Daily Archives: 06/28/2011

Comic Book Daily: (Canadian) Retailer Roundtable #2 – Free Comic Book Day (and conflicting events)

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Scott at Comic Book Daily asks: Free Comic Book Day is now a huge event and one no retailer can afford to skip, but how well does it work for you?  Does its benefits outweigh the costs, since the event is in no way free for you?

Participants: Chris Butcher (the Beguiling), Marc Sims (Big B Comics), Jay Bardyla (Happy Harbor), Jenn Haines (The Dragon), Bruno Andreacchi (BA’s Comics) and John Tinkess (Another Dimension) participate.

Of particular interest is the discussion that results of the Beguiling’s decision to hold TCAF on Free Comic Book Day this year and plans to do it again in 2012. Click the link above and read it all the way through. There’s some interesting points being made.

My op/ed  after the cut: Continue reading →

Présentation de la librairie PLANÈTE BD: Lauréat du Prix Harry Kremer

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Présentation de la librairie PLANÈTE BD

Nom: Librairie Planète BD

Adresse: 3883 rue St-Denis, Montréal, Québec H2W 2M4

Téléphone : (514) 759-9800

Courriel : info@planetebd.ca

La librairie Planète BD appartient à Carrefour BD Inc., une société créée par un groupe de lecteurs passionnés et réunis autour du projet de doter Montréal d’une véritable librairie spécialisée exclusivement dédiée à la bande dessinée (BD).  Elle a ouvert officiellement ses portes le 25 mars 2008 et ne compte aucune autre succursale.

Planète BD emploie à temps plein 4 libraires spécialisés. La direction est assurée par M. François Mayeux, président du conseil d’administration de Carrefour BD Inc. et conseiller en BD, comptant 25 années d’expérience en librairie et dans le milieu de la diffusion. Les autres libraires comptent chacun entre 8 et 10 années d’expérience en librairie.

Planète BD occupe une superficie d’environ 1200 pieds carrés entièrement consacrée à la vente de livres neufs ainsi que quelques magazines consacrés à la BD.

Quelques produits dérivés (T-shirts, figurines) sont également offerts à l’occasion ou peuvent faire l’objet de commandes spéciales.

Continue reading →

Surge Licensing Signs SKULLKICKERS For Exclusive Licensing and Entertainment Representation

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For Immediate Release
June 28, 2011

Contact: Elan Freedman
Surge Licensing, Inc.
elan@surging.com
516-939-2226

Surge Licensing Signs Breakout Comics Series – SkullkickersTM
For Exclusive Licensing and Entertainment Representation

The Hangover Meets World of Warcraft in Zub’s Serialized Adventure Series

Jericho, N.Y. — Surge Licensing, Inc., the agency known for developing off-the-wall comic book properties such as the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and, more recently, Axe Cop have signed an exclusive licensing and entertainment agreement with Swords and Sassery, Inc. to develop TV/film, video games, toys, apparel and other tie-ins for Skullkickers – an on-going series published by Image Comics that debuted in September 2010 and continues to sell-out print runs into its second story arc.
Created by Jim Zubkavich and Chris Stevens, Skullkickers is the story of two monster killing mercenaries – a giant bald-headed warrior and a short red-headed dwarf. They’re an odd pairing, a medieval fantasy-esque “Jay and Silent Bob”, in search of fame and fortune. The two adventurers, affectionately known as “Baldy” and “Shorty”, make their living slaying werewolves, necromancers, plant monsters, the undead, and almost anything else readers can imagine from classic fantasy literature and games. Nothing will stop these two from getting paid and enjoying a fine pint of ale.
USA Today describes it best – “Imagine Clint Eastwood’s The Man With No Name, Bad Boys and your local Renaissance festival thrown into a stein of the finest grog in town, and you have a sense of the full-on Skullkickers experience.”

As soon as Skullkickers comics began to hit shelves, issues immediately sold out. The first 3 issues vanished from stores within days of release. The first trade paperback collection quickly followed suit and Image has rushed a new print run to keep up with unexpected demand over the summer. A second trade, collecting the new story arc currently underway, will arrive in time for Christmas.

Skullkickers has been highly praised by pop culture news outlets including MTV, Bleeding Cool, G4 and Ain’t It Cool News, as well as virtually every fanboy site on the web.

“We couldn’t be more excited to work with ‘Zub’ and his team on Skullkickers, a comic with so much whimsy, charm and wit” exclaims Surge’s VP, Elan Freedman, “It’s a story that not only gives the masses a peek inside the fun world of fantasy adventure but rather it entirely busts down the door and brings readers in with a welcome parade of hilarious action and banter.”

Skullkickers’ irreverent approach to classic fantasy, a proverbial buddy cop movie slammed into Conan the Barbarian, plays with cartoonish violence and banter in a way that appeals to young teen boys, older fantasy fans and gamers of all ages.

Wizard World Toronto Comic Con 2012 loses a day (Updated x2).

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With last week’s news about Wizard ditching October’s Central Canada Comic Con (a show that will continue under the guidance of the old owners), it seems that there are further changes afoot.

An eagle-eyed fan pointed out to us that according to the Wizard website, the dates for next year’s Wizard Toronto Comic Con have been revised. Originally announced for March 23-25, the former 3-day show has apparently dropped Friday from the schedule and will now be a two-day Saturday/Sunday event.

Other shows on their now reduced to 11-city world tour seem similarly changed. Only Austin (Nov. 2011) and Philadelphia (June 2012) remain as 3-day events. The Chicago event remains 4 days (mid-Aug. 2011) for now.

The benefit of a shortened schedule is that they can concentrate on maintaining their strong Saturday attendance, and the exhibitor rates should drop accordingly and hopefully help them fill the space. Reports from 2010 and 2011 events both indicated that Friday was slow and will not be missed.

UPDATE 1 (September): No real change for exhibitor rates – $800 for a table, $950 for a corner. Some kind of cheap table option if the exhibitor doesn’t sell anything for more than $20 and doesn’t advertize at the event. Turns out that the March 24-25 date at the DEC was another lie.

UPDATE 2 (October): In an interesting move, Wizard has decided to move their event to the Metro Toronto Convention Centre in Mid-April. As the MTCC is the home of Fan Expo Canada and it’s Toronto ComiCon and Toronto AnimeCon events, this is an unusual move, and has some wondering how Fan Expo will respond. It is also interesting as it now brings the Wizard Toronto show into another schedule clash with Reed Pop’s C2E2 (scheduled for April 13-15).