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  • Photo of alandaviddoane

    11:16 AM [LINK TO THIS]

    http://www.comicbookgalaxy.com/blog/2008/05/fantagraphics-go...
    204 days ago in The ADD Blog at Comic Book Galaxy - Pushing Comix Forward · Authority: 47

    Fantagraphics Goes Diamond-Exclusive for Direct Market -- Tom Spurgeon has a great news article up on this move, rumoured the past few days. I won't pretend to understand the ins and outs of Fantagraphics' decision, except to say that I hope Eric Reynolds, Fantagraphics' expert publicist, is right when he says it will benefit the company and readers (like me) who buy their wares through the direct market. Respected retailer Chris Butcher has serious concerns, and lays them out well in his comments in Spurgeon's story. My experience has been that Diamond has not been particularly conscientious about serving non-Marvel/DC publishers and the readers who order their titles, so I definitely will reserve judgment and again, hope that Fantagraphics really does know what it is doing. I don't know much of anything about Tony Shenton, apparently an independent distributor who handled Fantagraphics publications and is seemingly being shut out by this deal. I hope he is able to ride out this change without a disastrous effect on the way he makes his living. Like I say, I don't know much about him, but if he's been distributing Fantagraphics publications to comic book stores these past few years, he has to be one of the good guys, and I wish him well in the wake of this rather amazing announcement. Update: Chris Butcher has posted his full response to Tom Spurgeon's questions on his own blog. Updated Again: Eric Reynolds responds, quite convincingly, to Butcher's concerns. // posted by Alan David Doane @

  • Photo of icaruscomics

    Last Fanta/Diamond links; Comic AG 82 now printing

    http://www.icaruscomics.com/wp_web/?p=1220
    203 days ago in Icarus Publishing · Keeping the "manga is porn" stereotype alive · Authority: 31

    Last Fanta/Diamond links; Comic AG 82 now printing By Simon Comic AG issue 81 and After School Sex Slave Club should have arrived in stores last week, but I’d like to remind you again to do your part to help me the country out of economic recession, and spend that tax rebate on some good ol’ Japanese porn, why don’t you? +++ The last couple of links on the Fantagraphics/Diamond story, I promise… Retailer Christopher Butcher posts his complete thoughts on the matter, which turn out to be a bit more hopeful than the original excerpt suggested.  The concerns raised here, Diamond’s poor record at filling orders of Fantagraphics’ books, are probably universal for many retailers, for comics from any publisher not in the top 10.  (Yet, is Diamond’s fill rate really bad as compared to… whom?) Fanta co-publisher Kim Thompson alludes to unfilled invoices from bankrupt distributors as one reason Fantagraphics chose exclusivity with Diamond, which reminds me to make this correction: Diamond isn’t the only “national” comics distributor, as I may have said here and elsewhere.  Haven Distribution took over the stock from Cold Cut (books which weren’t all completely paid for, ahem) and continues their efforts to serve retailers who carry alternative/small press comics.  Although, and I’m just guessing here, if Fantagraphics’ experience near the end of Cold Cut was anything similar to mine, it’d be totally understandable why Fanta chose to forego working with Cold Cut’s new incarnation. +++ Journalista discusses the question of whether digital delivery is something publishers should embrace, and the quagmire the industry (in particular manga publishers) has found itself in with regards to unauthorized online scans.  Just skip the first three paragraphs if you don’t want to read about Diamond exclusivity anymore… +++ Comic AG issue 82 is now printing.  This one features the last Yamatogawa and Umashika story before both of those books go to trade, so savor it…

  • Photo of Comixace

    Fantagraphics goes exclusive with Diamond

    http://pwbeat.publishersweekly.com/blog/2008/05/15/fantagrap...
    203 days ago in THE BEAT · Authority: 581

    Diamond sent out a press release yesterday confirming that Fantagraphics is going exclusive to the comic shop trades with Diamond. You can read the whole thing in the jump. While Norton’s exclusive with FBI to bookstroes remains untouched, Diamond Books will sell them in Canada. The main reasons for the move are covered in a very lengthy report at The Comics Reporter, including the ability to offer a higher discount to comics shops, and the growing costs of selling direct to over 3000 retailers. Or as Tom sums up: As for why Fantagraphics made this move, the fundamental reason is likely to be found in what they describe as the declining fortunes of the DM side of their overall business and what they as a small company with limited resources is able to invest in that side of their business in order to give it the best chance running smoothly and perhaps enabling it to grow. As much sense as it makes, there is a feeling that you can’t escape the Diamond monopoly any more, and that just doesn’t make sense on principle. Chris Butcher leads the loyal opposition: We really wish that Fantagraphics had consulted us as their retail partners before they made this move, because we would have said “Good God No, Don’t Do It.” We’re very sympathetic to the general indifference of the Direct Market to good comics, including those that Fantagraphics publishes, and we understand the reasons they made their decision. Speaking from our point of view though, we like the opportunity to deal directly with Fantagraphics, because if Fanta has a book in print, then they will have it in stock. That is not the case with Diamond. Even on the largest publishers that have moved their Direct Market business exclusive with Diamond, publishers like Viz and Tokyopop, our fill rates on in-print books are less than adequate. We hope that Fanta knows what they’re in for on that front. Diamond Comic Distributors is pleased to announce it has cemented an exclusive distribution deal with Fantagraphics Books to exclusively distribute their products to comic book, game, and specialty store market outlets worldwide. As a result of this exclusive arrangement, Diamond customers will receive an increased discount on Fantagraphics titles, which were formerly available primarily at an F discount (lower of 45% or Standard Discount), but will now be offered at an E discount (lower of 50% or Standard Discount). Furthermore, this new relationship will allow Diamond to stock the full range of Fantagraphics titles in deeper quantities, resulting in increased fill rates for retailers. Another bonus to stores already carrying a wide selection of Fantagraphics Books will be the ability to combine shipping with other product ordered through Diamond, effectively cutting retailers’ expenses on shipping (as opposed to ordering direct from the publisher). Diamond and Fantagraphics Books have had a longstanding relationship in the comic book specialty market, going back over 25 years of distributing Fantagraphics’ award-winning graphic novels and comics. Fantagraphics Books has become the leading publisher of alternative or “art” comics in North America. The company was a vocal proponent of comics as an authentic artistic expression since 1976 when it began publishing The Comics Journal, a magazine devoted to the history and aesthetics of cartooning. By the early 1980s, Fantagraphics found itself at the forefront of the burgeoning movement to carve out a place for comics in popular culture next to fiction, film, and music. Fantagraphics has gained an international reputation for the consistency of its high editorial and production standards and the range of its publishing program — from Charles Schulz and Jules Feiffer to Daniel Clowes and the Hernandez Brothers. “This new relationship with Diamond in the Direct Market will better serve retailers in every way,” said Fantagraphics Publicity Director Eric Reynolds. “They will get a better discount, better shipping rates, and have our entire backlist available for immediate reorder. It will also free up some resources here to focus more concertedly on the direct market.” “We’re pleased that Fantagraphics has decided to expand our relationship and entrust us with such critical parts of their business,” said Diamond Vice President of Purchasing Bill Schanes. “We look forward to working with Fantagraphics as they truly embody the true art and expression that is the comics and graphic novels medium.” Additionally, Diamond was also awarded the rights to exclusively distribute Fantagraphics Books products to the Canadian book market under the banner of its sister company, Diamond Book Distributors. Fantagraphics will continue to be represented to the U.S. book market by W.W. Norton & Co.

  • Photo of deppey

    May 15, 2008: Ready or not…

    http://tcj.com/journalista/?p=598
    203 days ago in Journalista - the news weblog of The Comics Journal · Authority: 185

    “Not to put too fine a point on it, but as The Beguiling we’re fortunate enough talk to reps from a large number of publishers, great and small, and many of them really aren’t happy with their exclusivity deals with Diamond. No one will go on the record about it of course, because regardless of exclusivity or not they’re still going to be working with Diamond going forward and being openly critical of Diamond is not the best way to get good service from them. So, no one talks about how things are not going the way they had hoped, and everyone re-ups for another few years hoping things will change because hey, everyone else is doing it.” - Christopher Butcher I can back Butcher up on this one: If there’s anything that the Diamond-exclusive publishers to whom I’ve talked during my tenure as managing editor of The Comics Journal can agree upon, it’s that Diamond is the dictionary definition of a mediocre distributor, both in bookstores and in comics shops. The one possible exception is Strangers in Paradise creator/publisher Terry Moore, who’s had success in bookstores with Diamond primarily because he takes their indifference into account when planning out his marketing. From my interview with Moore in The Comics Journal #276: A couple of years ago we signed with Diamond Books, never for a second thinking they were going to be the key to success, just knowing that we needed their routing and their network to make our books easily available. My relationship with Diamond Books is the same as it was with Antarctic Press. They freight the book for me, but I never think they’re going to make me famous. I have to do all the promo work myself, I have to get the book out there and go to the shows. Diamond has a booth set up at all these shows, and they’ll show the book for you, but it’s not the same as having your own booth and sell, sell, sell. The folks at Fantagraphics are savvy and knowledgeable people, and the arguments that the’ve made for Fantagraphics’ recent move toward quasi-exclusivity with Diamond in the Direct Market make reasonable amounts of sense — but I can see why Butcher might feel uneasy over the whole deal. Hopefully such concern will prove to be unwarranted. Elsewhere, Tom Spurgeon discusses the reader response to his essay on the high price of comics. I want to… well, not respond so much as provide a counterpoint to Spurgeon’s thoughts on digital comics: Basically, I’m not convinced that on-line media works as a direct replacement for comic books’ traditional role as a sampler system, [nor] should it. I don’t think it works as a replacement, at least not as the industry approaches it right now, in part because the experience of reading some comics on-line is extremely different than the experience of reading them in print and in some cases it’s so close to being the same thing. In the former case I think it creates a different experience. In the latter case, I think it creates a substitute experience that has the advantage to the consumer of being free. This sets up a system where the sampling must lead to a secondary purchase in order to benefit the creator and publisher, and although we have a few examples of this happening, I’m not convinced this will always happen. Spurgeon seems to operate from the assumption that any online system should replace the system that we have now under terms that preserve whatever comfort provided by the present system. It’s a nice idea and I hope that things work out that way, but I’m not at all convinced that anyone is going to get a choice in the matter. I think it far more likely that publishers and creators are going to wind up reacting to the online world as it sets the agenda — that the environment will to shape its inhabitants, rather than the other way around. There’s no question that the environment is already here. While cartooning traditionalists can argue that the reading experience “isn’t there yet” — scrolling is obnoxious, you can’t read digital comics on the toilet, you can’t compete with free, blah blah blah — the newer generations of computer users are already beyond such concerns. To them, scrolling is second nature, wireless laptops as lightweight as books, and free fuckin’ rules, dude! More to the point, while it’s fine to argue that you shouldn’t be forced to compete with free content, let alone your own free content, it’s quite another to do so while standing next to mountains of free content (including your own, suddenly free content) as people all around the world steal from it as though you weren’t even there. Opinions vary wildly as to what to do under such circumstances, but it’s far too late to pretend that the question is theoretical. Take, for example, the emormous groundswell of manga readers who three years ago had already been reading Masashi Kishimoto’s Naruto in scanlated form, well before the series was officially available in either anime or printed manga form. Part of the reason that Naruto did so well right out of the gate was precisely because it hit cable TV and bookstores with a sizeable fanbase already in place. But this hasn’t been without consequence. In theory, Viz Media is the only licensed North American distributor on the franchise in both of its media forms. In practice, however, Viz competes not only with amateur translators who make their efforts available freely online, but also with several websites that specialise in fast, guaranteed Naruto downloads in both fansubbed and scanlated forms, the most notorious being Narutofan.com, which in all likelihood is pulling in several million dollars a year from its blatant international piracy of the property. (The site has put its membership statistics behind a subscriber firewall, but several years ago, before it did so, it was boasting over a hundred thousand members. Granted, many of them were simply signed up to use the message boards and such, but if even 15% of them were paying ten bucks a month for the “plus” membership… well, you do the math. How much has it grown since then? I would imagine that there’s a reason for keeping such information behind the firewall, let’s put it that way.) Now, this presents Viz with a problem: Attack the scanlators and fansubbers, and they’ll be perceived as attacking their own fan base — and we all see how well that worked out for the recording industry. Attack the giant pirate profiteers and you could be destroying a potential source of revenue, provided you can figure out to co-opt them. (Remember: It was the music industry’s decision to crush Napster rather than negotiate that led to the splintering of online piracy, guaranteeing that what could have been nipped in the bud would instead become ubiquitous.) Do nothing, and… well, and you’re just standing there while people steal from you. Should you creating a streaming-video rental service and sell digital comics online? Not if the licensors have anything to say about it, you won’t. It’s not a situation given to easy answers, and it’s not a situation where Viz could have simply said “No” and avoided it. These days, change comes whether you like it or not. For larger Western publishers like Marvel and DC, the pressure to adapt to new technology won’t be overwhelming for several years yet, but it’s already growing around their ankles. For them, the biggest impetus for change is the rising prominence of online piracy, as best exemplified by groups like Digital Comics Preservation (DCP), who each week post the majority of the Direct Market’s genre-based output online in single, easily downloaded collections. Because the BitTorrent protocol is decentralized, there’s no single website that you can threaten with lawyers in such a way as to stop it; a given torrent file will usually be linked by a dozen or so different tracker sites, providing a number of ways to reach them and the surety that other tracking sites will appear faster than existing ones can be shut down. It’s difficult to tell exactly how many people download such collections each week, but I’d be surprised if it didn’t end up being a five-figure number. And because Marvel and DC increasingly depend upon massive, multi-title “tentpole” crossovers to generate big money, the temptation for readers to save some cash and download crossover titles is already fairly great, and will only grow larger. Complicating matters, Marvel and DC dare not sell digital copies of their product simultaneously with the printed pamphlets, lest they provoke the retailers who provide them with the majority of their revenues. So fans download comics rather than buying them, which in turn lowers print runs, which drives up costs, which leads to higher retail prices, which encourages further piracy, which in turn lowers print runs… Smaller publishers have the advantage of catering to an existing audience that fetishizes paper and high production values, but as the larger comics scene becomes enmeshed with the sort of issues enumerated above, it’s difficult to imagine how said issues can fail to become a factor for even the artiest of art-comics publishers as time passes. The first generation to grow up with modern technology — to assume that any information that can’t be saved to disc is clumsy and old-fashioned — is already fifteen years old and looking for the mouse. I don’t see how anyone can presume to be immune. It was all of thirty seconds’ work for me to Google up torrent links to complete digital sets of both Jeff Smith’s Bone and the Hernandez Brothers’ Love and Rockets just now. Spurge argues that current digital comics cannot replace print pamphlets as a sampler delivery system. Alas, for a significant-and-growing number of comics readers, digitized comics already have replaced the print variety as a sampler delivery system, which effectively renders his point moot. If the Internet is a troubling conundrum to publishers, however, it’s something quite different to independent creators not yet aligned with major print-publishing houses. To them, online comics are already a major arsenal in building a career, and the pressure to get it online is only going to increase as time passes. It’s virtually impossible to jumpstart a self-publishing career in the Direct Market the way that Dave Sim and the Pinis did thirty years ago. Even if their goal is print publication, creators nonetheless need a way to get their work out there and build up interest in it. If you want to go the self-publishing route, the Internet is perilously close to your only choice if you want to build an audience above and beyond what’s possible from your local Kinko’s. Spurgeon discusses his hope in the pursuit of multiple avenues, and it’s the sort of platitude that seems foolish to argue against — of course you should try every means available to succeed — but in the end artists and their work are going to head toward the biggest and most promising pipeline that they can find. Ask yourself: Five years down the line, will it be less difficult to get work into comics shops and bookstores, or more difficult? (Keywords: monopoly, shelf space.) Likewise, Spurgeon’s recommendation that everyone jump into the affordable-downloads pool is smart, but would require a common format and Amazon.com-style central location to be truly effective against piracy, let alone as a starting point from which to build a proper, post-print comics industry that can reach out to new readers. In the end, my money is on pure chaos and the innovations of random people, who stumble onto solutions through sheer trial and error. Fortunes will be spent in vain on solutions that won’t work at all. In fact, they’re almost certainly being spent in vain right now. If all of this sounds harsh or unnerving… well, let me quote one Mr. R. Fiore, writing in the pages of the 100th issue of The Comics Journal back in 1985: These are bad times for art and artists. That doesn’t bother me much, and for those who think that art can’t survive in times like these I have nothing but contempt. If art can’t survive in a hostile environment, then it’s no damned use. Anybody can do well in utopia. I’m not bothered because to overcome the limits of the time you were born in is the least any decent person can do. It’s like jacks or better to open; after that you see how well you do. Future times will judge us not on the quality of our excuses but on what we make of what we’ve got. It could be worse. Dante drew the plague years. It doesn’t have to be bleak. Look at it this way: Less than a decade after a full majority of Westerners first migrated online, a number of cartoonists already earn a living through their websites. It’s a small number compared to the whole, to be sure, but these are still early days. As computer technology gets more and more portable, and more and more people get comfortable with reading from screens, we could be headed for a golden age where the cost of access is low, the promise of success is wide open and the gatekeepers are less likely to be money men than the critics and content aggregators whose opinions most seem to match your own, and whom you trust to steer you towards new things. Change is coming whether you like it or not, but it’s entirely possible that you might not die from it. Alternately: We could be headed toward a forked Internet, user-tracking at the ISP level and proprietary DRM standards that lock out everyone but Microsoft and Paramount Pictures from the means of production unless they risk the Darknet and the inevitable FBI raid. Still, you can’t win if you don’t play, right? (Above: four excerpts from the Scary Go Round story “The Child,” ©2005 John Allison.) A reminder: The family of Gene Colan are having immense difficulties paying his medical bills. Caring readers who would like to assist them have two ways to do so: You can bid in one of the Colans’ eBay auctions, which would not only put money in their hands but also net you a nice piece of art, to boot. Do as I did, and make a direct donation via Paypal, where the Colans are registered as genecolan@optonline.net — just log into your account, hit the “send money” button, and insert said email address and the amount you wish to donate into the appropriate boxes. Oh, and you might want to mention the word “donation” prominently in the comments box, so the Colans don’t have to sort through a bunch of listings to find the eBay payments. (Right: Gene Colan’s cover for The Comics Journal #231, which featured an extensive interview with the artist.) Above the Fold [Top Story] Alan Gardner reports that Mort Walker’s International Museum of Cartoon Art has found a new home at last: Ohio State University’s Cartoon Research Library, which according to CRL curator Lucy Shelton Caswell will display the collection in a gallery named in Walker’s honor. [Top Story] Warner Brothers recently shut down a series of online charity auctions intended to raise money for children with cancer, due to the fact that the art being auctioned contained the trademarked characters of their subsidiary, DC Comics. Jeff Trexler explains the likely reasons for Warner’s actions. [Top Story] Boys Next Door reports an amiable conclusion to the Yaoi House debacle: Elizabeth Cameron will replace Kira Takenouchi as president, and the company is releasing all its current authors from their contacts, offering to work with them if they choose to stay but allowing them to take projects elsewhere if the recent shenanigans have left them unwilling to continue relationships with the publisher. (First link via Gia Manry.) [Publishing] Charts time! Jay Kinney’s Diary of a Wimpy Kid books begin a slow slide from the top of this week’s USA Today top-150 bestselling books chart, with the first volume slipping eleven places to #41, and the second volume dropping twelve places to #37. Racing up the chart to meet them is the 29th volume of Masashi Kishimoto’s Naruto, which climbs thirteen places to #44 on the chart. In France, the usual suspects remain in place on BDzoom’s de-mangafied top-fifteen bestselling albums list (Google translation), while new volumes from a different breed of usual suspects shuffle around on BDzoom’s de-everythingelsified top-fifteen bestselling manga list (Google translation). In Japan, Naruto Vol. 42 (cover pictured at right) holds the top slot for a second week on Tohan’s top-ten bestselling manga chart — ComiPress has the translation. [Retailing] Elizabeth Genco asks a variety of retailers: “How do I get my indy book into your comics shop?” Literary Comics [Profile] Kate Schatz speaks with Likewise author Ariel Schrag. [Review] Andrew Wheeler on Eddie Campbell and Dan Best’s forthcoming book, The Amazing Remarkable Monsieur Leotard. (Above: a scene from the book, ©2008 Eddie Campbell.) [Review] Jillian Steinhauer on Leah Hayes’ Funeral of the Heart. [Review] Matthew Brady on Jaime Hernandez’ Perla la Loca. [Commentary] Bill Randall looks at the patterns and lines found in David B.’s Epileptic. Pop Comics [Review] Christopher Butcher on Alex Ross, Jim Krueger & Co.’s revisionist Project Superpowers. [Review] Don MacPherson on Grant Morrison, Tony Daniels and Sandu Florea’s Batman #676. (Above: scene from the comic, ©2008 DC Comics.) [Review] David Wallace on Bryan Lee O’Malley’s Scott Pilgrim’s Precious Little Life. [Review] Dick Hyacinth on Warren Ellis and John Cassaday’s Planetary. [Commentary] Timothy Callahan explains why Matt Fraction, Gabriel Bá and Fabio Moon’s Casanova matters. [Comics] Steven Grant (scroll down) presents a sci-fi adventure drawn by Al Williamson and Frank Frazetta. (Above: splash panel from Danger is Our Business #1, ©1953 Toby Press.) [Oddity] Steve Niles and Gary Panter collaborating on a sci-fi graphic novel for Microsoft’s failed Zune media player? What? Manga [Scene] The Comic Market Committee has released an informative overview of the history, structure and demographics of the world’s largest comics-related event, Tokyo’s Comiket, in downloadable PDF format. (2.3MB file; link via Simon Jones.) [Review] Tom Spurgeon on the first volume of Osamu Tezuka’s Dororo. Digital Comics [Review] Rob Clough on a variety of online strips by Jason Little, Peter Conrad, Josh Neufeld, Tim Kreider, Ruben Bolling and Dash Shaw. Cartooning [Analysis] So how did Danish cartoonists conduct themselves during Denmark’s occupation during WWII? Kellie Strøm does a little investigating. [Profile] Lo-Fi St. Louis presents a video profile of Blab! impresario Monte Beauchamp. (Above: screenshot from the video.) [Profile] Lea Sanford spotlights Mitch Myers, who maintains the archive of his uncle, writer and cartoonist Shel Silverstein. [Scene] Paul Pope’s art retrospective, Pulphope, has won a Silver Award for publication design at the 2007 Richmond Show. (Link via Johanna Draper Carlson.) [Art] The ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive brings us a selection of sketches by Ren and Stimpy artist Vincent Waller. (Above: one of the drawings on display at the link. [Art] Golden Age Comic Book Stories presents a gallery of advertising illustrations by N.C. Wyeth: part one, part two, part three and part four. (Above: illustration for a bran cereal ad.) Comics Culture [Scene] Chris Staros reports on the 10th Annual Swedish Small Press Expo, held recently in Stockholm. [Scene] Vaneta Rogers reports from the “Jeff Smith: Bone and Beyond” exhibit in Ohio. Related: Robert Taylor reports from opening weekend, reviews the show and presents a transcript of the panel discussion between Smith and Understanding Comics author Scott McCloud. [Scene] Aaron Albert reports from the recent Emerald City Comicon in Seattle. [Your Drawn! link of the day] Donald Soffritti’s aging superheroes. (Above: illustration ©2006 Donald Soffritti; Spider-Man is TMMarvel Characters, Inc.) [Your not-comics link of the day] Why Los Lobos hates Paul Simon. [Your Hey Oscar Wilde! It’s Clobberin’ Time!! link of the day] Here’s novelist Ernest Hemingway, as drawn by Eddie Campbell. [Your Scans_Daily link of the day] Excerpts from Arthur de Pins’ risqué humor strip, Péchés Mignons. (Above: sequence from one of the strips, ©2004 Arthur de Pins.) Events Calendar Today: May 15 (Columbus, OH): Strangers in Paradise author Terry Moore at the Wexner Center for the Arts’ Film/Video Theater on High Street, beginning at 7PM. Details here. May 15 (Berkeley, CA): Ariel Schrag, Vanessa Davis and Trevor Alixopulos will read from their work at the Florence Schwimley Little Theater on Allston Way, beginning at 7PM. Details here. May 15 (New York City, NY): Legendary cartoonist Jules Feiffer will be meeting readers and signing copies of his new collection, Jules Feiffer, The Explainers: The Complete Village Voice Strips 1956-1966, at the Strand Bookstore on Broadway, from 7-8:30PM. Details here. May 15 (Vancouver, British Columbia): Maus author Art Spiegelman will lecture at the Vancouver Art Gallery on Hornby Street, beginning at 7PM. Details here. This Week: May 16-18 (Novi, MI): The Motor City Comic Con takes place at the Rock Financial Showplace on Grand River Avenue. Guests include Al Feldstein, David Petersen, William Messner-Loebs, Bernie Wrightson, Matt Feazell, Pam Bliss, Herb Trimpe, Chris Claremont, Guy Davis and many others. Oh, and Micky Dolenz. Can’t forget Micky Dolenz. Details here. May 16 (Columbus, OH): Dr. Deborah Shamoon will lecture on the history of shoujo manga at the Ohio State University, from 1:30-3:30PM. Details here. May 16 (Saint Louis, MO): An opening reception for the new exhibit “See You in the Funny Papers: The Rich Tradition of St. Louis Cartooning” will be held at the Sheldon Art Galleries on Washington Boulevard, from 5-7PM. Details here. May 16 (Berkeley, CA): Most Outrageous: The Trials and Trespasses of Dwaine Tinsley and Chester the Molester author Bob Levin will be signing copies and meeting readers at Chester’s Bay View Cafe on Walnut Street, from 7-9PM. Details here. May 17-18 (San Jose, CA): Super-Con takes place at the San Jose Convention Center on Market Street. Guests include Russ Heath, Juan Giminez, Amanda Conner, Terry Moore, Steve Leialoha and others. Details here. May 17 (White River Junction, VT): The Center for Cartoon Studies will hold an opening reception for its 2008 Thesis Exhibition in the Colodny building on Main Street, immediately following the Center’s commencement ceremony at 11AM. Details here. May 17 (Portland, OR): Representatives from a variety of local comics shops gather to discuss the latest trends in the medium at the Multnomah County Central Library on Tenth Avenue, from 3-4:30PM. Details here. May 17 (Ann Arbor, MI): As part of the Ann Arbor Book Festival, comics blogger Dave Carter will interview The Three Paradoxes author Paul Hornschemeier on the Kalamazoo Stage in the University of Michigan’s Michigan League, at 3:30PM. Details here. May 17 (Seattle, WA): Some line or other of skateboards gives you an opportunity to hang out with Peter Bagge and various comics types at the Fantagraphics Bookstore and Gallery on Vale Street, from 6-9PM. Details here. May 17 (San Francisco, CA): An opening reception for the “Tree Show IV” exhibit, containing work by Andrice Arp, Martin Cendreda, Austin English, Matthew Thurber, Jeremy Tinder and others, will be held at Giant Robot on Shrader Street, from 6:30-10PM. Details here. May 18 (Manchester, NH): The Granite State Comicon takes place at the Raddison Hotel on Elm Street, from 10AM-4PM. Details here. Next Week: May 19 (Ottawa, Ontario): Cartoonist Von Allan will attend an opening reception for his new exhibit at the Ristorante e Galleria D’Arte on Preston Street, from 6-9PM. Details here. May 20 (Columbus, OH): 100% author Paul Pope will give an artist’s talk at the Wexner Center for the Arts’ Film/Video Theater on High Street, beginning at 7PM. Details here. May 20 (San Francisco, CA): Ariel Schrag, Miriam Libicki, Keith Knight and Jaime Cortez will discuss the graphic-novel form at the Intersection for the Arts on Valencia Street, beginning at 7PM. Details here. May 20 (New York City, NY): Hosts Justin Tyler, Pete LePage and Alex Zalben will join a group of guest cartoonists onstage for the Comic Book Club at the Peoples Improv Theater on 29th Street, beginning at 8PM. Admission is $5. Details here. May 24 (London, England): Writer Alan Moore and documentarian Dez Vylenz will be signing books and meeting readers at Orbital Comics on Charing Cross Road, from 2-3PM. Details here. (Hat tip: Rich Johnston.) Want to see your comics-related event listed here? Email a link to dirk@tcj.com and let me know. Please include an online link to which I can send people for more information. No sales-only events, please — it’s nice that you’ve marked things down at your store or website, but I won’t be listing it here.