This blog has been pretty quiet for some time, and below is a link to a news video that’ll give you an idea why.

http://news.mync.com/site/news/video/10838/

In addition to my regular chores keeping our various publications coming out on time, TwoMorrows has been organizing the BrickMagic Festival for LEGO Fans, which took place this past weekend. That video is of me appearing on our local NBC news station, during the two-day set-up for this massive event.

The sheer amount of work involved coordinating such an event was far more than I ever imagined (and I imagined a LOT of work ahead when we signed the papers with the hotel that hosted in last year). And we’ve still easily got a solid week of work just to clean it all up, send thank-yous, and hopefully get a little rest.

It was, by most accounts, an overwhelming success. The LEGO builders who came to display their creations seemed to have a great time during the private convention on Thursday and Friday. The vendors had some of the best (in some cases THE best) sales of any event they’ve attended. And the public came in droves, and were really impressed by the displays, special guests, and panels we assembled.

It wasn’t perfect. The event had some technical glitches early on Saturday morning, but a slew of volunteers helped up immeasurably in fixing the snags, and by Sunday, things were running very smoothly. We learned (and are continuing to learn, through feedback) so much that’ll help us make future events even better. And the final head count topped just over 8000 public attendees over the two-day public event—a response that still has all our heads spinning.

Hats off to everyone who took a chance by attending our first event, and especially to our volunteers, guest of honor Nathan Sawaya, all the AFOLs (Adult Fans of LEGO) who displayed their work, to Maria Anderson, Michelle Kaney, and Jennifer Kearney for their efforts above and beyond the call of duty, to Joe Meno for his perseverance, my Mom and Rich Meyer for hanging in there with me the whole time, and especially to my wife Pam, for the nonstop attention to detail that kept us all from falling apart during the long, hectic, but totally invigorating weekend. We’ll definitely be back again next year!

Note to TwoMorrows customers who use Paypal: Because of a bug between Windows 7 and Paypal, we’ve temporarily had to disable the Paypal payment option, due to the high volume of ticket customers for our BrickMagic Festival, who were having difficulties with Paypal.

All other payment forms (Visa, Mastercard, AMEX, Discover, and Check/money order) are still available for your purchases at www.twomorrows.com

We will be re-enabling Paypal again within two weeks, as soon as the BrickMagic Festival is over on May 10. Thanks for your patience.

Long time no post, but I’ll get back in the swing soon. But first, gotta mention that ALTER EGO is nominated for “Best Comics-Related Periodical” in the 2010 Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards! Congratulations to editor Roy Thomas, and the whole Alter Ego crew (Jim Amash, Chris Day, Bill Schelly, Paul Hamerlinck, Michael T. Gilbert, Marcus Swayze, and all the regular contributors) for their hard work paying off with this honor.

The awards ceremony takes place Friday, July 23 at Comicon International: San Diego. ALTER EGO won this award a couple of years ago, and we’ll be on hand to see if it wins again this year.

If you’re an industry professional (artist, writer, letterer, colorist, editor, publisher, inker, etc.), you can vote online at:

http://www.eisnervote.com/

Not a dream! Not an imaginary story or a hoax! AND DEFINITELY NOT AN APRIL FOOL’S JOKE! (We promise!)

Our copies of AGE OF TV HEROES just arrived from our printer late today (Wednesday), and we’ll be shipping them out over the next two days. If you preordered from us, look for yours in the mail soon. If you haven’t yet ordered it, you can go to http://twomorrows.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=741 and place your order now, and save 15% off the cover price!

Age of TV Heroes examines the history of the live-action television adventures of everyone’s favorite comic book heroes! This handsome full-color hardcover features the in-depth stories of the actors and behind-the-scene players that made the classic super-hero television programs we all grew up with. From legendary shows like The Adventures of Superman and Batman, to the modern era of The Tick and Smallville, it’s colorfully presented in vivid detail, lavishly designed with a bevy of color photographs. Included are new and exclusive interviews and commentary from Adam West (Batman), Lynda Carter (Wonder Woman), Patrick Warburton (The Tick), Nicholas Hammond (Spider-Man), William Katt (The Greatest American Hero), Jack Larson (The Adventures of Superman), John Wesley Shipp (The Flash), Jackson Bostwick (Shazam!), and many more, including comments from Reb Brown, Stephen J. Cannell, Chip Kidd, Stan Lee, Noel Neill, John Romita, Alex Ross, Ilya Salkind, Lou Scheimer, Lorenzo Semple, Lyle Waggoner, and other actors, producers, and crew. Re-experience the pop culture birth of the super-hero phenomenon, and relive the first time that these heroes came to life on TV! Written by Jason Hofius and George Khoury, with a new cover by superstar painter Alex Ross!

Full-color HARDCOVER, $39.95 cover price

Thanks one last time for your continued patience on this book; it’s been a long wait for some of you, but the book is gorgeous, and I’m confident you’re going to love it!

AGE OF TV HEROES finally ships March 24! Yes, I know we’ve announced the release of this book something like 138 times since the original announcement back in 2006. Yes, at least one of the TV stars interviewed for the book has sadly passed away since then, never to see it in print. But all that embarrassment aside, this is one friggin’ awesome full-color hardcover book, and it’s FINALLY ON PRESS!

No really, believe it! All the legal hassles are cleared! Authors George Khoury and Jason Hofius have started dancing an Irish jig! And this puppy will be heading to stores and customers’ mailboxes by the end of this month.

Still don’t trust me? Check out the exclusive 12-page PDF Preview of the book here!

Been busy. Mondo busy. Working like crazy to get a huge batch of books and mags (including my own Jack Kirby Collector) to press, and in customers’ hands. Here’s what’s officially in the mail (and stores) now:

Modern Masters Vol. 24: Guy Davis

Sal Buscema: Comics’ Fast & Furious Artist (softcover, hardcover, and the oh-so-rare 52-copy Ultra-Limited Edition, each featuring a custom sketch by Sal; sorry gang, all the Ultra-Limiteds are sold already!)

Jack Kirby Collector #54

Alter Ego #92

If you haven’t gotten your copy yet, please be patient. The US Postal Service actually does have a few more pieces of mail to deliver than the ones we just dropped off at our local Raleigh, NC branch. (And man, with the number of pieces we just dropped off, you can believe we high-tailed it outta there after leaving them at the loading dock, lest some disgruntled postal employee decided to get gruntled on us, if ya know what I mean…)

But wait, there’s more! If you order by midnight tonight (and even if you don’t), we’ll be frantically working to get these extra items in the mail, all week long!

Back Issue #39

Modern Masters Vol. 22: Mark Buckingham

What’s that you say? Why is Volume 22 of the Modern Masters series appearing AFTER Volume 24? And what pray tell happened to Volume 23? Some things were meant to be kept a secret from mere mortals, my friend.

Fortunately, this ain’t one of them. See, each of the Modern Masters artists have different schedules, and we work around them as best we can, and still try to keep the series coming out in numerical order. Once in a while, things don’t go as planned, so Bucky’s volume ran a bit later than planned. Guy Davis’ is actually pretty much right on time. And unfortunately, due to scheduling conflicts with Darwyn Cooke, we’ve been unable to complete Volume 23 as planned, so we’re having to reschedule it. We hope to have a new release date for the book shortly, so please stay tuned to our website, and thanks for your patience.

Now go order something!

If you read our publications, you likely already know about George Tuska, one of the most prolific artists of the Golden and Silver Ages. He died last October at the age of 93, but we were honored to produce the first career-spanning book on George and his life, titled The Art of George Tuska (by Dewey Cassell, with help from Aaron Sultan and Mike Gartland). The book features a Foreword by Stan Lee, and is chockful of great Tuska art, as well as a career-encompassing interview.

I wanted to alert fans that Diamond Comic Distributors has just snatched up almost our entire remaining stock of that book, and we only have about two dozen copies left here at TwoMorrows. So if you missed this book, this is probably your last chance to pick up a copy without paying exorbitant prices on eBay. Here’s the link to order:

http://twomorrows.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=299

And if you’re a Tuska fan, keep your eyes peeled for Jack Kirby Collector #54, which’ll FINALLY be shipping (if I get my can in gear over the next week and complete it) on March 5. It not only features George’s final (albeit brief) interview (conducted by his good friend Mike Gartland), but I’m going to totally mess with our distributors, retailers, and customers, and pull a last-minute switch of cover art—taking the Kirby/Tuska collaboration that I’d planned for the BACK cover of that issue, and moving it to the FRONT cover as a long overdue tribute to Mr. Tuska, and a nod to Mike Gartland, who (as you’ll see in that issue) really busts my chops for not featuring George’s work on a TJKC cover while he was still with us. New cover art is below!

Alter Ego associate editor Jim Amash added this post to his own blog, and I’m offering it here as well, as I think it conveys some great info:

From JIM AMASH:

The January issue of Alter Ego is out now, printing part one of my two part interview with First Kingdom creator Jack Katz.  In this issue, Jack and I spend a lot of time talking about his childhood memories of Alex Toth, Pete Morisi, Alphonso Greene, and their visits with comics’ legend Frank Robbins (writer/artist of the Scorchy Smith and Johnny Hazard newspaper strips). Some of these stories were told to me by Alex Toth during our many long phone calls, and so I found it interesting to hear Jack’s take on those events.  The stories were similar in the telling – the difference being that Jack had quite a bit to say about the young Alex Toth.

Alex had told me a fair amount about his childhood, which was often not a happy one. Jack and I talked about some of it (though not all of it, for print, anyway).  Jack spoke eloquently about his old friend, and how Alex was an intense personality even in his teen years.  Our sadness about Alex and his problems has always been a topic for private discussion between Jack and I, and I confess to having lingering thoughts about how much of it to print.  We loved Alex, and there was no joy in taping this part of the interview. It was very emotional for both of us, especially for Jack, who knew Alex long before I was even born.

Yes, there were a couple things Jack and I discussed that we were not comfortable in printing.  I faced this same problem when Alex died, and Roy and I decided to devote Alter Ego #63 to Alex.  Alex told me much about his life, good and bad, and in seeking a balanced look at the man, I had to seriously weigh not just what to say, but what not to say.  It’s one thing to write biography about someone you don’t know, and another thing when you knew the person, and knew him as well as I did Alex.  I wrote as objective a piece as possible, realizing that someday, I would have more to say on the subject of Alex Toth.  Alex was a complicated man (as I’ve found most people to be), and undoubtedly, Dean Mullaney – who is writing an authorized biography of Alex’s life – faces the same concerns.

The problem is that too many people concentrate on Alex’s foibles, often neglecting his virtues.  I worried about that when I wrote about him, and interviewed those who knew him in AE #63: Jack Mendelsohn, Sy Barry, Joe Kubert, Lew Sayre Schwartz, and Sparky Moore.  Jack Katz and I had the same fears during our interview, and while we privately questioned (off tape) what we were doing, we both realized the importance of Alex’s legacy, good and bad, and the necessity of speaking our minds.  Otherwise, we wouidn’t be giving an honest evaluation of a man who was, at times, a big part of our lives.

Many of my interview subjects face this dilemma when I ask about people they knew.  Sometimes, they clam up, and say very little, and sometimes, they have no fear in saying what they think.  We know that what gets into print becomes part of a historical record, and there is a responsibility that goes with it.  Everyone, from Roy Thomas, John Morrow, the interview subjects, and myself, recognize that, and operate within that framework.  In doing so, we hope that you find the work informative, honest, revealing, and historically important in understanding those who made the comics.  Some of it is cold, hard fact, and some of it is personal opinion.  That’s what oral history is about.  That’s a large part of what Alter Ego is about it.  At times there is a Rashomon effect in oral history, but that’s part and parcel of biography.  People are entitled to their point of view, and we do our best to relate their experiences.

I’m curious to hear what you think when you read what Jack and I say in this issue, and the next, too, when we talk about Joe Simon and Jack Kirby.  Jack Katz’s memories of Kirby are extensive, describing aspects of Jack Kirby that no one else has said in print.  I think you’ll find it worth your time.