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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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AOL hopes to cut a whopping 2,500 jobs

AOL

AOL, which has been described as an albatross around the neck of DC Comics parent company Time Warner, plans to shed more than a third of its workforce as it spins off from the media giant next month.

Although earlier speculation placed layoffs at about 1,000, the struggling Internet company announced this morning that it will ask 2,500 of its 6,900 employees to accept buyouts. If it can't find enough volunteers, AOL will resort to layoffs. The announcement, part of an effort to cut $300 million in annual costs, comes a little more than a week after 100 layoffs.

Founded in 1983 as Quantum Computer Services, AOL at one point boasted 30 million subscribers, a number that shrank considerably after its 2001 merger with Time Warner -- a disastrous deal that resulted in a record $99-billion loss for the (briefly) rebranded AOL Time Warner and the removal of Steve Case as chairman.

AOL, which The Associated Press points out still makes money, counts among its operations the comics blog Comics Alliance, the tech blog Engadget, the video-game blog Joystiq and, in partnership with Time Warner's Telepictures Productions, the high-profile celebrity-news site TMZ.com.

The Case of the Disappearing Comics Journal #300 -- Solved!

The Comics Journal #300

What the heck happened to The Comics Journal #300? Stuffed to the gills with a murderers' row of comics creators in cross-generational conversation (from Matt Fraction & Denny O'Neil to Art Spiegelman & Kevin Huizenga), this anniversary spectacular became a swan song of sorts when a letter to subscribers revealed that it would be the venerable comics-criticism publication's final journal-format issue -- henceforth switching to a more online-focused model with semiannual book-format print editions.

So the the news that the whole thing had been posted online was met with much rejoicing... but the subsequent news that the whole thing had been yanked back behind the subscriber wall per the orders of co-publisher and editor Gary Groth was met with much head-scratching. Was this the result of an internal debate over the utility of free-content-as-marketing-device, as web editor and Journalista! blogger Dirk Deppey seemed to imply the next day? Was it a really lousy way to debut the Journal's impending web-based iteration, as frequent Journal contributor and future Journal blogger Noah Berlatsky lamented? Or was it a reaction to retailers upset that the product they'd shortly be trying to sell had been made available for free with no advance warning, as Johanna Draper Carlson surmised?

Well, if you had Carlson in your office pool, get ready to collect: Today on Journalista!, Deppey revealed that retailer complaints were indeed the reason for the issue's Internet vanishing act.

"We pulled TCJ #300 offline largely due to retailer concerns over not having been given adequate warning about said plans before ordering the issue," Deppey writes. "It was a fair point, and one that we hadn’t properly considered." Deppey goes on to say that the issue will be back online for all in December after retailers have a proper chance to sell the print version, and that all future issues will be available online for free as planned.

So yeah, rough start for the Journal's bold new era. Still, it's clear a lot of people really want to read the issue -- not the worst problem in the world to have, no?

Hollywood group claims The Pirate Bay tracker still lives

Just a day after operators of The Pirate Bay announced they had shut down the site's controversial BitTorrent tracker, a movie-industry lobbying group is accusing them of trying to pull a fast one.

On Tuesday the beleaguered website, which for the past six years had indexed torrents to facilitate often-illegal file-sharing, pulled the plug on its tracker -- something operators say is no longer needed because of advances in peer-to-peer technology.

However, Wired.com's Threat Level blog reports the Motion Picture Association, which lobbies for Hollywood overseas, claims The Pirate Bay tracker is simply operating under a new name: OpenBitTorrent, a site originally registered to Pirate Bay co-founder Fredrik Neij. (A commenter on Robot 6 pointed out the connection last month.)

For its part, OpenBitTorrent denies that it's The Pirate Bay tracker, with a message on the website chalking up the confusion, in part, to the two using the same hosting company at one point.

The MPA isn't buying that explanation, and has gone to court to force OpenBitTorrent's current Internet host to stop servicing the site.

Marvel vs. Twilight -- fight!

Okay, not really -- I live with a Twilight fan, and as a co-writer of the latest episode of Marvel.com's Marvel Super Heroes: What The--?! video series, I can assure you it's all good-natured ribbing. Still, I think veterans of this summer's bloody Twilight-at-Comic-Con culture war will get a kick out of this Marvel-fied parody of Stephenie Meyer's teen-vampire saga, whose latest movie adaptation, New Moon, hits screens at midnight tonight. (Did anyone else know Dr. Michael Morbius was European?)

The Pirate Bay shuts down its torrent tracker for good

Operators of The Pirate Bay have shut down the site's controversial BitTorrent tracker, saying that advances in technology have made it unnecessary.

Established in November 2003 in Sweden, The Pirate Bay tracked and indexed torrents, allowing users to search for and download comics, music, video games and movies uploaded (often illegally) by others. Within five years the site announced it had reached more than 25 million users.

But with new peer-to-peer technology like Distributed Hash Table (DHT) and Peer Exchange (PEX), users to longer need to access a central server to find the files they're looking for.

“Now that the decentralized system for finding peers is so well developed, TPB has decided that there is no need to run a tracker anymore, so it will remain down!” operators wrote Tuesday on The Pirate Bay's blog. “It’s the end of an era.”

However, it's hardly the end of The Pirate Bay story.

While the tracker is gone, the site will continue to index torrents. Then there's the matter of the four Pirate Bay founders, who still face a year in prison and a combined $4.4 million in damages to movie studios and record labels for facilitating copyright infringement.

And in a delightfully absurd aside, Wired.com's Threat Level blog reports that Pirate Bay co-founder Peter Sunde has objected to a plan by a Swedish retailer to register the site's iconic sailing-ship logo -- it's been adrift in the public domain since its creation -- and use it to sell USB drives.

Yes, he intended to pirate the pirates. And the pirate didn't like it one bit.

After Sunde complained to Sweden’s Patent and Registration Office, the retailer withdrew his registration.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight motion comic confirmed

Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Vol. 6 (by Jo Chen)

A motion-comic Web series is in the works based on the successful Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight, confirming rumors that began back in June.

Sci Fi Wire reports that voice casting has begun for Faith, Kennedy and Robin Wood -- all familiar to viewers of the television series -- and Season Eight characters such as Lady Genevieve Savidge, Roden and Twilight. And if you sound like Daniel Craig, the casting director has a part just for you.

Interview dates are set for this week, which makes it seem as if production is moving fairly quickly.

Sci Fi Wire has the full list of roles and character descriptions. Meanwhile, this comments thread at Whedonesque has fan reaction.

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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If this van's a-rockin', the spinner rack needs restockin'

I wonder: Will there ever be a movement to legitimize airbrushed van art in the same way that "graphic novels" have given comic books traction with the smart set? 'Cuz this ain't gonna help out in either department, but it sure is funny: Maxim lists the 12 Superheroes Who Should Be on '70s Vans, complete with Photoshopped visual evidence so convincing you can almost smell the newsprint and hear the Foghat.

My favorite's the Man-Wolf van (or is that the Van-Wolf?), but I also enjoyed the always welcome Thor/"Immigrant Song" gag and the description of Doctor Strange as "the lava lamp of superheroes." They're funny because they're true!

Slash Print | Following the digital evolution

iPhone applications | Apple has rejected an iPhone application called "Bobble Rep" featuring artwork by MAD Magazine artist Tom Richmond. The application is a database of the members of the U.S. Congress, and includes names, contact information and caricatures of each of them drawn by Richmond. Each image also serves as a virtual "bobblehead" when the phone is shaken.

Apple's rejection letter said "it contains content that ridicules public figures," which they said violates their iPhone Developer Program License Agreement.

"This is the very reason that Apple as a company should be taken to task over its ludicrous and inconsistent app approval policies," Richmond writes. "Clearly this app does not 'ridicule public figures' and is violating nothing, but Apple has decided the world must be protected from the insidious subversiveness this would force upon the public and the brutal, heinous ridicule that my cruel, cruel caricatures would subject these politicians to."

Daryl Cagle, who is waiting to hear back from Apple on a political cartoon application, offers commentary. Richmond says the producers of the application are looking at other options, including other platforms.

Digital comics | Over at Boing Boing, Douglas Rushkoff talks a little bit more about the alternate reality game and online graphic novel he's doing for Smoking Gun Interactive.

Webcomics | Shannon Wheeler of Too Much Coffee Man fame is considering joining the ACT-I-VATE crew with a new strip, and he needs a name for it. Speaking of ACT-I-VATE, be sure to check out Dean Haspiel's new strip, A-Okay Cool.

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

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

Google

Legal | Google and a group of authors and publishers have until Friday to revise a proposed settlement over the Internet giant's plans to make millions of out-of-print books available online. They originally were given a deadline of Nov. 9. DC Comics is among the parties that objected to the terms of the agreement -- -- $125 million and a registry to identify and compensate copyright holders -- arguing that it violates international copyright law. [Bloomberg News, Media Decoder]

Legal | The sentencing of Christopher Handley, the 39-year-old Iowa man who in May pleaded guilty to possessing manga depicting children in sexual situations, is scheduled for Jan. 25. He faces up to 15 years in prison, a maximum fine of $250,000 and three years of supervised release. [ICv2.com]

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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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Ellis releases Shivering Sands as a print-on-demand book

Shivering Sands

Writer Warren Ellis has released a new book called Shivering Sands -- "a book containing a selection of essays, articles, columns, rambles and jabberings that were written in various places on the internet over the last seven years or so" -- as a print-on-demand book through Lulu.com.

"I’ve been talking about POD for months, and I thought it was time to try it out," he wrote on his blog. "This work has not been collected in one place before, and I think pretty much none of it has ever been on paper." You can check out a preview over on the Lulu.com site.

The Variants, Ep. 4: Can they survive the night of the living 'Passholes'?

I've meant to link to this a few times -- three, to be exact -- but haven't, for one reason or another: It's The Variants, the web comedy series created by Richard Neal, owner of Zeus Comics in Dallas, and produced by Neal, Joe Cucinotti and Ken Lowery.

If you haven't caught any of the three monthly previous episodes, The Variants is set, unsurprisingly, in a comic-book store, and focuses on the frequently dysfunctional staff and customers. What's pleasantly surprising perhaps, given the sheer number of people with access to a video-recording device and access to YouTube (but who shouldn't be allowed near either), the writing, acting and production are pretty good. (I'm a fan of the smoking, snippy, customer-unfriendly Barry.)

The fourth episode ("Passholes"), which features a zombie-like horde of customers lining up for free movie passes, just went live. You can get caught up on the previous episodes here.