Press Releases

Last Updated: 07/10/2003 19:37:27

C.B.L.D.F. at ComicCon

Next week is Comic-Con International: San Diego, the largest comic book convention in the United States. The Fund is going to be celebrating this week long tribute to comics and the popular arts with a series of great signings, special events, and brand new premiums to raise money for our casework. Read on! Thursday July 17: CBLDF Members Reception at the Dublin Square Join Frank Miller, Neil Gaiman, Will Eisner, Judd Winick, Jim Valentino, Brian Azzarello, Jill Thompson, and a growing host of comics celebrities in toasting the First Amendment at the Dublin Square, San Diego's finest Irish pub. This party is free for card-carrying CBLDF members over 21 years of age with a $5 suggested donation for non-members. Festivities start at 8:30 and run until 11 PM. The Dublin Square is at 554 4th Avenue. Members MUST have their 2003 member card for free admission to the party. No Autographs, please. For directions call 619-239-5818. Dinner With Neil Gaiman, Frank Miller, and Will Eisner Visit eBay now for your chance to bid for a seat at dinner with one of these comics legends! On Thursday evening Gaiman, Miller, and Eisner will be dining with CBLDF supporters at a location to be revealed to the auction winners. Visit http://cgi6.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewSellersOtherItems&userid=cbldf&include=0&since=-1&sort=3&rows=25 for your chance to be part of this history making evening! Auction ends Monday July 14. Friday July 18: Defenders of Liberty Signing with Frank Miller and Neil Gaiman Groundbreaking graphic novelists Frank Miller and Neil Gaiman will be signing brand new prints that benefit the CBLDF at this soon-to-be- legendary signing. Gaiman and Miller have been among the most active professionals supporting the CBLDF's battles and their commitment to the Fund continues at this signing. 2:30 to 3:30 PM, AA3. 2003 Eisner Awards and Defender of Liberty Award Presentation Come to comics' finest evening to pay tribute to the best work of 2002 and applaud Chuck Rozanski as he accepts the 2003 Defender of Liberty Award. Neil Gaiman will be presenting the evening's keynote speech. Other awards will include the Manning Award, Clampett Award, & Will Eisner Spirit of Retailing Award. Doors open at 8:15 and the ceremony runs from 8:30 - 10:30. There is a no-host bar, but be sure to bring valid ID! Saturday July 19: CBLDF Benefit Auction The Fund's annual San Diego auction brings out our best donations to raise funds for our casework and this year's is no exception. Keynote items include a Sandman quilt presented to Neil Gaiman on his 42nd birthday; Rich Koslowski's cover to Busted #12; Jim Lee's lobster bib from the Palm Restaurant in Denver; a reproduction of the script to Big Numbers #3 signed by Alan Moore, and much, much more. Visit http://www.cbldf.org to view the full list of items being auctioned. The auction starts at 7:00 and runs until 9:00 in Room 8 of the San Diego Convention Center. Auction to be emceed by Defender of Liberty Chuck Rozanski! The Third Angel, An Evening with Neil Gaiman Neil Gaiman continues his San Diego reading tradition with this third "mid-evening" reading benefiting the CBLDF. The bestselling author will be reading new selections and old favorites, most notably "The Problem of Susan" an unpublished story for adults only. This is a ticketed event. Tickets are $5 for CBLDF members and $10 for non-members. Tickets can be picked up at the CBLDF booth. Doors open at 9:30 at Room 8 of the San Diego Convention Center. The front two rows have been reserved for members only. These tickets can be obtained starting on Wednesday's Preview Night. Be sure to show a valid 2003 CBLDF Member Card to take your seat up front. Tickets will be available at the CBLDF booth, #1233/1235. Sunday July 20 CBLDF Panel - The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund is on the front lines of the law to protect and serve the interests of comics retailers, creators, and publishers. Come by this one hour information session to find out what cases the Fund is currently working on, what troubles are on the horizon, and you can help! Charles Brownstein, Neil Gaiman, Denis Kitchen, Louise Nemschoff, Milton Griepp. 12:30 - 1:30, Room 7B http://www.cbldf.org

Pinnacle News

Origins a Big Success! We had a great time at Origins running dozens of Savage Worlds demos. We also had 50 of our awesome new Savage Worlds Action Decks show up and sold almost all of them! (They won't be available on the website or in stores for a few more weeks.) They're incredibly beautiful, and we think you'll be pleased. Bug your store to get them in or order them here from us in a couple weeks. Visit our website for some pictures from the show! D20 Bundles! With D&D 3.5 on its way, we've decided to share our worlds with those who might not have ever tried them before. As with our Deadlands books, we won't sell individual books at discount (that hurts our retailers), but we're happy to offer whole sets to folks at a much lower price. So click over to the website to see the new bundles on both Deadlands D20, Hell on Earth D20, and Weird Wars D20. Pinnacle Entertainment Group www.peginc.com Home of Savage Worlds rpg

This Month @ Top Shelf

Continuing with our giant summer releases (like "Blankets" and "Voice of the Fire"), the current Diamond PREVIEWS is featuring three important Top Shelf publications as well: -- Scott Morse's THE BAREFOOT SERPENT -- WORLD WAR 3 ILLUSTRATED: TAKING LIBERTIES -- COMIC BOOK ARTIST (VOL 2) #3 Be sure to ask your local retailer to advance order them for you today. ************************** THE BAREFOOT SERPENT by Scott Morse "Both Kurosawa and Scott are storytellers who can work on an intimate scale or on grand epics, but the focus is always on the individual, on characters, and that is what makes them succeed." -- Stan Sakai, from the introduction "The union of a biography about a master filmmaker [Akira Kurosawa] to a story about a family learning to let go is just genius. The levels of emotion and mood that intertwine in this brilliant story sandwich are mouth watering and intoxicatingly fulfilling. I am blown away. Scott's unique graphic style is a joy to ponder, as is his prose. His sense of color affectively evokes emotions that compliment his writing effortlessly and prophetically." -- Mark Andrews, Annie Award winning storyboard artist of THE IRON GIANT, SPIDER-MAN THE MOVIE, and SAMURAI JACK "As a fan of Kurosawa and Morse and movies and comic books, this is about all I could ask for." -- Scott Mosier, Producer of CLERKS, CHASING AMY, GOOD WILL HUNTING, JERSEY GIRL A heartwarming story of a young girl befriended by an extraordinary boy, as her family recovers from a tragedy while on vacation in Hawaii. Their lives are forever changed as they explore the island and themselves. Swimming in themes of loss and loneliness, as well as happiness and hope, this genuinely touching tale is book ended by a full-color rumination on the life and work of legendary Japanese filmmaker, Akira Kurosawa. In this unique format, the central story’s themes reflect those of the filmmaker -- told through B&W half-toned, fully-painted art -- creating an absolutely beautiful and powerful masterpiece of contemporary biographical fiction. THE BAREFOOT SERPENT will be offered as a 128-page graphic novel, in the same size and format as The Little Golden Books of old, and features an introduction by Stan "Usagi Yojimbo" Sakai, and an afterword by the author. This is without question Scott’s most unique and ambitious graphic novel to date, and Top Shelf is honored to be the chosen publisher. -- $14.95 (US), 128 pgs, Graphic Novel w/32-pgs of full color, ISBN 1-891830-37-6 ************************** WORLD WAR 3 ILLUSTRATED: TAKING LIBERTIES Edited by Peter Kuper, Kevin Pyle, and Susan Wilmarth Top Shelf is also proud to present -- for the first time ever -- the newest edition of WORLD WAR 3 ILLUSTRATED. The latest thematic issue, TAKING LIBERTIES, includes an incredible line up of "Shock and Awe" art and comix by: Art Spiegelman (a full color strip), Sue Coe, Tom Tomorrow, Seth Tobocman, Peter Kuper, Mirko Ilic, Ward Sutton, Mac Mcgill, Kevin Pyle, Steve Brodner, Knickerbocker, Sabrina Jones, Ryan Inzana, Winston Smith, Robbie Conal, and many more. WORLD WAR 3 ILLUSTRATED is the longest running comics zine in history, and this cutting-edge, politically charged publication is not to be missed! -- $5.00 (US), 64 pgs, 7 7/8" X 10 3/8", Saddle Stitched, B&W Interiors w/Full-Color Inside Covers. ************************** COMIC BOOK ARTIST (VOL 2) #3 Edited by Jon B. Cooke The Art of John Byrne! CBA visits the phenomenal fan-favorite artist for a long comprehensive interview, discussing John's career and work, from Doomsday +1 to X-Men to his upcoming JLA collaboration with Chris Claremont! We also include an incredible gallery of previously unseen Byrne commissioned work -- some of his very best material -- as well as other rare art. To complement our cover subject, we also present the first-ever career-spanning interview with renowned comics scribe Roger Stern, writer of memorable issues of The Avengers and Doctor Strange, as well as Byrne's collaborator on their unforgettable Captain America run. Plus we talk to Shary Flenniken, creator of the great "Trots 'n' Bonnie" strip, in a long interview on her hitch with the Air Pirates and unforgettable tenure at National Lampoon. Our mag-within-the-mag section, Comic Book Artist Classic, boasts a celebration of one of the best -- and most under appreciated -- comics of the 1960s, The Adventures of Little Archie! The exploits of America's typical teenager as a kid often featured all-out suspense and melodrama, stories expertly delineated by creator/writer/artist Bob Bolling and, later, artist Dexter Taylor, both of whom are interviewed in this tribute. To top it all off, cartoonist extraordinaire Jay Stephens shares an exclusive sketchbook section! -- $7.50 (US), 96 pages, Magazine, Perfect Bound, Color Covers, B&W and Full Color Interiors, 8.5" x 11" http://www.topshelfcomix.com (LOOK FOR OUR ALL-NEW WEBSITE LAUNCHING SOON) Top Shelf Productions® and the top shelf logo are registered trademarks of Top Shelf Productions, Inc. All rights reserved.

Fantagraphics Books Needs Your Help!

Buy Books! Keep Us Alive! To Comics Lovers Throughout the World: Fantagraphics Books has just celebrated its 27th year publishing many of the finest cartoonists from all over the world as well as our flagship publication, the magazine people love to hate, The Comics Journal. We are proud of our long-term commitment to comics as an art form and our dogged determination to push excellence down everybody's throats. This is all very well and good but it doesn't mean much in the face of brute economics - and it's the wall of brute economics that we've just hit, hard. Due to two major financial obstacles over the last two years, we're hard against it. Our former and now bankrupt book trade distributor went out of business owing us over $70,000 - which we will never see. (To add insult to injury, we learned that the owner is selling copies of our books that he should've returned on e-bay!) This unexpected shortfall necessitated taking out a couple loans which have now come due. In late 2001, our line was picked up by the W.W. NORTON COMPANY, who took over our bookstore distribution, and has done a magnificent job of providing us unprecedented access to the bookstore market. Inexperience with the book trade resulted in our erring on the side of overprinting our books too heavily throughout 2002, so that our anticipated profit is in fact sitting in our warehouse in the form of books. Loans must be paid in cash, not books. The only way to get out of this hole we've dug ourselves into is to sell those books. Which is where, we hope, you come in. Over the last few weeks, we've worked to fix our in-house problems (which included, most painfully, laying off several fine and long-term employees). We have put in place a system of checks and balances by which we will watch our inventory growth scrupulously. But, we have a debt to pay down and wolves at the door. It's so severe that this month we envisaged shutting down our active publishing, seeking outside investors, or similarly odious measures. (Fantagraphics continues to be owned 100% by Messrs. Gary Groth and Kim Thompson. We'd like it to remain that way.) If you've respected what Fantagraphics stands for and what we've done for the medium, if you've enjoyed our books, and if you want to insure that this proud tradition continues into this new and ominous century, we're asking you to help us now in our especial hour of need by buying some books. Put simply, we need to raise about $80,000 above our usual sales over the next month, and the only way to do that is to convert books into cash. We've spent the last quarter century trying hard to produce the best comics the world has ever seen. You've rewarded us over the years with your loyal patronage, your moral support, your praise, your intelligent and honest feedback, all of which are more than we could ever have hoped for. We know we have tens of thousands of loyal readers: if even a fraction of you come forward and order two or three books that you've been meaning to buy, we'll be over this hump. We've published some some of the best books ever over the last year -Gene Deitch's (yes, that Gene Deitch!) THE CAT ON A HOT THIN GROOVE; B. KRIGSTEIN, Greg Sadowski's definitive biography of the pioneering artist from the '50s; the magnificent FRANK collection; and the third volume of the extraordinary KRAZY KAT series. Our publishing plans for 2003 include a huge coffee table book by Will Elder (WILL ELDER: MAD PLAYBOY OF ART); KRIGSTEIN COMICS, a 240 page follow-up collection of Krigstein's best comics from the '50s, and new collections and graphic novels by Gilbert Hernandez, Jason, Dave Cooper, Robert Crumb, A.B. Frost, Bill Griffith, Gary Panter . . . We already sell books by mail, so, as clichéd as it sounds, we really do have operators standing by. You can view out catalogue online. You can order by calling our 800 number or on-line at our web site (all ordering information below.) If this was a standard pitch, we'd offer you some extra incentive - a discount or free books or knicknacks or whatnot. But, it's not. We're asking those of you who believe we've contributed something worthwhile and meaningful to help us continue to do so, that's all. We need the full retail value of our books. But we can offer something that won't cost us any money: anyone (individually or collectively) who buys $500 worth of books from us will get a personal phone call from Gary Groth thanking you for saving Fantagraphics' ass. Think how much fun this could be at a party! via FAX: 206-524-2104 via mail: FANTAGRAPHICS, 7563 Lake City Way NE, Seattle, WA 98115 Secure Internet Orders: http://www.fantagraphics.com phone: 206-524-6165 or 800-657-1100

Komikwerks and ibooks, Inc. Announce Strategic Alliance

May 1, 2003 New York, NY/Boston, MA --- Komikwerks, LLC, owner of www.komikwerks.com, a leader in creator-owned online comics and webbased comics community-building, has entered into a partnership with ibooks, Inc, the first simultaneous publisher of books in printed form and on the Internet. ibooks printed titles are distributed by Simon and Schuster and ibooks ebooks titles are sold by a variety of partners, including Palm Digital Media. Komikwerks' founders, Patrick Coyle and Shannon Denton, have executed an agreement with ibooks that gives ibooks an equity stake in Komikwerks, LLC and active involvement in its future development. ibooks president Byron Preiss, has been involved in the development of digital comics for many years, and established the first major website for comics online, virtualcomics.com in 1995. "We're very excited about this new partnership with ibooks," stated Coyle, "This bilateral agreement brings ibooks expertise to Komikwerks and also gives Komikwerks entry to the print world through a partner who has a great reputation for publishing high-quality work. Byron Preiss and ibooks have knowledge of both the graphic novel and publishing industries. They have released titles with a roster of talent that includes Jim Steranko, Harvey Kurtzman, Ray Bradbury, Douglas Adams, Matt Wagner, Dean Motter , Mike Mignola, Dave Gibbons, and Moebius, to name a few." Through Komikwerks, ibooks will gain access to the large online audience that Komikwerks has built since the launch of Komikwerks.com in March of 2001. "I am impressed with what Komikwerks has been able to build from scratch over the past 2 years. They've built a strong product and a loyal audience. Komikwerks is an ideal partner to extend ibooks reach on the Internet and to build an audience for ibooks new graphic novel line, which includes titles such as VIC AND BLOOD by Harlan Ellison and Richard Corben and HONOUR AMOUNG PUNKS by Guy Davis and Gary Reed." Komikwerks co-founder and comics innovator Denton adds, "We're both doing the same thing from different angles: delivering high quality comics to readers around the world. Ibooks is doing this through worldwide print and ebooks formats, and Komikwerks is publishing online comics weekly for a global community." This partnership will allow the two companies to create new synergies between online and print publishing. "We're now able to create new types of products, products that neither of us would have been able to create on our own," boasts Komikwerks co-founder Coyle. "We've got some great projects in the works which we'll be announcing in the very near future." "Ebooks are a growing audience and have tremendous synergies with the audience for comics. Ebooks are portable and accessible anywhere there's a computer or wireless PDA. Komikwerks' community will be among the first to be able to download topflight comics in high-quality formats compatible with Palm, Adobe Acrobat and Microsoft Reader formats. We can't wait to get started!" agrees ibooks' Preiss. About Komikwerks, LLC Founded in 2000 by Patrick Coyle and Shannon Denton, Komikwerks is a comic publisher dedicated to publishing high-quality, professional level, creator-owned comics through digital and other distribution methods. Komikwerks.com launched in March of 2001, and has been name a Sci Fi Channel "Cool Site". Contributors to the Komikwerks site include comic industry veterans from major print publishers such as Marvel, DC, Image, and Dark Horse. Starting in August of 2003, Komikwerks will launch a series of printed comic anthologies, beginning with "Komikwerks Volume 1". For more info on Komikwerks' publications, online comics, and for previews of ibooks' graphic novels, please visit www.komikwerks.com About ibooks, inc. ibooks, founded in 1999, was named "America's fastest growing small publisher" by Publisher's Weekly in February '03. Its authors in include Arthur C. Clarke, Jack Kerouac, Ray Bradbury, Greg Bear, Roger Zelazny and Loren Estleman. Its graphic novel line began in March with VIETNAM JOURNAL by Don Lomax, edited by Dwight Zimmerman, which as picked by Entertainment Weekly as "a graphic novel you should own" and by the Military History Book Club. It's editor-in-chief is Steven A. Roman, editor of The Chaos Engine trilogy. Its second graphic title, VIC AND BLOOD, edited by Howard Zimmerman, collects all of Harlan Ellison's short fiction and graphic novel featuring the characters from A BOY AND HIS DOG. Promotions, sample pages and ebooks versions of the titles will be featured on komikwerks.com. ibooks' website is www.ibooks.net.

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Copyright © 2003 Sheryl Roberts, Editor