Comic Book Resources

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

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

Green Arrow: Year One

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

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

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Things to do: 'Political Cartooning in NYC' on Nov. 3

Bill Kartalopoulos emailed me to let everyone know about a panel he'll be moderating tomorrow, Nov. 3, at the The New York Center for Independent Publishing, 20 W. 44th St., New York.

The panel will discuss the history and current challenges facing political cartoonists in The Big Apple and features Eric Drooker, Tom Hart, Tim Kreider and Peter Kuper.The full press release is below the jump.

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Your video link of the day: Drawing Fire

Paul Conrad: Drawing Fire, is a 2006 documentary about the three time Pulitzer-Prize winning editorial cartoonist. Now the whole thing is available online for you to enjoy. It's also available on YouTube if you can't use Hulu for whatever reason. (via)

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

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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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

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

Marvel

Legal | New York City-based law firm Levi & Korsinsky on Friday filed a class-action lawsuit challenging Disney's $4-billion purchase of Marvel Entertainment. Like the earlier lawsuit filed by Marvel shareholder Christine Vlatos, this one claims the proposed transaction undervalues Marvel's stock. [press release]

Business | DC Entertainment President Diane Nelson continues her interview tour, assuring retailer-oriented website ICv2.com "we’re going to be looking for a real publisher" to succeed Paul Levitz as head of DC Comics: "This is not about replacing someone with a cyborg unit that will answer to me. We want a publishing expert."

At MTV's movie-focused Splash Page, Nelson highlights DC's Vertigo imprint as "an area of great interest" that "could potentially offer amazing stories for our future television video game, digital and consumer products businesses." [ICV2.com, Splash Page]

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

Convention center concept art

Publishing | Everything else kind of pales in comparison to the big Disney-Marvel announcement, doesn't it? [Comic Book Resources]

Conventions | As a mayor's task force this afternoon delivers its final report and, presumably, officially endorses the proposed $750-million expansion of the San Diego Convention Center, the focus again turns to how the city will raise the roughly $50 million a year to fund the project.

Meanwhile, a leading expert on convention centers claims his views have been misrepresented in the task force's report. "There is stuff that so misrepresents reality it is appalling," says Heywood Sanders, professor at the University of Texas-San Antonio. He tells the San Diego Reader that convention centers are grossly overbuilt nationwide, and that the task force distorts statistics in its report. [Convention Center Task Force]

Editorial cartoons | The Westchester, N.Y., Journal-News has reversed its decision to lay off Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial cartoonist Matt Davies, who has been with the newspaper for 17 years. [The Daily Cartoonist]

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

Wizard Entertainment

Publishing | Tom Spurgeon has word that Wizard Entertainment has laid off Benji DeJohn, who in February moved from the company's West Coast sales office to manage the Chicago and Philadelphia conventions. [The Comics Reporter]

Publishing | Archie Comics continues to garner mainstream-media attention for the marriage storyline that kicks off this week. In addition to the prominent segment on last night's Colbert Report, there's a fan-reaction article in today's New York Daily News, and an interview with Editor-in-Chief Victor Gorelick on The Washington Post's Comic Riffs blog. "Overall, it's been a very positive response," Gorelick tells Michael Cavna. "An overhwhelming response. There's also been a very large response [from people] being disappointed that he proposed." [Archie Comics]

Editorial cartoons | The Chicago Tribune has hired Scott Stantis (Prickly City) as staff editorial cartoonist, filling a position that's been vacant since the death of Jeff MacNelly in 2000. [Chicago Tribune]

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

Krypton explodes

Legal | Marc Graser breaks down what aspects of Superman are now controlled by the heirs of co-creator Jerry Siegel after Wednesday's court ruling: depictions of "Superman's origins from the planet Krypton, his parents Jor-El and Lora, Superman as the infant Kal-El, the launching of the infant Superman into space by his parents as Krypton explodes and his landing on Earth in a fiery crash." In 2013, the estate of Joe Shuster will become co-owners of the copyright to Action Comics #1 and the newly recaptured early works.

Warner Bros. and DC Comics, which still own later additions to Superman's mythos -- flight and other superpowers, kryptonite, Lex Luthor, Jimmy Olsen, etc. -- issued a statement characterizing the decision as affirmation that "the vast majority of key elements" developed after Action Comics #1 remain the property of DC. [Variety]

The Muppet Show #1

Publishing | Wired.com's Andrew Kardon profiles BOOM! Studios' kids' imprint, which features Disney/Pixar comics and, soon, the Disney Standards line. [GeekDad]

Creators | Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial cartoonist Matt Davies talks about being laid off by the Westchester, N.Y., Journal-News after 17 years with the newspaper: "I was told a few months back by my editor that my position was valued, so I didn’t expect this. I’m not stupid, the business model is in dire straits for all newspapers, we all know that. It’s weird. Before there was a focus on the content; management was cognizant of the need for content, but this time it was all about the numbers, so my position was cut." [The Daily Cartoonist]

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

Harvey Awards

Awards | Discussion continues about the 2009 Harvey Award nominations, which contained more than a few surprises. Xaviar Xerexes looks at the positive -- webcomics and works that began online are well-represented -- as Johanna Draper Carlson considers how to fix a nomination process that many agree is broken. She also labels accusations of ballot-stuffing as "misguided": "It’s not about stuffing — which generally implies a surfeit of questionable votes — it’s about a lack of participation giving those few professionals who do bother to submit nomination lists disproportionate power to affect the results."

That brings us to events referred to online yesterday, most notably by cartoonist Evan Dorkin: Gemstone Publishing's domination of the ballot in 2007 and 2008 when, by my quick count, the company's books received 19 and 15 nominations, respectively. Travis Seitler, former art director for Gemstone's Disney comics, popped up at The Beat to solve the mystery, such that it is: "For both 2007 and 2008, everyone at Gemstone Publishing was given pre-filled ballots (typically leaving one or two blank spaces for our own personal choices) to sign and send in. Nobody was required to submit the ballots (I didn’t either year; mostly because I was disgusted by the scheme), but I’m sure we still had two- or three-dozen nearly identical ballots sent for both of those years." [The Harvey Awards]

Publishing | Ada Price looks at what effect Diamond Comic Distributors' new order minimums have had on direct-market publishers and retailers. [PW Comics Week]

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

The Life & Times of Scrooge McDuck

Publishing | Gemstone Publishing President Steven Geppi has issued a statement congratulating BOOM! Studios on its acquisition of the Disney comics license previously held by his company.

"I think the whole industry has observed their initial successes with their Boom! Kids line with great interest, particularly the immediate sell-through on The Incredibles #1, The Muppet Show #1, and Cars #1," Geppi said. "It would be exciting to see Walt Disney’s Comics & Stories and Mickey Mouse and Friends, as well as any subsequent titles, follow in similar form."

When Gemstone picked up the Disney license in 2003, the characters hadn't appeared in U.S. comics for four years. However, rumors began swirling in March that the financially troubled publisher wouldn't renew its agreement with Disney.

“We had some notable successes, both in terms of critical acclaim and sales, particularly with The Life & Times of Scrooge McDuck," Geppi said in his statement. "While I am of course disappointed that I won’t be the one publishing these great characters anymore, I believe the future for them is still one of untapped potential.” [Scoop, via Disney Comics Worldwide]

The Ancient Book of Sex and Science

Publishing | Scott Morse reports that a recent mention on Boing Boing of The Ancient Book of Sex and Science has led to a sellout of the hardcover before its actual release: "Amazon has placed an order so large that I can't fill it. We've vowed to NOT go back to press on these initial Ancient Book hardcovers (you'll recall that Myth and War sold out in a few months). It appears that Sex and Science is now effectively 'sold out' as well." He notes that he'll have a limited number of copies available at Comic-Con. [Red Window]

Sales charts | Watchmen and the 27th volume of Bleach retain their top spots in the paperback and manga categories of The New York Times Graphic Books Best Seller List while the collection of Final Crisis debuts at No. 1 on the hardcover chart. [ArtsBeat]

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Straight for the Art: 'Hell in Crisis'

'Hell in Crisis'

Those irrepressible scamps Edward Sorel and Richard Lingeman offer their own take on the current financial crisis via Vanity Fair.

Slash Print | Following the digital evolution

The Iraq War Stories Anthology

Webcomics | Starting this Sunday, the webcomics collective ACT-I-VATE will run The Iraq War Stories Anthology, edited by Nick Bertozzi. Per the press release, Bertozzi asked the students in his Comic Book Storytelling Workshop at The School of Visual Arts to adapt stories that took place in Iraq during the War.

"The majority of the stories were found on blogs, a few were adapted from stories told to the students by friends, and one student, himself a veteran of the Iraq War, wrote and drew a story based on his own experience," the release says. One story will appear each Sunday for the next 13 weeks.

e-Devices & Webcomics | Here's a fun case of sibling rivalry -- Peter Timony has released The Complete Sir Roland, previously available on the web, as a comic for Amazon's Kindle device. Not to be outdone, his twin brother Bobby has released a 24-Hour Comic, The Ballad of Basil the Bunny, for the Kindle.

Webcomics | Daryl Cagle discusses the pluses and minuses of allowing other sites to easily embed political cartoons from his site -- something that's becoming the norm in the world of Web 2.0 and YouTube. [Hat tip: The Comics Reporter]

e-Publishing | Range Murata, the creator of anime like Last Exile and Shangri-La, has released his self-published magazine Throw Line dōjin on iTunes.

Straight for the art: Ed Stein's Columbine cartoons

Ed Stein editorial cartoon

Former Rocky Mountain News cartoonist Ed Stine has gathered all the editorial cartoons and comic strips from his Denver Square series he did following the aftermath of the Columbine High School shooting under one virtual roof.