Comic-Con Programming!

For those planning to attend Comic-Con International in San Diego this week, here's where you can find FlyCoJoe!

Friday July 10 
Programming for Retailers Only, unless otherwise noted

 9:30 - 10:15 Fresh Start - Room 19

Your day at Comic-Con gets off to a friendly and professional start with ComicsPRO, the retailer trade association. Retailers, publishers, and distributors are welcome to kick off their convention day with colleagues, coffee, bagels, and conversation. Bring your business card!

10:15 - 10:35 Local Comic Shop Day - Room 18

ComicsPRO introduces Local Comic Shop Day!  What is it? When is it? And why is it?   LCSD is a day to celebrate comics and  the local comic shops that are the backbone of the comics industry.  Be here for the launch of this new event that puts the spotlight on local comic shops!

10:35  - 11:10  Back to Back Issues - Room 18

Join us as we explore an old category that is gaining massive new momentum in many comic shops.  How should retailers sell their back issues?   How much back issue business is your store doing online versus in the store?   Are you slabbing your books?   How does the exponential growth in number of titles affect your back issue strategy?   Join ComicsPRO to discuss these issues.

 

11:10 - 11:45  Categorically Expanding - Room 18

Looking beyond comics and graphic novels, there's potential gold in other merchandise categories. ComicsPRO has discount agreements set up with many companies such as Ata-Boy, BCW, USAopoly, ICUP, Monogram, Asgard Press, and Poster Emporium.   Come learn about these member benefits and let's discuss how to diversify your sales. 

2:30 - 4:00 Eisner Spirit of Comics Retailing Award Video Parade - Room 18 

Open to all convention attendees

The Will Eisner Spirit of Comics Retailer Award is the industry's "Hall of Fame" for progressive retailers. Spirit Award facilitator and award recipient Joe Ferrara (Atlantis Fantasyworld, CA) presents the videos for this year's award finalists, with discussion about each nominated retailer, the store's display techniques, and other unique features every attending retailer can learn from. Hey, retailers! Come here to steal some great ideas!

4:00 - 5:00 So You Want to Be a Comics Retailer? (open to the public) - Room 28DE
Open to all convention attendees

The comics business is growing and that means a growing demand for more comic books.  You've got questions and these veteran retailers have the answers!  ComicsPRO director and panel host Joe Field (Flying Colors Comics, Concord CA) is joined by retailer Christina Blanch (Aw Yeah Comics, Muncie IN), retailer Ryan Haggerty (Ryan's Comics, Murrieta CA), retailer Peter Birkemoe (The Beguiling, Toronto, Canada), retailer Terry Stevens (Star Port, Lynchburg, VA), and Diamond Comic Distributors VP Chris Powell.

Saturday July 11, 2015 2:00pm - 3:00pm
Room 28DE

Open to all convention attendees 

The Seven Comic Shop Archetypes: Who Will Triumph, Thrive, and Survive
In the ever-changing landscape of retail and pop culture, how do the best comic retailers connect with the community and interact with fans? This panel explores the wild world of comic shops, provides analytical (and nostalgic) insights, explores the ever-changing consumer demographic, and asks panelists to forecast the future. They include Joe Field (founder, Free Comic Book Day), Atom! Freeman (Valiant Entertainment), Christina Blanch (Aw Yeah Comics, Ball State), and Glynnes Pruett (Comic Book Hideout). Moderated by Ed Catto (Bonfire Agency).

FlyCo Mini Indie Con! Be here!

Please join us Saturday July 25 from 11am-5pm for  

FlyCo Mini Indie Con! 

Raina Telgemeier & Dave Roman: Friday July 3rd at Flying Colors Summer Party!

We hope you're making plans to attend what will be a very fun and memorable event here at Flying Colors. 

What: Flying Colors Summer Party

When: Friday July 3rd from 4pm-6pm 

Who: Special Guests Raina Telgemeier (Smile, Sisters, Drama) and Dave Roman (Astronaut Academy, Teen Boat) 

Where: At Flying Colors Comics & Other Cool Stuff, of course! 

Why: Because comics are for everyone! And who better to have as guests than two of the top-selling graphic novelists, delivering stories that resonate with audiences of all ages! 

We'll have some refreshments and sweet treats to go along with Raina & Dave's book signings and drawing games.

Please join us! Click HERE to get to our Facebook Event page.

Special Events Coming to Flying Colors

Flying Colors Top of the Box #1

What's the first item to be opened from our weekly shipment of comics & other cool stuff? Check out this one minute video and see what it is!

Review: "Everybody's Talkin': The Music of Harry Nilsson"

San Diego Rep Presents "Everybody's Talkin': The Music of Harry Nilsson" 
Conceived by Steve Gunderson and Javier Velasco
Now through June 21

I'll state right up front that this piece will not be totally objective.

I've been a big fan of the music of Harry Nilsson since the early '70s. I attended the first HarryFest fan gathering in Los Angeles in 1998 and have been active on Nilsson internet groups pretty much non-stop since the '90s. So that's my warning not to expect a completely dispassionate review of the San Diego Repertory Theatre's production of "Everybody's Talkin': The Music of Harry Nilsson" from me.

Disclaimer aside, I went in having heard very little about the production, knowing next to nothing about its performers or the writer/producers who put it all together. All I knew was that this show would feature dozens of Nilsson songs from his oft overlooked but still richly productive career, the heyday of which ran from 1967-1979.

If you only know Harry from his Grammy-winning hits "Everybody's Talkin'" (the theme song from "Midnight Cowboy") and "Without You" then you know Harry the singer, but he didn't write either of those gems. As obligatory as those two numbers are in any conversation about Nilsson, it's his self-written material that sets him apart, ahead and beyond most of the pop music from his era.

"Everybody's Talkin': The Music of Harry Nilsson" weaves Harry's songs so deftly with spot-on performances from Alice Ripley, Greg Jbara and Kurt Norby, backed by an impressive on-stage band led by Korrie Paliotto on keyboards and background vocals (always a key feature of Nilsson's harmony laden sound).

The "story" hangs by a thread (and is really the only minor problem with this great show), tracing a lifetime of relationship ups and downs between Greg and Alice, from childhood ("The Puppy Song," "Good Old Desk," "Me and My Arrow") through adulthood and the relationship highs and lows that come with maturity. "Coconut," Nilsson's 1971 Top Ten hit, is performed by Ripley and Jbara in a way that couldn't be anticipated with wonderful comedic effect, while the bitterness of "You're Breaking My Heart" with its pointed expletive fit the breakup section of the story neatly and effectively.

Along with songs that center on relationships, there are other songs that show the depth of Harry's Nilsson's catalog, like "Salmon Falls" and "Ambush"--- the latter of which drew the biggest roar from the audience, appreciative of Kurt Norby's fantastic take on it.

The on-stage chemistry of Ripley and Jbara deserves attention and praise. Many of Nilsson's compositions feature a range of emotions and the show's success hangs in the balance of how those lyric messages are communicated not just in song but in movement and feeling. Ripley, in a scene in which she is not singing but on stage to react to Jbara, struck just the right emotional point/counterpoint. Jbara's casual baritone and easy-going manner on stage, coupled with the passion in the voices of Ripley and Norby, honored the source material in a way that pleased this fan.

Let me put it this way: I'll be first in line to buy this show's original cast recording if/when it becomes available.

The show runs at San Diego Rep through June 21. I hope to see announcements of many further engagements under bright lights. Nilsson's music deserves a wider audience and so does this warm and wonderful show.

* * * ** * * * * * ** * * *
And now, a  few Nilsson recordings of songs from "Everybody's Talkin': The Music of Harry Nilsson:
"Coconut"


"Ambush"


"Everybody's Talkin'"


"Think About Your Troubles"from the animated feature "The Point":

Photos from FCBD!

For many more photos from 
Flying Colors' 
Free Comic Book Day
---including photos
from our Kids Costume Contest, please visit our
Facebook page.