LAST MINUTE ALERT!!

RICK PARKER, the cartoonist famed for illustrating The Diary of a Stinky Dead Kid comics in TALES FROM THE CRYPT #8 will be appearing TODAY at noon to 3:00 PM at Coast City Comics in Downtown Portland, Maine. For more details go to www.coastcitycomics.net/. Rick is an incredible cartoonist and a super-entertaining guy. If you’re in the neighborhood, please, go meet him and say hi!

January 27th is STEFAN PETRUCHA’s birthday!

One of the questions comicbook editors are asked most often is “What exactly does a comicbook editor do?” Comicbook editing is such a mysterious profession, that you might be better off asking Nancy Drew for the answer. Some of the answer is fairly obvious—assigning writers and artists to create comicbooks or graphic novels on an agreed upon schedule. And one of the things that makes any editors’ job incredibly easier is to be lucky enough to assign a writer who just happens to be brilliantly talented, incredibly reliable, and always a pleasure to work with. Such a writer is Stefan Petrucha.

 

 

Stefan Petrucha is all those things and more. As writer or co-writer (with Sarah Kinney) of the NANCY DREW graphic novels he has kept our favorite Girl Detective hopping in one amazing mystery after another:

 

In “The Demon of River Heights,” Nancy exposes the true demon and the dangers of cigarette smoking. And this premiere Nancy Drew graphic novel wins the Benjamin Franklin Award.

 

“Writ In Stone” questions who really discovered America.

 

“The Haunted Dollhouse” celebrates and namedrops many of the classic Carolyn Keene Nancy Drew Mysteries.

 

“The Girl Who Wasn’t There” brings Nancy, George, and Bess to India to help a friend Nancy meant when call tech support.

 

“The Fake Heir” shows that even when Nancy has a bad day, which included a spider bite on her nose, she can still solve a mystery.

 

In “Mr. Cheeters is Missing” Nancy must find a kidnapped chimp, without making a monkey of herself.

 

Nancy also discovers “The Charmed Bracelet” is actually cursed.

 

 

“Global Warning” is not only an ecological thriller, it actually ties-in with one of the great Her Interactive Nancy Drew computer games.

 

Then there’s the “High Miles Mystery,” a Nancy Drew trilogy, that includes “Ghost in the Machinery,” “The Disoriented Express,” and “Monkey Wrench Blues.” See what happens when a new fuel is invented that could change the world.

 

After such a awesome adventures, Nancy is brought back down to Earth with “Dress Reversal” – a tale that actually sees her trapped in a van with Deirdre Shannon.

 

After finding various missing persons—including a chimp—Nancy is challenged to find and entire missing community in “Doggone Town.” She also finds Togo, her new dog.

 

Sometimes finding a missing person, or in this case, a missing tiger can be dangerous as Nancy learns in “Tiger Counter.” This one is a Distinguished iParenting Media Award Winner!

 

With nothing up her sleeves, Nancy matches wits with a popular professional magician in “Sleight of Dan.”

 

Balloon rides can be fun, but not when you’re dangling from one like Nancy does in “What Goes Up…”

 

Nancy travels to Turkey with her dad, and after surviving a “Night of the Living Chatchke” winds up trapped in the “City Under the Basement.”

 

Nancy spends most of “Ciffhanger” literally hanging from a ledge, but that doesn’t impede her powers of deduction.

 

And coming soon, in time to celebrate Nancy’s 80^th Anniversary, “High School Musical Mystery Part One,” featuring the very first encounter between Nancy Drew and Carolyn Keene’s sister sleuths, the Dana Girls!

 

 

And that’s just what Stefan’s been dreaming up for Nancy Drew! Somehow he’s not only found time to write such novels as The Timetripper series, The Shadow of Frankenstein, The Wicked Dead series (with Thomas Pendleton), Teen Inc., The Rule of Won, and coming in March, Split, but he’s also written comics such as Mickey Mouse, Duckman, The X-Files, Spider-Man, Squalor, Meta-4, and for Papercutz, several stories for TALES FROM THE CRYPT, including the super-popular parody “Diary of a Stinky Dead Kid.”

 

 

As you can probably guess, I’m not only Stefan’s editor at Papercutz, I’m also a big fan of his work, which I’m sure you will be too if you check out any Petrucha-penned publication! So, Happy Birthday, Stefan!  And keep those scripts coming!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!

From all of us at Papercutz, we wish you a happy and healthy Holiday, and a really wonderful New Year!

Poe-mania!

As the Austin American-Statesman noted recently, the bicentennial of Edgar Allan Poe’s birth has not gone unnoticed by the publishing industry. The paper mentions several incredible books published to celebrate the Master of the Macabre’s 200th birthday, featuring works by authors such as Peter Straub, Stephen King, and Neil Gaiman, as well as Papercutz’s CLASSICS ILLUSTRATED #4 “The Raven and Other Poems” by Edgar Allan Poe and illustrated by Gahan Wilson. “Wilson — whom you probably think of as a frequent cartoonist for The New Yorker, but I will always think of as the illustrator of the Matthew Looney series of kids’ books — lends his aptly creepy sensibility to nine Poe poems.” Well, we completely agree!

Funny, but even though the title of the series is CLASSICS ILLUSTRATED, because the series has traditionally adapted Stories by the World’s Greatest Authors into comics, we actually received one complaint that objected to these CLASSIC poems actually being ILLUSTRATED, rather being turned into comics. I couldn’t help but be amused that someone was actually upset because we literally lived up to the title of the series, but I knew what the person meant.

Speaking of CLASSICS ILLUSTRATED, we need to give a shout out to the great folks at Dr Comics and Mr Games, located at 4014 Piedmont Ave, Oakland, CA 94611, for devoting an entire window to both our CLASSICS ILLUSTRATED and CLASSICS ILLUSTRATED DELUXE lines of graphic novels. Thanks, guys– we really appreciate it, and hope that folks enjoy these artful adaptations as much as we do.

Also, we want to mention that anyone looking for information on the original CLASSICS COMICS and CLASSICS ILLUSTRATED comics, we highly recommend CLASSICS ILLUSTRATED: A CULTURAL HISTORY (McFarland, 2002) by William B. Jones Jr. — it’s not only filled with fascinating facts, it’s also a great read about one of the greatest, yet most underrated, comics publishers in the world. And if you want to see what those original comics are like, go to www.jacklakeproductions.com and see how many of the original 169 are now back in print as hardcover reproductions.

Yes, now is a great time to be a fan of CLASSICS ILLUSTRATED! Papercutz is proud to keep this great comics publishing tradition alive, and thank YOU for your loyal support.

More Dead Cat Comics

First of all, please don’t think we at Papercutz have anything against cats (except for those mean ol’ Pirate Cats who are always giving Geronimo Stilton a tough time)! I’ve had several pet cats over the years, and loved ‘em all. Now, water bugs we’re not too crazy about, but the one who invaded the Papercutz offices not long ago hasn’t been seen in some time, so this will be the last mention of our little friend.
But since we featured the “dead cat” sequence from CLASSICS ILLUSTRATED DELUXE #4 “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer,” another graphic novel featuring the demise of a beloved pet cat came to our attention. It’s by the incredibly talented cartoonist Lewis Trondheim, and it was featured in his autobiographical comics blog, which has been collected by NBM Publishing in the full-color series “Little Nothings.” This sequence is from the second volume, entitled “The Prisoner Syndrome.” One thing you should know, is that for some reason Lewis portrays all the humans in his cartoon blog with either animal or bird-like heads. We’re not sure why, but it works fine, so we happily accept it. If you’ve never read any of Trondheim’s work before, we highly recommend it — he’s an incredibly talented, award-winning cartoonist, whose work is a never-ending delight. In the first page below, Trondheim is on his way to a comics convention when he gets the bad news…

Dead Cat Comics

At last, patient Papercutz People, posted below should be some spiffy Séverine Lefèbvre-drawn pages from CLASSICS ILLUSTRATED DELUXE #4 “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer”:

For our fans who love gross icky things, we hope you appreciate this dead cat sequence since we have nothing new to report on our office water bug.

My Current Twain of Thought…

It’s been a few days, Papercutz People, and I’m happy to report that we’ve haven’t seen any further signs of our little friend, the water bug. He boldly strode into the Papercutz editorial offices and scurried under some big wooden shelves used to store artwork and stuff, and hasn’t been seen since. As I type this, I keep glancing over to see if I can spot ‘im, but no such luck. The Mysterious Ortho, the NBM Art Director I share an office with, believes our little friend probably sneaked into my bag and made his way to my home, but I’ve seen no evidence of that — yet.

I also promised to post a few sample pages of CLASSICS ILLUSTRATED DELUXE #4 “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer” here on the Papercutz Blog to show off Séverine Lefèbvre’s beautiful artwork, but I’m afraid that’ll have to wait just one more day. Without Manly Micheal Petranek to help me with all things computer-related, I’m afraid I’ll post the wrong pages!

But until then, I thought you might enjoy these comments from Séverine Lefèbvre herself…

I was very taken with the cartoon adaptation of Tom Sawyer when I was 10 years old, and then by Mark Twain’s novel. I’d never imagined drawing my own Tom Sawyer one day! The principal difficulty lay in the necessity, from a graphics standpoint, of getting detached from the character’s image in the cartoon in order to make him my own. It was difficult at first, but you have to get into your characters’ skin, to absorb the story into yourself, and let the magic of drawing take place—

If all goes well, we’ll take a peek at some of that magic tomorrow!

Bugged

For those of you fanatical Papercutz followers and hardcore CLASSICS ILLUSTRATED fans who may be wondering whatever happened to CLASSICS ILLUSTRATED DELUXE #4 “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer,” the good news is that the graphic novel is almost done! Artist Severine Lefebvre wanted to make her debut graphic novel has beautiful as possible, and she has done just that! Unfortunately, that means CLASSICS ILLUSTRATED DELUXE #4 will be a few months late getting to your favorite bookseller, but we believe it’ll be worth the wait!

In the meantime, I thought I’d share this true-life behind-the-scenes story with you. As I was standing by the mysterious Ortho’s desk, as he was completing various production corrections on CLASSICS ILLUSTRATED DELUXE #4 “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer,” something caught my eye — it was a little, dark shape boldly entering our room. Distracted, I had to see what it was. Well, if you’re a New Yorker, you know what a water bug is. It’s an inch-long bug, that is just the ickiest! And worst of all, it can fly! It scurried under a big set of wooden shelves where artwork and films to old books are stored. These shelves are very close to where my desk is, so as I write this, I keep looking over to where our uninvited guest went– checking to see if he’s about to come out! ‘Cause if he does, we’re ready for him! We don’t call CLASSICS ILLUSTRATED DELUXE “DELUXE” for nothing! What with those thick hardcovers and over 140 pages of comics, it’s ready to come down hard on any intruders– if you know what I mean! It’s not easy working when you’re constantly looking over your shoulder for any signs of insect life, but when you also edit BIONICLE and TALES FROM THE CRYPT an icky flying bug is no big deal!

I hope you all enjoyed this exclusive peek into the highly glamourous world of graphic novel editing! I’ll report back tomorrow with an update on a current bug crisis, and I should be able to post some scenes from The Adventures of Tom Sawyer– maybe the scene with the dead cat! Don’t miss it!

President Obama, Judge Sonia Sotamayor, Nancy Drew, and Me!

In nominating Judge Sonia Sotamayor for the Supreme Court, President Obama today said “It’s my understanding that Judge Sotomayor’s interest in the law was sparked as a young girl by reading the Nancy Drew series. And that when she was diagnosed with diabetes at the age of 8, she was informed that people with diabetes can’t grow up to be police officers or private investigators like Nancy Drew. In essence she was told she’d have to scale back her dreams.”

Wow! Like Judge Sonia Sotamayer, I’m from the Bronx and I lived in the Projects. I’m also part Puerto Rican.  I’m also the graphic novel editor of NANCY DREW.  So this is really, really exciting news in many ways.

President Obama also has a cameo apearance in THE HARDY BOYS Graphic Novel #16 “Shhhhhh!” also from Papercutz. Unlike his other more recent and highly-publicised comicbook appearances, as either a Conan-like Barbarian or Spider-Man’s partner-in-crimefighting, his appearance in the Hardy Boys graphic novel was far more Prsesidential – he’s depicted giving a speech about libraries, something he did in real-life as a Senator.

 

NANCY DREW #17 “Night of the Living Chatchke” is the latest graphic novel from Papercutz, and like the Hardy Boys graphic novels, is available at booksellers everywhere.

 

Kid’s Comic Con 2009

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

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