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Category Archives: Bay Area Comic News

CCA MFA in Comics Announces Summer Speaker Series

California College of the Arts MFA in Comics program has announced the summer speaker series. This is the sixth year for the exciting program which welcomes back graduates of the innovative program.

MFA in Comics Summer Series

Each Friday during the month of July, the Comics in the City speaker series will highlight various aspects of the comics medium from independent publishing to the craft of writing and the future of digital comics. Featuring award-winning storyteller J.H. Williams III (Promethea, Sandman: Overture), critically-acclaimed cartoonist Julia Wertz (Tenements, Towers, & Trash), rising star Ashley A. Woods (Niobe, Ladycastle), and our very own graduate cartoonists, this public lecture series will take place on CCA’s San Francisco campus in Timken Lecture Hall.

Below are the 2018 CCA MFA in Comics speakers and dates. All of the events run from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m.

July 13: An Evening with JH Williams III

July 20: An Evening with Julia Wertz

July 27: An evening with Ashley A. Woods

August 3: 2018 Graduate Comics Reading

Timken Lecture Hall is located at 1111 8th Street in San Francisco.

 

Eisner Retailer Award: Oakland’s Cape and Cowl makes the longlist

Oakland’s Cape and Cowl Comics has landed on the 2018 Will Eisner Spirit of Comics Retailer Award longlist.

Cape and Cowl Comics Eisner

The nomination puts Cape and Cowl in the company of 20 outstanding comic shops from around the world who “have done an outstanding job of supporting the comics medium both in the industry at large and in their local community.” Five of those shops will be announced as finalists during the week of San Diego Comic-Con. The recipient of the Spirit Award will be announced during the Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards on Friday, July 20.

Cape and Cowl had an impressive impact on the local community since opening in 2015, so it isn’t a surprise they’d be heavily nominated by the local community. The Shared Universe’s Maddie Greene was among those who added the shop’s name to the Eisner Sorting Hat. This is what she told the organization about Cape and Cowl giving back:

I don’t know of a Bay Area comic shop that does more community outreach or involvement. Once again I have to mention the local signings, which highlight local creators and stories for Oakland youth in particular. This is important work in our community. Cape and Cowl‘s book club also brings community members together to learn and discuss. But most of all, the shop turns events like their birthday and Free Comic Book Day into ways to give back. Last FCBD so much food was donated that giant barrels overspilled and huge pallets were dwarfed by the donations. An event to fight food waste in conjunction with Imperfect Produce raised 1,000 pounds of produce for the Alameda County Community Food Bank. One weekend they donated 20% of all sales to the Southern Poverty Law Center. They helped bring free Black Panther screenings to children in Oakland and Atlanta. They shared ways to help when the North Bay fires burned.

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Signing: Zack Kaplan (Port of Earth, Eclipse) at Fantastic Comics, June 23

Fantastic Comics, 2026 Shattuck in Berkeley, will host hard sci-fi comic writer Zack Kaplan for a signing on June 23. Kaplan, the writer behind the critically acclaimed titles Port of Earth (aliens open a port on Earth) and Eclipse (detective story in a future where stepping into daylight burns people to death), will visit the Berkeley comic store as a part of a kick-off for his newest series The Lost City Explorers.

Lost City Explorers

According to publisher Aftershock Comics:

Lost cities aren’t just the stuff of myths. They exist hidden right under our noses. But when a mysterious expedition is disrupted by supernatural activity, and an antiquities professor goes missing, his teenage daughter and her friends must become underground urban explorers, follow his tracks on a coming-of-age journey through subterranean tunnels, and ultimately find the holy grail of lost city: Atlantis buried right under New York City!

Art on the new title is from Alvaro Sarraseca with colors by Chris Blythe.

Kaplan will be at Fantastic Comics from 12 p.m. to 3 p.m.

Fantastic Comics
2026 Shattuck Ave.
Berkeley, CA
(510) 848-2988
Website: www.fantasticcomics.net
Twitter: @FantasticComics
Facebook: FantasticComics
Sun-Tue: 11 a.m.-7 p.m., Wed-Sat: 10 a.m.-10 p.m.

Signing: No. 1 With A Bullet’s Jacob Semahn at Escapist, June 8

The Escapist has a busy weekend of signings coming up. On June 8, the Berkeley comic shop will welcome No. 1 With a Bullet‘s writer Jacob Semahn between 3 p.m. and 6 p.m.

On June 9, Escapist will host Landry Walker and Justin Greenwood signing the first issue of The Last Siege. Read more about this signing here.

No. 1 With a Bullet is June’s selection for the Escapist’s book club. Semahn is the writer on the book with Jorge Corona handling art duties. here’s a write up about the book from Image:

Her social media, strong. Her variety show segments, a hit. Nash Huang is at the top of her game. But when the iRis Shutter contact lens hits the market, Nash’s life is personally invaded. The latest leap forward in “technological progress,” these contacts not only play video or augment reality…but also record footage. Fighting to keep her life together after a leaked sex tape goes viral, a clingy super-fan is the last thing on Nash’s mind…but that’s exactly when the bodies pile up and the terror begins. From the bestselling team that brought you GONERS, comes NO. 1 WITH A BULLET!

 

San Francisco Comic Con Heads to Oakland with Matt Smith, Jonathan Frakes, Wallace Shawn, and more

The San Francisco Comic Con returns to the Bay Area this June but not to its namesake city. The convention, which has been diligently filling a void left by WonderCon’s departure in 2012, will bring geeky comic goodness to the Oakland Convention Center June 8-10.

San Francisco Comic Con

Like most comic conventions these days, there’s more to San Francisco Comic Con than comics. The convention will include panels on everything from cosplay to gaming. In addition to panels, SFCC will host a number of celebrity guests (for an additional cost): Matt Smith (Doctor Who), Bonnie Wright (Harry Potter), Jonathan Frakes (Star Trek: TNG), Camren Bicondova (Gotham), Wallace Shawn (The Princess Bride), Michael Biehn (Aliens), Rodger Bumpass (Sponge Bob), Kevin Conroy (Batman: TAS), Nolan North (Uncharted), and Veronica Taylor (Pokemon).

The comic creator guest list is substantial and includes a number of rising stars in the industry as well as some big-name veterans. Possibly the biggest name is a weekend appearance of Jim Starlin who will be the focus of two panels discussing his life and work. Other guests include Gerry Conway. Amy Mebberson, Paola Rivera, and Renee Witterstaetter.

A complete list of panels and guests can be found on the San Francisco Comic Con website.

Signing: The Allreds (all of them!) at Comix Experience, May 23

The Allreds (yep, Mike, Lee, and Laura) will visit Comix Experience, 305 Divisadero Street in San Francisco, on May 23 for a very special signing.

Bug the Adventures of Forager

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Signing: “The City on the Other Side” Creators May 20 at Comix Experience

Comix Experience will host Mairghread Scott and Robin Robinson, the creators of the new all-ages graphic novel The City on the Other Side, on May 20 at 11 a.m.

The signing is part of the Comix Experience Graphic Novel of the Month Kids Club. Members of the club will be able to join the creators in a Q&A before the signing. Interested individuals can join the club in advance of the signing here.

Here’s the description of the early twentieth century San Francisco set fantasy graphic novel.

In The City on the Other Side, a young girl stumbles into a pitched war between two fairy kingdoms, and the fate of San Francisco itself hangs in the balance!

Sheltered within her high-society world, Isabel plays the part of a perfectly proper little girl—she’s quiet, well-behaved, and she keeps her dresses spotlessly clean. She’s certainly not the kind of girl who goes on adventures.

But that all changes when Isabel breaches an invisible barrier and steps into another world. She discovers a city not unlike her own, but magical and dangerous. Here, war rages between the fairies of the Seelie and Unseelie Courts. Only Isabel, with the help of a magical necklace and a few new friends, stands a chance of ending the war before it destroys the fairy world, and her own.

You can get a sneak peek at the graphic novel on the MacMillan Publisher website.

The City on the Other Side

 

Oakland’s Cape and Cowl Comics Burglarized

Oakland’s Cape and Cowl Comics was burglarized early Saturday.

Photo from Cape and Cowl’s Facebook page

Employees arrived to open the shop for business Saturday morning to find the front door had been smashed and nearly 50 comics stolen from the high-value comic wall.

Cape and Cowl Burgled

Many of the titles stolen were in CGC slabs. CGC slabs are each individually numbered, so if a slabbed book does turn up it could be traced back to Cape and Cowl. The store is working on an inventory of which issues are missing.

In case the above Facebook embed here’s the list of titles with CGC numbers as of April 28 at 5 p.m.

Walking Dead #171 Pink Sig Variant (9.8) 1243657006
MMPR #0 Green (9.8) 1255498009
Batman Who Laughs #1 (9.6) 1249036006
Star Wars #1 (9.4) 1254485001
Strange Tales #110 (2.0) 1249035003
ASM #1 Golden Record Reprint (8.5) 1249035010
Batman #232 (6.5) 1249035007
Ninja-K #1 (9.8) 1249036004
Luke Cage #166 Lenticular (9.8) 1249624008

Signing: The Black Monday Murders Artist Tomm Coker at The Escapist – April 22

I don’t make end of the year best comic lists, but if I did The Black Monday Murders would have easily made it into the top 10 the last two years. Written by Jonathan Hickman with art by Tomm Coker, Image Comics describes the title as a “crypto-noir series about the power of dirty, filthy money… and exactly what kind of people you can buy with it.”

Tomm Coker - Black Monday Murders Issue 6The story by Hickman is complicated and intense making it a perfect compliment to the beautiful haunting artwork by Coker.

Tomm Coker visits The Escapist, 3090 Claremont Avenue in Berkeley, on April 22 from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. He’s signing copies of The Black Monday Murders volumes 1 and 2. The second volume is released on April 18. The Black Monday Murders vol. 2 will also feature as the Escapist’s title of choice for the April book club. The club will meet at 7 p.m. after Coker’s signing. The artist plans to join the discussion.

 

East Bay Comic Book Trail – What Is It?

The Bay Area is lucky to have more than a dozen comic shops within a 20-mile radius. We’ve split a bulk of those shops into two trails: The San Francisco Comic Book Trail and the East Bay Comic Book Trail. Now you can treat comic book shopping like a pub crawl! This map is especially useful for comic book tourists and on Free Comic Book Day.

Below you’ll find our suggested path for the East Bay Comic Book Trail running through Oakland and Berkeley. Click here for our suggested path for the San Francisco Comic Book Trail. Want to see them all? Click here to see a full list of Bay Area Comic Book Stores.

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