2011 February
Stan Lee Media renews lawsuit against Stan Lee
Stan Lee
Little more than a week after one judge had seemingly ended a decade-old dispute between Stan Lee Media and Stan Lee and Marvel, another court is reviving it.
THR, Esq. reports that U.S. District Judge Stephen Wilson is allowing the new board of failed dot-com Stan Lee Media to file a new consolidated complaint against Lee, alleging that he improperly transferred rights to such characters as Spider-Man, the X-Men, Iron Man, the Avengers and Thor from SLM to Marvel.
The original $750-million lawsuit — that was about half of the estimated proceeds from Marvel’s movies — was filed against Lee and Marvel in January 2009 by two SLM shareholders who were later determined to lack standing. An appeal was dismissed in December 2010, followed early this month by a ruling that the plaintiffs’ motions were time-barred, as they come a decade after the alleged injury. But now a newly elected board of directors has successfully petitioned Wilson to permit the complaint to move forward, this time only against Lee, QED Productions and POW! Entertainment. Marvel and DC aren’t named in the lawsuit.
As confusing as the case’s journey through the courts has been, it’s nothing when compared to the complicated backstory: In 1998, Marvel CEO Isaac Perlmutter used bankruptcy procedures to end Marvel’s $1 million-a-year lifetime contract with Lee, negating Lee’s assignment to the company of his rights to his co-creations. It also freed Lee to form Stan Lee Entertainment (which later merged with Stan Lee Media) with now-infamous entrepreneur Peter F. Paul. The company filed for bankruptcy in February 2001, and emerged from protection in November 2006. The lawsuit — and the $5-billion one that came before it, in March 2007 — hinged on a sequence of events that took place between August 1998, when Marvel terminated Lee’s employment, and November 1998, when Lee entered into a new agreement with the company and signed over his likeness, and any claims to characters. Representatives of SLM previously have claimed that on Oct. 15, 1998, Lee transferred to that company rights to his creations and his likeness.
Stan Lee Media is seeking unspecified punitive or exemplary damages, a declaration of the company’s rights and an injunction against further infringement.
- February 16, 2011 @ 09:48 AM by Kevin Melrose
Comics A.M. | Borders files for bankruptcy, plans to close 192 stores
Borders
Retailing | Borders Group, the second-largest book chain in the United States, filed for bankruptcy protection this morning, announcing plans to close about 192 of its 639 Borders, Waldenbooks, Borders Express and Borders Outlet locations over the next several weeks. It’s unclear how many of the company’s 6,100 full-time and 11,400 part-time employees will be affected by the closings. Borders, which listed $1.29 billion in debt and $1.27 billion in assets, plans to continue to operate through the court process with the help of $505 million in financing from lenders led by G.E. Capital.
The likelihood of bankruptcy has loomed for the past several weeks as the Ann Arbor, Mich.-based bookseller pushed unsuccessfully for publishers and distributors to convert late payments into $125 million in loans. That concession was critical to Borders securing $550 million in refinancing from G.E. Capital. Publishers like Penguin Group, Hatchette, Simon & Schuster, Random House and HarperCollins are now, in Publishers Weekly‘s words, on the hook for hundreds of millions of dollars. Diamond Book Distributors, which stopped shipping to Borders last month, is owed $3.9 million. [Bloomberg, The New York Times]
- February 16, 2011 @ 08:37 AM by Kevin Melrose
Exclusive: Archie goes day and date with Graphic.ly
Archie Comics co-CEO Jon Goldwater announced today that beginning in April, Archie comics will be available through Graphicly on the same day that the print editions appear in comics stores. Graphic.ly is a digital comics reader that is available on the iPad, iPhone, on the web, and through Adobe Air (which works on Macs and PCs).
This is the third channel in which readers will be able to buy Archie comics digitally on their release dates; they will be available through the Archie iPad app (powered by iVerse) beginning in April and in comics shops through the Diamond Digital program beginning in July. The new comics will sell for $1.99 in all three channels.
Goldwater said Graphic.ly approached Archie about making a deal shortly after the announcement of the day-and-date releases through the iPad app. “They called us up and said ‘We read your announcement and we would like to be part of this,’ and we immediately said yes,” he said.
- February 16, 2011 @ 06:00 AM by Brigid Alverson
The Middle Ground #42: Voyages Of Discovery
It’s hard to explain quite why I love Kevin Cannon’s Far Arden as much as I do. Is it because of the humor, or the cliches it both embraces and kicks over in a rush to the next part of the story? Is it Cannon’s art, which seems intimate in its lack of slickness, but also offering a complete and believable world in and of itself? Or is it the fact that I discovered it completely by accident, and found myself bowled over despite (or because of) my lack of preconceptions? Continue Reading »
- February 15, 2011 @ 04:30 PM by Graeme McMillan
Food or Comics? | This week’s comics on a budget
Finder: Voice
Welcome to Food or Comics?, where every week we talk about what comics we’d buy on Wednesday based on certain spending limits — $15 and $30 — as well as what we’d get if we had extra money or a gift card to spend on what we call our “Splurge” item.
Check out Diamond’s release list or ComicList if you’d like to play along in our comments section.
Chris Arrant
$15:
This week is a busy week for me -– I count 13 single issues I’d buy if I was a rich man, but with only $15 I’d narrow it down to four things. DMZ #62 (DC/Vertigo $2.99) looks to be really amping up the series for it’s final year. I’ve enjoyed this series’ long run, and the way he’s built up this world only to tear it down seems amazing. Second in my bag would be the closest thing to a modern Moebius at Marvel, Shield #6 (Marvel $2.99). This secret history of the Marvel U has been really eye-opening, and Hickman’s bold reach really takes some big brass ones. This in line would be Rick Remender’s Uncanny X-Force #5 (Marvel $3.99). Remender’s done some solid modern-work while trying to not be outshone by Jerome Opena’s star-turn, but in this issue it’s got guest art by Esad Ribic. Ribic’s work has always carried this sense of gravitas without being stuffy like some painters, and I’m interested to see how he does these visceral heroes. Last up would be Brightest Day #20. On paper, a book with a league of b-list heroes seems like a non-starter, but I really like what the team have done on this, especially the Martian Manhunter and Firestorm threads.
- February 15, 2011 @ 03:07 PM by JK Parkin
Wizard World digital magazine to launch Feb. 23
Wizard
When the news broke that Wizard was killing both the print edition of its long-running comics magazine and its sister publication ToyFare, the company also announced a new online publication called Wizard World that’s due to launch this month.
In an interview with iFanboy’s Ron Richards, Wizard founder Gareb Shamus announces that the new, free publication is due Feb. 23 and will be distributed in several different ways.
“It’s going to be free, and it’s going to be weekly, and it’s going to be available everywhere,” Shamus told Richards. “So however people are going to want to read it, whether it’s through their iPad, they’re going to be able to read it online, they’re going to be able to read it through a bunch of different mobile devices.”
Shamus mentions digital comics providers comiXology and Graphic.ly as distributors, noting, “Our intent is to work with everybody to get it everywhere. Because for us, we want the product to continue to be ubiquitous the way the products I’ve created in the past have been.”
Richards also asked a lot of good questions about GeekChicDaily, the Wizard conventions, the new public company and his thoughts on websites, which Shamus says are “pretty worthless in their ability to have an impact on an audience.” About the only ground Richards didn’t — and probably should have — cover were the layoffs and how people were treated. Otherwise what he did ask were some good, solid business questions. It’s too bad the answers themselves come across as (as was pointed out in the comments field) very rehearsed, politician-like and kinda vague.
- February 15, 2011 @ 01:49 PM by JK Parkin
Sneak preview: Ted Naifeh’s Courtney Tales 2
When he hasn’t been busy sketching Batman and collaborating with Holly Black on the Good Neighbors graphic novels, Ted Naifeh has been working on the second volume of Courtney Crumrin Tales, which shift the focus away from misfit magician Courtney to her Uncle Aloysius. It’s been a while; the first book came out in 2005 and is so far out of print that used copies start at over $20 on Amazon
The new volume is finally done and Ted has a seven-page preview of Crumrin Tales 2 up at his blog, showing stylish people doing evil things, which is always a lot of fun to look at.
- February 15, 2011 @ 11:00 AM by Brigid Alverson
The return of Mugwhump the Great
Now that Roger Langridge is no longer working on the Muppets comics, his time is free for his own creations, and he has a number of irons in the fire. Here’s the latest: A new chapter in his webcomic Mugwhump the Great. He’s starting off with a full-page recap for the benefit of those who don’t have time to reread the previous 12 chapters, and the new adventures get off the ground next week. Says Roger, at his blog, “I’m happier than a pig in muck to have Muggsy and Billy back in my life.” He has a fun teaser at his blog as well. This will be the final chapter for Mugwhump.
- February 15, 2011 @ 10:00 AM by Brigid Alverson
Battlepug makes the leap from T-shirt to webcomic
Mike Norton’s webcomic Battlepug launches this week, and it starts off with some mighty nice art and a cute back story, as explained on the About page:
Battlepug: The Web Comic was born out of desperate scramble to appease iFanboy. They contacted Mike to create a signature t-shirt for a new line of merch. However, Mike had been working exclusively with DC Comics for 4 years and had no original properties that he could reveal to the world yet. He drew the image you see above and had Allen color it. And lo, a BATTLEPUG was born!
That’s Allen Passalaqua, who is doing the coloring. Over at iFanboy itself, Paul Montgomery posts his version of the story and a larger version of the art.
- February 15, 2011 @ 09:00 AM by Brigid Alverson
Comics A.M. | Joanne Siegel’s passing, Archie’s ‘quiet revolution’
An early drawing of Lois Lane by Joe Shuster, who used Joanne Siegel as a model
Passings | As Comic Book Resources reported, Joanne Siegel, wife of Superman co-creator Jerry Siegel and the model for Lois Lane, passed away Monday in California. She was 93. Although news of her death first circulated online via Brad Meltzer’s Twitter account, the Cleveland Plain Dealer’s Michael Sangiacomo had the first official report, only hours after he wrote about the installation of signs bearing the honorary street names “Joe Shuster Lane” and “Lois Lane” in the Cleveland neighborhood where Siegel and Shuster created the Man of Steel. CBR’s Kiel Phegley spoke with Meltzer, who met Joanne Siegel while researching his novel The Book of Lies. Heidi MacDonald, meanwhile, has reaction from Bradley Ricca, who’s working on a documentary about the Siegel family. The Hollywood Reporter and The Superman Super Site also have obituaries. More will certainly appear throughout the day. [Comic Book Resources]
Publishing | Acclaimed cartoonist Alison Bechdel (Fun Home, Dykes to Watch Out For) has been named the guest editor of the 2011 edition of The Best American Comics, published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. [Shelf Life]
Publishing | Robot 6 contributor Brigid Alverson spotlights the “quiet revolution” at Archie Comics that finds the publisher expanding into graphic novels and digital delivery, further diversifying its characters and tackling more topical issues. [Publishers Weekly]
- February 15, 2011 @ 07:00 AM by Kevin Melrose
The Jewish women of comics get graphic
Everyone knows the central role that Jewish writers and artists have played in the history of comics, from Siegel and Shuster to Lee and Kirby to Eisner to Spiegelman to Bendis. But what of the female members of the tribe? That’s the question at the heart of “Graphic Details: Confessional Comics by Jewish Women,” a traveling art exhibit curated by Michael Kaminer and Sarah Lightman. Following a stint in San Francisco, the show re-opens this coming Thursday, February 17, at the Koffler Gallery Off-Site at the Gladstone Hotel in Toronto. Focusing on the role that Jewish women have played in the development of the autobiographical comic — arguably the genre responsible for the medium’s new-found respectability over the past three decades — it boasts contributions from Miss Lasko-Gross (that’s her grabber of an image above) Vanessa Davis, Sarah Glidden, Miriam Katin, Aline Kominsky-Crumb, Diane Noomin, Trina Robbins, Ariel Schrag, Lauren Weinstein, and many more. I know a person named “Sean T. Collins” is dubiously qualified to use Yiddish, but I could plotz over seeing original art from that line-up.
Click here to see the Koffler Centre’s impressive suite of events revolving around the exhibit, and click here for the Graphic Details blog.
(via The Beguiling’s Chris Butcher)
- February 15, 2011 @ 06:00 AM by Sean T. Collins
May brings the end for five DC series
Doom Patrol #22
The solicitations for DC’s May titles hit earlier today, bringing official word that five DC series have been canceled. Doom Patrol, JSA All-Stars, Freedom Fighters and R.E.B.E.L.S. join The Outsiders on the chopping block. They follow Azrael, Batman: Streets Of Gotham and Batman Confidential, which met their ends in March.
Looking at the most recent month-to-month sales figures for DC that Mark-Oliver Frisch analyzes on The Beat, it’s not surprising to see any of these titles ending. Probably the biggest surprise, if you were looking just at the numbers, is JSA All-Stars, which looks to be selling better than other monthly series not getting the axe, like Booster Gold and Power Girl. I bet many of the characters in it will find their way back to the flagship JSA title.
Freedom Fighters co-writer Jimmy Palmiotti commented on the cancellation of the book on Twitter, noting, “If a book doesn’t break even or make a profit, it gets cancelled and opens up the door for another title,” he said. “Wait for the big picture. things get cancelled and others get green lit. the nature of publishing.”
Doom Patrol, Freedom Fighters, Outsiders and L.E.G.I.O.N./R.E.B.E.L.S. have all ended before — despite their name, Doom Patrol has been resurrected four times since the original series ended — and no doubt they’ll all be back again somewhere down the road.
- February 14, 2011 @ 04:00 PM by JK Parkin
Talking Comics with Tim | Jeff Parker & Erika Moen
Bucko: Sometimes one panel says so much
Jeff Parker and Erika Moen had me at “dick and fart”. OK, not really. But recently when writer Parker and artist Moen (both members of Periscope Studio) launched the webcomic Bucko (the plot of which can be summed up in two sentences “A chance case of alcohol-fueled diarrhea at his job interview leaves him [Rich “Bucko” Richardson] desperately running for the bathroom where he discovers a brutally murdered body. Now it’s up to Bucko to solve this case!” [OK there's more than that, but I love short intros with long sentences...]), I immediately wanted to pester the two creators for an interview. They obliged. And Parker even dropped an f-bomb for free. Read the interview, enjoy the webcomic (which updates Tuesdays and Fridays), tell all your friends. That is all.
Tim O’Shea: How the heck did you two decide that the world needed to combine two genres like “dick and fart jokes” and “murder mystery”?
Jeff Parker: That genre heading was created by Erika. It’s not technically accurate, but it gets you in the realm of what BUCKO is. And well, someone may fart at some point I guess.
Erika Moen: Yeah, like Parker says, it’s not a literal description of what happens in the comic (well, aside from the “murder” part), but it more captures the feel of the work. I figured it was more effective than something like “a QUIRKY murder mystery!” or “a RIDICULOUS HIPSTER murder mystery” Although, really, “dick’n'fart joke” may not be that inaccurate, as we do have the promise of threesomes (“dick”), there is the case of diarrhea (“fart”) and the protagonists certainly think they’re solving a “mystery” So, y’know what? I take it back, my tag line is totally accurate.
- February 14, 2011 @ 03:00 PM by Tim O'Shea
Digital comics: Just download it
No crap, just comics
The digital comics scene is still evolving, with lots of complications; over at Comics Alliance, David Brothers samples all five of the different ways you can buy Marvel comics digitally, none of which is fully compatible with the other, and none of which is fully satisfactory.
The one thing that all the modes of buying Marvel comics have in common is that they are basically rentals; the Marvel DCU service is available only as long as you keep up your subscription, and even the comiXology and Chrome comics could disappear if the provider disappears. There’s another way of selling digital comics that none of the big publishers will touch: Downloadable, non-copy-protected PDFs (or CBZs or CBRs, which are like PDFs in that they are portable). I just sampled two different sites that sell comics this way, a single-artist site and a digital storefront, and despite a few hiccups in the latter, the experiences were remarkably similar.
The first was the Agreeable Comics store, which is a very simple storefront that sells just one thing: comics by Kevin Church and his collaborators. Buying a comic there was amazingly easy—I didn’t have to set up an account or remember one more password. I chose a comic (I went with the ironic choice, a short horror comic called Copy Protection), clicked the link, and was taken to a PayPal page, where I entered my password and authorized the sale. I was immediately sent two e-mails, one with a receipt, the other with a link to download the comic. That was it. No profile to create, no username, no social networking. I just went to a web store and bought a comic.
- February 14, 2011 @ 02:00 PM by Brigid Alverson
Need a last-minute Valentine’s card? Dark Horse can help
The Goon wants to be your Valentine
If you’ve waited until the last minute and don’t want to brave the crowds at hallmark to find a card for your sweetheart today, Dark Horse has posted several comic-themed cards on their blog, featuring Hellboy, Usagi Yokimbo and more. Because nothing says “I love you” like an imprisoned Goon.
- February 14, 2011 @ 01:30 PM by JK Parkin