We begin the year-long celebration of our 20th Anniversary next week at Comic-Con International: San Diego 2013! When I started TwoMorrows in 1994 with the release of The Jack Kirby Collector #1, I had no idea I’d ever do any other publications, let alone become the leading publisher of books and magazines for comics and LEGO® fans. And we’ve got quite a slate of stuff going on in San Diego next week…

In this year’s Comic-Con’s program book, they’ve got a special feature about our anniversary, where I reminisce about two decades of exhibiting there, with anecdotes about some of the crazy things that have taken place, and the great people we’ve met.

On Thursday at 11:00 am, I’ll be moderating a “TwoMorrows Turns Twenty” panel discussion with Jon B. Cooke (editor, Comic Book Creator), Keith Dallas (editor of TwoMorrows’ American Comic Book Chronicles series), and P.C. Hamerlinck and Bill Schelly (historians and associate editors of Roy Thomas’ Alter Ego magazine), offering a revealing look at the ins and outs of producing our publications. (Roy Thomas was originally scheduled to be on the panel too, but Comic-Con inadvertantly scheduled it for BEFORE?Roy arrives, so P.C. and Bill are filling in for him.) And everyone who attends the panel will receive a coupon with a code for a free Digital Edition or $3.95 discount at our website, and a few lucky attendees will win the publication of their choice or subscriptions to one of our mags.

We’ll be exhibiting at its usual location, Booth #1301 (up front, just inside the doors of Hall B near the Golden & Silver Age Pavilion), and will have signings by our top authors, including Comic-Con guest of honor Roy Thomas. We’ll also be offering an unprecedented 50% off most items at the booth, including a full assortment of back issues and books from throughout its 20 years of publishing.

These new titles will debut at the convention (all in limited quantities, weeks before general release):

Alter Ego #120 (secrets of the X-Men’s first decade)
Back Issue #67 (featuring time-traveling heroes)
Jack Kirby Collector #62 (spotlighting Jack Kirby as writer)
Draw! #25 (how-to draw comics magazine, featuring Lee Weeks)
Comic Book Creator #2 (a double-size Joe Kubert tribute)
American Comic Book Chronicles: The 1950s (latest volume in the ongoing history series)

TwoMorrows is up for two awards at Friday night’s annual Eisner Awards ceremony, where Roy Thomas’s Alter Ego magazine is nominated for Best Comics-Related Periodical/Journalism, and Dewey Cassell’s book Marie Severin: The Mirthful Mistress of Comics is nominated for Best Comic-Related Book.

Saturday at Comic-Con will be LEGO DAY at Booth #1301, with a special display of custom LEGO sculptures, LEGO-related giveaways, and signings by renowned LEGO sculptor Nathan Sawaya and BrickJournal magazine editor Joe Meno. It’s all topped off with a panel discussion about BrickJournal magazine and LEGO building at 5:00 pm that day.

Below is the full schedule of TwoMorrows-related Comic-Con events:

Thursday, July 18:
11:00-12:00 – TwoMorrows Turns Twenty panel, Room 23ABC
12:30-1:30 – Keith Dallas and Bill Schelly signing, Booth #1301
3:00-4:00 – Andy Mangels signing, with free autographed Lou Scheimer “Filmation” signature plates, Booth #1301

Friday, July 19:
12:30-1:30 – Jon B. Cooke and Keith Dallas signing, Booth #1301
1:45-2:45 – Roy Thomas and Bill Schelly signing, Booth #1301
8:00-until: Eisner Awards ceremony

Saturday, July 20—LEGO DAY at Booth 1301:
1:00-2:00 – Spotlight on Roy Thomas panel, moderated by Jon B. Cooke, Room 4
3:00-4:00 – Andy Mangels signing, with free autographed Lou Scheimer “Filmation” signature plates, Booth #1301
5:00-6:00 – BrickJournal: LEGO as an Art Form panel, Room 23ABC
6:00-7:00 – BrickJournal editor Joe Meno and LEGO sculptor Nathan Sawaya signing, Booth #1301

Sunday, July 21:
10:00-11:15 – Jack Kirby Tribute Panel, Room 5AB
3:00-4:00 –  Roy Thomas and Jon B. Cooke signing, Booth #1301

I hope to see you there!

Publishing’s hard work. Sometimes really, really hard (and someday soon I’ll tell you about what  happened last week that is making it harder than ever before…).

But when I read a blog post like this one:

http://whencomicbooksruled.blogspot.com/2013/07/twomorrows-twomorrows-i-love-ya.html

…it’s all worthwhile. Thanks to Joel Bryan for reminding me how much our publications mean to fans, and to Richard Bensam for alerting me to Joel’s blog.

The long silence here is due to our family vacation to Europe the last two weeks, and all the deadlines that had to be met before we could leave. Maybe planning a trip overseas right before the busy convention season starts wasn’t my brightest idea, but man-o-man, did we have an amazing time! I’ll elaborate more soon, but here’s an update on our latest releases:

Alter Ego #118 and Back Issue #65 were both printed overseas, and got held up in a random customs inspection, so are finally due to arrive here this week (nearly 3 weeks late).  Subscribers should look for their copies to hit the mail in a few more days. Thanks to everyone for their patience during this unavoidable delay.

Our new book on DAN SPIEGLE is out, and getting rave reviews!

As is BEST OF ALTER EGO, VOLUME 2, also out now.

The STAR REACH COMPANION will actually be in stores EARLY (it was due July 10, but we’re expecting to start shipping copies any day); sort of a cosmic payback for the above customs snag, I guess!

BRICKJOURNAL #24 is shipping now as well.

Other titles that are now printed and on their way home to us (and a debut at Comic-Con next month):

Alter Ego #119 and #120

Back Issue #66 and #67

Comic Book Creator #2 (the JOE KUBERT summer annual)

DRAW! #25

American Comic Book Chronicles: The 1950s

BrickJournal #25 should debut in San Diego as well, followed by BrickFair the following week.

and my personal baby, JACK KIRBY COLLECTOR #61 is done and heading for July release (with a BIG surprise for readers!)

So though it’s been quiet on the blog, as you can see, we’ve been working non-stop behind the scenes to bring you some amazing publications, and making plans for our year-long “TwoMorrows Turns Twenty” anniversary celebration, which starts at Comic-Con (and continues through all our convention appearances for the next 12 months, culminating at Heroes Con 2014) with GIVEAWAYS for anyone who comes by our booth, or attends our 20th Anniversary Panels. Stay tuned for more details!

It’s the start of something both new AND old today at TwoMorrows. We debut Comic Book Creator, Jon B. Cooke’s sequel to Comic Book Artist, our multi-Eisner Award-winning mag of years gone by. Jon’s knocked himself out on the first issue, which is (in typical TwoMorrows tendency) Kirby-centric, with a career-encompassing look at Jack’s highs and lows, plus interviews with both Alex Ross and Kurt Busiek on their own Kirby-centric work.

We’re also offering a free Bonus PDF, which is 32 pages of all-new material that wouldn’t fit into the first issue. You can download it at this link, and it serves as a nice sample of what you’ll find in CBC #1 proper.

I’m confident you’ll love what you see, and Jon’s already completed issue #2 (a double-size book tribute to Joe Kubert, debuting in July at Comic-Con), and he’s completed all the interviews for issue #3 (which leads off with a lengthy interview with Neal Adams, where he responds to critics of his recent Batman: Odyssey mini-series, among other things).

We’re dubbing CBC “The New Voice of the Comics Medium”. And as of today, we’re ready to unveil that new voice. Enjoy! And order issue #1 here.

Sorry, Comic Book Creator #1 and American Comic Book Chronicles: 1980s subscribers. The issues have been printed for over 40 days, and shipped here from our overseas printer (it takes 45 days or more to ship be sea freight, to keep our costs to you low). Diamond even has them in their warehouses now, and they’ll be in stores soon. But the delivery company that brings us our subscriber copies from the US port they arrived in, had truck problems all week, and haven’t been able to get our copies delivered to us.

They should have them to us no later than Monday (maybe today), and we’ll immediately start getting them in the mail. Thanks for your patience; both great books that’ll be to you soon!

If you’re like me (and if you read our stuff, I’m pretty sure you are), you fondly remember many of the great Bronze Age back-up features in DC’s comics. The latest BACK ISSUE (#64, shipping now) gives the lowdown on them, including Green Lantern, Green Arrow, Black Canary, Metamorpho, ARCHIE GOODWIN and WALTER SIMONSON’s Manhunter, MARTIN PASKO and KEITH GIFFEN’s Dr. Fate, “Whatever Happened To…?”, Nemesis, Rose and the Thorn, and the Seven Soldiers of Victory! Don’t miss editor Michael Eury’s latest, greatest issue, which is also in stores now.

You can download a FREE PDF preview at this link.

Or get the PRINT EDITION (at 15% off with a FREE digital edition) or DIGITAL EDITION ONLY (just $3.95) at this link.

And heck, you know you want to subscribe and get every issue, so why not take the plunge at this link?

We’re tickled pink to announce that TwoMorrows received Eisner Award nominations for two of our publications:

Best Comics-Related Periodical/Journalism: Alter Ego, edited by Roy Thomas
Best Comics-Related Book: Marie Severin: The Mirthful Mistress of Comics, by Dewey Cassell

A hearty congratulations goes out to Roy and his staff (Jim Amash, Chris Day, Bill Schelly, Michael T. Gilbert, and Paul Hamerlinck), and to Dewey Cassell and designer Scott Saavedra for their stellar work at making our company look so good!

The award voting will take place soon, with the awards given out on Friday night of Comic-Con International: San Diego this July.

With our travels to WonderCon this weekend, our huge sale online, and next week being our kids’ Spring Break from school (when we’ll be taking a few days off), TwoMorrows will be running behind on shipping the next few days.

So please be patient, and place your order as early as possible over the next week. We’ll get ’em all out asap, honest!

To celebrate TwoMorrows turning 20 this year, we’re offering an ADDITIONAL 20% OFF all purchases over $50 at our webstore, THIS WEEK ONLY, when you use this redemption code during Step Two of the checkout process:

TT20

That stands for “TwoMorrows Turns 20”, and it nets you a cool 20% off, in addition to our everyday 15% or more discount for online orders. The only things not included are subscriptions, bundles (already greatly reduced), and clearance items. But it ends SUNDAY at Midnight!

Stop by booth #924 at this weekend’s WonderCon (in Anaheim, CA, a stone’s throw from Disneyland) and see all the exciting new items we’ll be debuting! Eric Nolen-Weathington will be manning the booth for us this year. And just in time for the con, we’ve gotten a few samples copies of:

Comic Book Creator #1 (Jon B. Cooke’s new follow-up mag to Comic Book Artist)

American Comic Book Chronicles: The 1980s (the next volume in the series of comics history hardcovers, this time by Keith Dallas)

Alter Ego #116 and #117 (#117 won’t be in stores for another 45 days, but we’ve got a few copies)

Back Issue #64 (again, not in stores for a few weeks, but you can be the first to get yours at our booth)

Plugged In! (our new book on comics pros working in the video game industry, due out next week)

This show is perfect for those of you who can’t deal with the massive crowds and expense of Comic-Con every summer (if you can even get a ticket to it anymore), and it’s still a very comics-heavy convention, and plenty large. You will have a great time, guaranteed!