Every year, for the past few years, Papercutz has been at the two biggest comicbook conventions in the United States — Comic Con International: San Diego, out on the West Coast, and New York Comic Con, right here on the East Coast.  As much as we love these super-mega-comic-cons, we also enjoy attending the much smaller Kids Comic Con in the Bronx.  Held at Bronx Community College, the convention is small enough that you can experience most of the programming and spend lots of time talking to the guests, in a very casual environment.  This is the third Kids Comic Con (I’ve been to ‘em all), and I’ll be there to have a great time talking about my favorite comics and graphic novel publisher.  If you’re in the neighborhood, why not drop by and say hi?  Here’s all the official info:

THE KIDS COMIC CON 2009 IS COMING!

FUN, ADVENTURE AND EXCITEMENT FOR ALL AGES

(and it promotes learning, thinking and reading, too!)

 

            Hey kids (and parents! And teachers! And comic fans! And, yeah, you at the computer, too!), the KIDS COMIC CON 2009 is right around the corner! That’s right, The KIDS’ COMIC CON 2008 went so well that we’re doing it again! Get ready for fun, fantastic guests, and action — all for kids! (Okay, parents are allowed to have fun, too.) Most exciting is that’s there are more things for kids to do than at last year’s con!

The KIDS COMIC CON 2009 is set for April 25th at Bronx Community College (181^st Street & University Avenue, Bronx, NY 10453). And yep, even though the economy is struggling like Superman surrounded by Kryptonite, the KIDS COMIC CON 2009 is still free for children 17 and under (and hey, Mom and Dad, its just $5 for you — making the KIDS COMIC CON one of the best entertainment values around).

            KCC creator and founder Alex Simmons, writer for Archie, Scooby-Doo and oh, so much more, said he’s especially excited about this year’s KIDS COMIC CON because of all that’s happened since the first-ever KCC in 2007.  “One of the guests at that con was Jay Williams, a representative of the humongous New York City Comic Con. He was so thrilled with our KIDS COMIC CON he asked if I would help redesign the Kids Day at the NYCC to incorporate what we do at the KIDS COMIC CON. In 2008 and 2009, along with others, we did that, and helped expand what was offered to hundreds of kids.” he said.

            One of the added benefits of having worked with the NYCC is that Simmons and other volunteers organizing the KIDS COMIC CON were able to improve and expand on workshops that will be offered at KCC 2009, which will be here in just a few short weeks.

            “Our primary goals at the KIDS COMIC CON are to promote reading and creativity in kids’ lives,” Simmons said. “Now more than ever it is imperative that we supply kids with a continuous flow of positive ideas, skills, and outlets for their thinking as well as self-esteem building activities, like creating from their own imaginations. No matter what path a kid’s life takes, having a solid habit of reading and being able to think, synthesize ideas, and come up with new concepts or fresh ways of looking at things will help them succeed. That’s what we do here, and it’s fun, fun, fun for all!”

            Events scheduled for the KIDS COMIC CON 2009 include:

10 a.m.:             Welcome—Alex Simmons, MC

Intro to convention events & First raffle

 

Marketplace & Kids’ Art Gallery Opens

 

10:30 AM - Kids Emotes Drawing Competition — On the convention floor children will be given a chance to win a prize by drawing their favorite Emote character.

 

11:00 to 11:45 PM –How To Have Fun Reading Comics — Peter Gutierrez will lead a workshop for educators, and parents on how to make using comics in an educational way, fun for all concerned.

 

11 AM – 6 PM: Kids’ Corner:  where kids can sit and read comics.

 

11:30 AM -12:15 PM:              He Really Is An Alien?  Join author Marc Nobleman as he reveals how two teenage boys created one of the greatest comic book icons in the world.  Marc will share a few great tales and images from his book, “BOYS OF STEEL,” the exciting inside story of Joe Shuster and Jerry Siegel the creators of Superman!”

 

11:30 AM – 5 PM:             Portfolio Review Crew.

All day, professional writers, illustrators, and editors will review students’ portfolios (artwork) to give them tips on how to improve their work.

 

 

11:30 a.m. – 12 PM:             Youth Workshop A – Triangles, Circles, and Squares, Oh My! Is a fun introductory class in drawing kooky comics book characters by starting with ordinary shapes.  Artist: Neil Numberman, illustrator of JOEY FLY, PRIVATE EYE.

 

11:45 AM -12:30 PM:              Professional Workshop I
The ABCs of Comics and Graphic Novels: What are they and what is their value to children past, present, and future?  (Panelists:  TBA)

 

 

12 PM – 1 PM:  Where the Action Is, Part 1 – Young people learn how the pros put so many dynamic poses and so much motion into drawing characters.

 

 

12 p.m. – 12:30 p.m.:        Youth Workshop B – Get A Clue!  This fun and clever workshop will show kids how to write and draw mystery comics, complete with suspects, clues, a climatic capture. The program is lead by Fiona Robinson, creator of THE 3-2-3 DETECTIVES AGENCY book

 

12:30 p.m. – 1:00 p.m.            The Art of Making Comics 101, an introductory class in creating simple and wonderful comic book characters, lead by artists Andrew Arnold, illustrator of the fun book, ADVENTURES IN COMICS.

 

12 – 2 PM – LIVE MAGICIAN

 

 

1 PM – 2 PM – Motion Potion: The Magic of Animation – A panel and demo on cartoon shows and animation with our special guest SCOTT GIMPLE, creator/producer of Disney’s Fillmore.

 

1:30 p.m. – 1:45 PM:             Professional Workshop II — Comics in the Classroom.  Participants will discuss benefits, methods, and curriculums for using comics in the classrooms and libraries to support understanding of academic subjects.  (Panelists: To be announced.)

 

2 p.m. – 2:30 p.m.:    Toon Books Readers Theater Performance. See one of the Toon Books come alive with a performance by Geoffrey and Leigh.

 

2:00 PM – 2:45 PM:            Youth Workshop – Star Ships and Cadillac’s. Learn some of the tricks to drawing cool vehicles, weapons, and diabolical machines.

 

 

2:30 – 3:15:            Toon Book Reheals for Kids presentation

 

2:30 – 3:15:      Make Mine Manga.  This a wonderful introductory class in how to create Manga style comics led by artist Yali Lin.

 

 

2:30 PM – 3:00 PM:                    SPECIAL EVENT — on the convention floor.  TBA.

 

 

3 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.:    All Age Workshop– ARCHIE’ WAY – Join this members of Team Archie (old and new school) as they show how one of America’s longest running icons can be fun, fresh, and educational! New stories, looks, and plenty surprises. 

 

3:00 – 4:00 PM: Give it Some Color!  A profession artists and colorist will teach students some of the tricks of the trade in the wonderful world of coloring comics! (Artist:  TBA.)

 

3:15 – 3:30:            Toon Books Performance by Kids

 

3:30 PM – 5:15 PM:            Youth Workshop F – The Art of Making Comics

The Art of Making Comics 101, an introductory class in creating comics.  (Artists: TBA)

 

3 PM - 3:30 PM:                    SPECIAL EVENT — on the convention floor.  TBA.

 

 

4:00 – 5:00 p.m.:             Professional Workshop III – The ABCs of Comics. What are they, and what is their value to children past, present, and future? This time the emphasis will be on the FUTURE of comics, literacy, and kids. (Panelists:  TBA)

 

 

6 p.m.                                      Closing Remarks

 

 

* (Schedule subject to change up to 24 hours before the convention opens.)

            Simmons also noted that excitement is building on both sides of the KIDS COMICS CON. “At our first KIDS COMIC CON, artists, writers, and creative folks from all aspects of the comic industry were impressively generous with their time, but many found themselves energized by the excitement and enthusiasm of our kids. And since then word has spread. This year they know what to expect and so many have told me they can’t wait to see the kids again,” he said.

          Comics pros and publishers already committed to this year’s con include:

Archie Comics (Mike Pellerito, Fernando Ruiz, Tito Pena, Fred Mauser, etc.)

Soriah Chauvel, cartoonist on CAPTAIN KC!

Peter Gutierrez, writer

Brian Leung of Kidjutsu

Janna Miroshima of Diamond Kids Group

Dave Roman, of Nickelodeon Magazine

Raina Telgemeier, artist on Scholastic’s Babysitter Club graphic novel

James Sherman, illustrator

Andrew Arnold, illustrator of Adventures in Cartooning!

John Gallagher, illustrator, creator, publisher of …Boy

Danny Fingeroth, writer

Maurice Waters and ECBACC

Kerry Milliron and Random House for Kids

Ali Kokmen, and Random House Del Rey (manga)

Kyle & Liz Baker

Fiona Robinson, creator of The 3-2-3 Detectives Agency book  (Abrams)

Christina Siravo, children’s book illustrator

Michael Wright, editor DC Comics

Ashanti Freeman, indy artists

Emotes

Jessica Weiss, tween publisher of the comic, Geezerville.

Samuel Vera, artist, publisher, creator of “Alien in My Toilet”

Marc Nobleman, author of BOYS OF STEEL about the creators of Superman

Ray Felix, artist, indy artist & publisher

Jim Salicrup, editor-in-chief of Papercutz

Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art (MOCCA)

Joe Staton, illustrator of Scooby Doo and so many other comics

Yali Lin, illustrator (Manga)

Dave MacDonald, creator of Hamster Sam Comics

Neil Numberman, illustrator of Joey Fly, Private Eye, from First Second Books

Scott Cunningham, writer of kids’ comics for Archie, DC, etc.

Phyllis Novin, inker for Bongo Comics

PalOOza Toys

Mark Mariano, creator, artist of Happloo comic book series

Reggie & Dionne Byer, creators of Kidz of the King Comics

Kevin Pyle, artist

Ed Mouzon, illustrator

Gary Camp, illustrator

Rich T., illustrator, and teaching artist

 

 

For information on how to donate time, money, or books to support the Kids’ Comic Con, write to Alex Simmons at:  Alex@SimmonsHereAndNow.com

Hi All!

Been doing a lot of writing and running around lately, so I’m late to the party, but here I am, pleased as punch to be contributing to the PC blog and looking forward to hearing from fans of Nancy Drew and Tales from the Crypt.

Co-writer Sarah already gave you a quick behind the scenes glimpse at the obsessive research we wind up doing for everyone’s favorite girl detective. Nancy is a beloved icon, one of (if not the) first icons of girl-power, and we take that heritage very seriously.

One of the challenges in writing for a character that’s been around since 1930 (and doesn’t look a day over sixteen!) is to keep things fresh. Between tigers, balloon races, sinking lakes, hidden cities, haunted forests and so on, I’m pleased to think we’ve managed to present a fun and interesting variety of plots and situations.

Sometimes, though, it’s equally fun to try to tackle a familiar situation in a new and exciting way. For instance, we’ve just started scripting our nineteenth graphic novel, Cliffhanger. Yes, yes, Nancy’s nearly fallen to her death many a-time, at old castles, cliffs, wells and sea-sides. This time, though, she’s desperately hanging by her fingers for the entire story, frantically searching her memory for clues about who pushed her in the first place! Sure it’s easy to solve a crime when you’re brilliant and standing on sold ground, but what if you’re dangling a few hundred yards over a rocky canyon and raging river? Not so easy then, eh?

On a more somber note, I also script for Tales from the Crypt and was particularly pleased that editor (and old pal) Jim Salicrup chose to run With Roses Bedight in the fourth collection Crypt-Keeping it Real. I originally wrote the story for Shooting Star Comics for editor Sean Taylor. Bedight had been kicking around in my head a while and it was very satisfying to finally commit it to paper. You never know what an artist will do with your work, but I was doubly pleased to see the terrific job newcomer Jeziel Sanchez did, his fine lines evoking a subtle creepiness that added layers of atmosphere to my little story. It just worked.

Sadly, Jeziel was killed by a hit and run driver, so we’ll never get to see what other wonderful work he might have done, so my third, and more melancholic, reason for being pleased is that Crypt provided a wider audience for this talented artist’s first and only published work.

That’s all from me for now. Sarah and I are always looking for new mysteries and situations to put Nancy through her paces. If you’ve got any ideas about what you’d like to see in the series, drop us a line. Don’t worry, she can take it!

Hi Everyone,
This is editorial assistant Mike Petranek writing to let you know that our MySpace page has been updated with content from our newest titles! Check us out at www.myspace.com/papercutzcomics. Every time a new title comes out from a series, I will update the page with a cover and some info. I’ll even be blogging about production while we work on books. Should be a fun time for all! And if you aren’t our friend yet, why not?! Add us as your friend and we’ll be sure to drop by and write on your page from time to time. Thanks for reading and watch out for Papercutz!

-Mike

Hi there,

My name is Paulo Henrique and most of you know me as the artist of the Hardy Boys for Papercutz.  One thing you might not know is that I prefer to go by PH instead of “Paulo Henrique.”  I’d like to share a bit about myself and let you all ask any questions you may have for me. I always like to hear from fans!
I was born in Sao Paulo, Brazil where I started drawing at a very young age.  The first thing I remember drawing was from when I was 6.  I was in art class and I drew a picture of Darth Vader.  The teacher said she thought that I had drawn a bride in a black wedding dress!  I always liked bad guys the best, but I knew that Vader was a good guy under that mask.  I think that’s why I liked him so much as a kid.  After that, I just kept on drawing and drawing.
I really like “larger than life” characters, and when I was growing up I was drawn to Manga style before I even knew that’s what it was called. For those of you who don’t know what Manga is, it’s really just a word for Japanese art. It’s a style that we use in the Hardy Boys a lot. There are a million definitions of “Manga” out there, but an easy way to identify the style is characters with exaggerated faces and bodies. In English, the translation is actually “Japanese comics,” so you’ll see a lot of stuff out there called “Manga” that actually isn’t.  If you want a good example of some Manga Hardy Boys, look at the fourth page of comics in THE HARDY BOYS Graphic Novel #14: “Haley Danielle’s Top Eight!”:

Some of the best-known artists who shaped what we know as Manga today are Machiko Hasegawa and Osamu Tezuka. Readers have probably seen Tezuka’s “Astro Boy” at some point in their lives. Google it!  The history of Manga goes all the way back to the 1800’s and there’s a lot of info on the Internet if you do some searching.
Back to my art!  Some of you may want to know who my favorite comics characters are and how I got started.  Well, I love that blue bomber!  I’m talking about Megaman.  I started drawing him when I was a teenager and I’ve beaten all of the original Nintendo games. Megaman is a Manga character and he jump-started my career.  In 1997, I was hired to draw the Megaman comicbook for Brazilian publisher Magnum and ended up working with Sidney Lima, who would work on THE HARDY BOYS at Papercutz years later.  At that time, a lot of publishers got interested in Manga, so I met with Magnum and did a test for Megaman.  Both Sidney Lima and I ended up getting the job, and we became friends.  Years later I started to work for Yabu media and was doing an electronic graphic novel called COMBO RANGES, so I called him to work with me.  This led to us collaborating on THE HARDY BOYS.  He is a good friend and a great artist.  I have to thank him for introducing me to Papercutz and THE HARDY BOYS.  The Megaman series took off, and I ended up teaching Manga style to young artists at a place called Impacto Studios in Brazil.
Impacto Studios is a place where young artists can come to learn and improve their art, while more established artists teach classes to students and are introduced to companies that may want to hire them. At Impacto, I became friends with Klebs Junior, the founder of the studio and a comicbook artist himself.  Klebs is well known in comics. Aside from founding Impacto he also illustrated “Snakes on a Plane” (DC), “Excalibur” (Marvel Comics), “Harbinger” and a bunch of other titles.  Klebs became my agent and helped get my work to America.  When he heard that Top Cow Productions was looking for an artist for their “Myth Warriors” series, he set up a test for me.  Top Cow hired me and my work ended up getting distributed to a much larger audience in the US.
I worked for a lot of different magazines and publications in Brazil, but it wasn’t until volume 6 of  THE HARDY BOYS that I started working on that series.  My friend Sidney needed some help.  He asked me to help draw the Hardy Boys on #6 and then I started drawing it full-time and have no plans to stop!  I just finished my 11th volume of the series.
Aside from comics, I really love music.  I have remixed a lot of Megaman songs from the video games and I play guitar and sing in a hard rock trio called “Octane” in Brazil.  You can find us on MySpace and YouTube.  As far as my favorite groups go, I like Avenged Sevenfold, Story of the Year, and System of a Down.  From the “Old School” I love Iron Maiden and Metallica.  I also like pop and classical music.  I love Beethoven, Bach, and Mozart.  I don’t understand classical music, but I appreciate it so much.  I like some Brazilian pop music but I really dislike, (I don’t want to say hate, it’s a strong word)…SAMBA!  Samba’s the national music of Brazil.  It’s upbeat and encourages listeners to dance.  It’s not for me, though.
So all of you readers may have questions for me.  Send them in and I’ll try to answer as quickly as possible!  My favorite titles from THE HARDY BOYS so far are #8: “A Hardy Day’s Night” (just a beautiful father and son story) and #15: “Live Free, Die Hardy!” which was action-packed.  I’ve got to thank Jim Salicrup, Terry Nantier, Scott Lobdell, Laurie E. Smith, and Mark Lerer for all of their hard work and support.  Perhaps most importantly: thanks to you fans!  Without you we wouldn’t be able to put these great graphic novels together.  Thanks and be sure to ask me questions!

-PH

BIONICLE got its start in 1999-2000, when an international team of people employed by the LEGO Company were tasked with coming up with a storyline-based LEGO line. The early working title was, believe it or not, “Bone-Heads of Voodoo Island.” The first story bible (a summary of the year’s story) for 2001 actually ended with Mata Nui awakening! No one could be sure if BIONICLE would be a big enough hit to last for more than one year …

The BIONICLE line was introduced with a comic book, truck tours, a “build your own website” contest, and, of course, the first six Toa canister sets. The six villager sets (who would later come to be called “Matoran”) were available only through a McDonald’s promotion.

As the Toa were originally planned, they were all different ages and they would all sound sort of “godlike” when they spoke. I had a long conversation with story team head Bob Thompson as I worked on the first comic, and suggested that the characters might be easier to relate to if they had different personalities, and spoke differently from each other, rather than all sounding like Thor or Superman. He agreed, and that was how the initial characters were born in print.

We did three issues of the comic in 2001 in the US and Canada (only one in Europe, I believe). The original plan was to have issue #3 lead into a BIONICLE PC game, which would deal with the fight between the Toa and Makuta. But when the game was cancelled (when it was decided it did not measure up to LEGO standards), the battle ended up being reflected only on BIONICLE.com, and the first issue of the next year started the Bohrok storyline.

More to come!

Here’s a fun site that has designs for famous characters such as Nancy Drew.
Care to post up any designs you might dream up for Nancy? Put that up here as a comment!