A Salon/Syncopated Signing

What better excuse to resurrect my dismally infrequent blogging than to make mention of an exiting signing event!?

Wednesday, June 20th, from 6-8pm, Jim Hanley's Universe will be hosting a signing for Nick Bertozzi's new graphic novel, The Salon and our new anthology, Syncopated Vol.3. Many of you may not already know that Nick's stellar cartoons adorn the new volume of Syncopated, along with a dozen or so other great creators.

In addition to Nick, Jim Campbell, Paul Hoppe, Rina Piccolo and I will be on hand for the signing. Should be a great way to get primed for the upcoming MoCCA Art Fest.

Hope to see you there!

- Brendan

Syncopated On Indie Spinner Rack

A few weeks back, while I was exhibiting at the New York ComicCon, those swell fellas at Indie Spinner Rack cornered me for about 20 minutes or so and we talked matters Syncopated.

The podcast interview (Issue #73) was posted to the ISR site recently. You can listen to it through the internet or you can download it to itunes. The interview is part of a much larger ComicCon wrap show they did, so if you listen through the internet, it'll be quite a while before you get to the Syncopated segment (not that the rest of the show isn't totally worthwhile). If you download it to itunes, and you want to skip ahead, my interview begins at the 1:15 mark.

Enjoy!

- Brendan

Syncopated Distribution

Good news: Syncopated Vol. 3 has been picked up by Diamond distributors. Some of you out there may know that Diamond had recently been enforcing (more stringently) their policy toward small publishers. They always had minimum invoice amounts, but they've been a lot less lenient about it lately. Syncopated Vol.2 fell just below their minimums last time out, and they were reluctant to carry the newest offering. It seems that Volume 3 spoke for itself, though, and they felt strongly enough about it to list it in the May issue of Previews.

That's the news regarding mass distribution, but you should already be seeing Volume 3 in select stores in New York, Chicago, the SF Bay Area, and some other cities. Small independent orders continue to flood in, and I'm sending out as quickly as I can.

And, of course, you can also get your hands on Volume 3 through our friends at Bodega Distribution.

More news to come soon!

- Brendan

Getting Yer Hands On Vol.3

As if it weren't already evident, I should come clean anyway about my woefully inept digital skills -- particularly those of the online variety. You'll notice that SyncopatedComics.com is quite spare, and doesn't currently offer a way to purchase any of our fine wares. This I intend to correct very soon.

For now, however, you CAN get yer mitts on the new volume of SYNCOPATED over at Bodega Distribution. You'll notice that it's a swell place to shop, with plenty of choice titles to grab up.

- Brendan

The NY ComicCon Experience

This past weekend, I set up shop at the 2nd annual New York ComicCon. Last year, the inaugural year, I was surprised at how well I did (considering the element that is known to attend this sort of show). I didn't necessarily feel as though I fit in as well as I might at say the MoCCA Art Fest or SPX, but financially it made sense. This year, with a new book in tow, I figured it would be a no-brainer to grab a table and see how the ol' Syncopated operation might fare. Again, financially, it was a wise move -- I showed up with six boxes of books, and I went home with two (one of which was mainly filled with free stuff acquired throughout the weekend). The new volume of Syncopated was well received.

Very little evidence of the jubilation for my time spent this weekend at the show exists, but I was able to snatch the photo below from my pal Chris Butcher's blog (which, by the way wouldn't be a bad site to bookmark). As you can see, Mr. Jim Campbell and I are quite tickled by the success we experienced at the show.



And, although I haven't been able to listen back at it, I'm sure I displayed a great amount of zest while I was featured on the increasingly popular Indie Spinner Rack podcast show. As soon as I have a link to the interview I'll post it here.

However, as I mentioned, I didn't necessarily feel as though I fit in. I figure I'll take this opportunity to post a few photos to show how well Syncopated Comics blended with the majority of the attendees of the NY ComicCon. Bear with me...


























I guess I feel sort of bad about the sarcastic tone of this post -- I'm well aware of the fact that comics is comics, and all the many faces of comics enthusiasts contribute to the overall good will toward the art form. But I suppose I wish it didn't have to be so pathetically redundant and inbred sometimes (as these photos clearly illustrate). A part of me also feels bad for taking advantage of the very-proud-to-pose-for-a-picture characters that were walking around the show -- but they have to know what they're getting into, right?

Anyway, all cynicism and ungratefulness aside, I'll probably attend again next year, if for no other reason than to see/meet/sell-to the numerous like-minded comics fans who attend this show -- they really do make me feel good about what it is we're all trying to do.

- Brendan

Release Party Redux

Well, it seems the SYNCOPATED Vol.3 release party was a success. Plenty of people turned out, much beer was consumed, much good will was extended toward the new tome, and I'm pretty sure everyone had a good time.

Anyway, here are a few picks from last night. I took many more photos that this, but most of them turned out lousy. Oh well, this will have to serve as a good enough encapsulation...

Here's Brian, manning the store. His charm was undoubtably to credit for selling all those books last night.

Two gentlemen SYNCOPATED contributors, Dave Kiersh, and Nick Bertozzi,. Dave came all the way down from Massachusetts -- I'm pretty sure he had things to do while in town other than simply attend our little gathering.

Here's Dave again, only this time with good ol' Tom Hart.

My good pals, Celia and Micah.

Here's young Susie Cagle with her lovely friend, Olivia.

Susie again, but this time with the life of the party, Caroline Dworin.

Caroline, hamming it up with Tom and Peter.

Happy as a clam, Jim Campbell.

Here's Jim again with that grin of his, along with Joe, Celia and Micah.

Of course, I couldn't take any pictures of myself without looking like an absolute nimrod, so I stole this one from Mike Lynch's blog.

Geez, there were so many other people there that I wish I had photos of, but as I said, very few of the pictures actually came out right (y'know, dimly lit bar, drunk camera man, etc.). Those not shown here will probably thank me for not posting them anyway.

- Brendan

SYNCOPATED Release Party Tonight!

A quick reminder that we'll be celebrating the release of SYNCOPATED Vol.3 tonight!

Here are those details once again:

What: A SYNCOPATED Volume 3 Release Party
When: Tuesday, February 20th from 6-9pm
Where: Drop Off Service (211 Avenue A, Btwn 13th & 14th Sts., NYC)
Bonus: Free Six Point Beer! ('til it runs out -- oh, and you really should tip the bartender for that free beer, y'know)

It'll be a short while before the books start showing up in stores and are available for purchase at SyncopatedComics.com so come down to the party and get yer very own, very exclusive early copy!

All are welcome so tell your friends!

Hope to see you there...

- Brendan

Volume 3 In Hand & Accounted For!

I typed that little exclamation point after the title of this post so as to put across some level of excitement or that this is news, etc., but the truth is, the book arrived a week and a half ago, and I guess you could argue that it doesn't count as news, necessarily. Then again, aside from a few people who've gotten a copy, this is the first published acknowledgement that books are safely in hand here at the ol' SYNCOPATED warehouse. That said, I figured the exclamation was warranted.

A quick reminder that we'll be celebrating Volume 3's release this coming Tuesday... Here are those details once again:

What: A SYNCOPATED Volume 3 Release Party
When: Tuesday, February 20th from 6-9pm
Where: Drop Off Service (211 Avenue A, Between 13th & 14th Street, NYC)
Bonus: Free Beer! ('til it runs out -- oh, and you really should tip the bartender for that free beer, y'know)

It'll be a short while before the books start showing up in stores and are available for purchase at SyncopatedComics.com so come down to the party and get yer very own, very exclusive early copy!

- Brendan