2009 February
Food or Comics | New York Comic Con edition
• The economy may be circling the drain, but initial reports indicate that’s had little effect on the mood, or the crowd size, at New York Comic Con. “The logline for the show is definitely ‘What recession?’,” writes Heidi MacDonald. “More than one person referred to the con as an ‘escape’ from the realities of unemployment, and global deflation.”
• That’s not to say money was far from everyone’s thoughts. At Friday’s My Cup O’ Joe panel, a fan asked how Marvel decides which comics will cost $2.99 and which ones will cost $3.99.
“Those are hard decisions,” answered Publisher Dan Buckley. “We’ve been struggling with pricing for about three to four years. Yes, things have been costing more across the last year — for us also. When you’re looking at the line, you try to see how to keep a bottom line and still give people what they enjoy. There’s only four titles that got moved. We have to look at the stories we put into it and make sure they’ve got the value you guys want. Some things have to carry a lot of the titles that are out there. One of the things that happen a lot in this industry is usually people drive the price up on books that don’t sell as well, and that often leads to the deaths of those titles very quickly. It’s a balance of economics, of value, of what you guys demand. That’s how we get there. It’s not a straightforward formula, I’m not going to act like it is. We don’t want the whole line at $3.99 because then we’d be down to about 40 titles. I wish I could give you a more straight answer but it’s really [complicated].”
• As J.K. noted in the Friday round-up, DC’s Vertigo imprint will offer the first issues of its new ongoing series, as well as Air#7, for $1.
“We’re trying to get as many people to read our monthlies,” Vertigo’s Karen Berger said at the Tales from the Edge panel. “We know a lot of people will just wait for the trade, and that’s great, but it will help us a lot if people buy the monthlies too.”
• Kiel Phegley’s extensive coverage of Thursday’s ICv2 Graphic Novel Conference is interesting, particularly for its illustration of the gulf that exists among some publishers about digital comics, piracy and fandom.
I hope Kiel will forgive me for lifting this exchange between Ira Rubenstein, executive vice president of Marvel’s Global Digital Media Group, Dave Roman, cartoonist and associate editor of Nickelodeon Magazine, and Stuart Levy, chief executive officer of Tokyopop:
- February 8, 2009 @ 09:06 AM by Kevin Melrose
NYCC | Adam Beechen on Killapalooza
The Red Elvises
Writer Adam Beechen and artist Trevor Hairsine are bringing rock’n'roll and blood’n'guts to Wildstorm, as the duo prepares to launch a six-issue, creator-owned mini-series called Killapalooza.
Announced at the New York Comic Con yesterday, Beechen said the series is about “a constantly-squabbling, high-profile rock band that also happens to be an elite for-hire covert assassination squad, taking on their most dangerous, and (they hope) final, assignment.”
Beechen was kind enough to answer a few questions shortly after the book was announced. “It’s completely unrealistic, it’s thoroughly silly, it’s incredibly bloody and messy, it’s big, it’s fast, it’s loud, and it’s hopefully very funny and fun and exciting,” the writer said. “It’s got super-powers, high-tech weapons, trashed hotel rooms, sex, music, groupies, bad words and a food fight. Trevor’s doing a brilliant job drawing it. Oh, and the name of the band our heroes are in is ‘The Clap.’”
- February 8, 2009 @ 08:36 AM by JK Parkin
NYCC | Saturday round-up
Ultimate Comics Spider-Man
With Saturday sold out, and wireless providers taxed to the limit — thank you, Twitter and live-blogging — it’s no surprise that the second day of New York Comic Con was brimming with publishing announcements:
• Marvel rolled out plans for expanded digital content, including an original Spider-Woman motion comic — billed as the publisher’s first “all-new in-continuity” work using motion-comics technology — written by Brian Michael Bendis and directed by Alex Maleev, a motion-comics adaptation of Astonishing X-Men #1-10, and a five-issue online series called Dark Reign: Made Men. (On Friday, Marvel announced the online-exclusive miniseries War of Kings: Warriors.)
• Marvel’s nine-year-old Ultimate imprint will be canceled and relaunched as Ultimate Comics, which will feature four series. The flagship title, renamed Ultimate Comics Spider-Man, will continue to be written by Bendis but will be illustrated by David Lafuente. Artist Stuart Immonen is moving to New Avengers.
Powers, the creator-owned series by Bendis and Michael Avon Oeming, will relaunch with another Issue 1 under the Icon emblem.
• Yen Press has picked up the license to Kiyohiko Azuma’s popular slice-of-life comedy Yotsuba&!, which had withered at ADV Manga.
• Insanely popular webcomic Penny Arcade will move to Del Rey with Penny Arcade, The Splendid Magic of Penny Arcade: The 11.5 Year Anniversary Edition, a 208-page hardcover edition set for release in February 2010. Dark Horse published the first Penny Arcade collection in 2006.
• DC Comics confirmed that writer Greg Rucka and artist J.H. Williams III will take over Detective Comics with Issue 854 for a run that stars, at least initially, Batwoman. Rucka said Williams will be on the title for “12 issues, guaranteed.”
The publisher also revealed the composition of the Bat-Family of titles in the wake of the “Battle for the Cowl” crossover: Detective, Batman, Batman and Robin, Batgirl, Batman: The Streets of Gotham, Red Robin, Outsiders, and Gotham City Sirens.
- February 8, 2009 @ 07:09 AM by Kevin Melrose
Strangeways: The Thirsty – Week of Feb. 2
Here’s the weekly roundup of pages from The Thirsty, for your single-source reading convenience. Just remember, click to embiggen.
I’m betting “embiggen” will be on the list of “Words we want to forget” for 2009, but I’ll use it while I can.
Pages after the jump
- February 7, 2009 @ 02:54 PM by Matt Maxwell
NYCC | Yen Press snatches up Yotsuba&!
Yotsuba&!, Vol. 6
The big manga news today out of New York Comic Con is that Yen Press has picked up the license to Yotsuba&!, the popular comedy series previously published by ADV Manga.
Yen will release the sixth volume in September.
Kiyohiko Azuma’s manga, which debuted in Japan in 2003, centers on the offbeat, everyday adventures of a quirky girl named Yotsuba, and her family and friends.
Yotsuba&! was nominated for a 2008 Eisner Award for Best Publication for Kids.
ADV originally advertised Vol. 6 for release in February 2008, but canceled the solicitation. Vol. 5 was released in October 2007.
Yen also announced it has acquired Spice and Wolf, and Crescent Moon Story.
- February 7, 2009 @ 02:46 PM by Kevin Melrose
NYCC | Choice quotes from Spiegelman, plus the internet & comics
Art Spiegelman
I mentioned the other day that CBR reporter Kiel Phegley was launching a new blog just in time to cover New York Comic Con, and Kiel has not disappointed. His first post from the show is a lengthy one, showcasing many of the things said at the ICv2 Graphic Novel Conference on Thursday. It includes a lengthy bit of Maus creator Art Spiegelman’s keynote address, plus quotes from Marvel’s Joe Quesada, Dark Horse’s Scott Allie, Tokyopop’s Stuart Levy and several others on how the internet has changed comics, from distribution to talking to fans to finding new talent. Go and read.
- February 7, 2009 @ 02:35 PM by JK Parkin
Black History Month ‘09: “You Are Appreciated”
Editor’s note: In honor of February being Black History Month, David Brothers is taking “every day in February to talk about specific aspect of black culture and comic books. It’s mainly focused on superhero comics, since that’s what I grew up reading and still makes up the bulk of my reading material.” The series is running over at the 4thletter!, and David was gracious enough to let us repost some of them each Saturday in February. Below is the first one he posted in the series.
by David Brothers
This is for the single maternal figures beaten to the floor
And crawled back for the children and stood up for more
And watched those same kids as adults
cut bullshit vinyl kites callin’ women whores
El-P, “Constellation Funk”
Single motherhood is a fact of life for a lot of black people. I’m a product of a single mother, related to others, and I can’t really think of a time when I didn’t have friends who were also products of a single mother.
I don’t know if I have to regurgitate the facts for you. We all know about the lowered expectations, an insult in and of itself, and the hardships that society puts single mothers through. We know that they get sneers at the mall, tut-tuts on the street, and a lack of eye contact in the church. It’s probably a lot like being a leper, only lepers don’t have mouths to feed.
- February 7, 2009 @ 01:54 PM by JK Parkin
NYCC | Putting the band back together
Metal Men
Keith Giffen, J.M. DeMatteis and Kevin Maguire are back together again. As announced at the DC Universe panel at the New York Comic Con, the three will reunite for a “Metal Men” back-up in Giffen’s new Doom Patrol book. Can I get a “Wohoo?” How about a “Bwahaha?”
(Note: artwork above by JG Jones, who draws a pretty good Metal Men himself).
- February 7, 2009 @ 01:30 PM by JK Parkin
NYCC | Young Avengers vs. Young Masters of Evil
Young Avengers?
Marvel announced this weekend at the New York Comic Con that Paul Cornell and Mark Brooks are working on a Dark Reign: Young Avengers mini-series, set to debut this May. In the book, Patriot, Stature and the rest of the crew run into a new group of super-folks calling themselves the Young Avengers, and chaos, naturally, ensues.
“This is a bit of a dream project for me,” Cornell writes on his blog. “It’s basically the Young Avengers running head on into a new group of, well, are they heroes or not? At any rate, they’ve stolen the Young Avengers’ name. Our heroes are put in the same place as the original Avengers were put when they themselves appeared, how do they react to these new kids who don’t really know what they’re doing: fight; mentor; feel attracted to? How about varying degrees of all three?”
But fans looking at this new crew of teenage malcontents will recognize some of the names as not Avengers, but their archenemies, The Masters of Evil. Back in 2006, original Young Avengers writer Allan Heinberg said he wanted to introduce a Young Masters of Evil in his second season of the book. He added they’d have ties to the originals “in the same way the YA have ties to the Avengers.” Heinberg’s second season of Young Avengers obviously never happened, as he became busy with Grey’s Anatomy. But it’s nice to see the idea didn’t die and has been picked up by the very capable Paul Cornell. And it seems a natural tie-in to the themes introduced in Dark Reign, particularly Dark Avengers.
- February 7, 2009 @ 09:52 AM by JK Parkin
NYCC | A relieved Rucka shares a little about Batwoman
From "Detective Comics" #854, by Greg Rucka, J.H. Williams III and Dave Stewart
New York Comic Con attendees were treated to a preview in their programs of Detective Comics #854, which kicks off a run by Greg Rucka and J.H. Williams III. So that long-rumored Batwoman title won’t be a separate miniseries, but instead an arc of Detective timed to coincide with the “death”-induced absence of Batman.
“Which means finally — finally! — I can openly admit that yes, JH Williams III and I have been working on a Batwoman title for nearly two years,” Rucka writes on his blog. “And that is both a pleasure and a relief, if I may say so, because I’ve been wanting to share this for so long it’s not funny. And as much as it’s been hard for me to keep my tongue still on the subject, I think it’s been infinitely harder for JH, all the more so because I believe, sincerely, that this is some of the best work I’ve ever done, and it’s certainly the finest work I’ve ever had the pleasure of seeing from him.”
Rucka also shares a five-page preview, along with the corresponding script.
- February 7, 2009 @ 07:00 AM by Kevin Melrose
NYCC | Friday round-up
New Mutants
Today the New York Comic Con picked up Thor’s hammer and hit the economy square in the face, as they announced that Saturday and weekend passes are sold out. Publishers were there in droves today ready to spill their secrets, and some of the announcements made at the con today include:
• Marvel announced several new X-Men-related titles, including an odd one called X-Men Forever. It reunites Chris Claremont with the X-Men, and in fact picks up right after X-Men #3, the last issue he created with Jim Lee. That marked the end of his 16-year run on the characters. The new title will be bi-weekly. If you have any questions about the book, ComicMix is accepting them for an interview with the writer.
• Marvel also announced the return of the New Mutants by writer Zeb Wells and artist Diogenes Neves. “The New Mutants are the only group of youths aside from the X-Men who have ‘graduated’ Professor Xavier’s school for gifted youngsters,” Wells said. “For all intents and purposes they are the next X-Men, just as Xavier intended. That’s my mission statement for the series, to show what if means to graduate Xavier’s.”
- February 6, 2009 @ 08:58 PM by JK Parkin
NYCC | Josh Howard’s Dead@17 moves to Image
Dead@17
Dead@17 creator Josh Howard revealed today that he’s moving the popular title to Image from its longtime home at Viper Comics.
Howard’s other Viper projects, T-Bird and Throttle, Black Harvest and The Lost Books of Eve, may follow suit.
In an interview with Newsarama, Howard said there are “lots of reasons” for changing publishers. “Most importantly, I just felt it was finally time to move on. … I had been there a while and I think I have built enough of a name for myself that it was time to see if I could swim with the big boys.”
Dead@17, about a murdered teen-ager who is resurrected to fight demons, debuted in 2003 at Viper as a four-issue miniseries. The title spawned a cult following, and several sequels, including Protectorate and Blood of Saints.
Before The Middleman made the jump to television last year, Dead@17 was Viper’s best-known comic.
Howard said Dead@17 will continue as Image as a series of miniseries. Before the debut he plans to release a collection of all of the previous series.
- February 6, 2009 @ 04:33 PM by Kevin Melrose
NYCC | Saturday sells out
NYCC’s Lance Fensterman just posted on the show’s blog that Weekend and Saturday passes are sold out at the Javits Center “for the first time in NYCC history!” Some area retailers, however, might still have some available. Sunday passes are also still available.
I spoke with CBR’s Jonah Weiland a little while ago, and he said the show has been pretty packed, especially the Marvel and DC booths, as well as Artist Alley.
- February 6, 2009 @ 03:56 PM by JK Parkin
NYCC | Archaia teams with Roddenberry for sci-fi miniseries
ASP
Archaia Studios Press today announced an agreement with Roddenberry Productions to publish Days Missing, a five-issue science fiction miniseries based on a concept by Roddenberry COO Trevor Roth.
According to ICv2.com, more details, including the creative team, are expected to be revealed later this month at WonderCon. The first issue of Days Missing will be released in July at Comic-Con International.
Roddenberry Productions is headed by producer Eugene “Rod” Roddenberry Jr., son of the late Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry and actress Majel Barrett.
Archaia Studios Press, publisher of such titles as Mouse Guard, Robotika and Artesia, was acquired in October by Chicago-based Kunoichi Inc.
- February 6, 2009 @ 03:46 PM by Kevin Melrose
NYCC | Choose your side all over again
Before the Skrulls invaded and the villains took over the world in their Dark Reign, Marvel produced a little comic called Civil War that you might remember from a few years back. I hear it did pretty well for them.
So Gametrailer.com has the trailer up for Marvel Ultimate Alliances 2: Fusion, the sequel to the very popular and very fun game of the same name, and if you read Civil War, you may get a sense of deja vu as you watch it:
I pick whichever side has the Hulk on it myself. The game is due this fall.
- February 6, 2009 @ 03:08 PM by JK Parkin