2010 August
Kodansha announces contest winners
The Unreberating Echo, by Kim DaeJin
Editors from Kodansha’s Morning magazine announced the winners of their fourth annual Morning International Comic Competition this weekend, and they seem to be happier than they were last year. The judges in the 2009 competition complained that “many of the current entries have focused on bishojo, giant robots, ninja and the like, leaving a very narrow impression of ‘manga’ style.” They expressed overall dissatisfaction with the entries and asked prospective creators to think about some different types of stories, and to emphasize this, they changed the name of the contest from Morning International Manga Competition to Morning International Comic Competition.
- August 23, 2010 @ 11:00 AM by Brigid Alverson
Quote of the day | Cameron Stewart is cartoony as f@!#
New Batman & Robin art from Cameron Stewart
“If anyone thought my last Batman & Robin run was ‘too cartoony’ (they did) they are going to puke blood when they see this.”
–Once and future Batman & Robin artist Cameron Stewart issues fair warning about the part-Frank Quitely, part-Bruce Timm, part-Mort Drucker style he’ll be using for his upcoming return to the title with issue #16. (That’s a sample “that isn’t too cartoony (or spoilery)” featuring Doctor Hurt above.) Have those mops at the ready, haters!
- August 23, 2010 @ 10:30 AM by Sean T. Collins
Scott Pilgrim’s Precious Little Boxset coming in November
Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Boxset
If you missed the Scott Pilgrim graphic novel series the first time around and would like to experience it in its original, non-movie form, Oni is giving you the chance to jump into the deep end. This November they’ll publish a box set — Scott Pilgrim’s Precious Little Boxset — of all six volumes, along with a poster.
Here’s the solicitation text: “Looking for the perfect entry point into the world of Scott Pilgrim? Well, this is it, buddy! All six volumes of Bryan Lee O’Malley’s epic tale of a slacker’s quest to win the heart of the girl of his dreams by defeating her seven evil ex-boyfriends! All together in a beautiful new slipcase! Also includes an exclusive poster!”
- August 23, 2010 @ 10:00 AM by JK Parkin
Dean Haspiel wins an Emmy Award
Cartoonist Dean Haspiel was among the winners of the Primetime Emmy Award for outstanding main title design for HBO’s Bored to Death. Haspiel, who’s best known for Billy Dogma and his work with Harvey Pekar, shares the award with collaborators Tom Barham, Marci Ichimura and Anthony Santoro.
The category was among those announced Saturday at the Creative Arts Primetime Emmy Awards ceremony at the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles. Emmys in 26 other categories will be presented Sunday during the 2010 Primetime Emmy Awards telecast on NBC.
- August 23, 2010 @ 09:30 AM by Kevin Melrose
Surviving in the manga industry
David Brothers of Comics Alliance talked to representatives of three big manga publishers about how they have weathered the difficult economy. Ed Chavez of Vertical, Michael Gombos of Dark Horse, and Marco Pavia of Tokyopop all discussed how piracy has affected their sales (the unanimous answer was that it hurts them), how they have retooled to face hard times, and what their strategy is for the future. As it happens, Erica Friedman, who runs Yuricon, specializing in yuri (female/female romance) manga, also has a post at her blog, Okazu, looking at the market from the point of view of a small niche publisher.
One thing that emerges is that large and small publishers face the problem of a market that is too small to support everything they want to publish. Says Gombos:
There might be three great titles we’d like to publish, but in some cases, we’ll have to think about how much our infrastructure can support, what other titles we’d have coming out around that time, and perhaps pay a little more for the rights to the title we REALLY want out of three, and focus on that.
- August 23, 2010 @ 09:00 AM by Brigid Alverson
Comics A.M. | The comics Internet in two minutes
Wizard World Chicago Comic Con
Conventions | Wizard World Chicago Comic Con drew a lot of attention from mainstream media for the appearance on Saturday of former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who charged $80 for photos and $50 for autographs (more than Star Trek: Deep Space Nine star Avery Brooks, the Chicago Sun-Times points out, but less than William Shatner). Blagojevich, who was convicted last week of lying to the FBI, told Fox News he didn’t receive an appearance fee, and that the event wasn’t all that lucrative for him: “I didn’t really get any money from any of the photos I took, because I took probably hundreds of them and couldn’t bother to ask anybody for any money for that. Those were free. I did sign some signatures. I was there because I was invited at the last minute by the promoters, and it was an opportunity to get out there among the people.”
For non-Blagojevich convention news, turn to Maggie Thompson, who posted daily coverage (noting the event was well-attended, with a lot of first-time attendees), and Rich Johnston, who rolled out video after video. Time Out Chicago has a report from the floor, as well as photo galleries from Friday and Saturday. [Wizard World Chicago Comic Con]
- August 23, 2010 @ 08:05 AM by Kevin Melrose
Video: Stan Lee reaches out to retailers about upcoming BOOM! titles
As you’ve probably heard, comics legend Stan Lee has three new titles he’s created with Mark Waid, Paul Cornell and Chris Roberson for BOOM! Studios. Above is a marketing video from YouTube featuring “The Man” reaching out to retailers.
- August 23, 2010 @ 06:15 AM by JK Parkin
What Are You Reading?
Starman Omnibus
Welcome to another edition of What Are You Reading? Today’s special guest is STORM, who works at San Francisco’s Isotope Comics, is the creator of Princess Witch Boy (the second issue of which will be available at APE this year), reads Heroic Tarot with X-Men cards and is a member of Writers Old Fashioned.
To see what STORM and the Robot 6 crew are reading this week, read on …
- August 22, 2010 @ 01:40 PM by JK Parkin
The Fifth Color | Forward Into the Past with Marvel Solicitations for Nov. ’10
This is All You'll Ever Read Again
The summer is ending, and we’re not so bad off, are we? There’s a cosmic war, Spider-Man’s re-reinventing himself again, there’s an event book with an oncoming slew of tie-in titles, but it all doesn’t feel like the years of yore. There’s no pressure to keep up with any of this; instead of seeing a Broadway production, we’ve got tickets off Broadway, so it’s a little experimental, a lot less expensive and not the main stage. But, in a way, just as important.
This is indeed the week we look at the future and what Marvel has in store for us, but it’s nice to know that from where we are now, the holidays look to be rather pleasant. There’s no great drop to be looking at as the year ends, just more changes and more stories and for some reason, that’s a lot less pressure.
Unless you’re a Thor fan, then you’ve got eight titles to sort through. Yeesh.
Let’s take a look at November and see what’s ahead for the House of Ideas, shall we?
- August 20, 2010 @ 05:19 PM by Carla Hoffman
‘Ax’-ing questions: An interview with Sean Michael Wilson
Ax: Alternative Manga
One of the more anticipated books of 2010, at least among manga and alt-comix fans, is Ax: A Collection of Alternative Manga. The anthology, which collects stories taken from the first ten years of the experimental magazine‘s history, has garnered interest and curiosity since it was first announced more than a year ago. That interest has only increased after its debut at this year’s San Diego Con, where many pundits dubbed it one of the best books at the show. If nothing else, the collection should finally put to rest the notion that Japanese comics are all about big eyes and spiky hair and giant robots. There is a wealth of different art styles and methods of storytelling on display in this book, suggesting that the history of manga is richer and deeper than many suspect.
I recently talked over email with the book’s editor, Sean Michael Wilson, about the new collection, Ax’s history and influence in its native country of Japan, and what other comics he’s got coming down the pike.
- August 20, 2010 @ 01:00 PM by Chris Mautner
Rod Blagojevich to appear at Wizard World Chicago (yes, really)
Rod Blagojevich
Rod Blagojevich, the former Illinois governor who awaits a second corruption trial, has been announced as a last-minute guest at Wizard World Chicago Comic Con in Rosemont, Illinois. He’ll appear Saturday to pose for photos and sign autographs, which sell for a whopping $80 and $50 each, respectively.
Just three days ago a federal jury found Blagojevich guilty of lying to the FBI, but deadlocked on 23 other counts, ranging from racketeering to attempted extortion and bribery, tied to accusations that he attempted to sell the Senate seat vacated by President Barack Obama. A hearing will be held on Aug. 26 to discuss a new trial date.
Although Blagojevich, who served as governor from 2003 until his removal from office last year, came to national attention because of the corruption scandal, he has remained in the spotlight through his brief stint on the reality series The Celebrity Apprentice and through numerous television appearances.
“Wizard World Chicago Comic Con is all about pop culture, and Rod Blagojevich is as relevant to today’s news as it gets,” Wizard Entertainment CEO Gareb Shamus said in a statement. “We think the court of public opinion will show him to be a popular figure at the show.”
- August 20, 2010 @ 12:00 PM by Kevin Melrose
Dark Horse: Thanks for buying! What do you want next?
Hey, kids, whaddaya think?
Good news from Dark Horse: according to the latest post on their Facebook, the publisher is having “one of its best years ever” and gives readers full credit:
We know there are illegal copies of our books available, but hope you understand that our editions are professionally translated, taken from the original creator files, and carefully tailored by the best in the industry.
Every time a reader chooses to purchase our volumes over stealing them online, American manga remains healthy.
They even acknowledge that they tend to be slow with their releases (Dark Horse is notorious for this) but they’re working on it. But this is what really caught my eye:
We’re currently at a very important point in our company. We know more adult and violent titles like Gantz, Beserk and The Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service are beloved by mature readers, yet we’re proud to publish cross-appeal titles like Trigun and Neon Genesis Evangelion as well. But now the question is – What’s next?
They’re actually asking that question of readers, and they seem to be serious: “So tell us what you want to see, and we promise to look into the most popular licenses and bring them to American audiences in the coming months.” The readers oblige with some interesting responses in comments, but what I’m wondering is whether Dark Horse, which has made a pretty good go of selling manga to the more traditional comics-shop crowd, is contemplating a change in direction.
- August 20, 2010 @ 12:00 PM by Brigid Alverson
Wrong on the internet, part 2: Women in newspaper strips
Hagar the Horrible: Same old same old
The Daily Cartoonist put me on to this research paper by a graduate student at the University of Florida, which concluded that women are underrepresented in newspaper comics:
An analysis of six of the most popular nationally syndicated comic strips over the course of a year shows that women appeared less than half the time and when they did the gag was on them, said Daniel Fernandez-Baca, a UF graduate student in sociology. He presented his paper at a meeting of the American Sociological Association this week.
“When they do appear, for the most part, women don’t say anything funny or act humorously, but merely set up the joke and allow men to create the humor,” he said.
Other than being a straight man or foil to the laugh-inspiring male character, women were used mostly to reinforce certain humorous stereotypes, such as the harried or henpecking housewife, Fernandez-Baca said.
“Other research on comic strips typically looks at where women are portrayed – in the kitchen, in the work force, inside the home or out in the world at large,” he said. “This study goes a step further by asking why women are in comics in the first place and how they contribute to the humor of the situation.”
There is a certain circularity to this study, a logical flaw that should disqualify it as serious research: Continue Reading »
- August 20, 2010 @ 11:00 AM by Brigid Alverson
Wrong on the internet, part 1: The Penny Arcade kerfuffle
What do you see in this comic strip?
What does the above Penny Arcade comic mean to you? Ten points if you spot it as a World of Warcraft reference, making fun of the twisted morality of the game (where if you only need to rescue five slaves, the sixth is out of luck). Beyond that, a chunk of the internet has been twisting itself into a knot over the rape reference.
The kerfuffle was summed up neatly by a commenter at the blog Pandagon:
Blogger: I will completely miss the point and be insulting about it.
PA: OH YEAH? I’LL SHOW YOU COMPLETELY MISSING THE POINT AND BEING INSULTING ABOUT IT!
Everyone Else: Goddamnit.
Blogosphere: *moves on after another 2 minute hate, with no one’s views or opinions changing on anything, and no one actually learning anything*
Read on for the juicy details.
- August 20, 2010 @ 10:00 AM by Brigid Alverson
Brendan McCarthy has a new project
FUBAR
And it needs a home. Any takers?
- August 20, 2010 @ 09:30 AM by JK Parkin