Masters of the Comic Book Universe Revealed! launch party

Arie Kaplan's book Masters of the Comic Book Universe Revealed! (Chicago Review Press) comes out in September. Recently, he interviewed some of the most legendary comic book creators in the world -- nay, the universe -- and wrote a book chronicling their lives and careers.

...And now it's time to celebrate. Arie's having a launch party on Monday August 28th, 2006, at 6:15PM at MoCCA (the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art) in Manhattan. The address is: MoCCA Gallery, 594 Broadway, Suite 401 (between Houston & Prince).

At the launch party, there'll be a panel discussion on comics featuring Kaplan as well as comics luminaries Jerry Robinson (Batman), Rob Sikoryak (RAW Magazine), and Danny Fingeroth (Spider-Man). The panel will be moderated by entertainment journalist Eddy Friedfeld. A reception will follow, and this event is free and open to the public.

Masters of the Comic Book Universe Revealed! is a book profiling some of the most influential comics creators in history, including Stan Lee (X-Men), Will Eisner (The Spirit), Art Spiegelman (Maus), Kyle Baker (Why I Hate Saturn), Trina Robbins (GoGirl!), Jerry Robinson (Batman), Ho Che Anderson (KING), Marjane Satrapi (Persepolis), Gilbert Hernandez (Love & Rockets), Neil Gaiman (Sandman), and Dwayne McDuffie (Static Shock). Amazing stories of how these artists and writers fell in love with the comics medium and built up their careers are coupled with never-before-disclosed anecdotes and previously unpublished self-portraits that will surprise even the most knowledgeable fans.

The book's wonderful cover art is by MAD contributor Ray Alma. And the back cover is adorned with some really nice blurbs from cartoonists Al Jaffee (MAD) and Peter Kuper (World War Three Illustrated), and comedian Patton Oswalt (TV's "King of Queens").

And feel free to check out a brief blurb about the launch party at the following link to MoCCA's website, and scroll down to "August 28th": http://www.moccany.org/e-mondays.html

Additional information on thr book, plus a link to the book's page on Amazon.com, can be found at the following link: http://www.ariekaplan.com/books.htm

Also, here's a page from the 2006 Chicago Review Press catalogue (PAGE 30) devoted to "Masters of the Comic Book Universe Revealed!": http://www.chicagoreviewpress.com/images/CRPCat.pdf