This weekend is
Book Expo America in New York, which is the largest book publishing trade show in the country—authors, publishers, retailers, librarians, and anyone tangentially interested in those things (such as, according to the program guide, the Embassy of Oman?), are gathering at the Javits convention center to talk and breakfast and panelize and exchange free shit, and it’s not open to the public, which makes it kind of like Comic Con with fewer giant cardboard cutouts and less Swine Flu.
There’s quite a bit of graphic novel-related activity going on there, as
rounded up by Calvin and Heidi at Publishers Weekly, and the
Comic Book Legal Defense Fund had a very lovely party last night, which I went to after covering the BEA keynote—a discussion between music/sports writer/novelist Chuck Klosterman and E-Street Band saxophonist Clarence Clemons, followed by a discussion between Klosterman and Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler. Both musicians have autobiographies coming out in October, which is why they were speaking at BEA, and the convention had the bright idea to rock the place up a bit, and it was all very entertaining, except for the part where convention attendees rushed the stage when Tyler came out as if they were freaking FOURTEEN YEARS OLD and wouldn’t sit down even though this was a BOOK CONVENTION DISCUSSION and not an arena show. It was embarrassing. But then Tyler talked about orgasms and the cosmos and how white people clap on the ones and the threes, and 85 percent of the idiots who had rushed the stage were thinking “what does he even mean by that,” so the karma all worked out in the end.
Anyway, after the CBDLF party, I ended up at dinner at an Irish bar/restaurant (lots of U2 on the jukebox, mates!) with a whole pile of comics folk, including Image marketing chief Joe Keatinge,
the Beat’s Heidi MacDonald, Top Cow’s Filip Sablik, Marvel assistant editor Alejandro Arbona, Archaia’s Mark Smylie, Stephen Christy and Mel Caylo, Marvel Noir artist extraordinaire
Dennis Calero and his wife Kristin Sorra, Entertainment Weekly’s
Marc Bernardin, artist Nikki Cook, and others that were either sitting too far away or whose names I didn't catch accurately enough to put here in good conscience, many apologies. Mel apparently uploaded
this photo and others
here to CBR, right then and there, because of technology—you can’t really see them, but it does look like we were telling ghost stories or something, which is always an impression I’m happy to leave.
Panel(s) of the Week
Panel(s) of the Week
Aaron's picks, from Agents of Atlas #5 by Jeff Parker and Carlo Pagulayan, and from Punisher #5 by Rick Remender and Jerome Opena:
Panel(s) of the Week
The comics room. Overheard here, by a dad to his toddler son in front of the early issues of Action: "That comic is worth more than your organs!"
So it HAS been done before! Presidential Material 1.0!
And, uh... yeah.
As if there isn't enough grit in Hell's Kitchen.
If I could own any classic #1, it might be this one.
Yeah, that's right Bendis. This is where the first issue of Powers goes in a museum. Deal.
This cover improves my mood every. Single. Time. I. See. It.
Ooo, win my own pony!! Wait what the hell is that?
Guns. For Pez. PEZ GUNS.
Superman, in the pocket of Big Wheat.
GAAAAAHHH! DO NOT WANT.
Funny, this was the theme of my 16th birthday party.
.........
Ok, so there was this amazing display of Barbies in evening gowns, and I have to admit I was kind of in awe and drooling a little at all the pretty pretty dolls in their dresses. And then there was this, one of the limited editions celebrating Barbie's 50th. I want you to just look hard at this, and think about it for a few minutes, until you can't think about it any more.
Awwww yeeeaaahhhh. Anyway.
Panel(s) of the Week
