There were quite a few announcements the NYCC Special Edition Marvel panel. We learned of the fall launch of a new line of $1 comics featuring women of Marvel, saw new pages from the upcoming Lando Calrissian limited series, and were told of a new post-Secret Wars Iron Man series from Brian Michael Bendis and David Marquez.

But perhaps the most interesting moment of the panel was when Bendis, speaking on the dais with Marguerite Bennett (A-Force) and Charles Soule (Inhumans: Attilan Rising), said that Secret Wars was “never planned to be a reboot” to the Marvel Universe, and that “no continuity would be damaged or reversed.” Bendis explained that Secret Wars was always meant to be part of on-going continuity.

Bennett received loud applause when speaking to a fan during the Q & A portion of the panel who asked her what advice she had for women and girls interested in the comics industry. “Don’t be scared,” Bennett replied, “I’ve had one of the worst weeks of my life with hate mail and it doesn’t matter.” Bennet said she would “prove through her work, I’m not going anywhere.”

Sound issues plagued the presentation, which alternately found Bendis yelling into his mic and audience members having to approach the panel and speak into their mics to be heard over a panel in the adjacent space (separated only by a curtain).

Keep reading for panel exclusive images of forthcoming series, including those never before seen pages from upcoming Charles Soule penned series Lando!

The new “True Believers” line of $1 comics debuts in September 2015, and will feature a women of Marvel theme for it’s first 10 issues.

Marvel also showed art from their forthcoming variant covers, including several images from an upcoming line of Manga variants. A House of M variant cover was shown, drawn by Katsuya Terada (Blood: The Last Vampire).

Marvel’s variant announcements continued with images of a line of variant covers honoring the fast-growing cosplay scene.

Artist Alex Maleev joins Soule for the upcoming Lando limited series. Soule said the series would have “a lot of twists and turns” but that it would be the charming, “smarmy” Lando we all know and love, as Con-exclusive images were shown on the big screen.

“New Armor, new villains,” promised Bendis of his upcoming Invincible Iron Man series, scheduled for release following Secret Wars. He promised the series’ first issue would have a “whopper of a last page,” and reveal the identity of Tony Stark’s biological parents. He also confirmed that, despite internet rumor, it was indeed Stark inside the Iron Man suit. Though he wouldn’t confirm how many limbs Stark still had following the events of Secret Wars.

When a fan approached the panel to ask “how important are the X-Men” after Secret Wars, Bendis joked, “it’s almost like Marvel is screwing around with people who have X-Men paranoia.”

That Artist Alley booth outside the building? It’s the Terry Malloy memorial table.

The middle of the show floor. Blank numbers indicate booths which are on hold. According to the map, all space has been sold.

What you’ll see when you walk in. To the right (north) will be the panel rooms.

The official poster, by Alex Meleev. (Booth N10)

Just as ReedPOP has finished up BookCon at the Javits Center, we turn our attention to their next show, Special Edition New York City, located one mile north at Pier 94!

Those who remember the Scrapple in the Big Apple in 2009 will recall that this Pier hosted the Wizard World-owned “Big Apple Con”.  Wizard retreated to the following weekend, and then eventually abandoned plans to host shows in the region.

How to get there?  Take the bus. M12 or M31 from Columbus Circle, or the M50 on 49th Street.

[Oooh… wouldn’t it be cool if ReedPOP sponsored shuttle buses from Columbus Circle? You get on the bus, Reed staff scan your barcode receipt, and you get your badges BEFORE you arrive at the venue! No waiting in line!]

Valliant, Z2, Zenescope and CBLDF are some of the major exhibitors, but Marvel, Image, and DC will have a presence via programming and creators in Artist Alley.  (For those keeping score… 261 AA tables.)

Panels can be viewed and searched here!  I suggest viewing it by day.  The programming, while varied, is not oppressive. If you must have a grid view, I recommend sorting it by “room”.

The Beatrix herself will be there!

A continuing series of Panels on how storytellers develop ideas into narratives that make us thrill, laugh and cry. Some of it is instinct and some of it is technique. Some of the best in the business describe how they shape their materials to make the comics you love every month. Heidi MacDonald of The Beat (www.comicsbeat.com) moderates a Panel of all-star creators.

SPEAKERS

Of course, some attendees will be there to score NYCC tickets.  Here’s the fine print:

Here are some more details:

• You must be a Special Edition: NYC Ticket holder to qualify
• Very limited quantities are available on a first-come first-serve basis and only while supplies last
• NYCC Tickets will only be sold at the NYCC Registration counters at Pier 94
• No hard Tickets will be given out onsite at Special Edition: NYC. All Tickets ordered at Special Edition: NYC will be shipped in September after the Ticket mailing deadline (shipping costs will be included at the time of purchase at Special Edition: NYC)
• One Special Edition: NYC ticket = the ability to buy ONE NYCC ticket.
• Each Special Edition: NYC Ticket holder must be physically present at the time of purchase of a New York Comic Con Ticket onsite at Special Edition: NYC

I’ll be there, just to see how it turns out, and to do some shopping.

If you can’t make it, then try one of the other geek fests in Columbus, OH; Memphis; Philadelphia; Daytona; Albany, NY; Claremont, CA; or New Haven, CT, this weekend!

It was a busy weekend for comics in and around New York City, with EternalCon, New York Comic Fest and Special Edition: New York all taking place, as well as a few satellite events. All three cons were a success, judging by comments from participants, and online reports. I think it’s fair to say that all three would have been bigger had there not been two other events that weekend, but most people had fun. Next year, obviously, scheduling will have to be worked out.

I went to EternalCon on Saturday and Special Edition on Sunday, which was exhausting, but could not match Amy Chu’s exploits, which included a panel at SE:NYC on Saturday morning, hopping on the train to Garden City, LI, doing a panel at EternalCon, training back to the city and then back to SE:NYC on Sunday. She’s a go-getter. I didn’t get to go to the New York Comic Fest but you can read numerous reports here and on other sites; by all accounts it was a fine event with lots of stellar comics talent on hand.

My weekend of comics kicked off Friday night with the awards presentations at the Society of Illustrators for their Comics and Cartoon Annual. I arrived bedraggled after merely running across the street in one of those massive flash flood type downpours that often hit in the early evening in the summer. Despite the dampness, it was a lovely evening, I felt (I was one of the judges in the Short Form category.) Several of the winners were there, including Ruben Bolling and John Martz, and several like Martz had travelled to NYC for the occasion. This was very much an inaugural prize, and I’m sure there will be changes and evolution as the awards continue.

I jumped in on someone else’s photo of Silver Medalists Miriam Katin and  and was rewarded with this epic photobomb. No idea who the fellow in the middle is.

John Martz shared the Gold Medal in the Single Page category. Although we all miss Drawn, it’s great to have more of Martz’s art out there. I wanted to chat to him more about his currents deeds but got caught up yapping with other people and never had a chance.

Silver medalist Talya Modlin and her boyfriend whose name I didn’t write down and I forgot because I’m a horrible person. These two filled me in a bit on their view of the  Chicago comics scene. By all accounts this year’s CAKE was a hit, so things are happening.

OKAY the scene shifts to Long Island! As I entered EternalCon I greeted showrunner and mastermind Frank Patz. This was definitely a throwback show with an updated vibe, with dealers, a lot of toys, and all kinds of artists, world famous and not, all scattered around an aviation museum. It had the basics plus cosplay and live lightsaber duels. Frank told me that despite all the competition, attendance for Saturday alone ws up from 2013.  I got to interview Once upon a Time’s Rebecca Mader and Lee Arenberg at a panel so that was fun, as the audience was very enthusiastic. I also did a panel on the diversification of comics with Amy Chu, Amanda Conner and Alitha Martinez, and that was also fun.

The thing about EternalCon was that it was a comic con set in an aviation museum. (The Cradle of Aviation was built at the spot where Charles Lindbergh took off for his historic solo crossing of the Atlantic.) So basically you had booths full of tschotkes and comics and toys set up in the middle of the displays. Throw in the fact that museum had it’s own kind of wacky dioramas from what seemed like the early 70s—let’s say the original Space Mountain era—and you have a one of a kind experience.

For instance, this was a display of someone’s detailed hated house model and other horror stuff, set in front of a display on manned space travel. The child is real and not part of the display.

What can I say…this was like a fun house, as the Planet of the Apes mixed with Spitfires and Blackhawks.

One of the museum exhibits. No idea.

THUNDERBIRDS ARE GO.

The Empire Saber Guild, a Star Wars enthusiast group, but on a live performance, with video drops ins and voice overs and LOTS of stage combat. It was impressive to begin with, but they staged it at the bottom of the museums IMAX theater, a very narrow area at the bottom of a steep bank of seats. This isn’t the kind of event I normally go to but I got caught up in the story and enthusiasm.

A rare view of a sun dappled Rodney Ramos. 

Artist Ken Kelley was there with some of his iconic covers for KISS albums. I know we use the word iconic too much but these are really iconic.

I just could not get enough of this museum.

There was a significant cosplay component and this Alien was probably the best. I did see one of the more complicated cosplayers stopped for a photo only to blurt out “I have to pee first” and then sprint to the bathroom. I imagine getting in and out of those things isn’t easy sometimes, so waiting until the last minute is a bad idea.

The con truly had a chamber of horrors.

Exhibiting artists John Cebollero, Nelson de Castro and Jimmy Palmiotti.

AND NOW FLASH FORWARD TO SUNDAY! I arrived about 1 pm, which was pretty late, so I didn’t expect to see a big crowd going in and I didn’t. I think I mentioned this in y BEA coverage—or else Torsten did—but the area opposite the Javits Center is being developed into a huge Rockefeller Center-like area that in coming years will be full of apartment buildings, shops and restaurants. The imminent arrival of the 7 train will make it all possible. Right now it’s a hole in the ground but in a few years you will walk out of the con and have tons to do.

Wow, the Javits center was nearly empty! Special Edition was held in the North Hall but you had to enter at the south end anyway and walk through the eerily spooky emptiness. Panels were held at the OTHER end in Hall e, however, meaning even with no crowds you had at least a 10 minute walk from one end to the other. I guess Hall a was under construction.

As I walked along, I realized that this awful building was meant to look nice and not to actually have people in it. I’ve noted my distaste for the buildings of I.M. Pei many times here so I won’t belabor the point but read on.

And here is the North Hall! Despite being a temporary shed, compared to the regular Javits, it’s light airy and habitable by humans!Everyone loves it and natural light elevates the mood. Sunday was a very slow day at this show by all accounts, and there was no jostling. The reports I heard is that Saturday was great up until about 5 and then was very slow.

Artists Alley was all over the place…some people had bad days, others their best ever. If you came t chat up artists though, this was a great day to do it. The front 3/5s of the room was dealers and a smattering of publishers.

Susana Polo and Rebecca Pahle of The Mary Sue, which sort of absorbed Geekosystem last week. I’ll have to say about that later but it was nice to met my fellow journos.

The Z2 booth had some books and nice prints. Keagan Kirk-Singer and Chris Hunt manned the booth when I stopped by.

Ed Catto never tired of Captain Action!

Andy Diggle

I finally got to meet Chandra Free! And it was lovely.

Tony Bedard. Can you tell that I remember names by the banners?

Emanuala Lupacchino

Greg Pak

Grady Hendrix and Ryan Dunlavey. Action Philosophers is coming back from Dark Horse, BTW, with new material by Dunlavey and Fred van Lente.

I finally got to meet Tony S. Daniel.

That’s the super talented painted Simone Bianchi on the right…on the left is his colorist whose name I did not write down because I suck.

Nightcrawler’s costume always looks so amazing when brought to life, and this one was doubly amazing for the hobble hoof shoes!

Brooklyn’s Scott Eder Gallery had booth and piles of art by the greatest cartoonists of all times. I noted this pile of (from top left) a Bill Everett Submariner page, a Jack Davis war story, a Jack Kirby Eternals, a Steve Ditko Creeper and on top one of Winsor McCay’s way cartoons, and just about fainted to think that the paper in front of me had been  touched by five people of that import. The Eder Gallery has many pieces of this calibre, and I spent a while looking at it.

There were plenty of Watcher eyeballs even by 5 pm Sunday.

Later on I chit chatted with artists Mahmud Asrar and Will Sliney. 

As I walked home I caught the Javits Center in the glow of a fantastic sunset.

Again it dawned on me that the building was made to look good from outside, as in this rare sunset seen through an empty glass box. It was never meant to have the huge crowds that NYCC brings.

If EternalCon’s ambiance was entirely because of its quirky setting, Special Edition was a pleasant afternoon almost despite the drawbacks of the venue. The North Hall is definitely a hospitable place to throw a bunch of cartoonists and publishers together.  At NYCC it houses Artist Alley and you cold spend a good day just there and not braving any of the other crowds. I think Special Edition was meant to be all the artists without all the fuss…it didn’t quite hit the numbers it should have, but maybe having a calm day for comic-con isn’t the worst thing that can happen.

Yesterday, I was up in Westchester.  Today, I was at the Javits Convention Center, attending ReedPOP’s Special Edition NYC.  The show was a condensed, comics-only version of the much larger New York Comic Con, The North Hall, which usually houses Artist Alley, hosted a diverse selection of retailers, creators, and related exhibitors.

My goal?  Spectate, to see how the first show worked.  Network with friends and professionals.  Curate, finding comics which catch my fancy.

I took the A train to Times Square and exited at 44th Street.  (I hope this will be the last time I do this, as the 7 train extension to Javits is very close to completion.)  I took a leisurely stroll to the convention center, stopping at the 7-Eleven at 42nd and Eleventh for some snacks.  I couldn’t enter at the North Hall, but had to walk another block to the main entrance, where my credit card was quickly scanned for $35.  I then walked along a deserted concourse to the Chase ATMs on the third floor, feeling like I was in church.

I joked with the staff that they should have rented some golf carts and ran shuttles along the concourse, as the panel rooms were held in 1E, at the other end of the convention center.  (1A was under renovation or repair.)  As I had only one day, I did not attend any panels, concentrating on the North Pavilion.

My opinion?  It was diverse.  The smaller artists alley had a good mix of boldface names, fresh talent, and everything else.  Lines for creators were not insane (I waited about fifteen minutes to meet Gail Simone).  Crowds were not robust although they were decent.  Many said that Saturday was busier.

Otherwise, it was well run, even for a new RP show.  Aside from the scheduling triangulation with Westchester and Long Island, and the hike to 1E, I didn’t see anything which needed much improvement.  (Well, maybe carpeting in the hall…that concrete takes a toll!)

So, what did I find?

I went with an empty book bag (like yesterday) and $100.  I left with an overflowing book bag, a second plastic bag of comics, and spent almost $300.

At only one retailer did I spend a large amount; he had an amazing selection of eclectic items (a print from “Blankets” for $30, undergrounds, old books from the 70s).

In artist alley:

• Carl Potts sold and signed a copy of “The DC Comics Guide to Creating Comics: Inside the Art of Visual Storytelling”, graciously drawing his self-portrait inside!
• Gail Simone was selling limited edition reprintings of her scripts.  I reserved a copy of Secret Six #2 via Facebook, and had her sign that issue, as well as #1.
• I bought “Fearless: A tale of a runaway imagination” from Peter David.  It was inspired by his daughter Caroline, who also co-wrote the book.
• The Hero Business Coffee Break Special features a webcomic about a comany which manages superheroes.
• And I had a great conversation with Laura Lee Gulledge, who is on her way to summer camp!  She is adapting her graphic novel “Will & Whit” into a musical, and will be developing it at a camp for theater kids!  So I signed up as a sponsor.  (Not quite an “angel”… more like a voice in the crowdsourcing.)  Then we got to talking about education and teaching comics, and who walks by, but Franco!  (Aw yeah!)  I know his secret identity: he’s a high school art teacher when he’s not making great comics and selling them!  So I introduced them, and furthered the conversation.  I also bought her two minis: “Sealed: Growing Up Tupperware” and “Drawn Thru”.

So, the comics and graphic novels, most at $1 and $2:

• Phil Foglio’s Angel and Ape #1-4 ($5 bagged set)
• Amazing Adventures v.1.1 (Marvel, 0-87135-339-3, 1988) [WOW]
• Stop and Go the Safety Twins ($12, National Safety Council/J. C. Penney, 1953)
• Adventures in Reading Starring: the Amazing Spider-Man #1 ($5, 1990, top-notch talent!)
• Classics Illustrated #24: The Rime of the Ancient Mariner ($1, Dean Motter, 0-425-12763-X, 1994)
• Alan Moore’s Writing for Comics (1-59291-012-2)
• Jungle Girls: A Trouble With Girls Graphic Album (0-944735-72-X) (“Soon to be a major motion picture from Twentieth Century Fox!”)
• Hectic Planet, Book Two: Checkered Past (0-943151-22-8)
• Open Space #1-4 (Marvel, 1990)
• Orbit #1 & 2 (Eclipse, 1990)
• The Trilogy Tour II (1998, Cartoon Books)  (There’s a signed limited edition as well.)
• Harlan Ellison’s Dream Corridor Quarterly v.2.1 (1996, 1-56971-169-0)
• Spider-Girl presents Fantastic Five (0-7851-2132-3)
• Spider-Girl presents Wild Thing (978-0-7851-2606-5)
• Spider-Girl presents A Next: Second Coming (0-7851-2131-5)
• My Faith in Frankie (1-4012-0390-6)
• Cravan: Mystery Man of the Twentieth Century ($3, Richardson/Geary, 1-59307-291-0)
• Glister #1 ($3, Andi Watson, 978-1-58240-853-8)
• Daredevil: Marked for Death ($3, 1990, 0-87135-634-1)
• Crazy #1, 3, 5 ($2 each) (#1 features a one-pager by Harlan Ellison, illustrated by Basil Wolverton!  Jean Shepherd!)
• Cycletoons (December 1971)
• How to Read Donald Duck ($30, 1975, 0-88477-003-6)
• Aurora Comic Scenes: Incredible Hulk ($10, 1974)
• Star Reach #18 ($2)
• King Smurf ($2, Random House! 1977/1981, 0-394-85141-2)
• Disney Magazine ($2 each, January, March 1976 promotional giveaways with Procter & Gamble)
• Olivia #3 ($10, good clean dirty fun!)
• Comics Journal #100 ($5, July 1985.  Chris Claremont, Dick Giordano, Archie Goodwin, Rick Marschall, Dave Sim (!), Marv Wolfman interviewed by The Beatrix herself!  And her origin story!  HOTCHA!)
• Superkernel Comics v.2.1 ($5.  Sweet Christmas… I had forgotten… One of my best friends, Todd Cowman, once subscribed to SuperMag, published by Weekly Reader.  I vaguely remembered the mascot, but here he is, drawn by the Gilchrists!
• Bringing Up Father ($10, 1973, Bonanza Books, 0-517-16724-7, LCCN: 73-5190, ex-library: Newport News)

Finally, I discovered “Fast Willie Jackson“!  Which reminds me… I need to search out old copies of “Fat Albert”.  They had some cool backup stories in those issues!

Man… a lot of reading to do!  Life is good…

Straight from the offices of Publishers Weekly, it’s More to Come! Your podcast source of comics news and discussion starring The Beat’s own Heidi MacDonald.

In this week’s podcast the More to Come Crew – Heidi “The Beat” MacDonald, Calvin Reid and Kate Fitzsimons – discuss Special Edition, the new New York comics-only show from ReedPop (the creators of NYCC), convention woes in Denver and South Bend, Osamu Tezuka‘s backlist goes digital, Viz coming to India, the upcoming Guardians of the Galaxy movie, casting for the Fantastic Four movie and more on PW Comics World’s More To Come.

Now tune in Fridays for our regularly scheduled podcast!

Listen to this episode in streaming here, download it direct here and catch up with our previous podcasts on the PublishersWeekly website, or subscribe to More To Come on iTunes