DC Comics app

Digital comics | ICv2 estimates the total value of the digital comics market in 2011 as $25 million, triple the 2010 figure, and boldly predicts that digital will account for 10 percent of the entire comics market in 2012. Digital sales grew faster in the second half of the year, which ICv2 attributes to three factors: DC’s decision to release its New 52 comics digitally the same day as print, the industry-wide trend toward same-day print and digital releases, and the proliferation of different platforms on which to read digital comics. As for digital taking away from print, the publishing executives ICv2 has spoken to over the past few months don’t seem to think that is happening. [ICv2]

Retailing | Retailer and journalist Matt Price takes the temperature at the ComicsPRO Annual Members Meeting, which kicks off today in Dallas, noting that members remain interested in DC’s publishing plans, and report “very strong sales” for Image’s Fatale and Thief of Thieves. [Nerdage]

comiXology

Digital comics | ComiXology CEO David Steinberger talks about how comiXology got started (he was trying to figure out how to catalog his comic collection), his first comic book and what comic art he would most like to own. [Graphic Novel Reporter]

Comics | Heritage Auctions will sell 12 “ashcan” comic books created in the 1930s and ’40s for trademark purposes, including one of three Action Funnies known to exist. [Art Daily]

Creators | Japanese creator Takehiko Inoue has resumed work on his long-running series Vagabond, after taking a lengthy break, first for health reasons and then because he lost interest in it. He told fans he wouldn’t go back to work on the series, which is serialized in Kodansha’s Morning magazine, until he regained his enthusiasm for it. That seems to have happened, and the new chapter is being colored. Vagabond is published in North America by Viz Media. [Anime News Network]

Saucer Country #1

Creators | Paul Cornell discusses his upcoming Vertigo series Saucer Country, which combines his love of UFOs with politics: “I don’t like stories about stupid politicians, I like stories about politicians who show skill and daring, and by the end of the first arc, Arcadia’s used her political instincts to get her and her team out of an immediate danger, and on the way to being able to use the powers of a candidate to start investigating what happened to her.” [USA Today]

Creators | Amy Reeder talks about her new gig as the interior artist for Batwoman: “What I like about Kate is that she’s so subtle for a lead character … like she says very little and our job is to read behind the lines, which makes it impossible not to feel invested and empathetic towards her. She’s got a little of the edgy in her. She’s a nuanced balance between feminine and masculine, which is tough to pin down.” [DC Women Kicking Ass]

Creators | Yuko Shimizu, cover artist for Vertigo’s The Unwritten, discusses her process, influences and career. [Multiversity Comics]

Creators | Noelene Clark talks with artist I.N.J. Culbard about his upcoming Vertigo series The New Deadwardians, and adapting H.P. Lovecraft’s At the Mountains of Madness. [Hero Complex]

Friends With Boys

Creators | Eva Volin chats with Faith Erin Hicks about her upcoming graphic novel Friends With Boys, fantasy, young-adult comics, and keeping motivated while struggling with the creation process: “I started doing online comics years and years ago, and even though comics are really hard to create, I fell in love with making them. With comics you have to learn how to draw everything really well. It’s not just drawing people, comics are backgrounds and props and cars and animals and learning to draw these things from all angles and in a style that is appealing and fresh. It’s a constant struggle to update and improve my skills. But even though it’s a struggle, it’s something I really love to do. A well made comic is my favourite thing in the world, and I want to someday be the person who makes that comic and gives a reader enjoyment.  It’s like that completely annoying saying: Nothing worth doing is easy to do. Besides, someone has to make comics about flying unicorns and puppies … (Disclaimer: I have not made this graphic novel yet and probably never will. Apologies to 11 year old me.)” [Good Comics for Kids]

Creators | Writer Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa guests on the comiXologist podcast to talk about his work on the graphic novel Fantastic Four: Season One, and other matters. [comiXology Blog]

Creators | Ryan North answers questions from the public about his upcoming Aventure Time comic. [The BOOM!Pen]

Creators | Katie Monnin interviews Star Wars comics writer John Jackson Miller. Fun fact: He has a master’s degree in Soviet studies. [Graphic Novel Reporter]

Terry Moore announced on his blog last week that he will release his comics digitally via comiXology, beginning with Strangers in Paradise and hopefully going on to Rachel Rising, his current series. Actually, he lets one of his would-be readers, Aaron, do most of the talking:

I went to Bedrock Comics today, asked about Rachel Rising #5, and was told that they only ordered two copies, and both were pre-orders. The shopkeeper said when the book first came out, he ordered more, based on track record, but they didn’t sell. I simply don’t have the time to go searching around, and I don’t buy enough comics to warrant a pull list. I’m not sure what the problem is that there “isn’t a single penny” for you with digital, but I’d buy PDFs straight from this site if I could. Unfortunately, I can’t justify $6.99 plus shipping for a comic….

There is something profoundly wrong with the distribution system when a title from a leading creator can’t be found at a comic store in a major metropolitan area. I can’t see how digital would be any worse for you, and it would be a lot better for me (and I’m betting plenty of others). I want to support your work, but it shouldn’t be this difficult.

This is the problem, in a nutshell, for independent creators like Moore. I’m sure if Aaron were looking for the latest DC or Marvel title, there would be no problem, but it’s hard for retailers to take a risk on titles that may not sell — or that don’t sell well for the first couple of issues. You can’t blame them for that, but it presents an obstacle to new or alternative creators whose work may take a while to catch on. Moore isn’t abandoning print, or the direct market, but he’s a good example of a creator who will probably add readers with digital.

Ron Perazza, right, with Kwanza Johnson

Ron Perazza, who resigned in May as DC Entertainment’s vice president of online, has been named vice president-general manager of publisher and creative services for comiXology, the digital comics retailer and platform provider.

According to the announcement, he will work with co-founder John D. Roberts to develop “comiXology’s next generation publisher and creator tools.”

“There are only a handful of people in the comic book industry that have the depth and breadth of knowledge and experience that Ron does, in taking comic books from the print to the digital world” Roberts said in a statement. “Ron will be instrumental in the creation of a stellar set of next generation tools for our current and future publishing partners. We are confident that Ron will help comiXology take comics to the next level.”

Perazza, who before his promotion in December 2010 was DC’s vice president of creative services, is best known for his role in overseeing the company’s online initiatives, including the defunct Zuda imprint. He reportedly left the company after changing his mind about moving from New York to Burbank, California, with DC’s administration, multimedia and digital-content operations. ComiXology is based in New York City.

Scholastic has premiered a new trailer for Bone: Quest for the Spark, by Tom Sniegoski and Jeff Smith, ahead of the release of the second volume on Feb. 1.

The prose trilogy, which includes illustrations by Smith, follows a new generation of Bone characters into the Valley. Here’s the description of Vol. 2:

The Nacht, the evil dragon that threatens to destroy both the Dreaming and the Waking World, is growing stronger, and twelve-year-old Tom Elm is the champion the Dreaming has chosen to defeat it. Along with Roderick the raccoon, Percival Bone and his nephew and niece, Randolf, Lorimar, and the two stupid Rat Creatures, Tom must race to find the missing pieces of the Spark. This leg of the journey introduces him to a trio of scheming bears and takes him into the depths of a dangerous beehive. And, on top of everything else, a traitor might be among them.

In related news, comiXology is offering the entire Bone series — individual issues and collections alike — at half the download price through Thursday. You can even get the first issue for free.

Will retailers grab their torches and pitchforks to protest this move, as they did when they thought Dark Horse was pricing same-day digital releases below print? Probably not, for a couple of reasons: Bluewater isn’t as big a player in the direct market — it isn’t in Diamond’s Top 10 publishers, and much of its line is aimed at children, who are not the core customers of the direct market.

Beyond that, though, dedicated apps like comiXology and Graphicly seem more like competition for comics stores than e-readers. I think that the latter has broader appeal: While some Kindle comics, like DC’s exclusives, can be read only on the Kindle Fire device, the Bluewater comics can be read on any device with the Kindle or Nook app. This makes the comic more accessible than most, and it’s easy for non-comics readers to stumble upon the comics while looking for books on Romney or Giffords. On the other hand, the comiXology/Comics +/Graphicly ecosystems are set up specifically for comics readers looking for something new — readers who are using digital to supplement or supplant their Wednesday purchases. In other words, with the Kindle and Nook, the subject matter comes first; with comiXology and other apps, the medium — comics — comes first.

This is not black and white, of course. Digital Manga has successfully marketed yaoi manga via the Kindle and the Nook, and DC’s Kindle Fire exclusives were big news. The comiXology app even comes pre-loaded on the Kindle Fire. Still, most of the conversation about digital comics still seems to revolve around comics apps rather than e-readers. Interestingly, I’m not seeing the Bluewater comics on comiXology, so maybe this is a strategy to attract a different audience without cannibalizing direct market sales. (Or maybe comiXology just hasn’t processed the files yet — who knows.)

David Steinberger at NYCC 2010

Digital comics were the big story of 2011, and there is no question that comiXology dominated the field. CEO David Steinberger and his crew realized the potential of digital media to transform comics back in 2007, but they didn’t start on the iPhone. What comiXology did first was put comics solicitations online (as opposed to trapping them in a paper catalog, as Previews does) and set up a system for digital pull lists that users could tie in to participating retailers or simply print out and bring to the store.

Now the comiXology brand means much, much more. They were among the first digital comics distributors on the iPhone and then on the iPad, and their digital comics app, simply titled Comics, is one of the top grossing apps in the iTunes store. They also have their own web store as well as an Android app. ComiXology is also behind almost every comics publisher app, including Marvel, DC, Image, IDW (a recent addition), Dynamite and BOOM! Studios, as well as single-property apps such as Scott Pilgrim, The Walking Dead, and Star Trek.

Brigid Alverson: Let’s drop back and look at the big picture first. We all know comiXology is the biggest digital distributor, and with six of the top seven publishers on board, you are starting to be regarded as a digital monopoly. What are the challenges that come with that?

David Steinberger: First, I think that given the beating that Diamond takes in just about every circle in that way, we need to be very cognizant of how we treat people and how we operate. One of the reasons I think that IDW chose to work with us is that we were executing at a very high level and we were providing consumers with really great experiences. I would take issue that we are anywhere near a monopoly when you have players like Barnes & Noble and Amazon selling comics digitally. I think we are a majority of the market, but it’s very early. There is room for several players. We are blessed by having a lot of validation in the marketplace, between IDW switching their apps over to us and our inclusion as a preloaded application for Kindle Fire.

We really believe that when we started putting together comiXology, one reason we succeeded was because there were tools that Diamond could have created that they didn’t, and with all respect to Diamond, getting out that many books to that many retailers every Wednesday is a task. They are very reliable and they pay on time, which is very important, but getting your catalog online—if you are not in a monopoly-like situation, you would be building those tools. If I were Diamond, I would be building those tools.

The most important thing for me is that we continue to make great experiences finding and reading comics. You can’t slow down and say OK, we now own this marketplace and we can just kind of hang back and not innovate. That’s especially not true in digital. It’s not true in print either, but that’s what everybody fears, that somehow we are going to stop listening to our customers, stop taking care of the publishers, and that’s just not how it’s going. We released version 3.0 [of the iOS app] last year, we did the Kindle Fire apps, we are today going into public beta with a HTML-based web store, so we are not sitting still. Consumers worry they are creating a Diamond of digital, they worry that we are not going to continue to innovate and improve the experience, but we are. So I am not worried in that way. I understand where people are coming from because we power both Marvel and DC, but they are available in other channels, and you can’t underestimate the competition from retailers like Amazon.

We still don’t have any social stuff in the app. I’m sure our competitors look at that and say “There’s the opening.” Our whole philosophy is to expand the market. That has been our philosophy from the beginning. That’s one of the cool things about this year: We are a non-disruptive digital force in a market that does not need to be disrupted because of the way it is put together. Suddenly it is 2011, it looks like we are going to have an up year in print, and we certainly had an up year in digital. This will be looked back on as the year comiXology got all the pieces of its programs, including our affiliate programs, some of which are making real money, which is exactly the point of this whole thing—building a platform that is buy once, read anywhere, and giving retailers the ability to be involved with that. So in one way there is an achievement for us that is personally gratifying, we got there. It wasn’t on the exact schedule we projected, it doesn’t look exactly like I thought it would look, yet there are retailers that are happily participating in it, and we are in every platform that I would call a good marketplace.

Alverson: ComiXology is available on a lot of different platforms. Can you give us a snapshot of how popular they are relative to one another?

Steinberger: The iOS has a lead in terms of just being first to have a great product at a good price out in the market, which is the iPad. More and more people actually use our website, once they discover it, to shop and buy, and I hope with the HTML release, more will do that. It’s quicker. You don’t have to wait for approvals like on the iOS and the Amazon app store.

It’s kind of an unfair look, because Apple has had so much time to be ahead, and we have been building the audience for almost two-and-a-half years. July 2009 was the iPhone, and the iPad came out 2010, so it’s only a year and a half old, but it’s ahead of everyone. The Android market has a lot of devices, but you buy an iPad to consume stuff, watch movies, read comics, unlike the phone. We have a ton of downloads on Android but more purchases on iPad.

Alverson: So you think of the Android platform as a phone, as opposed to a tablet?

Steinberger: Yes, although the Kindle Fire is an Android device. I think it has a tremendous amount of promise in tablets; we have more Android sales on tablets. With the Kindle Fire, now you have this gorgeous screen, $199 price point, and a device that was created to consume media. Amazon has made a real consumption device. Everything about the interface is about getting to your media and purchasing it. And at an incredible price point, so they are going to sell a ton of them. It’s really amazing—you just go to the app area and there is our icon. That means somebody doesn’t have to search for us. So that is going to change the pie quite a bit over the next six months.

That doesn’t mean they are taking away share from Apple; they are adding share. Apple continues to grow at a very, very rapid rate, and the device market continues to grow at a very, very rapid rate. Our job is to make our app discoverable. The Kindle Fire preload is the ultimate in discoverability, and on our roadmap this year very heavily is customer acquisition, letting people know about it, people who are not just comics people.

Alverson: With the IDW acquisition, you at least doubled the number of stand-alone apps you have for specific properties, such as Star Trek. How well do these perform compared to the publisher-specific apps and the general Comics app?

Steinberger: We will do them as appropriate. It is still a discoverability issue in the app stores. Having the Walking Dead comics app—iTunes did a whole AMC area of their store, and as part of that they had a Walking Dead section. There’s a Walking Dead page where they have the current season, past season, music, and apps, and there is our Walking Dead app, and books, audiobooks, podcasts. If we had simply left The Walking Dead in the comics app, iTunes wouldn’t have featured it alongside the TV show. So yes, as the opportunities come up and as media properties are comic connected, we will do that as necessary.

I did an interview with someone who wanted a job here. I said “Do you read comics?” and she said “Only recently. I started reading The Walking Dead after watching the TV show.” That’s a great example of a comic that is a media property introducing somebody new. Without having a top-level visibility in the store, we wouldn’t see that as well.

Alverson: Are you planning to do a lot more of that?

Steinberger: No more than we have been doing.

Alverson: Have you considered adding any type of subscription model so people could automatically get new comics added to their devices, or some sort of digital pull list that actually puts the comics on your desktop, ready to buy?

Steinberger: I think that is a great idea.

Alverson: Is it in the works now?

Steinberger: I don’t have anything now. It’s certainly something we have been thinking a lot about it. It’s a no-brainer.

Alverson: For some reason, the manga publishers are not going with comiXology. Why do you think that is? Are you going to try to capture any manga publishers?

Steinberger: I would love to have more manga. We talk about it; it’s something we have discussions with publishers about. I would love to have a ton of manga. I would love to do a specific app for it. Getting the content is a little more complicated than dealing with U.S. publishers, but certainly that is a shingle we have out and are discussing with different players.

In the iTunes 2011 Rewind, there were three comics apps: comiXology, Marvel, and DC. Those three apps were in the top 100 grossing iPad apps. We would have been in the top ten had it been just the last few months, easily. I think that says a lot about where we stand in terms of how many consumers we are reaching, comparatively. Doing your own app is great, otherwise we wouldn’t support and improve the white-label app experience. DC and Marvel have apps that speak to their audience. But it’s no requirement of mine for anyone to transfer all their existing apps to us. It was a wonderful experience with IDW, we are proud of that, but we are now a pretty good market unto ourselves. I’m very proud that we power the three apps that are the top grossing iPad apps that are about comics. That gives you some sense of where everyone else stands in comparison and as an opportunity for those publishers who haven’t joined us. I would love to have tons of manga, I would love to be selling Dark Horse comics. We are all about just selling comics, and we have miles to go on being better at that.

Alverson: There has been a lot of conversation about price, particularly for comics that are released the same day in digital and print. How much input, if any, do you have into prices?

Steinberger: There are different forms of contract, and with some of them we choose and some of them we don’t. Of course, we have data and trends and lots of information about how people behave to help publishers make decisions. Again, one of the reasons we have succeeded is we are very friendly to publishers, and when they came in five years ago, when we first started putting together our business plan, they were all running scared of digital, that digital was going to collapse print. Part of that is, for some publishers, price equivalency. Archie has less to lose in the direct market, so they can take that risk and determine whether they are selling a whole lot more.

Most publishers did price at 99 cents to start, and a few of them still do, except for the brand new stuff—like Red 5, most of their stuff is 99 cents. When we got The Walking Dead, Kirkman said, “I think the material is worth more than this, I think people think it’s worth more than this,” and that’s when the switch started happening. There is a value to a comic book. I agree that for most it is more than 99 cents. The big complaint is day and date, with the price the same in digital as in print. Publishers are still rightly concerned about whether retailers are going to buy their product. That’s what happened with Dark Horse—they had a couple of retailers threaten not to buy their books.

Alverson: Some people argue with digital media that you make more money selling a lot of units at a lower price than a few units at a high price. Have you seen that phenomenon with comics?

Steinberger: I think that there is a perceived value issue. If you throw everything at 99 cents, the perceived value is very low. We have had instances where we move comics from 99 cents to $1.99 and we sell more units, so the price is an indicator to the consumer that this is a valuable thing. This is not the standard, but we have examples of that happening.

Alverson: Can you give me an example?

Steinberger: No, the publisher would tie me up. It wasn’t just one. One did it and then another one did it, partially so you could have sales. Who knows what the magic number is, but $1.99 is still an inexpensive purchase. But it says something, the 99 cents vs. 1.99 says OK, this is higher quality. It doesn’t say I’m ripping you off. Some people would argue that the $3.99 books are too expensive.

Alverson: I would argue that. I won’t pay $3.99 for a digital comic.

Steinberger: They are selling quite well, I am sorry to report. The question is, would you sell more than twice as much if you drop the price in half? That is an experiment that hasn’t happened yet. DC has a public policy of dropping their day and date prices a by dollar a month after the comic comes out.

Alverson: Do you see a sales bump on that day?

Steinberger: Not as much as much as you might expect, but sure.

We do sales practically three times a week. They are very effective. It depends on the content, and at the end of the day, this is about great content. We have a really good experience—we can improve in some ways but we have a good experience in buying and reading comics. All we need to make that work well is good content. Price, how things do when they are on sale, all that depends on the content.

Alverson: How is your Comics 4 Kids app doing?

Steinberger: Not as well as I want it to. It has amazing content at this point.

Alverson: How many titles do you have on there?

Steinberger: A couple of thousand at least. We have Charlie Brown on there now, Bone has been on there, lots of really great content.

Alverson: Do you think the problem is that it’s an app branded for kids?

Steinberger: Yeah, probably. We have been rethinking that, trying to make a determination what we can do to stimulate that. It’s a good app. It has a lot of great content. People should be finding it.

Alverson: One of the problems we heard about a lot in the early days of comics on the iPad was Apple’s content restrictions. Is that still an issue, and if so, how do you deal with it?

Steinberger: I think they have lightened up a little bit. I don’t see it as much of an issue at all. We haven’t tried to distribute Lost Girls or anything, but in general I think we put out 300 and some books a week right now, and first of all, it’s not reasonable for them to look over everything, but also they have gotten to the point where they trust us. And we are a 17 and over app, so they have parental controls.

Alverson: On the IDW move: You were already carrying IDW comics in your Comics app. How does this change things from the reader’s point of view?

Steinberger: From a user’s point of view, you went from this kind of lock-in to a single app—you couldn’t even read a comic on the IDW app if you bought it on the Transformers app. I think we had tens of thousands of people create accounts in the first five days. Suddenly they are untethered to the single app. There are a lot of people that really love guided view, and now they have guided view. That alone for our production staff was a herculean effort between NYCC, when we announced IDW was coming to our app in general, and last week.

Alverson: What about the retailer storefronts? There was a lot of skepticism when you first rolled them out, but how are they working out?

Steinberger: We just released a new version of our terms of service with retailers, and the retailer storefronts will also benefit from the HTML store. That’s on the roadmap. We are continuing to communicate and expand those relationships. We have done very well with ICv2 helping us be the customer-facing part of the relationship. And over-deliver. Everybody was really cautious and saying there is a threshold meaning they have to make a certain amount of money before we pay them and that we are getting the customer information. Both those things are untrue. They [the retailers] are being paid on a monthly basis no matter how much they make, and we are continuing to nurture those relationships and improve the tools we are making for them.

Alverson: What can we expect from comiXology in the coming year?

Steinberger: There are lots of improvements to the store that we will be making over the next 12 months. There are improvements to the app still to be made. We haven’t finished a real 3.0 build for Android yet, so that is a big deal. We are focused on making the partner apps, the white-label apps, a great branded experience for our publishing partners, continuing to add on functionality for spreading the word about comics. Finding new readers for comics is a huge priority. Continuing to expand the market continues to be a big deal, probably forever for us. We do think that we will have a couple of announcements for some new hires, people we are bringing in to help us make better tools for digital comics, help people to get onto the platform more easily.

Being here and having the achievements we have had, I feel very lucky to be a part of it and help comics come into a digital age. It is a very gratifying experience, and I hope we continue to make people happy over the next few years.

One of the reasons that the digital comics distributor comiXology has done so well is that it syncs well across a number of platforms, including iOS, Android and the web. Their web store is convenient for those who prefer browsing and buying on their computer, but the Flash-based interface is a bit buggy—it never scrolled properly in my Safari browser, for instance—so I was happy to hear that they have relaunched the web store using HTML5 for the browsing and buying interface.

They also redesigned it, which is a relief; if I have one complaint about comiXology, it’s their tendency to throw a bewildering array of comics onto the screen all at once. The original webstore put a ton of comics on the front page (a page that didn’t scroll properly, remember), while this new one mirrors the design of their iPad app, with a smaller selection and tabs to allow the reader to go deeper. Navigation is pretty straightforward—the site is a little slow, but it is still in beta. The comics reader is still in Flash for now.

ComiXology CEO David Steinberger has more details at the comiXology blog, and I spoke to him about the new storefront yesterday. While the iOS app remains the most popular channel, he said, “More and more people actually use our website, once they discover it, to shop and buy, and I hope with the HTML5 release, more will do that.” One of the new features of the web store is that users can gift a cart, rather than just a single comic. “Right now we are going to finish releasing all of Bone, so you will be able to add the whole Bone series to your card and gift it to somebody,” Steinberger said. “We have Sandman at a very competitive price to the paperback. Comics people create more comics people by getting in tune with their friends and gifting them comics.”

Also, if you pay full price at comiXology, you’re not paying attention; they run different sales all week long, and at the moment they have three different holiday sales going on: A Batman 201 sale, a Marvel Major Players sale, and a Holiday Sale featuring indy publishers Oni Press, BOOM! Studios, Image, Dynamite, and IDW. Lots of good stuff here: The Sixth Gun, Robert Kirkman’s Super Dinosaur, Doctor Who, Mark Waid’s Irredeemable, and one of my favorite comics of the year, Spontaneous (the first issue is free, so you can now pick up the whole five-issue arc for four bucks).

Atomic Comics inventory

Retailing | The inventory Arizona retail chain Atomic Comics, which abruptly closed its four locations in late August amid the bankruptcy of owner Michael Malve, will be sold at auction Jan. 3 Jan. 10 in Phoenix, both live and online. Known nationally for its in-store signings, innovative marketing and sheer size, the 23-year-old chain gained international exposure last year when its name and logo were featured prominently in Kick-Ass, the film adaptation of the comic by Mark Millar and John Romita Jr. Photos of the inventory to be liquidated can be found on the website of the auction company. Update: The date of the auction has changed to Jan. 10. [Sierra Auction Management]

Publishing | Tom Spurgeon continues his yearly holiday interview series by talking to Tom Neely, Emily Nilsson and Virginia Paine about the future of Sparkplug Comic Books. [The Comics Reporter]

Publishing | Tim Stroup, co-founder of the Grand Comics Database, recently dug up some old comics sales figures from the 1940s; John Jackson Miller analyzes them and reaches an interesting conclusion: “comics may be reaching far fewer eyeballs, but it’s a more profitable business to be in today.” [The Comichron]

comiXology

Digital | ComiXology CEO David Steinberger talks about the development of comiXology, including his initial inspiration, which was to create a way for people to see new releases and create pull lists via the internet. [Mashable Business]

Publishing | Tina Anderson, who publishes her own graphic novels, had a good year in 2011, and she provides an interesting view of the business end of self-publishing from the author’s perspective—not just how big a share of the sales she gets but also what it’s like dealing with Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and other distributors and retailers in terms of efficiency, accuracy, and benefit to the creator. [Gynocrat, Ink.]

Retailing | The Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs spotlights the comic shop Comics N’ Vegetables’ win of the Will Eisner Spirit of Comics Retailer Award last summer. [The Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs]

Batman #4

Creators | Scott Snyder discusses his run at Batman, in particular this week’s issue, which he says is “one of the emotional keystones of the entire run.” [USA Today]

Creators | Drew Friedman discusses his latest book, Old Jewish Comedians. [Heeb]

Commentary | Matthew Meylikhov makes the case for buying Gødland. [Multiversity Comics]

Commentary | Patrick Smith reviews the first two issues of Action Lab Entertainment’s Princeless. [Spandexless]

Commentary | Alyssa Rosenberg explores questions of magic and mental illness in Paul Tobin and Colleen Coover’s Gingerbread Girl. [ThinkProgress]

Education | Mohammed Yohan profiles a high school graphic novel course in which students not only read graphic novels but create their own. [my.hsj.org]

It’s big news, but in an insider-baseball sort of way. Readers who are already riding on the digital comics bandwagon won’t notice a difference. IDW started putting its comics on the comiXology digital comics service a few months ago, and when I checked iVerse’s Comics + app this morning, the IDW comics hadn’t disappeared. That isn’t surprising: IDW has spread its nets wide, putting comics on everything from the Kindle to the manga site eManga. So the headline on the press release is really just a change in the back end. What is really significant is that comiXology now has nearly a complete collection, providing digital distribution and branded apps for almost every major publisher except Dark Horse (which has its own app) and Archie (which puts their comics on comiXology’s Comics app but has iVerse run their branded app).

IDW also announced that it will be releasing all of its comics simultaneously in digital and print, with the digital cover price the same as print. That is consistent with the general trend and, in general, same-day digital publication is a good idea (given that it is happening illegally anyway, so the publishers might as well get in on the game). Pricing digital the same as print ignores the general perception that digital comics are worth less than print editions. I’m not sure ignoring that perception is a good idea, but it’s early days yet, and it will be interesting to see what the prevailing model is a year from now.

Over the past few months, a group of Zuda alums have released a new four-issue series titled D.O.G.S. Of War direct to digital on the comiXology platform. Described as a mash-up between space drama and Lord of the Flies with a big dose of horror, the series recently concluded online, but it’s not done yet.

Artist Paul Maybury is currently prepping the book for a collected print edition due out in 2012. In addition to fine-tuning the colors, Maybury is going back and elaborating on some scenes. Readers can go back and buy the original digital version for just $3, or wait til 2012 for the deluxe print edition.

Here’s a trailer a fan cut together (with an awesome David Bowie soundtrack) to clue you in more on the series:

Harvey Comics Classics Vol. 1

Yesterday we kicked off our holiday gift-giving guide, where we asked creators like Jim McCann, Matt Kindt and more for gift suggestion and what they’d want to receive this year. Today we’re back with six more creators, and we asked them the same questions:

1. What comic-related gift or gifts would you recommend giving this year, and why?
2. What gift (comic or otherwise) is at the top of your personal wish list, and why?

So without further ado, let the joy continue …

Jeff Parker

1. If you have young children, you can give them hours of quality time with any of Dark Horse’s Harvey Comics collections. My kids have been poring through them repeatedly. I’ll be following up with old back issues of Casper, Dot, Richie Rich and Hot Stuff from the local comics shops; they’re always very cheap.

2. I would not sneeze at getting that Donald Duck: Lost in the Andes volume from Fantagraphics.

Jeff Parker is the writer of Hulk, Thunderbolts and the webcomic Bucko.

Tim Seeley

All-Star Superman

1. I’m a firm believer in buying comics for everyone on your list, even if they aren’t an avid fan. Make ‘em a fan! All-Star Superman for the superhero fan, Dungeons & Dragons from IDW for the gamer, Habibi for the sophisticated reader, and, of course, my Hack/Slash Omnibi for the horror fan. Or, if you’re planning on dropping a bit more, might I suggest an iPad, loaded with comics apps?

2. I want the collected version of the web strip OGLAF, which I thoroughly enjoy. I wouldn’t mind a CS Moore Witchblade statue to inspire me while I write.

Tim Seeley seems to be all over the place lately, whether it’s writing the new Bloodstrike series from Extreme or Witchblade for Top Cow, drawing issues of Marvel’s Generation Hope, or working on his own creations like Hack/Slash and Jack Kraken. There’s a good chance I forgot something, but you can follow him on Twitter to learn more.

Ross Campbell

1. Comic-related gifts I recommend:

Remake

• Remake/Remake Special by Lamar Abrams (AdHouse): This is the funniest comic I’ve ever read. The first Remake is awesome and the second volume, Remake Special, somehow managed to top it, ending up one of my favorite comics of all time.
• IDW’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles hardcover volume one: since the old Turtles collections are so hard to find, it’s cool IDW is reprinting the original Eastman and Laird material. This first book has issues 1-7 and the Raphael one-shot, and even though it would’ve been cooler if they put the first 11 issues and all four one-shots together like the original collected book back in the day, this one is a great place to start. I hope they eventually get to a “City At War” collection!
• Anya’s Ghost by Vera Brosgol (First Second): one of my favorite comics of the year and also Brosgol’s debut book, i think this is probably a pretty good gift to new and seasoned comic readers alike. awesome art, charming characters, solid one-and-done story.

2. Personal gifts:

• A new computer would be nice; my current one sure is finicky.
• The new X-Force books collecting the old Fabian Nicieza/Rob Liefeld/Greg Capullo stuff would also be nice. I think there are three out so far with a fourth yet to be released.

Ross Campbell is the creator of the Wet Moon and Shadoweyes series of graphic novels, and is the artist on the upcoming relaunch of Glory for Extreme Studios.

Kody Chamberlain

CLiNT #6

1. For those with (or receiving) a digital tablet, I would take advantage of the ComiXology “Gift This Comic” feature to share some of the great comics you know and love with friends and family. Just pick out a few titles you think they might enjoy and get ‘em hooked! I think this is a great gift for savvy readers AND new readers. It’s also a great opportunity to introduce kids to some of the better young reader titles on the market.

A subscription to CLiNT magazine is also a great idea for savvy readers AND new readers. The magazine offers quality pop culture coverage and a steady stream of quality serialized comics that readers might have overlooked. So far, each issue has been fantastic.

2. The top comic-related gifts on my list are Richard Stark’s Parker: The Martini Edition by Darwyn Cooke and Genius, Isolated: The Life and Art of Alex Toth hardcover. Both from IDW Publishing.

Kody Chamberlain is the creator of Sweets: A New Orleans Crime Story, which is available at ” just about any quality comic shop or bookstore, including Amazon.com.” He and Joshua Fialkov will launch Punks: The Comic at MTV this month as a part of the MTV Comics digital imprint.

Ian Brill

The Storyteller

1. Jim Henson’s The Storyteller, Vol. 1: I was lucky enough to pick up an early copy at NYCC. It is one of the rare anthologies that delivers in both variety and quality. The format, based on the 1988 HBO show from Jim Henson, is based on exploring myths and folktales with visual flair. It’s a fantastic line-up of creators: Roger Langridge (being colored by the fantastic Jordie Bellaire), Colleen Coover, Paul Tobin, Jeff Parker, Tom Fowler, Katie Cook, and many more amazing talents. With its wide-ranging concept, all bound by a simple-to-grasp concept, I feel there’s something here to please all readers. I have experience editing anthologies before (the CBGB comic series) and I know the challenges therein. I feel editor Nathan Cosby did triumphant work here.

2. Evan Dorkin’s Milk & Cheese comic is an all-time fav. I discovered them pretty young, and they made a huge impression on me in terms of humor, storytelling, as well as how much you can jam into a short comic story. I wouldn’t mind the Milk & Cheese: Dairy Products Gone Bad collection from Dark Horse, which collects all of these little guys’ appearances under one cover.

Ian Brill, a former editor at BOOM! Studios, is the writer of things undead and feathered: he has three stories in Zombie Tales Omnibus: Outbreak and wrote the series Darkwing Duck and Chip ‘N’ Dale Rescue Rangers.

Jamaica Dyer

Batwoman

1. I would give the Batwoman graphic novel and first three issues of the new series. It is absolutely amazing to have a book with art this gorgeous, a story this strong, and such a complex cast of female characters. I love everything about it, and think I could turn a lot of my non-comic-reading friends on with the storyline.

2. A Winsor and Newton watercolor travel set. This is a vital tool for painting comics!

Jamaica Dyer is the creator of Weird Fishes and the upcoming Fox Head Stew, which will be released online in 2012. Follow the process at jamaicad.com.

Blackest Friday

ComiXology has a bunch of digital comics for 99 cents today. DC Comics is holding a Blackest Friday sale, allowing you to buy each issue of the Blackest Night crossover for 99 cents each. Marvel has Jonathan Hickman’s Fantastic Four issues on sale for 99 cents, while IDW has their Star Trek comics on sale.

Dark Horse is running a pretty amazing digital comics sale for Black Friday only: A megabundle of all the single-issue Star Wars comics available in their digital comics store, over 130 issues altogether, for $100. That’s 3,274 pages of Star Wars comics, in case you’re counting, and it’s $166 less than you would pay if you bought them all separately.

They have also figured out how to run a doorbuster special digitally: On Cyber Monday (Nov. 28), the first 500 customers through their checkout will get a 50% discount. There’s a $20 minimum, and the deal runs for 24 hours beginning at midnight PST on Nov. 28; you’ll also need a coupon code, which is provided at the link.

Khepri Comics is putting comics on sale and helping to save the cheetahs, with different sales all weekend and into Cyber Monday:

Fri 25 Nov – Black Friday – Please Enjoy 40% OFF HARDCOVERS with coupon CHEETAH40FRI
Sat 26 Nov – Small Biz Saturday – Enjoy 50% OFF SELF-PUBLISHED with coupon CHEETAH50SAT
Sun 27 Nov – Adjectiveless Sunday – Enjoy 40% OFF CREATOR-OWNED with coupon CHEETAH40SUN
Mon 28 Nov – Cyber Monday – Please Enjoy 40% OFF EVERYTHING with coupon CHEETAH40MON

Midtown Comics has comics, graphic novels and statues on sale.

Things from Another World has steep discounts going right now for selected items, plus $10, $5 and $1 doorbusters.

Chuck BB is holding a Black Metal Black Friday Super Brutal Blind Art Sale, where you can buy pages from Black Metal and get a sketch for $50.

Top Cow will have stuff in their online store discounted all weekend …

…as will Aspen Comics.

Jeff Smith’s Boneville site is holding a signature sale through mid-December, where every book ordered will be signed by Smith.

Fantagraphics minicomics

Don’t forget about Fantagraphics special mini-comics offer through their online store.

Mimoco has all their designer flash drives for 25 percent off, which include drives based on Batman, Green Lantern, Star Wars and more.

Threadless is holding a $10 T-shirt sale this weekend, so you can get those cool robot shirts by Ethan Nicolle, Becky Cloonan, JR Goldberg and Jhonen Vasquez for cheap.

MattyCollector has a ton of action figures on sale, including some of their past San Diego Comic Con exclusives and several Justice League Unlimited packs. Plus, the Rockers!

For more deals and bargains, check out the lists at The Beat and ComicsAlliance. And if you’ve seen any that I’ve missed, please post them in our comments section. Happy shopping!

Top Shelf goes digital

Both Top Shelf and comiXology sent out press releases this morning announcing that they’ve launched two new apps for the Apple iOS, one for general readers and one aimed at kids.

The Top Shelf Productions iOS App will include comics and graphic novels like From Hell by Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell, Essex County by Jeff Lemire and Infinite Kung Fu by Kagan McLeod. The Top Shelf Kids Club iOS App will feature books like Owly by Andy Runton and Johnny Boo by James Kochalka, among others. Purchases on these apps will sync across the Comics by comiXology platform — iOS, Android and the Web.

To help promote the launch, Top Shelf and comiXology are offering five graphic novels at reduced prices for the next week:

$1.99 for League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: 1910 by Alan Moore & Kevin O’Neill
$1.99 for Owly book 1 by Andy Runton
$0.99 for Johnny Boo book 1 by James Kochalka
$1.99 for Clumsy by Jeffrey Brown
$2.99 for The Surrogates by Robert Venditti & Brett Weldele

Additionally, Wednesday will see the comiXology debut of the newly remastered Top Shelf edition of Lost Dogs, the Xeric-award-winning first graphic novel by Jeff Lemire. The graphic novel returns to print next year.

Top Shelf emphasized that in addition to comiXology, their books are also available through other digital providers, like Graphicly, Comics+ by iVerse, Apple iBooks and Google Books. More titles will continue to roll out on every platform in the days to come, including the Nook and Kindle Fire devices, as well as the Diamond Digital program which partners with comic shops. New “buy digital” buttons now appear throughout their website, offering easy access to digital editions in every available format.

The 99 was created by Dr. Naif Al-Mutawa as a way to promote peace and understanding; the title refers to the 99 names of God, and the characters are envisioned as role models embodying Islamic values that are shared by other cultures. We asked comiXology CEO David Steinberger to talk to us about this new addition to the line.

Robot 6: I know you have done single-property apps before, like Scott Pilgrim, and publisher and retailer webstores, but is this the first single-property webstore?

David Steinberger: We did a Transformers dedicated Web Store a few months back, but that’s the only other one. In that case, it was starting a new relationship. For this one, it’s that this is a special property — the only one from Teshkeel — and together we determined it should be sold directly on their site.

Robot 6: Why did you feel this particular property merits its own app and webstore?

David: Everyone at comiXology thinks that what Naif and his crew at Teshkeel are trying to do with The 99 is pretty important. We really wanted to put our shoulder in to this project and give The 99 as much exposure as we could.

Robot 6: Is it available worldwide or just in North America?

David: All these books are available worldwide.

Robot 6: This is one property that would seem to have a broad appeal among people who don’t necessarily read a lot of comics. Are you doing any marketing outside the usual channels?

David: Teshkeel does a great job promoting The 99, so right now, we are focusing on getting as much content into the App as fast as we can. As that runs its course, we will certainly work with Teshkeel on new promotional opportunities. We need to figure out the right opportunities, at the right time. Our goal is to get The 99 in front of as many people as possible!

[Note: This article originally stated that the 99 was based on the 99 names of the Prophet Mohammed and was corrected on November 11.]

Tintin in the Congo

Comics | Calling Tintin a “Catholic hero,” the Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano took strong exception to the decision by U.K. publisher Egmont to sell the controversial Tintin in the Congo with a protective band around it — or, as the paper says, “wrapped up like a pornographic magazine and consigned to the adults-only section” of bookstores because of its portrayal of racial stereotypes. If you’re going to do that, the editorial argues, why not ban Boy Scouts, which were founded by notorious eugenicist Anthony Baden-Powell? “But then, he was English,” the paper snidely concludes. [Agence France-Presse]

Digital | ComiXology confirmed Tuesday that the Comics by Comixology app will be available for Amazon’s Kindle Fire when it goes on sale next week. ComiXology CEO David Steinberger said the company is prepared for the smaller screen size the Fire has, compared to the iPad: “Ah, well we’re lucky there, because our Guided View reading technology was designed first for a very small device — the iPhone — long before tablets became the norm. A great comics reading experience is one of the core reasons we’re so successful, and it translates great to all devices, from small to large. The Comics by comiXology reading experience is the same on all platforms, so it’s going to be very familiar to our fans. You can toggle in and out of Guided View with a simple double-tap. The Fire has a great screen, and for those pages that have lettering a little too hard to read, Guided View is a fun way to get in there and see the details.” [Chicago Sun Times]

21: The Story of Roberto Clemente

Awards | 21: The Story of Roberto Clemente by Wilfred Santiago is a finalist for the CASEY Award for Best Baseball Book of the Year, presented by Spitball: The Literary Baseball Magazine. [Flog!]

Publishing | ICv2 has a lengthy interview with Seiji Horibuchi, the founder and CEO of Viz Media, the largest manga publisher in the U.S. Horibuchi reflects on the boom in manga sales in the early 2000s, the recent slide in sales, and the pressure on manga publishers to move to digital format. [ICv2]

Creators | VICE interviews R. Crumb about his drawing for a New Yorker cover, showing two people of ambiguous gender and a confused marriage-license clerk. The New Yorker paid Crumb for the drawing but decided not to run it on the cover. [VICE]

Orchid #2

Creators | Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello and artist Scott Hepburn talk about their Dark Horse series Orchid. [The Blog From Another World]

Creators | King Features editor Brendan Burford and creator Norm Feuti have been blogging about bringing Feuti’s comic Gil from webcomic to newspaper syndication. Their most recent discussion involves bringing a difficult character into conformity with the boundaries of the comics page. [The Road to Syndication]

Creators | Robot 6′s own Michael May talks about writing the webcomic Kill All Monsters. [Panel Bound]

Comics | Burlesque performer Roxi D’Lite talks about her appearances in Eric Powell’s The Goon comics: “Eric Powell first contacted me a few years back on as part of his research for an earlier issue of The Goon. I had never heard of The Goon or Eric Powell so my first thought before seeing his work was that he was some amateur living in his parent’s basement drawing funny pictures of naked ladies but I couldn’t have been more wrong. I asked around and everybody’s was like, ‘What!? The Eric Powell?’ I learned he is a multiple award-winning artist and a titan in the comic industry, but even without knowing that his work speaks for itself. It was an honor being contacted by him and he has become one of my favorite artists. We hit it off and he invited me to perform at The Goon’s 10-year anniversary party in Nashville and we’ve been friends ever since.” [Metromix Detroit]

The Twelve

• Marvel has announced plans to finally release the last few issues of The Twelve, starting in January. “It’s taken a long while, but finally, FINALLY, the balance of The Twelve has been completed and we’re ready to ship it all to our long-suffering fans,” said Tom Brevoort, senior vice president and execuitve editor. “We appreciate everybody’s patience, and both hope and expect that the conclusion will live up to the wait. And for folks who missed out the first time, we’re making it easy to get back on board no matter how much or how little of the previous eight issues you may have already read, though the release of the softcover trade paperback of the first six issues, and a Marvel Must-Have containing #7 and #8. So you’ve got no excuse not to experience one of the best reviewed, best beloved and long-awaited series Marvel has ever produced as it reaches its ultimate climax.”

• Fantagraphics has released their publishing catalog for Spring/Summer 2012, which includes their first two EC Comics collections, Gary Panter’s Dal Tokyo, more manga from Shimura Takako and Moto Hagio, and new volumes of Peanuts, Mickey Mouse, Carl Barks, Captain Easy, among others. The full catalog is available as a PDF.

• Antony Johnston and Oni Press plan to get the ongoing series Wasteland back on track, starting with issue #33. The issue will cost a $1 and will be the first by new artist Justin Greenwood.

• Dark Horse has announced several stories that will run in future issues of their anthology series Dark Horse Presents. In addition to Brandon Graham’s “The Speaker” in issue #7, they’ve also got Steve Horton and Michael Dialynas’ “Amala’s Blade” in issue #9 and and “Buddy Cops” by Nate Cosby, Evan Shaner and Rus Wooton also in #9. And Fabio Moon reminds us he has a story in this month’s issue, #6.

Fox Head Stew

• Weird Fishes creator Jamaica Dyer shares preview artwork for her upcoming graphic novel Fox Head Stew.

• Both writer Jamie S. Rich and artist Dan Christensen tease a new project they’re working on for Oni Press.

• Artist Joe Infurnari says that the graphic novel he’s been working on with Boaz Yakin, Marathon, is now complete. It’s due from First Second in June 2012 and tells the story of the first Greco-Persian war at Marathon.

• In pointing out that the last issue of Dogs of Mars is out on comiXology, Paul Maybury notes that he is “currently remastering the colors and redrawing a lot of panels in preparation for the collected version which will see print next year.”

• Speaking of Maybury, he also shares the exclusive variant cover he did for Unite and Take Over: Stories Inspired by the Songs of the Smiths. Meanwhile, Jennifer de Guzman says that she has been asked to contribute to a second volume of the anthology.

We’ve compiled a list of all the openings in the comics industry for non-creative office positions and put it all into one place. It’s a good resource if you’re looking to work in comics, and also for armchair speculators seeing what companies are looking to do by seeing what positions they’re hiring for. We accumulated these by looking on publisher websites and job boards — if you know of a job not listed here, let us know!

Marvel Entertainment

• Desktop Analyst
• Linux & SAN System Administrator
• Manager, Digital Customer Acquisition
• Network System Administrator
• Retail Analyst
• Systems Administrator, Marvel Digital Media Group

DC Entertainment

• Associate Editor
• Executive Assistant II

Note: DC doesn’t allow internal linking; go to Time Warner’s career page and search for DC Comics.

IDW Publishing

• Senior Editor

Viz Media

• Digital Business Manager
• Animation Marketing Manager
• Publishing Marketing Manager
• Financial Analyst

Diamond Comics Distributors

• Director of Business Development, Comic Book Specialty Market (CBSM)
• Part Time Retail Sales Associate (GEM)
• Retail Sales Manager (GEM)
• Tech Support/Point of Sale Specialist (DCD)

Graphic.ly

• Product Designer
• Super Marketer

Comixology

• Quality Assurance (QA) Engineer – Mobile and Web
• Senior Mobile Developer
• Project Manager
• Admin (Temp to Perm)
• Temp Admin – Project is through 12/9 (possibly extended to 12/16)

An additional note: Many comic companies hire interns. Check with each publisher’s website to see the details and the hiring process.

Comics by comiXology

Digital | Comics by ComiXology has topped Apple’s charts as the top-grossing iPad application for the last six Wednesdays. ComiXology cited the launch of DC’s New 52 initiative, as well as many other comic companies moving to a same-day digital release schedule, as reasons for its success. “When have comic books, not comic book movies, not comic book merchandise, but the actual comic books been #1 in anything, much less high tech?” comiXology CEO David Steinberger said in a statement. “Being the number one grossing iPad application six Wednesdays in a row isn’t just a huge milestone for comiXology, but a huge milestone for comics as a medium … and we could not be prouder.” [press release]

Creators | An auction for the naming rights to a character in Mark Millar and Dave Gibbons’ The Secret Service raised $5,100 for St. Bartholomew’s Primary School, where Millar attended. The money will be used to pay for field trips for the school’s students. “I’m a former pupil at St. Bartholomew’s and have so many great memories of the place,” Millar said. “I know there’s not a lot of money in local government at the moment and I was sad to hear that the annual school trip for the children had been cancelled. By establishing this fund, I hope to have a pot the head-teacher can dip into every Christmas and take the entire school to a pantomime every year.” [Airdrie & Coatbridge Advertiser]

Brian Azzarello (by Seth Kushner)

Creators | Christopher Irving profiles Wonder Woman and Spaceman writer Brian Azzarello. [NYC Graphic]

Creators | Werewolves of Montpellier creator Jason discusses his career and influences, including Tintin creator Herge: “I borrowed his albums at the library as a kid. I started drawing my own cartoons. And I think you can have a much worse teacher than Hergé. It’s not really the clear line that is the most important thing, even if that is part of what I like with him, it’s more the very clear storytelling that you find in his books. On page three you’re hooked. I think you can read his books in a foreign language, in Russian, and still understand the story and enjoy it. I don’t re-read the books that often, but I often take them out, my favourite albums like The Broken Ear and The Shooting Star, and just look at the drawings.” [The Casual Optimist]

Manga | Deb Aoki interviews the editors of Viz Media’s new yaoi manga line SuBLime, which will offer boys-love stories in both print and download-to-own digital form—with many digital offerings being available worldwide. [About.com]

Manga | Shaenon Garrity turns her sights on the classic, criminally overlooked series Basara: “Almost alone among long-running manga, Basara reads not like a serial, but like a single 28-volume graphic novel.” [Anime News Network]

Digital | Mashable profiles Graphicly founder Micah Baldwin, who also started the “Follow Friday (#FF)” meme on Twitter. [Mashable]

Kobo Vox

Digital | While it’s not getting as much attention as the Amazon Kindle Fire, the Kobo Vox color e-reader shows some good potential as a comics reader, and it comes pre-loaded with an Archie comic. [The Beat]

Review | Greg McElhatton reviews Jim Ottaviani and Leland Myrick’s graphic biography of physicist, raconteur, and “major horndog” Richard Feynman: “Reading Feynman did what few other books about scientists have done for me; it made me think, ‘I wish I’d met this guy.’” [Read About Comics]

Accessories | The New York Times takes its readers inside the Brooklyn Superhero Supply Company, where the trendy New York superhero can buy particle guns, thunder inducers, grappling hooks and, of course, capes. [The New York Times]

Events | Isotope Comics in San Francisco will host Lark Pien, Thien Pham, Alex Puvilland, Jordan Mechner and Mark Siegel this Saturday for a Halloween-themed party. [Isotope Comics]

Conferences | Peggy Burns recounts, with many photos, her trip to the University of Iowa for the Comics, Creativity, and Culture Conference. Guests included Jeet Heer, James Sturm, Gilbert and Jaime Hernandez, and a host of other comics luminaries. [Drawn and Quarterly]

In anticipation of tonight’s debut of the second season of AMC’s The Walking Dead, comiXology is holding a half-off sale today on The Walking Dead comic books and graphic novels available across all Comics by comiXology platforms — iOS, Android and the Web. If you haven’t checked out the series before, or if you’re looking to fill in some gaps in your reading, it’s a good day to do it.

Green Arrow

The New York Comic Con officially opened its doors this afternoon, but comics publishers and distributors have been releasing announcements leading up to it all this week. Here’s a round-up of news from today, as well as some that hit earlier this week.

• DC Comics, who were having a pretty good week already, announced two creative team changes for the New 52. Ann Nocenti of Daredevil and Longshot fame will write Green Arrow starting with issue #7. She spoke to Comic Book Resources about her approach to the series: “I have a particular way of writing a comic. Comics are short. They are only twenty pages, so you can take a year of comics and that can be your opera, and the opera can have a lot of different passages in it. I kind of believe every issue should be a single story, just a complete story. But there is a momentum that forms like triptychs over it, and then it forms your big overtures, and then the whole thing ends up kind of operatic. I also want a beginning, middle and end, a classic short story approach to every single comic. What I do is I try to figure out, what is the kick in this comic, what is the main feeling I want to get, and everything in the comic has to serve that.”

• And Marc Bernardin (Monster Attack Network, The Highwaymen, The Authority) will take over the writing duties on Static Shock beginning with issue #7. “As a fan and as a writer, one of the great things about Static isn’t just that he’s a new hero, it’s also that he’s a young hero,” Bernardin told CBR. “He will make the mistakes of youth and, even though the New 52 is resetting a lot of heroes to their early days as do-gooders, there’s nothing quite like the fumblings of a teenager.”

• General Mills cereals will include free custom editions of Justice League comics in October and November.

• And in case you missed them earlier this week, they also announced a change to Wonder Woman’s origin, as well as two Vertigo projects — Dominique Laveau: Voodoo Child and adaptations of Stieg Larsson’s bestselling Millennium trilogy.

• Dark Horse today announced five new Star Wars projects — Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic—War!, Dawn of the Jedi, Knight Errant – Escape, Blood Ties – Boba Fett is Dead and Darth Vader and the Ghost Prison.

Infestation 2

• IDW has made several announcements leading up to the show. Coming up this January is Infestation 2, the sequel to this year’s crossover event Infestation. It will feature everyone from the Transformers to G.I. Joe to to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles to Bat Boy and fighting Lovecraftian Old Ones. “We learned how to do this, how to tell a story that is connected to all these different properties but not necessarily involving them all in the same book,” IDW CCO and EiC Chris Ryall told CBR. “And all the usual trial and error when you’re doing a big event that you’ve never done before. The other good thing about that, having never done it before, some of the licensors weren’t entirely sure what we had in mind so we had to keep all the characters separate. Now that we can show them what we did and show them how it succeeded before, now we’re able to cross over some of the characters and have the properties meet up.”

Ryall confirmed that Danger Girl is not only part of the crossover, but also will get a new series next spring.

• IDW also announced Road Rage, a comic adaptation of “Throttle,” a short story co-written by Locke & Key writer Joe Hill and his father, horror novelist Stephen King, as well as “Duel,” the Richard Matheson short story that inspired it. Ryall and artist Nelson Daniel will adapt the stories, with covers by Phil Noto and Tony Harris.

And what else do Road Rage and Infestation 2 have in common? Temporary tattoos!

• Mike Costa (GI Joe: Cobra, Blackhawks), Ryan Browne (God Hates Astronauts, Blast Furnace) and Disney Imagineer/sleight-of-hand artist Jon Armstrong are teaming up for a new miniseries from IDW called Smoke and Mirrors.

Incorruptible #25

• Mark Waid’s hero-turned-villain, the Plutonian, will take on his nemesis-turned-hero, Max Damage, in an Irredeemable/Incorruptible crossover that will appear in Irredeemable #32-33 and Incorruptible #25-26.

• Archie’s Red Circle characters will return next year as part of a digital comics subscription service.

• Graphicly announced this week that The Walking Dead, Invincible and Irredeemable are now available on Newsstand, a new feature of the newly released iOS 5 for the various Apple devices. Newsstand allows you to subscribe to serial publications like magazines and, obviously, comics, then automatically updates them in the background when new issues become available.

• ComiXology had two announcements this week — they’ve added IDW to their iOS application, and they’ve released a Marvel app for the Android.

• A second Free Comic Book Day, tied to Halloween 2012, is being planned by Diamond Comics Distributors.

• Before hitting the New York Comic Con, Orchid writer and musician Tom Morello went to Zuccotti Park where the Occupy Wall Street protests are occurring to perform.