MightyWriters

“[New York City] has had other comic book conventions, of course, but New York Comic Con has become one of the biggest, and this year it takes over all of the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center. The show, Friday through Sunday, offers plenty to do and see. But fanatics would be remiss if they spent their time only there. The city is filled with comics-related gems—hidden and apparent—that are worth exploring. As Stan Lee would say, Excelsior!”

NYC Gaga Over Comics: New York Times

Also in today’s NYT, why are picture books for kids dying? “The economic downturn is certainly a major factor, but many in the industry see an additional reason for the slump. Parents have begun pressing their kindergartners and first graders to leave the picture book behind and move on to more text-heavy chapter books.Publishers cite pressures from parents who are mindful of increasingly rigorous standardized testing in schools.”

Picture Books for Kids A Tough Sell: NYT

Comic books, once considered a way to kill twenty minutes in the barbershop waiting for your encounter with the blades, may soon be considered an acceptable classroom educational tool.

A new nonprofit called “Reading With Pictures” is advocating for the use of comics in the classroom to “promote literacy and improve educational outcomes.”

Founded in 2009 by cartoonist Josh Elder, “Reading with Pictures” is working with educators at Northwestern University and others around the country to create a comprehensive research program into the use of comics for teaching literacy as well as its role in teaching a variety of topics.

You finished with that “Supergirl” yet?

Publishers Weekly

Big news in comic book world: DC Comics will relaunch Legion of Super-Heroes, the superhero team that first appeared in Adventure Comics in 1958, with legendary writer and Brooklyn native Paul Levitz, and Turkish rising star comic illustrator Yildiray Cinar (his sketches of Saturn Girl, above), at the helm.

Levitz, who worked for DC Comics for over 35 years (including a stint as president), is widely considered among the reasons the company made a major comeback in the ’80s.

“It’s such fun to be back in the future, blowing up planets, undoing Legion marriages, revealing unrevealed factoids and starting improbable new relationships,” Levitz told the DC Universe blog. “If there’s a better job in comics than writing the Legion, with its vast cast and creative opportunities, I’ve never held it.”

And for the serious comic book geek, there’s this quote from Leviz to 109.com:

“If you’re a deep Legion fan, definitely there are easter eggs in the first issues of both of the titles that certainly you will understand that someone just showing up today will miss entirely. I hope that it’s transparent enough that the new person showing up will have a good time too. For the longterm fan, if you look closely at a certain Legionnaire and they have ten fingers, fully-grown, and you know enough, that should tell you something about the last batch of years. But unless you’re deeply steeped in that material, you’re not going to know what that means. It won’t hurt you!”

According to Newsarama.com, one of the sites that knows about such things, these are the top 10 comic book titles we should be on the lookout for in 2010:

1. “Siege,” by Brian Michael Bendis & Olivier Coipel. “… looks like the former Green Goblin is going to bite off more than he can chew as he takes on the mythical kingdom of Asgard, home of Thor and the Norse Gods…”

2. “Battling Boy,” by Paul Pope. “… centers on the son of a god, whose father pushes him to leave their lofty home to rid a city of a plague of monsters…”

3. “Flash,” by Geoff Johns & Francis Manapul. “… although several men have held the mantle of the Flash, the newly-returned Barry Allen will play the lead in the relaunch of this classic DC title.”

4. “Avengers: Children’s Crusade,” by Allan Heinberg & Jim Cheung. “… the Young Avengers title became a big hit for Marvel beginning in 2005…”

5. “Neonomicon,” by Alan Moore & Jacen Burrows. “… will feature Lovecraftian themes and racial politics….”

6. Batwoman by Greg Rucka & J.H. Williams III. “… chronicling of the new Batwoman from the pages of Detective Comics in this all-new solo series sometime in 2010. Buzz around their issues so far has been enormous, with many critics slotting their run as a shoe in come Eisner awards season. Detective Comics has launched the careers of many characters—Batman being chief amongst them—so this is the test to see if this new red-haired bat has her wings…”

7. “American Vampire,” by Stephen King, Scott Snyder & Rafael Albuquerque. “… writers King and Snyder will each write a story for each issue, with King’s first being that of the very first American vampire in the 1880s…”

8. “Image United.” “… foretold in last year’s Newsarama 9 as a series to watch, Image United has exceeded expectations and word filtering out of Image says that the surprises aren’t over yet…”

9. “Nemesis,” by Mark Millar & Steve McNiven. “The premise is simple: what if Batman were a bad guy?”

10. DC’s Earth One Titles. “… too soon to tell what exactly these will be, but the two launch titles of DC’s just announced ‘Earth One’ line of Batman and Superman could prove to be a whole new playing field and a redefinition of DC’s two main heroes in the modern age…”

Full-blown write-ups and titles that just missed the list here.

Plus: The Barack Obama commemorative issue of “Amazing Spider-Man“ was the comic book ordered most by comics shops in North America this decade.

Tom Tomorrow, the sardonic syndicated cartoonist many of us (Grown Up) Mighty Writers have been following for years in the City Paper and other places, has a new book.

It’s called “The Very Silly Mayor.” And get this—it’s for kids! Turns out—and granted this may not surprise you—the very silly mayor has a lot of very silly ideas.

One day, for instance, the mayor decided that all the police officers should wear clown costumes, with big red noses and big goofy clown shoes.

And then…

Here’s what Kirkus, a book trade magazine, says about “The Very Silly Mayor”: “Importing the retro look and cast of his adult syndicated comic This Modern World, Tomorrow, aka Dan Perkins, an award-winning liberal political cartoonist, aims this lesson in the dangers of groupthink and necessity of questioning authority…”

Hm. Really?

Then we read what the humorist Dave Barry said about “The Very Silly Mayor”: “This is a funny book with an important message: we need penguins in government.”

Okay, now you’re talking!

You can order “The Very Silly Mayor” here.