The newest entrant is Johnny Zito, co-creator and co-writer of the Black Cherry Bombshells at Zuda Comics. He says:

My line up is more of a classic catch all with a few modern additions. Please give credit to Paul Salvi for the brilliant idea of putting Hal in his Air Force dress uniform. (Although I did go with the tropical white.)

From left to right:
John Stewart (Green Lantern), Hal Jordan (Green Lantern), Ryan Choi (The Atom), Oliver Queen (Green Arrow), Bruce Wayne (Batman), Clark Kent (Superman), Krypto (the Super Dog), Barry Allen (The Flash), Dick Grayson (Robin), John Henry Irons (Steel), Arthur Curry (Aquaman)

I love the way Clark looks a little lost with all these guys partying around him. And great dog!

I stopped by the local game store this evening, on pure whim, and it turns out that they had one Wii left in stock from the batch they’d gotten in this morning. So I bought it for KC and me as a joint anniversary present, along with Wii Play (for the second controller; hate the billiards game) and (the real reason we wanted to buy any game system) Dance Dance Revolution.

That last one has me very confused. I can’t figure out how to reset it or much of the option navigation. Fun, though, and it’s more activity than I usually get. It could really use some more explanation, but maybe that’s my age talking.

Next month: Wii Fit, because I love the idea of a game system that teaches you yoga. It’s really amazing how much this little box does — it’s already hooked into our wireless network. If it went to Facebook, I think it would be all the computer some teens would need.

Oh, and I want to get Iron Man, too, because Robert Downey Jr. did the voice for it, and I’m obsessed. And either Guitar Hero or Rock Band.

First, Paul Salvi sent this image. (Paul is currently illustrating Action, Ohio, written by Neil Kleid, in this month’s Zuda competition.) I love his slick line and polished look!

From left to right:
Oliver Queen (Green Arrow), Arthur Curry (Aquaman), Dick Grayson (Robin), Bruce Wayne (Batman), Clark Kent (Superman), Barry Allen (Flash), Hal Jordan (Green Lantern), Billy Batson (Captain Marvel), Barry Allen (Flash)

(I’m glad he updated me, or I was going to guess Steve Trevor for the military man. Which isn’t in keeping with the rest. Paul would also like you to know that he hadn’t seen the previous entry when he did his multiple Flashes.)

Next, Jeff Hebert (creator of HeroMachine, and whom it turns out I went to college with) sent this along:

From left to right:
Oliver Queen (Green Arrow), Hal Jordan (Green Lantern), Querl Dox (Brainiac 5), Clark Kent (Superman), Bruce Wayne (Batman), Jason Todd (Robin — says Jeff, “emo style”), Wally West (Flash), John Stewart (Green Lantern)

Hey, a Legionnaire! (Although should green men wear purple?) And what great character attitudes. I just adore Oliver’s vest and shirtsleeves in both of them.

Update: Jeff later did a more traditional formal wear version.

Not to take anything away from the work of these fine gentlemen, but I’m hoping this inspires more of you to take part! You have over a week left before May 15.

David is a wiz with Legos. Not quite what I was envisioning, but cute nonetheless. I’m still looking for entries, and the deadline is May 15. If no one else enters by then, David, the cash prize is yours.

Their store here in Richmond, Virginia, on Cary Street has just opened, and it is wonderful. Helpful staff, great selection, and lots and lots of information about spices and how to work with them. Definitely worth a visit if you’re in the area… or near any of their other stores (or you can order online). I don’t have any association with them, but I want them to thrive so I can keep shopping there.

So I’m holding a contest. Winner (to be determined by me with input from readers) will get a cash prize and lots of praise. Email me a link to your image or the image itself. Let me know if you have questions.

First, the preliminary estimate of attendance is 64,000 people. I don’t know if that counts a weekend pass as 1 or 3 (as some other major conventions do), but I can certainly believe that many people were around, based on Saturday.

Second, if you want to be part of Artists Alley next year, you should apply online. It’s not purely based on order of application, although that’s one of the factors considered, along with “content” and “relevancy”. Applicants won’t find out if they’re accepted to buy a space until September 1. Is that typical of these kinds of shows, for that long a delay between application and confirmation? With the show in February next year, I guess five months is long enough to plan.

But I was left with a question: did anyone go to any of the debated Women in Comics panels? I heard that several of the supposed panelists didn’t even attend the joke setup with Jenna Jameson. How did they go?

Update: Heidi posts a writeup by Steve Bunche.

There to shill both Zombie Strippers and the comic book that she supposedly created — Shadow Hunter, a book that looked to me like yet another entry from the school of Witchblade knockoffs — Jameson displayed far more passion for and knowledge of horror movies than she did for comics, quite obviously betraying an ignorance of the medium and allowing [Amanda] Conner to field most of the questions relating to the stuff that the real fans and creators would know and understand. When describing her collaboration with Shadow Hunter’s scripter, Witchblade co-creator Christina Z, it was apparent to many in the audience that Jameson most likely had never even spoken to the writer, at which point what little credibility Jameson had built up with the comics cognoscenti present rocketed down the proverbial bowl.

In short: it was full of people who only wanted to get a picture of the former porn star.

I also forgot to mention that we had an enjoyable conversation with Tim Callahan, who edited Teenagers From the Future: Essays on the Legion of Super-Heroes. They had preview copies for sale at the Sequart booth, although no information is available online yet. KC’s already enjoyed diving into the volume.

I didn’t post this yesterday because the day was exhausting, but in a good way. I got to have lunch with old friend Alan Sepinwall, and then we went to the Legion 50th Anniversary panel, which spurred the idea for an exciting new feature for this blog. I also bumped into Mike Leib, who had the DC webmaster job before I did. He’s now writing for Boom!, which I didn’t realize.

After more walking around, I spent most of the afternoon at Todd and Craig’s booth, selling Perhapanauts for them. I figured it was a fair trade for a chance to sit down for a couple of hours, until I lost my voice. But then they invited KC and I to join them for dinner with the amazing Nick Cardy, which was terrific.

People were concerned that between the Pope’s visit and Passover beginning yesterday, attendance would be less than hoped for. If that’s the case, I’m glad, because this show has been huge, with impossible-to-move-through crowds on Saturday. I know there are people attending I’d love to meet and say hi to, but I suspect I might never run into them. On the other hand, I’ve seen so many old friends that it’s a net win, and a great vacation.

I am happy that we’ve planned several relaxing days off after this to recover, though. Next year, the show moves back to February 6-8, 2009. I know that they have to work around when the convention center is booked, but I have to say it is so much more pleasant visiting New York City in April than it is in February.

He brought his guitar, but we didn’t get to hear him sing, but he was wonderful to talk to, very friendly. I hope his plans for one more Archies record (a Christmas album!) come true!

I realized several things: 1) I am the only one responsible for whether I have a good time, and I need to quit trying to do so much! 2) I’m ambivalent about con-going because my schedule doesn’t match up with everyone else’s. I wake up early and want to get things done so I can relax after dinner and go to bed before midnight. 3) Most importantly, time spent on the floor chatting with people, no matter how enjoyable, is not time spent doing the work. I do this because I want to think and talk about good comics, and doing laps on concrete doesn’t get that done. (Although it does round up more material.) So now that I’m better aware of all that, I can make whatever decisions I need to.

Following are brief notes on what thrilled me.

Zot! pins. To promote the upcoming Complete Black and White Collection 1987-1991, Harper Collins had a set of three Zot! pin-back buttons, featuring Dekko, Zot and Jenny, and the logo.

Visiting good independent publishers. Chris Staros of Top Shelf, Randal Jerrell at Oni, Gina Gagliano at First Second, and Brent Erwin of Ape are all always pleasures to talk with, knowledgeable and friendly. Brent, especially, is always a font of optimism whenever I stop by, which is incredibly refreshing during a lengthy show. Randal recommended their Salt Water Taffy, which I’m looking forward to trying. As he put it, I like the all-ages comics. Gina had early copies of Drawing Words and Writing Pictures, the Jessica Abel/Matt Madden textbook that looks fabulous.

Comics! I got to pick up the first issue of the new Perhapanauts series, Comic Book Comics #1, Love and Capes #7 (the upcoming FCBD issue), and the FCBD Comic Book Diner issue from Kids Love Comics. And the latest not-yet-released Amelia Rules! collection, When the Past Is a Present. And isn’t that a wonderful title to capture the nostalgic, positive overall approach of this title?

Speaking of which, there was lots of emphasis this year on kids’ comics, including dubbing Sunday as “kids’ day”. The programming — well, I went to one panel, and at least I got to sit down. Panels, I think, are best for those interested in a topic who don’t know much about it but want to know more. Introductory coverage, in other words. Those who have really thought about a topic will likely be frustrated. Or maybe that’s just me.

I’m thinking of going to more tomorrow, but I know going in that checking out the Viz or Del Rey panels, for example, will be promotional in nature. Speaking of which, Adi and April at Del Rey were as charming, as always, even when they hit me with Fairy Tail snap bracelets (which make terrific wristbands). It’s a shame that Viz didn’t set up at the show. Tokyopop did, but I only stopped by briefly, to browse one of their titles I’m curious about, The Knockout Makers. Oddly, they had none visible in their store, and the very helpful gentleman had never heard of it.

Am I the only one who finds it strange that Viz’s big announcement was a book with Stan Lee, while Del Rey is going to be promoting their X-Men manga designs? I know this isn’t an anime/manga specific show, but the crossovers strike me weird.

Anyway, more happy meetings — Kevin Church was signing his Cover Girl at Boom!, where I also had a great conversation with Chip Mosher and got to meet Tom Spurgeon, which was a pleasure. I enjoyed speaking with Rebecca Donner, the novelist whose Burnout kicks off the next Minx season. I also got to catch up with many former co-workers, all of whom seem happier now than in the past (which is always the direction I hope people are going).

I forgot to mention that after we arrived and got checked in Thursday night, we walked over to Jim Hanley’s Universe and bumped into the tail end of the Caption Action signing. Their booth today was hopping every time I walked by, so I wasn’t able to see how they were doing, but I thought their logo t-shirts and hats were cool. I’m hoping to get back to Hanley’s Saturday at 7:30 for a signing by Ariel Schrag.

Overall, this is the show we dreamed about ten or fifteen years ago, when we were hoping for diverse titles and publishers of all sizes and genres. The dreams have come true. It’ll be interesting to see what attendance figure is reported; I heard they were expecting 50,000.

This morning, the promised convention shuttles weren’t running. The doorman said “oh, the driver just didn’t show up.”

Although I preregistered months ago and had a confirmation, there were no press credentials waiting for me. I thought they worked out all of these glitches last year?

I’m still looking forward to the show, mostly for catching up with old friends and finding out about new publications.

That said, my mouth dropped open when I saw this GoPhone ad.

How brilliantly postmodern! I admire Meat Loaf’s sense of humor, and the garage explosions are the perfect blend of rock show excess and WTF?!? moments. (Let’s not think too much about the rewritten context when the son, happy because of his GoPhone, sings “I’ll love you til the end of time” to Dad.)

The kid, Adam Cagley, although perfectly cast, is not actually related to Meat Loaf. And the leg of lamb! And the dove! It wasn’t until the credits rolled (what ad has credits?) that I realized “Mom” was Tiffany! Wowzers. Good ad.

… self-published webcomic collections, which aren’t carried through distributors and so can’t be profitably resold through stores.

… manga, which sells through bookstores, and the customers of the comic stores I know just aren’t interested. (More and more, I’m coming to accept this as the way it is instead of thinking comic stores need to try harder. The bookstores have captured this product line.)

… preview copies of works that will be released later this summer, so no point in talking about them yet (although the advance notice is much appreciated and some I’m very eager to dive into).

… very small press books, which I’m not sure can successfully be reordered through Diamond.

Yargh! Sometimes I wish I was more excited about superheroes! Seriously, I bring this up because it suddenly struck me how many options there were outside the traditional direct market.

Arthur Conan Doyle - logic and the value of obscure knowledge

Leslie Charteris - adventure, outside the rules if necessary

Spider Robinson - love, community, and imagination

Dorothy Parker - jaded wit

Connie Willis - all of the above

1. Write.

You look cheap and greedy if you start asking for review copies before you have a substantial body of reviews to show your ability and dedication. Write well, a lot, and regularly.

When you put up your site, there’s nothing wrong with including a brief notice in the sidebar, something to the effect of “Review copies may be sent to me at (address)” or “Please email me for information on where to submit review copies” (if you don’t want to publish your address; if you do, I suggest using a PO Box). But don’t start asking everyone and their dog for free comics until you’ve been doing this a while and can show consistent publication.

2. Ask.

Find the right email address (left as an exercise for the reader) and write a polite query note. Be sure they know who you are, where to find your reviews, and what you’re asking for. You want them to realize that giving you their publication will benefit them in exposing their work to your readers. You also want them to think that you’ll actually cover their comic.

If you’re going to a convention, take business cards. Also, if publishers are going to be there whose work you’ve reviewed favorably, you may want to take one or two printouts of your best reviews of their books. (This doesn’t mean your most suck-up piece, although I would select positive reviews; it means good writing that got favorable response from readers.) Make sure your contact information (URL and email) is on the materials.

3. Cover what you want to request.

Don’t start asking for Fantagraphics books if you’ve only written about Marvel superhero comics. Publishers/Creators want to know that their work will be promoted to a suitable audience. If you only cover books of type X, then your readers will likely be those looking for more information about books of type X, so their benefit from giving you a free comic is minimal.

That said, there are publishers who are very generous with comp copies and appreciate the chance to do outreach to other kinds of readers, so they may be interested anyway.

4. Follow up.

I was surprised recently to be told that I was one of very few reviewers who sent out notices after I reviewed something. Especially with a good review, email the publisher, the creators, and/or the marketing person. (These roles may be the same person.) You may not want to be as giving if you write a slam, but in the case where you got a free copy, especially if you requested it, it’s polite to show that you did the work, regardless of what you said about it.

5. Be clear.

Tell your readers when you’re reviewing a complimentary copy. It helps them better evaluate your opinions. They’ll see what you chose to buy and what you got for free.

Other Tips

You won’t get on DC or Marvel’s comp list. Last I heard, Marvel doesn’t even send their comics to the professionals that work for them. DC will send the occasional item they want to promote, particularly first issues that are getting big launches and graphic novels. From what I’ve seen, DC is more likely to provide Vertigo and CMX titles than superheroes, but that may just be what I get due to the focus of my site.

The people who sent out review copies fall into one of three categories:
1. The professional. “Real” book publishers who are now doing comics/graphic novels have established review copy procedures. So do manga publishers.

2. The generous. There are some independent publishers who are very giving with review copies. Sometimes, you can tell who they are, because you’ll see a bunch of reviews of the same title around the same time. That’s what publishers want.

3. The desperate. Much of what you’ll get, especially starting out, are publishers who can’t get coverage any other way, which means very small press or those who put out poor quality material.

I’ve been curious to see the response to the debut issue of PiQ magazine (the former Newtype) out now. I haven’t seen it myself, but response has been mixed, with many taking a “wait and see” attitude.

I admit, I have an ulterior motive in paying attention — I’ll be contributing to the second issue. I’ve written a review, some quick takes, and interviewed the charming Todd Dezago about Perhapanauts. I’ve had great experiences so far working with the editor and I hope to continue.

So, have you seen the first issue? What did you think?

The answers to the trivia questions are:

1. What company originally published the Appleseed manga in the US? Eclipse
2. Who directed the original Japanese OVA of Appleseed? Kazuyoshi Katayama
3. In what year was the original Japanese Appleseed Volume 1 manga published? 1985
4. On what date was the US premiere screening of Appleseed: Ex Machina? December 15, 2007

Thanks, everyone, for participating!

I have two copies of the special edition DVD (as shown here) of Appleseed Ex Machina, new in stores Tuesday, to give away.

Every day, I’ll post a trivia question. (You should be able to find the answers easily online.) To enter that day, email me your answer to the question with the subject “Contest Entry”. (Only one entry per person, so if you’ve already entered, no need to enter every day.)

Winners will be selected randomly from all correct entries and announced Friday morning, March 14.

Today’s trivia question is: On what date was the US premiere screening of Appleseed: Ex Machina? (Hint: It was in Los Angeles.)

Check out the official DVD site for more information or read Ed’s review of the DVD.

I have two copies of the special edition DVD (as shown here) of Appleseed Ex Machina, new in stores yesterday, to give away.

Every day, I’ll post a trivia question. (You should be able to find the answers easily online.) To enter that day, email me your answer to the question with the subject “Contest Entry”. (Only one entry per person, so if you’ve already entered, no need to enter every day. If you get the question wrong, I’ll tell you.)

Winners will be selected randomly from all correct entries and announced Friday morning, March 14.

Today’s trivia question is: In what year was the original Japanese Appleseed Volume 1 manga published?

Check out the official DVD site for more information or read Ed’s review of the DVD.