• First is Rick Geary’s The Lives of Sacco & Vanzetti, the latest in his Treasury of XXth Century Murder. Besides Geary signing the regular clothbound edition, there will also be an edition limited to only 25 copies and available only directly from NBM of which some copies will be available at this show. Geary is a nominee for an Eisner this year for his last Treasury tome: The Terrible Axe-Man of New Orleans.

• Kinky & Cosy, an outrageous collection of gags in a very striking hardcover with google eyes will be unveiled for the very first time, flown in from the printer! We’ve been featuring many strips of this highly subversive duo of 8 year old twins.

• A little paperback preview of Ernie Colon’s next exciting project, The Inner Sanctum, will be made available for a mere $1 as well as a show exclusive -identified as such- 25 copies signed and numbered by him for $5. The graphic novel, out by December, features adaptations of the old famous horror and mystery NBC radio show.

• Also, the very first few copies of the all-new 4th volume of Lewis Trondheim’s highly acclaimed Little Nothings will be available for sale. We’ve only a few copies to bring, sure to go fast!

Appearing at the booth besides Geary will be  controversial cartoonist Ted Rall.

Legendary Ron Turner of Last Gasp came by to sit with us for a bit at the Papercutz booth. That’s me with him.

Back to the dinner (see last post):

Me with Rick Geary and wife Deborah.

Everybody doing a better job of smiling here:

Again, from left to right: Patrick Turner our booth mgr., Ted Rall, friend and wife of Rick Geary, Terry Nantier, Miran Kim, Sean Michael Wilson, Mark Badger and son.

San Diego is an exhausting experience but thrilling oftentimes as well.  It’s great to hear from fans about their excitement on certain series or even to hear ‘what a great publishing company you are!” For all the hard work, such compliments are music to my ears. Also, many of our authors that we publish we first started talking to at this show, from Geary to Shane White.

And so, every year, we celebrate our authors in a dinner get together where we all unwind and have a good time together.

Here from right to left is Rick Geary with wife and friend, Ted Rall. On the other side Mark Badger.

And here from left to right: Miran Kim, Badger and son. The other side: Patrick Turner, our booth mgr., Stephanie McMillan, Ted Rall, Geary facing away and co.

One you can barely see in the top picture behind Miran is Sean Michael Wilson, who just did AX, alternative manga at Top Shelf and is about to do with  us Story of Lee. He’s a Scot living in Japan. You can imagine the stories he regaled us with in his rich accent.

And now back to the daily task of getting out those books you want from us and see you at the next show (SPX in Washington in September where this time I plan to attend, hadn’t been able to in a few years).

The authors of Networked: Carabella on the Run which we premiered at the show, Gerard Jones and Mark Badger. Talking with Gerry is Sean Michael Wilson of Story of Lee.

A wider view of our booth. Ted Rall and Richard Moore are signing. Moore had to call off coming because he was so sick but finally struggled in on Saturday. Also in the booth, Patrick Turner our booth manager, thanks to Patrick for a terrific job. Further behind is Deborah Pierce of Privacy Activism Organization on hand to help promote the new Networked book.

And there’s our sister company Papercutz who had Papa Smurf going around the show to promote its new series of Smurfs graphic novels this fall. Here he’s posing with Terry Nantier, president of the company.

All in all, however, not a good show, we have to say. The aisles around the indie publishers were sparsely populated for too much of the show. The big budget movies are taking over the show and it felt like indie comics lovers have been turned off to coming. What a shame…

Some slight changes from last post on this.

We’ll be having Mark Badger and Gerard Jones in to launch Networked: Carabella on the Run hot off the press, Ted Rall, Richard Moore (Boneyard), Rick Geary, and Sean Michael Wilson signing an ashcan of his forthcoming Story of Lee

 Naomi Nowak was supposed to come all the way from Sweden but unfortunately had to cancel last minute due to personal circumstances, she’ll be missed.

Neil Kleid’s and Nicolas Cinquegrani’s The Big Kahn built up some good buzz in San Diego with Publishers Weekly telling others this may be the sleeper of the show.

The site Comic Book Resources posted a follow-up interview with Neil who provides some fun background on this.

By the way, the book has shipped from our warehouse and will hit stores within the next week or two!

In our last bit of news before heading out to the San Diego Comic Con, we’ll be giving out a free signed plate by Luis Royo limited to 200  for every book purchased of his!

We’ll have the complete array of his available books at our booth. Starting this fall, we will be relaunching his classic best-selling collections enhanced with many new pieces and reuniting some of the volumes together into longer clothbound editions. Malefic will be the first to undergo this transformation, shipping this December.

Come see us in booth 1528!

Note: Richard Moore unfortunately had to cancel his plans to come and so did Cornnell Clarke. Sorry for the disappointment.

Here’s Neil’s schedule of appearances:
Thurs.: 1-2:30, 4-7
Fri.: 10:30-noon, 2:30-4
Sun.: 10:30-noon, 1-2:30 

THE BIG KAHN
Neil KLEID, Nicolas CINQUEGRANI
Rabbi David Kahn has lived a forty-year lie: he is not, nor has he ever been, Jewish. When at his funeral, the “rabbi’s” grifter brother reveals the truth, it forces the Kahn family to struggle with grief and betrayal as their congregation examines their every move and question their very faith. His son, Rabbi Avi Kahn, the heir apparent, spirals down in an affair with his rebellious sister Lea’s non-Jewish roommate. Lea rethinks the religion she’s run from, strong enough to alter her father’s life, while Eli — the youngest Kahn — inherits his father’s long-forgotten legacy. Somehow, with the help of the uncle he never knew and his slowly re-awakening sister, he attempts to return faith and order to his family and community and reinstate his father’s good name. Neil Kleid, Xeric Award winning author of Ninety Candles and NBM’s Brownsville, and illustrator Nicolas Cinquegrani offer a drama about loss, lies, belief and renewal in this dramatic graphic exploration of a family secret so well-hidden, it questions the very nature of faith.
“A story about belief and truth—in gods, marriages, and selves. An interesting addition to all high school, community, and church libraries. Excellent for book clubs and study groups as well.” -ForeWord
“One of Hottest Graphic Novels for Summer.” -GraphicNovelReporter.com
6 x9, 176 pp., trade pb., B&W with color cover, $13.95
ISBN 978-1-56163-561-0

The book will appear about two weeks later on bookstore shelves. Buzz has been mounting with Neil interviewed by quite a few media. He wil be signing also his first book with NBM, the highly successful Brownsville.

See the previews.

See the complete NBM San Diego schedule.