2010 August
Manga is the bright spot for Japanese publisher
Weekly Shonen Jump
Shueisha, one of the largest publishers in Japan, went into the red last fiscal year, a first for the company, but its manga division wasn’t to blame. The publisher took hits on ad revenues and real estate holdings, as well as slipping book sales in several categories, including literature, which went down 2.8%. Manga, on the other hand, did pretty well; sales of Weekly Shonen Jump, their flagship magazine (which includes the insanely popular One Piece) and individual volumes of manga were both up in the past year.
- August 27, 2010 @ 01:00 PM by Brigid Alverson
Start reading now (but with a caveat): Go Home Paddy
John Walsh’s webcomic Go Home Paddy starts during the Irish potato famine of the 1840s and follows the fortunes of Paddy Brennan, who leaves the ould country and heads to Boston, where conditions are better but just barely. Creator John Walsh plans the graphic novel to be 120-140 pages long, and it’s at page 44 now, so it’s a good time to jump into the story.
But before you do, be warned of one aspect of the story that took me aback: Walsh has deliberately chosen to draw his characters in an apelike style that was often used to caricature the Irish in the 19th century. Walsh explains his choice in this interview at the Boston Bibliophile:
I’m using the simian stereotype as a way to portray just how despised the Irish were by both the English and the Nativists in America. Most people are used to the lovable image of Leprechauns (Lucky Charms and Notre Dame’s mascot) or even the Barry Fitzgerald’s boozy Michaleen Og Flynn from the Quite Man, but 150 years ago the Irish were considered a true threat to the American way of life.
Walsh has researched the ways Irish people were caricatured in the popular press, and he has some interesting links on this page of his blog. The art still takes some getting used to, though, and I have mixed feelings about it. The comic creates an odd sort of cognitive dissonance, with these apelike people behaving in intelligent and sympathetic ways (although there is some drinking and brawling as well). Walsh is interested in the way the Irish have integrated themselves into American society, despite decades of prejudice, but the title of the comic reminds me of a rueful joke my uncle, an Irishman who lived in Northern Ireland, used to make: “When does an Irishman become a Paddy? As soon as he leaves the room.”
Full disclosures: My mother was from Ireland. Nobody in my family looks anything like the people in this comic. And although I graduated from Notre Dame, I have made it a point never to buy anything with that stupid leprechaun on it.
- August 27, 2010 @ 12:00 PM by Brigid Alverson
One Piece sells more than 20 million copies — just this year
One Piece
It’s well-established that Eiichiro Oda’s comedy-adventure One Piece is wildly popular, setting one record after nother in Japan, where the 59th volume received a 3.2 million-copy first printing. Once that figure has sunk in, here’s another one for you: One Piece has sold more than 20 million copies this year alone — four times that of Naruto, the second-highest selling manga.
That news arrives just as it’s confirmed that, beginning next week, Oda is taking a well-deserved month-long break from the series that’s been serialized in Weekly Shonen Jump virtually nonstop since August 1997.
- August 27, 2010 @ 11:00 AM by Kevin Melrose
Maryland state senator running on the anti-comic book ticket
Nancy King's direct mail advertisement
Bleeding Cool points out that Nancy King, a Democrat running for reelection for the Maryland State Senate, sent out a direct mail piece that emphasizes her commitment to teachers … because with cutbacks and layoffs, apparently kids would just be left reading comic books, and nobody wants that, do they?
It’s a poorly thought-out ad that, as Rich Johnston says, serves as a “stereotypical attack on comic books as not being suitable to educate children.” It’s also somewhat ironic, since Maryland has an educational comic book initiative:
Capitalizing on a growing body of evidence that comics can encourage reluctant readers to read more and talented students to gain in knowledge and creativity, The Maryland State Department of Education has partnered with Diamond Comic Book Distributors and elicited the help of members of local school systems, higher education, adult and corrections education, and libraries. The goal is to develop a Maryland plan and instructional strategies that support the use of graphic literature in elementary, secondary, adult, and corrections education. This initiative which is sponsored by State Superintendent Nancy Grasmick and the President of Diamond Comics, Steve Geppi.
- August 27, 2010 @ 10:30 AM by JK Parkin
More Penguin Classics covers by comic artists
Great Expectations
The Beat points out that designer Paul Buckley has posted several new Penguin Classics Deluxe covers on Flickr. You can check out Great Expectations by Richard Salas, The Canterbury Tales by Ted Stearn, Bridget Jones’s Diary by Tara McPherson and more.
- August 27, 2010 @ 10:00 AM by JK Parkin
Video: Colleen Doran on copyright, creator’s rights
As a part of their Creators Across America series, the Copyright Alliance has posted the above video interview with A Distant Soil creator Colleen Doran. The artist discusses her early career and the importance of knowing her rights as a creator, among other topics. Patrick Ross, who conducted the interview, says she is “successful and accomplished, and a hoot.”
- August 27, 2010 @ 09:31 AM by JK Parkin
Minneapolis Indie Xpo creates new comics fans
The Soap Factory
When I first heard about plans for the Minneapolis Indie Xpo, I wasn’t sure why we needed another local convention, but I was sure glad we were getting one. I love conventions and only get to go to one out-of-town one a year, so I lean pretty heavily on the two cons that the Midwest Comic Book Association throws annually. If someone wanted to put on a third, I wasn’t about to question it.
There is a reason for the new show though, and it’s a good one. According to MIX’s website, the show “aspires to create new comics fans by reaching out to the local community and inviting them to learn to love comics again, or for the first time.” They do this by varying from the business model the MCBA uses for its shows. The MCBA doesn’t charge for creator tables; it makes its money selling space to retailers and charging a modest ticket price to attendees. That creates a fun show with tons of local talent and admission is cheap enough to encourage curious members of the community to come by and check it out. It’s a great time that Twin Cities comics fans look forward to all year.
But if the goal is to get people who wouldn’t ordinarily pay to attend a large celebration of comics like the MCBA puts on, MIX’s organizers – Sarah Morean (The Daily Cross Hatch) and Andy Krueger (founder of the St Paul Craftstravaganza) – have found a good way to do that. They charge a reasonable table fee for exhibitors, hold the show in a part of town known for its arts community, and let the public in for free.
How that worked out, after the break.
Continue Reading »
- August 27, 2010 @ 09:00 AM by Michael May
This weekend, it’s Baltimore Comic-Con
The 11th annual Baltimore Comic-Con opens Saturday morning, drawing an expected 15,000 attendees, and more than 150 guests, to the Baltimore Convention Center.
But none of those guests is a television or movie star, a professional wrestler, or a “model,” notes The Baltimore Sun. No, every one of them is actually involved in the creation of comics.
“It doesn’t make sense for our vendors to have these other people there to take up valuable space that would otherwise go to people who do make sense,” convention organizer Marc Nathan tells the newspaper. “… Having fringe sci-fi people, from shows that were popular back in 1972, doesn’t make that much sense to me. That’s not my show, that’s not what I want to do.”
The people you will find at the event include Laura Allred, Mike Allred, Sergio Aragones, Ivan Brandon, Tom Brevoort, Bernard Chang, Howard Chaykin, Ciff Chiang, Mark Chiarello, Frank Cho, Mike Choi, Kevin Colden, Amanda Conner, Ramona Fradon, Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez, Ron Garney, Mike Gold, Michael Golden, Jimmy Gownley, Gabriel Hardman, Tony Harris, Dean Haspiel, Jonathan Hickman, Greg Horn, Adam Hughes, Jamal Igle, Klaus Janson, Georges Jeanty, Dave Johnson, J.G. Jones, Denis Kitchen, Barry Kitson, Scott Kurtz, Erik Larsen, Steve Lieber, the Luna Brothers, Ron Marz, Todd McFarlane, Carla Speed McNeil, Terry Moore, Sean Murphy, Steve Niles, Phil Noto, Denny O’Neil, Ryan Ottley, Jimmy Palmiotti, Jeff Parker, David Petersen, Paul Pope, Eric Powell, Chris Roberson, James Robinson, Don Rosa, Jim Rugg, Louise Simonson, Walter Simonson, Jim Starlin, Billy Tan, Ben Templesmith, Herb Trimpe, Timothy Truman, Mark Waid, Marv Wolfman, John Workman and Bernie Wrightson.
Exhibitors include Adhouse Books, BOOM! Studios, comiXology, IDW Publishing, Image Comics, Top Cow Productions and Top Shelf Comix.
In addition, the 2010 Harvey Awards will presented Saturday evening in a ceremony hosted by Scott Kurtz. Baltimore Comic-Con runs from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday.
- August 27, 2010 @ 06:49 AM by Kevin Melrose
Grumpy Old Fan | Prospective retrospectives
DCU: Legacies #4
I read with great interest Brian Cronin’s list of 75 Most Memorable Moments In DC Comics History, in part because I wondered how close I could come with my own list without totally ripping his off. (Said with a smile and a great deal of respect, of course.)
First I thought about listing 75 key DC moments, drawn probably from both real and fictional history; but that list would be rather predictable as well — Action Comics #1 juxtaposed with Siegel and Shuster’s legal battles, etc. (Tom Spurgeon et al.’s list of “emblematic” ‘70s comics is close in spirit if not subject matter to the list I’d want to assemble.) The other type of “75 moments” list I considered would be a highlight-filled timeline including events exclusively from DC’s fictional history — things like “first meeting of the Justice Society,” “debut of Superman,” and “Darkseid enslaves Earth.” I didn’t quite like that because it too would be predictable, filled with first appearances and Big Events.
Ironically, though, DC has always seemed rather short on shared-universe-style events which define it as a superhero publisher. Marvel has the coming of Galactus, the Kree-Skrull War, the Secret Empire, and the deaths of Gwen Stacy and Phoenix. DC has comparable milestones, but they don’t come as readily to mind. Off the top of my head I might list “Flash of Two Worlds,” the Green Lantern/Green Arrow stories, and “The Judas Contract,” before getting into various Crises, disasters, and alien invasions. I think you have to dig a bit deeper into the DC titles to pull out things like a second Moon wreaking havoc (JLA #155, June 1978) or Trigon taking over the world (New Teen Titans vol. 2 #s 1-5, August 1984-February 1985). Therefore, while projects like the original History of the DC Universe and the current DC Universe: Legacies have their hearts in the right place, they must deal with DC’s scattershot approach to world-building.
- August 26, 2010 @ 04:00 PM by Tom Bondurant
A first look at Hope Larson’s A Wrinkle in Time
Meg Murry from A Wrinkle in Time by Hope Larson
If you’re one of those people who know that there is such a thing as a tesseract, then you’re in for a treat: Above is cartoonist Hope Larson’s take on Meg Murry, one of the young heroes of Madeleine L’Engle’s beloved science-fiction classic A Wrinkle in Time. Larson’s adaptation of the book for Farrar, Strauss and Giroux is slated to debut in Fall 2012, clocking in at a whopping 392 pages. Visit Larson’s blog for more on the book and this piece, from the bruise on Meg’s face to the reason you won’t be seeing her in this outfit in the book itself.
- August 26, 2010 @ 03:00 PM by Sean T. Collins
Revisiting that impressive Walking Dead Google map
"The Walking Dead" Google Map, by Jason McDonald
A year ago, very nearly to the day, I wrote about Jason McDonald‘s then-new Google map tracing the events of The Walking Dead, the zombie/survivalist drama by Robert Kirkman, Tony Moore, Charlie Adlard and Cliff Rathburn. Given the enduring, or perhaps growing, popularity of the Image Comics series, and the Halloween debut of the television series, it seemed like a perfect time to revisit the map.
I’m pleased to see that McDonald has kept the project current, noting the location of virtually every story event — zombie attacks, first appearances, last appearances, sexual encounters — through Issue 76, which was released just two weeks ago.
If you’re not up to date on The Walking Dead, you may want to avoid the map for a while, as it chronicles the deaths of several key characters.
- August 26, 2010 @ 02:00 PM by Kevin Melrose
This weekend, it’s Power Morphicon
Green Ranger by Scott Shaw!
A Power Rangers convention probably isn’t something we’d typically cover here, but fans of comic creator Scott Shaw! should dig this. Shaw! has created the above artwork, which is one of the prints given to attendees at this weekend’s Power Morphicon, the Official Power Rangers convention. Shaw! will also be there to sign the prints.
Power Morphicon kicks off tomorrow in Pasadena, Calif.
- August 26, 2010 @ 01:30 PM by JK Parkin
This weekend, it’s Fan Expo Canada
National Post illustration, by Steve Murray
Fan Expo Canada, the 15-year-old comics and pop culture extravaganza, kicks off Friday afternoon at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre. The three-day event is actually composed of five smaller conventions — Comic Book Expo, Sci-Fi Expo, Horror Expo, Anime Expo and Gaming Expo — but as this is a comics blog, we’ll focus primarily on that element.
Publishers ranging from DC Comics and Marvel to BOOM! Studios and Udon will have programming or booth presences at the show. Comics guests include guests of honor Stan Lee and Gary Frank, as well as Adrian Alphona, Yoshitaka Amano, Hitoshi Ariga, Brian Azzarello, J. Bone, Tim Bradstreet, Ross Campbell, Scott Chantler, Michael Cho, Olivier Coipel, Darwyn Cooke, Dan DiDio, Adam Kubert, Andy Kubert, Jeff Lemire, Doug Mahnke, Alex Maleev, Francis Manapul, Steve McNiven, Amy Mebberson, Paolo Rivera, Chris Sprouse, Cameron Stewart, Jill Thompson and Ethan Van Sciver.
On the film and television front, the convention will feature Adam West, Burt Ward, Julie Newmar, William Shatner, Summer Glau, Michelle Forbes, Dean Stockwell, Felicia Day and James Marsters, among others.
The Toronto Star previews Fan Expo with a nice profile of cartoonist Jeff Lemire (Essex County, Sweet Tooth, Superboy). “I guess if you stop and think about all the early success, you can kind of get caught up in worrying about living up to it,” says the 34-year-old Toronto resident. “But at the end of the day I just have so much work to do.”
The National Post, meanwhile, spotlights Batman stars Adam West, Burt Ward and Julie Newmar in an arts section-front package that features the above illustration by Steve Murray (aka Chip Zdarksy).
- August 26, 2010 @ 01:00 PM by Kevin Melrose
Sturm on the campaign trail
James Sturm followed Vermont gubernatorial candidate Matt Dunne for one day as he campaigned around the state, and he posted the cartoon diary at Slate. Go, read. It’s much more slice-of-life than political reporting, and Sturm’s simple style is well suited to telling this story.
- August 26, 2010 @ 12:00 PM by Brigid Alverson
Mommy, there’s a pirate ship in the window!
Shipwreck in the window
One of the books I read over my summer vacation was The Unsinkable Walker Bean (my review is here), and it’s perfect summer reading, a smart, witty adventure tale with pirates, mer-witches, a cursed skull, and even a little magical steampunk. Now it’s more than just a book, it’s a window display: Creator Aaron Renier has set up a pirate ship, mer-witch (complete with glowing eyes) and general undersea weirdness in the window of Quimby’s, a Chicago comics store. Check out the pix at the First Second blog, or the full set on Flickr. And if you happen to be in Chicago (I just left, more’s the pity), Aaron will be at Quimby’s for a book signing tonight at 7 p.m.
- August 26, 2010 @ 11:00 AM by Brigid Alverson