New York Comic Con Schedule

How are you spending your Saturday night?  Are you going out?  Partying?  Maybe meeting a nice girl from Long Island who came out clubbing tonight?  Cool.  I got you beat, though.

I'm currently working on uploading the final (cross your fingers) New York Comic Con programming schedule to www.newyorkcomiccon.com.  When will you be able to see it?  Let's hope it goes live on Tuesday.

I'm also watching two hours of Doctor Who and two hours of Torchwood starting in like 9 minutes.  Any Doctor Who fans out there?  You can admit it.  I love The Doctor, and my girlfriend totally has a crush on David Tennant.  If you're not a fan of Doctor Who yet, you may be after New York Comic Con.

Oops!  Did I just hint at something?

Where I'm At

I'm in Minneapolis tonight on some BookExpo related librarian business and then heading to San Francisco tomorrow for some bookseller business - plus a long overdue drink with City Lights Books Paul Yamazaki who owes me for hooking him up on a trip to Beijing this winter. With Paul, there is nothing better than just listening to his stories and drooling. He's been at City Lights since the owner Lawrence Ferlinghetti bailed him out of jail some 30 years ago. Ginsburg, Bukowski, Kerouac, Burroughs, he's met em all.

On stories the subject of, I went out with friends last night here in the Twin Cities and one of my friends is now working at the legendary record store, Electric Fetus, she works in the head shop there and she had the best stories. What could possibly be more frustrating and hilarious than trying to help a completely stoned person select just the right bong.

On tap for tomorrow (after some Summit Beer from a tap tonight), Garrison Keillor's Common Good Books bookstore and Big Brain Comics. I love this town.....

Substantive post coming up next....

-L

Lance is out of the office...

Lance is out of the office again, flying to some far-flung locale to talk about -- I guess -- books. As such, I'm in charge. What do I do when I'm left in control? Flee the office, too. I'm having a lunch date with Del Rey Marketing Manager Ali T. Kokmen. If you recall, Ali and I had a bit of an argument a month ago when I might have hit him with a chair. The feud's not over, but with Comic Con so close, I haven't had time to throw literary daggers at him across the internet.

Anywho, if I have time, I'll run through some of NYCC's exciting guests that you may have missed. Let's start with this list...

Stan Lee (Creator of X-Men and Spider-Man)
Mike Mignola (Creator of Hellboy)
Ron Perlman, Selma Blair (Stars of Hellboy II)
Guillermo Del Toro (Director of Hellboy II)
Frank Miller (Creator of Sin City and 300)
Seth Green and Matthew Senreich (Creators of Robot Chicken)
John Cho and Kal Penn (Harold and Kumar)
Jackson Publick and Doc Hammer (Creators of the Venture Bros.)

Other than that, I'll probably talk about the New York Anime Festival. Our 2008 website is now online at newyorkanimefestival.com. Kinda. It's still got a few hiccups. Tiny things. Things like not working on a Mac.

DHL Delivery Until April 1

It's no joke. April 1st is the last day you can order your New York Comic Con tickets and have them rushed to your door by DHL. After that, your only option is picking up tickets on-site at the Javits Center. But, you don't like lines, do you? I know I don't. So, click on the nice, shiny Tickets button at newyorkcomiccon.com now!

The Beer Won't Go Flat!

Check out this year's NYCC Toon Tumbler from Paul Merolle and Pop Fun Merchandising. The Toon Tumbler is quickly becoming NYCC tradition. Last year was Ghost Rider - can anyone tell me what was year one?

When we showed these to the beloved NYCC Strike Team, Mark (aka Fitchie or Abercrombie) noted that they have to be smooth inside or it'll make your beer flat and we should not promote anything that threatens the enjoyment of barley pop. After an insane amount of research on the part of the Strike Team, we can guarantee you that the beer will not go flat.

You can buy these at the con store during The Con.

Stan Lee Answers Your Phone!

New York Comic Con is very, very excited to welcome Stan Lee back again this year and got him on the phone recently to have a little fun. How'd you like Stan Lee to answer you phone? How'd you like to send a special greeting from Stan Lee to your best friend? Or maybe you just want to hear Stan's thoughts about coming to New York Comic Con 2008? Whatever you're into, we've got it!

(Remember that soundwave we posted a few weeks back? That was Stan.)

Click on Stan's smiling mug atop newyorkcomiccon.com to start having some fun!

Go Team Venture-er!

I'm pleased to announce Mike Sinterniklaas and James Urbaniak will both be joining the Venture Bros. panel!

Stan Lee To Receive The Inaugural New York Comics Legend Award at NYCC!

Well con fans, this is the announcement I’ve been sitting on for months now – I’m pleased to let you all know that for the second year running, The Godfather of Comics, Stan Lee will be at New York ComicCon. The New York Comics Legend award will be given out at a VIP party Thursday night at the Virgin Megastore in Times Square an Stan will be at the Con as well. The New York Comics Legend Award part is going to be an awesome evening. Only 350 people will be able to attend the party, and of those 150 will be fans the rest will be a who’s who of the comic industry. New York themed food, drink and if course a signing and talk by Stan Lee will highlight the night. Fan tickets for the reception will go on sale this Friday.

What Stan Will Be Doing at The Con - Stan will be doing some other limited activities at The Con, but you’ll have to wait on details as they appearances are linked to projects that have yet to be announced – how was that for a tease? We are working with the other organizations involved and you’ll see releases on this soon, I promise. Soooo, if you wanna go to the party and award ceremony, you can get your ticket on Friday via the NYCC web site (it’ll be listed with all of our other Ultimate Experiences). Otherwise stay tuned for your chance to meet Stan Lee at The Con.

The Award - The New York Comics Legend award was something we dreamed up this year and asked a few friends the help us fill in all the details (Thanks Charles!). Because NYC is the birthplace of comics and there are swarms of amazing creators and contributors that have called NYC home we wanted to do something to honor both the legends of our business but also the city that inspired so many of them. Each recipient will have made a major contribution to the advancement of comics, either through achievement in art or business; they will have made a significant contribution to the civic life in New York either through charity, education, public service or by advancing the image of New York City through direct involvement with New York. I’m pretty stoked to create a lasting award that honors the titans of comics and NYC all at once.

Trust me guys, I’ll have a lot more about this as the week goes on, but for now I wanted to finally tell you all the big news! We’ve got lots planned and I’ll fill you in, I promise…..

Excelsior!

-L