A great time was had by all at today’s “Live From Kirby Plaza” event in England. Chrissie Harper and Paul Gravett did an outstanding job putting together a fantastic tribute to Jack Kirby, and it was a blast to get to speak (via Skype) to the assembled crowd of Kirby fans in the UK. Also on hand via phone was Mark Evanier and the Kirby Museum’s Rand Hoppe, and the whole shebang will be transcribed in the upcoming 15th Anniversary special edition of Chrissie’s Jack Kirby Quarterly, due out in the Fall. Thanks to both CH and PG for asking me to be a part of the festivities!

Here’s the envelope art for a top secret item that’ll be available at this weekend’s New York Comicon! We produced it to celebrate Kirby Five-Oh! (the 50th issue of the Jack Kirby Collector, which debuts this weekend). All I’m going to say is that it’s a Limited Edition portfolio featuring FULL-COLOR Kirby plates, and leave it at that. If you want all the details, be sure to come by Booth #1703 this weekend to see what’s inside. But get there early, as there’s only 200 copies available, and they’re sure to go fast!

A lot of people have asked me about the delay on our BATCAVE COMPANION book, and why it’s not in our new catalog: In a nutshell, DC Comics had previously approved the book for its original release date last July, but we chose to push it back till April 2008, to give our editors extra time to make it the quality book our readers are expecting. While the book is now nearly finished, we’ve now been asked by DC Comics’ legal department to delay the release of our book until April 2009 (one year later than planned), so it won’t affect sales of DC’s own Batman-related books that are coming out in conjunction with this summer’s big-budget DARK KNIGHT film (and its DVD release later this year).

I know this will disappoint readers, as it has disappointed me (and the book’s editors, Michael Eury and Michael Kronenberg). But in fairness to DC, if we’d gotten the book out when originally planned, it wouldn’t have interfered with the film’s release. They are just protecting their properties, and were gracious enough to simply ask for a delay in our book, and not an outright cancellation.

So, the BATCAVE COMPANION will now be released in April 2009. Thanks for your understanding in this situation, and your continued support of our publications. Rest assured, when the book is finally published next year, you’re going to think it was worth the wait!