Peter Krause
Comics A.M. | Comic Book Ink’s plea; DC’s deadline decree
John Munn, owner of Comic Book Ink
Retailing | Tacoma, Washington, store Comic Book Ink, a seven-time nominee for the Will Eisner Spirit of Retailing Award, could close as early as August because of mounting debt. In a plea to customers, owner John Munn attributes the store’s dire financial situation to a combination of the economy, relocation costs, an unresolved dispute with the previous landlord, the move by Diamond Comic Distributors to “call in short-term notes” in the wake of the Borders bankruptcy, and “personal trials.” In the extremely frank letter, he lays out what steps he’s taken (payment plans, using his salary from an outside job to cover payroll), and what he hesitates to do (fire staff, close the nearly nine-year-old store and declare bankruptcy): “I have juggled as far as I can juggle. I have kept a constant vigil on our shop, but currently it is resting on a house of cards and not a strong foundation (yet) that could go at any minute. [...] I need your help. This week is bad … Very bad.”
Munn asks that customers pick up any special orders or pull-list titles, purchase gift certificates, make a short-term loan or buy shares in the store. “I think we can make it,” he writes. “I wouldn’t have sent this message if I didn’t. I did not want to write this letter. I did not want to ask for help. All I ever wanted to do was to create a place where people could come and escape for awhile. A place that would invest in the community, and its organizations, that surrounded it.” [Comic Book Ink]
- June 7, 2011 @ 06:55 AM by Kevin Melrose
Exclusive Preview | Irredeemable #21
Irredeemable #21
Courtesy of our pals over at BOOM! Studios, we’ve got one more thing from them to show you in honor of our big birthday bash — an extended 13-page preview of Irredeemable #21, which comes out later this week. With the Plutonian getting a new line of work (whether he likes it or not) thanks to the Vespa, it looks like Earth can breath easy. Looks like, anyway …
Check out the preview after the jump.
- January 2, 2011 @ 04:29 PM by JK Parkin
Talking Comics with Tim: Peter Krause
Irredeemable #1
This Wednesday marks the return of Peter Krause to monthly comics as the artist on BOOM! Studios’ Irredeemable. The series is described by BOOM! as daring to “ask the question: what if the world’s greatest hero decided to become the world’s greatest villain? A ‘twilight of the superheroes’-style story that examines super-villains from the writer of KINGDOM COME and EMPIRE!” Many people, including myself, fondly remember Krause’s great run on the 1990s DC series, The Power of Shazam. My thanks to Krause for this email interview regarding his return to monthly fun, as well as BOOM!’s Chip Mosher for facilitating the interview.
Tim O’Shea: This marks the first ongoing title you’ve done since Power of Shazam–but you’ve been a busy and happily employed artist outside of comics all these years. How has your non-comics work served to help improve your artistic skills overall and are there certain chances you’re now willing to take–or visual experiments you want to try now that you never would have considered earlier in your career?
Peter Krause: Wow…what a great opening question. I suppose there are some chances I’d be willing to take, but I’m not sure if I can point to the non-comics work specifically as the reason. After a time, I think you get a bit more comfortable in your own skin, and you’re not chasing the artistic flavor of the month. You can be a bit more confident in the decisions you make.
- March 30, 2009 @ 12:31 PM by Tim O'Shea