NYC Comics

“There’s this kinetic energy that, if you have a dream and ambition, and you want to make something, you come here. The minute your foot hits the ground it’s in this groove and you’re doing and meeting other people who are the same vibe. It’s so easy to make something here if you want it, and if you want to do the work for it.”

Chris Irving of Graphic NYC checks in with an excellent look at graphic novelist Christine Norrie. The interview covers many topics, including Christine's views on the city and romance:

“Is there such a thing as real romance?” Christine poses as she adjusts her maroon scarf. “Its just drama, 24/7. I feel like romance and love, which I’m all about, is also one of the beautiful and crushing things we do to each other. It can be so hurtful and painful, also wonderful and uplifting, except there are no rules, no formula, and so many, many variables. I know everybody goes about it differently, and there’s great love out there, but there’s also such great sorrow.”

(Norrie's "Cheat", from Oni Press)

Irving also has a piece in New York Magazine exploring some of the comic book landmarks of New York City. The article highlights locations with additional fictional histories (such as the George Washington Bridge, where the Green Goblin killed Spider-Man's girlfriend, Gwen Stacey), and also places of historical significance to the comic industry, which has roots deep in NYC (including DeWitt Clinton High School, alama mater of Will Eisner, Bill Finger, Bob Kane, and Stan Lee, amongst others).

Also at NY Mag is a brief list of the top New York comics, as selected by some of New York's many comic writers and artists. The attempt to call the list a canon is charming in its pretension, but there are some great works included.

NYCC - Yet More Parties

Tonight's pre-party at D&B should be quite large. I understand they had over 500 RSVPs by yesterday afternoon. I've got info on some additional parties for convention-goers. 

CBLDF’s NYCC WELCOME PARTY

Thursday February 5, 2009

7:00 PM to 10:00 PM

Side Bar

Donation : $5 & up for current CBLDF Members; $10 & up for non-members

Kick Off NYCC with the CBLDF!

Join the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund in kicking off the 2009 convention season at our New York Comic-Con Welcome Party on Thursday, February 5! Enjoy drinks, free sliders for early arrivals, and door prizes! This party is sponsored by Image Comics and Dark Horse Comics.

Attending artists will include: Colleen Doran, David Mack, Rantz Hoseley, Dean Haspiel, Mike Cavallero, Nikki Cook, Mahmud Asrar, Brahm Revel and many more!

NEW YORK COMIC CON MEETUP

Saturday February 7th

7:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m

Stitch Bar & Lounge

Who: Internet superstars and hosts of Revision3’s weekly comic book show iFanboy: Conor Kilpatrick, Ron Richards, and Josh Flanagan; Tim Hwang, founder of ROFLCon, the world’s greatest Internet culture conferences, Garnett Lee, editor of 1UP and Mark Andrew Smith & Joe Keatinge, editors of the Harvey Award Winning Popgun Anthology published by Image 

Comics.

Featured attendees also include: Christian Beranek, writer, Disney’s Kingdom Comics; Paul Cornell, writer, Marvel Comics’ Captain Britain & MI13 and television writer, Dr. Who and Robin Hood; Mike Norton, artist, Green Arrow & Black Canary and Trinity; Tom Katers, co-host, Around Comics and host, Tom vs. The Flash; Meredith Gran, writer, Octopus Pie; Jonathan Rosenburg, creator, Goats; Scott Kurtz, creator, PvP; Brad Guigar, creator, Evil Inc; Robert Khoo, business manager, Penny Arcade; Neil Kleid, cartoonist, RANT Comics, Action Ohio, The Chemistry Set; Wes and Tony, Amazing Superpowers; Scott Ramsoomair, cartoonist, VG Cats; Johnny Johnny, Tiki Bar TV; and more to be announced!

MORE PARTIES AT D&B

I have also recieved word from a representative at Dave & Buster's that several of the con exhibitors will be hosting events at D&B over the course of the weekend. So keep your eyes open for info on that. 

For as complete a rundown of NYCC events as you're likely to find anywhere, check out the ever vigiliant Heidi McDonald at The Beat.

NYCC - Your Party Primer

New York Comic Con starts on Friday, and I expect you'll see lots more about it in the media later this week. The convention continues to announces guests and events, so it should be a blast. 

It has been confirmed that the convention is moving to October for 2010 and beyond, so no more February conventions. Smart move.

This Thursday there is a pre-party for NYCC at Dave & Buster's. They're hyping the following guests: Mike Perkins, Mark Brooks, Joe Quesada, Jay Leisten, Joe Benitez, Jimmy Palmiotti, Amanda Conner, Phillip Morris, Aaron Douglas, Dekker Dreyer, Brian Thompson, Yuri Lowenthal, and J. LaRose. I know there are several well known comics names on that list, but... Brian Thompson? Perhaps one of the best guilty pleasure B-Actors of his generation. You may recognize him from such films as Cobra, or from TV "classics" like Kindred: the Embraced. 

The party will also play host to a raffle to benefit the Hero Initiative, which is an excellent cause.

D&B has been named "the official con bar", but since it is far from the Javits Center and February is cold, I wouldn't expect to see too many con guests popping up there during the show itself. Perhaps once the extension of the 7 Train is finished, that will change for future cons. I'd expect Bar-Con to be occuring elsewhere. Twins Pub is a good bet, with its promimity to the convention center, Penn Station, the excellent 24-hour Skylight Diner, and midtown hotels. 

The Indy After Party, hosted by the Comic Artist's Guild, will be at Blaggard's on Saturday night. 

Pre-NYCC Festivities

New York Comic Con is almost here, and Oni Press kicks off the festivities early with several events supporting the release of Volume 5 of Brian Lee O'Malley's Scott Pilgrim series, "Scott Pilgrim Vs. the Universe".

Comic Book Club Live! Featuring Bryan Lee O'Malley

Tuesday, February 3, 8 p.m.-10 p.m. at The Peoples Improv Theater. Tickets are $5

Midnight Release Party

Tuesday/Wednesday, February 3/4 Midnight at Jim Hanley’s Universe.

After Work Signing and Mixer

Wednesday, February 4, 7-9 p.m. at Rocketship Comics.

On Your Mark, Set... GEEK!

New York is gearing up for the fourth annual geekfest of New York Comic Con, coming to the Jacob Javits Center February 6th to 8th. Last year's show was a good one, and I suspect this year will be even better. Rumor has it this will be the last one in February, as someone has realized that being just off the Hudson in the dead of Winter can be awful.

Over the course of the next week, I'll look at some of the events coming up at the convention, and note some of the nearby parties. Medium at Large, the convention's official blog, has updates on special appearances at the con as well as the world premiere of the new Futurama movie.

If you're looking for a good warm-up activity for the con, I suggest you hit the Geektacular Basement Sale at Housing Works this  Saturday and Sunday, January 31st and February 1st from Noon to 7PM. Records, comics, and vintage paperbacks will all be on sale 5 for $1. That's a great bargain and it benefits a fantastic cause. 

This Modern World - Not So Pretty

Robot 6 just pointed out that Village Voice Media which, in addition to our local alt weekly, owns 14 other alternative newspapers across the country, has suspended the publication of its syndicated cartoons. This includes Tom Tomorrow's excellent This Modern World.

On his blog, Tomorrow indicates that he thinks this move includes VVM pulling all of its syndicated media, not only comics. This "suspension" is intended to last at least through the first quarter of 2009.

Tomorrow encourages readers to contact editors of VVM papers to express their support for comics. "Anyway, if you live in one of those cities and think this is a bad decision, you might want to share those feelings with the local editor. Politely, it should go without saying. And keep in mind: it’s not just my cartoon, it’s all of them, so put in a kind word for my compatriots while you’re at it. The only thing any of us have going for us in a situation like this is reader support."

To email Village Voice Editor in Chief Tony Ortega, click here.

Crowds line up for Spidey & Obama team-up

This morning, I lined up in the cold outside Midtown Comics (200 West 40th St). I was one of many in that line, which at times stretched nearly a whole block.

While Wednesday is new comic day, this line had little to do with most new releases, and was instead centered on the release of Amazing Spider-Man #583, which features a back-up story where Spider-Man saves President-Elect Barack Obama from the Chameleon. In addition to the standard cover of the issue, Marvel Comics offered a limited edition variant cover with Spider-Man and Barack Obama.

As I waited outside the store, a man walked up and down the line selling hats, gloves, and earmuffs. Thankfully it looked like most of the crowd was well bundled up for the blisteringly cold weather. I chatted with some of the others waiting in line. They included Obama supporters who didn't frequent comic shops, Midtown regulars, and speculators hoping to cash in on a collectable item.

Son of Baldwin has his take on the scene, as does City Room. Jim Hanley's Universe (4 West 33rd St) liveblogged the crowds outside of their store this morning while Robot 6 and Newsarama have a look at how the book was selling across the country.

Many in the crowd noted that the lines were far and away larger than those on Free Comic Book Day, which made some of this feel like a missed opportunity. I feel like there should have been some kind of takeaway in my bag encouraging me to return to Midtown on a less insane day. There could have been more done to create repeat business from those who don't frequent the store.

Grant Morrison's New York

Grant Morrison is one the top writers in comics today. His current DC Comics mega-event, Final Crisis, has been an impressive series so far. In it, he revisits some ideas that were present in a group of books he put out a few years ago called Seven Soldiers. That's led me to revisit his earlier work as well.

One of the Seven Soldiers books was The Manhattan Guardian, telling the story of Jake Jordan, a disgraced former police officer who becomes the eponymous hero, having fantastic adventures while in the employ of a local tabloid which documents them. But Morrison's New York City is very much a supporting character in the book, and it takes on some intriguing characteristics that diverge from the city outside our windows.

Since DC Comics already has Batman's Gotham City, and Superman's Metropolis, in many ways Manhattan's dark and light reflections respectively, New York City has seldom played a prominent role in DC stories, in stark contrast to Marvel Comics, where half of the world's heroes seem to live in the five boroughs. Morrison played it to the hilt, dubbing his New York "The Cinderella City" on account of its two ugly step-sisters. Playing on the mythic qualities of NYC, he also looked to architectural dream projects that never came to pass, adding a "what if" to the city.

Morrison's New York skyline includes the Hotel Attraction (designed by Antoni Gaudi), the Chase-Manhattan Bank Building (designed by Hans Hollein to resemble the grill of a Rolls Royce), and the Mid-Manhattan Expressway (proposed by Robert Moses). In the harbor sits The Ellis Island Key Project (conceived by Frank Lloyd Wright and seen above). 

When Morrison was intrviewed about the project in 2005, he told the Times, "I want it to be a more exalted New York, where things that were dreamed of were finally brought into reality."

The Cinderella City is a strong backdrop for Morrison's stories of transformation and mythology in both Seven Soldiers, and to a lesser extent, Final Crisis. Unlike the New York of Marvel Comics, which looks so much like our city that they felt the need for Spider-Man to comment on the fall of the WTC towers in 2001, Morrison's NYC is raw myth. This is a city of dreams and possibility. The journey of Jake Jordan from failure to hero could as easily have been the journey of anyone who comes to New York City for a better life. The essence and mythology of New York City, where anything is possible, is laid bare through it's people and architecture in the work of Grant Morrison. It reminds us of what might have been and what might yet be.

NYC's comic shops

Over at CBR, George Khoury wrote a good piece on the city's comic book shops, past and present. Personally, my regular shop is Midtown Comics. Though, I keep meaning to check out Rocketship in Brooklyn, as I've heard nothing but good things about the store.