2009 April
Food or Comics | Money, comics and the economy
IDW Publishing
• ICv2.com takes note of IDW Publishing’s rise in March to the No. 4 publisher in the direct market in terms of dollars and No. 3 in terms of units.
• Dark Horse has followed up on last fall’s announcement of its participation in Diamond’s “Final Order Cutoff” program beginning April 20.
The publisher’s FOC dates will allow retailers to adjust orders on comics up to 20 days before their release, and on graphic novels up to about three months before.
“We are pleased to announce this move to the FOC,” Dark Horse President Mike Richardson said in a press release. “As every comics retailer knows, times are tough. It is important that Dark Horse not only support them with great product, but with our best efforts to make their ordering decisions as easy as possible. This system will help every retailer who orders Dark Horse product and should lead to better business for all of us.”
• Retailer Christopher Butcher has more thoughts on the problems with The New York Times’ Graphic Book Best Seller List.
• The Chicago Tribune looks at how the recession is driving people to sell their collections — toys, records, comics, etc. — for very little money. Shane Wallace of Graham Crackers Comics in Lincoln Park undoubtedly crushes the hopes of several collectors when he says, “We usually offer 5 to 10 cents an issue” for comics from the 1980s and ’90s.
• Casey Seiler of the Times-Union in Albany, New York, discovered at Albany Comic-Con that his big box of comics was worth just $80.
- April 14, 2009 @ 07:22 AM by Kevin Melrose
Comics A.M. | The comics Internet in two minutes
100 Bullets #100
Publishing | As Brian Azzarello and Eduardo Risso’s 100 Bullets comes to an end this week, William Gatevackes considers the legacy the crime epic leaves at Vertigo: “Its success changed the face of Vertigo forever. It proved that genres other than reinventions, horror and esotery could find a home at the imprint. Without 100 Bullets, we wouldn’t have The Losers. We wouldn’t have DMZ. We wouldn’t have Scalped.” [Broken Frontier]
Publishing | Francoise Mouly discusses TOON Books, the line of children’s comics she launched last year with husband Art Spiegleman. That’s comics, not graphic novels: “I think it’s confusing to call them ‘kids’ graphic novels.’ They’re great books, but not novels. They are comics and that is starting to be OK.” [Post-Gazette]
Publishing | Publisher Kurt Hassler confirms that Yen Press has “rescued” Jun Mochizuki’s Pandora Hearts from licensing limbo. The license had been held by Broccoli Books USA, which closed last year. [Yen Press]
Creators | Nikki Cook talks about her comic work, including collaborating with Brian Wood on DMZ #41. [BUST Magazine]
Creators | The McGill University student newspaper spotlights alumnus Eric San, the DJ/cartoonist better known as Kid Koala. He’ll release his graphic novel Nufonia Must Fall and accompanying CD Space Cadet this summer. [The McGill Daily]
Creators | Robotika creator Alex Sheikman discusses the genesis of his “steampunk sushi Western,” which returns with a second miniseries in June from Archaia Studios Press. [Broken Frontier]
- April 14, 2009 @ 05:57 AM by Kevin Melrose
‘Embarrassing and ham-fisted cataloging error’ to blame for Amazon’s weekend glitch
Amazon.com has issued a statement on the “glitch” that caused an uproar on blogs and Twitter over the weekend:
This is an embarrassing and ham-fisted cataloging error for a company that prides itself on offering complete selection.
It has been misreported that the issue was limited to Gay & Lesbian themed titles – in fact, it impacted 57,310 books in a number of broad categories such as Health, Mind & Body, Reproductive & Sexual Medicine, and Erotica. This problem impacted books not just in the United States but globally. It affected not just sales rank but also had the effect of removing the books from Amazon’s main product search.
Many books have now been fixed and we’re in the process of fixing the remainder as quickly as possible, and we intend to implement new measures to make this kind of accident less likely to occur in the future.
seattlepi.com’s Andrea James spoke with an unnamed Amazon employee about the problem, which pulled several employees away from their Easter weekend:
- April 14, 2009 @ 05:34 AM by JK Parkin
Update on Len Wein and Christine Valada
Giant Size X-men #1
As reported last week, Len Wein and and his wife Christine Valada’s home caught fire last week, killing their dog Sheba and destroying much of the house, including Wein’s collection of original art and his own work.
Comics writer Mark Evanier is putting together plans to help Wein replace a lot of those comics:
To all those who’ve asked: We’re preparing our little campaign to help our pal Len Wein, who lost much of what he owns in a fire one week ago. In a day or three, I’ll be opening a web page to try and collect copies of Len’s work for him…extra copies you may have of comics he wrote. A lot of you have already written with generous offers and they’re appreciated. The page will tell you how to follow through on those offers.
We’ll link to the page here once it is live. In addition, Valada has been writing about the fire on her own blog; she’s shared ten things she’s learned from the fire here and here.
- April 13, 2009 @ 03:00 PM by JK Parkin
Talking Comics with Tim: Tony Bedard
R.E.B.E.L.S. #3
Tony Bedard is a writer I’ve interviewed several times regarding various projects over the years. I greatly enjoyed his work years ago with CrossGen and since then I’ve often viewed a project more favorably if I found his name was attached. So when I heard he had a new ongoing series for DC, R.E.B.E.L.S. (core concept: Vril Dox [Brainiac 2] recruits a team to regain control of his L.E.G.I.O.N. police force), I contacted him for an email interview. This Wednesday, April 15, marks the release of the third issue in the series. (A preview of the first issue is available from DC here.)
Tim O’Shea: The first issue opens with a reference from the Encyclopedia Galactica, a nod to past incarnations of Legion books (as well as the works of Isaac Asimov and Douglas Adams). When launching a new series that references the past but wants to make its own mark in the present (while telling tales from the future) how careful does a writer need to be in referencing the past with certain aspects while giving readers a fresh twist?
Tony Bedard: I want R.E.B.E.L.S. to be completely accessible to a new reader, and yet I want it to be loaded with references and “Easter eggs” for readers who are familiar with Legion lore. I guess the trick is not to make those bits essential to understanding the story. They’re in there as a bonus (and, yeah, the encyclopedia caption is a total homage to LSH stories of the past) but they’re not the point of the book. We’re just telling a fast and furious space saga, and everyone’s invited to join us.
- April 13, 2009 @ 11:56 AM by Tim O'Shea
Strangeways: The Thirsty – Page 057
Written by Matt Maxwell. Art by Gervasio and Jok.
Apologies for the delay. I’d say that it won’t happen again, but knowing me, that’d be a lie.
Aww. Isn’t that great. Joe gave up drinking to save his marriage. Let’s give him a big hand, folks!
Hit the archives to get the story from the beginning. I’ll be back here Wednesday, and so should you.
- April 13, 2009 @ 11:03 AM by Matt Maxwell
Someone’s seen ‘Over the Top’ too many times
Trondheim and Reumann square off
Here’s a project I’d love to see American cartoonists try their hand at. A group of well-known French cartoonists, like Lewis Trondheim, Guy Delisle, Killoffer, Dupuy & Bebarian and more, put together this great arm-wrestling comics jam pitting themselves against each other in a March Madness style race to victory. Perhaps we could do a WWE version?
- April 13, 2009 @ 11:00 AM by Chris Mautner
‘StarStruck’ event to benefit Gene Colan
StarStruck graphic novel
Elaine Lee and Michael Wm. Kaluta’s StarStruck, which was published by Epic Comics in the 1980s (followed by several other publishers), is returning to its roots this summer. The series started as an off-Broadway play, and will be presented “for the first time in 25 years as an audio theatre-style live reading at the famed Henry Miller Library in Big Sur, CA,” according to a press release.
Per the release, proceeds will help pay the medical bills of comics legend Gene Colan, the bills stemming from his bout with liver failure in 2007 and 2008. It also says that plans are afoot to bring the comic back into print.
The complete press release is available after the jump.
- April 13, 2009 @ 10:33 AM by JK Parkin
‘Or maybe just happy’
Over at the Village Voice, Ward Sutton imagines what life would like if Kurt Cobain hadn’t committed suicide.
- April 13, 2009 @ 10:00 AM by Chris Mautner
Stephen Pastis draws Pearls for you
Found via Mike Lynch.
- April 13, 2009 @ 09:00 AM by Chris Mautner
Food or Comics | Money, comics and the economy
The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger Born
• I wondered on Friday what was awry with The New York Times’ weekly Graphic Books Best Seller List that could allow a two-year-old hardcover collection to rocket to the top one week and then completely disappear the next.
A few commenters suggested that Marvel offered remaindered copies of The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger Born at a deep discount to comic shops, accounting for the one-week spike (or glitch). Retailer Christopher Butcher essentially agreed with the explanation, and spelled out a few of the details. However, he went on to describe the Times’ bestseller list as “broken” because it appears to treat direct-market orders (from Diamond Comic Distributors) the same as bookstore sales: “… Two largely incongruous sales systems are being merged – pretty badly it looks like – to generate a list that has books with little long-term sales spiking on release and never appearing again, and heavily prone to being thrown entirely out of whack by promotions, sales, discounting, and … hell, just giving stuff away for free!”
• Starlog, the 33-year-old monthly magazine that covers science fiction and fantasy film and television, has announced it’s ending as a print publication with April’s Issue 374 — at least for now. The website will continue.
- April 13, 2009 @ 09:00 AM by Kevin Melrose
Stiletto heels are so … three years ago
Batwoman character designs, by J.H. Williams III
One of the criticisms lobbed at the new Batwoman when she was introduced back in 2006 was that her costume played up the “lipstick lesbian” titillation angle. After all, who could effectively leap from rooftops and fight crime in those Alex Ross-designed stiletto heels?
Luckily for Kate Kane, and for us, artist J.H. Williams III has taken a more practical approach to Batwoman’s costume.
In character designs posted Friday on the DC Comics blog, we’re given a glimpse into Williams’ thought process: Gone are the stilettos, replaced by boots — with serious tread! — “more realistic to purpose.” She’s given more heavily armored arm braces, with detachable points that transform into throwing weapons, and a protective mask.
I’m not sure at this point what I think about Batwoman’s “retro-rockabilly” alter ego, but I’ll concede that it’s several steps up from the generic, slinky gown-wearing persona we were initially introduced to almost three years ago. This Kate Kane radiates personality with a look that’s distinctive, at least in the DC Universe. Before, she could’ve been any background character from virtually any crowd scene.
Greg Rucka and J.H. Williams’ take on Batwoman debuts in June in Detective Comics #854.
- April 13, 2009 @ 07:45 AM by Kevin Melrose
Comics A.M. | The comics Internet in two minutes
Catwoman, by Tony Daniel
Awards | These are shaping up to be the most-discussed Eisner Award nominations in a while, with much of the conversation centering on whether the judges “ignored” manga. Judge Andrew Wheeler wades into the debate as Brigid Alverson offers a defense of this year’s committee: “I think the true fault lies in the voters, who are not as well read as the committee and vote accordingly, and that comes back to what the Eisners are. People do tend to prefer one type of comics over another, and the Eisners speak to a more traditional crowd.”
Meanwhile, Timothy Callahan and Chad Nevett delve into the nominations. [Eisner Awards]
Creators | Less than a month after he deleted his blog “for good,” artist Tony Daniel is back online: “I got po’d and pulled the blog down. But now I’m back and ready for more punishment.” [Tony Daniel]
Publishing | With the (somewhat controversial) announcement last week of Marvel Divas, David Brothers wonders what happened to Models, Inc., the all-ages miniseries by Paul Tobin and Vicenc Villagrassa that was scheduled to debut in February. [4thletter!]
Publishing | Project Manager Jim Zubkavich discusses the UDON Kids line of manga: “The manga market is growing up and we’re going to see a generational shift in those readers. Manga readers are getting older and they’re having kids or have nieces and nephews or younger brothers and sisters who are interested by the style and storytelling in manga. Having age-appropriate manga content for that age group and being able to introduce new readers to comics and manga has business potential but is also something we feel strongly about as fans of manga and anime as a whole.” [Good Comics For Kids]
- April 13, 2009 @ 05:57 AM by Kevin Melrose
Amazon blames ‘glitch’ for delisted gay and lesbian themed books
Fun Home
Earlier today several folks on blogs and on Twitter began noting that books with gay, lesbian, transgender and bisexual themes were removed from Amazon.com searches, sales-rank feature and bestseller lists, including the award-winning graphic novel Fun Home by Alison Bechdel.
According to a story on Publishers Weekly, this occurred due to a glitch in its sales ranking feature “that was in the process of being fixed.” Fun Home‘s sales rank has returned, but many other books are still missing it.
Amazon also told PW that they didn’t have an adult policy that led to the de-listings, which is contrary to the responses people have received from Amazon’s customer-service department. Novelist Mark Probst first noted the removal on his blog, as he had contacted Amazon.com earlier this week when his books lost their sales ranks. A reply from Amazon read: “In consideration of our entire customer base, we exclude ‘adult’ material from appearing in some searches and best seller lists. Since these lists are generated using sales ranks, adult materials must also be excluded from that feature.”
Comics retailer Chris Butcher notes several books that are still being included in Amazon’s rankings and searches, including Playboy: The Complete Centerfolds and the sexually explicit graphic novel Lost Girls. Meanwhile, non-explicit books with gay themes and historical non-fiction about homophobia lost their sales rankings. An online petition in protest of Amazon’s adult policy has also been started.
- April 12, 2009 @ 08:24 PM by JK Parkin
Strangeways: The Thirsty – Week of 4/5
This week:
The vampires from Drytown swing by Cedar Creek for a little visit. Penny and Joe are reunited, and really, it seems to be going pretty well, considering how they parted.
- April 12, 2009 @ 09:59 AM by Matt Maxwell