NYCC Schedule Posted
The schedule for the 2009 New York Comic Con has been unveiled online. This year's lineup consists of over 200 hours of programming covering comic books, animation, manga, gaming and more. The 2009 New York Comic-Con will be held February 6-8 at New York City's Javits Center.
Cosplay Across Japan Tour
Pop Japan Travel, a division of Digital Manga Publishing, has announced that they will be offering their first "Cosplay Across Japan" tour this spring. Tour-goers will visit the Osaka for the Nipponbashi Cosplay Matsuri as participants and be able to tour Kyoto while cosplaying as geishas or samurai with the assistance of a professional kimono outfitter, as well as more typical stops such as the Studio Ghibli Museum and the Tokyo International Anime Fair. Pop Japan Travel also offers Yaoi and Gothic Lolita themed tours of Japan, among others. The tour will run from March 17 - 24, 2009.
Caroline Kennedy Comic
Caroline Kennedy, John F. Kennedy's daughter and a controversial contender for Hillary Clinton's senatorial seat, will be the next woman showcased in Bluewater's Female Force comic series. The biographical comics profile women currently prominent in public political discussion. Senator Clinton, Governor Palin and future First Lady Michelle Obama were all previous subjects of the bi-monthly Female Force series.
Jaffe, Feiffer, Pekar Onstage
The YIVO Institute for Jewish Research will be hosting the "Comics and the American Jewish Dream" interview series beginning with a program entitled "The Mad Mad Mad (Jewish) World of Al Jaffe". Jaffe worked as a writer, editor and artist at Timely Comics under Stan Lee in the 1940's, followed by an astonishing 54 year run at Mad Magazine, where he works to this day. Jaffe is best known for Mad Magazine's feature Snappy Answers to Stupid Questions and Mad's signature Fold-In back covers, which he has provided for all but three issues since 1964. He will be interviewed by Marvel Comics writer and editor Danny Fingeroth, the author of Disguised as Clark Kent: Jews, Comics, and the Creation of the Superhero. Future interviews in this series will include Jules Feiffer and Harvey Pekar on February 3 and 17 respectively. "The Mad Mad Mad (Jewish) World of Al Jaffe" will take place on Wednesday, January 21 beginning at 7p.m. at the YIVO Institute at 15 West 16th street, New York NY. Tickets are $25 to the general public,
NPR Reviews ‘Omega the Unknown’
NPR's Laurel Maury reviews Jonathan Lethem's retelling of Marvel's paranoid and post-modern cult classic Omega the Unknown.
Pekar Opera Staged
Underground comic creator Harvey Pekar, best known for his long-running autobiograpical comic American Splendor which was adapted into a movie of the same name, has written an opera entitled "Leave Me Alone!". The opera is a jazz and spoken word piece written in collaboration with jazz musician Dan Plonsey and is being presented at Oberlin College in a partnership with the Oberlin Conservatory of Music. “Leave Me Alone!” will premiere in a free performance at Oberlin's Finney Chapel and simultaneously streamed online at www.leavemealoneopera.com on January 31 at 8 p.m. EST. More information is available in an article at The Chronicle-Telegraph online.
Archie Origin Story
The characters of the iconic Archie universe have long remained eternally in their late high school years at Riverdale High, innocent of backstories or secret origins. Now Archie Comics is collecting the popular “Freshman Year” storyline originally running in Archie #587-591 in a trade paperback. Written by Batton Lash, author of the memorable “Archie Meets the Punisher” crossover comic, Freshman Year chronicles the adventures of the Archie cast when they first met. The High School Chronicles Vol. 1: Freshman Year will be available in comic stores on April 29 and on newsstands on May 12.
