We’re heading out next week for Comic-Con International: San Diego, and will be closed from July 20 – August 7 for the con and vacation. Here’s all the details about our San Diego appearance; hope to see you there!

TWOMORROWS DEBUTS NEW ITEMS, LEGO® ERIC CARTMAN, AND A 50% OFF SALE AT COMIC-CON BOOTH #1301

TwoMorrows Publishing, now in its 15th year of celebrating the art and history of comics and LEGO, is heading to Comic-Con International booth #1301 with several new items hot off the presses, some astonishing LEGO creations, and a colossal half-price sale on books and magazines.

Publications debuting at Comic-Con will be:

• Alter Ego #88 (edited by Roy Thomas), with an in-depth look at DC Comics founder Major Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson.
• Back Issue #35 (edited by Michael Eury), spotlighting villains from comics of the 1970s to 1980s.
• Jack Kirby Collector #53 (edited by publisher John Morrow), focusing on “The Magic of Stan Lee and Jack Kirby”.
• All-Star Companion, Volume 4 (edited by Roy Thomas), the final volume of the series featuring coverage of the 1940s Justice Society and the 1980s Infinity, Inc.
• BrickJournal Compendium 3 (edited by Joe Meno), compiling issues of the company’s LEGO magazine that have never been in print form before.
• Captain Action: The Original Superhero Action Figure (written by Michael Eury), the new full-color hardcover second edition of the indispensable tome on the history of the character.
• Modern Masters Volume 21: Chris Sprouse (by Todd Dezago and Eric Nolen-Weathington), presenting a career-spanning interview with the DC/WildStorm artist, as well as a deluxe sketchbook and color gallery of his work.

A very limited number of copies of each debut item will be available, so customers are encouraged to stop by early at booth #1301 (immediately inside the main entrance to Hall A at the San Diego Convention Center) for best selection.

In conjunction with its BrickJournal/LEGO Panel on Friday, July 24 at 10:30am, TwoMorrows will be featuring an amazing array of LEGO creations at its booth, including a not-to-be-missed statue of South Park’s Eric Cartman constructed completely of LEGO bricks, among other custom creations. The first two BrickJournal Compendium books will be offered at 50% off cover price to celebrate the release of the third volume of the series, and back issues of BrickJournal will also be available for purchase.

In addition, TwoMorrows will be offering 50% off a selection of 26 different books and DVDs, plus 50% off back issues of their magazines Alter Ego, Back Issue, Draw, Write Now, Rough Stuff, Comic Book Artist, and the Jack Kirby Collector. While every in-stock issue will be available, due to space limitations, the company is bringing only a few copies of each older issue for this sale.

The company will also hold its annual TwoMorrows Panel on Thursday, July 23 at 4:30pm, offering fans a chance to see a video presentation of upcoming projects, and ask questions and share feedback with the company’s publisher and editors.

We’ve been working night and day mailing out orders from our big 50% off sale throughout June, but since we’re gluttons for punishment (and so many of you are still taking advantage of the sale here in the last days), I’ve decided to extend it a few more days, through the July 4th weekend.

So if you want to save 50% on 31 of our perennial favorite books, click here!

We’re starting the summer with a huge 50% off sale! Now through June 30, there are 30 items at www.twomorrows.com available at HALF-PRICE, while supplies last.

If you can’t make the rounds of the major comic book conventions this summer because of the economy, this is your chance to pick up some perennial favorites and all-time best sellers at the lowest prices we’ve ever offered. Because of the sale, we probably won’t have many of these books at our upcoming booths at Heroes Con and Comic-Con International, so grab these fantastic bargains while you can!

The full list of items on sale includes:

All-Star Companion, Volume 2 (by Roy Thomas)
Alter Ego: The Best of the Legendary Comics Fanzine (by Roy Thomas and Bill Schelly)
Best of the Legion Outpost (by Glen Cadigan)
Blue Beetle Companion (by Christopher Irving)
BrickJournal Compendium 1 and BrickJournal Compendium 2 (by Joe Meno)
Brush Strokes With Greatness: The Life & Art of Joe Sinnott (by Tim Lasiuta)
Captain Victory: Graphite Edition (by Jack Kirby)
Comic Book Artist Collection – Volume 3 (by Jon B. Cooke)
Comic Book Nerd (by Pete Von Sholly)
Comics Above Ground (by Durwin Talon)
Comics Gone Ape! (by Michael Eury)
Comics Introspective: Peter Bagge (by Christopher Irving)
Crazy Hip Groovy Go-Go Way Out Monsters #29 and #32 (by Pete Von Sholly)
Dick Giordano: Changing Comics One Day At A Time (by Michael Eury)
G-Force: Animated (by George Khoury and Jason Hofius)
I Have To Live With This Guy! (by Blake Bell)
Jack Kirby Checklist: Gold Edition
Justice League Companion (by Michael Eury)
Modern Masters: In The Studio with George Perez DVD
Modern Masters: In The Studio with Michael Golden DVD
Nick Cardy: Behind The Art (by Nick Cardy and Eric Nolen-Weathington)
Silver Star: Graphite Edition (by Jack Kirby)
Streetwise (edited by Jon B. Cooke and John Morrow)
Superheroes In My Pants (by Mark Evanier)
The Art of George Tuska (by Dewey Cassell)
Titans Companion, Volume 2 (by Glen Cadigan)
T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents Companion (by Jon B. Cooke)
Wallace Wood Checklist

There’s a big banner atop our home page; click it, and you’ll go right to the list of books on sale.

Short and sweet: Now through May 31, all 12 issues of ROUGH STUFF magazine are available for 50% off cover price! This offer is only good for online orders, so stock up on any issues you missed at the best price we’ve ever offered–and stay tuned for an exciting upcoming announcement about the future of this fan-favorite magazine!

Several years ago, some crazy person decided that here in North Carolina (right in the middle of basketball country), we needed a hockey team. It sounded kinda crazy to me, until I actually went to my first game. Since then, I’ve followed our Carolina Hurricanes team whenever I could, especially during their big Stanley Cup victory season a couple of years ago.

This year, the ‘Canes are in the Stanley Cup playoffs again, having made it through two rounds (with exciting last-minute victories, which they’re known for), and start the conference finals tonight against the Pittsburgh Penguins. I’m amazed at how the Hurricanes manage to keep pulling out wins, against teams that, on paper, should be much better than they are. I just wish they’d stop taking it down to the last minute on every series; it’d be nice to win 4 games and move on for once!

I took my family to a fast food restaurant for lunch yesterday, and while I was waiting to order, I looked over and Eric Stohl and Scott Walker (two key Hurricanes, if you don’t follow hockey) were standing in line right in front of me. Real nice guys; I chatted with Walker briefly about their Game 7 win in overtime against the Boston Bruins the other night. Before we were done eating, six of the players had shown up there for lunch. One customer who happened to be eating there that day, was wearing his Hurricanes jersey and hat. I sat and watched to see if he’d notice; after a couple of minutes, he happened to look over to the table where the players were, and did a big double-take; it was really fun to watch. As the players were leaving, they ended up signing autographs for several of the customers.

If you’ve never been to a hockey game, go; I’m confident you’ll love it, and it’s an entirely different experience from watching it on TV. I never thought I’d be hooked on it, until I saw it in person. Give it a shot sometime!

Finally got our old number properly transferred to our new phone provider, so you can now reach us again at our usual phone number:

919-449-0344

Effective immediately, we’re offering readers one last chance to purchase formerly sold out items at www.twomorrows.com.

Our website now features a “Last Chance Sale” category, listing 18 items that have long been unavailable. We recently acquired a handful of copies of these key publications from a distributor, some with minor scuffs or dings, but all fully readable. We’re offering these items at 15% off the original cover price, and they include:

AGAINST THE GRAIN (a heavily-illustrated biography of artist Wallace Wood)

ALL-STAR COMPANION VOLUME 1 (Roy Thomas’ celebration of the Justice Society of America)

THE LEGION COMPANION (documenting the history of the Legion of Super-Heroes)

THE DARK AGE (a look at grim and gritty comics of the 1990s)

TRUE BRIT (George Khoury’s celebration of the great comic book artists of the UK)

COMIC BOOK & OTHER NECESSITIES OF LIFE and WERTHAM WAS RIGHT! (Mark Evanier’s first two collections of “POV” columns)

plus other books, and sold out issues of DRAW!, WRITE NOW, and COMIC BOOK ARTIST

For some items, there is only a single remaining copy, and all items are available on a first-come, first-served basis, with all items sold in “as-is” condition. Customers should look for the “Last Chance Sale” category in the upper left of TwoMorrows’ home page for the full listings. Purchases can be made with major credit card or Paypal by clicking the “Add To Cart” button on each item’s description page, then logging in and checking out. If an item is listed as “Sold Out”, all remaining copies have already been purchased.

So don’t delay; get ’em before they’re gone!

TwoMorrows is in the process of switching phone companies, and as you’d expect, one of them managed to screw up our number transfer. So if you’re trying to reach TwoMorrows over the next few days, you’ll get an “out of service” message if you call our usual number. (Don’t worry, we’re not going out of business–although I hope our old phone provider does!).

We hope to have it back working shortly, but in the meantime, if you need to reach us, please call this temporary number:

919-323-8561

E-mail, fax, and website are all working as normal. Sorry for the inconvenience!

It’s shipping! And Gemstone’s SCOOP newsletter has a review:

http://scoop.diamondgalleries.com/public/default.asp?t=1&m=1&c=34&s=267&ai=82836

Free Comic Book Day is this Saturday, and while we’re not offering a special FCBD publication like we have the last two years, we will be giving away Digital Editions of COMICS GO HOLLYWOOD and COMICS 101, our last two FCBD books. Actually, they’ve been available for free downloading for some time at our website: www.twomorrows.com, but Saturday is a perfect time to get ’em if you haven’t already.

But from Friday through Sunday, to celebrate FCBD, we’ll also be giving away a free Digital Edition of each of our current mags: ALTER EGO, BACK ISSUE!, THE JACK KIRBY COLLECTOR, DRAW!, and BRICKJOURNAL (our new mag for Lego enthusiasts), plus PDFs of our recently departed ROUGH STUFF and WRITE NOW!, which are still available as back issues. Digital Editions normally retail for $2.95-$3.95 per download, but are free over the three-day Free Comic Book Day weekend, to encourage more readers to try them out, and consider ordering them at their local comic book shop. You just have to add it to your shopping cart, and after you checkout (with no cost), you’ll get the link(s) for the ones you ordered.

The idea is for you to try them out, and if you like them, get your local retailer to add them to your pull list, or convince them to stock an extra copy of your favorites. If retailers sell an extra copy, we sell an extra copy, and more people discover what we’ve been up to for the last 15 (!) years. But if they don’t or won’t carry our stuff, you can always get it (in print or digital form) from our website.

And if our server is running slow (which has happened the last three years, due to the overwhelming demand on it), please be patient, especially if you’re ordering on Saturday. Don’t worry, they’ll still be there Sunday till midnight, and beyond if it looks like a lot of people got shut out by the web traffic.

Hope you enjoy the freebies!