2010 November
One last taste of Robot 666: Emily Carroll’s ‘His Face All Red’
This quietly sinister webcomic has been tearing up the comics Internet over the past few Halloween-dominated days, and for good reason. Presenting “His Face All Red” by Emily Carroll — a beautifully colored little nightmare with an ending as black as the background. When I finished it, I actually muttered “whooo” out loud, I was so impressed. Enjoy, if that’s the word for it.
(Via Tom Spurgeon)
- November 1, 2010 @ 02:00 PM by Sean T. Collins
Gabby Schulz on every Internet discussion of sexism ever
from "How Every Single Discussion About Sexism and Woman-Type Stuff on the Internet (and Real Life) Has Ever Happened and Will Ever Happen, Always, Forever, Until the Earth Finally Falls into the Sun. (Or Until the Patriarchy Is Dismantled.)" by Gabby Schulz
Last week Kate Beaton asked that male comics readers carefully consider their choice of words when complimenting female comics creators, so as to keep a bright dividing line between their work on the one hand and their gender and appearance on the other. The resulting discussion — or maybe the better word is backlash — made me fear for the future of the species.
Apparently I’m not alone in that. Cartoonist Gabby Schulz (aka Ken Dahl) crafted a masterfully mordant satire of the discussion, and countless others like it. Click here to read the whole thing. Then click back here to tell us why it’s ALL WRONG, god help us.
- November 1, 2010 @ 01:00 PM by Sean T. Collins
‘Because the world needs new characters’: The 30 Characters Challenge
Chondra Flicker by Daniel Govar
Today kicked off the month-long 30 Characters Challenge, where more than 150 writers and artists are attempting to each create a brand-new character for each day in November. And just a few hours into it, the world has already been introduced to Mike Gallagher’s Roadkill Santa, Red by Tyler James, Daniel Govar’s Chondra Flicker (above) and Captain Cavity by Jess Kirby, among many others.
This will be a fun one to watch all month.
- November 1, 2010 @ 12:00 PM by JK Parkin
Comic-Con sales temporarily closed by technical glitches
Comic-Con International
Technical difficulties this morning forced Comic-Con International organizers to close online membership sales within two hours opening. Only a handful of purchased were purchased, they say.
Sales began at 9 a.m. PT, but complaints began to appear by 10:15. One commenter at Robot 6 was reportedly stuck in the first step of the registration process for more than an hour.
In a message on the Comic-Con website, organizers apologized for the technical problems, and said a new registration date will be announced on Nov. 8.
- November 1, 2010 @ 11:34 AM by Kevin Melrose
Josh Cotter needs your help
from Driven by Lemons by Joshua W. Cotter
photo by Whit Spurgeon
The great cartoonist Josh Cotter, whose book Driven by Lemons ranked sixth on CBR’s list of the Best Comics of 2009, is in a bad way. AdHouse Books publisher Chris Pitzer reports that Cotter’s neighbor’s apartment recently caught fire, and the flames spread to the apartment Cotter shares with his girlfriend and their cats. Fortunately no one (two-legged or four-legged) was hurt, and the property damage could have been much worse. But with no renters’ insurance, and with the costs of clean-up and storage for all their stuff while they figure out their next move, Cotter is in the midst of a financial crisis.
Fortunately, there’s two ways you can help, and both involve getting truly awesome comics and art in return. First, you can buy things from Cotter’s website — not just his magnificent graphic novels Skyscrapers of the Midwest and Driven by Lemons, but limited edition minicomics, prints, original pages from his books, and much more.
Second, AdHouse is donating 100% of the proceeds from sales of any of Josh’s stuff directly to Josh for the next three weeks. If you ever wanted to check out the work of one of the best cartoonists of his generation, there’s never been a better time.
- November 1, 2010 @ 11:00 AM by Sean T. Collins
Brevoort: Marvel’s price announcement ‘either misreported or misconstrued’
Price rollback!
The widely circulated news that Marvel would lower prices to $2.99 on new titles was “either misreported or misconstrued,” says Vice President-Executive Editor Tom Brevoort.
The reports stem from remarks made on Oct. 7 by David Gabriel, Marvel’s senior vice president of sales & circulation, at the ICv2 Conference on Comics & Digital at New York Comic Con, less than an hour after DC Comics announced its across-the-board price cut. Gabriel’s announcement, characterized as a reduction from $3.99 to $2.99 for new titles beginning in January, was carried in separate panel reports by Comic Book Resources, Robot 6, The Beat, ICv2.com and other sites.
According to The Beat, Gabriel confirmed the information after the conference. His announcement seemed to be supported the following day in at least two Marvel panels in comments by Brevoort and Arune Singh, manager of sales communications. In the more than three weeks since the conference, Marvel hasn’t issued a press release outlining its pricing policy or clarifying the widespread online reports.
But in the latest “Marvel T&A” interview with Comic Book Resources, Brevoort says there’s been a lot of public confusion about Gabriel’s actual comments.
- November 1, 2010 @ 10:00 AM by Kevin Melrose
Willing to work on spec? Digital Manga has a job for you!
Word got out earlier this year, during the scanlation wars, and now Digital Manga is making it official: They are looking for translators and editors to help them localize their new manga—but no one, including Digital, will get paid until someone actually buys them.
According to the Digital Manga Guild website, the publisher has made agreements with six Japanese publishers to bring over hundreds of manga to be published online beginning next year. And they need help:
We are in search of groups and individuals to help us with the process, NOW! This entails the need for translators to translate manga from Japanese to English, as well as other languages; editors/rewriters to clean up the translations for a smooth read; and letterers to retouch and typeset text. Once a title is completed, it will be digitally distributed through our platform for purchase. With your help in this process, we can supply more manga faster, to feed everyone’s manga addiction!
Workers will be allowed to participate in Digital’s revenue-sharing program and will get a percentage of sales, but no one, including Digital or the Japanese publishers, will get a dime until people actually buy the book.
- November 1, 2010 @ 09:00 AM by Brigid Alverson
Comics A.M. | The comics Internet in two minutes
Wolverine #1, the top seller in September
Publishing | John Jackson Miller delves into September’s grim direct-market sales figures and discovers a (relative) bright spot: Sales of lower-tier titles — those that don’t crack Diamond’s Top 300 — appear to be increasing, to record levels. “How do we know?” Miller writes. “Believe it or not, a record for high sales was actually set in September. The 300th place comic book, Boom’s Farscape #11, sold more copies to retailers in September than in any month since November 1996: 4,702 copies. That’s a record for the period following Marvel’s return to Diamond. This bellwether tells us about the shape of the market, and how prolific the major and middle-tier publishers are; when many of their titles are being released and reordered, higher-volume titles tend to push farther into the list.”
However, the higher you go on the list, the worse things look: “The average comic book in the Top 25 is selling more poorly in 2010 than in 2003. At the very top of the chart, 2010′s average top-sellers are about 25% off what the best-sellers of 2003 were doing.” [The Comichron]
- November 1, 2010 @ 08:07 AM by Kevin Melrose