Comic Book Resources

Comics, Covered | The best covers of the week

Spider-Man 1602 #2

I've written a good deal at Robot 6 and elsewhere about comic-book cover art and design, but, unfortunately (for me at least), not so much in recent months. I hope "Comics, Covered" will remedy that, as each Saturday I select the six best covers -- the most striking, the most successfully executed, the most intriguing -- to grace the shelves that week.

This week's list is filled with three comics from Marvel, one from Image, one from DC's Wildstorm imprint and one that's technically not a comic at all.

To find out what made the cut, read on.

Continue Reading »

Comics A.M. | The comics Internet in two minutes

I believe we've reached the pre-Thanksgiving industry slowdown.

Green Arrow: Year One

Internet | A website called the Home of the Green Arrow, which supports the far-right British National Party in its "fight to secure a future for the indigenous peoples of these islands in the North Atlantic which have been our homeland for millennia," has co-opted Jock's art from the DC Comics miniseries Green Arrow: Year One for its banner. "This is leaving a horrible taste in my mouth," the artist wrote this morning on Twitter. He has contacted DC's legal department. [Jock's Twitter feed]

Art | Frank Frazetta's original cover painting for the 1967 Lancer paperback edition of Conan the Conqueror sold at auction last week for a reported $1 million. That's nearly four times the previous record price for the artist's work -- $251,000 -- paid in 2008 for the cover to Edgar Rice Burroughs' Escape on Venus. [Spectrum Fantastic Art, via Sci Fi Wire]

Continue Reading »

AOL hopes to cut a whopping 2,500 jobs

AOL

AOL, which has been described as an albatross around the neck of DC Comics parent company Time Warner, plans to shed more than a third of its workforce as it spins off from the media giant next month.

Although earlier speculation placed layoffs at about 1,000, the struggling Internet company announced this morning that it will ask 2,500 of its 6,900 employees to accept buyouts. If it can't find enough volunteers, AOL will resort to layoffs. The announcement, part of an effort to cut $300 million in annual costs, comes a little more than a week after 100 layoffs.

Founded in 1983 as Quantum Computer Services, AOL at one point boasted 30 million subscribers, a number that shrank considerably after its 2001 merger with Time Warner -- a disastrous deal that resulted in a record $99-billion loss for the (briefly) rebranded AOL Time Warner and the removal of Steve Case as chairman.

AOL, which The Associated Press points out still makes money, counts among its operations the comics blog Comics Alliance, the tech blog Engadget, the video-game blog Joystiq and, in partnership with Time Warner's Telepictures Productions, the high-profile celebrity-news site TMZ.com.

Hollywood group claims The Pirate Bay tracker still lives

Just a day after operators of The Pirate Bay announced they had shut down the site's controversial BitTorrent tracker, a movie-industry lobbying group is accusing them of trying to pull a fast one.

On Tuesday the beleaguered website, which for the past six years had indexed torrents to facilitate often-illegal file-sharing, pulled the plug on its tracker -- something operators say is no longer needed because of advances in peer-to-peer technology.

However, Wired.com's Threat Level blog reports the Motion Picture Association, which lobbies for Hollywood overseas, claims The Pirate Bay tracker is simply operating under a new name: OpenBitTorrent, a site originally registered to Pirate Bay co-founder Fredrik Neij. (A commenter on Robot 6 pointed out the connection last month.)

For its part, OpenBitTorrent denies that it's The Pirate Bay tracker, with a message on the website chalking up the confusion, in part, to the two using the same hosting company at one point.

The MPA isn't buying that explanation, and has gone to court to force OpenBitTorrent's current Internet host to stop servicing the site.

Comics A.M. | The comics Internet in two minutes

Black Dossier

Libraries | The library board in Jessamine County, Kentucky, heard public comment last night about acquisition and borrowing policies and the recent firings of two employees who kept a copy of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Black Dossier out of circulation. The hourlong meeting was marked by shouting, crying and the presentation of petitions, including one that called for the removal of two books and two DVDs -- Black Dossier among them -- from county library shelves. No action was taken by the board. [Lexington Herald-Leader]

Awards | A controversy emerged just a day before the National Book Awards ceremony as author/blogger Janice Harayda suggested that Kathi Appelt, a judge in the Young People''s category, should recuse herself because finalist David Small had illustrated her novel. In her response Appelt was cryptic, at best, saying that as committee deliberations are private, "I or any other judge might well have excused ourselves from voting on any particular book, if conflict of interest were an issue.” In the end, Small's celebrated graphic memoir Stiches didn't win last night; Phillip Hoose's Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice did. [ArtsBeat, Jacket Copy]

Continue Reading »

The Pirate Bay shuts down its torrent tracker for good

Operators of The Pirate Bay have shut down the site's controversial BitTorrent tracker, saying that advances in technology have made it unnecessary.

Established in November 2003 in Sweden, The Pirate Bay tracked and indexed torrents, allowing users to search for and download comics, music, video games and movies uploaded (often illegally) by others. Within five years the site announced it had reached more than 25 million users.

But with new peer-to-peer technology like Distributed Hash Table (DHT) and Peer Exchange (PEX), users to longer need to access a central server to find the files they're looking for.

“Now that the decentralized system for finding peers is so well developed, TPB has decided that there is no need to run a tracker anymore, so it will remain down!” operators wrote Tuesday on The Pirate Bay's blog. “It’s the end of an era.”

However, it's hardly the end of The Pirate Bay story.

While the tracker is gone, the site will continue to index torrents. Then there's the matter of the four Pirate Bay founders, who still face a year in prison and a combined $4.4 million in damages to movie studios and record labels for facilitating copyright infringement.

And in a delightfully absurd aside, Wired.com's Threat Level blog reports that Pirate Bay co-founder Peter Sunde has objected to a plan by a Swedish retailer to register the site's iconic sailing-ship logo -- it's been adrift in the public domain since its creation -- and use it to sell USB drives.

Yes, he intended to pirate the pirates. And the pirate didn't like it one bit.

After Sunde complained to Sweden’s Patent and Registration Office, the retailer withdrew his registration.

Happy birthday, Alan Moore and Mickey Mouse!

Mickey Mouse and Alan Moore

This is probably the only day of the year you'll see those two names together in a headline.

Today marks the 56th birthday of the writer of Watchmen, V for Vendetta, Swamp Thing, From Hell and countless other influential and entertaining comics. It's also the 81st anniversary of the release of the animated short Steamboat Willie, and the date The Walt Disney Company celebrates as Mickey's birthday (despite his actual first appearance in Plane Crazy some six months earlier).

Nicolas Cage reportedly sold comics collection to stop financial bleed

Nicolas Cage in "Ghost Rider"

Remember back in 2002 when actor Nicolas Cage auctioned off his comic collection for a cool $1.6 million but never said why? Well, now we may know.

Last month the star of Ghost Rider and the upcoming Kick-Ass sued his former business manager for $20 million, blaming him for financial problems that include more than $6 million in tax liens. However, in a countersuit filed last week, Samuel J. Levin claims that by the time the actor hired him in 2001 Cage "had already squandered tens of millions of dollars he had earned as a movie star."

Levin asserts that he advised Cage he would need to earn more than $30 million to maintain his lifestyle, and persuaded him to sell a dozen automobiles and his comic-book collection, which included copies of Action Comics #1, Detective Comics #1 and All-Star Comics #3.

But by the time Ghost Rider was released in 2007, Cage reportedly had fallen back into his old habits: Levin contends that in that year alone the actor purchased three homes worth more than $33 million, 22 cars, 12 pieces of expensive jewelry and 47 pieces of artwork. Within a year, Cage's tally of homes had reached 15. He also owned an island in the Bahamas, four yachts and a Gulfstream jet.

No wonder he's so eager for another Ghost Rider movie.

Comics A.M. | The comics Internet in two minutes

Weekly Astro Boy Magazine

Publishing | Tezuka Productions and D-Arc Inc. has launched Weekly Astro Boy Magazine, a service that delivers manga by Osamu Tezuka to iPhones and iPods in the United States. Announced last month, it's the first English-language manga service for mobile devices.

If I'm reading the site correctly, the premier "edition" of Weekly Astro Boy Magazine offers the first volume of Astro Boy for free. Subsequent volumes of that title, and other Tezuka classics like Phoenix, Dororo, Black Jack and Buddha, cost 99 cents each, and are available in weekly installments. [Weekly Astro Boy Magazine]

Education | Ryan Sohmer and Lar deSouza, creators of the webcomic Least I Could Do, have established The Rayne Summers Webcomic Scholarship at The Center for Cartoon Studies in Vermont. Named for the protagonist of their nearly seven-year-old comic, the scholarship will cover tuition for one student each year who is working toward a career in webcomics. [Least I Could Do, via The Daily Cartoonist]

Continue Reading »

Comics A.M. | The comics Internet in two minutes

Blue Bloods: Masquerade

Publishing | Italian movie producer Domenico Procacci has purchased Bologna-based graphic novel publisher Coconino Press, adding it to his Fandango filmmaking and book-publishing company. In addition to its own titles, Coconino publishes the Italian editions of works by such artists as Charles Burns, Daniel Clowes, and Garon Tsuchiya and Nobuaki Minegishi. [Variety]

Publishing | Young-adult novelist Melissa de la Cruz has signed new contracts with Hyperion, the Disney Book Group imprint that publishes her bestselling Blue Bloods series. The deal calls for three companion books to the teen-vampire drama, including Blue Bloods: The Graphic Novel. [Variety]

The Last Unicorn

Publishing | IDW Publishing will adapt Peter Beagle's bestselling 1968 fantasy novel The Last Unicorn as a six-issue miniseries. The comic, by writer Peter B. Gillis, artist Renae De Liz and colorist Ray Dillon, will debut in April. [ICv2.com]

Publishing | Simon Jones offers commentary about declining manga sales in Japan: "Some blame was again placed at the industry’s increasing focus on niche genres (just as comics is a spandex ghetto, manga is facing a crisis of the moe slum), but I think this is being overstated as a cause, when it’s really a symptom that is self-feeding.  Manga sales have gone down … it could be lower birth rates, or competition from other media, or internet piracy (come on guys, we don’t need to couch this in flowery language), or any combination of those.  But it all comes down to fewer companies being able to produce mainstream products, because a growing segment of mainstream audiences are no longer willing to pay for them despite increasing demand." [Icarus Publishing]

Continue Reading »

Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight motion comic confirmed

Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Vol. 6 (by Jo Chen)

A motion-comic Web series is in the works based on the successful Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight, confirming rumors that began back in June.

Sci Fi Wire reports that voice casting has begun for Faith, Kennedy and Robin Wood -- all familiar to viewers of the television series -- and Season Eight characters such as Lady Genevieve Savidge, Roden and Twilight. And if you sound like Daniel Craig, the casting director has a part just for you.

Interview dates are set for this week, which makes it seem as if production is moving fairly quickly.

Sci Fi Wire has the full list of roles and character descriptions. Meanwhile, this comments thread at Whedonesque has fan reaction.

Zack Whedon to write Terminator miniseries for Dark Horse

Zack Whedon

Among the comics coverage on Time.com's newly launched Techland site is this announcement that screenwriter Zack Whedon, brother of Joss Whedon, is penning a six-issue Terminator miniseries for Dark Horse.

"I just turned in the first script and I’m very excited about it," he writes on Techland. "I love Terminator. I think that movie is so good. Holy Toledo is it good. Now I get to play in that universe and make up Terminator stories of my own that people will get to read. I am not a big-time, famous dude and yet now I am choreographing action sequences set in a post-apocalyptic future overrun by evil cybernetic organisms hell bent on destroying the human race. How is that possible?! I’ll answer your question, Made-Up Person. It’s possible because in comics it doesn’t cost 150 million dollars to tell that story. They can put an idiot like me in charge!"

Whedon, who co-created Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog with brothers Joss and Jed and actress Maurissa Tancharoen, wrote the upcoming Dr. Horrible one-shot for Dark Horse and has penned episodes of the television series Fringe and Deadwood.

Comics A.M. | The comics Internet in two minutes

Flight Explorer, Vol. 1

Publishing | Retailer Christopher Butcher catches word that Flight Explorer, the younger-readers spinoff of the long-running Flight anthology, is without a publishing home. Although the first volume, published in March 2008 by Villard, reportedly sold through its 20,000-copy first printing, editor Kazu Kibuishi tweeted last week that "the project remains orphaned." Butcher provides commentary on his blog. [Comics212]

Legal | Google and groups representing publishers and authors on Friday filed a revised settlement they hope will resolve a dispute over the Internet giant's controversial plans to make millions of out-of-print books available online.

The original agreement, created to resolve a 2005 lawsuit, was opposed by parties ranging from DC Comics to the U.S. Justice Department to the governments of France and Germany, who argued that its terms could violate copyright law. The revisions address the handling of orphan works, restrict the Google database to books published in the United States, Britain, Canada or Australia, and allow other companies to license the digital catalog.

U.S. District Judge Denny Chin is expected this week to set a date for a "fairness hearing" in which arguments about the settlements will be presented by b0th sides. [The New York Times]

Continue Reading »

Straight for the art | My Grandmother's House, by Cassandra Diaz

From "My Grandmother's House," by Cassandra Diaz

Tor.com has posted a beautiful six-page comic by Cassandra Diaz called My Grandmother's House. Tor Art Director Irene Gallo describes it as "an ethereal, dreamy moment," which seems about right.

You can see more of Diaz's work on her website gallery and on her blog.

Reader scandalized by exposure to naked Zits

One of the "Zits" strips in question

You have to hand it to readers of the incredibly shrinking comics section: Many of them have a clear vision for those pages, even if most newspaper editors don't.

The funnies largely go ignored in newsrooms, at least until word comes down that pages must be axed or, else, there's a once-in-a-blue-moon announcement that a cartoonist or syndicate is ending a strip. But those readers who turn to Cathy or Hagar or Rex Morgan each day know exactly what they want (usually that's for the page to look the same as it always has).

Take, for instance, Ted Trump of Orleans, Massachusetts. When he opens the Cape Cod Times, he expects to be entertained by Zits -- not to be confronted with the type of scandalous nudity that's been the trademark of Love Is ... for the past four decades.

Continue Reading »