children’s comics
Zenescope to add kids’ line
Don't go in the water! (Art not final.)
Yes, you heard that right. Up till now, Zenescope has been turning out cheesecake/horror combos like Grimm Fairy Tales and Return to Wonderland, which, although they sound like children’s books, most definitely aren’t. Now they are freshening up their line with something completely different: An actual kids’ line, Silver Dragon Books.
Zenescope president Joe Brusha included the new line in his presentation at the American Library Association meeting this past weekend, and the librarians I spoke to thought the books looked like they would be popular with young readers. The first two titles are co-branded with the Discovery Channel and are titled Top Ten Deadliest Sharks and Dinosaurs and Prehistoric Predators, which shows that they still have a taste for the sensational. A third graphic novel will be co-branded with Animal Planet.
Zenescope also gave us a look-see at their Charmed comic, based on the long-running TV series and pitched at teen readers. (In a departure from Zenescope tradition, it features fully clothed women.)
- July 2, 2010 @ 09:30 AM by Brigid Alverson
Comics college: Art Spiegelman
Maus Vol. 1
Comics College is a monthly feature where we provide an introductory guide to some of the comics medium’s most important auteurs and offer our best educated suggestions on how to become familiar with their body of work.
Today we’ll be traipsing through the body of work of one of the most significant (if not exactly prolific) American cartoonists of this modern age, Art Spiegelman.
- June 25, 2010 @ 12:00 PM by Chris Mautner
Comics A.M. | The comics Internet in two minutes
Neil Gaiman
Legal | Neil Gaiman addresses some of the news coverage of his continuing legal dispute with Todd McFarlane, which was punctuated this week by an evidentiary hearing regarding the characters Dark Ages Spawn, Domina and Tiffany: “There are some knock-offs of the characters I’ve co-created that Todd published and made toys of over the years, and I felt they were derivative of the characters I’d created (or in one case, one actually was the same character I’d created). Todd didn’t want to pay anything at all on them so he (not me/my lawyers) took it back before the judge. Nobody ‘stole characters’ and there’s no argument over ‘ownership of characters’ going on. We’re now waiting for a ruling on if those characters are (in my opinion) derivative or (Todd’s opinion) not of the characters I co-created and have an established copyright interests in. It’s not an ‘epic battle.’ The epic battle was fought and won in 2002.” Gaiman and McFarlane have until July 25 to submit additional arguments. [Neil Gaiman's Journal]
- June 17, 2010 @ 07:37 AM by Kevin Melrose
Comics A.M. | The comics Internet in two minutes
Crunchyroll
Business | Japanese e-book publisher Bitway has invested $750,000 in Crunchyroll, the San Francisco-based website that streams anime and live-action Asian movies. A major distributor of electronic books, including manga, in Japan, Bitway hopes to work with Crunchyroll to develop a comics-distribution platform overseas, with an emphasis on the United States and Canada.
Crunchyroll launched in 2006 as a for-profit site, and featured among its content illegally hosted user-uploaded fansubs and bootleg anime. But in 2009, following a $4 million investment from venture-capital firm Venrock, Crunchyroll began offering only licensed content. The website reportedly attracts 6 million unique visitors a month. [Anime News Network]
- June 16, 2010 @ 07:22 AM by Kevin Melrose
This weekend, it’s Kids Read Comics!
Kids Read Comics!
The Detroit News previews the second annual Kids Read Comics! convention, which kicks off Saturday in Dearborn, Michigan.
The free event, which features two days of panels and workshops, boasts an impressive guest list that includes Katie Cook, Roger Langridge, Dwayne McDuffie, William Messner-Loebs, Dan Miskin, Jim Ottaviani, David Petersen, Dave Roman, Paul Storrie, Marc Sumerak, Raina Telgemeier, Rob M. Worley and Thom Zahler.
- June 10, 2010 @ 10:30 AM by Kevin Melrose
Comics A.M. | The comics Internet in two minutes
Neil Gaiman
Legal | Neil Gaiman and Todd McFarlane will return to court next month after more than seven years to hash out how much Gaiman is owed for his copyright interests in Medieval Spawn, Angela and Count Nicholas Cogliostro. Gaiman wants to learn how much money was generated by three other characters he claims are derivative of those he co-created with McFarlane: Dark Ages Spawn, Domina and Tiffany.
McFarlane asked for another trial on the issue, but on Tuesday U.S. District Judge Barbara Crabb ruled that Gaiman has a plausible claim, and ordered an evidentiary hearing to be held on June 14. [Wisconsin State Journal]
Conventions | As the bidding war for Comic-Con International continues, convention organizers have asked San Diego hotels to sign contracts guaranteeing room rates for the next five years. A decision on whether the four-day event will remain in the city after 2012 was expected weeks ago, but Comic-Con spokesman David Glanzer said that’s been delayed because the competing cities — Anaheim, Los Angeles and San Diego — continue to amend their offers. He now expects a decision within the next month. [The San Diego Union-Tribune]
- May 26, 2010 @ 07:31 AM by Kevin Melrose
Comics A.M. | The comics Internet in two minutes
Naruto, Vol. 46
Publishing | Brigid Alverson, Simon Jones, Gia Manry and Daniella Orihuela-Gruber provide commentary on Tuesday’s announcement that Viz Media is restructuring, laying off up to 60 employees and closing its New York City branch. Manry cautions that there’s little need for panic, while Jones points out that it’s unclear whether the company’s cuts are in its manga or anime divisions.
Alverson notes that the news came as such a surprise because Viz publishes the most popular manga properties (Naruto, One Piece, Fullmetal Alchemist) as well as some of the most acclaimed (Children of the Sea, Pluto, 20th Century Boys): “However, as publishing veterans know, acclaim does not necessarily equal sales.” [Viz Media]
- May 12, 2010 @ 07:56 AM by Kevin Melrose
Straight for the art | Jeff Smith’s ‘Read’ poster for ALA
Jeff Smith's poster for the American Library Association's "Read" campaign
The American Library Association asked Bone creator Jeff Smith to participate in its “Read” campaign, which promotes the joy of reading. The result is this original art of Smiley Bone, available from the ALA website as a poster or a bookmark.
- May 7, 2010 @ 02:25 PM by Kevin Melrose
Jeff Smith responds to effort to remove Bone from school district’s libraries
Bone: The Dragonslayer
During his spotlight panel at C2E2, cartoonist Jeff Smith reacted to Friday’s news that a parent in suburban Minneapolis-St. Paul is seeking to remove Bone from the school district’s libraries.
“It just broke yesterday; I don’t know anymore about it than you do,” Smith said on Saturday, responding to a question from the audience. “She objected to the gambling, smoking and drinking and the sexiness. I feel sorry for her son. He’s going to be really embarrassed, but you know, not everybody has to like my stuff. That’s fine. But I really can’t go along with this un-American concept of banning books. Let the Nazis do that.”
The parent, Ramona DeLay of Apple Valley, Minnesota, filed a formal request with the school district last month asking that Bone: The Dragonslayer be “withdrawn from all students” because it depicts drinking, smoking, gambling and “sexual situations between characters.”
According to KSTP TV, DeLay is seeking to remove the entire series from the district’s 18 elementary schools; 12 of those schools have at least one volume of Bone available to students.
The district’s Reconsideration Review Committee will meet on April 27 to consider DeLay’s request. The good news is that of the 20 similar cases heard by the committee since the early 1990s, materials were removed from library shelves in just three instances.
- April 19, 2010 @ 09:30 AM by Kevin Melrose
Minnesota mother objects to Bone‘s content and library availability
Bone: The Dragonslayer
A parent in a suburb of Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota, has filed a complaint with the school district objecting to the content in the fourth volume of Jeff Smith’s popular Bone series.
Ramona DeLay of Apple Valley told Sun Newspapers she was “a little shocked” that her son, and elementary-school student, was reading a graphic novel depicting drinking, smoking and gambling. She filed a formal request to the school district on on March 15 asking that the book be “withdrawn from all students.” In the complaint, DeLay also cited “sexual situations between characters.”
The district’s Reconsideration Review Committee will meet on April 27 to consider DeLay’s request.
I’m certainly only guessing, but I imagine this has to be one of the very few times that Smith’s bestselling, and multiple-award-winning, series has been challenged. Tom Spurgeon has additional commentary.
- April 16, 2010 @ 11:00 AM by Kevin Melrose
NYT critic perplexed by narrative device
The New York Times doesn’t review a lot of comics, so when they set Tanya Lee Stone loose on Sarah Stewart Taylor and Ben Towle’s Amelia Earhart: This Broad Ocean, that’s news. Stone is the author of a prose biography of Earhart as well as the much-acclaimed historical work Almost Astronauts: 13 Women Who Dared to Dream. But Stone’s major critique of the book is that it mixes fact and fiction without distinguishing between the two.
Taylor also creates a narrator who did not exist — Grace Goodland, a girl reporter following the events for The Trepassey Herald. Other than a few quotations — like the content of a telegram Amelia dictates to a clerk: “Thanks fatherly telegram. No washing necessary. Socks, underwear worn out” — the conversations between her and the other characters seem to be based on research, but largely invented. As an Amelia Earhart fan, I’ve always thought she was exciting enough without any assistance.
Maybe, but graphic novels tell stories, and no matter how interesting the facts may be, the creators need a narrative framework to hang those facts on. Grace Goodland is so obviously a point-of-view character that it’s hard to imagine readers in the target age group (10 to 14, say) thinking that she is a real person. Perhaps the book should have included an fact vs. fiction section in the back, a la The Magic School Bus, but teenage readers would likely find that patronizing. The book is meant to be read as a story, not a biography—the creators limit their scope to a six-day period in Earhart’s life, and they use the character of Grace to show her impact on the women of her time, something that wouldn’t have been possible in a strictly factual presentation. Sometimes fiction can convey more truth than facts, and by presenting Earhart in context, the creators provide readers with an introduction to Earhart and a jumping-off point for those who want to know more.
- March 23, 2010 @ 10:00 AM by Brigid Alverson
Warner Bros. goes after girls market with Supergirl clothing line
Supergirl by Nastia
While the Walt Disney Co. works to broaden its appeal with boys, rival Warner Bros. is eyeing the lucrative girls market.
Variety reports that Supergirl is leading the charge as Warner Bros. Consumer Products teams with mid-range department store chain J.C. Penney for a line of clothes sporting the familiar “S” shield for girls ages 8 to 12.
Gymnast and five-time Olympic medalist Nastia Liukin is lending her name to the brand, called Supergirl by Nastia, and will serve as its spokesperson. The 20-year-old Liukin lives in Plano, Texas, headquarters of J.C. Penney.
According to the Dallas Morning News, Supergirl by Nastia is an extension of Supergirl Jam, the all-girls athletic competition and music festival launched four years ago by Warner Bros. This month the studio launched the Nastia Liukin Supergirl Cup, which honors young, rising female gymnasts.
The line, expected to be the first of several new products tied to the superheroine, will be priced between $20 and $38, and debut in stores on July 20 — in time for back-to-school shopping season.
The retailer will support Supergirl by Nastia with ads, direct mailings, social media and nationwide appearances by Liukin. And, hey, who knows? Maybe DC will even bring back Supergirl: Cosmic Adventures in the Eighth Grade or introduce another age-appropriate comic featuring the Maid of Might.
- March 22, 2010 @ 11:00 AM by Kevin Melrose
Play the Foiled board game: It’s ‘Candy Land, but evil’
The "Foiled" board game
Forget trailers or Twitter accounts for fictional characters or MySpace pages. The next great trend in comics promotion just may be board games. Okay, maybe not. But you have to admit, this board game for Jane Yolen and Mike Cavallaro’s new graphic novel Foiled is pretty neat. (Michael May reviewed Foiled for Robot 6 earlier this week.)
On the First Second Books blog, Marketing Coordinator Gina Gagliano writes that the game has been described at the imprint’s offices as “Candy Land, but evil.” (For a truly evil children’s board game, see Uncle Wiggily. Terrifying.)
Gagliano notes that the game, which is based on the plot of Foiled, has been sent to booksellers “far and wide.” There’s even talk that Bergen Street Comics in Brooklyn may organize a game-playing session as part of its Free Comic Book Day activities. However, you don’t have to wait: You can download a printable version of the game from the Macmillan website.
- March 17, 2010 @ 11:30 AM by Kevin Melrose
What are you reading?
Luna Park
Our guest this week is the esteemed critic Ng Suat Tong, who has written some quite memorable pieces for The Comics Journal, but lately can be found as a regular contributor to The Hooded Utilitarian blog.
To find out what Suat and the rest of us are reading, click on the link below. And don’t forget to let us know what you’re currently reading in the comments section.
- March 14, 2010 @ 01:00 PM by Chris Mautner
What Are You Reading?
Little Lulu Vol. 18
I’m currently in the midst of interviewing cartoonist Graham Annable over email for Robot 6 as he has a new book coming out any day now from Dark Horse and thought, as long as I was conversing with him, why not see if he’d like to be our special guest for this week’s edition of What Are You Reading? And so he did! Click on the link to find out what he and everyone else is reading this week.
- March 7, 2010 @ 02:00 PM by Chris Mautner