant copy of RASL #1, an exclusive RASL print signed & remarqed by Jeff Smith, a Bone hooded sweatshirt; CBLDF gift bag, and Open Bar. (only 5 pieces available).

No it’s not the LIberty. Friends of Lulu and the Women’s National Book Association presnet a panel with agent Judith Hansen, Abrams’ Charlie Kochman, artist/teacher Jessica Abel, artist Christine Norrie and publisher Dan Nadel. Frankly that’s as good a panel as it gets kids, so go on down.

As graphic novels continue to increase the comics industry’s success, the New York chapters of both the Women’s National Book Association and Friends of Lulu present a multifaceted panel called Speaking Graphically: Graphic Narratives in the Publishing Marketplace.

This event, taking place on Wednesday, April 16, 2008 from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Center for Independent Publishing, 20 West 44th Street (between 5th and 6th Avenues) in Manhattan, features five panelists who will share insights on the creative process and the editorial work involved in publishing graphic narratives. They will also discuss the variety of genres in the graphic narratives field, describe the marketplace for graphic works, and offer advice to prospective authors.

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A random assemblage of blog postings and what not on the doings of important folks at NYCC:

The Daily Cross Hatch
The Clone Wars Invasion
Diamond Select
Matt Loux
Alex Robinson
Joanna Estep
Mike Dawson
Dave Roman
Jim Dougan
Raina Telgemeier
Marion Vitus
Brian Wood
Marc Bernardin

SPEED RACER is the focus this year. Go, Speed! Go!

If you are heading to New York Comic Con this week, don’t miss out on DMP’s exciting events over the weekend! And come see us at Booth# 1622 for cool giveaways and books!

Industry Panel - Saturday April 19 @ 3:00pm
Come see us in room 1E02.

Come join the editors of DMP as we discuss new acquisitions for 2008-2009, 2008 highlights, and raffle off the usual slew of awesome prizes. Peter Fernadez (the voice behind Speed Racer) will also be on hand to discuss DMP Platinum’s release of the complete, original Speed Racer manga.

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Comic News Insider’s Jimmy Aquino is shearing his locks for a good cause:

The New York Comic-Con (NYCC) is coming on April 18th-20th at the Jacob Javitts Center. It’s a big nerdy convention that will be full of comic book folk and celebrities. CNI will again have a big booth in the Podcast Arena doing live interviews, autograph signings, a charity raffle and more. And…I’ve decided to do the big cut as a charity and fundraiser event! The cut hair itself will go to LOCKS OF LOVE. And here’s where I need your help. I’m asking for a flat fee pledge of any dollar amount. $1, 5, 10, 20, a gajillion..whatever you want! We will send money off to LOCKS OF LOVE along with the hair and the rest will be used as a fundraiser for CNI to help cover expenses. I’m still working out details, but I may possibly have a celeb do the actual snip! Who knows? Maybe we’ll sing a tune. Stay tuned!

The haircut will take place on Saturday, April 19th at the CNI booth. Time is approximate, but will happen sometime between 1:00-1:30 p.m. Following the cut, as I’ve not known any other hairstyle for 20 years, a stylist will be on hand to work the new hair over. Feel free to come watch and suggest a style. Mohawk? Mullet? Bob? Heck, I wont even know until she’s done!

We have a great lineup planned for our shared space with MoCCA, at table #840!

Friday
5-6pm Women In Comics panel room 1E07
Gail Simone, Heidi MacDonald, Karen Green, Jennifer Grünwald, Shelly Bond and Becky Cloonan will discuss the State of the industry from their perspective, plus insight into their exciting current projects, moderated by Abby Denson.

At our table with MoCCA #840-

Girls’ Guide to Guys’ Stuff

Signing copies of the Girls’ Guide to Guys’ Stuff, which will be available for purchase, are our fantastic contributors:

4:00 PM Jannie Ho
5:00 PM Monica Gallagher
6:00 PM Julia Durgee

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Those who say manga is for the kiddies have never read the output of Fanfare/Ponent Mon — anyone who is interested in intelligent, lyrical fiction in graphic format should definitely check out their booth at NYCC.

Also note the new publications announced in the PR below:

Award-winning international manga and graphic novel publisher Fanfare / Ponent Mon will be at New York Comic-Con April 18 - 20 at Booth 2343, Jacob K. Javits Center, New York City. Fanfare publisher Stephen Robson will be on hand to showcase recent and upcoming releases for 2008.

Seven new Fanfare publications will be previewed from Japan, France and Korea, including Jiro Taniguchi’s The Ice Wanderer, which was recently nominated for a 2008 Eisner Award by Comic-Con International.

New Fanfare / Ponent Mon titles previewing at New York Comic-Con include:
. Disappearance Diary by Hideo Azuma
. The Ice Wanderer and other stories by Jiro Taniguchi
. The Quest for the Missing Girl by Jiro Taniguchi
. The Summit of the Gods by Yumemakura Baku and Jiro Taniguch
. My Mommy is in America and Met Buffalo Bill by Jean Regnaud and Emile Bravo
. Korea as Viewed by 12 Creators by Various
. Awabi by Kan Takahama

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Jon Cooke writes to tell us there will be a screening of his Will Eisner documentary, preceeding the Eisner tribute panel. (Click for larger version of flyer.)

You are invited to a free screening of
Will Eisner: Portrait of a Sequential Artist
The Full-length Feature Film Documentary on the Legendary Storyteller
at the New York Comic Con
Friday, April 18
12:00 noon
Room 1E10-1E11

Followed at 2:00 p.m. by
The Will Eisner Tribute Panel
featuring guests Mark Evanier, Paul Levitz, Michael Uslan, Carl Gropper, Andrew D. Cooke and Jon B. Cooke
SEATING IS LIMITED
Please go to NYCC Information Desk for your free ticket starting at 10:00 a.m.

NBM brings a few of its fine cartoonists to the fray this weekend:

NBM Publishing is bringing some of its top writers and artists to the New York Comic Con. Meet them and see their new and upcoming work at the NBM-Papercutz booth (#1917).

Among the stars at the booth:
• TED RALL (SILK ROAD TO RUIN, GENERALISSIMO EL BUSHO), showing pages from his next book, THE YEAR OF LOVING DANGEROUSLY
• DAVID AXE (the award-winning WAR FIX), with the forthcoming LOVE AND TERROR
• PHIL YEH (the fun geography comic DINOSAURS ACROSS AMERICA)
• STEPHANIE McMILLAN (ATTITUDE: The New Subversive Political Cartoonists), creator of the strip MINIMUM SECURITY

NBM’s sister company, the kids’ comics publisher Papercutz, proudly presents:
• STEFAN PETRUCHA, writer of NANCY DREW
• SCOTT LOBDELL, writer of THE HARDY BOYS

We’re all for it! CAT FOOD!!!!!!!

Well, it’s official! 3 out of 4 people we surveyed today agree that New York Comic-Con has now become a midi-San Diego in terms of stress and anxiety!

In fact it reached a plateau previously only hit by SDCC by inspiring anxiety dreams for The Beat days beforehand! Rock and roll! Lock and load! Hit the deck! Hit the drugs!

Our stiff neck is under control thanks to massive amounts of Aleve, but any more pain and we’re going straight to the Valium.

We’ll have more NYCC round up news tomorrow. We can tell from our email and IMs that everyone out there is just as stressed as we are. But it will be worth it in the end, right?

This year’s New York Comic-Con related partying activities are more brutal than ever with the party scene kicking off TONIGHT! That’s TUESDAY! Holy cripes! But it’s so much fun. Benefitting the CBLDF and co=sponsored by ComicSpace and Image, this is definitely the pre-show, pre-red-eye place to get up to speed and hear all the party poop for later in the week. See you there.

Tax Day is Over! Now drink up with NYC’s best cartoonists and party for a good cause! Featuring Jeffrey Brown, David Finch, Dan Goldman, Alex Maleev, Paul Maybury, and dozens of NY’s Finest Cartoonists. Sponsored by ComicSpace.com and Image Comics, premiering Paul Maybury’s graphic novel AQUA LEUNG.

Tuesday, April 15
7:00 to 11:00 PM
Village Pourhouse
64 3rd Avenue at 11th St
Drink Specials all night!
$5 Suggested Donation; $20 for VIP Schwag Bag

Ollie Johnston, the last of Disney “nine Old Men” animators, and one half of the famed “Frank ‘n’ Ollie” duo has died, taking with him another piece of history.

The “Nine Old Men” were Les Clark, Wolfgang Reitherman, John Lounsbery, Marc Davis, Milt Kahl, Eric Larson, Ward Kimball, Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston. As animators and directors they worked on all the significant Disney films from Snow White on to The Rescuers and gave life to such characters as Malificient, Shere Khan, Cruella de Vil, Peter Pan, Captain Hook, Brer Rabbit and so on.

Johnston was the last surviving member, and with his frequent partner Thomas authored several classic book on aniation, including The Illusion of Life.

Mark Evanier has some remembrances here and Jim Hill here. Although Hill attempts to remember the train-loving Johnston as a real person and not just the symbol of an end of an era…well…it is the end of an era. The Disney animated film classics stand as one one of the most prolonged achievements of 20th century imagination and are arguably the greatest single achievement of corporate creativity ever. Johnston was an integral part of that and you’ll be seeing lots of tributes to this consummate craftsman, artist and teacher over the next few days. Cartoon Brew has many many links including a tribute from John Canemaker:

Ollie was a survivor, a wonderful combination of inner strength and outer gentleness. He could be practical, thoughtful and tough in making life decisions, such as buying property or cutting down a favorite old tree when it loomed dangerously. But he was also a passionate man, full of emotions that found the perfect outlet in his soft, blue pencil lines that, as Glen Keane said, “coaxed into being” the most sensitive of character relationships. “I seem to have a kind of reservoir of feelings about how people felt in certain situations,” Ollie once explained.

Superstar Jeff Kinney appear Sunday only at the Abrams booth, while Mark Chiarello, Kyle Baker, Mark Evanier and legenadry Joe Simon appear throughout the weekend.

Harry N. Abrams, Inc., is excited to announce their participation in New York Comic Con 2008. This year marks Abrams’ third year holding court at New York Comic Con, having hosted a booth each year since the New York Con launched in 2006. In addition to hosting their own booth (#1825) devoted to the HNA imprints Abrams, Abrams Image, and Amulet Books, a number of the publisher’s authors will be participating in panels and signings. Wimpy Kid (#1 New York Times children’s bestseller) author Jeff Kinney, revered comic artist Kyle Baker (Nat Turner), and Mark Evanier (author of the landmark biography Kirby: King of Comics) and comics legend Joe Simon are among the authors scheduled. (See schedule of events below).

Harry N. Abrams publishes innovative works in the areas of comics, graffiti, fantasy and science fiction, and film. Their Spring 2008 list includes the immensely successful Kirby: King of Comics; the stunning graphic novel M by Jon J Muth; Kyle Baker’s highly anticipated graphic novel Nat Turner (in both paperback and hardcover); Wordless Books: The Original Graphic Novels by David A. Beronä; Erotic Comics by Tim Pilcher; Graffiti Paris by Fabienne Grevy; The Animation Bible by Maureen Furniss; Child’s Play: The Berenstain Baby Boom by Mike Berenstain; and Wacky Packages by the Topps Company (which includes an introduction by Art Spiegelman). Says Senior Editor Charles Kochman, “There really is something for everyone on this list—books for all ages and for all tastes—each title unique and crafted in the classic Abrams tradition that readers have come to expect from us.”

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From Garth Ennis to Jeffrey Brown, the Midtown Comics Booth is presenting it’s own little mini-convention wth a wide array of guests. The complete signing schedule can be found at the Midtown website.:

Midtown Comics, a leading comics retailer, will be hosting top comic creators for autographing sessions at New York Comic-Con as well as selling exclusive merchandise, including:

• Secret Invasion #1 Exclusive NYCC Midtown Comics 2008 Leinil Francis Yu Variant Cover
• Flash Gordon #0 NYCC 2008 Edition
• X-O Manowar Birth HC Midtown Comics Premier Exclusive

Special guests include Garth Ennis, signing his groundbreaking work, The Boys, by special arrangement with Dynamite Entertainment, and best-selling authors Terry Brooks (Dark Wraith of Shannara) and Peter David (X-Factor, Hulk).

Additionally, Midtown will host well-known creators Murphy Anderson (Captain Action), Jim Butcher (Dresden Files), J.G. Jones (Wanted, Final Crisis), Greg Pak (World War Hulk, Incredible Hercules), and Walter Simonson (World Of Warcraft, Thor).

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Steranko, Carmine Infantino, Frank Brunner, Rich Buckler, KErry Gammill and Basil Gogos will be appearing at the Vanguard booth, along with J. David Spurlock. If you’ve never met one of these pioneers, you really should.
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Multiple Eagle Award nominee AAM/Markosia will be at booth 1756 for New York Comic Con April 18 - 20. The publisher of acclaimed titles such as Starship Troopers, Kong: King of Skull Island and The Boy Who Made Silence will be featuring many top notch creator signings and a $5 sale on selected trade paperbacks. In addition, every trade paperback purchase at the table will entitle the buyer to three free comics!

Publisher Harry Markos says “We’re delighted to be back in New York again for our third year, and very excited with what we have going on this time around. We’ve been here so many times now it’s become our second home! We have some great offers this year, with anyone purchasing a trade paperbacks also receiving three free comics from our back catalog. To sum it up, you can buy up to $28 worth of books for just $5! We are also offering a 20% discount on some of our newer trades and comics, so there’s plenty of quality bargains to be had for everyone. We’re looking forward to catching up with creators and friends alike, so pop by and say hello!”

Featured creators include Eagle Award nominees Tony Lee and Thomas Mauer, Joshua Hagler and Scott Larson, who will all be signing at booth 1756 throughout the weekend.

Founded in 2005, AAM/Markosia is one of the leading independent publishers in the market today. 2008 promises to be a banner year, as AAM/Markosia plans to launch several new series, such as Lazarus: Immortal Coils, Eleventh Hour and N-Guard.

Dan Dare, Jenna Jameson, and Grant Morrison – Can you imagine the buddy pic? Morrison teams up with Virginonce more to announce an animation project with the company. More details in the jump.

Here’s a taste of how you can experience Virgin Comics first-hand at the Con. Be sure to check out our various panels and stop by the Virgin Comics booth (# 1415) to pick up some free Comic-Con goodies!

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Chris Brandt’s documentary about indie comics, THE INDEPENDENTS, years in the making,has a screening at NYCC and you can buy the finished DVD at the Top Shelf booth. More here.

Movie screenings and guests like Justin Cook, Rachael Lillis, Jamie McGonnigal, Sean Schemmel, Mike Sinterniklaas, Veronica Taylor, Tom Wayland, Sean Michael Wilson, Steve Yun, and Tommy Yune highlight the extensive offerings fore the anime/manga crowd. There will be COSPLAY!
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The first look at Frank Miller’s THE SPIRIT movie and big sneak peeks at HELLBOY II: THE GOLDEN ARMY and THE INCREDIBLE HULK are the most sure-to-be-blogged about presentation at New York Comic-Con. It isn’t quite up to the level of San Diego’s star fest, but it’s getting there, for better or worse. All details in the jump.
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PR:

ASP announces its plan for this year’s New York Comic Con (Apr 18-20). We’ll not only have creator appearances galore at our booth #1713, but also be participating in a few panels as well.

Panels
**A. David Lewis, hot on the heels of his Graven Images conference (http://www.bu.edu/luce/calendar/religionincomics.html), will be moderating a panel on Saturday, Apr 19 at 5 p.m. in room 1E02. It’s a discussion of Chris Knowles’s book Our Gods Wear Spandex. G. Willow Wilson will be on the panel with Dave, along with Douglas Rushkoff (Testament) and Denny O’Neil.

**David Petersen (Mouse Guard) and Mark Smylie (Artesia) will be on the panel Let the Magic Begin — Fantasy in Comics: Creating Alternate Worlds on Sunday, Apr 20 at 1 p.m. in room 1E03, along with Kazu Kibuishi (Flight, Amulet) and librarian and graphic novel expert Robin Brenner. Moderated by Liz Gorinsky.

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