2010 August
Preview: Kevin Keller arrives in Riverdale
Uh, Veronica? We gotta talk.
The Archie Comics folks have put up a preview of Veronica #202 on their blog; this is the comic in which Kevin Keller, the first openly gay character in an Archie comic, makes his debut, in a story titled “Isn’t It Bro-mantic?”
We don’t get to see the big reveal in the preview, but we do get a glimpse of Kevin’s burger-eating prowess. I’m not sure where this falls on Bully’s list of time lags between trends appearing in real life and appearing in Archie comics; I guess it depends on whether you consider gay pride, competitive eating, or bromance to be the trend in question.
Anyway, the story follows a typical Archie trajectory, with Veronica scheming to get what she wants (only this time she doesn’t) and Jughead eating lots of hamburgers. Kevin Keller is a welcome addition, but I doubt things are going to change all that much in Riverdale.
- August 26, 2010 @ 10:00 AM by Brigid Alverson
How do you read webcomics?
The Web Comics app: RSS feeds are all right with me
That sounds like a trick question, like who is buried in Grant’s tomb—you read webcomics on the web, right?
Not exactly. Sam Costello (him again!) is guest blogging this week at ComixTalk, and he asked the readers how they prefer to read webcomics. As of this writing, the majority of commenters have mentioned RSS feeds, with a few using the webcomics tracking service Piperka. No one seems to just pop open a window and read the comic in their browser, which is important information for webcomics creators who want to maximize their ad views.
What doesn’t get mentioned at ComixTalk is webcomics apps. There has been a bit of controversy lately about iPhone apps that display webcomics; Lauren Davis wrote about Dale Zak’s Web Comics app, which caused a twitterstorm because folks thought he was stealing content. He wasn’t; the app is basically a mobile RSS feed that specializes in comics sites. That’s OK, because creators control the RSS content and can put in ads and other content they feel is appropriate. More recently, Gary Tyrrell of Fleen called out the creator of an app that seems to pull just the comics off their sites:
Unlike the last one of these that made a splash in the community, this app does not appear to be a simple RSS feed aggregator — it appears to pull comics from the creator’s site, present it outside of their preferred context, costing the creators bandwidth and advertising revenue (I don’t have an iPhone or iPad, so my apologies if I’m wrong on this one). One more time for those in the back: RSS readers = cool, scrapers = not cool.
It’s a fine distinction that often gets lost in the hurly-burly of the marketplace, but the bottom line is this: There are plenty of different ways to read webcomics, but since most are presented as free content supported by ads, it seems rather churlish to use a method that deprives the creator of that thin stream of income.
- August 26, 2010 @ 09:00 AM by Brigid Alverson
This Saturday, it’s International Read Comics in Public Day
Kids read comics, and eat toffee apples, as the wait outside the Oval cricket ground in London (Aug. 14, 1948)
Saturday marks the first International Read Comics in Public Day, an event established by Brian Heater and Sarah Morean to encourage fans to help promote the medium by, well, reading comics in public. On the bus, in a cafe, on a park bench — anywhere people can see you enjoying a comic. (Aug. 28 is also, appropriately enough, the birthday of comics great Jack Kirby.)
“Take to the streets. Be proud,” Heater explains. “If someone asks what you’re reading, say, ‘a comic book’ (the phrase ‘graphic novel’ is also acceptable, but let’s face it, it sort of defeats the whole purpose). Heck, lend them a book, if you’ve got an extra — what better way to make a new friend and convert a new reader?”
The event received high-profile endorsements this week from NPR’s Glen Weldon, USA Today’s Whitney Matheson and The Detroit News’ Eric Henrickson.
More information is available at the event’s website, which features a downloadable poster. There’s also a Flickr pool, to which people are encouraged to submit photos of themselves participating in International Read Comics in Public Day.
(Photo courtesy of Life.com’s wonderful “In Praise of Comics Classics” gallery.)
- August 26, 2010 @ 08:00 AM by Kevin Melrose
Image Comics, comiXology team up on digital application
Image on the iPad
Image Comics and comiXology launched a dedicated Image application for the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch tonight, which is available now on iTunes.
The application includes comics from Top Cow, Shadowline and Robert Kirkman’s Skybound imprint, as well as titles like Chew, Haunt, Savage Dragon, Youngblood, Wanted, Fell, Elephantman and Jack Staff, among others. Overall it looks like it contains 60 different series that have been published by Image. And while most of the titles, I believe, are already available on the comiXology application, it looks like they’re offering more than 30 free comics for download on the app right now.
With the launch of the app, comiXology now has created dedicated applications for four of the top seven comic publishers, as Image joins DC Comics, BOOM! and Marvel. They also created the dedicated Scott Pilgrim application.
The press release emphasizes “unparalleled access to digital distribution” for independent creators:
“With the launch of the Image Comics app, we have an opportunity to provide our creators with the digital support that, for many of them, was unattainable before,” says Image Publisher Eric Stephenson. “comiXology has established a very impressive track record of bringing independent content into the digital world. Today represents a milestone in our growth as a company and enables us to increase the availability of the fantastic titles we publish.”
“Our partnership with Image is indicative of our shared vision to help independent creators thrive in the traditional print community as well as the explosive digital marketplace,” adds David Steinberger, CEO of comiXology. “The demand for creator-owned content is at an all time high, and we are thrilled to be able to provide fans with what they want. We’re lucky now to work directly with Image and to offer the creators a clear path to the digital market.”
Check out the full press release after the jump.
- August 25, 2010 @ 10:00 PM by JK Parkin
Gorillas Riding Dinosaurs | What Looks Good for October
Time once again for our monthly trip through Previews looking for awesome, new, adventure comics.
Salimba
About Comics
Salimba – Paul Chadwick drew a comic about a jungle girl fighting pirates? Seriously? It can’t be Christmas already.
Amulet
Hereville: Now Merka Got Her Sword [Edit: That should be How Mirka Got Her Sword. It's spelled incorrectly in Previews. Thanks to Tom for pointing that out in the comments.] – A “spunky 11-year-old” girl in a dull, Orthodox Jewish community dreams of dragon-slaying and meets a witch. Actually, I think I’d be interested in just reading a story about a plucky tween in a boring town with Orthodox Judaism as a backdrop (since I know nothing about Orthodox Judaism, but am sort of fascinated by it). Adding dragons and witches are a nice touch though.
Arcana
Wonderdog, Inc. - A teen-aged boy and his grandfather search for the Fountain of Youth and – if the cover is to be believed – swing on some vines. I like it.
Archaia
Mouse Guard: Legends of the Guard – The Mouse Guard anthology by Jeremy Bastian, Ted Naifeh, Alex Sheikman, Mark Smylie, Gene Ha, Terry Moore, Guy Davis, Sean Rubin, Craig Rousseau, Karl Kerschl and Katie Cook is collected. It’s been a difficult wait.
After the break: I need to convince people to give me Halloween presents, because there’s no way I can afford all the stuff I want this month.
- August 25, 2010 @ 08:15 PM by Michael May
Send Us Your Shelf Porn!
Welcome once again to Send Us Your Shelf Porn!, the feature where you send us pictures of your collection to share with comic fans everywhere. Today’s shelves are part two of a collection we shared last week, Stephen Yarish‘s Hulk collection.
Which leads me to my next point — we need more Shelf Porn! After this one, I only have one more, so please send me your write-up and pictures at jkparkin@yahoo.com if you’re interested in sharing your shelves with our readers.
Now let’s see the rest of Steve’s shelves …
- August 25, 2010 @ 03:00 PM by JK Parkin
‘These are Joss’ characters and … Joss wanted them all under one roof’
Angel #38
This post on IDW Publishing’s website serves as a perfect companion to yesterday’s article at Comic Book Resources sifting through the details of the return of the Angel license to Dark Horse.
Last week it was revealed — prematurely, it turns out — that after nearly five years at IDW, the Angel comics will move in late 2011 to Dark Horse, home of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Dark Horse previously published Angel, first as a monthly then as a miniseries, from 2000 to 2002.
The surprise announcement naturally left fans of the IDW series, and the upcoming Spike spin-off, confused, leading IDW Chief Creative Officer Chris Ryall to dedicate a thread on the company’s message board to answering their questions. This week Ryall collected that thread’s highlights for an “official Angel is leaving IDW Q&A” that clarifies some of the issues surrounding the move — including, most notably, the driving force behind the decision. Namely, Buffy creator Joss Whedon.
“… Ultimately, these are all Joss Whedon’s characters,” Ryall wrote, “and if he decides that they’re best-served being under another roof, then that’s what will happen.” Later, when asked whether IDW was outbid for the Angel license, Ryall added: “I would not have stopped doing Angel comics if it were up to me; money had nothing to do with it. These are Joss’ characters and as I mentioned above, Joss wanted them all under one roof. And it so happens that that roof is located in Oregon, not San Diego.”
Dark Horse published Buffy comics from 1998 to 2004 before launching the highly successful Season 8 in 2007. A canonical continuation of the cult-hit television series, Season 8 is supervised by Whedon, who also wrote the opening and closing arcs. The series will conclude in January with Issue 40 before relaunching as Season 9 — alongside the return of Angel — in late 2011.
- August 25, 2010 @ 02:00 PM by Kevin Melrose
In Maps and Legends returns from Zuda limbo
Mike Jasper and Niki Smith won the November 2009 Zuda competition with their comic In Maps and Legends, and the comic started running there in May, but it came to an abrupt end when the site was shut down in July. But it’s coming back! Jasper and Smith will relaunch In Maps and Legends on a variety of different platforms on September 1, and more are coming.
All the details are here, but briefly, the comic will be available as a downloadable PDF from several distributors as well as on Kindle, and a dedicated website will go live on Sept. 1.
They are currently negotiating with ComiXology, Robot Comics (distributors for Droid phones), Graphic.ly, and Wowio, which covers a lot of bases. It sounds like a complicated process, but good for them for making their comic available on every possible platform—it will be interesting to see which one works the best for them.
- August 25, 2010 @ 01:00 PM by Brigid Alverson
Quote of the day | What hath Groth wrought?
Gary Groth
“I had an anus-clenching moment when I read Ken [Parille]’s parodic ‘Where are your standards?’ paragraph without knowing it was parody and thought, ‘My God, [Parille and Comics Journal contributor Noah Berlatsky are] both idiots!’ You can imagine my relief when Ken revealed that it was a joke! I thought I’d created some sort of critical purgatory that I would wander around in forever in an intellectual torpor, and the only way out would be to extinguish the site. My only solace was that I might bump into Harold Bloom and we’d sit down and commiserate.”
—Comics Journal editor and Fantagraphics co-publisher Gary Groth, expressing his dismay that he can no longer tell actual posts on the Journal’s website from parodies thereof.
- August 25, 2010 @ 12:00 PM by Sean T. Collins
Heroes to gather in Hollywood Aug. 27 to break world record
In May Australians gathered en masse and in costume to break the world record for the most people dressed as superheroes in one place at the same time.
Melbourne’s gathered heroes numbered 1,245, and now it looks like someone in Hollywood wants to top that — based on ads on Yelp and Craigslist. Here are the details:
Los Angeles, Ca plans to top Australia’s record of 1245 people on August 27, 2010.
Come in costume as your favorite superhero or character and remember it is welcome to families and kids too!
The more people attending the better the chances of stealing Australia’s title!
Arrive between 12:30 PM – 12:45 PM at the intersection of Hollywood & Highland IN COSTUME on August 27. Anyone arriving after 1:00 PM will not be counted as a part of the World Record attempt.
Location:Hollywood and Highland
Hollywood, CA
90028
- August 25, 2010 @ 11:43 AM by JK Parkin
Sam Costello’s Tales from the Cashbox
Split Lip creator Sam Costello has written a series of four articles for iFanboy about the publishing life, and they are all worth a look, but the last one is particularly compelling because he reveals the real numbers behind his publishing operation.
Sam is the writer of Split Lip, a horror anthology comic that he describes as “along the lines of the Twilight Zone or Tales from the Crypt.” He hires artists to draw the comic, and he pays them up front; it starts as a webcomic, then he collects the stories into print editions, which he self-publishes. How’s that working out for him? Sam figures he lost $7,863.32 between July 2009 and June 2010. Publishing is hard, especially when you pay your artists up front (unlike, say, Bluewater Comics, which does everything on spec).
Sam spends a bit of time debating whether he should simply regard the comics thing as an expensive hobby, but he decides in the end that it’s more of an investment.
- August 25, 2010 @ 11:00 AM by Brigid Alverson
Harem manga creator says harem and moe manga are so over
Ken Akamatsu, the creator of the harem manga Love Hina and Negima, has looked at the research and declares that both moe and harem manga have had their day. Sankaku Complex (warning: NSFW) translates his comments from his blog:
Certainly, the moe boom is finished, and from last year on I think we’re seeing the following phenomena:
1. Male protagonists are absent
Many anime are now nothing but girls, and the role of the “male character being excited by female characters for viewers to empathise with” has disappeared.
2. Male buying power has reduced
Now women buyers of both anime and manga are predominant. Oricon comic rankings show most of the top titles are women-oriented.
3. Male viewers can now empathise with female characters
The number of male fans who simply don’t view female characters as objects of sexual desire at all is increasing, even in titles like “K-ON!”. No more are they just thinking “I want to be part of that circle,” now they are getting into the characters themselves.
Akamatsu speculates briefly that yuri (romances between two women) will be the Next Big Thing (which would be excellent news for Erica Friedman) but dismisses that notion. On the other hand, it could be that the more mainstream shonen publications are acknowledging that they have a lot of female readers and are tailoring their content accordingly. (Shonen Jump was accused of making its characters more slashable a few years ago for just this reason.) The real question is whether there is still a demand for moe and harem manga; if there is (and I suspect the answer is yes) then most likely some magazine will spring up to serve that market, even if the more mainstream magazines shy away.
- August 25, 2010 @ 10:00 AM by Brigid Alverson
Hart, Corman, Porcellino launch new comics school [UPDATED]
Something tells me that sunny Gainesville, Florida, is about to see an influx of aspiring comics creators: Cartoonists Tom Hart (Hutch Owen), Leela Corman (Subway Series), and John Porcellino (King-Cat) have announced the opening of The Sequential Artists Workshop [UPDATED: link added], a new non-profit educational institution “dedicated to the prosperity and promotion of comic art and artists.” The school will offer a two-year program with its inaugural class to begin in 2012, while a “Spring Break Intensive” will be offered from March 6-12, 2011. The SAW will also feature a residency program for practicing cartoonists, online classes, gallery and performance spaces, a house anthology called The Seen in which cartoonists will do “cover versions” of pages from other artists’ creator-owned works, and the proverbial “much more.”
If you’re thinking the SAW sounds a bit like James Sturm’s Center for Cartoon Studies in Vermont, you’re not alone. According to the new school’s FAQ:
Isn’t this just like CCS?
Yes, a little, and maybe no. James Sturm, who founded Center for Cartoon Studies (CCS) has done a great thing in White River Junction, VT and we are in constant awe of his gumption and smarts. James has been friendly with us and he has helped us enormously by offering advice in the forming of this school. We too offer a two-year program in comic art, and will require students to publish their own work at the end of the program. Our school is new and we don’t know how it will evolve. Right now, our goals may be similar, but the places and personalities are different enough that soon the differences between the schools will become evident.
The more the merrier if you ask me.
In addition to the announced faculty of Corman, Porcellino, and founder/executive director Hart — himself a longtime School of the Visual Arts instructor — SAW’s boards of directors and advisors feature an all-star line-up that includes Lauren Weinstein, Brendan Burford, Vanessa Davis, Shaenon Garrity, Bill Kartalopoulos, Donald Ault, Matt Madden, Joey Manley, Chris Staros, Phil Yeh, and William Ayers. School’s in!
- August 25, 2010 @ 09:00 AM by Sean T. Collins
Comics A.M. | The comics Internet in two minutes
Barnes & Noble
Retailing | Barnes & Noble, the largest book chain in the United States, lost $63 million in the first quarter, a vast decline from a $12-million profit it reported for the same period a year ago. The retailer pinned about $10 million in losses on its costly fight with billionaire investor Ronald Burkle, and warned that a proxy battle could push the company even further into the red. [Reuters, ICv2.com]
Passings | Paprika director Satoshi Kon, who began his career as a manga artist before moving into anime in 1995, died Tuesday from pancreatic cancer. He was 46. Kon made his directorial debut in 1997 with Perfect Blue, and went on to helm such critically acclaimed anime features as Millennium Actress, Tokyo Godfathers and the aforementioned Paprika, as well as the television series Paranoia Agent. [Anime News Network]
Publishing | Kai-Ming Cha looks at initial efforts by manga publishers to provide digital content as legal alternatives to scanlations. [Publishers Weekly]
- August 25, 2010 @ 08:20 AM by Kevin Melrose
Food or Comics? | This week’s comics on a budget
Existence 2.0/3.0
Welcome once again to Food or Comics?, where every week we talk about what comics we’d buy based on certain spending limits — $15, $30 to spend and if we had extra money to spend on what we call the “Splurge” item.
Join Brigid Alverson, Chris Mautner and Kevin Melrose as they run down what they’d buy this week, and check out Diamond’s release list to play along in our comments section.
Kevin Melrose
If I had $15 to spend, I’d buy …
Existence 2.0/3.0 trade paperback ($14.99)
I missed these miniseries when they were initially released, but the recent debut of Morning Glories has me searching out other work by writer Nick Spencer. In Existence 2.0, the consciousness of a self-absorbed physicist Sylvester Baladine is transferred into the body of the hitman who murdered him, setting up a confrontation between Baladine and the people who plotted his death. (You can read the entire first issue at Comic Book Resources.) The sequel centers on corporate warfare as Baladine’s consciousness-transfer technology falls into the wrong hands, and the owners set out to track down the only living prototype. (Image Comics)
- August 24, 2010 @ 03:00 PM by JK Parkin