Comic Book Resources

Slash Print | Following the digital evolution

Longbox

Digital Comics | Rantz Hoseley posted some additional information and answered questions on the Longbox digital comics in the comments section of the iFanboy article Kevin linked to yesterday.

Those updates include:

• Although only BOOM! and Top Cow have been announced so far, Hoseley said seven publishers have signed on for the launch, and the other five will be announced in the next few weeks leading up to the San Diego Comic Con.
• The software will include a "Manga Mode" that flips the left-to-right reading order. That's pretty damn clever.
• The software will also allow for "age-restricted sub-accounts," so your kids can read the Muppets but can't get to your Black Kiss comics.
• Hoseley says that "while we certainly welcome DC and Marvel's participation, the entire system was designed to have a business model that would be successful and profitable for all involved if they chose not to participate."

There's more at the link, so click over and read. This gets more interesting by the day ...

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MySpace Comic Books to close up shop

MySpace.com

Yesterday the social media megasite MySpace announced that it was laying off almost 30 percent of its staff, about 400 employees -- a move their CEO called "necessary for the long-term health and culture of MySpace." Per the L.A. Times, MySpace's user numbers are down from last year, and ad revenue is projected to fall 15 percent in 2009.

As reported on Comics Alliance yesterday and confirmed by our sources, MySpace Comic Books is shutting down. An attempt to e-mail the current contact for MySpace Comic Books resulted in a response that he was no longer with the company.

No doubt with the 30 percent cut in employees, you can expect other initiatives on MySpace to be cut or at least scaled down as well.

The MySpace Comic Books community launched in 2007 and has played host to numerous comic previews, full issues of comics like Hexed, interviews, a news feed from Comic Book Resources and MyCup O' Joe, which ended its run on May 1. MySpace is owned by News Corporation, which also owns 20th Century Fox, FOX Broadcasting Company, The New York Post, HarperCollins and IGN Entertainment, among many, many other media outlets.

Welcome guest contributor Sam Humphries

Sam Humphries

With JK Parkin taking a well-deserved vacation this week, Robot 6 is pleased (and lucky) to have writer and new-media developer Sam Humphries stepping in to lend a hand.

Sam worked for more than two years in content and development at MySpace, where he was the architect of the successful MySpace Comic Books program. The initiative's MySpace Dark Horse Presents online anthology earned an Eisner Award last year for "Sugarshock!," the short story by Joss Whedon and Fabio Moon.

Sam lives in Los Angeles, and can't stop reading Boy's Club.

Hornschemeier, Pope, Rugg and more in Marvel anthology

Because I was at WonderCon, I missed this past weekend's MyCup 'o Joe when it popped up on MySpace, but Paul Hornschemeier points out a question from a fan about Marvel's upcoming "indie project," for lack of a better name (and I'm sure there is one) that'll feature stories by Hornschemeier, Jim Rugg, Stan Sakai, Paul Pope and, holy crap, Jason, among others:

Paul Pope draws the Marvel Universe

At the New York Comic Con, CB Cebulski mentioned that the Marvel "Indie Project" was coming along nicely. I'm wondering if you could tell us any of the talent involved or tease some artwork. Anyone in particular you are stoked to have on board?

JQ: It's definitely moving forward—and looking better and better every day. There are some huge names in indy comics involved with this project and we couldn't be more excited about the work they're turning in. Just to name a few of the talents involved, we've got Paul Pope, Stan Sakai, Paul Hornschemeier, Dash Shaw, Junko Mizuno, Jim Rugg, Corey Lewis…and a bunch more small press superstars contributing some truly amazing stories. We just got some outstanding pages in from the cartoonist JASON and I gotta tell you, this is going to be one awesome book. Stay tuned!

Marvel.com has several sample pages, including one from Hornschemeier's Nightcrawler/Molecule Man story and Rugg's Machine Man story.

Slott talks about the F-word and continuity on MySpace

Continuing with the "show must go on" theme of the last few weeks, The Hero Initiative's Jim McLauchlin interviews writer Dan Slott over at MySpace, talking to him about Mighty Avengers, Spider-Man, Ren & Stimpy, continuity and taking the "fun" out of comics:

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Fraction: Bringing the awesome longer than you've realized

With Marvel chief Joe Quesada out of pocket, Jim McLauchlin has been interviewing other folks from Marvel for their weekly MySpace feature. Usually he talks to editors about what's going down at Marvel, but this past Friday McLauchlin interviewed Uncanny X-Men, Invincible Iron Man and Casanova writer Matt Fraction about his career in comics. Fraction talks a little bit about his first comic, Rex Mantooth, Kung Fu Gorilla ... I've never read Rex Mantooth, but I give it a five-star review based on the title and cover alone:

Rex Mantooth by Fraction and Kuhn

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Retailer reactions to BOOM!'s Hexed promotion

Hexed #1

Earlier this week BOOM! Studios announced a promotion with MySpace where each issue of their new mini-series Hexed will pop up in full on the popular social networking site the same day it hit stores. The first issue is up there now.

When they did this last year with North Wind, they received mixed feedback from retailers on the concept, and generally negative feedback on the lack of communication about it before orders were due for the book. I collected some responses I received from retailers in a post on Blog@. Although this time around I haven't heard much about retailers reacting to the promotion, but I thought it might be worth talking to a few to see what they thought, so I emailed about 20 or so yesterday afternoon.

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BOOM! Studios' Chip Mosher on Hexed, Farscape and more

Chip Mosher at Disneyland

Yesterday Mark Waid, editor-in-chief of BOOM! Studios, announced via a YouTube video that BOOM! would post full issues of their Hexed mini-series on MySpace the same day the book was released in stores, just like they did with the North Wind mini-series a year ago. As I was already talking to Chip Mosher, their sales and marketing guy, about several other things going on with BOOM! when the video was released, I was able to sneak in a few questions about the promotion as well.

My thanks to Chip for his time.

JK: Last year BOOM! put the complete North Wind mini-series up on MySpace Comic Books, with each issue going up on the day it hit retailers' shelves. And now you're doing it again with HEXED. Why did you choose HEXED, versus any of your other titles?

Chip: Right time. Right place. Right book.

Personally, I see Hexed as one of the books that is kicking off BOOM! 3.0. I consider Mark coming on board as E-i-C as BOOM! 2.0 -- where he spearheaded the stabilizing of the line-up and built up editorial. I look at this next year as BOOM! 3.0 -- where the promise of Mark Waid as E-i-C is realized in full. The team here at BOOM! is running on all cylinders. You'll see a whole host of books coming out of BOOM! in the next year, shepherded by Mark and the editorial team, that will just rock your socks off.

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BOOM! puts Hexed on MySpace for free

Via a video from editor-in-chief Mark Waid, BOOM! Studios announces that they're putting each issue of the mini-series Hexed up on MySpace the same day each issue is released in stores:

This is similar to the promotion they did last year for North Wind. Many retailers were upset over that promotion, specifically because they didn't know about it before they placed their orders for the book. You can read some of their reactions here.

So is BOOM! doing things differently from last time? Here's Mark Waid again, with more details on some promotional offers for retailers ... he notes the book is completely returnable and the top 500 retailers in the country will receive five free copies:

Check back tomorrow for a Q&A with Chip Mosher on this and other BOOM!-related topics. The first issue will be up on MySpace Comics tomorrow at 11 a.m. Pacific.