Photos: Friday at the 2009 BookExpo America

Though the bulk of our collective attention may be split between the siren songs of DVR, the internet, and video games, I think most geeks maintain a special place in their hearts for regular old books. It's certainly true of me, and it's why I love the BookExpo America, North America's biggest book publishing convention. The sheer concentration of booths filling the Javits Center in Manhattan makes the NY Comic Con look like the Montgomery Flea Market.

I was able to pick up review copies of a few upcoming comics (including the very awesome looking Pixu) and I'll be posting about those soon. In the meantime, here are some Friday highlights (frilights?) from the convention floor...

As you may already know, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies from Quirk Books is a paperback best-seller, cultural phenom, and further proof that geek memes are pushing their way into the cultural mainstream. The formula is fiendishly simple; take the ultimate romance novel, insert zombie mayhem, and publish to a waiting nation of zombie fanatics. Love that public domain!

At the Quirk Books booth, publishing reps were promoting a new Deluxe Edition of PPZ coming out this winter, which will include "30% more zombies". I half-jokingly asked the rep if this addition was a concession to reader demands, and she answered in all seriousness, "Yes, we got a lot of reader feedback on the subject."

The big news is that on July 15th, the next "...With Zombies" title will be announced. The only hints I could get out of the rep were:

1. It won't be another Jane Austen book
2. It will take place in the Regency era (I'm guessing they'll stick with the Romance genre too)

I'll call it now: Jane Eyre With Zombies. Maybe cause that's the only Regency era book I can think of that isn't Jane Austen.



Neil Gaiman was signing copies of The Graveyard Book at the Harper Collins booth, bringing fans to tears with a mere word or touch of his hand. The autograph line was absolutely soul-crushing, so I just snapped a picture and moved on. We're BFF on twitter, though.

Life-sized Clifford is actually pretty frightening.


Let's talk bookmarks. Old and busted.....

NEW HOTNESS:
It took me a minute to understand the point of an XMarxit, but it's actually pretty smart. You point the dot at the spot you stopped reading, so when you open up the book you know exactly where you left off. Boom. Elegant it's simplicity.

And if you ever need to prove that you're a bigger nerd than someone else, whipping out a speciality bookmark is going to be your ace in the hole.


The idea of making a tiny Ultimate Fighting ring for the Ultimate Fighting book to live in is totally adorable, but I question whether it's a good idea to give Beat-Em-Up gloves to a person who is so obsessed with Ultimate Fighting that they'd want this thing in their house. Someone in that house is going to get punched, that's all I'm saying.


From the publisher's notes: "Meet all these cute baby animals that find clever ways to solve their not-so-small problems". I have a problem with crying when I read children's books. I didn't even try to read these on the floor because there would have been trouble.


Oh look, it's a little tiny novelty book!

Or is it....?I can't decide if this is a great idea or not. Playaway is a self-contained audiobook - you'd just get it from the library or as a gift, plug headphones in, and listen to it like an iPod. It's kind of cool to not have to transfer CDs to your computer to your music player before listening to something, and the "tiny book" visual impact is definitely appealing.

My biggest problem is the packaging...

WHAT THE HELL? Why would you create a giant VHS sized package for something that's smaller than a cellphone? Just because something is going to be housed in a library doesn't mean it HAS to look uncool.


In case you were wondering what to get your mom for Christmas. My mom might actually like this, actually.

New York Comic Con 2008 Day One

Here are the panels I attended at NYCC today, with easy to read bulleted notes:

The Legends Behind the Comic Books
Panelists: Stan Lee, Joe Simon, Jerry Robinson, John Romita Sr., Ramona Fradon, Dick Ayers, Joe Sinnott, Irwin Hasen, and Murphy Anderson.

• Combined age of panelists (not including Fradon, because it's impolite to ask a lady's age): 681. Holy crap.
• Stan Lee, when asked what his greatest accomplishment was, says that's for posterity to decide. He adds his wife would probably say it was the allowance he gives her.
• Irwin Hasen (a diminutive man) notes that drawing Wonder Woman started him off on a habit of dating very tall women. "That's true!"
• Ramona on the early Marvel bullpen: "It was scary in there with all the boys throwing erasers and things at each other. I used to hate that."
• Joe Simon was asked what he thought of the death of Captain America and he said he thinks Marvel should go back to the original Captain America. "Without the pop gun, the knife, the shield." Maybe I misheard him, because I was pretty sure Cap had a shield in his first appearance.
• When the panelists were asked who the most creative person they ever met or worked with was, the panel became a Jack Kirby love fest. Stan Lee notes: "Jack could make every panel exciting. He was a writer, not with words but with pictures. He just never ran out of ideas. I stole as many as I could."

All of these guys are in a movie called The Legends Behind the Comic Books, which is screening on Sunday at the con. I've seen the film and I recommend anyone who is interested in comics history go check it out. It's a great look into how these guys basically invented the modern comic.

Announcements from Vertigo and Marvel, some time with Neil Gaiman and X-Files: I Want to Believe after the jump!

Vertigo Panel
Panelists: Karen Berger, Grant Morrison, Amy Hadley, G. Willow Wilson, Josh Dysart, Jason Aaron, Brian Wood, Brian Azzarello, David Tischman, Russ Braun, Mark Buckingham

• Bill Willingham will be writing a new House of Mystery series. It won't be an anthology book, but each issue will feature a story within a story that features art by a different artist.
• Amy Hadley chatted about a new Madame Xanadu book that's coming out in June. It's going to be something of an origin story, and Karen Berger piped in to tell us we finally find out why she's called Madame Xanadu.
• G. Willow Wilson (who is a very attractive lady, lemme tell you) talked about her new series Air. She got the idea while being questioned in the Amsterdam airport by a little blond woman and she thought to herself: "What if she was a lot cooler, I was a lot cooler, and this was a comic book?" She also claims the book reads like Alias done by Miyazaki.
• Dave Tischman talked a bit about The Mates, a story following a group of superheroes that "aren't the Beatles but who hold the same place in the fictional zeitgeist that the Beatles hold in ours." Basically, it's about how if superheroes were real they'd act like rock stars: sex, drugs and all that.
• Karen Berger announced a book called Hellblazer: Chas - The Knowledge that sounds really interesting. It's about Chas, the cab driver from the series. Apparently every London cabbie has to read this book called "The Knowledge" that details every little alley and passage in the city and honestly I missed the rest of the description because that sounded so awesome to me.
• Hellblazer: Pandemonium is a new book written by original Hellblazer scribe Jamie Delano, in which Constantine goes to Iraq and falls in love with a woman who may be a spy.
• Grant Morrison rambled incoherent Scottish gibberish about all the things that will be going on in his new Seaguy series. I can't be sure of anything I heard, but I think it involves a seedy pirate companion and a new profession as a "bull dresser." You see, in the future Mad Cow Disease has turned cows and bulls into a protected species so instead of stabbing them matadors deftly dress them up in stockings and hats and high heels. Seriously.
• Bryan Azzarello, who spent most of the panel shooting a killer's eye at photographers and questioners, opened up about the ill-fated book Loveless: "I failed you guys on that book. I'm sorry. I didn't do enough to keep that book going. It had a birth defect, it just never caught on. I still have stories to tell with those characters." He quickly went back to his surly self when asked what his post 100 Bullets project will be. In his best biting Millar impression: "It's gonna be hot, man." Karen Berger mentions that it will be with Eduardo Risso, which gets some applause.

Marvel Panel
Panelists: Joe Quesada, Jim McCann, Duane Swierczynski, Brian Reed, Bill Roseman, Dan Slott, Axel Alonso, Mark Guggenheim, Kevin Grevioux, Daniel Way, a bunch more

• Most of the panel was Q+A, to which the A was more often than not: "Keep reading the books. All of them. Buy all of the books."
• On delays, McCann said: "We're very aware of our "problem children" and try to insert one-shots and annuals to make up for books shipping late."
• In regards to where the Cable storyline is going, Swierczynski said "If you love the baby, sorry. If you hate the baby, keep reading."
• A new Deadpool ongoing series is coming from Daniel Way and Paco Medina in September.
• Bill Roseman said Super Skrull will factor into Secret Invasion, but the Skrulls don't take him very seriously anymore and think he's past his prime.
• Kevin Grevioux sounds like Tay Zonday.
• The question of why no one in the Marvel Universe thinks it's strange that they've forgotten Spider-Man's secret identity will apparently be addressed in future stories, but probably not until after Secret Invasion.
• Quesada said Marvel just hops from event to event because fans speak with their wallets and they're saying "We love events!"
  

An Evening with Neil Gaiman

• Bill Hader, who is apparently a huge Gaiman fan, gave the introduction. It includes impressions of Vincent Price as Coraline, and a suspiciously Sam Jackson-sounding Al Pacino as Dream.
• Gaiman begins by announcing that Rome, GA comic shop owner Gordon Lee has literally just now been cleared of all charges in a case brought against him for giving out a free comic on Halloween that had Picasso painting nudes in it. Gaiman says it's thanks to the CBLDF, which ponied up more than $100,000 in Lee's defense.
• Gaiman did some good readings: first was a sweet poem called The Day the Saucers Came, then a funny story called "Orange," which structured as responses to some sort of interview about a girl's sister using too much self-tanner and turning into a glowing orange ball of light. Last story I heard before I left was a sort of study in progressive intoxication wherein Gaiman (or the character he's writing in the first person) tries to see if drinking while writing increases his creative capacity. The verdict? About halfway through the bottle he tells a great story about elephant ejaculate feeding an anthill for a year, so... Half a bottle is where it's at.
  

X-Files: I Want to Believe
Panelists: Chris Carter and (I think) Frank Spotnitz

• Nothing new to show us, just that same teaser that's been around the web.
• The guys let slip that Wildstorm will be publishing a new X-Files book. This was an announcement that was going to be made tomorrow by DC, wonder if they're upset that their thunder was stolen.
• When asked what he wants fans to take home from this new film, Carter said "The trash under your seat."

Tune in tomorrow for highlights from Day Two!

Neil Gaiman Gives It Away

Neil Gaiman has my lifelong allegiance for having written Sandman, the ten volume tome that helped to remind me in my formative college years that comics could be brilliant and were worth taking seriously. Starting today Neil Gaiman's similarly deity-themed book, American Gods, is available in it's entirety on Harper Collin's website, a promotion intended to celebrate the seventh anniversary of Gaiman's blog. Gaiman fans were able to vote for which of his book's would be available for free, and American Gods won by a landslide. This creates a neat little narrative circle, as the blog itself was born out of a promotional stunt to document the writing process of a little book called....American Gods. Ah, closure! You can read the book by clicking the "browse" button on this handy widget...



Analysis after the jump...


This book was very in vogue within my circle of friends circa the summer of 2001. I loved the first few chapters but eventually grew tired of the main character, a strong silent type whose still waters never seemed to run terribly deep. I made it past the part where he gets tied to a tree for a few days (awesome, by the way) and left it at that. But I just may reread it now that it's so aggressively available. There doesn't appear to be anyway to download the text, so you've got to read it on Harper Collin's bookviewer, which is a pretty bare-bones eBook interface. Every time you turn the page a little loading screen pops up for about .5 seconds, which is annoying but is probably not a problem for those with a better internet connection than I. Several booknerds I'm acquainted with hate reading anything on a screen, but I think my aversion to that was cured when I started downloading comics- er, legal comics, I mean, like you know, Zuda. That's a real thing, right? Anyway, if anyone loved or hated American Gods, let me know if you think I'll like it now that I've grown more refined in my tastes and my attention span has decreased by about %45 due to our friend and overlord the internet.

Weekanerd: Wolves Come Out of the Walls at a Murder Party and Kill You in Front of Yourself

Friday, October 12th

• Murder Party, w/ Director Jeremy Saulnier + Cast
  
• $10.75, Midnight @ Landmark Sunshine Cinema, 143 E. Houston, Manhattan
  

"Chris finds a mysterious invitation on the street and follows it to what he thinks will be a fun costume party. It turns out to be a lethal trap set by a gang of deranged hipster artists." Come out and support this home-grown gore fest laffer that won the Audience Award at Slamdance this year. Then hang out to ask the guys what they're trying to say about American foreign policy. Need some convincing? There's a trailer here.

Saturday, October 13th

• La Jetée + Wavelength
  
• $10 ($6 for students), 7pm @ The MoMA, 11 W 53rd St., Manhattan
  

This may be the only chance you'll ever have to see a film projection of La Jetée, the beautiful short film that inspired Terry Gilliam's 12 Monkeys. It's followed by the 45 min Wavelength, which is... uhhhhh.... "In Wavelength, a camera zoom slowly edges forward until it ends by framing a photograph of waves on the opposite wall. Throughout the course of the film, an accompanying sine-wave signal becomes higher and more piercing." Yeah, you might want to sneak out as La Jetée's credits roll.

Sunday, October 14th

• Wolves in the Walls, with post-show talk back
  
• $12.50-$35, 12pm @ New Victory Theater, 229 W 42nd St, Manhattan
  

Put some culture in ya butt! Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean's haunting children's book has been transformed into a stage musical, and judging from the trailer (follow the link above to get to it) it looks like they've kept McKean's signature visual punch intact. After there's a "talk back" that I imagine involves terrified kids asking the director if the monsters are real.

Weekanerd NYC - Movie Premieres and Yo Yo Fun

Friday, August 10, 2007

• Stardust Premiere
• Theaters Across America
  

The ad campaign has been awful, but do it for Neil Gaiman.

Saturday, August 11, 2007

• National Yo-Yo Open
• 11:30am @ South Street Seaport, Pier 17, Manhattan
  

Geekanerd loves weird sporting events almost as much as we hate regular sporting events. World champions will be showing their stuff all day. Click the title link for

Sunday, August 12, 2007

• The King of Kong: A Fistful Of Quarters (New York Premiere)
• 3 @ The Museum of The Moving Image, 35 Avenue at 36 Street, Astoria, Queens

This trailer kicks ass! The screening will feature Q & A with the documentary's director, writer, and underdog hero. (in William Shatner voice) KOONNNNG!

Comic Artists Blog Their Way Through the San Diego Comic Con

Can't make it to San Diego for the Comic Con? Check out the blogs of some of Geekanerd's favorite writers and artists for an inside look at what they'll be premiering at the Con.

Neil Gaiman (Sandman, Stardust, 1602)

• Neil has been actively blogging his experiences at Comic Con, including when he presented the new Beowulf footage with Roger Avary, and the subsequent rooftop reception. The entry is tagged "Why I Am Crap At Parties", which reminds me of Why I Am In Love With Neil Gaiman.

Brian Wood (DMZ, Supermarket, the upcoming Dogs Day End)

• Today's entry links to some just-released preview art of Wood's new viking story, Northlanders. Plus a recent post titled "Things To Look Out For" indicates some information about Brian's "unnaounced" original graphic novel will drop during the Con.
  

David Petersen (Mouse Guard)

• Check out this post for a peek at the Mouse Guard sketchbook that will make it's debut at Comic Con. Petersen's art never fails to amaze.
  

Humberto Ramos (Wolverine, currently on X-Men)

• I'm a big fan of Ramos' art - you can buy his sketchbook online through his blog, plus he's got a scan up of the stickers he'll be premiering at Comic Con (wait, stickers? Is that it?!)

Angelina Jolie Gets Naked and Hooved for Beowulf

Update 9/5/07: With new trailers come new, naughtier, yet still unsatisfying Angelina nudie pics. Check out Geekanerd's latest Beowulf article here.

Beowulf, Robert Zemeckis' latest motion-captured CGI movie, is screening at Comic Con tonight and the LA Times has a first look at the flick which includes this poetic intro:

Angelina Jolie's lips look even fuller than usual. She's emerging naked from a pool of dank cave water, rivulets of gold streaming gently down her body.

"Giiiif meee sonnnn," she coos, in an Old English accent.

Her flaxen hair is braided down her back in a long tail that slowly undulates and slaps the dark pool around her. She continues to purr enticements about making babies as a virtual camera circles 360 degrees panning around her long limbs and waist. Gold dribbles down her inner thighs past her feet, revealing sharp stilettos merged with bestial hooves.

Angelina purring enticements about making babies... Shiver me timbers. Hit the jump for more from the article, including quotes from screenwriter Neil Gaiman, a picture of digital Anthony Hopkins as King of the Uncanny Valley, and a naked George McFly.


Well, there's no picture of a naked George McFly, but Crispin Glover is playing a scaled Grendel in the movie, so he'll be a part of this epic throwdown:

One of the film's pivotal fight scenes is when Beowulf battles Grendel in the nude, mano a beast-o. ("Bob asked if he had to be nude, but we said, 'It's in the poem,' " Gaiman explained.) So in a crafty bit of staging to allow a PG-13 rating, Beowulf's naughty bits are obfuscated by random objects in the foreground. It's more subtle and subdued, but shadows, swords, mead flagons and shoulders block all in a sequence not unlike the prankish cloaking device used in "Austin Powers" films.

How is this not going to be hilarious? A scaled Crispin Glover fighting naked with all-too-convenient cover-up? The audience will be cracking up! Comic Con is gonna laugh these jokers out of San Diego! At least Gaiman is interested in producing an unrated version without such silly tricks and with a lot more cursing. Anyway, I have serious doubts about the potential of this film, regardless of whose naughty bits we almost see. Look at this pic below:

Aaaah, don't they freak you out!? They're too real to work as sympathetic cartoons and too fake to work as sympathetic humans. How can we be expected to care for mannequins? That being said, I trust Neil Gaiman:

The writer admits he personally had his doubts about Zemeckis' ability to pull off "Beowulf" given the "horrid little rotoscope-y ghost people" in "Polar Express." Gaiman saw his first clips of the film last week and said he was convinced that Zemeckis, with his mocap filmmaking style and digital 3-D world, has made quantum advances in his unique filmic grammar since then.

Still not a shining endorsement, but... But nothing, this film is gonna suck. Right Neil?

Gaiman: "It was like watching the cast of 'Tron' performing bad Shakespeare in the round."

Zing!

Read the full article at the LA Times (requires free registration).
Via FilmWad.

New Movie Posters, Including IRON MAN!

Solace In Cinema has a story up via FilmIck via FilmFocus with a bunch of new posters for the major studio's upcoming releases...including IRON MAN!

neeeeerrrrrrooowwwwwwwwwrrrrr....

DAAAAAA DA
DA DA DA!

DADA DADA DADA-DA
DA DA DAAA!

Sorry. A couple more notable posters after the jump. Solace In Cinema (who very classily focuses on the cool Beowulf poster) is Geekanerd's newest best friend, because they linked to our extensive Rorschach's Journal coverage, noting, "this is why I love nerds." Thanks! (then, in Cartman voice...) 'EY!

Oish....I hate to say it even more than I hate to state the obvious, but this looks like a bomb. I love Neil Gaiman, so I hope this movie surprises everyone and is really good and successful. The Eragon-looking ad campaign is not going to help though.

Somehow, Dr. Seuss movies have become cinematic Herald of Doom that signals the downturn of a top-tier comedian's career...first we lost Jim Carrey to that Grinch nonsense, then poor Mike Myers was eaten alive by the Cat in the Hat, and now Steve Carell is descending even further into the depths of Hades, now that Evan Almighty has tanked.

To be fair: At least this is animated, so Steve and Jim (oh Jim, please come back) don't have to go through the humiliation of acting through eight inches of make-up and fur.