2010 March
Unbound | Dirk Tiede on Paradigm Shift
Dirk Tiede’s Paradigm Shift lives up to its name: What starts as a buddy-cop story evolves, in the course of the first act, into a dark tale of werewolves and angst. What remains constant is the relationship between the main characters, Kate and Mike, who stay loyal to one another despite the many twists Tiede puts them through.
Tiede recently wrapped up the first act with volume 3 of the print edition, so it seemed like a good time to check in and ask some questions.
Brigid: What was your initial inspiration for Paradigm Shift?
Dirk: It wasn’t so much a single point of inspiration, but a rolling series of them ranging from superheroes, role-playing games, cop shows, ’80s action movies, horror novels, and eventually, anime and manga, too. The characters originally came from a tabletop superhero role-playing game I played at a time when I was reading X-Men and The New Mutants and watched way too much Law & Order. And while I was also a big fan of Stephen King’s earlier works like Carrie and Firestarter, I also ate up films like Robocop and Lethal Weapon. Later on I discovered works like Katsuhiro Otomo’s Akira and Masamune Shirow’s Appleseed, which played a big role in rekindling my interest in drawing comics. I was really into The X-Files when I finally started writing Paradigm Shift, but I also took more than a few cues from movies like Running Scared (the one from the ’80′s with Billy Crystal and Gregory Hines) for the action/comedy elements.
- March 13, 2010 @ 11:55 AM by Brigid Alverson
Amazon fallout: Talking to publishers about being unavailable from the site
As reported earlier this week, Amazon.com removed the “buy” button from all of the graphic novels it lists that are distributed by Diamond Book Distributors, including books from Marvel, Dark Horse, Image, IDW, SLG Publishing, AdHouse Books, Avatar and many other publishers, most likely as a result of last weekend’s price glitch. As of this morning, a few titles seem to be listed again — like Zombies Calling from SLG, for instance — but the majority are still only available from resellers.
Yesterday I reached out to a few publishers to see how this was affecting them and to see if they’d heard an update on when the issue would be resolved. I heard back from two of them, and below are their responses. I’ll follow up with any additional ones that may come in later, or with any response from Diamond, who I also emailed yesterday.
Dan Vado, Publisher, SLG Publishing
JK: If I’m not mistaken, you’re in a different boat than a lot of the other impacted publishers, as you sell your books directly to Amazon vs. going through Diamond. So how did you guys end up being caught up in all this?
Dan: Diamond uploads data to Amazon for everything it carries, our stuff included. Even though we are Amazon’s primary source for our books, they might still buy occasional books from Diamond. We also cannot list our books on Amazon way in advance while Diamond can.
JK: How much of an impact does this have on your business?
Dan: In the first quarter of 2010 Amazon has far and away outstripped Diamond on sales of our backlist titles (backlist, Diamond obviously sells more of our new releases). Right now I have negative sales to Diamond due to bookstore returns, but Amazon sales are consistent and non-returnable. Not being able to sell to through Amazon is a real killer as that channel is slowly becoming not only as important to us as the other sources, but in some ways more important.
- March 13, 2010 @ 10:24 AM by JK Parkin
Straight for the art | J.R. Williams’ homages
Williams' 'Batman laughing'
Former cartoonist J.R. Williams (anyone remember Crap?) has a rather neat Flickr site where’s he’s posting all sorts of homages/swipes/tributes to classic comic book characters, some of which, it should be noted, might possibly be NSFW. (via)
- March 12, 2010 @ 01:30 PM by Chris Mautner
The Fifth Color | Playing with children at the Avengers Academy
Enroll in June!
This week we were treated to the announcement of an all-new title for our upcoming Heroic Age: Avengers Academy. From Mike McKone of Exiles fame and Christos Gage of Avengers: The Initiative fame, one may take a moment and think to yourself that this whole ‘Academy’ idea sounds like a less-ROTC version of the Initiative program. In fact, one could say that giving up four Avengers titles (New, Mighty, Dark and the Initiative) for … four Avengers titles (‘Adjectiveless’, New, Secret and Academy) might seem a little ‘welcome to the old boss, same as the new boss’ by the mighty Marvel marketing machine. On the other hand, this is the Heroic Age; it wouldn’t be the same if all slates weren’t cleared, new #1s heralded and new storylines started afresh, even if they are rather similar to the stories we have right now.
In fact, Avengers: The Initiative eventually grew out of its Event Book origin into something more important than the title on the cover of the book would suggest: essentially, it was a start point for the Marvel Universe. Enough old characters came and went, new characters allowed the reader to have a fresh look at teams and tropes on how heroes and villains worked in the ol’ MU. With the groundwork well laid out for Avengers Academy (well, suspected groundwork considering how much we have to go on with the title right now), this could be the most important book coming out of the new age of heroes.
Continue Reading »
- March 12, 2010 @ 01:00 PM by Carla Hoffman
MAD Magazine moves to bimonthly schedule in June
MAD #503
MAD Magazine will shift from a quarterly to a bimonthly schedule beginning with June’s Issue 504, according to a letter sent to contributors by Editor John Ficarra.
“Bimonthly isn’t the same as monthly,” cartoonist and MAD contributor Tom Richmond wrote this morning, “but it beats quarterly by exactly 50%!”
The venerable humor magazine moved from a monthly to a quarterly schedule in April 2009 following massive cutbacks at parent company Warner Bros. that resulted in the elimination of 800 jobs worldwide, including positions at DC Comics. MAD Kids and MAD Classics were axed in the belt-tightening.
“I have no idea what’s behind the decision,” cartoonist Evan Dorkin wrote today on his blog, “but it’s welcome news, and I’m sure a number of the ‘gang of usual idiots’ will be pleased to have more assignments after a meager year’s run. As a smaller fish in the gang who mostly does occasional small spot illo gigs, I wasn’t really affected by the changeover. But I felt badly for the ‘usual gangsters’ who likely depended on the steadiness of the monthly schedule, losing eight issues of material had to hurt some people.”
- March 12, 2010 @ 12:30 PM by Kevin Melrose
Comics cavalcade: Spurned!
Iron or the propagandist by S.M. Vidaurri
The Realist by Asaf Hanuka
- March 12, 2010 @ 12:00 PM by Chris Mautner
Straight for the art | Ben Templesmith’s photos from Barrow, Alaska
Barrow, Alaska (photo by Ben Templesmith)
Ben Templesmith has begun to post photos from his recent visit to Barrow, Alaska, northernmost city in the United States and the Arctic setting of his 2002 miniseries (with Steve Niles) 30 Days of Night.
“It was a homecoming of sorts,” Templesmith writes on his blog. “To the place that changed my life in many ways because of a book that became a movie. Time now, to put all that well in the past and move on. This was a symbolic ‘goodbye’ to all that, on the day of my birthday. No phone, no net. Just me and my thoughts on the shore of the Arctic Ocean.”
- March 12, 2010 @ 11:30 AM by Kevin Melrose
Straight for the art | A very savage Savage Dragon
Savage Dragon by Joe Infurnari
Artist Joe Infurnari shares some artwork he did for a back-up story that’ll appear in an upcoming issue of Savage Dragon.
“It’s my contribution to a story written by Joe Keatinge and illustrated by Mike Cavallaro, Simon Fraser, Tim Hamilton, Dean Haspiel, George O’Connor and the man himself, Erik Larsen,” he says on his blog. “Fans will recognize Caveman Dragon and Dino Dragon featured prominently. Other incarnations will appear on other pages. It’s all part of a series of backups featuring indie cartoonists edited by comics scholar and genius, Michel Fiffe. Keep your eyes peeled!”
- March 12, 2010 @ 11:00 AM by JK Parkin
I’d totally be on board for a ‘Lil Scarlet Witch series
Mike Maihack's Scarlet Witch
The recently revived Project: Rooftop has kicked off a new feature called “All-Ages All-Stars,” where artists redesign comic characters into kid-friendly concepts.
Up first is Mike Maihack, who gives the Scarlet Witch and her family a bit of a Saturday Morning Cartoon makeover. Could Wanda be the next Disney princess? Stranger things have happened …
But seriously, this is a cool idea, and I hope to see more of this feature soon.
- March 12, 2010 @ 10:30 AM by JK Parkin
Your video of the day: Bill Ayers trailer
Former Weatherman and current education activist Bill Ayers is going to be one of the more notable guests at next month’s MoCCA festival in New York. Although not a cartoonist, by trade, he teamed up with Xeric grant winner Ryan Alexander-Tanner to create To Teach: The Journey, In Comics, the trailer for which can be glimpsed in the video above. (via)
- March 12, 2010 @ 10:00 AM by Chris Mautner
Doug Wright nominees announced
The folks responsible for the annual Doug Wright Awards, which recognize the efforts of Canadian cartoonists, have announced their finalists for this year’s awards. The list recognizes works by Seth, Marc Bell and a host of other Drawn and Quarterly artists, as well as some names you probably aren’t too familiar with.
The awards will be announced and handed out at this year’s Toronto Comics Arts Festival in May
Best Book :
Back + Forth by Marta Chudolinska (The Porcupine’s Quill)
George Sprott: (1894-1975) by Seth (Drawn and Quarterly)
Hot Potatoe by Marc Bell (Drawn and Quarterly)
Kaspar by Diane Obomsawin (Drawn and Quarterly)
Red: A Haida Manga by Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas (Douglas and McIntyre)
- March 12, 2010 @ 09:30 AM by Chris Mautner
MegaCon kicks off today in Orlando
MegaCon
In less than an hour, the doors will open on MegaCon 2010, being held through Sunday at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Florida.
This year’s convention, whose media list boasts a number of actors from the Star Trek and Star Wars franchises — plus, hey, Being Human‘s Russell Tovey! — also includes a solid line-up of comics creators: among them, Eric Canete, Jim Cheung, Frank Cho, Amanda Conner, Darwyn Cooke, Chuck Dixon, Dick Giordano, Justin Gray, Adam Hughes, Barbara Kesel, Phil Noto, Jimmy Palmiotti, George Perez, Don Rosa, Ethan Van Sciver and Marv Wolfman.
MegaCon continues from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday.
- March 12, 2010 @ 09:05 AM by Kevin Melrose
Comics A.M. | The comics Internet in two minutes
Disney & Marvel
Business | Marvel CEO Isaac Perlmutter, who’s now worth about $1.6 billion thanks primarily to Disney’s purchase of the company, is among the 97 newcomers on Forbes magazine’s annual list of world billionaires. Perlmutter, who’s No. 616 out of 1,011 billionaires, netted nearly $900 million in cash from the deal and became Disney’s second-largest stockholder — behind fellow billionaire, and Apple co-founder, Steve Jobs (No. 136 on the list, with a worth of $5.5 billion). In September, the 67-year-old Perlmutter debuted at No. 230 on the magazine’s list of 400 richest Americans. [Money Control, The Hollywood Reporter]
Retailing | Barnes & Noble, the largest bookstore chain in the United States, reportedly has refused to carry the new graphic novel by Molly Crabapple and John Leavitt, labeling Scarlett Takes Manhattan as “too pornographic.” In a brief interview, Crabapple notes the book also has encountered problems with Diamond Comic Distributors, which initially listed Scarlett as “mature” before “plunking it into the much-worse-for-distribution ‘adult’ section.” [The Gloss]
- March 12, 2010 @ 07:56 AM by Kevin Melrose
Grumpy Old Fan | Today, DC stands for “dance card”
Strange Sports Stories #4
Every March, college basketball fans carefully study the NCAA brackets to see which teams have the best chance of making the Final Four. Every year, certain teams seem like locks, and this year won’t be much different. The high seeds will include perennial powerhouses like Kansas, Kentucky, Syracuse, and Duke on the men’s side; and Connecticut and Tennessee on the women’s. The lowest seeds are, inevitably, those teams who are satisfied just to be included (fingers crossed for William & Mary — they’re so close!). That leaves the vast middle populated by a number of familiar names: Old Dominion, Winthrop, San Diego State, Siena, et al. You’re never surprised to see them, but they don’t make it every year. However, every now and then one of these teams becomes more of a fixture; and nowadays fans would probably be surprised if Gonzaga or Butler failed to make the tournament.
Naturally, comparing DC’s superhero line to the field of 65 isn’t especially precise; but there is the notion that a title or character can shake off that Cinderella status and become a perennial player in the Big Dance. DC has been working pretty steadily towards making its characters more “familiar” to the general public, and to a certain extent that means putting familiar favorites in its lineup. With that in mind, let’s examine the staying power of some venerable DC books and separate some pretenders from contenders.
- March 11, 2010 @ 03:30 PM by Tom Bondurant
Straight for the shirt | TV on the Radio’s David Bowie charity t-shirt
TV on the Radio's t-shirt for the Yellow Bird Project
“Okay,” you ask, “what does a t-shirt featuring a drawing of David Bowie as Ziggy Stardust, by TV on the Radio lead singer Tunde Adebimpe, being sold to raise money for Haiti relief efforts as part of the Yellow Bird Project, have to do with comics?” Glad you asked! Adebimpe is a part-time cartoonist (and a pretty good one at that), and his drawing of Bowie came directly from my David Bowie sketchbook, in which famous comics folks like Bryan Lee O’Malley, Kate Beaton, Randall Munroe, David Mack, Paul Pope, Cliff Chiang, Adrian Tomine, Seth, Gary Panter, Charles Burns, Los Bros Hernandez, and many many many more have been nice enough to offer me their take on the Thin White Duke. Be a hero, just for one day, and buy the shirt!
- March 11, 2010 @ 03:00 PM by Sean T. Collins