Comic Book Resources

Frank Miller, conservative comment-thread commentator

Frank Miller and Eva Mendes (photo by UGO.com's Dr. Know)

He's one of the most influential comics creators of all time (and my personal favorite, might I add), but Frank Miller has kept a pretty low profile since the critical and box-office failure of his adaptation of Will Eisner's The Spirit last Christmas. He's reportedly continued to work on scripts for his Jim Lee collaboration All Star Batman & Robin, the Boy Wonder and the sequel to the Sin City film adaptation he co-directed with Robert Rodriguez; and of course there's his long-gestating graphic novel that may or may not be about Batman fighting al Qaeda and may or may not be called Holy Terror, Batman! But whatever he's been up to, he's been up to it incommunicado, turning down requests for interviews.

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'Whenever your leads are white American males, you've got a better chance of reaching more people'

"Truth: Red, White & Black" star Isaiah Bradley, by Joe Quesada

With its unique blend of Marvel-minutiae mastery and near-total frankness, Marvel Executive Editor Tom Brevoort's Blah Blah Blog on Marvel.com tends to be an extraordinary document even on days when it's not touching the third rail of fanboy politics. But in his most recent post, Brevoort does exactly that, addressing the question of why, despite having a great big universe at its disposal, Marvel's comics tend to star white dudes from the U.S. of A.

Responding to a reader question regarding the difficulty of sustaining books with international leads, like Captain Britain & MI:13 or Alpha Flight, Brevoort expands the issue, likening the situation to the plight faced by "series with female leads, or African-American leads, or leads of any other particular cultural bent":

Because we're an American company whose primary distribution is centered around America, the great majority of our existing audience seems to be white American males. So while within that demographic you'll find people who are interested in a wide assortment of characters of diverse ethnicities and backgrounds, whenever your leads are white American males, you've got a better chance of reaching more people overall.

Interestingly, Brevoort seems to view "American" as a far more key component for a book's success than "white" or "male": He goes on to speculate that books whose leads are black or female and American will have an easier go of it than books whose leads are white and male but foreign.

There's an awful lot to chew on in there, from the assessment of Marvel's audience to the characterization of their interests to the comparison of international characters with women or minority characters to the whole chicken-egg question of which came first, the demographic or the subject matter. Is Brevoort's analysis a common-sense observation, a self-fulfilling prophecy, or something else entirely? What do you think?

Ted Kennedy dies ... and Bluewater announces a biography

Political Power: Ted Kennedy

In what likely will be viewed as either extremely poor timing or a crass grab for cash, Bluewater Productions yesterday announced its biography of long-ailing Sen. Edward Kennedy mere hours before his death.

The 77-year-old Massachusetts senator was diagnosed with a brain tumor in May 2008, and lived longer than his doctors expected.

In a statement issued this morning, Bluewater President Darren G. Davis said the biography's announcement "was in no way tied to the Senator's declining health and ultimate passing."

"When Bluewater planned out the first year of biographies, Kennedy's name was always at the top of the list," Davis said. "In fact, this issue has been in production since March and was solicited to retail shops through our national distributor in June. We will, of course, pay final respects to this American icon by adding a page to the completed issue to close the last chapter of his remarkable life."

Set for release in November, the biography is part of the publisher's Political Power series that has showcased such figures as President Obama, Vice President Biden, former Secretary of State Colin Powell, and President Reagan.

In June, Bluewater announced a "special collector's edition" biography of Michael Jackson just four days after the pop star's death -- a move that drew more than a few negative comments.

Afghan manual uses comics to give election pointers

Who says comics can't help change the world? Here's a 25-page manual designed to help teach the Afghan people about the recent election process, the candidates and the issues at hand. Why doesn't someone do something like this for the health care debate? (found via Boing Boing)

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

Weird Fishes

Publishing | The cover story of this week's Metro Silicon Valley focuses on San Jose-based SLG Publishing, the state of the comics market and the company's upcoming lineup, including Winchester, Pinocchio: Vampire Slayer and Weird Fishes.

"The sale of a couple of thousand copies of an independent comic book is a great success now," says publisher Dan Vado. "There are fewer comic-book stores around since Amazon; indie comic-book shops are closing everywhere. The Chinese publishers, who used to turn up their noses at a small order of a couple of thousand books, are accepting them now. Comic-book publishers are having the same problem trying to find a digital business model as any other publishers, book or newspaper. Digital advertising doesn't pay like print advertising, and customers are installing ad-blocking software." [Metro Active]

Politics | Two Shanghai-based Iranians continue to defy government authorities with Persepolis 2.0, a webcomic that "remixes" and updates Marjane Satrapi's award-winning graphic novel with captions referring to this year's disputed election. Satrapi isn't involved with the project, but has given her blessing. [AFP]

Publishing | Jacq Cohen, publicity coordinator for Dark Horse, has been hired as a publicist by Fantagraphics Books. [The Comics Reporter]

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

Comiket 76

Conventions | Think Comic-Con International is crowded? Comiket 76, last weekend's installment of Tokyo's twice-yearly comics fair, drew a reported 560,000 attendees -- 10,000 more than last summer's event. Comiket is held for three days in August and December at Tokyo's Big Sight convention center. [Sankuka Complex, Anime News Network]

Publishing | Sales of comics in the direct market increased in July for the second month in a row -- up 3 percent from July 2008 -- while the Top 100 graphic novels dropped 11 percent for the same period.

Marvel and DC's summer events led the comics chart, with Captain America: Reborn #1 selling an estimated 193,142 copies, followed by Blackest Night #1 with 177,105. The 13th, and final, volume of 100 Bullets topped the graphic novels list with 8,700 copies. [ICv2.com]

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Let me tell you how I got these scars ... pushing for health care reform

Disturbing thing, innit?

As you've no doubt already seen, the above Obama/Joker mash-up has been making the rounds lately; it's been posted up on placards and utility poles in Los Angeles and gotten the attention of quite a few bloggers.

According to Politics Daily, it also got the attention of radio personality Rush Limbaugh, who found the comparison apt:

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Time to vote in the faux superhero mayorial race

As you might remember from Wednesday, the New Organizing Institute is running a training course this week for organizers and campaigners on technologically-enabled organizing. This training includes a mock-election of eight Superhero candidates for mayor of Washington, D.C.

Well, today is election day in the country's fake capitol; you can cast your vote here for which candidate you think would make the best mayor.

I still stand behind my endorsement of Green Lantern, who I think made a lot of great points on his site, but in the interest of fairness here are the other candidates he's running against:

• Atom
• Batgirl
• Batwoman
• Cyborg
• Green Lantern
• Spider-Man
• Superman
• Wonder Woman

The polls close in about an hour and a half, so vote while you can!

Update: Via email, the New Organizing Institute announces that Wonder Woman is the winner. Congrats to her campaign team, and to the Green Lantern folks for putting up the good fight and coming in third after the Atom.

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

San Diego Convention Center

Conventions | San Diego and its convention center are fending off suitors for Comic-Con International, which generates some $16 million in direct spending for the city. Helen Kaiao Chang reports on some of the behind-the-scenes wrangling to keep the convention away from Los Angeles and Las Vegas, even as "the homegrown event ... [busts] at the seams" of the San Diego venue.

"We’re working hard to keep them in San Diego," says one convention center official. "The economic impact to San Diego is profound." [San Diego News Network]

Publishing | After round after round of firings, Wizard has announced two promotions and a new hire. Longtime staff member Mike Cotton has been promoted from managing editor to editor while Andy Serwin has moved from assistant managing editor to features editor.

The magazine also has hired Casey Seijas as managing editor. Seijas previously worked at Wizard as a writer and editor before moving on to Vertigo, where he edited Hellblazer and assisted on numerous other titles. He left the DC Comics imprint in summer 2008 to co-edit MTV's new Splash Page blog, but was let go a few months later in a round of Viacom layoffs. He stayed on as a free-lance writer. [Wizard]

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D.C.'s onslaught of superhero candidates

Green Lantern for Mayor

This post on Ecocomics left me scratching my head over why Kyle Rayner was running for mayor of Washington, D.C., or why someone would set up a snazzy-looking website for him. I mean, sure; I'd pick Kyle over Hal or Guy (but not John Stewart) any day for mayor, and like I said, it's a snazzy-looking site, and he does have the endorsement of the Flash, but what's up with the site? Is it some kind of viral marketing thing for the upcoming Green Lantern movie, or maybe an ad for a sequel to DCU Decisions?

Then I find out Kyle's not running unopposed. It appears Spider-Man is also in the race. As is Superman. And the Atom. Even Batwoman, who is apparently for bird equality in D.C.

As it turns out, the sites are part of the New Organizing Institute's BootCamp, where attendees are tasked with running their own mayoral campaigns for fictional characters as part of their training. You can find a full list of the sites they've created here.

And while I was hoping I could throw my own endorsement out there for Batwoman, her stance on bird equality sounds just a little too crackpot for me. So Kyle it is -- Green Lantern gets my vote.

Seven Days | The week in comics

A look at the biggest, and most interesting, stories from the past week.

1. Surprising virtually no one, Marvel announces the return of Steve Rogers: Months of speculation about Marvel's secretive July event ended Monday with an article in the New York Daily News and the unprecedented early release of Captain America #600.

The publisher had kept details about Reborn #1 "classified," telling retailers only that it would receive nationwide publicity on June 15 “possibly on par with the media coverage we received during Civil War.” Monday's announcement did receive national attention -- Marvel issued a press release the following day trumpeting stories in "over 50 news outlets" -- but the publicity didn't approach that of Civil War (which included the unmasking of Spider-Man), the 2007 assassination of Steve Rogers, or the introduction in 2006 of the new Batwoman.

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

Marjane Satrapi

Well, look at that: It's the 100th installment of "Comics A.M."!

Politics | Cartoonist Marjane Satrapi and filmmaker Mohsen Makhmalbaf on Tuesday presented evidence to Green Party members of the European parliament that reportedly documents fraud in the Iranian national election. [ADN Kronos]

Passings | Comics educator and web cartoonist Jeremy Mullins died Saturday after sustaining multiple injuries from a hiking accident. He was 32. Mullins taught in the sequential art department of the Savannah College of Art and Design in Georgia. [The Associated Press, The Comics Reporter]

Comic-Con

Conventions | A proposed 400,000-square-foot addition to the San Diego Convention Center, location of Comic-Con International, would cost $783.4 million -- which breaks down to a minimum of $52.5 million in new taxes and fees annually over the next 30 years. If the facility isn't expanded, it risks losing Comic-Con. [Union-Tribune, San Diego Business Journal]

Awards | The winners of Germany's ICOM Independent Comics Award were announced last weekend at the Munich Comics Festival. [Comiks Debris]

Publishing | Digital Manga Publishing's Michelle Mauk discusses the company's new "yaoi-on-demand" initiative: "The new program was inspired by the current economy, we had been thinking about it for quite a while, it was inspired by webcomics primarily. We have always been a small independent publisher -- and that gives us the ability to be more in touch with our customers and fans, and to be able to do things a little outside of the norm." [Anime Vice]

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

Tintin

Conventions | The recession and declining book sales cast a gloomy shadow over BookExpo America, which opens today in New York City. [The New York Times]

Events | Despite grousing by journalists, the opening of the Hergé museum in Belgium appears to have struck the right chord: "Within is a landscape of the imagination, brightly lit and coloured, as outside a steady drizzle falls against the windows from leaden skies. If that sounds like a memory of childhood reading indoors, it is no accident. Since Tintin’s first appearance in a Belgian Catholic newspaper 80 years ago, generations have roamed the world vicariously through his comic-book adventures as a trouble-prone (if unusually clean-living) foreign reporter." [The Economist]

Conventions | C.B. Cebulski posts pre-opening photos from Barcelona's 27th annual International Comic Fair, which kicks off today. [Chesterfest]

Superman: New Krypton, Vol. 1

Sales charts | I'm pretty sure The New York Times Graphic Books Best Seller List is just screwing with me: The Dark Tower: Treachery and Watchmen are already back atop the hardcover and paperback categories. However! Naruto loses its hold on the manga division as Negima! Vol. 22 and Full Metal Alchemist, Vol. 18, take the top two spots.

Superman: New Krypton, Vol. 1, enters the hardcover chart at No. 2, while Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 8, Vol. 4, slips to the second spot in paperbacks. [ArtsBeat]

Publishing | Lori Henderson considers the ramifications of recent price increases by manga publishers. [Manga Xanadu]

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False Witness! is no Female Force, that's for sure

False Witness!

While political figures ranging from Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton to John McCain and Sarah Palin have been portrayed positively in recent biographical comics, one outspoken Republican won't be treated so kindly.

Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota, best known for an interview in which she called for a media investigation of Congress for "anti-American views," is the target of False Witness!, which traces her political career using the congresswoman's own quotes.

The comic is a collaboration between Bill Prendergast, a contributor to the Dump Bachmann blog, and Minnesota cartoonists Lupi, Dan Olson, Danno Klownowski and Ken Avidor. Minneapolis' City Pages has a preview, "It's All A Conspiracy!", by Prendergrast and Jason Gorski.

Prendergast & Co. describe False Witness! The Michele Bachmann Story as "the thrilling, behind the scenes look at the seedy, hairy, loathsome underbelly of the career of of one of America's most notorious right-wing nuts and demagogues!"

The first issue will be available this summer for purchase online and in stores in the Twin Cities area.

(via TPM and Tom Bondurant)

Everyone else is doing it, so why can't we?

Barack the Barbarian

We've all heard countless times that President Barack Obama is a fan of Spider-Man and Conan the Barbarian, and we saw where his affinity for the wall crawler led a few months ago. Now the other sword has dropped.

On Sunday, Comic Continuum posted Devil's Due Publishing's solicitations for June, and they include a comic titled Barack the Barbarian: Quest for the Treasure of Stimuli #1, written by Larry Hama. There's also a poster offered of the cover to the first issue by Tim Seeley (pictured above). Here's the full solicitation text:

BARACK THE BARBARIAN: QUEST FOR THE TREASURE OF STIMULI #1

Written by Larry Hama, art by various, covers by Tim Seeley and Rachelle Rosenberg.

From a far away land rises a mighty hero. The son of peasants from two different realms, the one known only as Barak protects the people of Hope Kingdom at all costs. Watch as he takes on the likes of Boosh the Dim, Red Sarah, and Cha-nee the Grim in this first issue!

But wait, there's more!

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