FREE COMIC BOOK DAY 2011 (May 7, 2011)

On Saturday, May 7, 2011, participating retailers across North America (and some around the world) will host Free Comic Book Day 2011. On that day, those retailers will hand our comic books from Archie, BOOM! Studios, Dark Horse, DC, Marvel, IDW and may others free of charge.

Among the free comics will be The Overstreet Guide To Collecting Comics - Free Comic Book Day 2011, our latest effort.

Revised and expanded in reaction to retailer and reader requests! How do you collect comics? How do you take care of the comics you buy? How do you grade comics? How do you sell your comics? How do you evaluate their worth? From the team that brings you The Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide come answers to these questions and more facing new collectors and experienced enthusiasts alike!

32 Pages, Full Color, Free

It's written by me (with help from Bailey Ball and some of our Overstreet Advisors), illustrated by Gene Gonzales, with photographs by Michael Solof, and designed and edited by Mark Huesman.

PHOTOS FROM COMIC-CON 2010

Comic-Con International: San Diego (July 21-25, 2010) was a ton of work since it was the launch of the 40th anniversary edition of The Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide, but it was also fun because it offered the chance to catch up with good friends.

Photo #1
Scoop photographer Michael Solof (right) and I had the chance to visit with our friend Ming-Na, star of Stargate Universe on SyFy (what was wrong with Sci Fi Channel I'll never know), who I've known since junior high and Mike's known since high school. It was a blast seeing her at the show, and it was funny getting stopped every 30 or 40 feet so folks could take pictures with her. It's cool when good things happen to your friends.

Photo #2
I did two signings (one on Preview Night and one on Saturday) with Insight Studios Group supremo Mark Wheatley (right) at his booth for Vampire, PA #1. We had about 100 advance copies on hand (it actually goes on sale in comic shops this week).

Photo #3
And though we work together just about every day, it was was the first time in a couple of years that I'd seen Bob Overstreet (center) because he lives in Mississippi. Mark Huesman (left) works in Timonium, Maryland (though I see him more frequently than I do Bob) and I work in New York. The online world makes so much possible!

There will be a LOT more photos in this week's edition of Scoop.

BEDTIME STORIES FOR IMPRESSIONABLE CHILDREN

Sometimes a good idea just won't die. Of course it sort of helps when it's undead to start with.

To say that Bedtime Stories For Impressionable Children has been percolating for a long time would be something of an understatement. I had read Creepy and Eerie, of course, but years and years before I got to work on The EC Archives, even before I discovered Bruce Jones' Twisted Tales, the first screenplay I tried to write while I was still in high school was Bedtime Stories For Impressionable Children.

Sometimes, as was the case with Antiques: The Comic Strip, you just don't know enough to do a good job writing a project when it first hits you. Then later -- sometimes much later -- how to actually do it hits you suddenly. That's the case with this one.

I was having lunch with James Kuhoric, my good friend and the only comic book writer who has made Army of Darkness really come alive (so to speak) for me (he's also the creator of the great Dead Irons and Legendary Talespinners). We weren't even talking about horror anthologies are first, but then (with a nod to Ross Richie and company) ... BOOM!

A couple of minutes later we had the whole first issue figured out.

That same night I had dinner with two other good friends, photographer Michael Solof and multi-media artist Mark Wheatley (creator of, among other things, Vertigo's Breathtaker and the recent graphic novel EZ Street). We talked it over, and it really got rolling.

I wrote up a quick proposal about the one-shot (we're ready to do more if it's a success), sat on it a few days, good some feedback, and then sent it off to Joe Gentile and our friends at Moonstone.

The result will be a 32-page comic book of horror tales by the aforementioned creators along with one by writer-director Robert Tinnell (The Black Forest, The Wicked West). It should be fun, and I already have a lot of other really talented friends ready to roll if people like this one.

We've already started a Facebook page on it, so check it out.

More to follow.

20 QUESTIONS WITH... Interviews by JCV

I've posted some new material on the Comics Spotlight blog, including an interview with novelist and comic book fan Barry Lyga, who has a number of highly acclaimed books under his belt and the new Wolverine: Worst Day Ever on the way...

20 Questions With Barry Lyga

There's also some new photos by Mike Solof from the New York Comic-Con, and the previous interviews are still available:

20 Questions With Jimmy Palmiotti

20 Questions With Joe Rybandt

20 Questions With Chris Ryall