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Stuck in the Middle

Libraries | There is, of course, follow-up on the decision by the Sioux Falls, South Dakota, to remove the anthology Stuck in the Middle: Seventeen Comics from an Unpleasant Age from middle-school libraries. Local CBS affiliate KELO reports on the reactions of parents and highlights some of the better-known challenged and banned books.

As we noted yesterday, teachers will still have access to the 2007 collection of stories about life as a teen-ager (by such contributors as Gabrielle Bell, Daniel Clowes, Joe Matt and Dash Shaw). That's because, in the words of School Board President Kent Alberty, "There is value in the book. One of the subjects addressed is bullying, something the district is very interested in making sure is handled appropriately, and the book does address that." [KELOLAND.com]

Publishing | Japan's NHK television network reports that publishing giant Shueisha, a co-owner of Viz Media, plans to develop plans to sell manga via mobile phones in the United States beginning in spring 2010. [Anime News Network]

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

Green Lantern Corps #41

Publishing | Buoyed by its Blackest Night miniseries and tie-in books, DC Comics claimed the first six slots on Diamond Comic Distributors' Top 300 list of books sold to the direct market in October.

It's a rare occurrence, to be sure, but just how rare? Charts-watcher John Jackson Miller contends we have to travel back more than 40 years, to a time well before the direct market, to find when DC last had the six best-selling comics (as sold to retailers). Yes, 1968. The closest DC came in the direct-market era, according to Miller, was in April 1993, when the publisher held the top five positions.

But back to October 2009, when DC also narrowed the market gap with Marvel to the closest margin in some time: The competitors were separated by just 2.43 percent in unit share, and 2.68 percent in dollar share. [Diamond Comic Distributors, The Comics Chronicles]

Retailing | Borders Group announced Thursday it will close about 200 of its Waldenbooks, Borders Express and Borders Outlet stores in January. The retail chain has been steadily closing mall-based stores in its Waldenbooks Specialty Retail division since 2001. About 130 mall stores will remain once the downsizing is complete. [Publishers Weekly]

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

The Book of Genesis Illustrated

Sales charts | R. Crumb's The Book of Genesis Illustrated climbs seven spots to No. 2 in its second month on BookScan's list of top-selling adult graphic novels in bookstores. It's bested, as most are, by the latest volume of Masashi Kishimoto's Naruto. But it's another story on USA Today's bestseller chart, where Crumb's book drops 49 places in its second week to No. 129. [ICv2.com, USA Today]

Passings | Tom Spurgeon, NPR's Mark Memmott and Ina Jaffe, and Michael Cieply of The New York Times have obituaries for Comic-Con co-founder Shel Dorf, who passed away on Nov. 3 at the age of 76.

Libraries | The Yoshihiro Yonezawa Memorial Library of Manga and Subculture opened over the weekend at Meiji University's Surugadai campus in Tokyo. Users can become one-day members of the library, where they can have access to about half of the 140,000 manga for about $1.10 per copy. The books can't be removed from the library. [The Japan Times]

Internet | Tom Spurgeon points out that the review blog Guttergeek will move to the expanded TCJ.com, joining a stable of hosted blogs that will include The Hooded Utilitarian. [Guttergeek]

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

Shel Dorf with Warren Beatty in 1990

Passings | Sheldon "Shel" Dorf, who in 1970 co-founded the event that grew into Comic-Con International, passed away Nov. 3 in San Diego's Sharp Memorial Hospital from diabetes-related complications. He was 76.

A collector of comics and Dick Tracy memorabilia, Dorf had run Triple Fan Fest in his native Detroit. After he moved to San Diego in early 1970, he met Ken Krueger of Alert Books in Ocean Beach and the two, together with a group of teen-aged fans, organized first Golden State Comic Con, held Aug. 1-3, 1970, at the U.S. Grant Hotel. Dorf served as president, or chairman, of the convention until the mid-1980s, stepping away just as the annual event was becoming a national stage for pop culture.

Dorf reportedly struggled with diabetes for years, gradually losing mobility and vision. He entered Sharp Memorial Hospital in 2008 and never left. His brother Michael was with him when he died.

Mark Evanier, of course, has a nice tribute to Dorf peppered with memories dating back to before that first convention. There's also an extensive Shel Dorf Tribute website, and a memorial banner topping the Comic-Con International homepage. The photo above, of Dorf with Warren Beatty on the set of the 1990 Dick Tracy movie, is borrowed from Alan Light's Flickr stream. [The San Diego Union-Tribune]

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The 'Tuskas of the world did their work with little to no clout, power or say-so'

Spurred by the death last week of longtime Iron Man artist George Tuska, Mark Evanier considers how the comics industry was different for creators of his generation:

Spotlight Comics #1

One of the many ways it was different — and I'm going to leave Kirby aside here because he was always in his own special category — is that the George Tuskas of the world did their work with little to no clout, power or say-so in what they created or what happened to it.

If work was available at Timely Comics and nowhere else, they worked for Timely Comics. If the available work was on romance comics, they drew romance comics. If the editor wanted them to pencil, they pencilled. If the editor wanted them to ink, they inked. If the editor wanted them to pencil and for the work to be inked by someone really bad...well, it was inked by someone really bad. A competent artist today has a lot more ability to say, "Gee, I don't want to draw that strip" or "I don't feel I can work with that writer."

It's a good, thoughtful piece, and a nice companion to Evanier's obituary for the 93-year-old artist.

Tom Spurgeon, Paul Kupperberg, Evan Dorkin, Johnny Bacardi and 20th Century Danny Boy also have solid obituaries and appreciations.

R.I.P. George Tuska, 1916-2009

Iron Man #18

George Tuska, the Golden/Silver/Bronze Age artist whose career in comics spanned six decades, has died at the age of 93. As noted by Tom Spurgeon, The Art of George Tuska author Dewey Cassell broke the news in a Yahoo group; Cassell had relayed word of Tuska's retirement from drawing commissions just six days ago.

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

Iron Man #18

Creators | Tom Spurgeon has word from a former George Tuska spokesman that the longtime Iron Man artist has passed away. He was 93.

Tuska began his career in 1939 as an assistant on Scorchy Smith, and worked for the comic "packaging" studio owned by Will Eisner and Jerry Iger. He later drew for Fawcett and Quality, and then moved to Marvel in the 1960s, where he penciled such titles as Daredevil, Ghost Rider and The X-Men before beginning a decade-long run on Iron Man. Tuska left Marvel in the late 1970s for DC Comics and in 1978 helped launch a new Superman daily comic strip, on which he worked until 1993.

Tuska is survived by his wife of 61 years Dorothy, their three children and many grandchildren and great-grandchildren. [The Comics Reporter, Tony Isabella]

Big Apple Comic Con

Conventions | As Big Apple Comic Con -- "the New York area's largest pop culture festival" -- opens, Variety and the Los Angeles Times spotlight the official launch today of GeekChicDaily, the new e-newsletter founded by Wizard Entertainment CEO Gareb Shamus, movie producer Peter Guber and digital entertainment entrepreneur Peter Levin.

Meanwhile, comics and TV writer Paul Cornell explains why he won't be attending the convention: "The guy who originally invited me was made redundant the day after he did so. Which doesn't fill one with confidence. But, sure enough, his boss was kind enough to honour the commitment. And there was some communication on that score. However, by the start of this week, I'd noticed that days were ticking by without any actual arrangements being made. So I finally said that if they'd already bought the air ticket, then of course I'd come, because I didn't want them to lose out financially because of me, but if they hadn't, then not to worry about it. Which resulted in... absolute silence. So when I say I'm not going to New York... well, that's my best guess as we speak."

Heidi MacDonald reported earlier this week that "several announced guests" hadn't received their travel arrangements, "and several others who were invited pulled out when such arrangements were not forthcoming." [Big Apple Comic Con]

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

Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood

Legal | Anime producer and distributor Funimation Entertainment issued a Digital Millennium Copyright Act takedown notice to the webhost of AnimesFree demanding that the fansub site remove more than 1,000 infringing episodes of more than 40 series. The site's administrator complied, and then complained about the company enforcing its copyrights: "AnimesFree.com will continue just as STRONGLY as it has been these past three months. Meeting everyone new on the website was great and I don’t intend for it to stop anytime soon. So we’re not going to quit just because of a few dozen series. There’s two things that you can do when a bully pushes you down. You either stay down and cower, or you stand back up and fight until you can’t walk anymore. There are just some things that the ‘Anime’ corporate giants will never understand about how people rely on online Anime communities." The commenters on the post aren't particularly sympathetic to the administrator's plight. [AnimesFree, via Deb Aoki]

Rich Hafstead

Retailing | Heidi MacDonald reports that Rich Hafstead, partner in the Jim Hanley's Universe chain in New York City, passed away Oct. 9. He had been semi-retired since suffering a heart attack in 2006. [The Beat]

Retailing | A 10-year-old girl is in a coma after she was trapped Tuesday under shelves that collapsed in a bookstore in Sapporo, Japan. The girl's 14-year-old sister also was injured. The store, Daily Books, sells secondhand manga and video games. [The Japan Times, The Mainichi Daily News]

Legal | In light of recent legal moves by the heirs of Jerry Siegel and Jack Kirby, Christopher Murray and Paul Iannicelli consider the termination provisions of the 1976 Copyright Act. [ Mondaq]

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

Marvel

Business | Propelled by Disney's planned $4-billion purchase of the company, Marvel CEO Isaac Perlmutter debuts at No. 230 on Forbes magazine's annual list of the 400 richest Americans. The 67-year-old Perlmutter has an estimated net worth of $1.6 billion. [New York Post]

Creators | Several sources report that cartoonist Rusty Haller passed away this week of as-yet-unknown causes. He was 45. Haller, who began his comics career in the mid-1980s, is perhaps best known for his work in the early '90s on Marvel's licensed ALF and Count Duckula titles and, later, on Archie Comics' The Flintstones. He also created Ace and Queenie, an anthropomorphic spy/romance series that appeared in the Radio Comix anthology Furrlough. [The Beat]

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

Johnny's Resin figures

Legal | DC Comics has dropped its lawsuit against a Florida man who made and sold figurines based on the 1960s Batman television series. John Stacks, owner of Johnny's Resin, claimed he had agreements with the actors. Stacks apparently no longer produces the resin kits. A message on his website now encourages visitors to "buy licensed products only": "When you buy products not licensed by DC Comics you only hurt the hobby. Let's all work together to keep Batman alive!!!!" [The Tampa Tribune]

Creators | More details have emerged in the death of Crayon Shin-chan creator Yoshito Usui that seem to confirm his fall on Japan's Mount Arafune was accidental. The last picture on a digital camera retrieved near the body was taken looking down from Tomoiwa cliff. [The Asahi Shimbun]

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Crayon Shin-chan creator dies in climbing accident

Crayon Shin-chan, Vol. 8

Authorities in Japan have identified the body of Crayon Shin-chan creator Yoshito Usui, who had been missing since Sept. 11.

The body was discovered Saturday morning about 120 meters below a cliff at Mount Arafune, where the 51-year-old Usui had gone on one of his regular climbs. Police say the mangaka died from collapsed lungs and other injuries sustained in the fall on the afternoon of Sept. 11.

The popular Crayon Shin-chan, which debuted in 1990, follows the adventures of a rude, crude and rambunctious 5-year-old boy in Usui's hometown of Kasukabe who's obsessed with bodily functions and older girls. The manga was adapted as an animated television series in 1992, and has spawned 17 anime films.

Japanese publisher Futabasha will continue to serialize Crayon Shin-chan in Manga Town magazine until November. The fate of the anime series is unknown.

The manga is published in North America by DC Comics' CMX imprint.

Ted Kennedy dies ... and Bluewater announces a biography

Political Power: Ted Kennedy

In what likely will be viewed as either extremely poor timing or a crass grab for cash, Bluewater Productions yesterday announced its biography of long-ailing Sen. Edward Kennedy mere hours before his death.

The 77-year-old Massachusetts senator was diagnosed with a brain tumor in May 2008, and lived longer than his doctors expected.

In a statement issued this morning, Bluewater President Darren G. Davis said the biography's announcement "was in no way tied to the Senator's declining health and ultimate passing."

"When Bluewater planned out the first year of biographies, Kennedy's name was always at the top of the list," Davis said. "In fact, this issue has been in production since March and was solicited to retail shops through our national distributor in June. We will, of course, pay final respects to this American icon by adding a page to the completed issue to close the last chapter of his remarkable life."

Set for release in November, the biography is part of the publisher's Political Power series that has showcased such figures as President Obama, Vice President Biden, former Secretary of State Colin Powell, and President Reagan.

In June, Bluewater announced a "special collector's edition" biography of Michael Jackson just four days after the pop star's death -- a move that drew more than a few negative comments.

Each one of us is an archer, and a speedster, and an acrobat ...

Cliff Chiang's "Breakfast Club" homage

Artist Cliff Chiang marks the passing of filmmaker John Hughes with a wonderful homage to The Breakfast Club movie poster featuring the original Teen Titans lineup.

You may recall that in 2007 artist Jason Pearson paid tribute to the movies of Hughes with his covers for The Loners, the Marvel miniseries by C.B. Cebulski and Karl Moline. Johanna Draper Carlson showcased the covers, and the original posters, here and here.

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

Comic-Con

SDCC '09 | Brian Heater, Eric Reynolds, Tom Spurgeon and Glen Weldon offer Comic-Con postmortems. "Although we had a good show and I personally had a pretty good time," Fantagraphics Books' Reynolds writes, "this was the first year I felt the weight of Hollywood's cult of celebrity encroaching not only on the exhibit hall but also the sales of at least the independent publisher area we inhabited. The pre-show hype of advance ticket sellouts and hotel unavailability seems to have scared off a lot of the more casual comic book fans, many of whom I believe are the type who support publishers like Fantagraphics, Top Shelf, Drawn & Quarterly, Buenaventura, Sparkplug, Last Gasp, etc. Instead, you have more advance four-day passes being sold, leaving fewer available tickets for people who work Thursday and Friday and simply want to come down Saturday to do some shopping."

Heater's report includes video interviews with Stan Lee, Doug TenNapel, Jim Lee, Brian Talbot, Jordan Crane, Jason Lutes and more. [Comic-Con]

Drafted: One Hundred Days

Publishing | Eitan Gavish provides an overview of the countless comics featuring President Obama as everything from a barbarian to a zombie-fighter to a survivor of the apocalypse. “I think that the strength and the resolve that President Obama shows, and the promise that he shows, is something that lends himself more to be a superhero, and less of a two-dimensional character as some previous Presidents may be imagined,” says Nick Barrucci, publisher of Dynamite Entertainment. [New York Daily News]

Publishing | Jim Munroe, writer of Therefore Repent! and Sword of My Mouth, chats briefly about new business models for comics: "People are constantly complaining about how print is dead and it seems to me like there is a lot of talk about this controversy, but very few alternative models are being floated." [The Globe and Mail]

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

This morning's roundup starts off with more than a few items from Comic-Con International.

The Last Airbender

SDCC '09 | Del Rey Manga announced it will publish both a prequel and an adaptation of M. Night Shyamalan’s live-action film The Last Airbender, itself an adaptation of Nickelodeon's popular animated series. Cartoonist Dave Roman, associate editor of the recently shuttered Nickelodeon Magazine, will write both. Nina Matsumoto will draw the prequel, while Joon Choi will illustrate the adaptation. The movie is set to debut in July 2010. [ICv2.com]

SDCC '09 | Brigid Alverson lists the new manga licenses announced over the weekend, including CLAMP's Kobato by Yen Press. David Welsh, meanwhile, looks at which titles seem most promising. [MangaBlog, MangaBlog, Precocious Curmudgeon]

SDCC '09 | Here's that e-newsletter by Mile High Comics' Chuck Rozanski that's been the topic of some online discussion: "With a reported waiting list of 300 media/consumer products companies lined up for booth space here at San Diego Comic-Con International, the convention feels absolutely no restraint as regards raising booth rent. What does exist is a totally uneven playing field, where mom-n-pop comics retailers, publishers, and creators are now being asked to pay the same cost per square-foot as the international corporate giants. That being the case, it should come as no surprise that we comics exhibitors are rapidly being priced out of our own house. I heard from several comics retailers who have been here at the convention for decades that they are either cutting back for 2010, or completely pulling out of the show." [Mile High Comics]

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