Over the next two weeks, we’ll be shipping three versions of our new book Carmine Infantino: Penciler, Publisher, Provocateur: Softcover, Hardcover and Limited Edition Hardcover (with an original pencil sketch by Carmine in each of 50 copies).

The limited edition was available only from our website; we announced it to our Yahoo mailing list and past customers back in the Spring, and the copies sold out quickly, so if you missed out, be sure to sign up for our Yahoo group!

Co-author Eric Nolen-Weathington just conducted an interview about the book at FirstComicNews.com, and you can read it here:

http://www.firstcomicsnews.com/?p=14564

The OTHER co-author, Jim Amash, has this to say about it on his own blog (located at http://www.myspace.com/jimspoolhall):

“As most of you know, Carmine Infantino: Penciler, Publisher, Provocateur will be out Sept. 22.  Roy Thomas wrote a terrific introduction which adds surrounding context to Carmine’s career in regard to what else was happening at the time. Legendary inker Terry Austin embellished a new version of Carmine’s original cover from the 1968 DC Special #1 cover. Also, we are printing two complete stories written and drawn by Carmine in the 1940s.  The Airboy story is in black and white, but the Heap story (a really nice job!) is in color, and is available only in the hardcover edition, which has a sixteen page color gallery.  You can get your copies at your local comic book shops, selected book stores, Amazon.com (among many other internet sites), and from the publisher at www.twomorrows.com. I hope you’ll get your copy directly from Twomorrows.  You get a 15% discount, and help insure that books like this continue to be published.”

“This is the most definitive look at Carmine’s comic book career.  In keeping with my regular style, the text is in the interview format.  I know there’s a couple of people who prefer written biographies, but I believe it’s best to let the subject speak for his/her self.  In this book, Carmine and I discuss his art style and how it changed throughout the years, and why it changed, in great detail.  That section of the interview is in the sneak preview that I posted on my blog several days ago.  Until now, Carmine has seldom talked about his publishing days in any great detail, and I believe this is be one of the most potent sections of the book, and his life.  His tenure as President and Publisher has sparked much controversy over the years, and we did not avoid the difficult parts of that time period. We spent quite a bit of time talking about the conditions of the industry as it existed at the time, including how distribution worked (and sometimes did not), and competition for newsstand sales, as well as Carmine’s ceaseless attempts to introduce new formats, ideas, creative personnel, and characters, trying to buck the trend of declining comics’ sales through the entire industry.”

“This book was several years in the making (once planned to be a multi-part interview for Alter Ego magazine), and we feel we covered Carmine’s career as fairly and honestly as we could.  It’s certainly more in depth than any book or magazine that has ever tried to define the scope of his enormous contributions to the comics medium.  No, we did not talk about his personal life.  That was purposeful.  Carmine has always been a very private man who wanted to keep it that way, and I respected his wishes.  In spite of this, you’ll get to know and understand Carmine in the context of his work, and observations about that work, and the people he encountered during his seven decades in the business.  His personality is as unique as his art, both of which are represented on virtually every page.  And we are very proud to present it to you.”

Don’t forget to download the FREE 25-page 5mb PDF preview of the chapter on Infantino’s Silver Age FLASH work and artistic approaches and influences at this link:

http://twomorrows.com/media/InfantinoPreview.pdf

I just signed the contracts, so it’s official; we’re organizing the second annual BrickMagic LEGO Festival here in Raleigh, North Carolina, on May 5-8, 2011 (Mother’s Day Weekend). Just like the 2010 show, it’ll be held at the North Raleigh Hilton, only this year, we’ve contracted for ALL of the Hilton’s space, making for even more amazing LEGO displays, guest builders, programming and panels.

More details will be coming soon at www.brickmagic.org, so if you’re into LEGO and can get to Raleigh, we’d love to see you then!

DRAW #19 is FINALLY at the printer, and sports a new cover color scheme for its final incarnation. Also new to DRAW is the triumphant return of DANNY FINGEROTH and BOB McLEOD (former editors of our dear, departed magazines WRITE NOW and ROUGH STUFF). Danny’s helming a new regular feature spotlighting the top Writer/Artists in comics, while Bob is continuing his extremely popular “Rough Critique” of newcomers’ work that he began in Rough Stuff. Editor Mike Manley is of course on hand as usual, this time with a feature-length article and demo by Doug Braithwaite.

In anticipation of the issue’s release, we’re letting readers download a FREE 5mb PDF preview of the issue at this link:

http://twomorrows.com/media/Draw19Preview.pdf

This preview features several pages of Mike Manley’s feature on Doug Braithwaite, a section of Danny Fingeroth’s interview with writer/artist R. Sikoryak, and the complete “Rough Critique” by Bob McLeod.

The full issue is available for pre-ordering directly from TwoMorrows at this link (print customers will receive a free link to the digital edition):

http://twomorrows.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=845

DRAW #19 will be on sale in comic book stores on Wednesday, September 29.

In anticipation of the release of our new book CARMINE INFANTINO: PENCILER, PUBLISHER, PROVOCATEUR, we’re letting readers download a FREE 25-page 5mb PDF preview of the chapter on Infantino’s Silver Age FLASH work and artistic approaches and influences at this link:

http://twomorrows.com/media/InfantinoPreview.pdf

Other chapters focus on Infantino’s early career in the Golden Age of comic books, his work on such Silver Age icons as Adam Strange, Batman, Elongated Man, and Detective Chimp, as well as Infantino’s controversial era as DC Comics’ editorial director, and his subsequent return to drawing comics in the 1970s, ’80s, and beyond. An introduction by comics legend Roy Thomas rounds out this comprehensive look at one of comics’ foremost creators.

The book will debut in bookstores and comic book shops on September 22, and is available for pre-ordering directly from TwoMorrows at this link:

http://twomorrows.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=897

Don’t confuse this with another Carmine Infantino book that came out a decade ago. While a fine book in its own right, that one only touched the surface of Carmine’s career. Jim Amash has done months of extensive interviews with Mr. Infantino to make this book the most comprehensive coverage ever done on his storied career. There’s plenty of in-depth information in this book that you’ll not find anywhere else.

It’s available in both softcover, and hardcover (the hardcover’ll be out about a week after the softcover ships on Sept. 22.)

Thanks to everyone who wrote and called expressing concern that Hurricane Earl might affect us here in Raleigh, NC. Turns out the big guy blew past us and didn’t really faze us in the least. We’ve dealt with some biggies over the years, but thankfully this one didn’t cause any harm, at least not for us. (In fact, we spent the Labor Day weekend at Lake Gaston north of here, and we didn’t see a single drop of rain or wind to ruin our fun.)

I’ve just posted a FREE 3mb preview of the “Spider-Clone” roundtable discussion from BACK ISSUE #44. You can download it this link:

http://twomorrows.com/media/BackIssue44Preview.pdf

The Spider-Clone Saga has its origins in Amazing Spider-Man #142 (Mar. 1975), an issue featuring the return of a female looking remarkably like the recently deceased Gwen Stacy. That storyline ended with Peter Parker to fight a clone of himself seemingly to the death, but the Spider-Clone would reappear later in the Spider-Man mythos, as recently as 2009. To get the full story behind the Spider-Clone Saga, interviewer Keith Veronese talked with Gerry Conway about the original 1970s storyline, with Steven Butler and Mark Bagley about the resurrection of the Clone as the Scarlet Spider, and with Howard Mackie, Tom DeFalco, J. M. DeMatteis, Glenn Greenberg, and Danny Fingeroth about the later follow-through of the Clone Saga.

The full issue is available for pre-ordering directly from TwoMorrows at this link (print customers will receive a free link to the digital edition):

http://twomorrows.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=914

BACK ISSUE #44 will be on sale in comic book stores on Wednesday, September 22.

In response to an awful lot of requests over the years, YES!, we are issuing a fully updated version of Kimota!, The Miracleman Companion. We first published George Khoury’s exhaustive look at the seemingly perpetually-tangled history of Marvelman/Miracleman back in 2001, and since it sold out a few years ago, it’s been selling on eBay for almost as much as the original Eclipse Miracleman issues.

Obviously, a lot’s happened legally with the character since 2001, with Neil Gaiman and Todd McFarlane both claiming ownership. Marvel Comics last year purchased the rights to Marvelman outright from creator Mick Anglo, and has been issuing reprint collections of Marvelman stories from the 1950s (but alas, the hallowed Alan Moore-written MIRACLEman stories still seem to be mired in legal quicksand, and won’t be reprinted till that’s all cleared up—hopefully soon).

The new version of Kimota! is nearing completion, so stay tuned to our site and this blog for the new release date. In the meantime, you can whet your appetite with this blog post by author George Khoury, giving a nice capsule history of what has gone before:

http://www.tor.com/blogs/2010/07/with-one-magic-word-the-miraclemanmarvelman-saga-part-one

Despite all the hyphens in the title above, I’m going to try to keep this post brief. Elsewhere across the web are numerous recaps of others’ experiences at Comic-Con International. Here’s mine in a nutshell.

• Best Overall Year ever sales-wise for us (but due to offering LOTS of things on sale, and cutting expenses all around)

• Most fun I’ve had in San Diego since the 1990s (due largely to getting to finally meet two of my long-time long-distance friends in-person for the first time: “Fantastic” Frank Johnson, and my French pal Jean Depelley)

• Least number of “regulars” in attendance of any year I can recall (but I knew going there that most of our regular friends wouldn’t attend, either due to finances, sold-out tickets, or the ever-present “it’s just too crowded” or “it’s just not fun anymore” responses)

• Best food I’ve had in SD (we rented a condo with a kitchen, and my wife Pam cooked the entire week, so we didn’t have to deal with long waits at restaurants)

• Least amount of comics stuff I’ve ever seen at Comic-Con (but boy, the Hollywood shills were there in force!)

• Most fun my kids have had there (they were old enough to attend the “Quick Draw Panel” and the “Phineas and Ferb” panel, and no one stabbed them in the eye)

• Best overall West Coast trip we’ve taken (largely due to vacationing the week BEFORE Comic-Con instead of after, when we’d be much more tired, and also due to a simply fabulous trip to the Grand Canyon to start our journey)

• Tied with last year for Weakest Kirby Tribute Panel ever (not due either year to the panelists, who were all excellent—the Con has cut the panel from 90 minutes down to 1 hour because of lack of programming room space, and by the time all the intros are made and announcements of upcoming Kirby items are made, there’s little time for the panel to talk about Jack)

• Awfully long Eisner Awards ceremony (which it usually is; but at 11pm, they were only about half-way through the awards, and I had to call it a night, since I had to get back to our condo, and be in the Exhibit Hall to open our booth at 8:30 am the next morning); even if Alter Ego had won, I still hope they’ll find a way to shorten it in the future.

There’s lots of hub-bub about whether or not Comic-Con will move out of San Diego (with Los Angeles/Anaheim the most likely new location if they do). I love San Diego. It’s one of the most beautiful cities I’ve been to, and the weather’s usually picture perfect at Comic-Con. But if they don’t find a way to expand to accommodate more panels about comics, and sell more tickets, I think they should move. With Hollywood and other non-comics stuff basically taking over 2/3 of the event (in my unscientific estimate of the floor plan), the comics representation is basically about where it was back in 2000. Yes, there’s arguably about as much comics stuff as years ago, but now there’s lots more non-comics stuff, so the comics are being dwarfed in comparison. And with so many non-comics people and companies competing for tickets and booth space, Comic-Con will soon completely lose its old identity unless they find room to expand in their present locale, or move.

If it’s the only way to keep the “comics” in Comic-Con, I hope they move to Anaheim. There’s plenty of cheaper hotels there, more exhibit space, and hey, you can still take a couple of extra days after to vacation down in San Diego. Frankly, SD’s a lot more fun as a vacation spot AFTER the Comic-Con crowd leaves, and the pace slows down.

Having said all that, I want to make one thing clear: Comic-Con is still by far the best-run convention I’ve ever attended. The fact that it’s so large makes that even more amazing. After having organized a LEGO Convention in Raleigh, NC this year, I have an even greater level of respect for the Comic-Con organizers, and amazement at how they run it without a hitch year after year. As long as there’s comics at Comic-Con, TwoMorrows will be there every year, and everyone involved in running it deserves major kudos for a job repeatedly well done.

Our new book The Thin Black Line: Perspectives on Vince Colletta, Comics’ Most Controversial Inker is just out, and it’s already garnering rave reviews for its fair-handed treatment of its subject. Here’s one example from reviewer Dan Nadel:

http://comicscomicsmag.com/2010/08/whats-wrong-with-this-picture-2.html

The book debuted last week at Comic-Con, and we sold completely out there. When we first announced it, a lot of people were puzzled: “Why would anyone do a book on Vince Colletta?” I was asked numerous times.

Now that they’ve read it, they totally understand, and many, like Nadel, want to see an even more extensive look into Colletta’s life and career (which Vince’s con Franklin has been working on, and hopes to have published soon).

Yknow, contrary to what some believe, I like Vinnie’s inks over some artists, and even like his Jimmy Olsen work over Kirby. In doing the book, I think I discovered why.

I searched for before/after comparisons where Vinnie omitted stuff in Jimmy Olsen, but I only have access to pencil copies of the last half of Jack’s run on the series. And there’s virtually no examples of erasures, unlike the earlier Thor work, where omissions are all over the place. (I designed the book, and could’ve easily added dozens more Thor before/after examples if there’d been room. But I had trouble finding a single instance in Jimmy Olsen #139-148.)

This may’ve been Jack figuring “Vinnie’s going to omit all the details anyway” and Jack putting less into those pages for him to erase. But I think more likely, it was a result of Kirby confronting Vinnie up at DC around 1971 (when he got Royer assigned as new inker on the other Fourth World books), as documented in the book. I suspect Vinnie was more concerned about being faithful to Jack’s pencils after that heated exchange, which apparently was pretty unpleasant for both men.

If you’ve been trying to take us up on our newly posted FREE Digital Editions of our latest issues, you’re not alone! Our servers have been overloaded with thousands of orders since Sunday, so you may have had trouble getting through, or your downloads may have gotten corrupted and wouldn’t open.

If that’s the case, please try again in a day or two when things have slowed down a bit, and they should work fine. Sorry for the inconvenience.