Comic Book Resources

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

Flight Explorer, Vol. 1

Publishing | Retailer Christopher Butcher catches word that Flight Explorer, the younger-readers spinoff of the long-running Flight anthology, is without a publishing home. Although the first volume, published in March 2008 by Villard, reportedly sold through its 20,000-copy first printing, editor Kazu Kibuishi tweeted last week that "the project remains orphaned." Butcher provides commentary on his blog. [Comics212]

Legal | Google and groups representing publishers and authors on Friday filed a revised settlement they hope will resolve a dispute over the Internet giant's controversial plans to make millions of out-of-print books available online.

The original agreement, created to resolve a 2005 lawsuit, was opposed by parties ranging from DC Comics to the U.S. Justice Department to the governments of France and Germany, who argued that its terms could violate copyright law. The revisions address the handling of orphan works, restrict the Google database to books published in the United States, Britain, Canada or Australia, and allow other companies to license the digital catalog.

U.S. District Judge Denny Chin is expected this week to set a date for a "fairness hearing" in which arguments about the settlements will be presented by b0th sides. [The New York 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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Comics A.M. | The comics Internet in two minutes

Walt Disney Studios

Business | Depending upon which source you believe, Walt Disney Studios Chairman Dick Cook either resigned, or was fired, from the company Friday afternoon after 38 years. Whichever is the case, the news took most everyone by surprise. No successor has been named.

Cook's departure comes nearly three weeks after Disney announced its planned $4-billion purchase of Marvel Entertainment. The Wall Street Journal reports that "people close to Disney" claim Cook had complained Disney Studios wouldn't have control of Marvel Studios under the terms of the deal -- something Cook, through a spokeswoman, denies.

Others note a growing rift between Cook and Disney CEO Robert Iger, who in May publicly criticized the performance of the company's film division.

Cook began his Disney career in 1970 as a ride operator at Disneyland in Anaheim, California, working his way through the company until 2002, when he was named chairman of Walt Disney Studios. [Los Angeles Times, Deadline Hollywood]

Jack Kirby

Legal | In its coverage of the efforts by heirs of Jack Kirby to reclaim copyrights to some Marvel characters, The New York Times' DealBook blog notes: "Even before the Kirby family sent its notices, Disney was facing criticism from some Wall Street analysts who expressed concern that Marvel’s complex web of copyright agreements might prevent Disney from capitalizing on some Marvel assets." [DealBook]

Legal | Google and its settlement partners -- the Authors Guild and the Association of American Publishers -- are rushing to modify the terms of an agreement to resolve a 2005 lawsuit accusing the Internet giant of infringing on copyrights by digitizing out-of-print books without permission. On Friday, the Justice Department filed documents urging a federal court not to approve the settlement without modifications that addressed legal concerns raised by numerous critics, including DC Comics and Microsoft. [The New York Times]

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

DC Comics

Business | It should come as no surprise that the creation by Warner Bros. of DC Entertainment, and the resignation of Paul Levitz as president and publisher, dominates the news again this morning.

I'll devote a separate post to that coverage, but there are a few links worth highlighting here: ICv2.com has a succinct timeline of Levitz's career to date plus earlier comments by the industry veteran about having "one of the best jobs on the planet." Kurt Busiek, Marv Wolfman and Rich Johnston offer solid tributes to Levitz and his accomplishments as head of DC Comics. And at Comic Book Resources, Kiel Phegley gathers reactions from industry figures. [Warner Bros. press release]

Legal | DC Comics is among the parties objecting to Google Inc.'s settlement with publishers designed to resolve a 2005 lawsuit accusing the Internet giant of infringing on copyrights by digitizing out-of-print books without permission. DC, Microsoft and the governments of France and Germany are among those who say the agreement -- $125 million and a registry to identify and compensate copyright holders -- violates international copyright law. [Bloomberg]

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SDCC '09 | What's your iGoogle theme?

Crogan's Vengeance on iGoogle

Kevin previously mentioned the really cool Jim Lee Google logo displayed during Comic-Con, as well as the fact that iGoogle is now sporting many, many cool comic themes. I use iGoogle quite a bit, and shortly after they became available, I changed mine over to the Oni Press theme. It rotates through images from various Oni-published books like Crogan's Vengeance by Chris Schweizer, North World by Lars Brown, Wasteland by Chris Mitten, Blue Monday by Chynna Clugston and Multiple Warheads by Brandon Graham.

There are a lot of other themes out there -- Vertigo, Batman Reborn, Fables, Owly, Spider Woman, Jeffrey Brown ...So did you change yours, and if so, what are you currently displaying?

Slash Print | Following the digital evolution

DMZ on Google Maps

Internet | Brian Wood uses Google Maps to highlight key locations from his Vertigo series DMZ.

Social media | Twitter, apparently, has taken the place of message boards as the preferred arena for fights between comic pros and gossip columnists.

Last Friday, an online dust-up occurred between comics writer Mark Waid and former All the Rage columnist Rich Johnston. You can read their respective takes on it here and here.

It was certainly a lot easier to follow the back-and-forth flames in the old days of message boards. Kids and their crazy newfangled internet tools ...

Digital comics | And now a look at the gentler side of Twitter ... also on Friday, Johnston interviewed Ryan Penagos, aka Agent_M, about Marvel.com and Marvel's Digital Comics Initiative. The interview took place on Twitter.

Internet | The New York Times talks to artists who were recently invited by Google to contribute artwork that would be used on their web browser, Google Chrome. Google asked them to do it for exposure rather than pay. (via)