2010 April
C2E2 | Brad Guigar on Webcomics.com… so far
Brad Guigar surveys C2E2 from his perch at the Webcomics.com booth
Brad Guigar turned Webcomics.com into a pay site in January, and four months later, he is pleased with the results. Membership has exceeded his expectations, he said, and new members continue to come to the site every week. “The neat thing about it is that people come in and they are instantly immersed in what we are doing at the site,” Guigar said. “The members are this really cohesive group of professionals so when somebody pipes up with a concern or question, they say ‘I’ve done that—here’s how it goes.’
“I keep the site going with daily updates, moderate the community, but it has taken on a life of its own. It has turned into this amazing resource for people: they write posts, submit things to me, or do whole posts on the private forum saying ‘I just had this experience doing xyz,’ and all of a sudden you have this whole tutorial on doing something you didn’t even know you wanted to know about until then. So the community has taken over and become this incredible resource.”
In addition, Guigar has begun to negotiate special benefits for subscribers—starting with tables at C2E2, which subscribers got at a $60 discount. “That’s a 200% savings” on the subscription fee of $30, Guigar said.
And he is working on more. “I go to vendors and say ‘I can bring you a core group of professional self-pubising cartoonists, and they re looking for business relationships with printers, promotional marketing, stuff like that, can you give me a discount?’” he said. “The vendor wins because they get access to this whole group of people they can build a business relationship with. Meanwhile, my subscribers get discounts or benefits, so that’s a win for them.”
- April 16, 2010 @ 03:57 PM by Brigid Alverson
C2E2 | Carla Speed McNeil signs with Dark Horse
Carla Speed McNeil and Jim Ottoviani trade quips
Carla Speed McNeil was at the Haven Distributors booth for the opening of C2E2, and she had big news: She has just signed a multi-book contract with Dark Horse. McNeil, who won a Best Webcomic Eisner last year, has been self-publishing her Finder series for years, so Dark Horse will begin by republishing those earlier comics in two volumes, followed by Torch, which has appeared online, in February. “Also, they are reviving the venerable Dark Horse Presents, in which I will producing eight-page color stories,” McNeil added. “That will be the first time Finder is presented in color.”
The contract covers Torch, Voice, and McNeil’s next three books, as well as the Dark Horse presents material. McNeil says she is happy she self-published her earlier books, because she got to learn how the industry works, but now she wants to move on. “I have got a lot of interesting friends that I want to do projects with,” she said, “and if someone else handles the back end of things, I can do them.”
- April 16, 2010 @ 03:26 PM by Brigid Alverson
The Fifth Color | You can keep your Corps
shhh, don't tell anyone!
This week we got a sneak peek at one of our ever-growing spectrum of Avengers books, in this case the Secret ones. As was spectacularly introduced by a website of dazzling intellect and phenomenal taste (and they’re all snappy dressers there too!) the Secret Avengers will be the team that no one can know about … but everyone will talk about! The irony!
So let’s break some rules here and talk about them because, by God, no advertising slogan is going to tell me what to do (unless it’s The Dew)! The line-up thus far is Nova, Valkyrie, the Beast, War Machine, Moon Knight and a suspicious-looking blond-haired man in a funny, but familiar looking costume. Astute readers (who are also snappy dressers) have noted the uniform’s similarity to the Fighting American, a character more known for how much looking like Captain America gets you in a court of law than any particular storylines of his own. So we can make our assumptions and say that blond guy is Steve Rogers in an homage get-up. You can kill the man and give his job to someone else, but you can’t really take the job out of the man.
Looking at the roster, aside from a couple exceptions, you could surmise that this is a ‘Kooky Quartet Reborn’; this is an odd bunch of characters who are in it for the justice and perhaps some personal absolution from the Sentinel of Liberty himself. Maybe he believes in Moon Knight or knows enough about War Machine to want him on his side when things get ugly. Maybe Beast is just looking for a solid sense of justice and some heart, maybe Valkyrie doesn’t have anywhere else to go. Maybe there’s a few more people on this team that will make their true purpose come to light.
And then there’s Nova.
- April 16, 2010 @ 03:00 PM by Carla Hoffman
Collect This Now! | Skin
Even though we live in a golden age of reprints, there are still deserving comics that, for one reason or another, fail to get collected, translated, or reprinted in nice, shiny, new books. This monthly column is dedicated to those books that, we feel, need another round in the spotlight.
The welcome return of artist Brendan McCarthy to the world of comical books with Spider-Man: Fever got me thinking about how most of the comics he’s done (mostly with Collect This Now’s patron saint Peter Milligan) are sadly out of print. That’s a shame, as his bibliography contains a lot of great work that deserves re-examination, including Rogan Gosh, Paradax and the topic of today’s column, Skin.
One of the more interesting things about Skin actually is that it had a bit of trouble getting published initially. Originally Skin was supposed to be published in 1990 in Crisis, a spin-off of the classic British anthology series 2000 AD. The printers refused to handle it, and the publisher got cold feet, and it didn’t end up seeing the light of day until 1992, when Kevin Eastman’s Tundra press released it with little fanfare.
What made so many of these fine folks reluctant to print the comic? Well, for one thing, it could have been the subject matter. You see, Skin is about a Thalidomide baby. More specifically, it’s about a Thalidomide kid who’s a skinhead, has sex with hippies and eventually ends up getting revenge on the people who made the drug by going after them with an ax. (oops, spoilers!)
- April 16, 2010 @ 02:00 PM by Chris Mautner
‘Blade/X-Men situation resolved,’ a relieved Mark Millar assures
"We are the X-Men"
It look as if Mark Millar’s vampire-induced disaster has been averted.
If you’ll recall, on Thursday Millar was upset to see Marvel’s “We are the X-Men” teasers that hint at a mutants-versus-vampire storyline. That’s because some of the elements — Blade and vampires attacking mutants, namely — seemed awfully similar to an Ultimate Avengers arc that Millar had been talking about publicly for some time.
So, before Millar contacted Marvel, he took to his message board, writing, in part: “How the Hell did this happen? It wouldn’t have been as big a deal if I hadn’t started the series yet, but it’s almost done and just going to look foolish following an X-Men event. Am honestly just so disgusted with this as I’ve talked about it many times. [...] I’m hoping this is some horrible misunderstanding. I’ve only seen what you’ve seen online with Blade and the X-Men and a vampire Jubilee (again, very close to stuff I’m doing). Fingers crossed this bullshit gets fixed, but am getting closer and closer to just doing my own stuff every day.”
But by the end of the day Millar had updated his forum members, saying he had spoken to Marvel Publisher Dan Buckley, and that the misunderstanding would be sorted out today. And that appears to be what’s happened.
“It seems there was something of a communications problem between the Ultimate U and the Marvel U, which is understandable because they don’t share the same continuity,” Millar wrote today. “Anyway, the similarities between these storylines were evident, but with a few tweaks these are being cleared up and Marvel have been great about it. The extra good news is that Ultimate Avengers 3, the arc guest-starring Blade, has now been pulled forward by a month or two and fans of the book are going to get lots of double-shipping. [...] Marvel took the miscommunication problem very seriously and we sorted it all out today with a couple of conference calls.”
The X-Men storyline, which presumably ties into The Death of Dracula, is expected to be announced Sunday at C2E2.
- April 16, 2010 @ 01:32 PM by Kevin Melrose
Kick-Ass: From comic to movie to … political cartoon
Editorial cartoon by Jerry Holbert
Whether or not Kick-Ass tops the weekend box office — it probably will — its marketing campaign has ensured the movie’s infiltration of popular culture. Nikki Finke points out that this morning’s Boston Herald features this political cartoon by Jerry Holbert.
- April 16, 2010 @ 12:53 PM by Kevin Melrose
Comics Cavalcade | Robots, ghouls and John Kerschbaum
Every day people post comics on the Internet. Here are some of the ones that caught our eyes.
“Death Tales” by Jaime Hernandez
- April 16, 2010 @ 12:00 PM by JK Parkin
Minnesota mother objects to Bone‘s content and library availability
Bone: The Dragonslayer
A parent in a suburb of Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota, has filed a complaint with the school district objecting to the content in the fourth volume of Jeff Smith’s popular Bone series.
Ramona DeLay of Apple Valley told Sun Newspapers she was “a little shocked” that her son, and elementary-school student, was reading a graphic novel depicting drinking, smoking and gambling. She filed a formal request to the school district on on March 15 asking that the book be “withdrawn from all students.” In the complaint, DeLay also cited “sexual situations between characters.”
The district’s Reconsideration Review Committee will meet on April 27 to consider DeLay’s request.
I’m certainly only guessing, but I imagine this has to be one of the very few times that Smith’s bestselling, and multiple-award-winning, series has been challenged. Tom Spurgeon has additional commentary.
- April 16, 2010 @ 11:00 AM by Kevin Melrose
Is One Piece finally making waves in North America?
One Piece, Vol. 40
Could Monkey D. Luffy and the Straw Hat Pirates finally be getting their due in North America?
They’re the stars of Eiichiro Oda’s long-running comedy-adventure One Piece, Japan’s best-selling manga that’s sold more than 176 million volumes since its debut in 1997. (Publisher Shueisha printed more than 3 million copies of the series’ 57th volume alone.) On this side of the Pacific, however, the series hasn’t been nearly as popular, overshadowed by the likes of Naruto, Bleach and Fullmetal Alchemist.
But this week, undoubtedly aided by Viz Media’s accelerated release schedule, One Piece lands five volumes on The New York Times’ Graphic Books bestseller list. (It’s probably worth noting that nine of the 10 spots in the manga category are filled by Viz Media releases.)
Yes, the 47th volume of Masashi Kishimoto’s Naruto still places higher on the chart than One Piece. And, yes, The New York Times’ bestseller lists employ an arcane formula that no one seems to understand (a complex combination of numerology, calculus and chanting within a magic circle, most likely).
Still, it just may be a sign that the tide is turning for the crew of the Going Merry — or is that Merry Go? — on the coasts of North America.
- April 16, 2010 @ 10:30 AM by Kevin Melrose
Straight for the art | Paul Maybury’s Spera pin-up
by Paul Maybury
Artist Paul Maybury (Aqua Leung, Popgun) did a pin-up for the webcomic Spera, a fantasy comic about two princesses fleeing their homeland after a big cataclysmic event. It’s written by Josh Tierney and drawn by a variety of artists from around the world. The varying art styles can make it kind of trippy, but it’s definitely worth checking out.
- April 16, 2010 @ 10:00 AM by JK Parkin
First look at Twin Spica
Twin Spica
When Vertical marketing director Ed Chavez first announced that they had licensed the sci-fi manga Twin Spica, the news was drowned out by better-known titles like the cute cat manga Chi’s Sweet Home and Felipe Smith’s in-your-face Peepo Choo. Also, frankly, the cover of this manga is the least attractive thing about it.
When I got my advance copy, though, I was sold. Twin Spica is an interesting story that interweaves a girl’s training to be an astronaut — classic shonen manga fodder, but approached more thoughtfully — with stories of her personal life and coming of age. Vertical has just posted a 30-page preview at their site, and the piece of the story they chose focuses on the main character, Asumi, coming to terms with her mother’s death. Asumi’s spirit really comes through in this story, but I actually liked the space training part even better. Anyway, go take a look, and watch out for the first volume next month. (I know the preview has an awful moire, but I don’t recall that being in the printed book.)
- April 16, 2010 @ 09:30 AM by Brigid Alverson
C2E2 | BOOM! teases more tales of your favorite Great Old One
It’s been awhile since BOOM! wrapped up their Cthulhu series of books, but based on the teaser that sent out this morning, I’m guessing they have some sort of Cthulhu related news in Chicago this weekend. Like, I don’t know … something tells me maybe a new Cthulhu project will hit stands in July.
If you’re curious, you can read the first Cthulhu Tales trade over on their website.
- April 16, 2010 @ 09:00 AM by JK Parkin
C2E2 | Marvel signals The Death of Dracula
Dracula, in happier times
In its presentation Thursday at the Diamond Retailer Summit at C2E2, Marvel seems to have all but confirmed an “X-Men vs. vampires” storyline with the announcement of The Death of Dracula.
In its extensive overview of the summit, IGN.com reports that Arune Singh, the publisher’s manager of sales and communications, said the demise of Marvel’s lord of the vampires isn’t simply a throwaway story or an attempt to draw in horror fans.
“One of the biggest changes in the Marvel Universe in years starts here,” Singh is quoted as saying. It’s unclear from the report whether The Death of Dracula will be a one-shot, a miniseries or a banner for a crossover. Presumably, more details will be revealed this weekend in Chicago.
Dracula, who made his Marvel Universe debut in 1972, most recently appeared in the Hugo Award-nominated “Vampire State” story arc of the now-canceled Captain Britain and MI13. He was shown seemingly being destroyed at the end of the storyline, dispatched by an Excalibur-wielding Faiza Hussain.
- April 16, 2010 @ 08:30 AM by Kevin Melrose
C2E2 | Steve Rogers: Super-Soldier mini by Brubaker, Eaglesham kicks off in July
Steve Rogers: Super Soldier
In addition to starring in Marvel’s upcoming Secret Avengers title, the former Captain America is also getting a miniseries of his own. Announced yesterday at the Diamond retailer’s summit in Chicago, the four-issue series, titled Steve Rogers: Super-Soldier, will be written by Ed Brubaker, naturally, with art by Dale Eaglesham (Fantastic Four). The first issue (above) features a cover by Carlos Pacheco.
“It felt like Bucky was doing a great job as Cap, fans dig him in the role [and] I enjoy writing him as Cap,” Brubaker told Marvel.com. “And it occurred to me that Steve was going to get put through the wringer on his way back to the present, and may have reasons for not wanting to put the Cap uniform back on and go all public for a while, if not forever.”
He added that Rogers would be operating in secret, “more like a James Bond for the Marvel Universe, operating covertly to save the world.”
- April 16, 2010 @ 08:00 AM by JK Parkin
Comics in motion: The Boy with Nails for Eyes
The Boy with Nails for Eyes
Up till now, I haven’t been too impressed with the concept of “motion comics,” but Shaun Gardiner has changed my mind.
At the moment, only the prologue of Gardiner’s The Boy with Nails for Eyes is up, but it’s already obvious that this is going to be an extraordinary comic. Gardiner uses animation to slowly bring the reader through the images, and he uses music (of his own composition) and sound effects to set the atmosphere and pacing. His art is nothing short of amazing, combining ink and collage with a limited palette of blacks, browns, and dark reds to create the mood and set up the elements of the story. The story itself isn’t clear yet, but interestingly, it starts with images of crows over a gritty industrial town, suggesting one type of story, and then brings in giant cathedral-bots, which kind of shifts the mood. Anyway, it’s well worth a look; the few minutes it takes to view the prologue are time well spent. If that gets you curious for more, check out Craig Smith’s interview with Gardiner at the Motion Comics blog.
- April 16, 2010 @ 07:30 AM by Brigid Alverson