New York Comic Con Preview
also publish creator-owned comics, with the Creative Council
providing editorial feedback.
Alonso says AWA offers creators the ability to work with new
company-owned characters, as opposed to characters with
decades-long histories and story lines. “They’re not inheriting
anything,” he notes. “We’re doing everything we can to put
them in a position to just worry about writing and drawing
while we worry about everything else.”
For Alonso, who has been a comics editor for more than 20
years, this year’s NYCC is a space to hype forthcoming comics
and network with new and established creators. “You always
want a ground-level view of the fans,” he says. “NYCC is a very
good convention for publishing. San Diego Comic-Con has
become geared toward multimedia, whereas New York Comic
Con is a little more intimate, despite its size, in its focus on
publishing comics and graphic novels. For me, it’s about going
and hanging out with writers and artists that I’m working with
or want to work with.”
TKO Studios, another newly launched comics publishing
venture, will also attend NYCC. Based in Los Angeles, the
company is led by copublisher Tze Chun (who also writes for
TKO), CEO and copublisher Salvatore Simeone, and editor-in-
chief Sebastian Griner. TKO offers a slate of comics created by
top names in comics—and in some cases, from beyond comics.
Among its new titles is The Banks, a heist story by feminist
writer and scholar Roxane Gay and artists Ming Doyle and
Jordie Bellaire. At NYCC, Chun will promote the second wave
of comics and projects coming this fall and next year. He will
also participate in an independent comics panel, and he’s
looking to spread awareness of TKO’s business model (it offers
its titles complete in every format—digital, periodical series,
and trade paperback—and sells direct via its website) and
recruit new talent.
At conventions, Chun says, TKO Studios is very upfront
about page rates for author and rights. It is merging what he
calls the Big Two business model, named for Marvel and DC
(modified work-for-hire deals that allow some royalties for cre-
ators), with the Image model (creator-owned works published
via a publishing co-op). Chun has written some of TKO’s series
and has extensive experience writing and editing TV and film
projects, including the prime-time series Gotham and Once upon
a Time.
“I find that the comic book industry is very opaque about
pay, and I don’t think that is fair to creators,” Chun says. “Most
artists don’t really like to talk about money, but I think that is
a very vital part of deciding what publisher to go with.”NYPL and the Harvey Awards
ReedPop is once again partnering with the New York Public
Library on programming for educators. Repeating last year’s
structure, NYPL will host an educator’s day on Thursday at its
Stephen A. Schwarzman Building on 42nd Street at FifthAvenue. Programming will include panels that integrate pub-
lishers, creators, and educators from New York and beyond.
NYPL school support and outreach manager Shauntee Burns is
a member of the committee that vets program proposals, as is
Emily Drew, youth materials selector for NYPL and Brooklyn
Public Library. Other committee members include representa-
tives from NYPL, ReedPop, and the New York City Department
of Education. Burns and Drew note that the committee reviewed
almost 300 proposals for 24 panel slots—“which is still a lot
for us to review,” Drew says.
Burns notes that one theme featured in the NYPL’s comics
programming will be “comics that help deal with strong
topics.” The Black Comics Collective, a New York City–based
community organization founded by Deirdre Hollman that
organizes educational events focused on characters and comics
of color, will present “It’s Not Easy Being Teen: Young Adult
Heroes of Color in Comics and Graphic Novels.” In addition,
comics scholars and mental health practitioners will come
together for “Comics and the Clinic: Comics and Mental
Health in Practice.” And the opening keynote speaker for this
year’s NYPL program will be Ngozi Ukazu, creator of the
wildly popular Check, Please!, a webcomic and graphic novel
series about a gay college hockey player who also likes to bake.
Check, Please! was reprinted in a trade book format in 2018
by First Second, Macmillan Publishing’s graphic novel
imprint.
Burns says that the programming is perfectly timed to sup-
port educators. “I love that fact that it’s at the beginning of the
school year, so it really does help educators think about how
they’re going to use different materials in their lesson plans in
the school year,” she notes.
And on Friday evening, ReedPop will host the annual Harvey
Awards—named for acclaimed comics artist and editor Harvey
Kurtzman and relaunched last year at NYCC—honoring the
best comics and graphic novels of the year. The ceremony will
once again take place at Hudson Mercantile. The HarveyThe cast of Marvel’s TV show The Runaways at NYCC 2018.photoby
calvinReid38 PUBLISHERS WEEKLY ■ SEPTEMBER 9, 2019
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