Comic Book Resources

Happy birthday, Alan Moore and Mickey Mouse!

Mickey Mouse and Alan Moore

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

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

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Blue Bloods: Masquerade

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

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

The Last Unicorn

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

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

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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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Tales of the TMNT #55

Publishing | Following the purchase last week of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles property by Viacom/Nickelodeon, Mirage Studios announced it will publish Tales of the TMNT at least through May 2010.

On the official website, cartoonist Dan Berger writes that co-creator Peter Laird retained an option to publish up to 18 TMNT comics a year. Elsewhere, writer Tristan Jones notes that the agreement only covers single issues "based on the current Mirage Universe stuff (eg: a continuation/conclusion to Volume 4)."

However, judging by comments made yesterday afternoon by Laird, it seems unlikely he will invoke that option in the near future: "One thing that is becoming clear to me is that, right now, I need to really step back from Turtle stuff. I am feeling strongly that I need to distance myself from the TMNT to truly grasp what has happened, and become accustomed to it. With that in mind, I have to say that it is likely that any new TMNT comics coming from me/Mirage (under the 'reserved rights' clause negotiated in the sale) are probably not going to be seen anytime soon. Although I do have the right to publish up to eighteen issues of TMNT comics per year, it is highly unlikely that I will do that right away. In all honesty, the idea of doing ANY new Turtle stuff right now leaves me cold." [NinjaTurtles.com]

Legal | A court has ordered South Korean cartoonist Choi to pay $17,000 to settle a dispute with Wonju City over a cartoon that included offensive words about President Lee Myung-bak. The city recalled about 20,000 copies of the promotional paper after readers discovered the hidden message. [The Korea Times]

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Slash Print | Barnes & Noble's nook goes head-to-head with Amazon's Kindle

Tablets | Kindle, meet the Nook ... or nook, as it looks like Barnes & Noble are spelling it with the lowercase "n," which is really annoying. But yes, the bookseller has launched their own e-book tablet, which retails for $259 (the same as the Amazon Kindle 2), has a color touchscreen and comes out in November. Check out the product comparison chart (it's a PDF) from B & N for more information on how it compares to Amazon's device.

Google, meanwhile, isn't working on a device, but they do plan to launch an e-book store in order to deliver electronic books to "any device with a web browser." Time will tell what any of this means for the comic industry, but with a color tablet coming out soon, you can see the possibilities.

Webcomics | Writing for PBS's Mediashift blog, Simon Owens writes about what newspaper cartoonists can learn from web cartoonists. He spoke with both Richard Stevens and Howard Tayler for the piece.

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Dragon Ball

Manga | Akira Toriyama's Dragon Ball has been officially removed from Wicomico County schools in Maryland following a committee review of the popular series. The announcement was made Thursday by Superintendent John Fredericksen, slightly more than a week after a parent's complaint about depictions of nudity and sexual situations in the first volume triggered the school board to pull the manga from library shelves.

The committee also is reviewing the all-ages Dragon Ball Z; Dragon Ball is rated for teens. Both titles are published in North America by Viz Media. The Wicomico County Public Library announced last week that it is conducting an "internal reconsideration" of Dragon Ball, pulling the series from circulation while it decides where the manga should be shelved.

And in a timely post, Jason Thompson, author of Manga: The Complete Guide, addresses the Dragon Ball dust-up and other issues for io9.com. [WBOC.com]

Publishing | Random House imprint David Fickling Books will publish three collections of comics from its canceled U.K. comics anthology The DFC. The books -- Mezolith by Adam Brockbank and Ben Haggarty; Good Dog, Bad Dog by Dave Shelton; and Spider Moon by Kate Brown -- will be released in March, April and May 2010. [Booktrade, via Forbidden Planet International]

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Slash Print | Following the digital evolution

Hellboy: Seed of Destruction

Digital Comics | Dark Horse announced via press release that both Umbrella Academy and Hellboy: Seed of Destruction are available through the iTunes Store, with subsequent issues available soon. Seed of Destruction is available as four issues at $0.99 each, or as a bundle of all four issues for $3.99. The first issue of Apocalypse Suite is available for free, with issues #2–#6 only $0.99 each, or a bundle of all six issues for $4.99.

Digital Comics | Disney Comics Worldwide shares more details on Disney's DigiComics initiative. They'll eventually be rolled out worldwide, starting in December in English-speaking countries and Italy. They'll be available for the iPhone, iPod and Sony PSP, and eventually Disney hopes to expand to other platforms like Nokia phones and the Wii. The stories will initially come from "the huge archive that The Walt Disney Company Italy has built up in the last 50 years."

Motion Comics | All five episodes of the Spider Woman, Agent of S.W.O.R.D. motion comic are now available for free viewing on Hulu. Because it is "intended for mature audiences," you'll have to register and verify your age.

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Alaska flag

Legal | Alaska legislators are considering introducing a bill that would expand the state's child-pornography laws to include cartoons and computer-generated images (anime is mentioned specifically in the article).

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2002 that cartoons depicting minors in sexually explicit situations are legal because real children are not involved. Congress responded the following year by expanding obscenity laws to include digital images and cartoons. In June, a federal appeals court upheld the conviction of Dwight Whorley, a Virginia man sentenced to 20 years in prison in part for possessing child pornography. However, the Justice Department also prosecuted him under the PROTECT Act for receiving cartoon (manga/anime) images via email depicting the sexual abuse of children. Whorley's conviction was the first under the 2003 statute that was not based on photographs of children.

Simon Jones has commentary. [Anchorage Daily News, Icarus Publishing]

Creators | Todd Klein reports that longtime letterer Joe Rosen has passed away. He was 88. Rosen began his career at Harvey Comics, and later worked on countless titles for Marvel and DC Comics, including The Amazing Spider-Man, Daredevil, Fantastic Four and Power Pack. [Todd's Blog]

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On Stranger Tides author discusses next Pirates of the Caribbean movie

On Stranger Tides

Back at the D23 event in September, Disney announced they were doing a fourth Pirates of the Caribbean movie, subtitled "On Stranger Tides." This caused several people to wonder aloud, "Hey, does this have anything to do with the 1988 Tim Powers book of the same name?"

Yes, it does. Geoff Boucher with the L.A. Times catches up with Powers, who says Disney optioned the book almost three years ago. His book is about a group of pirates, including Blackbeard, searching for the Fountain of Youth ... which viewers of the third Pirates movie may remember being mentioned at the end of that movie:

"I've watched all the movies several times, of course, and I think the clear thing they would use is the trip to the Fountain of Youth," Powers said. "My main character doesn't overlap with Jack Sparrow at all [in personality or circumstance]; they're totally different characters. I suppose they might overlap the Geoffrey Rush character Barbossa and Blackbeard. The only thing I feel certain they will hold on to is the Fountain of Youth since they telegraphed that at the end of the last movie."

The movie is scheduled to come out in the summer of 2011.

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Long Beach Comic Con

Conventions | The local newspapers were all over the inaugural Long Beach Comic Con, held over the weekend in Long Beach, California. The Long Beach Post reported on the ribbon-cutting by Stan Lee -- "Some Stan Lee Day," he joked. "They're still delivering mail, and the banks are still open." -- and some of the other convention highlights. The Contra Costa Times also has a wrap-up.

Gelatometti, the Wildstorm Studios blog, has a nice photo set from the convention, including a great shot of Jim Lee and Stan Lee having a laugh. [Long Beach Comic Con]

Conventions | The fourth annual British International Comics Show, held Saturday and Sunday in Birmingham, reportedly drew more than 3,000 creators, publishers, dealers and fans. [Birmingham Mail]

Events | A handful of news outlets have coverage of local 24-Hour Comics Day events: Columbia Missourian, KTUU (Alaska), Minneapolis Comic Books Examiner and Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. [24-Hour Comics Day]

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Disney and Marvel

Retailing | Could Disney's planned $4-billion purchase of Marvel signal the return comic books to the mass market? "I see the Marvel acquisition by Disney helping to expand the genre of comic books and remove it from the dusty basement of the world," says direct-market retailer Creswell. "I do see Disney stepping in and offering retailers outside of the direct comic book market incentives for selling Marvel products," Creswell said. [Reuters]

Publishing | Long-struggling e-book site Wowio reportedly has informed publishers that payments for the second quarter of 2008 will be made by Nov. 15. Wowio, which was purchased last year by Platinum Studios, was sold in July to a holding company formed by Platinum President and COO Brian Altounian. [Bleeding Cool]

Long Beach Comic Con

Conventions | The inaugural Long Beach Comic Con kicks off today at the Long Beach Convention Center in California. Guests include Berkeley Breathed, Stan Lee, Tim Bradstreet, J. Scott Campbell, Amanda Conner, Geoff Johns, Dave Johnson, Jim Lee, Rob Liefeld, Scott Lobdell, Dustin Nguyen, Darick Robertson and Mark Waid. The Long Beach Post and Gazettes Town-News have previews. [Long Beach Comic Con]

Events | 24-Hour Comics Day will be held Saturday at locations around the world. [24-Hour Comics Day]

Conventions | Heidi MacDonald posts her Small Press Expo round-up/wrap-up/photo parade. [The Beat]

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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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Disney Digital Books

Publishing | Disney is taking its children's storybooks digital with a subscription-based website that features electronic versions of more than 500 of the company's titles, from Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree to High School Musical. Online-exclusive content will be added by the end of the year.

The move by Disney, which sells 250 million children's books each year, seems to signal a belief that online subscriptions, and not devices like Kindle, is the direction in which this corner of the industry is heading. [The New York Times]

Conventions | Paid admissions to last weekend's Small Press Expo were 1,772, up 19 percent over the previous year. Heidi MacDonald and Sean T. Collins file their reports from the show. [SPX]

Conventions | Brigid Alverson, Erin Finnegan and Ada Price reports on the announcements and upbeat mood at New York Anime Festival. [PW Comics Week]

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Library War: Love & War, Vol. 2

Publishing | Deb Aoki rounds up the license-acquisition announcements from last weekend's New York Anime Festival. If Library War is half as awesome as it sounds -- a fearless squad of librarians fight censorship! -- I can't wait to read it. [About.com]

Conventions | Now on to the Small Press Expo, and convention recaps from David Welsh, Alert Nerd and Samuel Rules. Johanna Draper Carlson reports on the Critics' Roundtable panel, while Sean T. Collins provides the audio. [SPX]

Publishing | Arthur de Wolf comments on the debut this week of Mickey Mouse & Friends under the BOOM! Kids banner, noting that the 10-part "Wizards of Mickey" story was told in weekly installments in Italy. In the United States, it will be published monthly: "When Gladstone and Gemstone printed long Don Rosa stories in their original three parts (meant for the European weeklies), readers complained about the stories being spread out over three months. It’ll be interesting to see if readers will have the patience to follow Mickey’s wizardry adventures for nearly a year before its conclusion." [Disney Comics Worldwide]

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

Viz Media

Internet | A draft letter leaked earlier this week has revealed the desire of a manga-scanlation group to partner with a major publisher, and touched a nerve with members of its online community. In the muddled draft, one of the owners of Manga Helpers suggests Viz Media could somehow benefit by teaming with the website, which posts fan-translated scans of Japanese comics. (MangaHelpers recently received cease-and-desist letters from Japanese publisher Kodansha.)

Reaction to the leaked letter was quick and largely negative, causing another Manga Helpers founder to post an "explanation on current events": "The goal behind presenting that document to a company was so that we can promote the fans -- not their work. We wanted to create a bridge between publisher and fan (scanlator - translator - artist) to help everyone work together and not only make online distribution legitimate, but to increase the amount of released manga by promoting the talented translators, editors and artists we have at MH."

Simon Jones notes that financial concerns may be at the core of Manga Helpers' proposition: "They are worried about having to pull more content at the request of Japanese companies giving increasing scrutiny to the scanlation scene, and in the process lose a great deal of their user community and the advertising profits from it.  Shueisha and Shogakkukan are larger manga publishers than Kodansha by volume, and through Viz, Manga Helpers hopes to secure their remaining content." Brad Rice, meanwhile, suggests it's probably not a good idea for a site that hosts illegal scans to attract attention to itself. [Manga Helpers]

Business | Sonny Bunch suggests that Disney should have passed up Marvel, whose major properties are tied up in film and theme-park licensing agreements, and instead purchased an "indie" publisher, such as Dark Horse. [The Washington Times]

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