Joe Casey
Comics A.M. | Comic sales up 18.6% for first half of year
Avengers vs. X-Men #6
Retailing | Sales of comics and graphic novels in the direct market rose 18.6 percent for the first half of the year, compared to the same period in 2011, reports the retail news and analysis site ICv2. John Jackson Miller adds that, “Retailers have already ordered more material through June — nearly $223 million in retail dollars— than they did in last year through July.” He also points out that the second half of the year has outperformed the first half every year for the past decade, by an average of 10 percent, meaning we can probably expect 2012 to finish strong. [ICv2.com, Comichron]
Publishing | The new Valiant Entertainment would like to follow the movie “blueprint” that Marvel has laid out, according to a new profile of the reborn company. “Investors like to be able to compare concepts to other concepts,” said Valiant chairman Peter Cuneo, former CEO of Marvel. “With Valiant, we very much have a blueprint to follow, which is Marvel.” The profile mostly focuses on the business side of Valiant, as well as some of its history. [The New York Times]
Comics A.M. | Anders Nilsen’s Big Questions wins Lynd Ward prize
Big Questions
Awards | Big Questions by Anders Nilsen has won the Lynd Ward Graphic Novel Prize for 2012, the second such award given by the Pennsylvania Center for the Book. The organization also named four honorees: Freeway by Mark Kalesniko, Habibi by Craig Thompson, Life with Mr. Dangerous by Paul Hornschemeier and Zahra’s Paradise by Amir and Khalil. The awards will be presented during a ceremony at Penn State later this year. [Pennsylvania Center for the Book]
Publishing | IDW Publishing has promoted Dirk Wood to vice president of marketing. Wood joined IDW in 2010 as director of retail marketing. [IDW Publishing]
Conventions | Misha Davenport previews this weekend’s Chicago Comic & Entertainment Expo. [Chicago Sun-Times]
ECCC | A round-up of announcements from the convention
Revival
The Emerald City Comicon wrapped up yesterday in Seattle, with plenty of announcements from attending publishers. Here’s a round-up of news from the show:
• Image Comics officially announced Revival by Tim Seeley ad Mike Norton, the title we teased all last week. Seeley described the book as “rural noir,” and it is set in his home state of Wisconsin: “Both Mike and I grew up in small towns, he in Tennessee, me in Wisconsin. We both hated the towns we were from as teenagers and young adults and got the hell out,” Seeley told CBR. “But, now that we’re both older, we can look on those towns with more understanding and affection. Central Wisconsin is a really interesting place. It’s like concentrated America. It has all of the strengths and all of the weaknesses. All of the good stuff, and all of the conflicts on a more intimate scale. We thought it’d be the perfect setting for our story of a cop charged with policing the dead.”
• James Stokoe will write and draw Godzilla: Half Century War, which arrives from IDW in August. The miniseries is set in a different continuity than the Godzilla ongoing series by Duane Swierczyski and Simon Gane.
• Writer Christos Gage will team with artist Jorge Lucas for Sunset, an original graphic novel from Top Cow’s Minotaur Press. The story revolves around a retired Vegas mob enforcer.
Food or Comics? | Conan the barberryan
Welcome to Food or Comics?, where every week we talk about what comics we’d buy at our local comic shop based on certain spending limits — $15 and $30 — as well as what we’d get if we had extra money or a gift card to spend on a “Splurge” item.
Check out Diamond’s release list or ComicList, and tell us what you’re getting in our comments field.
Thief of Thieves #1
Chris Arrant
If I had $15, I’d start with Thief of Thieves #1 (Image/Skybound, $2.99). The gang at Skybound gave me an advance PDF of this issue, and I like it so much I want to hold the physical thing in my hands. Shawn Martinbrough really nails this first issue, and Nick Spencer really puts his Marvel work to shame with this story. Next up I’d get my favorite DC Book – Batwoman #6 (DC, $2.99) – and favorite Marvel book – Wolverine and The X-Men #5 ($3.99). I’d finish it all up with Northlanders #48 ($2.99). I’m not the biggest fan of Danijel Zezelj’s work, but I can’t let up now to see my long-running commitment to Northlanders falter at this point.
If I had $30, I’d dig into Richard Corben’s Murky World one-shot (Dark Horse, $3.50). Corben’s one of those “will-buy-no-matter-what” artists for me that Tom Spurgeon recently focused on, and this looks right up my alley. Next up I’d get Secret Avengers #22 (Marvel, $3.99) because Remender’s idea of robot descendents intrigues me, and then Wolverine and The X-Men: Alpha and Omega (Marvel, $3.99). I didn’t know what to expect from the first issue, and after reading it I still don’t know where this series is heading – but I like it so far. Finally, I’d get Haunt #21 (Image, $2.99). The combination of Joe Casey & Nathan Fox is like a secret code to open my wallet.
If I could splurge, I’d take the graphic novel Jinchalo (D+Q, $17.95) by Matthew Forsythe. I loved his previous book Ojingogo, and this looks to continue in that hit parade.
What Are You Reading? with Comic Book Resources
Officer Downe
Hello and welcome to a special birthday bash edition of our weekly “What Are You Reading” feature. Typically the Robot 6 crew talks about what books we’ve read recently, but since it’s our anniversary, we thought we’d invite all our friends and colleagues from Comic Book Resources and Comics Should Be Good! to join in the fun.
To see what everyone has been reading, click below …
Food or Comics? | Post-Thanksgiving hangover edition
Angel & Faith
Welcome to Food or Comics?, where every week we talk about what comics we’d buy at our local comic shop based on certain spending limits — $15 and $30 — as well as what we’d get if we had extra money or a gift card to spend on a “Splurge” item.
Check out Diamond’s release list or ComicList, and tell us what you’re getting in our comments field.
Graeme McMillan
I have to say, this is an amazingly slow week for me in terms of new releases. If I had $15, I’d pick up the fourth issue of Dark Horse’s Angel & Faith series ($3.50), which has surprised me by turning out to be my favorite by far of the new Buffy series (due, in large part, to Rebekah Isaacs’ artwork, which is superb). I’d also grab the third issue of IDW’s Star Trek monthly ($3.99), in the hope that it’ll be as good as the first two issues; hardcore Trek fans, you should really be looking at this book, if you’re not already. Also on the list to grab: Thunderbolts #166 (Marvel, $2.99), continuing a great storyline from what might be one of the most underrated books from either of the big two publishers. One of the few nice things about Marvel’s recent Cancelpocalypse was seeing so many people speak up about how much they love Thunderbolts, and I’m right there with them; Jeff Parker’s done great things with this book.
The Fifth Color | Vengeance #2 proves me wrong
Vengeance #2
The weird thing about the internet and having a strong fanbase is that comics can often disappoint without even trying. Here’s my story: Last month I fell in love with a weird little mini-series called Vengeance. Artist Nick Dragotta and writer Joe Casey made this unclassifiable story that had all these weird touches to it, moments and names and items that jumped immediately to that place in my brain where I store the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe (Deluxe Edition, please). The story is set “nowish,” with characters seeing current Marvel events like Fear Itself played on bar TV screens and a few flashbacks setting the tone, like the Red Skull and Hitler chatting about the Red Army’s eugenics program. The appearance of Forge’s old gun that takes away a mutant’s powers being toted around by the new Ultimate Nullifier, the fact that the book opens up with the Red Ghost sitting alone at a bar somewhere, watching Captain America face down an angry mob, that anyone would remember Sugar Kane the pop star that dated Chamber in order to seem edgy to her public … I might have taken those for granted. But all these little morsels of info in a rather disjointed book left me enamored with it.
My esteemed, saintly and incredibly good-looking editor here at Robot 6 mentioned that an annotation of the Vengeance series might point out all these little things and bring them to the surface for more fans. So I spent a couple weeks going over the book, making notes, putting things in order and then… the worst part. I made conjectures. After all, you can’t put a bunch of puzzle pieces out in front of someone and not expect them to make a couple guesses, right? But then one guess turns into two and the more you dissect a frog to see how it works, well, you learn a lot in the process. But in the end the frog is dead.
So with Vengeance #2 on the stands this week, there’s all this new information to prove me wrong on everything I had assumed. Which was disappointing at first; after all, my ideas are pretty cool, why didn’t they go in that direction? If you bring out the Red Ghost in act one, he has to have monkeys by the end of the play, it’s integral! But then, is there a lot of disappointment running through comics sometimes? The flashed image of a character’s redesign can send fandom into fits. The lack of information on a missing character can start wars in convention halls. I can sit here, read Vengeance #2 and think, “This isn’t what I expected at all.”
First issues are like that, though. We don’t normally have all our ducks in a row for our introductions in modern comics storytelling. The boards have to be set up, players chosen, the rules in place and only then does the game begin. So how do Vengeance #2 and WWE tag team matches relate? Read on and find out, gentle viewer.
WARNING: Rampant discussion of the events from Vengeance #1, Vengeance #2 and 75% of WWE tag team matches follows. You have been warned.
Comics A.M. | Charlaine Harris’ new graphic novel; the origins of Epic
Charlaine Harris
Publishing | Charlaine Harris, author of the “Sookie Stackhouse” novels on which HBO’s True Blood is based, says that after she finishes the last two “Sookie” books, she plans to work on a graphic novel with Christopher Golden. “I’m very excited about that. It’s called Cemetery Girl with Christopher Golden, and it’s a very exciting opportunity.” Harris had mentioned wanting to do a novel called Cemetery Girl back in 2009, about “a girl raised by ghosts in a cemetery,” but put it on hold when she found out the plot was similar to Neil Gaiman’s The Graveyard Book.
Based on the description in the news report, it sounds like the story has been tweaked, as it says the graphic novel “centers on a woman who finds herself living in a cemetery with no memory of her past but a clear sense of a mysterious threat hanging over her.” This isn’t the first time Harris’ characters have found their way into comics, as IDW publishes comics based on HBO’s True Blood, and an adaptation of her Grave Sight novels has been published by Dynamite. [NBC San Diego]
Publishing | Former Marvel Comics editor and Transformers writer John Barber has joined IDW Publishing as a senior editor. IDW also announced the promotion of Tom Waltz to the company’s first senior staff writer position, in addition to his duties as editor, and the expansion of the company’s book department with longtime IDW employee Alonzo Simon becoming an assistant editor. [press release]
Comics A.M. | The Walking Dead bookstore streak; Parker delay
The Walking Dead, Vol. 14
Retailing | Although the 14th volume of The Walking Dead wasn’t released until June 21, it still managed to secure the No. 2 spot on BookScan’s list of graphic novels sold in bookstores that month, behind the 51st volume of Naruto. It’s the ninth consecutive month that at least one volume of the horror series has appeared in the BookScan Top 20, a run that began as marketing geared up for the AMC television adaptation. [ICv2.com]
Publishing | Darwyn Cooke has announced that the release of Parker: The Martini Edition will be postponed for a few months, and takes full responsibility for the delay. The book is now scheduled to debut at the Long Beach Comic Con in October [Almost Darwyn Cooke's Blog]
Publishing | John Jackson Miller looks at the history of comics numbering, which he traces back to dime novels of the 19th and early 20th centuries: “Comics are anomalous in American magazine publishing because most comics don’t use volume numbers and issue numbers that roll over ever year; rather, the numbers keep on going. In that, our numbering is much like that used for the cheap, disposable fiction of the earlier days.” [The Comichron]
The Fifth Color | Vengeance is a State of Mind
The Marvel Universe sure does a lot of “venging,” don’t they? Avenge, revenge and now this new mini-series Vengeance by Joe Casey, Nick Dragotta and Brad Simpson.
Without getting into spoilers, I can tell you it’s a six issue mini-series for $3.99, and it’s a high concept for a high price. I can tell you that Brad Simpson is the colorist, gets third billing on the book and is pretty awesome. Likewise Nick Dragotta has an awesome name and an awesome website. Joe Casey is a Man of Action and has plenty of fantastic comics under his name. So by the creators alone, this book should be added to your pull list.
Or should it? Shakespeare and Michelangelo could make a really bad comic book, so why pick up anything on name alone? What is Vengeance about, really? It’s got Magneto on the cover; is it a mutant book? It’s got quote from someone about the generation gap; is it about kids? Is it about Ghost Rider?
From the solicitation, “When MAGNETO of the X-Men tries to rescue a young Mutant on the run, he accidentally kicks off a series of events that will shake the very Marvel Universe to it’s core! Who are the new TEEN BRIGADE?! Who are the Brotherhood and what do they want with the YOUNG MASTERS OF EVIL?! And how is the RED SKULL pulling the strings from beyond the grave? Joe Casey (AVENGERS: EARTH’S MIGHTIEST) joins Nick Dragotta (FANTASTIC FOUR) for some major acts of VENGEANCE!”
Aside from all the questions posed, we know that Magneto starts off something and that there’s gonna be some vengeance.
WARNING: Yeah, I’m going to tell you what Vengeance #1 is all about. The long and short of it is it’s a great book, so go get one, read it and let’s compare notes, shall we?
Food or Comics? | Vengeance, Flight, crossovers and more
Vengeance #1
Welcome to Food or Comics?, where every week we talk about what comics we’d buy at our local comic shop based on certain spending limits — $15 and $30 — as well as what we’d get if we had extra money or a gift card to spend on a “Splurge” item. We’re coming a little late today due to a power outage in my neck of the woods — due to a blackout, not because I spent the money for the electric bill on Flashpoint or Fear Itself tie-ins.
Check out Diamond’s release list or ComicList, and tell us what you’re getting in our comments field.
Chris Arrant
If I had $15, my first pick off the shelf would be Vengeance #1 (Marvel, $3.99); I love Joe Casey, and especially when he’s given a long leash and room to play in a big universe. Seeing Nick Dragotta drawing this is an added bonus. Next up would be comics’ dueling summer blockbusters, Flashpoint #3 (DC, $3.99) and Fear Itself #4 (Marvel, $3.99). After that, I’d get the excellent Flashpoint: Batman, Knight of Vengeance #2 (DC, $2.99); when Azzarello is on the ball he’s great to read, and this seems to be that.
Joe Casey and Nathan Fox take the reins on Haunt
Joe Casey and Nathan Fox have been named as the new creative team on Haunt, replacing co-creator/writer Robert Kirkman and artist Greg Capullo with September’s Issue 19.
Co-created by Todd McFarlane, the Image Comics series centers on Daniel Kilgore, a Catholic priest who’s haunted by the ghost of his estranged brother Kurt, a murdered secret agent. The two combine to form the superhero Haunt.
“The word ‘haunt’ is a very evocative word,” McFarlane tells USA Today. “I didn’t think we had hit that word yet in terms of being dark and moody and creepy in some of the things.” Casey says that he and Fox, who collaborated on Marvel’s Dark Reign: Zodiac, are taking “a real grindhouse/exploitation approach to the series. Hopefully the end result will be appropriately lurid and over-the-top while being a real nail-biter at the same time.”
Kirkman is reportedly leaving Haunt because of demands on his time by AMC’s adaptation of The Walking Dead — the second season began shooting this week outside of Atlanta — while Capullo is teaming with writer Scott Snyder on the September relaunch of DC Comics’ Batman.
Talking Comics with Tim | Nick Dragotta
Pages from Vengeance 1
If you were one of those folks who not heard of artist Nick Dragotta before this year, it’s quite feasible you learned about the storyteller after his work on Fantastic Four 588 (the silent mourning for Johnny Storm issue). If Dragotta’s next project is half as successful as I expect it to be, even more folks will know and like his art. That project? He and writer Joe Casey’s six-issue Marvel miniseries, Vengeance [set to be released July 6]. As described by Marvel: “When MAGNETO of the X-Men tries to rescue a young Mutant on the run, he accidently kicks off a series of events that will shake the very Marvel Universe to it’s core! Who are the new TEEN BRIGADE?! Who are the Brotherhood and what do they want with the YOUNG MASTERS OF EVIL?! And how is the RED SKULL pulling the strings from beyond the grave?” My thanks to Dragotta for the interview (and for the above preview art from the first issue). Once you’ve read this interview, be sure to also read Timothy Callahan’s When Words Collide column/Joe Casey interview.
Comics A.M. | Strong debut for Fear Itself; is Borders doomed?
Fear Itself #1
Publishing | Marvel’s Fear Itself #1 topped Diamond Comic Distributors’ April charts with an estimated 128,595 copies, the highest monthly sales for a comic since X-Men #1 surpassed 140,000 copies nine months ago. Retail news and analysis site ICv2 sees the strong debut of that crossover and the performance of DC’s Flashpoint prequels as signs “that this summer’s big events may be able to reverse the downward sales trend in the first quarter of 2011.”
DC’s Fables, Vol. 15: Rose Red led the graphic novel category with about 11,600 copies, followed distantly by Dynamite’s The Boys, Vol. 8: Highland Laddie. [ICv2.com]
Retailing | The bankrupt Borders Group reportedly has been unable to find a buyer for its entire business, which could signal the end of the second-largest book chain in the United States. The company filed for bankruptcy protection in February, and is closing about one-third of its locations. [Detroit Free Press]
Comics A.M. | Gaiman fee feud continues; Carlos Trillo passes away
Neil Gaiman
Politics | The controversy in Minnesota continues over Neil Gaiman’s speaking fee, with a state House Republican committee chairman now recommending a $45,000 cut to the Twin Cites’ regional library system budget to make up for the Legacy Fund money paid to the author and comics writer in May 2010. “I simply subtracted out $45,000 — just making a point,” Rep. Dean Urdahl said. Gaiman responded that the move “seems like a sad way to make a point.” He talks at length with CityPages about the controversy. [Star-Tribune]
Passings | Prolific Argentine comics writer Carlos Trillo, co-creator of CyberSix, passed away over the weekend while on vacation in London. He was 68. Trillo, whose career spanned five decades, collaborated with such artists as Eduardo Risso, Jordi Bernet, Juan Bobillo, Carlos Meglia and Domingo Roberto Mandrafina. [TN.com, via The Beat]
Retailing | Peter Panepinto turns a Free Comic Book Day preview into one of those perennial articles about the potential effects of superhero movies on comic-book sales. [Carroll County Times]