2010 June
TOKYOPOP offering digital downloads through Zinio
Gyakushu!
TOKYOPOP announced today that they’ve teamed with the website Zinio — “the world’s top digital publishing distribution service,” according to the press release — to make “more than fifty volumes of manga, available immediately for digital download to your PC and Mac by visiting www.Zinio.com/tokyopop.”
Looking at the site right now, I’m only counting a little over 20 titles, so they probably aren’t quite done uploading yet. Volumes cost $5.99, and titles available as I type this include Gyakushu! by Dan Hipp, Earthlight by Stuart Moore and Christopher Schons, and The Dreaming by Queenie Chan.
“I have always been a strong advocate for digital-in fact, my DNA is made entirely from 0′s and 1′s,” said Stu Levy, TOKYOPOP’s founder, in the release. “The manga lifestyle is rapidly moving online and we are committed to finding the best experience possible in that medium. Zinio offers the top online reading experience, and their team is committed to providing a 360º accessibility.”
The complete release can be found after the jump.
- June 25, 2010 @ 05:30 PM by JK Parkin
ALA: Dabel to launch young adult line
The Alchemist
David Dabel, formerly of Dabel Brothers Publishing, was at the graphic novel Drink and Draw event today at the American Library Association annual meeting in Washington, D.C., to talk about his new venture, a line of young adult prose and graphic novels called Sea Lion Books, which will be distributed by HarperCollins.
Dabel gave me a quick guided tour through the first three books on their planned list. They are launching with a graphic novel adaptation of Paolo Coelho’s The Alchemist, written by Derek Ruiz and illustrated by Daniel St. Pierre. “The Alchemist is a very inspiring story, which I don’t think the young audience has yet experienced,” Dabel said. “The art is stunning. That will help the young audience pick up the book.” The book is due out in November.
Also on the list is Storm Born, a graphic novel by urban fantasy author Richelle Meade. “She is going to be doing a lot of original stuff for us as well,” said Dabel, who hopes the graphic novel will bring her work to a younger audience.
The third book is a novel by Lesley Banks, creator of the Vampire Huntress Legends series. “It’s urban fiction, fantasy — lots of vampires,” Dabel said. “She has a series for adults, she is having the children of the adults for the first book be in a young adult novel.” She has signed for a three-book series with the Dabels.
- June 25, 2010 @ 03:49 PM by Brigid Alverson
Comics college: Art Spiegelman
Maus Vol. 1
Comics College is a monthly feature where we provide an introductory guide to some of the comics medium’s most important auteurs and offer our best educated suggestions on how to become familiar with their body of work.
Today we’ll be traipsing through the body of work of one of the most significant (if not exactly prolific) American cartoonists of this modern age, Art Spiegelman.
- June 25, 2010 @ 12:00 PM by Chris Mautner
It’s like MTV Cribs, but with cartoonists
Jerry Scott's drawing table
The Washington Post’s Michael Cavna spotlights The Cartoonist Studio, a new website launched by eight cartoonists — Tom Batiuk, Greg Evans, Jeff Keane and Mike Luckovich, among them — to showcase their work areas and, eventually, sell their work.
“I think there is some general curiosity about cartoonists’ studios — I know I loved going through the site and seeing the other people’s workspaces,” Speed Bump creator Dave Coverly says. “We’re spread all over the country, and generally work from home, so there’s a lot of individuality on display on these pages.”
- June 25, 2010 @ 11:00 AM by Kevin Melrose
Dark Horse’s dollar store: David Land on low-price entry comics
Hellboy: Start at the beginning for just a buck
Dark Horse’s dollar comics, debuting in August, are a wallet-friendly way to kill some time while you wait for the recession to end. The comics are first issues of established series (or story arcs within series), including Hellboy, Usagi Yojimbo, Umbrella Academy and The Goon.
The idea piqued my curiosity, so I fired off some questions to editor Dave Land about the new/old line. Here’s our mini-chat:
Brigid: Is this the first time you have tried something like this — low-priced introductory issues?
Dave: We’ve done low-priced first issues before, but we’ve never done a whole line of low-priced reprints before.
Brigid: How did you select the comics to be reprinted?
Dave: Mainly it was based on finding popular titles that played an important part in helping to define Dark Horse. There’s a good mix of different types of material covered by the 1 for 1 program — from creator owned titles like Sin City to licensed properties like Star Wars and even to classic reprint comics like Magnus, Robot Fighter.
- June 25, 2010 @ 10:00 AM by Brigid Alverson
‘Gotham’s got nothing on the San Fernando Valley’
by Ward Sutton
Cartoonist Ward Sutton’s heavily linked-to comic strip for the Village Voice parodies the Batman XXX: A Porn Parody that hit finer adult entertainment venues last month. The comic strip features appearances by Batmen of all shapes and sizes, as well as guest appearances by the Ambiguously Gay Duo and the ghost of Fredric Wertham. What could be better than that?
- June 25, 2010 @ 09:00 AM by JK Parkin
Comics A.M. | The comics Internet in two minutes
Comic-Con International
Conventions | A survey commissioned by the San Diego Convention Center Corp. reveals that Comic-Con International’s 130,000 or so attendees pour a whopping $163 million into the local economy — quadruple what was previously thought. Surprisingly, this is the first official estimate of the event’s financial impact. But as impressive as that figure is, convention center officials point out it doesn’t take into account the money spent by the roughly 50 percent of con-goers who don’t stay in hotels.
The survey’s results were disclosed just as Comic-Con organizers are set to decide whether to remain in San Diego, or move to Anaheim or Los Angeles, after their contract expires in 2012 with the convention center. [The San Diego Union-Tribune]
- June 25, 2010 @ 07:47 AM by Kevin Melrose
Hercules leads an all-new God Squad in Marvel’s Chaos War
From "Chaos War"
Marvel’s next cosmic event will kick off in October with Chaos War, a five-issue miniseries featuring an all-new God Squad led by the newly returned Hercules.
Announced this afternoon by Blair Butler on G4TV’s “Fresh Ink,” Chaos War comes from the former Incredible Hercules team of Greg Pak, Fred Van Lente and Khoi Pham.
The miniseries centers on an attack on Earth by the Chaos King, who has amassed an army of alien slave gods. The only force that can stop him is an unlikely team of Marvel gods and cosmic entities: Thor, Galactus, Sersi, Silver Surfer, Venus … and, of course, Hercules. As if the re-formed God Squad weren’t enough to do the job, Butler said the Hulk assembles “the surviving members of his family” to face the Chaos King’s forces.
Watch video of the segment after the break or at the Attack of the Show! website.
- June 24, 2010 @ 05:20 PM by Kevin Melrose
Quote of the day | Christine Valada, on digital royalties for creators
Giant-Sized X-Men #1
“This is certainly welcome news for DC creators, who have benefited from DC’s long-standing policy of equitable compensation over the long-term. Marvel has reproduced works in various electronic formats for years, and I can assure you that my husband hasn’t seen a goddamned dime for any such use of Giant-Sized X-Men #1 or anything else he ever created for Marvel. Meanwhile, royalties from DC for a relatively minor character got us through the worst of our past 15 months of hell. Until Marvel takes the steps that DC has to compensate the creators who made the company great, all it is doing is blowing smoke. Anyone who thinks Marvel is the better place to work is just deluding themselves.”
– photographer Christine Valada, wife of veteran writer and editor Len Wein, on DC Comics’ announcement of creator royalties for digital sales
- June 24, 2010 @ 04:00 PM by Kevin Melrose
Is it still a comic if I can’t crease the pages? Thoughts on digital and the iPad
DC Comics App on the iPad
With DC Comics revealing its digital strategy yesterday, all of the major players now have some sort of digital comics plan, allowing folks who have an Apple devices (iPad, iPhone, etc.), a PlayStation Portable or even just access to the web to read at least some of their comics in a digital format.
I’ve had an iPhone for a while now, and I’ve downloaded free comic apps from distributors like comiXology, Panelfly and iVerse. I’ve used them to download free samples of comics they were offering (sampling Jersey Gods on the iPhone, for example, led to me purchasing the trades). But I never actually bought comics on it. And there’s a big difference between downloading something because it’s free, and actually becoming a paying customer and spending real money on it.
So what held me back? Part of it was because of what was available — most of the material I would have been interested in downloading I already owned in print, and I couldn’t justify buying it again. And part of it was that I just didn’t enjoy the experience of reading a comic on my iPhone as much as I did a print comic, mostly because of the size restrictions. The app developers, of course, tried to make it easy to adjust, offering zoom features and panel-to-panel scrolling, but there’s just something about not seeing the whole page of a comic at a time, versus just seeing each panel, that was the hump I couldn’t get over. I need the forest, and I need the trees.
- June 24, 2010 @ 03:30 PM by JK Parkin
Grumpy Old Fan | The post-racial Green Lantern?
Green Lantern vol. 2 #87
Recently I’ve been thinking about characters who come ready-made with socially-conscious points of view. Wonder Woman and Aquaman each represent “hidden civilizations” which might not be philosophically compatible with the readers, but Green Lantern John Stewart’s attitudes and background raised red flags for Hal Jordan right from the start. “Beware My Power,” the 1971 story from Green Lantern vol. 2 #87 which introduced John, is one of Denny O’Neil and Neal Adams’ stronger stories, in part because it depends on character interaction more than outside forces. However, it occurs to me that a significant part of John’s “origin” hasn’t gone much farther than that issue.
See, when we first meet John, he’s sticking up for a couple of kids being hassled by a white police officer. This, for the uninitiated, is the O’Neil/Adams run in miniature: highlighting the excesses of authority, whether they arise out of reflexive deference or outright abuse. Fred the Bad Cop asks John if he “want[s] trouble,” and in true fearless-GL fashion, John replies, “I don’t want it … but I’m not about to run from it, either! And anyway, I kind of doubt you’re man enough to give it — even with your nightstick!”
- June 24, 2010 @ 02:30 PM by Tom Bondurant
Columbina joins Pinocchio and friends against the undead
Pinocchio Vampire Slayer
Van Jensen, who shared his Shelf Porn with us yesterday, shares another teaser image for his upcoming book with Dusty Higgins, Pinocchio, Vampire Slayer and the Great Puppet Theater. This image introduces Columbina to the team.
He also mentioned that the pre-order page is up on Amazon. And you can find out more about the book in San Diego this year, where Van and Dusty are special guests.
Here’s some additional info on the book:
Pinocchio’s back… but who are his friends!?! In the sequel to the 2009 graphic novel Pinocchio, Vampire Slayer by Dusty Higgins and Van Jensen, the titular puppet has to share the undead-killing stage. The stakes are raised in Pinocchio, Vampire Slayer and the Great Puppet Theater (SLG Publishing) as Pinocchio unravels the mystery of the vampire menace and his own shadowy background. The sequel will hit shelves in October.
Pinocchio, Vampire Slayer was named one of the Ten Great Graphic Novels for Teens in 2010 by YALSA. Follow Pinocchio on Twitter: @p_vampireslayer
- June 24, 2010 @ 12:00 PM by JK Parkin
Preview: Flight, Vol. 7
Flight, Vol. 7
Villard has posted a preview of Flight, Vol. 7, the penultimate edition of the six-year-old anthology series. (Or is it now the final one?) The book, which features contributions by such artists as Michel Gagné, Kostas Kiriakakis, Dave Roman and Paul Harmon, arrives in stores in mid-July.
“I think it’s a very strong volume,” writes Editor Kazu Kibuishi, “with some of the most beautiful artwork we’ve ever had in the pages of Flight.
Kibuishi announced in February that the eighth volume would be the anthology’s last. He will continue to produce Flight Explorer, renamed simply Explorer, the children’s spin-off that debuted in 2008.
- June 24, 2010 @ 11:00 AM by Kevin Melrose
Del Rey adds two more Odd Thomas graphic novels to its publishing slate
Odd Is On Our Side
Del Rey announced this week that they will publish two more graphic novels starring the Dean Koontz character Odd Thomas. Like the previously published In Odd We Trust, both graphic novels will be set in the time period before the four novels that have starred the fry cook who can communicate with the dead.
According to the press release, Odd Thomas “has inspired more readers’ letters than any other” of Koontz’s characters. The two books are in addition to Odd Is On Our Side, which is due this October and was written by Koontz and Fred Van Lente, with art by Queenie Chan.
The first book, Odd Is My Co-Pilot, will be scripted by James Kuhoric (Legendary Talespinners, Battlestar Galactica, Dead Irons) and illustrated by Chan. The second new graphic novel will be scripted by Landry Q. Walker (Supergirl: Cosmic Adventures in the 8th Grade, Little Gloomy) and illustrated by Ikari Studio. Both of the just-announced books will be based on outlines by Dean Koontz. Publication is planned for 2011-2012.
- June 24, 2010 @ 10:00 AM by JK Parkin
Does Marvel have a stealth digital-royalties plan?
C.B. Cebulski and friend
One of the most welcome aspects of yesterday’s big DC digital-comics announcement from a creator-rights perspective is that “creator incentive payments” are a part of it. In his interview with CBR’s Kiel Phegley, co-publisher Jim Lee compared the payments to the royalties creators receive for print sales, saying “the freelance community will be happy that they’re being compensated in every way their stories are being sold.” That aspect of the arrival of digital comics publishing has been shrouded in mystery up until now, so DC’s move is a big first step.
Or is it? On his Twitter account, Marvel talent scout C.B. Cebulski took issue with a letter apparently sent out to creators by DC touting the move:
Sorry, DC, but despite what your nice letter says, you are NOT “the first to announce a participation plan for talent” for digital comics. I’m not sniping at DC, just correcting misinformation that’s being sent out freelancers, some who work for both companies.
- June 24, 2010 @ 09:00 AM by Sean T. Collins