Comic Book Resources

Comics A.M. | The comics Internet in two minutes

Publishing | Paradox Entertainment, which owns the rights to the Robert E. Howard library and is rebooting the Conan the Barbarian movie franchise, has signed a deal with Dark Horse to publish comics based on its slate of films. Dark Horse has been publishing Conan titles since 2003, and last year released miniseries based on Howard creations Solomon Kane and Kull. [Variety]

Publishing | Jeff Katz’s new entertainment company American Original has brought together a group of top-name comedians to write a comic-book series called Comedy Death Ray. Those already signed on include David Cross, Zach Galifianakis, Janeane Garofalo, B.J. Novak, Bob Odenkirk, Patton Oswalt, Paul Scheer and Sarah Silverman. Each comedian will write on issue of the anthology series, which will be released through American Original’s deal with Top Cow Productions. [Variety]

Publishing | Eric Reynolds, Fantagraphics Books’ longtime director of publicity, quietly has been promoted to associate publisher. [The Comics Reporter]

Publishing | British entrepreneur Theo Paphitis, one of the stars of the BBC TV series Dragons’ Den, has been appointed to Marvel’s international advisory board to oversee the development of opportunities in Europe. [This is Money]

Publishing | Executive Editor Tom Brevoort offers a peek behind the scenes at Marvel with a publishing-strategy memo from 2004. It’s kind of interesting for a number of reasons, among which is to see which titles have been relaunched or canceled since then. I don’t even remember a Thanos comic. [Marvel.com]

Creators | Cartoonist John Ryan, creator of the Captain Pugwash comic strips and BBC animated series, has passed away at age 88. [BBC News]

Retailing | Here’s a brief profile of Fort Lauderdale, Florida’s Tate’s Comics, winner of this year’s Will Eisner Spirit of Retailing Award. [ICv2.com]

Sales charts | It’s Alan Moore Week on The New York Times’ Graphic Books Best Seller List as the writer holds five spots in the hardcover and paperback categories: Lost Girls, Superman: Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow? and Batman: The Killing Joke take the second, third and eighth positions, respectively, on the hardcover list, while Watchmen holds on to No. 1 on the paperback list, followed at No. 4 by V for Vendetta. Angel: After the Fall, Vol. 4, and Fruits Basket, Vol. 23, take the top hardcover and manga spots. [The New York Times]

Creators | Claire Prentice profiles artist Simon Fraser. [Daily Record]

Webcomics | Glen Weldon offers a sampler of webcomics, and some tips of finding and viewing them. [NPR]

Crime | Police in Port Richey, Florida, have arrested a man suspected of stealing as many as 1,500 comic books and selling them to comic shops to support his drug habit. The owner of the collection said the books are worth $12,000. [ABC Action News]