Here’s the next installment in our Old-Timey Photo Parade.  In February of 2009, we were happy to host a signing with local author Mur Lafferty, for her book Playing for Keeps. What’s that you say? “That’s not a comic book, and you’re a comic book store?” Well, that’s true, but regardless of the medium, we like to support our local creators by partying down with them. Check it out! Here’s Mur’s website if you’re interested in learning more about her stuff: http://murverse.com/

Back to the Old Timey Picture Parade Page

Thanks,
Andrew Neal
Chapel Hill Comics
316 W Franklin St
Chapel Hill, NC 27516

Chapel Hill Comics is very happy to announce that for the third year in a row, we were voted Best Comic Book Store in the Triangle by the readers of the Independent Weekly! Thanks again for all your support!  Since 2007 was the first year they added the category to the awards, we’ve won every year!  Wow!

Here’s a link to their list:
Best of the Triangle 2009!

We’re in the Goods and Services section. If you pick up a paper copy of the Independent, which came out Wednesday, June 10, and should be out through Tuesday, June 16, you’ll see that an image of Chapel Hill Comics was used as the header for the Goods and Services section. Very cool!

Thanks once again for all you support, not just at Best of the Triangle Voting time, but throughout the year!

WOOOOO,
Andrew Neal
Chapel Hill Comics
316 W Franklin St
Chapel Hill, NC 27516

Holy Cow! All the preparations for our big move kept me from announcing that Chapel Hill Comics was a finalist for the Will Eisner Spirit of Comics Retailer Award!

The Will Eisner Spirit of Comics Retailer Award is an annual, international award given to an individual retailer who has done an outstanding job of supporting the comics art medium both in the community and within the industry at large. It’s given each year at the San Diego Comic Con. All of the finalists this year were fantastic choices and could easily have been the winner. We’re proud to have been included!

LINKS
Click Here for the ComicsPRO page congratulating Brave New World and listing the other finalists!
Click Here for the Spirit Award’s official page.

LINKS TO THE FINALISTS
Brave New World Comics - Santa Clarita, California (Atom! and Portlyn Freeman, owners) (This year’s winner)
Casablanca Comics - Portland, Maine (Rick Lowell and Laura O’Meara, owners)
Chapel Hill Comics - Chapel Hill, North Carolina (Andrew Neal, owner)
Happy Harbor Comics - Edmonton, Alberta (Shawna Roe and Jay Bardyla, owners)
Rocketship - Brooklyn, New York (Alex Cox and Mary Gibbons, owners)
Tate’s Comics - Lauderhill, Flordia (Tate Ottati, owner)

Our slide at the Award Ceremony!

Thanks,
Andrew Neal
Chapel Hill Comics
316 W Franklin St
Chapel Hill, NC 27516

Alright, folks. I participated in another interview recently.

Like the interview I recently participated in at Newsarama, this’ll be of more interest to folks who are interested in how the industry works, as opposed to the finished product.

The interview was with Charlito and Mr. Phil of Indie Spinner Rack, a podcast about indie comics, and my interview was part one in a series about the state of comic distribution. The podcast also includes an interview with my pal Chris Pitzer, the owner of and designer for fine publisher Adhouse Books.

Indy Spinner Rack website: Click Here
Direct Link to the MP3 file of the podcast: Click Here

Thanks,
Andrew Neal
Chapel Hill Comics
412 W Franklin St
(Soon to be 316 W Franklin St)
Chapel Hill, NC 27516

Those of you who have been dying to read my opinions on getting indy comics into comic shops are in luck!

Comic creator Elizabeth Genco interviewed me (along with three of my friends and colleagues, Alex Cox from Rocketship in Brooklyn, Ben Trujillo from Star Clipper in St. Louis, and Rory Root from Comic Relief in Berkeley) about just that. The interview is up on the blog at Newsarama.com.

There’s a lot of good information in there for folks who are interested in getting their work into comics shops; if you’re putting together a comic, check it out!

Here it is:
How to get your indie book into comic shops

Thanks,
Andrew Neal
Chapel Hill Comics
412 W Franklin St
(Soon to be 316 W Franklin St)
Chapel Hill, NC 27516

Hello, everyone!

This is just a reminder that 24-Hour Comics Day is almost here! This year it starts on Saturday, October 20! Chapel Hill Comics is proud to be a 24-Hour Comics Day Host for the second year in a row!
24 Hour Comics Day is an event at which folks attempt to create a 24-page comic book in a 24-hour period. Those are the basic rules; if you’re interested in more specific information, click here to read the rules at Scott McCloud’s website!

If you want to participate, give us a call or come by the store to sign up, and if you want to swing by the store to watch people create comics, we’ll be open on Saturday, October, 20, from 10am until midnight! We’ll lock up at midnight, but the creators will continue working in the store all through the night!

If you want to participate: please let us know as soon as possible. If you’re under 18, we’ll need a signature and contact information from a parent! If you have a participation slip out now, please get it back to us soon so we don’t give away your spot!

The Independent Weekly ran this Spotlight by Zack Smith in their Arts and Entertainment section this week. (Click here to read it!)

Thanks,
Andrew Neal
Chapel Hill Comics

We won!

Click Here to read all of the Independent Weekly’s Best of the Triangle Awards!

I just wanted to send out a big thank you to everyone who voted for us in the Independent’s Best of the Triangle 2007 Awards! We just checked out today’s Independent and we were listed as the winner for Best Comic Book Store!

So once again, thank you for your votes. Also, thanks to the Independent for adding the “Best Comic Book Store” category to the polls this year!

Thanks again,
Andrew Neal
Chapel Hill Comics

Here it is!
Thanks,
Andrew Neal
Chapel Hill Comics

We  received a very cool writeup in Wired.com’s Geekdad blog about our art show, Giants and Dragons: the Art of Tristan Mead!

Check it out!

Thanks a lot,
Andrew Neal
Chapel Hill Comics

Well, I was on the news last night, being “cautiously optimistic” about a new development in downtown Chapel Hill.  If you want to watch the clip, go here:

http://www.wral.com/video/10366780/detail.html

It’s in Windows Media Player format, so depending upon your connection, it may be really choppy.

Thanks,
Andrew Neal
Chapel Hill Comics