2011 August
Robot 6 Q&A | Sam Humphries on the new Our Love Is Real pre-order app
Earlier this summer Sam Humphries and Steven Sanders teamed up on a self-published one-shot called Our Love Is Real. Available digitally and at a handful of shops, the book sold out of its print run in a day, with a second printing selling out within a week. And earlier this month we learned that the little science fiction comic that could was picked up by Image Comics, who will publish it in November.
But just because the book’s been picked up by a larger publisher doesn’t mean that Humphries is taking a break from getting it into people’s hands. I spoke with him about the comic’s success and a fancy new pre-order app he’s developed that’ll help connect fans with retailers who can sell them a copy.
JK: Congrats on the Image deal– how did you come to work with them?
Sam: Once Our Love Is Real came out, it made a lot of sense for both sides. They wanted to be a part of the book, and we reached a point where we couldn’t go much further via self-publishing.
JK: Working with Image obviously brings wider distribution through Diamond, with the potential to reach a lot more shops than you could on your own. What are you doing to make it easy for people to request the book from their retailer?
Sam: There’s is an experiment I’m pretty excited about — we’ve developed a pre-order app for Our Love Is Real, which can be found online at: http://bit.ly/OLIRpreorder. Pre-order online, and pick up at a comic store near you.
- August 29, 2011 @ 10:00 AM by JK Parkin
Anonymous turns V for Vendetta’s Guy Fawkes mask into a bestseller
Anonymous protesters wearing Guy Fawkes masks (photo by Vincent Diamante)
Infamous for its protests against the Church of Scientology and website attacks on Sony, Visa and, most recently, Bay Area Rapid Transit, the loose-knit hacker group Anonymous is perhaps best known for a single image that’s become a symbol of its anarchic movement: The V for Vendetta-inspired Guy Fawkes mask worn by its members in public protests.
However, as The New York Times notes this morning, each of those masks purchased by the largely anti-government, anti-corporation activists puts money in the coffers of Time Warner, one of the world’s largest media conglomerates. The parent company of DC Comics, which published the Alan Moore-David Lloyd miniseries in the United States, and Warner Bros., which released the film adaptation in 2006, owns the rights to the image, and receives a licensing fee for each mask sold.
And there are a lot sold, thanks largely to the Anonymous movement. Rubie’s Costumes, the New York company that produces the masks, sells more than 100,000 a year; by comparison, it sells only about 5,000 of each of its other masks.
But it wasn’t until recently that Rubie’s knew why Guy Fawkes was a bestseller. “We just thought people liked the V for Vendetta movie,” Rubie’s executive Howard Beige tells the newspaper. “Then one morning I saw a picture of these protesters wearing the mask in an online news article. I quickly showed my sales manager.”
- August 29, 2011 @ 09:00 AM by Kevin Melrose
DC’s mainstream push for New 52: ‘Even the haters are curious’
DC Comics: The New 52
Ahead of the release on Wednesday of Flashpoint #5 and Justice League #1, signaling the beginning of its line-wide relaunch, DC Comics has kicked off a promotional assault in the mainstream press to sell “The New 52″ to a broader audience. While USA Today, with a circulation of 1.8 million the second-largest newspaper in the United States, looks to be the hub for coverage, DC has also reached out to publications like the New York Daily News, the New York Post and the Boston Herald. Here are the highlights so far from the 11th-hour push:
• A spoiler-heavy preview of Flashpoint #5 in USA Today lays out how the dystopic, casualty-strewn world depicted in the crossover got that way.
• USA Today takes a broad overview of the relaunch, talking with DC Co-Publishers Dan DiDio and Jim Lee, Chief Creative Officer Geoff Johns, and a couple of retailers. “There are plenty of angry customers over this,” says John Robinson, co-owner of Graham Crackers Comics chain in Illinois. “I’ve heard the usual ‘I can’t believe they’re doing this,’ ‘They’ve betrayed us,’ etc. I’d say about 60% to 70% of those protesting the loudest will still end up buying the stuff. There’s just too much hype and interest — even the haters are curious.”
• The newspaper also hones in on the publisher’s new same-day digital strategy, which debuts Wednesday at 2 p.m. ET when Justice League #1 will be available for purchase digitally. Hank Kanalz, senior vice president for digital at DC Entertainment, acknowledges the challenges of getting the initiative off the ground: “Some books are working really far ahead of schedule, some are down to the wire, and it’s just a matter of coordinating and about overcommunicating. We have to make sure it goes off without a hitch, which is why we’re not sleeping right now. We’re going much wider to a mass audience than ever before, so it’s a matter of making sure we have everything ready to go.”
- August 29, 2011 @ 08:00 AM by Kevin Melrose
Comics A.M. | CCS’s Schulz Library damaged in flood; when Marvel almost licensed Superman
Schulz Library
Education | The Center For Cartoon Studies’ Schulz Library in White River Junction, Vermont, was damaged over the weekend in flooding caused by torrential rains from Hurricane Irene. According to CCS Director James Sturm, volunteers called in Sunday night were able to remove about 70 percent of the library’s collection and move the remaining materials to higher shelves. However, he indicated to Tom Spurgeon that the building itself may be a loss. [The Comics Reporter]
Publishing | Jim Shooter, former editor-in-chief for Marvel Comics, shares the story of how DC Comics almost licensed the publishing rights to their characters to Marvel in the mid-1980s. Obviously the deal never happened, which Shooter said was due to a lawsuit by First Comics alleging anti-trust violations. [Jim Shooter]
Creators | Gail Simone discusses her upcoming work on Batgirl and Fury of Firestorm. [TFAW]
- August 29, 2011 @ 06:55 AM by Brigid Alverson and JK Parkin
FanExpo Canada | A rundown of news from this weekend’s convention
Brian Wood returns to Marvel
FanExpo Canada wraps up today in Toronto, and both Marvel and DC were there this weekend announcing various projects:
- DC Comics will relaunch the Justice Society by writer James Robinson and artist Nicola Scott. The new adventures of the JSA will be set not on the “New 52″ Earth, but on Earth-2, as they were before Crisis on Infinite Earths combined DC’s multiple Earths into one big sandbox back in the 1980s. “Everyone’s saying, ‘How can there be superheroes before the five years?’ We’re actually bringing back Earth-2,” Robinson said.
- Marvel announced Brian Wood will write for the publisher once again, in a teaser that seems to point a finger at a Wolverine project.
- Marvel’s Alpha Flight has been upgraded from a limited series to an ongoing.”We’ve got Taskmaster showing up, we’ve got Wolverine and other characters journeying north to find out what’s going on with Alpha Flight,” said co-writer Fred Van Lente. “We learn that Alpha flight’s actually a member of a super, super team called The Commonwealth of Heroes. I’m very excited about writing those characters — I love them a lot and it’s going to be a good time.” The Commonwealth of Heroes? I am intrigued. CBR has more details in an interview with Van Lente and Greg Pak, where they mention that Captain Britain and MI-13 will play a role in the Commonwealth Heroes.
- In addition to Jill Thompson, other artists working on the upcoming Shade miniseries written by James Robinson include Gene Ha and Darwyn Cooke.
- Marvel will publish a five-issue miniseries called Destroyers, by writer Fred Van Lente and artist Kyle Hotz. The book will feature The Thing, the Beast, A-Bomb, She-Hulk, Karkas the Deviant and Devil Dinosaur. “A lot of this series is about how monsters feel about being monsters and how comfortable they are with it. Hank McCoy is probably the most comfortable in his furry blue skin. He’s got an analytical mind. In this story, a colleague from his past gets murdered. That sets him on a quest to solve a mystery and puts him on a collision course with the Destroyers,” Van Lente told CBR.
- Marvel also announced the return of two more CrossGen properties — Kiss Kiss Bang Bang in December by writer Peter Milligan and artist Roman Rosanas, and Route 666 in February by writer Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa and artist Peter Nguyen. Both are four-issue mini-series.
- August 28, 2011 @ 03:41 PM by JK Parkin
What Are You Reading? with Elisabeth Forsythe
Criminal: The Last of the Innocent #3
Hello and welcome once again to What Are You Reading? This week our special guest is Elisabeth Forsythe, marketing manager for online comic shop Things From Another World and frequent contributor to The Blog From Another World.
To see what Elisabeth and the Robot 6 crew have been reading lately, read on.
- August 28, 2011 @ 12:30 PM by JK Parkin
FanExpo Canada | Justice Society to return, Jill Thompson on Shade #8
Shade by Jill Thompson
Although usually not active on the weekend, DC’s The Source blog had two tidbits today coming out of Fan Expo Canada.
The first has to do with the return of the Justice Society. According to DC’s The Source blog:
There’s been plenty of speculation about the Justice Society in The New 52 – and we can now confirm that they will, in fact, be back! As with everything else with DC Comics – The New 52, however, there’s a significant twist. What is it? We’re not saying. Just. Quite. Yet.
“It’s everything you want, but not what you expect,” promises Eddie Berganza, DC Comics Executive Editor.
As Brian Cronin pointed out, word from the convention is that James Robinson and Nicola Scott are working on the series which will be set during an as-yet unspecified time period – on Earth-2.
Speaking of Robinson, the Source also announced Jill Thompson as the artist on Shade #8. The standalone issue — set in Paris in the early 1900s — is something Robinson wrote specifically for Thompson, reminiscent of the standalone stories Robinson would write when he was doing Starman. Shade #8 comes out next May.
- August 27, 2011 @ 12:30 PM by JK Parkin
Shelf Porn | Comics, statues and a No-Prize!
Welcome to another edition of Shelf Porn, where Robot 6 proudly shares the shelves and collections of fans around the world. Today’s collection comes from across the pond, as Robert Menzies shares his statues, comics and even a Marvel No-Prize with us.
If you’d like to see your collection here, send a write-up and some jpg images to jkparkin@yahoo.com.
And now let’s hear from Robert …
- August 27, 2011 @ 12:00 PM by JK Parkin
FEMA’s furries
You know you should really be preparing for the hurricane, but all you feel like doing is reading comics? Rejoice! Check out this kids’ comic from FEMA in which a family of cats and their pet bird (who might count as part of that three-day food supply) get their emergency kit together. (Hat tip: Torsten Adair, who has compiled quite a bit of other useful information at The Beat.)
Also, the Good Comics for Kids bloggers, myself included, have put together a quick list of graphic novels to tuck in with the duct tape and bottled water. Enjoy!
- August 27, 2011 @ 09:00 AM by Brigid Alverson
The Fifth Color | Forward into the Past with Marvel for November 2011
I hate to start it out this way, but we have to talk.
Despite fan apathy, despite the louder bolder act from the Distinguished Competitor, Fear Itself is a mighty fine event book. It has a very easy premise that people unfamiliar with comics can get into (hey, you know Thor? It’s like all the bad guys are that strong now), it’s got that “Versus” style atmosphere where people can debate all day long on who should have really been the first down or defeated in the Worthy vs. Heroes, it’s got a super-powered upgrade coming up for us by Iron Man, there’s been some tragedy and some triumph, and coming up in October, we’ll have closure with an ending that multiple comics can build up or down from.
Fear Itself #7.1
Fear Itself #7.2
Fear Itself #7.3
Or maybe not.
Remember in the last Lord of the Rings movie when they just kept having to tie up so many loose ends or add so much finality to the main story that it just felt like the audience just didn’t know where to applaud in a well-made film? Or even worse, you drank a really big soda during a three-hour+ movie and really wanted it to have a firm sense of a finish so you could escape? Yeah.
So, thanks to some New Math numbering by Marvel, it looks like #7 of Fear Itself really doesn’t end so much for our heroes because come November, we’re getting a Captain America ending, an Iron Man ending and a Thor ending (Depending on how well you do playing through the game, does this unlock any achievements?) If your mini-series is seven issues long, you should be able to tell me a complete story between issues #1 and #7. Afterwards, if there is a banner theme running around the books as they’ve done historically since Avengers: Disassembled and even further with some of the old annual arcs, so be it. I think, as comic readers, we’re more familiar with picking up what looks good coming out of a major event and deciding for ourselves that hey, let’s see the prologue with a certain character after the book is finished. Even a Fear Itself: Thor #1 one-shot would be more preferable, because at least with some distance from the main series, it feels like we’re moving on and not buying a very sneaky issues #8, 9 and 10.
Yeah, it’s probably too much of a sour note to play against the backdrop of a very solid set of storytelling, but man. What a way to start November.
Let’s see what else is coming from the House of Ideas in November 2011, shall we?
Continue Reading »
- August 26, 2011 @ 03:30 PM by Carla Hoffman
Retailers prepare for Hurricane Irene
As any news channel or today’s The System will tell you, the East Coast is preparing for Hurricane Irene. Meteorologists expect Irene to make landfall Saturday morning in eastern North Carolina, and it is expected to track north and head for New York City, where at least two comics retailers are preparing for it.
Midtown Comics sent out an email update today noting they will be closed Saturday and Sunday:
In a plot that would make Lex Luthor very jealous, Hurricane Irene threatens to blow down the Big Apple, along with the rest of the East Coast, starting Saturday afternoon, through all day Sunday. We’ve read enough Batman comics to know that we’ve got to be prepared for every contingency, and we want to make sure that all of our friends are taken care of BEFORE and AFTER Irene unleashes her ferocious fury. This, then, is the Midtown Meteorology Mass Effect plan:
In-store plan:
Midtown Comics will be CLOSED Saturday and Sunday, and, comic store heroes that we are, we’ll all be cowering in our homes, tying down valuables including kids and dogs. It’s not a complex plan, but it’s the safest since all mass transit in NYC will be closed as of noon on Saturday. We’re open until 9:00PM tonight, leaving plenty of time to satisfy a last-minute comic craving! For further updates, please follow us on Facebook and Twitter.Online plan:
All Wednesday new release orders will be shipped on Thursday and Friday. Everything else will be humming along as usual, Irene willing.
Considering New York is shutting down its entire mass transit system, it makes sense that many businesses will close.
Jim Hanley’s Universe, meanwhile, is helping New York comic fans prepare for a weekend in doors by holding a sale tonight. It’s going on right now and requires a secret word. They plan to be open at least until 4 p.m. on Saturday, and will be closed Sunday.
And Bergen Street Comics, located in Brooklyn, says they will likely be open from about noon to 3 p.m., although they might close early on Saturday. They say they’ll be closed on Sunday, unless the storm passes them by.
No matter where you are on the East Coast, stay safe and best of luck during the storm.
- August 26, 2011 @ 03:00 PM by JK Parkin
Six by 6 | Six great Sparkplug books you should get
Inkweed
The news spread rather rapidly over the comics blogs this week that Dylan Williams, cartoonist and publisher of Sparkplug Comic Books, is seriously ill and in need of financial aid (i.e. please purchase some Sparkplug books).
Though they arguably haven’t always gotten as much attention as PictureBox or Drawn & Quarterly, Sparkplug has been one of the most interesting small press publishers in recent years, releasing challenging, striking work from many new and up and coming cartoonists.
Lots of people are making recommendations on what to get, but if you’re on the fence about purchasing something from the Sparkplug shop, or just plain don’t know what book to buy, I thought I’d add my own two cents with a short run down of some of my own personal favorites.
- August 26, 2011 @ 02:00 PM by Chris Mautner
Preview: Betty and Veronica’s bikini battle
Those of us in the East Coast Division of Robot 6 have already endured an earthquake, which knocked the pictures on my office walls askew and caused several moments of consternation; now there’s a hurricane pounding its way up the coast towards us. Time for some escape reading! In these previews of B&V Friends Double Digest #217 and Jughead Double Digest #173, both due out next week in comics shops and digital apps everywhere, Betty and Veronica are still at the beach, battling over bikinis, and at the mall, battling with Jughead. Get some bottled water, make sure there are batteries in your flashlight, and settle down for a little light reading!
- August 26, 2011 @ 01:00 PM by Brigid Alverson
And then came Friday, with more DC New 52 artwork
Stormwatch
If you’ve been following along all week, you know the drill — artwork from DC’s September relaunch pops up on Twitter, we post it here for you to peruse. Like the above Stormwatch piece by by Miguel Sepulveda and Allen Passalaqua, featuring a very angry moon, which was posted today by the indispensable David Macho.
Follow along on Twitter at #52splash, and I’ll add any additional artwork I see today after the jump. And if you’d like to see what’s come before, check out my posts from Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.
- August 26, 2011 @ 12:30 PM by JK Parkin
Why does Idaho Springs, Colorado have a Steve Canyon statue?
Idaho Springs' Steve Canyon monument
Photo by ~djohn9
When I saw this Steve Canyon statue over at the Hermes Press blog (they’ve published a collection of the seven Steve Canyon issues from Dell’s Four Color comics), I wondered what the hell a Steve Canyon monument was doing in Idaho Springs, Colorado. Canyon’s creator Milton Caniff never lived there, nor does the town figure prominently in the comic strip character’s adventures.
The Historic Idaho Springs website doesn’t offer many details, saying only that the statue was erected as part of a “publicity stunt” by the area’s Jaycees in the ’50s. Oddly, the full story is told in the historical archives of a completely different city: Dayton, Ohio. Columnist (and friend of Caniff) Roz Young wrote for the Dayton Daily News for more than 25 years and penned a 1997 article celebrating the 50th anniversary of Caniff’s famous character. What’s cool about the story is its reminder of just how important comics used to be to the general population in the US.
- August 26, 2011 @ 12:00 PM by Michael May