Tagged: New York City
Mike Gold: The Big Booth 1105 Crossover
It was fated to happen. ComicMix is participating in our very first crossover.
This coming weekend – as in Friday, Saturday and Sunday – ComicMix will once again be appearing at the C2E2 comics and pop culture convention at Chicago’s McCormick Place, on the scenic downtown shore Lake Michigan near the Adler Planetarium, the Shedd Aquarium, the Field Natural History Museum, and that formerly beautiful football (and, next March, hockey) stadium Soldier (sic) Field – before that hideous flying saucer landed on top of it.
More prestigious still, we ComicMixers will be teaming up with our good buddies at Unshaven Comics. This means the “good” Marc Alan Fishman will be appearing at the same booth as the “evil” Marc Alan Fishman. And if they inadvertently touch… well, let’s just say people will stop bitching about Mrs. O’Leary’s improperly defamed cow.
Representing ComicMix: Glenn Hauman, Adriane Nash, either the good or the evil Marc Alan Fishman (I can never tell which one is which) and yours fairly truly. We will be making two – count ‘em two – major announcements at the show, each of which will be promptly detailed in this slice of the etherverse. I won’t tip our collective hand, but I will say this: the second of these announcements will reveal what “CMPS” stands for. I mean this in the acronymical sense, and not in any ethical sense. Certainly not.
We’ll be at booth 1105 in case you didn’t read the headline, and you should because the editor-in-chief spends a lot of time obsessing over them. We eagerly await the opportunity to meet you. Unless you’re rude or insulting; then, we eagerly await the opportunity to let out our pent-up convention aggression. In my case, well, I’ve been going to comic book conventions for 45 years now. But I also used to be among the crowd that founded and ran the amazingly perfect Chicago Comicon, so I know this won’t be an issue.
Truth be told, I like Chicago conventions that are actually held within the city limits. There’s a bunch of reasons for this: the fans are amazingly friendly, the food is unbelievable, the city is everything great that New York City says it is but isn’t and can never be, and – most important – the Fire Marshal, for some odd reason, actually enforces the fire laws at massive conglomerations of humans and paper goods.
Holy Odin’s Eyehole, I’m gotta get it from insecure New Yorkers, aren’t I? Well, as you read this I’m already in Chicago (meetings, meetings, meetings; all at amazing restaurants) so I can only respond in person on the convention floor. Please re-read the sentence above about rude or insulting people and my 45 years of pent-up convention aggression.
We’re gonna have us a swell time. And to take tongue out of cheek for a rare moment, I hope you-all can share those swell times with us.
I hope to see you this weekend.
THURSDAY: Dennis O’Neil
FRIDAY: Martha Thomases
NEW FROM RADIO ARCHIVES

It struck out of the night, a phantom monster whose blood-red shadow brought death to everyone it touched. New York was panic-stricken. Beneath its reign of terror, the police were helpless. But grimly, out of the list of victims, rose six men — six men who vowed to track the scarlet killer to a murder showdown! Total Pulp Experience. These exciting pulp adventures have been beautifully reformatted for easy reading as an eBook and features every story, every editorial, and every column of the original pulp magazine. $2.99.

80th Anniversary Commemorative Special. Commemorating the Man of Bronze’s anniversary with two expanded novels, restored from Lester Dent’s original manuscripts with never-before-published text! First, a Wall Street scandal sets the Man of Bronze on the golden trail of “The Midas Man,” who plots to control the global financial system. Then, while recovering from a serious head wound, a disoriented Doc Savage battles modern-day pirates and murderous zombies in “The Derelict of Skull Shoal.” PLUS: “80 Years of Doc Savage”: a Pictorial History of the Pulps’ Greatest Superman! This landmark collector’s edition features the original color pulp covers by Walter M. Baumhofer and Modest Stein, Paul Orban’s original interior illustrations and new historical commentary by Will Murray, writer of eleven Doc Savage novels. $14.95.
80th Anniversary Commemorative Special. Commemorating the Man of Bronze’s anniversary with two expanded novels, restored from Lester Dent’s original manuscripts with never-before-published text! First, a Wall Street scandal sets the Man of Bronze on the golden trail of “The Midas Man,” who plots to control the global financial system. Then, while recovering from a serious head wound, a disoriented Doc Savage battles modern-day pirates and murderous zombies in “The Derelict of Skull Shoal.” PLUS: “80 Years of Doc Savage”: a Pictorial History of the Pulps’ Greatest Superman! This landmark collector’s edition features the original color pulp covers by Walter M. Baumhofer and Modest Stein, Paul Orban’s original interior illustrations and new historical commentary by Will Murray, writer of eleven Doc Savage novels. $14.95.
Thanks for the quick service which is outstanding. I’ll be back to get more ebooks as I’m only to happy to support a company that thinks of its customers first.
Face front for “True Believers”
Tonight at 7 PM at the The Lee Strassberg Theatre, 115 E 15th St. in New York City, there will be a staged reading of True Believers, a new play by Thom Dunn, directed by Matthew A.J. Gregory.
True Believers tells the epic tale of star crossed lovers, aspiring comic book artists, women in refrigerators, psychotic fanboys, and girls who dress like Princess Leia as their lives intertwine over a weekend at a comic book convention.
Admission is free, which is more than you can say about most comic conventions nowadays. If you’re in town, give it a shot.
Ultimate Spider-Man: Avenging Spider-Man Comes to DVD Next Week
Over the past year, Peter Parker has been saving New York City from evil villains as the masked hero, Spider-Man while balancing his heroics with homework and friends. When S.H.I.E.L.D. Director, Nick Fury, offers Peter the chance to raise his game to the next level…to become The Ultimate Spider-Man, Midtown High becomes a secret operations base for young heroes under the watchful eye of Fury and the school’s new principal, Agent Coulson. Spidey takes on S.H.I.E.L.D. missions across the Marvel Universe, encounters new villains, and battles his biggest threat yet…teen high school drama, in this funny and action– packed new series!
Marvel’s Ultimate Spider-Man: Avenging Spider-Man 2-Disc DVD
PREMIERED APRIL 1, 2012 ON DISNEY XD BY MARVEL ANIMATION STUDIOS
Genre: Animation/Action-Adventure
Rating: TV-Y7 FV
US Release Date: February 5, 2013
Feature Run Time: Approximately 135 minutes each disc (six 22-minute episodes) – total: 270 minutes
Suggested Retail Price: 2-Disc DVD = $26.99 (US only)
Content:
Disc One: Great Power, Great Responsibility, Doomed, Freaky, For Your Eye Only, I Am Spider-Man
Disc Two: Flight of the Iron Spider, Exclusive, Field Trip, Home Sick Hulk, Run Pig Run, Not a Toy
Voice Cast:
Drake Bell as Spider-Man (Drake & Josh), Clark Gregg as Agent Coulson (The Avengers, Thor), Logan Miller as Sam Alexander/Nova (I’m in the Band), Caitlyn Taylor Love as Ava Ayala/White Tiger (I’m in the Band), Greg Cipes as Danny Rand/Iron Fist (Teen Titans), Ogie Banks as Luke Cage/Power Man (Fatherhood), Tara Strong as Mary-Jane (The Fairy Odd Parents), Steven Weber as Norman Osborn (A Fairly Odd Movie: Grow Up Timmy Turner! Brothers & Sisters), Tom Kenny as Doctor Octopus (Spongebob Squarepants, Dan vs.), Chi McBride as Nick Fury (Human Target, Hawthorne), J.K. Simmons as J. Jonah Jameson (Spider-Man 3, The Closer).
Executive Producers: Alan Fine (Marvel’s The Avengers, Thor, Iron Man 2) Dan Buckley (The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, Iron Man: Armored Adventures) Joe Quesada (Ultimate Spider-Man) Jeph Loeb (Lost, Heroes).
Hey Kids! Topless Pulp Fiction!
During a recent in-house editorial discussion here, the notion was floated that we should be showing naked female breasts on this website, as part of an attempt to increase search engine rankings and site traffic.* To address this lack of undress, we’d like to present you with The Outdoor Co-ed Topless Pulp Fiction Appreciation Society, whose slogan is “Making Reading Sexy”. Their raison d’etre:
We’re a group of friends, and friends of friends, and friends of friends of friends, and complete strangers, who love good books and sunny days and enjoying both as nearly in the altogether as the law allows. Happily, in New York City, the law allows toplessness by both men and women. So that’s the way we do our al fresco reading. If you’re in New York and the weather’s good, won’t you join us sometime…?
And yes, you can go to their website, which features many photos of them in Bryant Park and other New York City locales fulfilling their organizational mission. (Of course, the site is probably Not Safe For Work.) They’ve been working their way through a recent contribution from Hard Case Crime who generously supplied them with free copies of some of their latest, including [[[Seduction of the Innocent]]] from our good friend Max Allan Collins. We hope he got a good back cover blurb out of it.
They don’t appear to have gotten around to comics and graphic novels yet, but we’re sure we can find something for them by the time the weather in New York gets nice again. And no, despite what you might think, we’re not going to send them a bunch of mini-comics. We just aren’t cynical enough for Cynicalman.
* Yes, this is what goes on in our workplace when we aren’t figuring out how many dimensions Cynosure intersects with. Arguing about whether Thor is stronger than the Hulk is for newbies.
Molly Crabapple Arrested In Occupy Wall Street Protests
Two hundred and twenty five years ago today, the final draft of the Constitution of the United States was adopted by the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The First Amendment of the Constitution states:
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
We mention this because earlier today, comic book artist Molly Crabapple (that’s her artwork above, previously published in The Nation) peaceably assembled on the streets of New York City for the anniversary of the Occupy Wall Street movement. Apparently, the NYPD insisted everyone get on the pavement, and once they were on the pavement they were arrested.
Molly live-tweeted her arrest on her Twitter account. Warren Ellis started the hashtag #FreeMollyCrabapple, which rapidly became a trending topic on Twitter, and was covered by numerous news outlets. And this evening, Ms. Crabapple was released.
We’re sure she’ll have much more to say later. For now, we’re just happy she’s out.
Apropos of nothing, have you contributed to the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund lately?
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MoCCA closes their Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art
The Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art (MoCCA) announced yesterday via a press release that they will be closing its physical location effective immediately.
The SoHo museum, currently at 594 Broadway, New York City’s only cultural institution dedicated specifically to celebrating the comics medium, recently celebrated its tenth anniversary. While the physical space is closing, plans are afoot to continue MoCCA in a new incarnation. An announcement of MoCCA’s future arrangements will be forthcoming by the end of July.
Current memberships will be honored at the new venue, as will table renewals for MoCCA Fest 2013.
MoCCA’s website has been scrubbed of all previously upcoming events.
A.J. Confessore: 1969-2012
There really is no easy way to write an obituary, but it seems even harder to write one for a man who might be best known for going to comic book conventions in a banana suit.
Yet, sadly, we have to.
A.J. Confessore, comedian and rock and roll interviewer, died this week at the age of 43. A staple of the New York City comics scene since his days at NYU, he is perhaps best known to many comics fans as CC Banana, who would attend comic conventions in attire not unlike what we have pictured on the right. I remember him most recently dressed up as a Wolverine banana– presumably a banana that sliced itself.
“A.J. was one of the most creative and driven people I had ever known,” said Manhattan Comics & More’s Robert V. Conte. “While working at Village Comics in the early 1990s, I recognized his ambition and talent. We became friends quickly sharing our love for comics, Kiss and Star Wars. That friendship lasted almost 21 years.”
“A.J. was one of a few whom, I believe, could handle anything thrown at him, ” says Conte. “Unfortunately, he was unable to conquer some unusual inner demons that plagued him for years. It’s a shame because A.J. had so much more to offer this world. I’ll miss him deeply.”
So will we all.
A BROOKLYN DETOUR BY WAY OF PITTSBURGH: A STEEL CITY NOIR PRIMER
The byline reads, “A Brooklyn-Filtered Literary Arts Salon.” And yet, here I sit, writing yet another dark story about Pittsburgh. The obvious question is, “Why?” Why don’t I set my stories in New York City, or one of the other four boroughs? Why do I keep taking you on a visit to Western Pennsylvania?
Read more at Steel City Noir – http://welcometotripcity.com/2012/05/a-brooklyn-detour-by-way-of-pittsburgh-a-steel-city-noir-primer/































