Flight 6 has been nominated for this year’s Eisner Award for Best Anthology! If I’m not mistaken, this is the second nomination for Flight (the previous nomination was for Flight 2, I believe).
Big congratulations are in order for all the nominees, and of course to some of the Flight alumni: Derek Kirk Kim and Gene Yang for Best Short Story, and Steve Hamaker for Best Coloring. Way to go, guys!
Hey guys, it’s that time of year again. The San Diego Comic-Con. We’ll be there all 5 days (July 22-26), but we’re in a new location this year: Booth #2329, in between the Marvel and DC booths!
We’ll have plenty of copies of the brand new Flight 6, so if you’re going be at Comic-Con, make sure to swing by to pick up a copy and get it (or some of your older volumes of Flight) signed by some of the Flight artists that will be in attendance this year:
Flight Comics (booth #2329)
- JP Ahonen
- Bannister
- Scott C
- Phil Craven
- Mike Dutton
- Amy Kim Ganter
- Rodolphe Guenoden
- Kazu Kibuishi
- Sonny Liew
- Johane Matte
- Dik Pose
- Kean Soo
Cartoon Books (booth #2109)
- Jeff Smith
- Steve Hamaker
Oni Press (booth #1833)
- Chuck BB
- Hope Larson (see link for full signing details)
Douglas R. TenNapel, Inc. (booth #1714)
- Doug TenNapel
The Totally Awesome Booth (booth #1322)
- Becky Cloonan
- Fábio Moon and Gabriel Bá
Little Bird Books (small press table #P1)
- Lark Pien
Gene Yang & Derek Kirk Kim (artist alley #AA-04)
- Derek Kirk Kim
A quick post to let you know that this year’s MoCCA art festival is being held in New York City this weekend, from June 6-7. This year, the festival is moving to a new location, the 69th Regiment Armory at Lexington Avenue and 25th Street. Some of the Flight alumni that will be there include (I’m sure I’ve missed a couple of people!):
Graham Annable
Scott C
Becky Cloonan
Hope Larson
Dylan Meconis
Ryan North
Lark Pien
Dave Roman
Kean Soo
Raina Telgemeier
Hope to see you there!
The Toronto Comic Arts Festival is about to get underway this weekend, from May 9-10! It will be held at the Toronto Reference Library (as seen in Scott Pilgrim 2!), and the best part? It’s FREE for the public! So really, there’s no excuse not to drop by and check it out!
This year’s honoured guests include Emmanuel Guibert, Scott McCloud, Bryan Lee O’Malley, Paul Pope, Yoshihiro Tatsumi, and many, many more. Past and present Flight contributors that will be at the show include:
Graham Annable
Scott C
Svetlana Chmakova
Becky Cloonan
Matt Forsythe
Derek Kirk Kim
John Martz
Erika Moen
Ryan North
Paul Rivoche
Kean Soo
TCAF-related events have already started happening around the city tonight! Full details of the events running in conjunction with the festival itself are available at the TCAF website. Hope to see you there!
Tomorrow (Saturday, May 2) is Free Comic Book Day! What this means, if you’re in North America, is that your local participating comic book store will be giving away FREE comics! Who doesn’t like free comics?
Some of your local comic book stores will also be hosting some cartoonists, including Flight contributors like Joey Weiser and myself (and even if you’re not in the area, try asking your local comic book store for COMICS FESTIVAL, which contains all-new stories by the likes of Matt Forsythe, Ryan North, John Martz, and me!), who will be available for signings, sketches, and general chit-chat! So stop on by and make sure to grab some free comics!
Jellaby: Monster in the City has been released today! The second book in the Jellaby series, it will be available in most major bookstores, and will hit comic book stores tomorrow. Monster in the City is already available from online retailers like Amazon.com.
The story that began in book one concludes in this second volume. A seven-page preview from the book is now online, and for more information about Monster in the City‘s release, visit the Secret Friend Society.
Scott McCloud has written and drawn a comic for the launch of Google’s new open source web browser, Google Chrome!
From a comics perspective, once again, Scott is doing what he does best — taking a rather complex set of ideas and distilling them down into very clear concepts that everyone can understand. Check it out!
Enrico Casarosa’s print collection of his Venice Chronicles comics is in this month’s Previews! This is great news indeed. From the AdHouse Books website:
Take a stroll through the side streets and canals of Venice in this colorful graphic novel, meeting at the intersection between Carnet De Voyage and Love Story.
Details: 4C cover, 144 4C pages, 6.25″ x 8.25″ HC
$19.95 US funds, ISBN 978-0-9818455-0-0
Shipping November 2008
Diamond Order Number: SEP08 3685
You can download a preview PDF of the book here. Ask your local comic retailer to order you a copy today!
While I’m busy congratulating people, belated congrats are in order to Jake Parker and Ben Hatke, whose comics have been picked up by publishers! The Beat reported (via Publishers Weekly) that Jake Parker has signed a deal to produce two Missile Mouse graphic novels for the Scholastic Graphix line, and Ben Hatke will also have two Zita the Spacegirl graphic novels to be published by First Second!
Both characters made their first appearance in the pages of Flight Explorer. As reported, Missile Mouse: The Star Crusher (pictured below) will see print in 2010. Jake talks about the announcement a little more on his blog.
Congratulations, guys! This is awesome news indeed.
Matt Forsythe’s Eisner nominated webcomic, Ojingogo, is finally complete, and is now available in print, care of Drawn & Quarterly! And to celebrate the release of Ojingogo, Matt has this to say:
Here’s the new Ojingogo book that’s coming out at the end of August; published by Drawn & Quarterly under their Petits Livres imprint. There’s going to be a launch party in Montreal at the Drawn & Quarterly store on August 27 at 730pm.
Drawn & Quarterly store
211 Bernard W.
Montreal
Congratulations, Matt! I’m really looking forward to holding a copy in my hands. Montrealers, don’t miss out!
Jake Parker has done a study of the internal structures of Lightning McQueen from the Pixar movie Cars. It’s pretty awesome.
San Diego Comic-Con is almost here! July 23-27! For the first time since Volume 1 (all the way back in 2004), Flight 5 will be making its debut at the convention, so make sure you swing by the Flight booth and check it out.
Some of the artists that will be appearing at the show, and where they can be found are:
Flight Comics (booth #1228)
- JP Ahonen
- Bannister
- Scott C
- Tony Cliff
- Phil Craven
- Michel Gagné (signing on Saturday at 1-3 PM)
- Amy Kim Ganter
- Rodolphe Guenoden
- Steve Hamaker
- Kazu Kibuishi
- Reagan Lodge
- Johane Matte
- Kean Soo
The Those Guys (booth #1033)
- Dik Pose
- Justin Ridge
- Israel Sanchez
Douglas R. TenNapel, Inc. (booth #1031)
- Doug TenNapel
Dumbrella (booth #1335)
- Scott McCloud (signing on Friday at 3 PM)
Oni Press (booth #1834)
- Chuck BB
Image Comics (booth #2729)
- Becky Cloonan
- Fábio Moon and Gabriel Bá
- Hope Larson (signing on Friday at 12-1 PM and on Saturday at 1-2 PM; see link for full signing schedule)
Biocreep (small press table #G2)
- Pascal Campion
Little Bird Books (small press table #P1)
- Lark Pien
Comics Bakery (small press table #P2)
- Dave Roman
- Raina Telgemeier
…and I’m certain I’ve left out some people! Updates to come as more information becomes available.
Newsarama has a small preview and interview with the PIXU team: Fábio Moon, Gabriel Bá, Becky Cloonan and Vasilis Lolos. The first issue of PIXU will be debuting at the San Diego Comic-Con, with the second issue to be released in September. Self-published and limited to 1000 copies, it will be available only at conventions and online, via khepri.com (you can already place pre-orders for the first issue).
The Newsarama interview also mentions the post-SDCC signing at Meltdown in Los Angeles on July 30th — and Becky has more information about the signing on her blog.
The Totoro Forest Project website is now live. From their main page:
Totoro Forest Project is an international charity effort to save Sayama Forest, also known as Totoro Forest. This endangered sanctuary on the outskirts of Tokyo is where director Hayao Miyazaki got the inspiration for his much loved character “Totoro.”
Over 200 top international artists from animation, illustration, and comics are donating artwork especially created for this cause. Find out more about the auction event, preview the incredible art collection and please consider supporting the Totoro Forest Project with your generous contribution!
The online gallery already has art by the likes of Catia Chien, Chris Appelhans, Clio Chiang, Yoko Tanaka, Vera Brosgol and Scott Campbell — who will no doubt be joined by more Flight alumni (Kazu Kibuishi, Khang Le, Enrico Casarosa, to name just a few), alongside many other fantastic artists (James Jean, Tadahiro Uesugi, Ralph Eggleston)!
The benefit auction is going to be held at Pixar Animation Studios in Emeryville, CA on September 6th 2008, with all proceeds going to the Totoro Forest National Fund. Visit the Totoro Forest Project to learn more about the project, and how you can help Sayama Forest.
Edit to add: Enrico talks a little bit more about the project over at his blog.
