2009 February
Food or Comics | A roundup of money-related news
Bone #1
• Brian Hibbs, Simon Jones, Kevin Boyd and Dirk Deppey respond to Christopher Butcher’s recent comments about Diamond’s new threshold for publishers.
Hibbs’ remarks are particularly good: “Here’s the real problem: Diamond’s purchasing department. There are some really great guys working there, but they don’t really have a great aesthetic judgment. That’s not a knock, necessarily, but in 20 years of buying from Diamond I don’t believe that they’ve EVER had a year where they had the entirety of, say, the Eisner nominees in stock at or around the time of the nominations. … I don’t believe that Diamond would recognize the ‘next BONE.’ Not from hatred or anything, but because they have policies in place to be ‘fair,’ that for a decade or more essentially treats all projects as interchangeable widgets.”
Deppey, meanwhile, thinks Last Gasp could use the new Diamond policy to its advantage: “Because their market focus plays more to general American alt-culture, they’ve never seemed like direct competition to Diamond; rather, they’ve been the indy-comics scene’s gateway to record stores and radical bookstores, more a source for hipster culture than literary comics. The fact that they just happen to be a fairly comrehensive source for literary comics really hasn’t been a serious topic for discussion. Until now.”
(Boyd link via Deppey)
• Creators Syndicate has launched Rev-Up, a program in which online ad revenue is shared by the company and member newspapers.
• At Major Spoilers, Stephen Schleicher offers marketing tips for small publishers.
- February 5, 2009 @ 08:53 AM by Kevin Melrose
Who markets the Watchmen? DC, naturally
Dave Gibbons' roughs and finished promo art for "Watchmen"
This may be one of those things everyone else but me knows about. In any case, DC Comics has launched a Watchmen minisite with a page devoted to the original comic and Dave Gibbons’ character designs and cover and promotional concepts.
The movie page has a couple of trailers, of course, plus DC Direct merdandise.
- February 5, 2009 @ 07:24 AM by Kevin Melrose
Crime pays for Remender and Radical
The Last Days of American Crime
Someday soon I think Rick Remender will be writing every comic on the stand … case in point, this week we learned he’s got a new book coming out from Radical Comics called The Last Days of American Crime with artist artist Greg Tocchini.
“The Last Days of American Crime is a story I’ve been itching to scratch for a few years now,” Remender said in a press release from Radical. “Fans of my creator-owned books Fear Agent or XXXombies will be right at home with this one. And Greg Tocchini is a powerhouse, one of the best artists I’ve ever worked with, a true future superstar. Radical is a perfect home for the project, so I’m having a blast.”
MTV’s Splash Page has a preview up of the new series, as well as an interview with Remender on what the book’s all about:
- February 5, 2009 @ 06:16 AM by JK Parkin
Comics A.M. | The comics Internet in two minutes
Naruto, Vol. 33
Sales charts | Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ Watchmen continues to have its way with bookstores as it holds the top spot on BookScan’s graphic-novel list for the seventh month in a row. The hardcover edition was No. 3 for the second consecutive month.
The 33rd volume of Masashi Kishimoto’s Naruto checked in at No. 2 on BookScan’s Top 20 for January (six other volumes also appear on the list). Brian Azzarello and Lee Bermejo’s Joker was No. 4.
Elsewhere, Watchmen slipped 13 places to No. 48 in its 29th week on USA Today’s bestseller list. [ICv2.com, USA Today]
Creators | Writer Brian Michael Bendis discusses, at some length, his run on Ultimate Spider-Man: “Doing my initial Spider-Man research, in going back and reading everything, [I found] for a sad sack this guy was getting laid left and right. This guy had more girlfriends than I ever had in high school. Betty Brant was hitting on him. MJ, Gwen. There were girls everywhere. There is an element of Peter that sees himself a certain way. But the reality is that he’s doing much better than he thinks. That’s always been there. It was only accentuated during the [John] Romita years where everyone looked real good. Everyone started looking very attractive and romance comic-y. And my goal overall was to hit the spirit of the Romita years. That’s when I thought the rules of Spider-Man really kicked in.” [Bookslut, via Dirk Deppey]
Creators | Writer Dale Lazarov talks about his new work Manly, collaborating with artist Amy Colburn, and deciding against using dialogue: “At first, I struggled with writing non-cheesy porn dialogue, then realized that translation would be a problem, as most of the serious publishers for gay erotic comics are in Japan and Germany. It made sense to transform this limitation into a creative choice and a selling point; the lack of text makes the work more suggestive and involving for the reader, and the books are distributed absolutely everywhere.” [Windy City Times]
Conventions | Tom Spurgeon compiles a list of 10 things he’d do if he were attending this weekend’s New York Comic Con. [The Comics Reporter]
Events | Steven Padnick has photos from Tuesday night’s Scott Pilgrim vs. the Universe release party at Jim Hanley’s Universe in New York City. [The Roar of Comics]
Blogosphere | In other Scott Pilgrim-related news, blogger Rachelle Goguen is having a contest in which you could win Scott Pilgrim: Full-Colour Odds & Ends 2008, a compilation of short stories. [Living Between Wednesdays]
Fandom | BBC presenter Jonathan Ross has donated a copy of Amazing Fantasy #15 for an auction to benefit Comic Relief. [Telegraph]
- February 5, 2009 @ 06:15 AM by Kevin Melrose
A few quick notes …
Just wanted to share a few quick housekeeping items with everyone …
• Sad news: I’m sad to report that Chris Mautner is taking a break from blogging due to the death of his father-in-law earlier this week. Please keep Chris and his family in your thoughts.
• Where’s Carla? Last we heard from our friend Carla, she was released from the hospital and recuperating. And Twittering. So, the question is … when will she back blogging with us again? Soon. Very, very soon. We don’t have a specific date yet, but we’re definitely talking.
• A word to our sponsor: Big thanks to Dynamite Entertainment for sponsoring the blog this month. Click on the banner up top if you’d like to learn more about Dead Irons, which hit comic shops this week. Or you can check out the trailer here.
• Thanks: Lastly, it’s been about a month since we launched Robot 6 here at CBR, and I just wanted to say thanks again to everyone who welcomed us back after our sabbatical. We’re really happy to be here and have some fun stuff planned for this month, so stay tuned!
- February 5, 2009 @ 04:17 AM by JK Parkin
IDW Publishing announces The Bloom County Library
Opus, from Berkeley Breathed's "Bloom County"
IDW Publishing announced today the release of The Bloom County Library, a five-volume collection of Berkeley Breathed‘s well-regarded 1980s comic strip. The series will debut in October.
The books are part of the publisher’s Library of American Comics imprint, and designed by Dean Mullaney.
“Fans have pestered me for years for this ultimate Bloom County collection in that polite, respectful badgering way that only fans can manage,” Breathed said in a press release. “Thank God I can now tell them something better than just ‘please remove your tent from my lawn.’ I can say, ‘It’s coming!’”
The influential comic strip, which ran from Dec. 8, 1980, to Aug. 6, 1989, blended politics, cultural commentary, fantasy and humor, lampooning everything from AT&T and environmental activists to misguided government policies and televangelists.
The press release can be read after the break.
- February 4, 2009 @ 05:01 PM by Kevin Melrose
Talking Comics with Tim: GTAS’ Frankel & Britt
Garbage Time All-Stars (GTAS)
So with the Super Bowl settled some sports fans have moved on to other sports, such as following their favorite NBA team again. Or maybe they want to laugh about their least favorite basketball team. (Honestly, as an Atlanta native, I can say with great authority that for many years with the Hawks, all you could do is laugh . . . or cry). Why am I talking about sports at a comics blog? Well, this interview happens to focus upon the creators of the Garbage Time All-Stars (GTAS) webcomic: Josh Frankel and Mark Haven Britt. As noted here: “Josh and Mark are the cartoonists responsible for the weekly NBA satire of Garbage Time All-Stars. Their comics first appear every week at the Yahoo! Sports Ball Don’t Lie blog, and are then archived here.” This week’s strip (posted on Wednesday morning) aims to welcome NFL fans back with a summary of the NBA season so far. Thanks to this interview, I now want to ask Tom Spurgeon if he thinks the 1979 addition of the three-pointer revitalized or ruined the game.
Tim O’Shea: How did the strip first come about?
Mark Haven Britt: Josh brought it up. He’s a huge NBA nerd. Even bigger than me. He knows the blogs, the sites and the community of NBA fandom. No one was really doing comics about the NBA and that he was sure that there was an audience for it. I thought it sounded like such fun. Josh is hilarious. I had to be a part of it so I weaseled my way into drawing it.
Josh Frankel: It’s true, I am an NBA nerd. I play fantasy basketball which requires total information gathering — stats, injury reports, local dispatches about coach moods — and it leads to long NBA rants in emails to friends. If I’m already doing all of that work I might as well try to get a comic out of it. Of my comics friends Mark is the guy I’ve always talked hoops with. It all fell into place.
- February 4, 2009 @ 01:31 PM by Tim O'Shea
Strangeways: The Thirsty – Page 034
Written by Matt Maxwell. Art by Gervasio and Jok.
Sick today. No snappy patter. I need to get me one of them personal assistants…
As always, hit the archives to get the whole story from the beginning.
- February 4, 2009 @ 01:00 PM by Matt Maxwell
Black History Month at the 4thletter!
Like he did last year, David Brothers over at 4thletter! is doing a post a day on blacks in comics for Black History Month. For instance, on Tuesday he offered advice on writing black characters:
You can’t win. This is the unspoken rule of creating or writing black characters. Someone, somewhere, is going to hate what you do and how you did it. It could be something in your approach, dialogue, or technique. It could be nothing at all, you might have just pushed someone’s buttons on accident. You’re co-opting, appropriating, and destroying.
With that said, all of that’s no reason to not do it.
If you’ve got half a brain, you’re smart enough to write black people. You know that every black person is different, but that there are still similarities in all of us. If you’re really unsure, you’ll run it by a black friend or two. If you don’t have any black friends, go find some.
- February 4, 2009 @ 11:02 AM by JK Parkin
Law & disorder: a preview of Viking #1
From Viking #1, by Ivan Brandon and Nic Klein
MySpace Comic Books has a five-page preview of Viking #1, the upcoming ninth-century crime series by Ivan Brandon and Nic Klein. I’m a history buff and a fan of crime stories, so I’m really looking forward to this comic, which debuts in April from Image.
- February 4, 2009 @ 09:48 AM by Kevin Melrose
‘America? Can we tell you something? You need to stop’
Amazing Spider-Man #583 Obama variant (fifth printing)
Author Glen Weldon is worried about America’s jones for the Spider-Man/President Obama combo that can only be satisfied by countless copies of Amazing Spider-Man#583.
Weldon is so concerned that he’s staging an intervention, on NPR’s website. He may be too late, though, as the ASM#583 “Obama variant” is heading into its fifth printing:
We know you’re buying up multiple copies. We know you’re squirreling some away while you go on buying and selling other copies on Ebay for 10 times the cover price, or more.
America? Can we tell you something? You need to stop.
You’re only hurting yourself. And comic books too, eventually.
Oh, sure, it seems fun now. Yes, your local comics shop is making money off this whole thing. Marvel’s making money, too, and your Ebay store is in the black for the first time since you discovered Webkinz.
But here’s the thing: You’re taking advantage of people.
People who assume — mistakenly — that because they can’t find a copy of this comic on store shelves rightnowthisminute, they will never be able to find one.
His plea, of course, is made with tongue in cheek. Still, Weldon makes a few points about the speculator-driven boom of the early ’90s (points largely already known by regular comics readers).
- February 4, 2009 @ 09:19 AM by Kevin Melrose
Gorillas Riding Dinosaurs: What Looks Good for April
Ignition City
Before I get to yapping, let me take a second and restate my criteria for what makes it on this list. This isn’t a list of everything that I’m buying for the month or even a list of everything I would buy if I had unlimited resources. I’m focusing primarily on new stuff: trade paperback collections, graphic novels, and debuts of monthly series. If a later issue of an ongoing series sounds extra-super-special-remarkable, I’ll say something, but that’ll be rare. For the most part, I won’t mention Marvel Adventures Avengers every single month, even though it’s always worth buying.
Also, this is really meant to be a discussion starter, so if you agree or disagree with anything here, please comment. That goes quadruple for if I left something off the list that I should’ve included.
And away we go…
- February 4, 2009 @ 08:33 AM by Michael May
The Life And Times of Savior 28 preview
Savior 28
Artist Mike Cavallaro has posted a five-page preview of The Life And Times of Savior 28 , his upcoming comic with writer J.M. DeMatteis that IDW is publishing next month. As a bonus, he’s also posted the variant cover (above) by Sal Buscema and Joe Sinnott.
(Thanks Dean!)
- February 4, 2009 @ 07:41 AM by JK Parkin
Food or Comics | A roundup of money-related news
Borders Group
• Cuts at Borders Group continue as the bookstore chain announced it has eliminated 16 executive positions — six vice presidents and 10 directors — primarily in its Ann Arbor, Mich., headquarters. (via GalleyCat)
• Matt Bors talks with Kevin Allman, editor of the New Orleans’ The Gambit, about the increasingly grim alternative-weekly market for cartoonists. (via The Daily Cartoonist)
• Retailer Christopher Butcher elaborates on his earlier comments about Diamond’s new threshold for publishers:
… Diamond is pushing content out of the Direct Market.
Let me say that again:
Diamond Is Pushing Content Out Of The Direct Market
We established this way up at the top there, “Diamond’s job is to serve the direct market.” So you tell me, by denying entry to creative people, by setting the minimums above what _all comics_ not in the top 300 can accomplish, and only ‘working’ with their core publishers, how are they serving the direct market?
The only answer that comes to mind is “because this will allow them to continue to exist.” …
• John Jackson Miller and the staff of Comic Buyer’s Guide do a little direct market number-crunching: In 1997, Diamond Comic Distributors shipped 5,695 periodical comics from 500 different publishers. One-third of those publishers released just one issue.
- February 4, 2009 @ 06:51 AM by Kevin Melrose
NYCC | UP, creator schedules and more
With the New York Comic Con coming up this weekend, we’re posting information on the various things fans can do and see at the show. If you’re a publisher, creator, retailer or otherwise exhibiting at the show, feel free to drop me an email with your plans for the show before Friday.
General information: Ticket info | Panels | Autographs | 2009 ICv2 Graphic Novel Conference | Blog | Guide
• Unfortunately, Final Crisis writer Grant Morrison has had to pull out of the con. In a statement, Morrison said, “As a result of family issues, I won’t be able to make it to the New York Comic Con this week. My apologies to everyone, and particularly to the readers I won’t get a chance to meet this time around due to circumstances beyond my control. See you next time.”
NYCC’s Lance Fensterman provides a little more detail at his blog, saying that “this is a really unfortunate situation with his mother that is far more important that NYCC.”
- February 4, 2009 @ 05:48 AM by JK Parkin