2010 Friends of Lulu Awards Announced

For a while it didn't look like they would happen after former President Valerie D'Orazio's September resignation, but the Friends of Lulu Awards for Women in Comics have arrived, complete with a new website. Announced at last weekend's Long Beach Comic Con, the award-winners are Diana Nock's The Intrepid Girlbot for the Leah Adezio Award for Best Kid-friendly Work, Ramona Flowers from Scott Pilgrim for Best Female Character, Kathryn Immonen for the Kim Yale Award for Most Talented Newcomer Kate Beaton for Lulu of the Year, Marvel editor Lauren Sankovitch for the Women of Distinction award and Alison Bechdel for this year's addition to the Female Cartoonists Hall of Fame. A complete list of nominees is available at the Friends of Lulu site. According to acting board member Kynn Bartlett, Friends of Lulu is not accepting donations at this time, while they are busy settling their finances and dealing with the IRS.

Marvel Announces Point One Initiative, Plans for New Readers

Marvel Comics has announced that starting in February 2010, they will be offering special issues of popular comics which will be easily accessible to new readers. Called “Point One” because they will be marked with a “.1” after the issue number, participating titles include Amazing Spider-Man, Invincible Iron Man, Wolverine, Thor and Uncanny X-Force. More titles and more information are available on the Point One announcement on the Marvel website.

Also an attempt to appeal to new readers, Marvel Editor-in-Chief Joe Quesada explained in an interview with MTV.com released yesterday, that Marvel would be expanding the “Cinematic Universe” of their linked superhero movies into a number comics that flesh the world out.

Locke & Key Gets TV Pilot

IDW comics series Locke and Key, created by the writer/artist team of Joe Hill and , has been picked up for a television pilot for Fox adapted by Josh Friedman, creator of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. More details are available at Variety.com.

King Con This Weekend

New Brooklyn-based comics convention King Con enters its second year this weekend. The con proper will last from November 6-7 from 11 a.m. - 7 p.m. at the Brooklyn Lyceum. This year, the panels will last for four full days and have burst the seams of its home at the Lyceum. Several panels of the Thursday panels are separately ticketed on the site and some panels will be held during the weekend at other, thus far undisclosed, locations in Brooklyn, along the R subway line. The Brooklyn Lyceum is located at 227 4th Avenue, Brooklyn, New York. Admission ranges from $10 for an adult weekend pass to $3 for a one day child's pass.

Kill Shakespeare Gallery Show

Chair and the Maiden and Fund Art Now are sponsoring an exhibition of original art from the soon-to-be released graphic novel Kill Shakespeare by the writing team of Anthony Del Col and Conor McCreery and the artists Andy Belanger and Kagan McLeod. are proud to present original art work from the imminently released graphic novel Kill Shakespeare. The Chair and the Maiden Gallery is located at 19 Christopher Street, N.Y.C. and the exhibition opens this Friday, November 5, at 6-8 pm. The show will feature fantastic cover and page art and celebrate the book’s official publication date on November 09.

‘Ulysses Seen’ Close to Kickstarter Goal

Ulysses Seen, the Web comic adaptation of James Joyce’s Ulysses, is also a Kickstarter Project. Created and adapted by cartoonist Robert Berry and his cohorts at Throwaway Horse LLC, an online venture to turn “literary masterworks” into accessible web comics, Ulysses Seen offers readers not only a visual recreation of Joyce’s commanding novel, but an online reader’s guide created by Joyce scholar Mike Barsanti. The drive is nearly 80% complete so in order to invigorate the pledge drive, Berry has decided to offer a new limited-supply reward package of my character sketches for Ulysses Seen. These are all one-of-a-kind 8.5 x 11" black & white drawings of the people in the novel. They are limited to sixty-nine pieces (one for each day of our kickstarter pledge drive). Updated daily, you can find a gallery of these drawing here on our Facebook page and, eventually, on our own website as well. The drawings are available on a "first come first served" basis for a $35 donation at kickstarter..

Bryan Lee O'Malley at Scott Pilgrim Screening

Bryan Lee O'Malley, creator of the Scott Pilgrim series of graphic novels which inspired the movie which came out this summer, will be appearing at a very special pre-dvd free screening of it in his home city of Toronto on November 5. Toronto's Bloor cinema will be hosting the screening, which will be followed by a Q&A session with O'Malley, director Edgar Wright and star Ellen Wong. The Bloor Cinema is located at 506 Bloor Street West, Toronto, Ontario and the screening will begin at 7 p.m. More details are available on Wright's site.

Alex Simmons Talks On Comics and the Military

Author, freelance writer, teacher and Kids Comic con founder Alex Simmons will give a presentation on the long-time relationship of comics and the military, with particular attention to characters of color. The event will take place at the Bronx Community College. His presentation is part of the college's Veterans Day celebration honoring all military personnel, past and present. The event will include the presentation of over 3000 comic books and graphic novels donated by Diamond Comic Distributors and several publishers. The books will be sent to a division of soldiers currently serving in Afghanistan. The event will be held on Nov. 9 from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. The Bronx Community College is located at 2155 University Avenue, Bronx, N.Y. 10543

This Week @ Good Comics For Kids

This week School Library Journal’s blog Good Comics for Kids had a review of Animal Crackers, what the GC4K bloggers are reading this week, a preview of Toy Story: Some Assembly Required, and the 10/27 roundup of good comics for kids.

This Week @ The Beat

This week PWCW editor Heidi MacDonald’s blog The Beat covered the tv version of The Walking Dead – in great detail, the Long Tail in action, San Diego Comic Con's disastrous ticket sale glitch, Halloween costumes, graphic novel coming attractions for November, The Eagle Awards, behind the comics bestsellers, Wizard World goes Miami, Comics Interview back in reprints, rich French people who don't like Murakamiand the future of webcomics.