Here’s the official press release about our San Diego Schedule; see you there!

TwoMorrows Publishing will make their lucky 13th consecutive appearance at Comicon International: San Diego from July 25-29, and this year’s slate of panels and signings further builds on their reputation as the industry authority on comics history and creation.
The “TwoMorrows Publishing” panel takes place on Thursday, July 26 at Noon, spotlighting the company that celebrates the art and history of comics through their award-winning magazine and book line. On hand will be publisher and Jack Kirby Collector editor John Morrow, authors George Khoury and Benjamin Holcomb, Modern Masters’ editor Eric Nolen-Weathington, Alter Ego magazine’s Paul Hamerlinck, and Write Now! magazine’s Danny Fingeroth, as they unveil new products and offer exclusive previews of upcoming items, in a multimedia presentation.
One of the most anticipated panels at Comicon this year is the “Image Founders Panel” scheduled for Friday, July 27 at 10:30 am. For the first time, all seven original founders of Image Comics will appear together to discuss the past, present, and future of the company. Moderated by George Khoury (author of TwoMorrows’ new book Image Comics: The Road To Independence), the panel had to be switched to a larger, 1000-seat venue after commitments from Erik Larsen, Jim Lee, Rob Liefeld, Todd McFarlane, Whilce Portacio, Marc Silvestri, and Jim Valentino were confirmed.
Also, Comicon guest of honor Roy Thomas will be spotlighted on three different panels, celebrating his work as top writer and editor-in-chief of Marvel Comics, and his TwoMorrows magazine Alter Ego.
On Thursday, July 26, the TwoMorrows booth will host a signing by Charles Vess, the subject of one of their most popular Modern Masters art books. Fan-favorite artist Michael Golden’s new Modern Masters volume will debut at Comicon, and Golden will be on hand to sign copies throughout the weekend. Also, TwoMorrows will debut new books on Silver Age artist John Romita Sr. (written by Roy Thomas and Jim Amash), indy cartoonist Peter Bagge, and new issues of their magazines Alter Ego, Back Issue, Draw!, Write Now, and Rough Stuff. And Rand Hoppe, president of the online Jack Kirby Museum and Research Center (www.kirbymuseum.org) will be at the TwoMorrows booth throughout the convention, outlining the museum’s plans and goals for 2008.
Below is the current schedule of TwoMorrows-related signings and panels, but attendees are urged to stop by booth #1215 (directly across from the Golden & Silver Age Pavilion in Hall B) for daily updates and additions.

THURSDAY, JULY 26:
TwoMorrows Panel
12:00 PM to 1:00 PM
Moderated by publisher John Morrow, and featuring George Khoury, Benjamin Holcomb, Eric Nolen-Weathington, Paul Hamerlinck, and Danny Fingeroth.
Room 3

Michael Golden signing
1:00 PM to 2:00 PM
Booth #1215

Danny Fingeroth signing
3:00 PM to 4:00 PM
Booth #1215

Charles Vess signing
4:00 PM to 5:00 PM
Booth #1215
Proceeds benefit the CBLDF

FRIDAY, JULY 27:
Image Founders Panel
10:30 AM to 11:30 AM
Moderated by George Khoury, and featuring Erik Larsen, Jim Lee, Rob Liefeld, Todd McFarlane, Whilce Portacio, Marc Silvestri, and Jim Valentino.
Room 6A

Alter Ego Panel
12:30 PM to 1:30 PM
Featuring Roy Thomas, Bill Schelly, and Paul Hamerlinck
Room 4

Marvel 1960s/70s Panel
2:00 PM to 3:00 PM
Roy Thomas discusses “Marvel in the 1960s and 70s” with Gary Friedrich, Mike Ploog, Dick Ayers, David George, and others.
Room 8

John Lowe signing (author of Working Methods)
3:00 PM to 4:00 PM
Booth #1215

Roy Thomas signing
4:00 PM to 5:00 PM
Booth #1215

Danny Fingeroth signing
5:00 PM to 6:00 PM
Booth #1215

Eisner Awards
8:30 PM to 11:30 PM
Alter Ego is nominated for “Best Comics-Related Periodical”
Ballroom 20

SATURDAY, JULY 28:
Danny Fingeroth signing
12:00 PM to 1:00 PM
Booth #1215

John Lowe signing (author of Working Methods)
2:00 PM to 3:00 PM
Booth #1215

Roy Thomas signing
3:00 PM to 4:00 PM
Booth #1215

Roy Thomas Spotlight Panel
4:30 PM to 6:00 PM
Room 2

SUNDAY, JULY 29:
Jack Kirby Tribute Panel
10:30 AM to 12:00 PM
Join Mark Evanier as he talks to Neil Gaiman, Erik Larsen, Darwyn Cooke, Mike Royer, and members of the Kirby family about the lasting influence of the undisputed King of comics.
Room 1AB

Roy Thomas signing
1:00 PM to 2:00 PM
Booth #1215

Danny Fingeroth signing
3:00 PM to 4:00 PM
Booth #1215

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You can now download our July issues: Alter Ego #70, Back Issue #23, Draw #14, Write Now #16, and Rough Stuff #5, in PDF format, for only $2.95 per download. Just click the links here, or go to www.twomorrows.com and click on the “Digital Editions” link on the left-hand side of our homepage.

These files are in FULL-COLOR, and available before the printed copies hit stores. And if you’re a subscriber to our printed editions, you get FREE access to the Digital Editions while you’re waiting for our printed copy to arrive in the mail. (Subscribers should have received an email notice telling them how to download their free digital edition; if you didn’t, you need to send us your email address along with a request to twomorrow@aol.com.)

This is a six-month test, to see what the response is, and how it’ll affect our print sales. So please don’t share the digital files you download; we rely on the sale of every copy (print and digital) to keep our mags going!

Due to the huge crowd expected for the Image Founders Panel at Comicon (hosted by our own George Khoury), Comicon International will be moving it to room 6A. Same time (10:30-11:30am, Friday, July 27), just a much larger room, which will now hold 1,000 people instead of 500. Here is the updated blurb from Comicon:

FRIDAY, JULY 27

10:30-11:30 Image Comics: The Founders—Erik Larsen, Jim Lee, Rob Liefeld, Todd McFarlane, Whilce Portacio, Marc Silvestri, and Jim Valentino reunite for Image’s remarkable 15th anniversary. Join the conversation as they explore Image Comics’ beginnings, impact, and future in the comics industry. Moderated by George Khoury (author of Image Comics: The Road to Independence from TwoMorrows Publishing). Room 6A

I’m thrilled to announce that the original seven founding members of Image Comics (Erik Larsen, Jim Lee, Rob Liefeld, Todd McFarlane, Whilce Portacio, Marc Silvestri, and Jim Valentino) will reunite to make their first-ever panel appearance together at this year’s Comicon International: San Diego! It takes place on Friday, July 27, from 10:30-11:30am in Room 5AB, at the “Image Founders Panel,” hosted by George Khoury (author of our new book Image Comics: The Road to Independence).

Yes, that’s right; while they’ve all been on various panels over the years, this will be the first time that all seven have ever appeared on a panel together! And in light of the company’s sometimes controversial past (nicely documented in George’s book), it’s really poised to be a landmark event, a great commemoration of Image’s 15th anniversary, and the talk of Comicon.
This came about through the dedicated efforts of George Khoury, and the Image founders themselves, and a big round of applause should (and I’m sure will, a week from Friday) go to them all for coming together for this special event. The fans are going to go absolutely nuts!

The hall that was planned for the event only holds 500 people, so get their early if you want a seat!

Yeah, the blog has been silent the last few weeks, due to lots of San Diego Comicon activity taking place at TwoMorrows. Like most publishers, Comicon International: San Diego (as it’s properly named) is an important venue for us to promote our new and upcoming products, and unveil our plans for the year to come.

I’m happy to say that, with one exception, everything we were trying to get out right before or during Comicon is on press, and has been proofed. This includes:

New issues of Alter Ego, Back Issue, Rough Stuff, Draw, and Write Now

Modern Masters Volume 12: Michael Golden

Comics Introspective Volume One: Peter Bagge

John Romita… And All That Jazz (both softcover and hardcover)

Our new, free Catalog Update

It’ll all be in stores, or at our Comicon booth (#1215, in our usual place across from the Golden & Silver Age Pavilion) between now and July 25.

The only one that’s iffy for Comicon is our new Modern Masters: In The Studio With Michael Golden DVD, which is going through some last minute editing to get it just right. Cross your fingers that it’ll make it!

Last weekend at Heroes Con, uberfan Charlie Underhill unveiled his own version of Kirby Krackle, in the form of a new breakfast cereal. As you can see, it made the rounds of the convention hall. (Boy, I’d like to see what kind of books we could come up with if I started every morning with a bowl of that…) Great work, Charlie!

If you’re a fan of Robert Kirkman (and having just started reading his INVINCIBLE comic, I am now!), check out this preview of his interview from our new book IMAGE COMICS: THE ROAD TO INDEPENDENCE.

Had a blast Saturday at Heroes Con. Though I was there for just the day, our own Eric Nolen-Weathington was there the full three days (Friday-Sunday) manning our booth, doing his usual superb job of answering people’s many questions about our products. Highlights for me:

• Seeing Erik Larsen walk up to the booth to chat. Get this; the guy wasn’t there manning an Image Comics table, or hawking copies of his latest Savage Dragon releases. He was just wandering the floor, incognito, scoring cool old (and I mean OLD) comics. The joke was he had purchased a copy of CRACK, then a copy of SPEED… what’s next, LSD? He’s got interesting plans for them, which I’ll leave to him to divulge.

• The TwoMorrows Panel was well attended, featuring Roy Thomas, Chris Irving, Eric N-W, Michael Eury, and yours truly. It was a lively hour (actually, we went a little over that, cause we had so much fun stuff to talk about), with Roy Thomas stealing the show, telling how he walked into Marvel one day and got handed a $40,000 check for royalties on SECRET DEFENDERS #1 (a title which no one in the crowd remembered; Roy barely did). But it was the biggest royalty check he ever got in comics; such were the speculator days of the early 1990s. We also dished about what was in our new Catalog Update, which’ll be inserted in all our July magazine issues, and be available for downloading (and free copies mailed upon request) in a couple of weeks; it spotlights all our new releases from now until early 2008 (including my top secret plans for Jack Kirby Collector #50).
•  Meeting Rough Stuff editor Bob McLeod for the first time face-to-face. (Actually, I met him over 20 years ago at a convention in Atlanta, when I was still in high school—not that he’d remember a snot-nosed kid like me that long ago.) We’ve been working together on the mag long-distance via phone and email, but never got to meet in person until this weekend. Great guy, who was doing the most amazing sketches (he had just a long list of people wanting them, he had to beg off being on our panel, to save time to get all his art done).

• Hanging with Michael Eury and his lovely wife Rose. Their big news is that they’re planning to move back to North Carolina later this year, which is welcome news to me that he’ll be so close. Coincidentally, Michael Kronenberg (Mr. Eury’s co-writer on the upcoming Batcave Companion) is also moving to NC within the next month, so it’s looking like our little state is getting to be more and more a hub of comics activity (Newsarama is also headquartered here, as are a lot of top artists).

• A fan (whose name I can’t place, but they’re supposed to be emailing a photo soon, which I’ll post) brought over his handmade box of “Kirby Krackle Cereal” which you’ve gotta see to believe. Stay tuned for the photo. Somebody oughtta market an actual line of cereal with that name.

If you missed the con, I really encourage you to go next year. There’s a reason why last year, when Wizard tried to elbow Heroes Con out by planning an Atlanta show for the same weekend, hordes of comics pros boycotted Wizard (to the point where they cancelled their planned show) to support Heroes. Organizer Shelton Drum is a fantastic guy, who knows how to put on one of the friendliest, most fun conventions in the country. (And if Erik Larsen would travel all the way from California just to hunt down old comics, you know it’s a show you don’t want to miss.)

If you’re in the Greensboro, North Carolina area, Back Issue! editor and Companion author Michael Eury will be Doing a signing at one of my favorite comic book shops from 2-5 pm this Wednesday, June 20th at:

Acme Comics
2150 Lawndale Drive
Greensboro NC 27408
336-574-2263

Wanna see some previews of what’s in store in the aforementioned new TwoMorrows book IMAGE COMICS: THE ROAD TO INDEPENDENCE? Check out this Todd McFarlane preview:

Or how about this Marc Silvestri preview:

Or this Dale Keown preview:

George Khoury really covered Image Comics from beginning to now in his most exhaustive book to date. Check it out!